That time of year again

Dave Zac · Post by **Dave Zac** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 01:58

I'm a bit late this year with the warm winter, but I'm off sugerin'

Boiled for 7 hours. Made just about 1/2 gallon of sweet maple divinity. I think Chuckwagon's starting to drool already

Hopefully I'll have a few weekends of good sap and make at least a couple gallons of syrup

Dave Zac

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 02:33

I have indeed had the opportunity to sample Dave's marvelous nectar! I had no idea maple syrup could tickle yer' tonsils like "Dave's Hickory Hill Farm Ambrosia"

This stuff could lead to a serious habit!

story28 · Post by **story28** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 03:41

That looks great! Would you be interested in selling any? I could use it in our breakfast bacon. And with some flap jacks for myself

.

Devo · Post by **Devo** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 05:35

Dave that is some really good looking maple syrup, I sure could get into that

Oxide · Post by **Oxide** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 07:50

It is amazing someone "home brews" their own maple syrup. Way cool!!!

I read some time ago the quality stuff is a 200:1 boil down -- 200 gals of sap boiled down to 1 gal of maple syrup.

Big Guy · Post by **Big Guy** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 13:55

Oxide wrote:It is amazing someone "home brews" their own maple syrup. Way cool!!!

I read some time ago the quality stuff is a 200:1 boil down -- 200 gals of sap boiled down to 1 gal of maple syrup.

40:1 sap to syrup is the usual ratio, either way thats a heck of a lot of water to boil away.

HamnCheese · Post by **HamnCheese** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 14:37

Not Sure if CWs mouth is watering - but mine sure is! Good Grief that looks wonderful.

Lynn

Dave Zac · Post by **Dave Zac** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 15:52

Right now I have 12 taps only and plan to make about 2 gallons. I wish I was in a position to sell some because for some reason it tastes better than the store bought stuff (REAL store bought stuff). But then again, maybe I have better maple trees here

Typical sap runs somewhere between 2 - 2 1/2 % sugar. Then it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. This year, I hear most saps in this area are running around 1% sugar because of the warmer winter. That means upwards of 80 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. I don't have the means to measure the sugar in my sap, but I do know that I made about 1/2 as much in a full day of boiling yesterday as I normally do. I would be surprised if the price of syrup this year doesn't go waaaay up.

If I happen to have some really good runs in the next few weeks I will repost to see if anyone is interested.

BTW~ just finished some sourdough pancakes and syrup with fresh eggs (collected this morning) and homemade bacon. I can tell you life is good.

Dave Zac

Keymaster · Post by **Keymaster** » Sun Mar 04, 2012 16:19

Amazing, I would be interested in seeing what a tree tap looks like and how it is collected if you feel like gettin your camera all sticky

Dave Zac · Post by **Dave Zac** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 00:04

Hope this helps a bit. Photos from phone camera so hopefully they work well enough.

There are two basic systems for collecting sap. The original and traditional system uses spiles and buckets. Buckets would be dumped into a single vessel usually in a wagon as the farmer drove around his sugarbush. The other uses nylon tubing that connects though a series of lateral tubes and main line tubes. This system is better for hilly farms where it is difficult to drive the tractor through the sugarbush

I use the tubing because my small sugarbush is on a hillside at is a perfect fit for gravity.
This is a tap connected to a small length of tubing.

This picture shows the tap connected to one of many laterals that run through the woods.

Here the lateral winds through several big maples and picks up several more taps.

This picture shows the one lateral as it runs downhill towards the mainline.

Here is a picture of the same several maples showing old tap holes. One has to take care on tap placement because drilling the tree does cause damage that only time corrects.

This is the beginning of my mainline. 3/4" tubing that collects all of the laterals. It is secured to a tree and tied to heavy guage wire that can be tightened to lift and hold. This mainline runs about 300' down to my barn, picking up other laterals as it goes.

Here is how a lateral line connects to the mainline.

And the mainline running downhill to the barn.

Another of my homemade evaporator. Most commercial rigs employ the type of evaporator you have all seen. The sap starts at the head of the table and snakes through a series of fins allowing the water to evaporate as it goes. By the time the sap reaches the bottom it is usually syrup. For my evaporator I simply took a livestock water tank and flipped it over. Cut two holes for lasagna pans and cut out the front, put it on hinges to create a door to load wood into. I fuel it with pine trees that have come down on the farm. Hardwood (typically maple) is too valuable as I heat my house with the hardwood. So as the sap evaporates I just add more sap. Continuing the process until I'm boiled out. I then finish the syrup up at the house. The syrup is boiled to 7 degrees over boiling, filtered and jarred. I can make enough syrup to last us a year and give some away to friends and family. If I wanted more I think I would have to go to a gas fired "commercial" type boiler. Way too much coin for this hombre.

Here are my farm buddies

Dusty is a 95 lb Labradoodle

Riley is a 90 lb Chow Husky mix

This is a very fun time of year and a good way to kill what is typically too muddy to do any other farming. I started with 2 taps and boiling on my gas grill. If you have a maple tree (I hear they make Birch syrup in Alaska) you too can add this to your repertoire.

Dave Zac

Keymaster · Post by **Keymaster** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 01:39

Thanks Dave for the awesome Tutorial. That is very interesting!! All I have in my yard is a whole bunch of evergreens and cedars. Good looking Helpers too.

Devo · Post by **Devo** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 02:17

Thanks Dave for the wonderful pictures. I am very near to Thunder Bay Ontario and we have people who sell birch syrup here in town. Here is their web site
http://www.birchsyrup.ca/Home.html

It really is very good stuff.

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 06:57

Dave for president in 2012!

crustyo44 · Post by **crustyo44** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 20:09

Hi Dave,
Thank you for the insight how this is done at your place and the procedures you use to make this syrup.
It certainly is an eye opener for somebody that lives in the Sub Tropics.
Thank you for posting this info.
Regards,
Jan.

two_MN_kids · Post by **two_MN_kids** » Mon Mar 05, 2012 23:23

Hi Dave,

Thanks for posting the pictures of your process. Here in Minnesota I have seen the bags and tap lines while driving the Interstates. I have often wondered about the procedure. The pictures explain a lot!

My wife's niece gives us a bottle every spring. It tastes great, but never knew how much work it was to get it.

Jim