Chad Hauenstein
Member
Dads Sugar shack was running today so I got the kids up to help out.
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Sugar shack
- Thread starter Chad Hauenstein
- Start date
Dads Sugar shack was running today so I got the kids up to help out.
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lakngolf
Well-Known Member
Love it. Growing up we had an old neighbor (Mr. Seburne) who had a sugar cane syrup mill on hill above his house. The school bush came down that hill nearby. In the fall we would check for smoke up on the hill. If we saw smoke we knew syrup was in process. Syrup in process meant that we could get a sip as the cane juice flowed from squeezer to the first bin. Everyone drank out of the same gourd!
I loved watching those mules go round and round as a worker fed cane stalks into the squeezer.
I loved watching those mules go round and round as a worker fed cane stalks into the squeezer.
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Chad Hauenstein
Member
I have never seen a sugar cane syrup mill in person before but the picts looks cool. I too have great memories when i was young of helping Grandapa make sugar! We would run lines, feed the fire, and of course sample the syrup.
Dads set up is smaller, making 50 gallons in a good year. The buckets are more work but the kids love to go up and help.
Chad Hauenstein
Member
couple other picts of the set up. Not a cold day today but when it is chilly its great being the guy who feeds the fire.
And of course what ya get to take home.
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And of course what ya get to take home.
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Wild Thing
Member
Love the Sugar House Chad. Your Dad has it set up very nicely! Would love to have that evaporator...
We usually tap in early March and will be tapping next week. Not quite as fancy as your dad's but our home made evaporator eventually gets the job done. Here are a few pics of our Ma & Pa operation - 120 taps. In a decent year we will finish off 30-35 gallons.
We usually tap in early March and will be tapping next week. Not quite as fancy as your dad's but our home made evaporator eventually gets the job done. Here are a few pics of our Ma & Pa operation - 120 taps. In a decent year we will finish off 30-35 gallons.
Chad Hauenstein
Member
Thanks Fish, its amazing how quick the season can sneak up and before you know it the season is over.
Wild Thing, nice picts of your setup. I like that the wood is right there easy to grab. How do you like the bags? I imagine you dont have any problems with rain.
Wild Thing, nice picts of your setup. I like that the wood is right there easy to grab. How do you like the bags? I imagine you dont have any problems with rain.
Chad Hauenstein
Member
Hi Cutman, yes they are sugar maples.
Wild Thing
Member
That is a traditional breakfast zuke....especially during maple syrup season. Cautions though ... once you try Pure Home Made Maple Syrup you won't want to go back to Mrs Butterworths. Most of those knockoffs contain no maple syrup at all. I think Log Cabin contains 1-2% maybe.
Nothing like Upper Michigan Blueberries to go with U.P Maple Syrup on your pancakes:
We also use our syrup on oatmeal and vanilla ice cream (with strawberries)
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Wild Thing
Member
Thanks Chad....No problems with either rain or snow getting into the sap bags with the cover over them. We used to use buckets to collect the sap as well but we found it a little easier to just discard the bags at the end of the season rather than cleaning and sterilizing all of the buckets.
Chad Hauenstein
Member
Couldn't agree more with blueberries. I like it on scrambled eggs too.That is a traditional breakfast zuke....especially during maple syrup season. Cautions though ... once you try Pure Home Made Maple Syrup you won't want to go back to Mrs Butterworths. Most of those knockoffs contain no maple syrup at all. I think Log Cabin contains 1-2% maybe.
Nothing like Upper Michigan Blueberries to go with U.P Maple Syrup on your pancakes:
We also use our syrup on oatmeal and vanilla ice cream (with strawberries)
Chad Hauenstein
Member
Like anything that comes from your land, it takes some work but always tastes better then anything you could buy in a store.
My great uncle used to make candy cakes. I remember he would wrap them in wax paper and give us a whole brown paper lunch bag full. Man, that was good stuff.
MarkDarvin
Well-Known Member
Before I moved, I lived near the maple syrup belt of NE MN. I would go right out to the bush and buy my syrup. Then the old lady at the dive diner in my neighborhood would let me bring in my syrup to put on the pancakes she made me. Boy was that a hangover treat.
Wild Thing
Member
For those of you who don't live in "Sugarin" country, here is a brief explanation of the process of making maple syrup:
All maple species produce the sweet sap which is used in the sugar-making process. Sugar Maples generally have the highest levels of sugar so those are what we like to tap. If you don't have sugar maples you can still tap Red or Silver maples. You will just have to evaporate a little more sap. On average, it takes 40 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of syrup.
The sap begins to run in the spring when the daytime temperatures get above freezing (ideally 35-45 degrees), and the nighttime temperature gets below freezing (ideally below 30 degrees). If the daytime temps don't go above freezing the sap won't run, just as it won't run if the night time temps don't go below freezing.
We drill a hole 1 1/2" - 2" deep into the tree and insert a spile for the sap to run out of. The hole should be drilled at a slightly downhill angle:
You can hang a bucket or a bag holder onto the spike to collect the sap as it drips from the tree. These bags will hold up to 4 gallons of sap:
We usually collect the sap every day there is a run - normally in late afternoon:
Commercial producers feed the sap into reverse osmosis machines which eliminate 50% or more of the water before the sap feeds into their large evaporators. Small producers like ourselves just use whatever means we can to boil down the sap. The water boils off but the sugar remains. Our home made evaporator is 2'X3' and sits over a wood-fired stove. We try to maintain the sap level low (1-2 inches) to encourage a fast boil. Next to the stove pipe we have a 10 gallon tank which serves as a pre-heater so that we are feeding warm sap into the evaporator - ideally at the same rate that we are boiling it off.
We sometimes use another tactic to eliminate some of the water out of the sap before it goes into the evaporator. On cold nights you can leave the sap in 5 gallon pails and much of the water will freeze. You can discard the ice as only the water freezes - not the sugar. This greatly increase the density of the sugar in the sap that goes into the evaporator. I used to have a small chest freezer which would hold seven 5 gallon pails. I would freeze them overnight and then discard the ice in the morning:
We keep feeding sap into the evaporator while we monitor the sugar level. With this small flat pan it is an all day and into the evening job. Many sugar-makers have evaporators set up so they can draw off the syrup as it reaches the proper density of syrup. Ma & Pa operations like ours make syrup by the "batch" method so we have to draw off everything in the evaporator at once and then start over with another batch the next day. We like to take it off of the evaporator when it is almost done but not quite. We filter the syrup as it comes off the evaporator to remove any impurities. We then finish it on the stovetop indoors where we can monitor the exact density of the syrup.
While we are finishing off the syrup on the stovetop, we are heating our sterilized jars & bottles in the oven to 200 degrees. We also heat the bottle caps at the same time. When the syrup is finished to the proper density we filter it again as we fill the bottles.
If you've done it well you end up with a very high quality finished product. This syrup would be Graded as Grade A - Light Amber - my favorite. Generally, as the season progresses the sugar content of the sap gets lower and it takes more evaporating to get to the proper density. This results in a darker - Medium Amber or Dark grade of syrup. Many people prefer a darker syrup because it has more maple flavor. We usually end the season before we get any dark syrup, preferring to make only Light Amber and Medium Amber grades.
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Wild Thing
Member
Here are some spiles made by Native Americans which they used in the sugar making process years ago. They made them from Sumac. We were able to get these from an acquaintance in Central Wisconsin where they were used by Potawatomi Indians.
Doctorbrady
Well-Known Member
Thanks so much for sharing! Very interesting. Took a trip through New England this past October, and there were sugar shacks around every little town.
