Saps up! Maple Syrup anyone?

[kb0nes]

A couple years ago my boss started tapping one of the Maple trees at his home. I decided to tap my 50 year old Silver Maple to add to his sap for the economics of scale.

I probably could have used a 3rd tap for a tree this size. We make our own tap adapters and keep everything fully sealed to keep things clean. A tree this size should yield 40-60 gallons of sap depending on seasonable variabilities.

Anyone else here ever home brew Maple Syrup?

 

[kb0nes]

3.5% Brix

Sap is measuring at 3.5% Brix (sugar). A Silver Maple is a bit lower then a Sugar Maple but this is still pretty reasonable. The syrup will finish at 66-67% Brix so 20 or so gallons of sap will reduce to a gallon of syrup

 

[polkanut]

Phil,

My dad's aunt & uncle began cooking maple syrup in 1932 and now their grandson continues the tradition.  Great-uncle Eldor never used more that 2 taps on a tree because he felt it was too stressful on a tree.  Brian (their grandson) now only uses 1 per tree, and he uses a pipeline system where the sap drains into a holding tank at the bottom of the hill.  He taps about 1000 of his own.  Plus, he buys sap from  10 other people and pays them based on the brix of the sap.  He cooks, bottles, and sells it for a living.

http://www.klebenowssugarbush.com/home.cfm

 

[firedome]

Our family has been in Vermont...

since the French & Indian War, we still have 2 places there, including 11 acres of mostly hardwoods heavy in sugar maples, directly abutting the Univ of VT Research Forest. We'll be tapping and boiling (the old way: buckets and wood fired, no vacuum suction, oil or propane firing) when we retire back there in a year or 2. Meantime one of my son's best friends is one of the bigger syrup makers in Vermont, #1 state in the US for syrup (but dwarfed by Canada!). Leader Evaporator Co nearby is the world's largest mfr of sugaring equipment.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I remember a story about Sugaring Off in one of the New Basic Readers by Scott Foresman and Company used in my elementary school. I remember the wood fired stove in the sugar shack, the big evaporation pan and a city boy left in charge. At one point the syrup boiled up and threatened to boil over so he picked up a little pitcher, thinking he would dip out some of the syrup, but as he went to dip the pitcher in, some cream dribbled out of it and as the cream hit the syrup, it instantly calmed down and did not boil over. When his Vermont relatives returned, he explained everything and they told him he had done the right thing. This is from about 55 years ago so I apologize for not remembering more.

 

[norgeway]

Nothing like it!

Real pure syrup is wonderful!, I make a pecan pie with pure maple syrup instead of corn syrup and it really is good!

 

[luxflairguy]

Hans! Share the recipe, please!

 

[polkanut]

My cousin Brian doesn't use a vacuum pump with his pipeline, it's a gravity system.  He does however use fuel oil to fire his finishing pan so the temp and quality remain constant.

 

[arbilab]

Gag on the price of 'real' maple? I do too but I only use 25ml at a time so that's sustainable for one.

For family use, make your own. Bottled water and sugar 1:1, boil to dissolve and thicken but don't overboil. Flavor with the best maple extract you can find, and a relative dash of real vanilla extract. You might even like it better.

 

[firedome]

Silver maple sap has lower sugar content...

than Sugar maple for which 40 gallons of sap yields 1 gallon of syrup.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I remember one weekend morning when mom made waffles and we discovered that we had no maple syrup so mom made some really fast with brown sugar, water and Mapleine a brand of maple flavoring. It was richer than the real stuff.

 

[58limited]

I love pure maple syrup. I can find it on ebay for around $55-60/gallon - much cheaper than the $25+ per quart at the grocery stores. The last 2 gallons I bought were from a member of one of the Chambers stove forums whose family makes their own. I usually buy 2 gallons of  maple syrup each year to make a maple "port" wine. It is one of the best homebrews that I make and finishes at about 16.5% alcohol. I oak it with rum-soaked oak cubes from a Texas distillery that makes a pecan rum, adds a nice warmth and flavor to the port plus. The left over syrup is used on  pancakes.

 

[blackstone]

Price of maple syrup at the Costco in West Springfield Mass. runs around $12/quart.

This is the time of the year for going out to breakfast at the local sugar house, where they boil the sap while you eat their flapjacks. Second-best time of the year to live in New England--after foliage season.

Who knew that tree sap could taste so good?

 

[mattl]

Just bought a quart at Sam's $9.97  that will last me 6 months or so.  I used to keep it in the cupboard, but now keep it in the fridge, as that quantity lasts longer and has gotten a bit of mold.

 

[polkanut]

Matt,

My great-uncle Eldor said that good quality syrup will mold at room temps.  Just skim it off and use the syrup as intended.

 

[kb0nes]

The think I found interesting about the syrup reduction is how narrow the band of concentration is to have acceptable syrup. Basically it needs to be concentrated enough to ward off possible fermentation but too concentrated and it will start to crystalize. The difference between those two points is about 1%.

I would store any syrup that was opened in the refrigerator, I wouldn't really be comfortable with the biological experiment myself If the syrup starts to crystalize just warm it a bit and it will be fine.

Weather has been odd here in MN. First weekend I pulled about 10 gallons then we had a cold snap with no sapping. Today may get a little flow but the rest of the week will be 50's here. It is looking like Winter may be about done in these parts...

 

[firedome]

Always...

keep it in the fridge, if it crystallizes just heat it in a water bath.

 

[kb0nes]

Did our first boil over the weekend. Reduction ratio was about 36.5 to 1 so we finished with about 1 gallon of syrup. We have only 2 silver maple trees tapped this year.

Weather has been odd with an early Spring it seems now. It will be 50's for most of the week without dropping below freezing at nights, not sure what the trees will make of this.

 

[tomturbomatic]

My mother used to buy me maple sugar candy. Some were in shapes like maple leaves. Other were molded to look like pilgrims.