 |
| left two bottles are a mix of the first two batches, right bottle is the underdone third batch |
I posted about our first round of sap boiling here, and we followed that up with a second round of sap boiling in the middle of February,
and a third round on Monday of last week. Both times we invited friends
from our homeschool group to come see the process, which was fun.
The third boil was actually delayed a week because I got strep
throat, but we’d stored the sap in buckets in our big freezer, so the sap
didn’t go bad before we were able to use it.
 |
| just getting the fire going- sap looks like water |
Temperatures have warmed up the last couple weeks or so, so I
think our season is over. We found mold growing in the spiles and collection
bags in the black walnuts (the buckets don’t trap moisture, so the maple spiles
are fine), which is a good indication that you’re done. Once bacteria is
introduced, it affects the sap and the tree starts the healing process, causing
sap to stop flowing.
 |
| full boil in the roasting pan |
The thing is, this week we’ve swung back to optimal tapping
weather (below freezing at night, above freezing during the day), so we could
collect more sap if the spile holes weren’t already healing over. This is where
using tubing to collect sap would be helpful.
 |
| sap is turning yellow as it becomes concentrated (I top off with warm sap from the pot) |
Apparently you can prolong your sap collection and increase the
amount you collect if you use tubing and create a vacuum. The vacuum keeps
bacteria out and also pulls more sap out of the tree than a spile will drip
out.
 |
| getting closer- look at that amber color! |
So even though I said I didn’t think I could justify the cost of
the tubing and switching spiles, that may not be the case. It might be worth it
if I’m able to have a longer season and collect more sap. I need to do some
more research, but since we only have a few trees, I don’t think it will
actually be that expensive, even with our trees being spread out around our
1.75 acre lot.
Each
year we do things a bit different, but we made more changes this year than in
the past.
This year I invested in better filters and built a filter stand.
The filters were definitely worth the money. They work so much better than the coffee
filters I’ve used since we first started, and are reusable, unlike the coffee
filters.
 |
| the filters come in one size (8 qt), which is way bigger than I need, and awkward to use, so I quickly built a wood stand to hold the filter over the pot |
I tried to invest in an hydrometer to measure the sugar content
and doneness of the syrup, but purchased the wrong type of hydrometer. So I tried the thermometer method of checking for
doneness, but I was only able to do that on the last batch since the first two
batches were done without a thermometer once I discovered it was broken when I
pulled it out of the drawer to use it the first time. Oops.
 |
| The outer filter is made of felt, the inner ones are thinner (not sure what they're made of); and you layer them inside each other. When they clog, you remove the innermost filter, pouring any remaining syrup into the next filter. This process was very efficient at removing pectin and ash. |
Freezing sap in buckets made it easier to boil when I had time and
the weather was cooperating (ie, not raining).
I had to move things around in the big freezer, but being able to fit
two 5 gallon buckets really made the whole process a lot easier this year.
 |
| the stand is just big enough to be lowered around the pot |
Boiling outside is much more efficient than boiling inside. Using
the flat roasting pan with the larger surface area speeds up the process. The pot
and pan got disgustingly dirty from the wood fire, but my cabinets and drywall
didn’t get damaged from all the moisture that would have been in the air if I’d
been inside, so the trade-off is worth it. Having sap that’s already defrosted
also speeds things up. The times I had to melt the frozen sap over the fire
slowed things down a bit.
 |
| clean and clear syrup |
It always rained before we boiled (great timing on my part), which
meant our firewood was nice and wet. I put a bunch of wood in the shed to dry
for the last boil, and that worked better, but still wasn’t completely
satisfactory, since it was still a bit damp. On the other hand, it’s nice to
finally be making a dent in our woodpile that rarely gets used.
Next
year we’ll be making more changes, which should help us establish a format we
can continue using until we move in a few years.
Finally purchase a proper hydrometer.
Purchase and install tubes for collecting the sap, with the spiles
that work with the tubing, and a small barrel of some sort to collect all the
sap at the bottom of the run. Sunshine thinks she’ll get to drive the lawn
tractor down the driveway to collect the sap in the trailer that we don’t yet
have. Personally, I don’t think she weighs enough to drive the lawn tractor :) We’ll see how that
actually plays out…
Maybe get a second roasting pan or a buffet pan to speed up the
boiling process even more. I’m not sure there’s really room over the fire pit for
two pans and the warming pot, but it’s worth looking into.
We’ll cover the woodpile so the wood stays dry and is ready to use,
which is something we should have done years ago. We have several trees that
are or will be chopped down in the coming months, so the pile will be growing,
unless we can find someone to take it off our hands, so we need to get our wood
pile under control.
And
because I can’t finish this post without giving you some numbers:
We collected about 11.5
gallons of maple sap and about 14.5
gallons of black walnut sap, for a total of about 26 gallons of sap. After boiling down all that sap, we have about 2.5 quarts of maple-walnut syrup, which is right on
target for a 40:1 ratio. However, our maples aren’t sugar maples, which means
their sugar content is lower and more sap is needed to get 1 gallon of syrup.
So I don’t think I boiled the sap quite long enough. This is where a hydrometer
would take a lot of guesswork out of the process. I may do one final boil and see if I can't get the thermometer method to work better for me.
Regardless of whether I do another boil or not, I'm very happy with how much sap we collected and with how much syrup we ended up with. Hopefully next winter the weather cooperates again and we're able to have a good long collection time with lots of sap.
No comments:
Post a Comment