Home made maple syrup.... MONEY 2-26-16

[mowin]

Mp4s, nice evaporator. What size is it 3x9?.. I had a 2x6 small brothers yrs ago. I had 1/2" copper pipe wrapped around the stack for a pre heater. Worked pretty good.

 

[mp4s]

>What are you trying to accomplish by injecting the air over the fire ???

The theory is that injecting air over the fire helps with combustion. If I remember right, guys that have done it report using less wood and reduced stack temperatures because the fuel burns under the pan instead of out the chimney.

 

[mp4s]

. How many gallons you going through in an hour?

My setup is 30" x 48" with a 30" x 18" finishing pan. The preheating pot is another 30" x 18". When everything is brewing right I'm getting 50+ gallons evaporated off an hour. :D

 

[daveomak]

 

>What are you trying to accomplish by injecting the air over the fire ???

The theory is that injecting air over the fire helps with combustion. If I remember right, guys that have done it report using less wood and reduced stack temperatures because the fuel burns under the pan instead of out the chimney.

How true....   we do the same with smokers....   we have an air inlet above the fire to further combustion and assist in heat movement throughout the "system" without having to increase the fuel air supply.....

Smoker Exh and Intakes 2.jpg

• daveomak
• Jan 31, 2016

 

[daveomak]

Having you folks put up pics of your evaporators is AWESOME....   First hand folks giving us a tour...  beats whatever is in second place... 

More pictures would  really be a tour in "Americana Gone Wild"...    Let me get a beer and some popcorn....... 

 ... 

 .... 

 

[dufftj]

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• dufftj
• Jan 31, 2016

Maple season is a little ways off here in MN. Here's a shot of my back yard rig cooking off .
Tim

 

[daveomak]

Thanks for the pic.....   Now for the questions.....

#1...  flow control valve for the raw sap ?...

#2...   A blow off preventer for the preheated sap ?..

#3.. I'm thinking a temperature gauge for the preheated sap...

So you "hand bucket" the sap into the upper barrel ??   I'd get a pump...  too old for that...

...click on pic to enlarge....

MAPLE SYRUP STILL.jpg

• daveomak
• Jan 31, 2016

 

[dufftj]

Hey Dave,
#1 yup its a full port ball valve to throttle input to try and match evaporation.

#2 and #3..yes that's a vent not only for steam but also to let air in so the sap flows down the coil. Around the stack there's the better part of a 60 ft roll of 1/2 inch od soft copper. When I'm firing really hard I've seen about 120 degree sap come out the end. The hotter your sap goes in, the quicker it comes to a boil.

A pump would be nice, I don't mind refilling the 20 gallon barell. Under a hard boil it takes about an hour and a half to deplete it.

Tim

 

[daveomak]

Looks like a good set up to me....   There must be a bottle of Tennessee hidden around back somewhere.... 

 

[maplenut]

Glad to see that there are a few maple maniac's here.

It is an addiction to say the least. Every time that walk thru the woods I find myself see more maples to tap.

I currently have about 225 trees that I tap. Last season I made about 70 gals of syrup. My sap sugar content was very low, averaged 1% for the season. That works out to about 86 gals of sap to one gal of syrup.

Hood1.jpg

• maplenut
• Jan 31, 2016

Here is my evap, a 2x5.

I also built my own Reverse Osmosis to help cut down on my boiling marathons.

Pic 29.jpg

• maplenut
• Jan 31, 2016

 

[daveomak]

Holey Kow !!!   You wear white lab coats and walk through a "sanitizing" chamber to get into those rooms.....    That's not a 1 year pay back operation....   You are definitely in it for the long haul....   

BEAUTIFUL set up....   beats my electric skillet all to heck.....

I've read about the RO systems to save on fuel...  You use a vacuum system on the trees also...

I've seen "elevation" vacuum system pictures...  seems like a good deal...  automatic delivery right to the still...

 

[maplenut]

Yeah I run vacuum on  my trees. You get more even sap flows from day to day with vac.

There is a lot of new research in using natural vacuum in tubing setup. Basically, on a steep slope the tubing full of sap has enough weight to "pull" the sap from the trees just like a system that uses a vacuum pump. Only works well on steep slopes though.

As for the RO. I was having some really long boils, like 10 hrs long. And the one year I ran out of wood, 5 cords worth. Now I can take 250 gallons of sap that would be a 10 hr boil and run it thru the RO and reduce it to about 50 gals and end up with about 2 hrs of boiling! Big time and wood saver.

I then use the water that I pulled from the sap for cleaning and rinsing off of equipment.

 

[arkage82]

Maybe we need a new thread, or even a sub forum heading........ but I've been looking for ways to use maple syrup instead of just on pancakes and French toast. 

So far, I have had great success with Maple Peanut Brittle and with Maple Fudge, but looking for ways to incorporate it into glazes and maybe as a substitute for sugar/brown sugar in other recipes. 

TIA. 

 

[daveomak]

 
Yeah I run vacuum on  my trees. You get more even sap flows from day to day with vac.

There is a lot of new research in using natural vacuum in tubing setup. Basically, on a steep slope the tubing full of sap has enough weight to "pull" the sap from the trees just like a system that uses a vacuum pump. Only works well on steep slopes though.

As for the RO. I was having some really long boils, like 10 hrs long. And the one year I ran out of wood, 5 cords worth. Now I can take 250 gallons of sap that would be a 10 hr boil and run it thru the RO and reduce it to about 50 gals and end up with about 2 hrs of boiling! Big time and wood saver.

I then use the water that I pulled from the sap for cleaning and rinsing off of equipment.

That's amazing...  200 gallons of clean water to use from the sap...  saving 80% on fuel costs....    BIG TIME PAYOFF....

What kind of vacuum you pull ??   10" water.... 5" Hg...   just curious..

 

[daveomak]

 
Maybe we need a new thread, or even a sub forum heading........ but I've been looking for ways to use maple syrup instead of just on pancakes and French toast. 

So far, I have had great success with Maple Peanut Brittle and with Maple Fudge, but looking for ways to incorporate it into glazes and maybe as a substitute for sugar/brown sugar in other recipes. 

TIA. 

 Start it here......

We put maple syrup on bacon....   partially/fully cook the bacon in the oven on a rack, they spread syrup on the bacon and finish the cook....   You do not want to burn the syrup....

DSCF2106.JPG

• daveomak
• Feb 1, 2016

 

[maplenut]

I try to keep it running at 25" of vac.

As for using maple syrup in smoking that is how I kind of ended up here. We have been substituting maple syrup/sugar in our cooking and recently got the inch to do some smoking.
I figured that I could combine the two.

Maple sugar can be substituted 1 for 1 for either white sugar or brown sugar. You can also use maple syrup in place of the sugar in the recipe but you have to take into account the additional water that will be added to the recipe that is in maple syrup.

 

[arkage82]

Here's my Maple Nut Brittle recipe:

3 cups Maple Syrup

3 TBS Butter

Peanuts or any other nuts you might like (buy a jar, not sure how much you need, but you can eat them while you're boiling sugar) (Also, buy whatever kind you like salted/unsalted/honey roasted........ they all work, just a matter of personal preference)

1 tsp baking soda

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread nuts on top- however many you want (I like alot, but only single layer). Put into a 200 degree oven.

Boil syrup to exactly 300 degrees. (I sneak about a half TBS of the butter in to prevent foaming) At 290 get the peanuts and warm sheet out of the oven (the warm pan helps the sugar spread better)

At 300, remove from heat, add butter and baking soda and stir, stir, stir. The soda will foam and you want to add air and get the mixture to be the same throughout. This avoids the "stuck teeth" syndrome....... but after tasting it, you ain't gonna care anyway.

Pour over the peanuts trying to get as even a pour over the entire pan as possible. (Sugar is hot and holds heat, so be careful of burns- especially from trying to sample from the pot or the pan too early. DAMHIK.) ;-)

Allow to fully cool, then break up into whatever size pieces you like and enjoy. (The parchment paper eliminates sticking and makes clean up a breeze, except for the pot, but we fight over that. ).

This size batch usually lasts less than a few hours, depending on one's self control. 

 

[daveomak]

Thanks very much for the recipe...   I love brittle...  that's a TO-DO for sure....

 

[arkage82]

The devil is in the details in candymaking. I've "ruined" many batches (still delicious though- I'm famous for my "maple sludge"- fudge that wasn't quite firm, but excellent over ice cream)- working on my technique and procedure. 

The end result is well worth the educational journey. 

 

[mowin]

My one attempt at maple candy didn't go so well. I wasn't paying attention, and lets just say mom wasn't happy. Neither was I the stuff was everywhere. It wasn't pretty. Lol.

Maplenut, that a great looking setup you've got. Is that a small brothers?