Backyard or Homestead Maple Syrup Production
Updated Feb. 2021
Due the virus in 2020, many state extension services have published online articles about getting started in making maple syrup.
Also; on the online marketing sites, there are a number of sellers selling old maple syrup equipment, beware even though the prices are good, most of the buckets and tanks are old galvanized with lead solder (Please don't use them).
Likewise, as with the demand being higher the prices for equipment has risen, look for alternatives. I saw on homesteader used plastic pipe for the tap and attached a plastic bag using large rubber band as his tap and bucket system.
I have noticed that more people are buying maple syrup from small-scale producers. Perhaps it is a result of the pandemic and people are supporting local farmers/homesteaders or maybe they just want a healthy alternative sweetener. Whatever the case, this is a great time to be making syrup. / Bob
It’s Tuesday morning, January 21st with an outside temperature of 21 degrees F. As a maple syrup producer, it is time to prepare to tap the trees. We finally got that cold snap and tapping can begin anytime in the next 4 weeks. Maple syrup season actually is mid – late Winter, not Springtime as many people think.
Our homesteader’s philosophy is “to use what we have in our hands”, so our first question before beginning is what equipment and supplies do we already have and what do we need buy or borrow?
Let’s go step-by-step:
1. Do you have a source of maple trees? To identify the maple tree, look for opposite branching and that unique maple leaf. There are two groups of maples: Hard maple – sugar maple and black maple, and Soft maples – red, silver and the box elders. They all produce sap; however hard maple sap has a sugar content of over 2% whereas soft maple sap sugar content is around 1%.
Opposite branching
Another characteristic that influences sugar content in the sap (essentially raw, watered down maple syrup) is the size of the tree’s crown. Those maples growing in yards or along fields with big crowns are the best for tapping.
If you don’t know how to identify maple trees, you can go online, to the library, or your county extension office for information. I’ll put some resources at the end of this article.
Maple sap is the liquid that flows from the trees. It has a sugar content from 0.5% - 4% sugar. The sap has a slight sweetness to the taste, while finished syrup, after boiling, has a 66% sugar (sucrose) content with a profoundly sweet taste.
A rule of thumb: it takes 40 gallons of 2 % sugar content sap to produce ONE gallon of finished syrup, and it takes 80 gallons of 1 % sap per gallon of syrup.
2. What size tree and how many taps can you place in a tree? Maple trees should be 10” in diameter (measured across the center of a circle if you were to cut a slice from the tree) at 4 ½ feet above the ground. This is called the DBH or Diameter Breast Height. The number of taps depends on the tree’s diameter at this measurement.
Here is a guide:
a. 1 tap /tree for a 10 – 15” tree at DBH
b. 2 taps/tree for a 15 – 20” tree at DBH
c. 3 taps/tree for a 20 – 25” tree at DBH
d. 4 taps/tree maximum for any tree over 25” DBH
This tree would not have been big enough to tap, it is only 9" in diameter
A good season will produce about 1 pint per tap of finished syrup for the smaller trees and 1 quart per tap of trees over 20” in diameter.
3. How much sap does each tap produce? Sap flow varies depending upon the weather. Excellent weather for a sap run is considered to have warm days of temps greater than 40 degrees F. and freezing nights below 32 degrees F. Small trees can flow 1 – 2 gallons of sap/tap/day while larger trees can have flows from 3 – 5 gallons of sap/tap/day.
Sap flows upwards towards the crown as the temperature rises and retreats toward the roots as the temperature drops to freezing.
A standard, metal tap
4. What do you use for taps? You can order supplies online or at get them at a local hardware or farm supply store. Many farm supply stores now sell maple syrup equipment to get you started. On eBay, you can order a few taps or a hundred. Taps can be a metal style or plastic spigots which are used with plastic tubing. You can even go ‘old school’ and make your own from elderberry stems (4” long by 3/8” diameter and hollowed out). Another method is to cut 3/8” PVC pipe about 3” long and put a notch near one end to attach your bucket or bag. NEVER use copper pipe/tubing – it will damage and possibly kill the tree.
This 3 gallon bucket is about 3 1/2 feet from the base of the tree
5. How do you drill the tap hole? If you like doing things ‘old school’, you can use a hand brace with either a 3/8” or 7/16” wood drill bit. I use a portable electric drill and impact drill which works great, too. Tap hole size is determined by the size of your taps or spigots. Whatever the size of your tap, make sure to get a quality, high-speed drill bit so you make a clean tap hole.
You will drill a tap hole about 3” deep at the height that is easiest for you to use the drill (you aren’t bending over or stretching upwards) and best for the type of sap collection method you use. I usually go about 3 ½ ft. above the ground and never tap within 3” of a previous tap hole. (As the tap hole closes each year it produces scar tissue which doesn’t allow sap flow.) As you drill, attempt to drill at a slight upward angle and clean out the wood shavings from the hole before inserting the tap. Use a hammer to ‘sit’ the tap but be careful not to pound the tap too hard – that may cause the wood fibers around the hole to crack. You will need to use the hammer to reset taps that become loose during sap collection, so keep one with you throughout the season.
We use aluminum buckets with lid to collect sap
6. How do you collect the sap at the tree? We all have pictures in our heads of a snow-covered sugar bush with metal buckets hanging on trees and steam pouring out of the sap house. Usually there is a horse drawn sleigh with happy kids and a jovial grandpa, too. On our homestead, things look a little different. We use 3-gallon aluminum buckets, which cost about $8.00 each. (CAUTION - beware of the old galvanized buckets – they contain lead solder and should not be used. These can still be found for sale at farm auctions and Craigslist-type sites.) There are other options, though. Craigslist had food grade plastic buckets for ~ $2.00 each. Also, check with local grocery stores, fast food restaurants, and take-out places – they often have bucket to sell or even give away. (You can even trade some of your finished syrup to add buckets to your stash.)
Clean plastic, food-grade jug will hold about 1/2 gallon of sap
Some producers use heavy plastic bags tied to the taps or even plastic milk jugs. Remember, all equipment needs to be disinfected at the beginning of each season and before putting them in storage when the season is over.
For the producer using plastic spigots with plastic tubing, a 5- or 6-gallon bucket can be placed at the tree base and more than one tap line can be collected in each bucket. Use lids to keep dirt, insects and rodents out of your sap, but don’t seal the lids tightly so you can empty the sap easily. No one wants to wrestle with a lid on a cold winter day. If you plan on using a tubing system connecting trees to the storage tank, look online and visit several producers using a tube system before making the investment in equipment.
7. You have identified the maple trees you wish to tap, purchased the equipment, determined how many taps will be in each tree and tapped them. The sap is running and now it is time to collect the sap. We use 5-gallon bucket, but each full bucket weighs over 35 pounds so it is hard for small kids to carry a full bucket. The key to sap collection is to get your transport-collection container (55-gallon barrel or a 250-gallon plastic tote) and vehicle (i.e.: ATV, UTV, truck, tractor) as close to the tapped trees as possible. With my tractor and tote for 100 taps, I have 5 collection points with most tapped trees within 100 feet of each stop. Remember, it will be late Winter/early Spring and the soil is wet and subject to ruts.
8. Filter the sap. At the boiling station sap can be transferred to other storage containers or you can directly fill the boiling pan. Whichever you do, you need to filter the sap. I use my milk strainers and paper filters or layered cheese cloth. This will remove large particulate matter from the sap.
My boiling station, just stacked firebricks arranged to securely support the boiling pan
9. What do you use as a boiling pan? The commercial pans cost over $8000 and backyard pan systems cost about $300. Because of this, producers use old metal kettles, stainless steel and aluminum pans. Our first pan was a used 150-gallon, 8 ft long stainless-steel commercial kitchen sink that was closed at the drain. It worked well for many years. Now my pan is a stainless-steel pan (22” W x 50” L x 13” H) and it holds over 50 gallons. It was a commercial kitchen’s pre-wash pan. It has bars across the top so I can lift it off the firebox to pour the boiled sap out. Use your imagination for a pan however, don’t use cut barrels or old fuel tanks. Remember sap boils at a rate of ½ - 1” per hour, so larger, shallow surfaces boil faster have deep pans. For small producers look for banquet and serving pans – they work great. You want a heavy gauge stainless for better heat distribution.
Whatever you use to boil, have a quick, safe way to remove the pan and syrup from the heat. With my large pan, as soon as the syrup is removed, I add water or fresh sap to the pan because maple sugar in the hot pan will scorch on the bottom and ruin the next batch.
10. As a heat source, I use scrap lumber and low-grade firewood. Aspen wood, when dried, is a great heat source when split into small pieces. It produces a good, fast, hot fire. Dried edges from a sawmill are easy to handle and produce great hot fires. If you are lucky to have natural gas – not propane – you can easily control your flame and boiling. I built a firebox to fit my boiling pan out of firebricks. I simply stacked them alternately in a three-sided box shape. I use the open end to feed the fire (and stay warm).
11. Once you remove the boiled syrup from the boiling pan, you will still need to finish processing the syrup. I have a two-burner propane camp stove and a 3-gallon heavy stainless-steel pot that works great. I strain the syrup as I am filling the pot. Gas heat is a good way to have a constant and controllable heat source. Too much heat will cause the syrup to boil over, wasting syrup and making a sticky mess. I have to boil 40 gallons of sap down to get approximately 2 gallons syrup, which needs to be transferred to the finishing pot.
There are 4 ways to know when the syrup is done:
a. You need to continue the processing until the sugar content is 66%, or
b. it weighs 11 pounds/ gallon of syrup, or
c. use a brix hydrometer to measure sugar content (costs about $25) and though these are easy to break, or
d. you can use a thermometer and measure the syrup temperature – it is finished when it reaches 219 degrees F at sea level. I use my wife’s infrared laser thermometer which she uses for canning and cheesemaking.
12. Finishing the job. You must filter and can the syrup. I use a cotton and paper filter system to remove as much of the syrup sand as possible. The syrup must be hot when you filter it. I reheat the syrup, filter it and seal it in canning jars or specially designed plastic syrup jugs.
A few additional points:
Maple syrup is graded by color, the lighter the color, the higher the grade. Usually the lighter syrup has a milder taste, too.
Interrupting (starting, stopping, then restarting) the boiling process will darken the syrup color, so will adding cold sap to the boiling sap.
Early season syrup is usually lighter in color than a later season product.
We can start the maple season early and operate until the trees start to bud. The sap turns cloudy and has a bitter taste after this. Soft maples bud out earlier than hard maples.
Being a homesteader, I try to make a late sap run that I can use with our animals, especially calves and lambs needing extra energy.
When people think maple syrup only goes with pancakes or waffles but the real jewel is topping vanilla ice cream with maple syrup.
My wife loves the late season syrup and she has a number of recipes for the bolder, dark syrup. She is going to share a few ideas with you:
Sweet Dreams,
Bob
Maple Syrup in the Kitchen
The bolder, dark maple syrup is a perfect substitute for molasses in most recipes. It can also be substituted for honey, giving the finished product a smoky, sweet character.
Here are a few easy substitutions:
Baked beans – add maple syrup instead of brown sugar
Oatmeal bread – my recipe calls for molasses but maple syrup compliments the sweet, nuttiness of the oats.
BBQ sauce – I have a ketchup-based BBQ recipe that calls for molasses but dark, smoky maple syrup elevates the BBQ to a whole new level.
Sugar rub – Coat your pork roast with maple syrup instead of using a sugar rub. Holy Smokes: it will bring tears to your eyes.
Lemonade – don’t sweeten your homemade lemonade with white sugar, use maple syrup to taste. The minerals and electrolytes in maple syrup make this a delicious energy drink.
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