Maple syrup!

[rwc1969]

Now's a good time to scout around for maples, gather supplies and such. I'm making a list and checkin' it twice.

[crimescene450]

are you by any chance gonna make a video of this?

[your_comforting_company]

Thanks for the heads up. I've scouted a few down around the lake. got 'em in my notebook. Gotta try to find me one of them taps, or try to talk my dad into helping me make one.
Gotta reread this thread and jog my memory.

[rwc1969]

CS you know I will, as long as things go as planned that is.

I need to come up with a plan and materials for a very inexpensive woodstove/ evaporator. That way I can legally burn wood to evaporate the sap, no open fires allowed in the city.

I have a source for 3-5 gallon buckets with lids for collecting sap.

Tomorrow I will be checking with a restaurant wholesale guy on some used SS steam table pans for evaporating the sap.

I need to get a hold of some cinder blocks or a steel drum, a section of old stove pipe and about 1/2 cord of wood. The cinder blocks would be easiest, less fabricating. I thought someone posted some plans for a backyard evaporator using scrounged materials, but I can't find it now.

I need to find a 50 gallon + holding tank for the sap and hopefully drill and put a spigot on it. I have no source for the tank, but ideally it would be a plastic food safe 55 gallon drum.

I may purchase some of the small 5/16" commercial plastic taps and tubing as they are inexpensive, pretty nice and will last. I'd like to have 15-30 taps which should easily give me 10-20 gallons of sap on a good day. I'm hoping for 50 gallons a week which should give me at least a gallon of syrup a week. Ideally I'll gather the sap in the week and boil it on the weekend. 6 week season = 6-10 gallons of syrup. Hehehe! Wishful thinking!

I also need to find some folks who are willing to let me tap their trees. I currently only have access to a couple red maples and a few box elder, maybe 6 taps, but will need about 10-30 trees depending on size.

I don't intend to filter the sugar sand this year, just using a pre-filter on the sap for sediment and bugs. The sugar sand/ nitre settles out so removing it is only needed if you want to sell it. I'm not planning on selling it.

Anyway, I have quite a bit of planning to do, people to charm, materials to procure and figured I'd best get started early as I want to have everything ready to go when the sap starts flowing which could be as early as mid Jan., but most likely not until Feb. Every year is different. Now is the time to be getting everything together.

[crimescene450]

wow youre really going full scale this year huh ^

________



Im wondering if i should try this, this year. During sping ill be in CA so im gonna have to tap bigleaf maples; which someone said earlier in this thread they work.

The only thing is, theyre not on my property. Theyre in the 300 acre park that borders my little suburban world. I wondering if i got caught, if id be in any trouble or not.

[your_comforting_company]

Keep us posted RWC. This will be my first year tapping maples. Between that and my high-hopes of starting a beehive, I should cut my dependence on grocery store-cane sugar by at least 30%. Over the next few years I hope to have enough hives to carry me through a whole year!

[Rick]

RWC - Check your law. We're a no open fire in the city, as well. However, there is an exemption for recreational and cooking fires. We have to acquire a permit but it's free and you have to have a permanent burn site. So you might be able to cook that syrup outside.

[rwc1969]

Checking with the authorities right now, if it's a no go then my whole plan is kaput, and I'll be back to boiling on the coleman which will limit me to about 5 quarts of syrup at best due to the time it takes to boil the sap. Also, it will mean no need for a 55 gallon drum and extra pans because the sap would spoil before I have a chance to boil it down.

I planned on making an arch out of cinder blocks so technically it is not an open fire, it's a wood burning stove, but I have to wait for the guys to call me back to give a full explanation and get a decision.

[ravenscar]

You can tap any tree but most have such a low sugar content that it just ain't worth it.

really? whatta bout sweetgum?

[ClayPick]

Sweetgum doesn't grow in my neck of the woods. You would have boil it down to find
the sugar content in the sap.

[ravenscar]

ah. hmmm..

[rwc1969]

Offhand, the trees I've heard to use are any maple family tree, maple, box elder, sycamore and also the birches, I'm not sure if all birches will work though, I've seen folks tap walnut trees too and make syrup. I would be leary of trying other trees that may be potentially toxic or have awful flavor from tannins, chemicals or the like.

If one wanted to experiment with other trees one should determine if the tree is toxic, has high tannin content among other things, and whether or not it even produces a sugary sap that can be tapped. Just remember that anything you use will be boiled down and concentrated. The only thing leaving the sap is water and chemicals that evaporate or change under the heat of boiling, around 212 F. If you use a container that leaches chemicals into the sap they too can be concetrated. You don't want syrup that tastes like tin, plastic, or makes you sprout branches.

The best bet for anyone wanting to tap trees, besides doing it, is to search legitimate sites for info. The sites I use are university websites, syrup producer association websites, and forums and blogs that have people who do this stuff both as a hobby and for a living.

All the info they have is legit. Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusets, Ohio as well as other states all have sites with endless good info on the history all the way to present. Plus, there are endless blogs, forums and such that go into great detail on the subject of tapping different trees and the many uses of sap throughout history.

It's a very simple process, drill a shallow hole in a non-toxic sugary sap producing tree, collect the sap that flows out, boil it until it's 7 degrees above the temp that water boils at in your specific area, pour it on pancakes, eat.

The only tricky part is determining the best trees, depth to drill, time to drill, taps and containers to use, ways to boil it down, and ways to filter and store it both before it's syrup and after. Sap will spoil just like milk.

And remember, once your done, pull the taps and that's it. Don't put a plug of wood in there, the tree will heal itself quite fast. Putting a plug in there is akin to sticking a contaminated piece of wood into a puncture wound on your own arm. Let it bleed! What do you do when you get a puncture wound? You're supposed to keep it open, let air get to it, and let it bleed, ooze, or whatever until it heals and closes itself. Don't use copper taps, copper is toxic to trees.

If things go as planned I'm going to do a complete tut with vids and pics from start to finish.

[rwc1969]

Cool! I got the go ahead from the fire inspector to construct my temporary arch using cinder blocks and steam table pans.

If you're interested here is a blog that shows the arch close up and in action. I won't be using a blower on mine.

http://matthewgroves.com/Hobbies/Sugaring09.html#2

I will have to modify mine by placing a metal plate sandwiched between the first two layers of cinder blocks to bring the fire up off the ground, and will have to place another metal plate or cinder blocks in front to act as a makeshift door.

Their main concern was the fire be off the ground, and be enclosed.

Now I just need to find some cinder/ concrete blocks, metal plate and sone steam table pans. If bought they will cost me around 40 bucks, I don't know how much a metal plate will cost, but if I can rewind my brain I'm sure I've stumbled across some in my travels through the old farm fields and factories around here.

If they're not too expensive I may add a layer of firebrick over the metal plate to help retain the heat, but, I'm thinking they will be.

[crashdive123]

Awesome. looking forward to seeing your progress on the 2011 batch.

[Rick]

That's really cool. I wonder why they wanted the fire off the ground? Fire creep I guess. Anyway, I'm glad that worked out for you. Did you have to get any kind of permit? Looking forward to your pics/vids.

[rwc1969]

No permit, they sort of made a special allowance just for me. The power of Maple Syrup. Mmmm! according to the inspector the actual code says no outside burning in city limits period, but they will make exceptions on occasion.

It's pretty neat, because getting the things needed so far has been fairly easy and inexpensive. I tell the people what I'm planning on doing and most show interest and offer help.

I went to buy my SS steam table pans, got three for 15 bucks, 14" x 21" x 4" deep. The guy haggled and haggled over the price and when it was all said and done he gave me 5 bucks back and was offering to give me an outdoor woodburning stove, but was unable to locate it. He wants some syrup when it comes in and will be giving me a call if he finds the stove.

This guy liquidates restaurants and such and had all kinds of goodies. He actually had an electric skillet/ fryer that had a drain spout and everything. It was huge and even had an exhaust hood, all SS. I believe it was marked $2500.00, lol. I told him that would be a bit much for me, but I bet it would evaporate some sap. It was about 4' x 4' x 12" deep.

Also, I found a better deal on the 55 gallon drums at 8 bucks a pop, so I got two. They contained soy and had labels that were marked certified 100% organic. But, they smell grainy and were only rinsed haphazardly at the factory. I hope I can get rid of the smell by washing them good with bleach and perhaps some baking soda.??

When I picked them up I told the guy about the city code and raised platform and he suggested I go down the street and talk to the auto salvage guy, who I didn't know even existed, about the plate steel for raising it off the ground. Sure enough they had a 1/4" piece that was perfect size. The guy gave it to me for 4 bucks, which is good because it saved me gas driving around trying to find one. His buddy is a maple producer in the UP.

The guy I bought the barrels from would have even gave me firewood, but he was running low at the time. But, he gave me all kinds of suggestions for legally obtaining it free, just have to make some calls.

Basically, I just need to get some taps and tubing, cinder blocks and wood and I'm set to go. Oh yeah, and I need about 10-15 trees to tap, kinda the most important part, lol. I have 3 or 4 right now.

The people who I've been talking to seem like they would let me tap their trees, but they don't know how to ID a maple and none are real close.

[Rick]

Man you scored like a bandit. Good deal.

[rwc1969]

What's a good price for a face cord of good seasoned hardwood delivered?

and does anyone have suggestions for finding free cinder blocks in good condition?

The problem I'm running into is lack of a chainsaw and pickup truck. If I can't get the above two items for real cheap or free they will be my biggest expense, over 50% of my cost of doing this.

I considered bartering for syrup, but if it's a poor season I'll have a bunch of unhappy barterees, don't want to promise what I can't deliver. Not to mention I sold all my canning jars at the yard sale when I moved here, another expense I hadn't considered.

[your_comforting_company]

Around here it's about $50 per truckload, so somewhere around $100 per cord.

I'm sure you could offer to pick up limbs for neighbors. A lot of my firewood is just scavenged limbs from the yard. No cost or labor.

Watch out for getting those cinder blocks hot. They will bust! There is a brickyard over in the next town where we get busted blocks dirt cheap. Good blocks are gonna come from the building supply store. Have you thought about chipped or broken red bricks instead of cinder-blocks? It's usually pretty easy to find a few bricks that are damaged and get them real cheap. Back when this house was bricked up, We got the bricks real cheap because of some color flaw?! I couldn't tell there was any flaw LOL.

I sure hope you get the stuff you need. This is a great project.

[Rick]

Cement companies will often produce blocks as well. You might make some phone calls and see if any locally do. As YCC said, you might be able to get some rejects cheap.

The land fill often has concrete of all kinds in it. I've pulled some really nice concrete pillars about 2 feet tall out and use them for flower pot stands around the house. (my wife refuses to go the landfill with me. She gets embarrassed when I start garbage picking). I've seen lot's of brocken blocks. The land fills usually have a special place for concrete. At least they do locally.

You might also try local masons. They may have some odds and ends they can't use that they would let go super cheap.