The secret to crystal clear Maple Syrup at home! It’s all about the filter!

[@Curtis1824]

Thanks for watching and following along on our journey!! Be sure to subscribe for future updates and projects on the farm with this link bit.ly/2YWNN7T

[@keithgiese3117]

Very nice

[@trevorfillmore698]

Just found your channel and subscribed. I have a hobby sugar bush as well I have to build myself an evaporator I'm just using two propane burners not cost effective at all lol. Great job on your syrup nothing better than making something for yourself or even better giving stuff to the family. My wife and my family always enjoy when I bring a bottle of syrup or moose meat or something we grew from our garden.

[@Curtis1824]

Welcome to the channel! I think once you have homemade maple syrup there really is no comparison! I used the propane burner my first year, so I feel your pain. If you’re able, definitely try wood boiling. Gives the syrup an little smokey flavor that makes it even better!

[@richardhershbergerii6604]

Looks tasty

[@Curtis1824]

It definitely is! Open fire gives it a nice smokey flavor too!

[@kaybee9000]

What was the Brix of the Sap?

[@Curtis1824]

I don’t have a tester for Brix. Maybe something to look into for next year!

[@richardgallant3371]

Did your syrup taste like smoke .

[@Curtis1824]

It had a hint of smoke but it wasn’t overwhelming. Barely noticeable and actually the way we prefer it.

[@newhampshire-bob1604]

I hear the steam will make you a little sticky as well! I wonder who discovered this?

[@Curtis1824]

Definitely makes you sticky! I try to boil off as much as possible before bringing it inside which makes for an even bigger sticky mess. How’s that tractor doing? Finally got mine back again.

[@newhampshire-bob1604]

@@Curtis1824 Hmmm, I think I need to do a little quality control on that syrup for you! Tractor is doing good, we have about 14” of snow on the ground here at the moment that is very hard and crunchy, not doing too much with it at the moment! Plan on doing a video tomorrow.

[@eclark53520]

First, please don't feel like I'm telling you you're doing it wrong, because you're not. Lots of ways to make syrup. I'm boiling on about the same set up as you. I just wanted to type out a few things I've learned to increase my evap rate. 2" sap depth, try to keep it as close to 2" of sap as possible. Feed the fire smaller wood more often, this REALLY upped my evap rate by keeping consistent hard boils all day. I'm feeding 2 splits the width of my fist every 10 minutes. Close off the front of the fire box. Keep as much airflow available to the bottom of the fire as you can, but that wide open front is the reason the front pan doesn't boil. Too much cold air getting sucked in. When I put a front on mine (two blocks on their sides with the top one blocked off) this turned my front pan from the least boil to the most boil. Now my syrup ends up in my front pan. I went from 1-2 gallons per hour out of a 2 hotel pan set up, to 4-5 gph with those changes. I have 10 trees tapped and was able to get through 100 gallons of sap in about 23 hours of boiling over a weekend. Long days, but putting away 2 gallons of syrup in one weekend out of 10 taps was a major accomplishment for me. Great video! I like that you used bricks as your dampener on the chimney, that's exactly what I did. This year, my improvement is ball valves on sap buckets so I can drip the sap in very slowly instead of killing the boil every time I put more sap in. Next year is 10 more taps and a custom built evaporator that should get 8-10 gph evap rate.

[@Curtis1824]

Thank you for such a detailed comment! I appreciate the feedback and advice to speed things up. It takes forever to boil on the pans. I did start blocking off the front to restrict the airflow which definitely helped speed things up. I use the first pan of the three to preheat the sap before moving it to the other pans. That also helps get it back up to boil quicker. I agree with what you say about smaller pieces of wood. I guess I tend to put the bigger pieces on to keep the fire going longer before I have to check on it because usually I'm multitasking and doing a few other things at the same time. I'm impressed with how much sap you've gotten from your 10 taps! Thanks for watching! Long days of boiling, but homemade maple syrup is the best reward for a hard days work!