Maple Syrup Production – Carter Brown

Fair Results: Third Place

Carter
September 12, 2018
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Sometimes it seems you can't win for trying. Isn't that how the saying goes? I recently entered my maple syrup into a local fair as I detailed in a prior post. The results are in! Third Place. I suppose that's not horrible out of all the entries that were there, but I was docked points because it wasn't a "full pint". Figures. I was specifically told that for competitions you put them in a honey jar. Well, that's what I did. Apparently that's only for the Quart Competition where they use the Beeline #2 Honey Jar. The pint rules are a little loose, but they need to be a pint. Being undeterred, I found another fair that's…

It’s Fair Season – Entering my Maple Syrup Once Again

Carter
September 5, 2018
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So last year many of you will remember that I got big into Maple Syrup. What you may not know is that I tried my hand at it the year prior also (Spring of 2017) and made roughly a gallon of syrup using only a stock pot and single burner. It was hard, I had very little idea on what I was doing (Let's just boil down this sugary water... Easy right?), I'm pretty sure I didn't know what filtering was, nor bottling properly. Despite all of this, I was determined to enter it in my local fair, and enter I did! Disqualified! Disqualified? On taste? Well now, I thought it tasted just fine but who am I to…

Half Gallon of Syrup per Tap?!

Carter
May 15, 2018
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So I just came across a statistic in the maple syrup world that I was not only unaware of, but a number that I'm sure I didn't make anywhere close to getting. A modern day sugar maker will aim for 1/2 gallon of maple syrup per tap. It was in this months "Maple News" paper when someone talked about expanding their operation and an experienced sugar maker asked why he was expanding when he hadn't fully obtained full production out of what he had. Apparently the old rule of thumb for a sugarbush was to get 1/4 gallon of syrup per tap. Now with today's more modern methods, we should be striving for 1/2 gallon of syrup per tap. After…

Birch Sap has Started to Run

Carter
April 9, 2018
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I put up a couple of buckets on some birch trees to give an indicator on when it starts running, so only then would I put up the rest. Yesterday it started to really run. I put up 7 three gallon sap buckets to collect. The birch trees out in the sun are really running right now. The ones in the woods are trickling, but barely. The way the trees in the sun are running I'm thinking I can fill a 3 gallon bucket in a single day. Doesn't matter if it's a white or black birch, they're both running just as fast. Of course this comes at a horrible time as I'm getting busy with work around the house…

2018 Maple Sugaring Season is Complete

Carter
March 19, 2018
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... at least for me it is! I've officially run out of bottles and I'm tired of spending all weekend and many nights boiling. Right now my largest bottle neck is the speed in which I can boil - and at 2 GPH isn't very fast. In the end I made roughly 6 gallons of Maple Syrup, already giving many pints away, I find myself with 19 Pins and 38 Half Pints and a few jars of Maple Sugar! I posted a bit more detailed information on the yearly production log: https://carterbrown.com/maple-sugaring/yearly-maple-syrup-production-log/ Here is a photo from last night's final boil and haul As you can see, there are some new custom labels also! Custom done and purchased…

Last boil of the season – by choice

Carter
March 18, 2018
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Boiling the last batch of dark syrup today. Should produce almost a gallon of finished syrup when done. The season looks like it could continue to go on for another week or two, but I'm out of bottles and have more syrup than I expected. I'm going to finish with 6 gallons of maple syrup. That is plenty for myself, fair submissions, making into sugar, gift baskets, etc. Heck, I should have more than enough for all that. Maybe I can even put a couple up for sale to then purchase more supplies for next year. Who knows.

Just Keep Boiling…

Carter
March 16, 2018
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Gathered an unbelievable 40+ gallons of sap yesterday at 1.5% sugar content. More than a gallon per bucket. I literally ran out of room to process my sap. Both of my 15 gallon concentrate containers were full. It was late enough that I couldn't start and finish a batch, knew I would probably get more sap the next day. Something needed to be done. I decided to "sweeten the pan" in maple lingo. So I somehow fit all 15 gallons of sap concentrate into my pan and sap warmer pan (it was full, I'd say that's the most you can do and still technically boil), and just boiled that down to roughly 5 gallons and stowed it away. I then…