The 2011 Maple Syrup season

This year we tapped about 450 trees to produce our own Maple syrup, which is for sale in our retail store. We bottle it in quarts or a variety of fancy jars.

Tapping the Tree
The flow of sap is highly dependant upon weather conditions. The peak flow occurs in March when temperatures drop below freezing at night followed by bright and sunny skies the next day with the temperature in the 40s. We either place a bag on each tree or link the trees with tubing which drains into a central holding tank.

 

 

 

Boiling it down
We use a wood fired commercial evaporator to produce our syrup.  The sap is pre-heated by first passing through the hood before entering the evaporator.  It then proceeds through a series of channels, getting more dense as the water is evaporated.  The evaporator will boil away about 50 gallons of water per hour. 

 

 

 

Testing the syrup
Sap enters the evaporator between 2.0 - 2.5 % sugar.  When it exits as syrup, about 96% of the water has been removed, leaving the sugars and minerals behind.  We us an hydrometer to test the density.  When the guage indicates its at syrup, we draw off about 1-2 quarts at a time

 

 

 

 

Final product
After the process is complete, the syrup is filtered to take out any impurities.  It is  then processed into a variety of bottles.  You may buy our maple syrup at our orchard retail shop.