Maple Syrup time for 2024

[woodwalker]

Another AWESOME post! The gentleman sitting in the chair seems nice and comfy and content! So cool to see your ongoing process! What a great life for you and your family! I like all the photos and process! My wife grew up on a farm and her dad would buy sorghum and local honey. So much better than store bought. Her dad raised cattle and goats. They made cottage cheese by straining it through pillow sheets. I find all this intriguing!! Her dad had a big garden and they lived a great simple life. Thank you again for your post. I have really enjoyed it! You live in a beautiful area and have a great life!

[Rookie]

Another AWESOME post! The gentleman sitting in the chair seems nice and comfy and content! So cool to see your ongoing process! What a great life for you and your family! I like all the photos and process! My wife grew up on a farm and her dad would buy sorghum and local honey. So much better than store bought. Her dad raised cattle and goats. They made cottage cheese by straining it through pillow sheets. I find all this intriguing!! Her dad had a big garden and they lived a great simple life. Thank you again for your post. I have really enjoyed it! You live in a beautiful area and have a great life!

Thank you woodwalker for the kind words. Yes that's my dad in the chair. He put in his hard hours, and now that he is 70 I've given him permission to take it easy and let me take over. He's always been in charge, so it's quite a transition for him to pass the reigns. Maybe in 20 more years he'll let me take over completely!

Sounds like your father-in-law would fit right in with us. We have honeybees, and large gardens. My sister has a horse farm and plants acres of sweet corn. And 3 of my uncles have beef farms. We enjoy home life, lots of family gatherings and picnics, and making different things for ourselves. I'll have to post in the fall when we have our apple cider party, where we grind 30 bushels of apples into fresh cider to give away to everyone.

[Rookie]

Another little update for our maple syrup process. We had a few days hit 70 degrees here, which is not great for maple syrup makers. I have my fingers crossed we will get another cold spell and make a bit more syrup, but it likely is all over.

Here's the next step. Once the syrup gets close, it is drawn off from the evaporator, and stored until ready to be filtered. We take 3 gallons at a time, and heat it up in our finishing pan, which is a series of burners from a propane tank, so we can precisely control the heat. When exactly at syrup, we run it through our filter press.

The syrup is pumped through a series of 15 plates, each of which has a filter membrane between, to catch any impurities. As you can imagine, making syrup is a sticky process. Lots of little drips work their way out. From there the hot clean syrup is pumped into our stainless holding tanks until ready for jugging. We try to keep each batch of syrup in separate tanks, because the flavor and color changes from beginning to end of season. This way we can blend it together when time to jug, or keep the 1st batch separate for maple candy. Some family members also prefer the very mild early syrup, while others like the strong maple tasting end syrup.

I'll post more pictures once we get to the jugging process.

[wlf]

Thanks for the details on the process. I'm curious about the tapping process.
We have people near us in Wayne, WV that process maple syrup. My nephew and his kids ( he has 9 and he's in his early 40's) are giving it a go.
They've made hundreds of gallons of apple butter the past few years. It's a community and family tradition now.

Whereabouts do you do this Carl?

[Rookie]

Thanks for the details on the process. I'm curious about the tapping process.
We have people near us in Wayne, WV that process maple syrup. My nephew and his kids ( he has 9 and he's in his early 40's) are giving it a go.
They've made hundreds of gallons of apple butter the past few years. It's a community and family tradition now.

Whereabouts do you do this Carl?

Hi WLF, I can give a brief overview of the tapping process, but please let me know if you have any specific questions. We are in northwestern Pennsylvania, about 30 miles south of Erie. Historically the sugar maples native range didn't extend much further south than Pittsburgh. I'm guessing if there are maples in West Virginia for your nephew to tap, they are likely Red Maples or other varieties.

We tap only sugar maples, as they have sap with the highest sugar content, and require the least amount of time and effort to get good syrup. Red maples are the next sweetest, and then other species are less than that. The taste is a bit different depending on which species you make syrup from. Since we only use buckets, we try to save as much energy and time as possible. But for larger producers that have tubing and vacuum systems set up in their woods, they can tap red maples along with the sugars, and the sap all blends together. They usually also use a Reverse Osmosis machine to get rid of a lot of the water before boiling. All that isn't necessary if you are just doing a hobby setup for fun, that is more for the big-time guys who are trying to turn a profit.

When you tap, try to stay away from last years holes, and not directly above or below last years holes, as the tree scar tissue will block sap flow. Try to tap directly above a strong root and in-line below of a large lead off the main trunk, for best sap flow. Tap in about 3 inches deep, at a very slight uphill slope, so the sap will run out easily. Make sure the hole is cleared out of wood chips before putting in the spile. If we tapped eye-level high last year, the next year we try to go lower, around waist level, to help to not damage the tree in the same area every year. Once a tree is around 18 inches in diameter, we will put 1 tap on it. Once it gets big enough that you can barely wrap your arms around it in a bear hug, we put 2 taps on it. Bigger trees will get 3 or 4, and sometimes 5 taps for massive trees.

Let me know what other questions you have.

[FRJ]

This is so interesting!

[Reverand]

I have two sugar maple trees, but have not tried tapping them or making syrup. I doubt that it would turn out well since it doesn't stay very cold here in Alabama.
I have the story on how these came this far South:
We got saplings from a good friend of the family. The man was an awesome knife mechanic who unfortunately died of cancer a few years ago. Anyway, originally his grandfather fought in the American Civil War, and while up North he saw the beautiful maple trees. On his way home after the war, he dug a small sapling and carried it home and planted it on a hillside.
That original tree died around 30 years ago, but that hillside was covered in generations of sugar maple trees that had spread out from it.
My father and I got several small saplings ourselves when the family cleared that hillside to build another house on their farm, around 25 years ago. Mine have continued to grow, but have never really thrived in the poor soil at my house.

[Waukonda]

Thoroughly enjoying your pics and commentary. Thanks for posting, Carl.

[robpa]

You can tap in the south, its actually becoming more popular. Sap runs up in trees, probably not as strong a runs as up here. Small scale boiling in the kitchen can be a messy thing, That I know for sure!. Last time we did it we used a propane turkey cooker . Last time a buddy and I tried it we had a full pan under a corn stalk lean to. We were using 250 galpropane tanks, fell asleep. Dont know if the alcohol had anything to do with it but the pan boiled dry. Cookec off a bout 100 gallons and made some nice black charcoal.. Even after scrubbing down the next batch tasted burnt.

[wlf]

I worked in Ashtabula,O several times Carl . I envy your maple syrup, but not the winters . I enjoyed fishing at Mosquito Lake when I worked at Warren, O.

[Rookie]

You can tap in the south, its actually becoming more popular. Sap runs up in trees, probably not as strong a runs as up here. Small scale boiling in the kitchen can be a messy thing, That I know for sure!. Last time we did it we used a propane turkey cooker . Last time a buddy and I tried it we had a full pan under a corn stalk lean to. We were using 250 galpropane tanks, fell asleep. Dont know if the alcohol had anything to do with it but the pan boiled dry. Cookec off a bout 100 gallons and made some nice black charcoal.. Even after scrubbing down the next batch tasted burnt.

You wouldn't by chance of been hanging around with Johnny Mulligan were you???

I worked in Ashtabula,O several times Carl . I envy your maple syrup, but not the winters . I enjoyed fishing at Mosquito Lake when I worked at Warren, O.

Nice area for sure. I know where Mosquito lake is, but I've never fished there before.

[chickenman62]

I once used a 55 gallon drum with a hole cut out for a pan. Started early in the morning and cooked well into darkness. Finally tried to finish up in the kitchen. Big mistake. Started to steam my wallpaper off the wall. Ended up with around a half gallon of syrup but never did it again.

[doglegg]

I worked in Ashtabula,O several times Carl . I envy your maple syrup, but not the winters . I enjoyed fishing at Mosquito Lake when I worked at Warren, O.

I learned to water ski on Mosquito Lake when I was a younger man.

[robpa]

HaHaHa!! Johnny Mulligan!! Now there is a bonifide hoot!. He lives a mile up the road from me. Ive had some of his "syrup". its a real Mulligans stew. Smoky, dirty and down right bot good. I could tell stories all day about that guy, but I kinda like him??? No, it was another sorta character who bought Bob terrels farm years ago. We did get some pretty good syrup eventually. All the lines were still in place from when Tobin collected there. Another character!. I used to help Klacamps, Glen Shields and a couple other old timers. For its day, Klacamps had a masterful setup abutting our farm off Kinter Hill Rd.
Been to Mosquito Lake, all the lakes and rivers in the upper Alleghenny, pittsburg district connected to the Ohio when I worked for Army corps of engineers.

[Rookie]

I once used a 55 gallon drum with a hole cut out for a pan. Started early in the morning and cooked well into darkness. Finally tried to finish up in the kitchen. Big mistake. Started to steam my wallpaper off the wall. Ended up with around a half gallon of syrup but never did it again.

Sounds like a fun time!

I worked in Ashtabula,O several times Carl . I envy your maple syrup, but not the winters . I enjoyed fishing at Mosquito Lake when I worked at Warren, O.

I learned to water ski on Mosquito Lake when I was a younger man.

HaHaHa!! Johnny Mulligan!! Now there is a bonifide hoot!. He lives a mile up the road from me. Ive had some of his "syrup". its a real Mulligans stew. Smoky, dirty and down right bot good. I could tell stories all day about that guy, but I kinda like him??? No, it was another sorta character who bought Bob terrels farm years ago. We did get some pretty good syrup eventually. All the lines were still in place from when Tobin collected there. Another character!. I used to help Klacamps, Glen Shields and a couple other old timers. For its day, Klacamps had a masterful setup abutting our farm off Kinter Hill Rd.
Been to Mosquito Lake, all the lakes and rivers in the upper Alleghenny, pittsburg district connected to the Ohio when I worked for Army corps of engineers.

lol, good times Rob!