Maple syrup???

[Jstpssng]

Every time the sap cools off the syrup gets darker. Next year he might consider a smaller pan to go on top of what he has now, to add the sap and preheat it. I'm sure that what he's making tastes just fine though, and while the highest grade syrup is the lightest color, a lot of people prefer the darker grades. At any rate it's a lot of fun to make and good on some vanilla ice cream or 'most anything else. :licking:

 

[texas42]

Wow I can稚 image making 200 gallons in a season! I am sure that would break my my brother. I will pass on your info. Thanks

Mike

We had a 5 X 12 3 pan Lightning evaporator. Firebox would take 3 ft. wood.

 

[teejk]

Sounds like it's a pretty good year around here. A friend posted that their first batch started with 200 gals of sap and the yield is running 38:1 which is pretty good. Still getting cold nights so they expect the season to continue.

 

[oosik]

Most interesting. This from a guy who's only dealing with "sap" is pine sap/pitch. Nasty stuff. TEEJK - that is an awful lot of sap and boiling to get one gallon of finished product.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^
That's about right. Over the course of spring the sugar content will slowly drop, so the average is 40 gallons of sap per gallon of syrup.
In a good year expect about .25 gallons of syrup per tree.

 

[oosik]

WoW! That almost turns a hobby into a job.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^
It's fun though. I just have a small evaporator which my father built, but I can collect sap all week then make a couple of gallons on a Friday night. I'm trying to get my greenhouse set up so that I can get my seeds started as I'm boiling .

 

[oosik]

To have your own maple syrup would be fantastic. I think if I tried it with pine pitch = turpentine.

 

[Dftodd]

Give me the darkest you can I usually cleaned my friends up east out of there cooking grade syrup

 

[Bilko]

Every time the sap cools off the syrup gets darker. Next year he might consider a smaller pan to go on top of what he has now, to add the sap and preheat it. I'm sure that what he's making tastes just fine though, and while the highest grade syrup is the lightest color, a lot of people prefer the darker grades. At any rate it's a lot of fun to make and good on some vanilla ice cream or 'most anything else. :licking:

I mentioned the pre heating to him yesterday and a few minutes later he came out of the garage with two small trays. He started using one last night and is using it today so hopefully that will help him. He had some syrup he finished the day before and it was the darkest yet. I tried it and it was good. It had a hint of caramelization to it.