The Official 2023 Maple Syrup Thread

Nice work! How'd it go?

Is that all finished syrup in the jars or do you have to finish it in the house yet?

 

Went and helped tap on the in-laws 2400 tap woods today. A group of 8 of us maybe got half way done with them in 8 hours. I sure enjoy doing my 100 into buckets/bags a LOT more.

 

I finished the syrup in the house then put it in the jars. It went well and was a good learning experience. I found out that most of the heat went to the back pan, and that the front pan was best used as a preheating pan. Get the sap almost to boiling, then keep ladling it to the back pan. Trying to dump cold sap into a boiling pan killed the boil fast Splitting the wood small like you said worked best. Finishing on the stove was nerve racking. Trying to get that last couple degrees without burning it… It came out well though. I think knowing what I know now, next weekend I should be able to cut the boiling time down a lot.

 

The sap we pulled today was only 1% on hard maple trees. I ROd it to 6 in a single pass.

 

Good deal, yep you'll learn a lot as you go.

One of the first times I boiled syrup I was finishing it on the deck on a propane/turkey fryer. Started it up and figured it'd be awhile before it would be all the way finished to syrup, so I decided I'd jump in the shower quick to get cleaned up from being grubby feeding the fire ALL day... Yep you guessed it, got out of the shower and looked out the patio door and there was a bubbling mess of burnt syrup all over the fryer and on the deck..

 

Man that $uck$. Cleanup couldn’t have been much fun after that
I noticed there’s a very fine line between 217 degrees and 219, and it comes up quick. A couple of times I had to lift the pot right up off the stove because it started foaming up faster than I could turn it down. This batch ended up with a slightly smoky flavor, since my setup wasn’t perfect and allowed a little bit of smoke to roll around the lip of the pan. I’m going to have to address that next weekend.

 

Tapped yesterday, a week earlier than usual and somehow still late. 50 taps on 3/16 tubing running downhill with natural vacuum. 120 gallons in 30 hours, easiest sap I've ever collected. Can't find, probably broke my sap hydrometer so no idea about sugar content. Sure is nice hear sap just pour itself into a container.

 

Could try some defoamer (a small drop or two of canola/vegetable oil works) if you didn't already try that. That usually helps a lot with the foam.

 

Dang. ..thats really low.. but with the ro..no problem ! Guess we have been lucky up here this year .

 

These are our batch progression so far. Left to right...getting into good medium now. My personal favorite !

 

That’s pretty HoneyFuzz

 

Thanks !

 

One on left is good crème and sugar on snow!

 

That's sounds fantastic!

 

Bottled yesterday's syrup this morning. 5 gallons !

 

Been boiling the last week on the turkey fryer, but figured with LP being what it is, I’d better pull the trigger and build a small evaporator. We’ve had a ton of fun the last couple seasons getting into sap, so this get like the next step. Just gotta grab another section of duct to get my chimney a bit higher, and replace the plugs with metal ones….or not. Fire might burn hotter if it can pull draft through those holes once the plugs melt away. I guess We’ll see!

 

I did the same thing today! Burning my syrup while building something that’ll make more syrup.

 

Heck yeah take that bottom one out. The more draft=heat the better!

 

HoneyFuzz my Amish buddy said they had a bunch of coons make a mess of their bags last year. If I remember right, I think he said they tore up around 200 or bags. Have you had any problems like that ?

 

Boiled out today. Made a little over 6 gallon. Hope the sap starts running again tomorrow.