Maple syrup making

[Mustang71]

So anyone make syrup? We tried it late this season and made our first jar today. Next year we want to be on top of it and have a wood burning evaporator going with a lot more sap. I can't be the only one on here doing it. Lets see the set ups and progress.

 

[husqvarna257]

Yea I make syrup as well. This year we got over a gallon and a half from our 8 red maple trees. No sugar maple trees but it still works, just more boiling. In the past I used a free wood stove I got with the top removed but 2 or three years ago I got a 55 gallon drum and use that now. The stove kit was cheap and I cut the barrel to fit 2 large warming trays, that made it allot faster.

 

[Mustang71]

Yea I make syrup as well. This year we got over a gallon and a half from our 8 red maple trees. No sugar maple trees but it still works, just more boiling. In the past I used a free wood stove I got with the top removed but 2 or three years ago I got a 55 gallon drum and use that now. The stove kit was cheap and I cut the barrel to fit 2 large warming trays, that made it allot faster.
View attachment 976797View attachment 976798

Thats the set up I'm planning on building. I have probably 10 large sugar maples then some red maples. The 1 I tapped last week gave me about 2 gallons of sap. If we follow through with this as planned I'm hoping to do ok.

 

[capetrees]

40/1

no thanks, havent got the time. gladly pay someone else for the hard work

 

[Mustang71]

40/1

no thanks, havent got the time. gladly pay someone else for the hard work

I agree. I said the same thing as I built a chicken coop. Gotta keep the wife happy.

 

[Lee192233]

So anyone make syrup? We tried it late this season and made our first jar today. Next year we want to be on top of it and have a wood burning evaporator going with a lot more sap. I can't be the only one on here doing it. Lets see the set ups and progress.

We made syrup for the first time this year. Got about a 1.5 pints. We will probably triple from 5 to 15 taps and I will build a barrel evaporator similar to Husqvarna257's setup.

Good luck next year.

 

[CFar45]

First year making syrup here. Ten taps - drop lines to 5 gal buckets. Ended up with about 2.5 gallons syrup. It was a last minute thing and I think we probably missed the first 1.5 weeks of sap running. Being last minute and our first time we used propane burners to boil - turkey fryers - one with the big pot and the other with the wide warming pan, as pictured by husqvarna257. Cold sap went into the pot, then transferred from pot spigot to the flat pan as needed. Worked out pretty well for never having done it before. Wood fired setup would be nice and I’d like a bigger, more legit setup if I were going to do any more, but after doing it this way I can see the advantages of propane. Wanted to see how it went before investing more time/money into the equipment. It was a fun project. Will do it again next year.

 

[husqvarna257]

I belong to a site maple trader.com. They have lots of info on making evaporator's and more. I consider it a start of spring hobby, first sign of spring well that and the weeds start coming up. I heard the peepers at the pond last week but now it's cold again.

 

[Mustang71]

We have gone to the maple weekend a few times and always said we will tap our trees. The weather in western NY is so unpredictable that one day it could be 5 and the next 70. We always remember when its to late. And here we are 15 degrees and snow again. We joined groups on Facebook so we should be more aware of the time to tap trees. I'm a border line diabetic who does not eat sweet stuff but burning wood and getting outside works for me as well as breaking out the welder.

After the hundreds of ash trees that got cut down I have plenty of wood laying around and now can see all the large maples.

 

[SS396driver]

I've been doing it for about 25 years . Never got more than 20 taps just to much time involved, this year I used my coal forge to pre heat the sap worked well . I also skimmed off the ice in the buckets every morning and it really concentrated the sap . I was down into the 20:1 range . Making a RO for it next year . I use my beer brewing sculpture to boil since I don’t drink anymore it’s all I use it for now . I average 3 to 4 gallons a year most is given as gifts.

 

[kybob]

I bet it’s good too [emoji1303]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[EchoRomeoCharlie]

I started back in 2018 as cheaply as possible. I think I spent under $100 between the cinder blocks, taps, lines, buckets(free). I've made 5 gallons total on that equipment which is a lot cheaper than store bought for that amount... I made just shy of a gallon this year on that wood fired brick style arch. With 2 hotel pans.

2018: 10 red maple, 1.5 gallons
2019: 10 red maple, 2.5 gallons
2020: Didn't tap because we had a bunch of syrup on the shelf already
2021: Didn't tap because I threw my back out the day before I wanted to tap
2022: 10 reds, ~1 gallon, got the taps in late and missed two weekends because of a spring break vacation with the kids

We do this as as family. The kids go with and help tap, carry sap, they help split firewood and hang out with me while the sap is boiling. They run the woods and have a great time.

I upped the game a bit this year with stainless steel bulkhead ball valve sap tricklers. Allowing sap to slowly trickle into the boil allowed me to keep the boil constantly all day. Before I was dumping sap into the pans from the buckets, and obviously that killed the boil every time. With the tricklers I was able to achieve 4.5 gallons per hour evaporation rate out of two full size hotel pans. Before that I was at 3.5-4ish. Doesn't seem like much, but it helps me keep up with my 10 taps. I can only boil on the weekends, so until I get a bigger evaporator, I'm sticking with 10.

I don't do it to sell, so 1-3 gallons a year is plenty for my family and it's a LOT of fun and family time. Not to mention at the end, you get some of the most delicious maple syprup. Tastes even better knowing the work you put into it.

 

[esshup]

A guy I know taps both Maple and Black Walnut trees. He said the syrup tastes different from each species. He's more serious about it, has a vacuum system set up and lines running to the sugar shack. He's in Central Indiana.

 

[Lee192233]

Got almost a gallon of syrup yesterday. The taps finally started flowing. The sap bags have been almost full by mid afternoon the last three days.

 

[Lee192233]

Here's my evaporator setup. Not the most efficient with the round pan but it works.
I have some ideas for next year to help with efficiency. I used the round pan because that's what I had. I didn't do any measurements of evaporation rates but I think it's about 3 gallons per hour.

 

[Mike Van]

Over 20 years at it, this was the first time I cut back a little. I was up to 140 taps, down to just over 100 now. Almost all buckets, last season on one super day I carried 250 gal/sap. At soon to be 71, that really hurt.