Gallery -

Making Maple Syrup

The sugar shack. That's steam coming out the doors, not smoke. According to Allen when they tapped 1100 trees they would use all of that wood.	The sugar shack.	The main storage tank The sap from the trees is poured into this holding tank.
The second storage tank. From the main tank the sap is pumped up to this tank. From here it gravity feeds into the boiler. That's steam rolling around in the top of the picture. The shack is about 15 feet at the peak and the steam is just above head height.	Boiling Stage One This is the largest of the four boiling tanks. Each tank boils off a bit more of the water, evaporating down to syrup.	Boiling Stages Two & Three The sap feeds down into each of these tanks, getting a bit thicker at each stage.
The big firebox This is the firebox for the first three evaporating tanks. It's about 4 feet wide, four feet deep and 2 feet tall. It extends all the way back underneath all three tanks to the chimney which is at the back. Both fireboxes (there's one on the finish boiler) are lined with fire bricks.	Managing the syrup flow These valves and pipes manage the flow of syrup through each of the boilers. The tank to the right is the finish boiler.	The finish boiler At this point we're pretty close to having real syrup. The liquid coming into this tank is amber coloured and pretty thick. It smells fantastic. The syrup is kept at 219F, water boils at 212F.
Syrup When it starts to look right and has boiled off enough Allan opens the tap and starts pulling some off into a bucket.	Testing the density As the syrup flows into the bucket Allen scoops some up and tests its density with a special floating tool. If it it isn't right he can make adjustments to the finish boiler.	Testing the density 2 Here's Allen checking the density again. In the background is his sister Marion and Bill. They keep the fires good and stoked. Marion was saying that sometimes the steam gets so low that you can barely see the evaporator. Like working in a dense, but sweet, fog.
Pouring the syrup When the bucket gets full Allen pours it through a felt strainer into a milk jug.	Straining the syrup The syrup this year seems to be very smooth. Allen syas that some years it takes forever to strain through the felt. Sometimes they get 'sugar sand' which is just what it sounds like - crystalized sap.