Maple Syrup Farm

[mrsrunningbear]

Came across this farm on our Sunday drive. We have never seen a syrup production like this before. Wondering if anyone knows anything about it, how it works, maybe vacuum suction. Lots of tubing, 1/4 mile or more along the road and hundreds of trees. You'd think wildlife would make a mess of the tubing. Just thought it was very interesting and wanted to find out more about how it works

 

[gary_in_neenah]

My family has made Maple Syrup for years here in Wisconsin, actually three generations. The operation that is shown in the photos most likely uses gravity to collect the sap in a central location. The fluid has a viscosity like water, which it mostly is, and flows easily through the tubes. Also notice that the tubes are positioned about 3 to 4 feet above the ground which allows for most wildlife to pass underneath. if a line gets knocked down, they simply reattach it at the earliest opportunity.

Tapping Trees, collecting sap, and boiling is a lot of work but the taste of Pure Maple Syrup is very special. Kind of a smoky taste and all natural, Good Stuff!

 

[mrsrunningbear]

wow I didn't think it could run through the tube thought it would be to thick....intersting. It was really neat to see. Must be lots of work to set up. Always knew syrup was tons of work. We are spoiled now and only buy pure syrup, well worth the money. And then when you see something like this wow the time put in to set it up. Gary do you use this kind of system.

 

[gary_in_neenah]

Mrs. RB
The system my family uses is a combination of the tubes and pails. The tubes are used for the trees that are the farthest from the Collection Tank. Just for reference purposes, this is on about 4 to 5 acres of mature Maple Trees, approximately 100 trees are tapped producing about 600 to 900 gallons of the Sap. I don't recall the exact percentage, only about 3 to 5 percent of the Sap becomes Syrup after boiling. The finished product is determined by it's Specific Gravity/Density.

 

[mrsrunningbear]

Thanks Gary.......we've been talking about it since we saw it. It was so neat to be driving out in the middle of nowhere and I mean nowhere and come across something like this, stopped us in our tracks. We sat and looked at it in amazement for a long time, minds wondering and guessing how it works. Does your family have their own Label?

 

[rp7x]

syrup

about 40 / 1

 

[mrsrunningbear]

rp7x do you do syrup too??

 

[t_man]

Seen it in the city

I don't have a lot to add other than I've seen several installations like this in city suburbs. There's one on a hillside about three miles from my house in the eastern suburbs of Cincinnati. It's been there about 5 years and the owners have won awards for the maple syrup. Not what you expect to see in the city!

Like you I couldn't understand how it would work without pumps, etc., but was assured it just worked by gravity. I also thought deer would knock it down but I've never seen any damage.

 

[cyguy]

I was just cooking syrup last night! We collected about 80 gallons of sap yesterday afternoon/evening. Couldn't believe on the trees were producing! We use bags to collect, large drums to transport and cook it all outdoors with an enclosed wood "pit". With that much sap I had to reload the wood last night about 10:15 to keep her cooking. Good stuff!

 

[jimjones]

is anyone here selling it?

 

[mrsrunningbear]

cyguy...you got 80 gallons in 1 day...how many trees??

 

[upbarleyboy]

I want some pancakes.......MMMMMMMM MMMMMMMM!!!

 

[cyguy]

We tap a lot of tree's at all different times. The majority of the sap/syrup we cooked last night came from tree's that we tapped last Thurs - Sat. We hang multiple bags on a single tree depending on size. (Make sure when you dump the bag, that the spout is FULLY facing the drum! If not it's inevitable that it will run down your coat sleeve, down your arm, down your side and hopefully you're wearing underwear!!)

(Note: This job is a 4 man operation and requires 2 cases of beer!)

 

[mrsrunningbear]

cyguy....sounds like someone got sticky....lol.....I think I'll stick to berry pickin.....Oh....will trade jam for syrup . Sounds like a good time you guys had. I'm surprised at how many people tap trees. We sold our lake house up here to Sprit Farms owners never asked them much about their operation...but I think its pretty big we see their syrup everywhere. All it takes is to see something like we saw sunday to make you start thinking about the process. Would love to see it/work it first hand sometime pretty cool

 

[gary_in_neenah]

I knew I had a couple of pictures around here somewhere. The first one shows the wood fired Boiling Operation, notice the steam from the tank. The second photo is that of measuring the sugar content. Once a specific gravity/sugar content is reached, the mixture is bottled hot, same process as canning vegetables, for storage. As you can see, this process really hasn't changed much in the last 200 years (except for the plastic bags and tubing) it's pretty much the same as our ancestors and the Native Americans did it.

 

[cyguy]

Our syrup season is pretty much all of spring and we do it as recreation only. I'm positive we've never sold a bottle. We just keep friends and family stocked up. Some people honestly don't care for it? It guess it's an acquired taste. Yes, we have fun doing it and it yes occasionally someone will get a bit sticky. All rookies have to live and learn.

 

[mrsrunningbear]

great pictures......Gary...thought and hoped it was gonna be done the good old way...I've seen TV shows but never talked to anyone about the process. We really like pure syrup...always stop and buy it if we someone selling it. My sister is a diabetic and some syrup in moderation is ok for her...I guess it processes well in the body. Baked apple with syrup is one of her favs.

Ok so when do you guys start...you say spring like a week ago...and for how long is the run 6-8 3-4 weeks something like that. Do you have to check it every day and what about Bears do they steal it...

 

[WannaBeSnoMoMan]

I will tell you from experience we don't seem to have too much of a problem with the Black bears and the Brown bears or the Kodiaks for that matter.


Only "runningbears", LOL

 

[robmountainking]

Our farm does around 1,250 trees each year and we use tubing like that and it is gravity feed to a 55 gal barrel down the hill, it is then easy to pick up the barrel with the tractor or six wheeler with tracks. This has not been a good year so far here in SW Wisconsin due to it not freezing at night, Only 50 gallons of syrup so far, last year 450 gallons. 450 gallons of syrup = 18,000 gallons of sap collected.

 

[mrsrunningbear]

robmountainking do you leave the tubing up all year or just thru the season