Boiling sap

[lilweasel]

I have a little outfit made up to boil sap for my own use. I only make around 10 gallons a year and we use most of that up ourselves. I boiled yesterday for about 7 hrs. It was heavy wet snow, then to rain, then all the snow started to fall off the trees. An overall miserable day

[trapperandhunter]

nothing about what you said sounds fun ..... but i bet you will be thankful when you get that syrup!

[Admin]

Terry, do you use the buckets for gathering or have you gone to tubing?

[maritimer]

Producing something that you're family can enjoy must be a nice feeling after all the hard work you put into it. WTG Terry. ;D

[dennis78]

Looks like a nice set up. I'm jealous. ;D

[patricimo54]

Looks like a fine set up you've got there Terry ;D Wished we had syrup trees in my part of the world.

[lilweasel]

Mar 22, 2011 7:30:29 GMT -5 Admin said:

Terry, do you use the buckets for gathering or have you gone to tubing?

I had some spoils for a pipeline and some line give to me. I got some square pails with lids and just run a short line to the pails that sit on the ground. 0 dollars invested!

[stickbowhntr]

When do you collect the sap there ? here most I see do it in spring. How much sap do you need to boil down to 10gal syrup?

[stickbowhntr]

Do you use onlt maple or do you ever try birch?

[lilweasel]

Ittakes approx. 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. I have all sugar maple on my land. Birch does not have the same sugar content as maple. There is a farm south of me that boils a little in the fall. With my little set up it takes me about 8 hrs. to boil in a gallon of syrup. My skinning gets done while I'm firing it up

[stickbowhntr]

How do you store the sap till you boil? I would bet you have to collect the sap long before fur season?

[stickbowhntr]

Is syrup like HONEY? It never goes bad ? Is there any way to better store it for long term savings, like if I am going to all the work to do would it be better to make 2-3years worth and do less than annually?

[lilweasel]

I try to boil my sap everday or no more than 2 days. It will go cloudy and sour if kept to long. If the syrup is not boiled till it hits at least 218 degrees it will go moldy if left out. I store mine in a freezer till I use it up. If its boiled right it won't totally freeze, just gets really thick.

[stickbowhntr]

I wish I could get wife to more and get more into homesteading and wildcraft stuff. This is interesting along with the gardening aspect. And I love to hunt/trap so....so many you are lucky to be able to live and afford where you are.