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Sap shelf life

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 1:39 pm
by T&S&J
hey all we have taken advantage of the early thaw and have had our first 10 gal boil. It's our first go at it and it went well. I managed to get 5 more gal out of the bush be ogre the refreeze. How long will sap last if refrigerated? We won't be boiling again until the next thaw.

Sap shelf life

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 4:14 pm
by WLLady
If it has ice in it its all good...if it froze it wont hurt it. Once thawed again it will keep a few days below 4c. I just let it freeze....never had an issue. If its thawed just taste a bit before you start adding it to boil...if it is still sweet its good to go. If it has any off flavours or an aftertaste chuck it.

Sap shelf life

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 4:26 pm
by poultry_admin
We also learned that the ice layer has much less sugar in it than the sap. I was always really happy to see a 1in ice cover on top of the bucket. Meant that the boil was a bit shorter.... (please note I am saying "less", not "no" sugar)

Sap shelf life

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 7:15 pm
by T&S&J
Thanks both for the replies!, I have made a habit of dipping a finger before boiling to check flavour, but just don't do it after chewing a minty piece of gum or something!

Sap shelf life

Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 8:18 pm
by WLLady
the ice makes a really nice "lightly sugared" snack...LOL. it does actually concentrate the sap a bit...

Sap shelf life

Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 5:24 pm
by Pollo Caballo
I did my first home sugaring last March and because I had waited until the last minute to try this ( new farm and soooo many projects to get done when we moved in) I only tapped four sugar maple trees ( mostly cause I was only able to positively identify 4 sugar maple trees, in the dead of winter, that were easy to get to in the snow (On our lane way). The small number of trees meant I had to Store sap awhile before I had enough to do a boil. I keep the sap in 5 gallon buckets in our cold room and several 10 litre water containers in the fridge until boil. I ended up with a little over 2 liters of delicious finished syrup and no off flavors at all. I did two batches with the first batch mostly boiled outside on a partially open fire pit( but finished in the house). That batch had a subtle but yummy smokey taste. The second batch took about 5.5 hours of total boiling time on the stove in house only. Both times I stored sap for a week before I boiled. I plan to do more this year but I did identify 2 more sugar maples (ahead of time) to add to my route this year. Figure 6 trees will be enough work for me!

Sap shelf life

Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 4:51 pm
by shaded
the way to store sap if you're waiting for enough to boil is to "bank up" some snow around a food-grade barrel in the shade and store it in there. Then you've got more time to catch up. Last year I filled 2 garbage cans with snow and snuggled them up to the barrel of sap inside the barn as I collected, awaiting hubby to return from an away trip. Worked great.
We're on batch 5 now of syrup at nearup stage. We can only produce 8-9 L finished syrup at a time (pan size limitation because we are still small time)