The spiles are pulled and the buckets are washed and put away. With this week's warm temperatures came the end of our maple syrup season. It was an odd combination of exhausting and relaxing, finishing around midnight on Saturday night.
From what I have read on the maple syrup Facebook group I follow, it was a spotty year across Wisconsin. Our numbers reflected that. We tapped 14 trees this year, definitely hobby-level production. They yielded approximately 81 gallons of sap, or about 5.75 gallons per tap. According to the Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producer Association's guidebook A Beginners Guide for Everyone, an average tap produces about 10 gallons of sap a season, so we were well below that. I tapped a couple of silver maples this year, and despite these being by far the largest trees I tapped, they did not produce a large volume of syrup. That 81 gallons of syrup produced 1.3 gallons of finished syrup, for a ratio of 61:1. The guidebook lists a ratio of 40:1. In summary, we produced less sap than I had hoped, and that sap had a low sugar content. Like most agricultural activities, production is limited by weather, so there is no sense complaining about factors beyond our control.
Our setup is something I can control, and it was much better than last year, requiring less work. There are still two areas that can use improvement. My evaporation rate was probably as high as 4 gallons an hour. This is better than the fire pit I used last year, but it still took me 10 hours to boil our last batch of 36 gallons of sap. I could either upgrade to a single flat pan or invest in a simple reverse osmosis (RO) setup. Both would cost about the same, but I think I could reduce my boiling time more with RO. Two passes of sap through an RO filter would reduce the volume to 25 percent of the original sap volume.
The most frustrating step is the final filtering to remove sugar sand. I use an orlon cone filter to gravity-filter the sap. The filter absorbs a lot of syrup, and clogs even with the use of two pre-filters. It is a messy operation. I have watched a few YouTube videos on homebuilt vacuum filter systems. I think for a minimum investment I could modify what I have. The most expensive item would be a small shop vacuum; a small one at Harbor Freight is about $40, and I can probably find one at a rummage sale.
There are also two other changes I am considering. I may invest in a syrup hydrometer, to determine when the sap is syrup. I currently use a thermometer, as syrup is supposed to be done when it boils at 7.5 degrees above the boiling point of water. Commercial maple syrup is deemed 'syrup' at a specific density. Hydrometers are inexpensive and I have used them for homebrewing, so it would be an inexpensive upgrade to ensure I am not under or overcooking the final syrup. I may also buy some maple syrup-specific bottles for fun, instead of putting all of the syrup into canning jars. They would make for a better-looking gift, although the canning jars have a rustic charm.
For now, the canning jars of syrup are labeled and put away. Time for pancakes for dinner.
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