2021 Sugar Season

[deanlorensen]

Thought I would share a picture of my final product for the year. This my 2nd year doing maple syrup, last year we made right around 2gallons. My hope last year was to double my output…well I finished just a touch over 9gallons. Took about 3weeks with a few very late late nights which made work really drag on the next day. Im in North Central Minnesota, and its pretty much the end for everyone. I pulled my taps on saturday during my final boil. Im guessing I collected around 280 gallons of sap this year.

[glen]

deanlorensen Congratulations, hope you can take a break, you earned it!

[johnsbrewhouse]

That’s some good looking syrup

[processhead]

deanlorensen Any difference between the syrup in the white cap and black cap containers?
Syrup making reminds me of whisky distilling. Both handle large volumes of a commodity to make a little bit of something special.

[Jonathon]

deanlorensen Awesome haul! Where did you get those bottles from? I can’t tell if they are old whiskey bottles or are they plastic?

[deanlorensen]

The glass flask bottles came from amazon, last year they were the cheapest thing I could find. They are re-used from last years batch. All the syrup bottles are from a little shop in a town near me that has a syrup supply area in the back corner.
processhead as far as the cap colors, there is no difference. My dog got ahold of one of the bag and chewed on some so I bought replacements; they just happened to be a different color. Most of the white caps were my first and second batch. The flasks and bigger bottles to the left side were my 3rd/4th batch. Theres very minimal difference in syrup color but the larger containers make it look darker.

[Midwest_kc]

Got any of that for sale?

[JoeB]

I am all in… How can i buy your product … Joe

[YooperDog]

deanlorensen looks like you had a good season. How do you boil? Do you have an arch and batch process? The season here in the UP is over too, just finishing up the final filtering and bottling. I just use pint and qt jars. I used to run 100+ taps, but my help has been thinning, only ran 36, still looking at 6+ gallons. Congrats!

[deanlorensen]

YooperDog I have a barrel stove and a 16x30 flat pan. I did purchase an RO this year so that cut down some major time. My last boil I started the RO at 7am and started the boiling at 8. I finished about 10 that night. That was about 140gallons in one day. I woulda been there about 3days if It wouldnt of been for the RO. I had 45 taps this year. Gonna upgrade my storage system, filtering/bottling, and probably go with a 2x4 divided pan and new arch.

JoeB Midwest_kc I sold all of my “extra” to my neighbors and friends already. I was a little blown away how quickly they jumped at the opportunity to buy it from me. I’ve got quite a few return customers that buy my bacon that wanna make a breakfast pack of our eggs/bacon/syrup.

[kyle]

The neighbor and I pulled our taps on Monday. Sap is still flowing and no buds on the trees yet here in Wi up by superior. We ended up with 8 1/2 gallons. our average boil rate was a little higher this year at 36:1. usually its around 32:1

[processhead]

kyle said in 2021 Sugar Season:

The neighbor and I pulled our taps on Monday. Sap is still flowing and no buds on the trees yet here in Wi up by superior. We ended up with 8 1/2 gallons. our average boil rate was a little higher this year at 36:1. usually its around 32:1

So I assume your boil rate is what you start with preboil vs. what you end with post-boil?
Is your ending amount determined by sweetness? Viscosity? Or something else?

[kyle]

processhead That is correct on the boil rate. For every 36 gallons of raw sap, we get 1 gallon of finished syrup. To determine when the syrup is done, we use a hydromitor that is made for making maple syrup. It used to be my grandpas who would make over 125 gallons a year (finished syrup). He was a potato farmer who made syrup and would sell it by the gallon to restaurants around town. That was 40+years ago.

[Midwest_kc]

Still interested in buying some from whomever. I love maple syrup, and have never had homemade syrup

[processhead]

kyle Interesting family history, Kyle. How does one go about getting the harvesting rights to the sugar maples or does your family own the property with the trees?

[kyle]

processhead when my grandpa did it, he had probably a ten acre patch of maples. when the neighbor and I do it, we just tap the trees around our houses. this year we had 30 trees tapped. Most people around here let people tap their trees, it does not hurt the tree

[processhead]

True story. Making syrup is definitely not done in Nebraska. But 50 years ago when I was just a kid, I used to take a short-cut home from school through a wooded area. One Spring, I noticed a tree that was dripping sap from a broken limb. Being a dumb kid, I tasted it and it was sweet! I had heard a little about syrup making and decided I was going to try and get enough sap to make syrup. Now remember, I don’t even know if it was a maple tree. Most likely, it was not.
But the sap was sweet and I caught about a pint of it in a tin can. Boiled it down and made about a thimble full of something sort of resembling syrup. And that is why no one makes syrup in Nebraska.

[kyle]

processhead you could take a short cut home through a corn field and make some whiskey tho.

[JoeB]

kyle I just buy a 1.75l of Everclear 197* proof. Best moonshine ever

[YooperDog]

deanlorensen I have a slightly modified barrel with a continuous flow 33x240 pan. Looking at an RO set up since my help has sorta disappeared. All kinds of help to drink and stoke the arch, imagine thatThat and a drop flue pan would really speed things along. Had a challenge keeping a 6 gal/hr boil rate going this year. Still have enough to make some candy and sugar.