MAPLE SYRUP TIME

Maple syrup time is here. There is only is a short window to collect the sap, usually there is about a six week period when the sap is running.
This year I tapped 16 Sugar maple trees.
When tapping a tree, a 5/16 in. drill bit is used.
The depth of the hole should be about two inches.
The hole should be drilled at a slight angle downward, this will help the sap flow into the spline and down the tube to the collecting chamber.

My son @ryan313 and our grandchildren were up for the weekend and that made the collecting of the sap that had run that night even that much more enjoyable.
As you can tell from the pics it was a perfect day for collecting.
For the sap to run, the night time temperatures must fall below freezing, and during the day the temperature must rise aabove freezing by at least 5 degrees.

All of the collected sap must be kept refrigerated and must be boiled within 7 days of collecting.
Being that there is sugar in the sap, if it is not kept cold, it will start to ferment and taste like vinegar.

After collecting sap for five days, it was time to get started and get the cooker ready to go.

Once the flames have died down and a bed of hot coals are established it is time to put the sap in the pans and start the boil.

I will be boiling down 29 gallons of sap, this will take about four hours and will produce around 68 ounces of pure Maple Syrup.

Throughout the boiling process the foam is removed with a fine strainer.
You can see the brown sugar sands collecting in the foam.
The more sugar sands that can be removed during the boil the sweeter the syrup.

During the boil there is a lot of time to sit and relax, why not have a couple of cold ones.

The skies were clear and the air was brisk, about 28 degrees when I first started the fire, but it would warm up nicely.

After a couple of hours of boiling we were down to three pans, combining the pans as we went.

Down to two pans, and time to change into something a little more suited for the balmy weather. 47 degrees now.

The All Day IPA's only work out if you have enough to last all day, had to switch to Stella.

Down to one pan, and almost ready to filter and place syrup on the outdoor cooker.
I like to switch to the cooker at the very end of the boil as you have a little more control over the heat.

With a little bit of imagination I almost feel like I'm sitting on the beach in Costa Rica with @dandays and @puravidavile. Toasty temperatures and white stuff all around, sitting in a beach chair.

With the sap all boiled down it is time to run through the final filter and bottle.

Ended up with only 48 ounces of syrup. Had my first boil over while doing the last boil in the kitchen, what a mess. Lost about 20 ounces of syrup. Oh well, first time for everything.