Welcome!

**fzxdoc** · February 27, 2025, 10:02 AM

This is going to be a fun topic to follow. Thanks for bringing us along, Spinaker . It's always been interesting, following your adventures with maple syrup. This year will be no different, I'm sure.

Kathryn

**RichieB** · February 27, 2025, 11:15 AM

Thanks Spinaker. Looking forward to the journey. Time to think about making some pancakes and french toast.

**Spinaker** · February 27, 2025, 11:29 AM

Whelp, the tree are still waking up at the moment. I only have about 2 gallons of sap so far. We had a very cold and dark February, so I am sure the trees will take a while to wake up. I suspect by tonight, I will have considerably more sap to report! What I do have to clear and clean. I love the early batches. They are typically much lighter in flavor and color.

**Bkhuna** · February 27, 2025, 11:44 AM

Spinaker They're a pretty large operation with many acres of mature trees.

**RonB** · February 27, 2025, 05:31 PM

Sugar Shack?

**bbqLuv** · February 28, 2025, 09:59 AM

I'm a sap for Maple Syrup

**Spinaker** · February 28, 2025, 12:10 PM

I know most of you know how all of this works from years past, but I thought I would throw this information out as a refresher. (Plus, who doesn't love to drone on about their ridiculous hobbies) Okay folks, first the RO system from RO Bucket. This company makes RO systems for idiots like me who pretend to know what they are doing. They are a great small business that has been a huge help for me and the Rutty Buck Syrup Company. This year, I have back up membranes for my RO system ordered, just in case I need them. I will be firing up the RO system today in order to run system checks, and to make sure we do not have a mold issue.

Last year I ran into this issue and I had to run the first batch of sap with out the RO. This means we basically had to run the evaporator twice as long. Not Ideal. Below is a shot of the membrane from the RO when I opened it last year. No visible mold on the membrane, however, I also did not store it properly in a liquid solution. You live and you learn. They were both replaced last year. This year, I have back ups just in case. The good people at RO Bucket helped walk me through proper care and how it all works last year.

Below we are pulling the raw sap from the storage barrel. The RO splits the mixture as it goes through the system. The red tube turns out concentrated sap and the blue tube turns out permeate water or pure water . You could drink the permeate water if you wanted to. In a normal RO system, this is what you would want coming-out of your tap. However, we want to discard that water, and then keep the concentrated sap. You can see the color difference below. At this point, the sap will actually taste sweet as it has been concentrated from 2% to about 4%-5%. If we do not have any more raw sap to run, we will run this concentrate back through the system to concentrate the solution even more. However, this is harder on the membranes, pump and pre filter.

After we have concentrated the sap, we will dump this into the evaporator and start working on getting rid of all that water.

I do not want to bore you too much, so tomorrow I will post about the next steps involved in the process. This is where we actually start to evaporate the concentrated sap into Rutty Buck Syrup!

Thank you for taking the time to read this and let me know if you have any questions on the system, sap collection or anything else you can think of.

Peace, love and sugar!

John

**labbq** · February 28, 2025, 04:30 PM

I did not sign up for the Amazing Ribs forum to learn about maple syrup harvesting and processing, but I love hearing about your endeavors each year Spinaker! Another great part of what makes this place the best on the internet!

**barelfly** · February 28, 2025, 07:58 PM

Love it!!!! Let’s go!!!!!! Rutty Buck Syrup FTW!!!!!!!!

**Carolyn** · February 28, 2025, 08:18 PM

This is cool. I didn't know how maple syrup is made.

**ssandy_561** · February 28, 2025, 09:22 PM

You need to try to get ahold of a used bourbon barrel. Maple syrup that is aged in used bourbon barrels is next level.

**Spinaker** · March 2, 2025, 12:47 PM

Okay folks, today is the first boil! We only have about 15 gallons to boil today, but this up coming week should be perfect for the sap flow.

After we have concentrated the sap, we will dump this into the evaporator and start working on getting rid of all that water. We will dump the sap into the preheater that rest on the top of the evaporator, on either side of the stack. Once that sap is preheated and we have room in the main evaporation pan, we will open the valve and let the preheated concentrated sap to flow to the main pan.

(taken last season)

The floor fan helps to keep the fire burning hot. It works like a constant bellows. I run a cast iron damper in the stack as well, to hold heat and keep it from running right out of the stack with the forced air from the fan. The whole evaporator is lined with fire brick and ash to further insulate the evaporator and drive the heat to the bottom of the pan.

(Today)
Once the sap is boiled down and has hit a temperature of about 214 F, we will drain and filter it from the main evaporation pan through our Orlon filter. This filter catches most of the sugar sand and any other forge in debris that may have gotten into the syrup. Once we have it filtered, we bring the batch inside to be finished on the stove. This was we can fine tune the finishing temp and get of sugar content just right. (66%-68% Brix)

**Spinaker** · March 3, 2025, 08:05 AM

We still need to bottle the batch from this weekend. But we ended up with about a gallon of syrup. Not a bad haul for the first weekend. This week should be great for sap flow. Mid to upper 20's all week at night and temps in the upper 40's during the day. This week should be a very solid.

**Spinaker** · March 8, 2025, 03:53 PM

Well, it was a weird week for the sap. We only collected about 20 gallons of raw sap this week. I guess the trees are still waking up and holding on to that sugar as long as they can.

I started the evaporator at about 10 am this morning and it was a gorgeous day to be outside enjoying the sun, smoke and sugar steam. The aroma that the evaporator puts out is amazing and I look forward to it every year.

Here is a progression of the sap as it is boiling down. You can see how it gets thicker as it boils down. The bubbles start to change. They get smaller and there is less foam in the pan.

The first picture is when the sap first came to a boil. (212 F)

As the concentration of sugar increases and water is removed, the bubbles change. In this second picture. We are running at about 215 F or so. Lots of steam, foam and more sugar. At this point we are really getting rid of water.

In this last picture, we are at about 216-217. This is right before I take the pan off the evaporator and send the sap through the Orlon filter. . The bubbles are much smaller, and they tend to roll when they boil.

Once the sap hits about 218 F, I remove the pan from the evaporator and I set it on a table to drain and filter the sap. It is not quite syrup yet. We filter the concentrated sap through our Orlon filter and into a dutch oven to then finish it on the stove. This step is crucial and it take fine tuning. We will heat it up on the stove until it hits 219 F, or 66.7 Brix. Maple Syrup!

**Spinaker** · March 9, 2025, 11:39 AM

The evaporator is reloaded and chugging right along. We have about 25 gallons to evaporate today. The boil is rolling!

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Rutty Buck Syrup Co. (Minnesota Maple Syrup Season 2025)

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