Tree sap gathering and syrup making

[gmjarvi]

@duluthralphie can you explain more about why you use an RO filter? My buddy does not use one and puts it on his packaging that his stuff is minimally filtered with no RO.

His goal is to do it traditionally, so that may be why he avoids RO filtering. From your perspective, what are the benefits and drawbacks?

 

[duluthralphie]

It takes less time and is cheaper...

if you do birch syrup you almost need to use an RO.
For me it’s just getting it made as cheaply as possible. An RO can never do it all.

To me it’s like picking the ice out in the morning. Just getting rid of water..

And there was the challenge of making a homemade system. A regular RO is 800 dollars or more, I did mine for about 100.

 

[BGcoop]

We used to cook in an old cast iron bathtub! (With a pan made to fit on the top, wood fire in the tub) then DH got fancy and bought a stove that happens to fit our pan from a guy that was going even fancier.

fun syrup story about our German shepherd, she likes to pick the paper thin ice from the top of the sap barrel and carry it around the yard until she finds a good place to sit down and eat it. I swear she has the most gentle teeth when she is inclined to.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Maple syrup is the enemy of my household. We have several maple trees on our property and my SO wants to tap them for syrup. Unfortunately this means that we have spent several evenings boiling down sap. I've forced him to do it outside because last time he did so inside he fell asleep and ended up getting boiled* sugar residue all over my stove. I admit I have not read all the posts but I would like to find a better solution that doesnt require us staying out until 10 pm to distill down 2.5 gallons of sap

*edited to boiled from boils. Autocorrect

 

[cottontail farm]

Hi everyone! This is my second season tapping our 3 maples. I started the first week of February and have more sap than I can handle... cooking it down in a canner on a propane turkey fryer burner. Used wood fire last year but it's been too cold and wet here this spring. No idea how many gallons of sap so far... have just been topping off the canner and some huge rubbermaid storage tubs. Going to pull the taps tomorrow as I still have about 30 gallons to deal with.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Hi everyone! This is my second season tapping our 3 maples. I started the first week of February and have more sap than I can handle... cooking it down in a canner on a propane turkey fryer burner. Used wood fire last year but it's been too cold and wet here this spring. No idea how many gallons of sap so far... have just been topping off the canner and some huge rubbermaid storage tubs. Going to pull the taps tomorrow as I still have about 30 gallons to deal with.

I wonder if it could be done faster with a pressure cooker or crockpot any ideas? I know most people that do this sort of thing on the large scale have sugar shacks to distill it down (rather than my kitchen!). Not sure what type of equipment they use though

 

[cottontail farm]

I wonder if it could be done faster with a pressure cooker or crockpot any ideas? I know most people that do this sort of thing on the large scale have sugar shacks to distill it down (rather than my kitchen!). Not sure what type of equipment they use though

You know, you make a good point about the crock pot. I ran out of propane and can't get to tsc until dinner time. I wonder if I could plug it in outside so the day isn't totally wasted. Hmm...

 

[wyoDreamer]

The sap is kept at a simmer to low boil so that the water will evaporate. A pressure cooker will keep the water vapor in, so it wouldn't do any good.
The crock-pot on high may do OK, but you still need to be there to stir it so the sugars don't burn. And the crock-pot may not get it hot enough to evaporate the water very quickly and won't hold much sap.
I can't remember the ratio - maybe one of the sappers will chime in - I think it is like 40:1, so that would be 40 cups of sap to make 1 cup of maple syrup ...

 

[itsasmallfarm]

i may live in Canada but we have no maples where i live.

been thinking of doing some birch syrup just not sure if i have time this year. or if the return is worth the effort (flavor wise that is)

 

[duluthralphie]

The sap is kept at a simmer to low boil so that the water will evaporate. A pressure cooker will keep the water vapor in, so it wouldn't do any good.
The crock-pot on high may do OK, but you still need to be there to stir it so the sugars don't burn. And the crock-pot may not get it hot enough to evaporate the water very quickly and won't hold much sap.
I can't remember the ratio - maybe one of the sappers will chime in - I think it is like 40:1, so that would be 40 cups of sap to make 1 cup of maple syrup ...

Your right the pressure cooker will not work, it would keep the moisture in.

I have finished syrup in a crock pot and in a roaster...but I am still in the dog house over the roaster. It kind of went beyond syrup to sugar, to burned sugars welded to the inner pan... which reminds me I think I promised to get her a new pan last year.... oh well, another promise bro

i may live in Canada but we have no maples where i live.

been thinking of doing some birch syrup just not sure if i have time this year. or if the return is worth the effort (flavor wise that is)

You could make birch but from what I have read and heard it is hard to make without an RO.

It tends to burn or turn more bitter on heat alone. The birch run after the maples so the sap won’t freeze at night for you to throw out the water either..

but I say go For it .. let us know how it went