Thinking about spring

Well, its been a tough summer. I think about syrup every day and getting down to the last few quarts of syrup we made in 2008 is sad. I feel a weird connection to it.

I had the good fortune of meeting a great Mainer who has been making maple syrup supplies and equipment for many many years. Though used, I was able to pick up a new 2x6 foot wood fired maple syrup evaporator from him which I am very excited about.

With a wood fired evaporator comes splitting and cutting tons of wood. Becca and I have made good use of the pine trees which have fallen on the property and I have been splitting them up.

We are also planning on locating the syrup operation in the shed this year. Tim has been over to discuss the modifications needed to get it up and going. More to come on that part of the project.

I do have one picture of the new evaporator which is above to left. Dont worry, more pictures to come soon enough.

Things are in the works for 2009

Thanks for checking back. If you have been around me since last spring you know I have been thinking about syrup every single day. BIG plans for the 2009 spring sugari'n season. Looks like the sugar shack may may happen, and the purchase of a 2x6 wood fired evaporator is on the horizon.

Stay tuned. I also hope to add a bunch more taps this year. Looking forward to a good season!

2008 Season Comes to an End!

The 2008 season has come to an end. We did the last collection of the season and the taps have run dry!

BUT...

This past weekend we have the mother-of-all-boils. A regular 'ol Bendah of syrup making. Brother Tim (that's not blood brother, but syrup brother) brought over 35 gallons of fresh red maple sap to add to the 70+/- gallons I had been sitting on for the past week. We started early with 20 gallons in the evaporator and I started to pre-warm the rest of the sap on the stove

After a few hours and 50 gallons later, Tim showed up with his sap and we added it all together. By 2pm we had 100 gallons going in the evaporator, the most she has ever seen at once (yes, we are in the garage due to bad weather..This is why I need a sugar shack).

As we tried to figure out how many gallons we were boiling per hour, we quickly realized it was going to be a long day. We passed the time discussing philosophy of gallons to sap ratio; we indulged in manly talks about tractors, chainsaws, microbrews and me throwing up on Tims boat. We even had a visit from Steve and Dylan who were happy to partake in the conversation. Sometime after 11pm Tim was long-gone and I decided to turn off the propane which left us 3" of sap to boil in the morning.

Sunday am we brought the batch inside after a final filter (background of picture below). We had another visit from our Topsham neighbors who came bearing FANTASTIC gifts of the best Maine wild blueberry Belgium waffles Becca and I have ever had.

After testing with the hydrometer, breaking the thermometer (you couldn't imagine the size of my eyes when we saw the temp of the syrup reach 283 degrees!) we bottled it all up. At the end of the day, Tim ended up with 1/2 gallon of finished syrup and I figured my daily tally was just about a full gallon. Below we PROUDLY display all of our hard work! The brown bottles are 1/2 gallon jugs, and the plastic bottles are pints and 1/2 pints.

I learned so much over the past 2 months. Its been soo much fun bringing together friends and family and learning a new hobby is really a great experience. This season turned up close to 5 gallons of finished syrup. Pretty good for the first season! Its also been fun thinking about how I can improve the operation next year. Bigger evaporator, sugar shack, more taps... Its all fun to think about.

More later.

More.

More syrup and even more fun headed our way this past weekend.

We had a nice visit from Sarah and Gerry who were eager to help with the weekend festivities of boiling. Friday Gerry and I collected full buckets and started the evaporator. We let it go until about 2am when we called it quits. At 9am we were back in action to boil down the last of the sap, and by 3pm we were finishing the batch on the stove. Here Sarah gets pretty excited about finished syrup.

After filtering, Gerry decided he couldn't leave ANY syrup in the filters OR on the counter. We told him no, but he just didn't listen! I guess you dont want to waste any of this tasty goodness!

After bottling up the final product, Sarah and Becca had a successful run at "sugar on snow". It was really tasty. Below Sarah watches carefully with her candy thermometer getting the syrup to the perfect temperature to make the hard candy.

Below, Becca and Sarah taste the candy!

At the end of the day, we were left with just over a gallon of final syrup. That's 4 quarts in cans, plus the beautiful bowl of golden syrup we used for pancake breakfast!

This weekend my syrup was thicker and darker partly because I boiled the finished product for longer. The last two batches were technically finished syrup (7 degrees above the boiling point of water that day) but after talking with some local backyard sugaring experts, I understand that a hydrometer is what REALLY gets you to finished syrup. A hydrometer is a device that measures the density of a liquid. I picked one up this week and hope to try it out this weekend. Always in search of that perfect batch!

On Sunday we had a great visit from brother Tim and Sonny. Tim brought a few gallons of evaporated sap to the house to finish, filter and bottle. The beer was flowing, but we paid close attention to the precise work we were doing. The next few pics are of Tim and I filtering and bottling his final product!

Tim ended up with 3/4 of a gallon and was a V-E-R-Y happy camper.

Tim and I are both collecting this week like mad men in hopes to have a massive syrup bender this weekend. We hope to boiling down close to 100 gallons of sap. This could be reality as long as the cold nights and warm days stay with us. Lets hope things pick up towards the end of the week!

More later.

Thursday,Friday-Good days

Thursday Little Gerry Kempen and I collected 25-30 gallons of sap. Stay tuned for a boil update from friday and saturday. We are hoping for another 1-2 gallons! We also may  be boiling some Greek Olive sap this weekend with Tim and Bethany. Stay tuned!

More later.

Wednesday Collection Minimal

Collection tonight was minimal. 

More later.

Warm Days, Heavy Lifting

Yesterday in Brunswick it was over 50 degrees. The night before was a nice cold night, getting down close to freezing temps.

I collected all the buckets yesterday, they were all as full and as heavy as they could be. Needless to say, it will be a busy weekend!

On another note, I made a trek to Tim and Bethany's house to see how the buckets were doing. Tim has 12-15 taps going as well in Wiscasset, Maine. Though they are only 40 min from us in Brunswick, they still have plenty of snow and the sap is much slower. I did collect 20+ gallons for them, which will keep him plenty busy!

More later.

Sunday, another Gallon?

How could Sunday be any better than what we had on Saturday? Well, it couldnt be better though I was flying solo with Becca and we tried for another round of Frances Tree Sap.

The set up was identical. Why change it if it aint broke?

Here, Ethan, Bob and I fill the evaporator and strain the sap before we bring it to a boil.

We had plenty of time to watch it boil as another 40 gallons was in the evaporator. Plenty of time to let Hayden do some sledding with dad! Riley is in close 3rd place bringing up the rear!

After sending all the visitors off to different states, I brought the nearly finished syrup back inside for the last few degrees.

After an hour and 3 final degrees, Becca and I filtered the final batch and bottled the hot tree juice up! Exactly 1 Gallon in the bottles, and a little more for the fridge collection!
More later.

Lots to discuss about Saturday!

Stay with me on this one- it may be long, but I promise it will be informative.

Since I posted last I collected about another 20 gallons of sap or so. It was enough both holding tanks were filled by Friday night when it got real cold.

Saturday morning I started off the boiling festivities. I got the evaporator set up outiside on the driveway and fired up the propane burners. The evaporator is a 2.5'x3.5' old lobster boiler made from stainless steel. Plenty of surface area to vent off that steam! I filled the evaporator with a few inches of sap, and started the pre-warming process on the stove inside.

As the evaporator started to boil, FIL Hoffmann and Co. arrived from the much anticipated trip from Hampden to assist the "new guy" on maple sugaring. An hour later BIL Hoffmann and Co. arrived safely from Stoneham. MIL was shortly behind from Falmouth.

Saturday was a cold day but Ethan, Bob and I spent plenty of time around the evaporator checking temps and trying to get the system down to a science.

Before we reached optimal temperature, we had a vist from our friends Steve, Mary Kate and Dylan.  Steve often entertains my crazy seasonal hobby ideas always lending full support. Here is a great pic of Steve, MK and Dylan all bundled up. It was only about 31 degrees outside, even by the maple sap steam!

In this pic below Hayden Hoffmann got to meet another little person. This is probably her first little Mainer friend. From left to right; Becca, Mary Kate, Steve and Dylan, Ethan and Liz and Hayden.

After about 8 hours of boiling, the 40 gallons of sap had boiled down to about 2 gallons in the evaporator. We were aiming for 217 degrees to pull it off the fire outside, and as soon as it did we brought it inside to finish it off for the last few degrees. As water was boiling at 211 that day, our aiming point was 218 to have finished syrup.

Here we have the **almost** finished syrup on the stove. Temps can rise VERY fast at this point so we are on constant watch for the next 3 degrees.

Bob looks on making sure that pot doesn't boil over!

As the temps rised towards finished syrup, MIL had plenty of "Hayden Time" and did a little posing for the camera!

As the nearly finished syrup boiled Ethan, Bob and I had plenty of time to smell the familiar smells of boiling sap, and strategize about next years plans for a real sugarhouse.

We are not sure what Ethan is doing here (below left), but either his hands are cold, or he is casting an evil spell on the syrup!

As the syrup reached final temps, we quickly pulled it off the heat and used a finish filter to get it nice and smooth.

After filtering, its in to the syrup bottles nice and hot! Here is the first bottle of "Frances Tree Juice"! Though I can't confirm what "Grade" this syrup is, it came out a nice amber color. Not too dark and REALLY sweet!

Below, Katy and Co. enjoy and old favorite-"sugar on snow".

The final finished batch for Saturday, March 29, 2008 was One Gallon in Bottles (2 Quarts, 4 Pints) with a full pitcher of syrup left over (in background) for all to enjoy for the Sunday morning pancake breakfast!

What a great, fun day with everyone and some great end product to boot! Its great to be a part of passing on old traditions to new generations. We cant wait 'till next time!

More later.

'Bout time for a nice warm(er) day in Maine

Temps last night were cold, but today brought some warmer temps in the high 40's, maybe even low 50's in the sun.

No pics today as I am feeling under the weather (thank you Tai Chicken wrap from an undisclosed location in Portland). However the buckets must be checked and emptied.

I checked all the trees today- and only found one disappointment and that was one bucket had tipped (or likely blown) over in the wind. She was full to the brim laying on her side, and sap was spilling out on to the ground. It was a sad sight, but it was still 1/2 full!

SOOO, close to 13 gallons today- enough that I filled my first storage tank and have moved on the the second tank.

I also got great news tonight that FIL Hoffmann (and co.) may be trekking down from Hampden this Saturday to provide the MUCH needed assist with the first boil. Keep your fingers crossed for another cold night, and another warm day.

More later.

Tuesday Sap Collection- A-OK!

After a slow (and damn cold!) day (see yesterday's report) I came home to about 11.5 or 12 gallons of fresh tree juice (combined from all the trees). Nothing too fun to report, other than I am running out of storage space to hold the sap for the weekend boil-hence the second holding tank you can see in the background of the bottom pic below. Each of the collection tanks (i.e. new trash cans) hold roughly 35 gallons. As you can tell im still in my super hero outfit from a hard days work! I learned the hard way that collecting sap in the dark is MUCH harder vs. doing it in the day light...

Thanks for looking!

More later.

March 25th- A Cold Day in Maine

Last nights sap collection was non existent. Maybe a inch or two in the buckets, worth maybe 1 gallon combined.

Its another cold day here in Maine. We woke up to 20 degree weather and it doesn't look like its going to get much warmer today. I have a feeling that stubborn sap is going to stay put for another day!

Wednesday and Thursday however looks good. Lows in the upper 20's and highs in the mid-to-upper 40's. If we could get two or three 45 degree days, the sap will likely run pretty good.

On another extremely important note, today is Madison's Birthday! She is 7. How could you just not LOVE that little chocolate doggie?

More later.

The pictures below are from the Easter Sunday sap collection

Madison is VERY interested in the sap!

Easter Sunday Brings BIG Rewards

Its been cold here in Brunswick, Maine. We still have ample snow on the ground and the day/night temps have been running ~35-40/20-30 according to the trusty weather station. The Friday and Saturday sap run brought only a few inches in each bucket, and most of the tubing, taps and sap was frozen solid.

HOWEVER.....Easter Sunday brought us some good luck. As Becca fought off oncoming traffic on River Road, I made a quick jaunt at 8pm to check the buckets. After finding the first bucket with only a few inches of sap I figured it was another slow day. Just for S&G I checked one of the big Sugar Maples near the house- The 5 gallon bucket was filled to the brim! I quickly dropped Becca off at the house and headed back with the replacement buckets to do the first real bulk collection of the season. So exciting!

When all was said-and-done, we have 20 gallons of sap! It must have been just the right temperature for the sap to flow in those trees, because most of the buckets were almost full. I transferred all of the sap to the holding tank buried in the snowbank and replaced the buckets.

Last night was cold, so we can only hope today brings 40+ degrees to keep things flowing again. Remember, with a 40:1 sap to syrup ratio, we need tons 'o sap to yield a decent amount of syrup this season.

More later.
Also, check out the pics I posted.

As of Friday, Match 21, 2008 **The Maple SyrupTaps Are In!**

After months of research, reading and talking with many folks about producing maple syrup in your backyard, I decided that I would give it a shot. After all, this is why we moved to Maine, right? With nothing to hunt, and it being still too cold to fish, why not take advantage of the cold nights and warm days and see what the local sugar maple trees will yield?

The first part of this experiment was locating some suitable trees. Our property is full of Pine trees (as I found out it was used as a tree farm about 40 years ago) so we have no Sugar Maple trees. We do, however have very nice neighbors who have allowed us to tap the trees they own. They are all very close to our property and will be pretty easy to access on a regular basis.

As of Friday March 21st, the taps are in! 6 trees, 15 taps and maybe more to come!

When reading about the methods to collect sap from the trees, I started thinking about tapping the trees the traditional way. This uses metal spiles (taps) that are drilled in to the trees, and from them you hang 2 or 2.5 gallon metal buckets to collect the sap. After a bunch of research I realized that this method is costly (about 25 dollars per tap,bucket and cover) and on warm days you could easily loose sap because the buckets can overflow. One advantage to metal splines and buckets is that they will last forever. Its not uncommon to see people tapping sugar maple trees with buckets and taps handed down through multiple generations.

The alternative to traditional tapping methods is to use plastic taps which feed UV protected plastic tubing which can empty in to a covered plastic 5 gallon bucket left on the ground. Not only does this give you more room to collect sap, but they are cheaper and will never fall off the tree. One disadvantage to this method is the plastic taps can break when you remove them and are just not as durable as metal.

Check back often- I hope to figure out how to post some pictures and keep you updated on how we make out.