The Development of Sugaring Equipment
Holding tank for the sap.
Native Americans, being the first to truly experiment with maple sugaring, began with relatively primitive methods compared to what is now considered the normal practice for sugaring. Everything from spouts to the boiling process has evolved. Spouts were once large and wooden but are now usually smaller, less invasive, plastic or stainless steel spouts that are more efficient than their predecessors.
Keith's evaporator
Tubing was once metal and would be more prone to breaking because of wildlife or other factors but now plastic tubes are the most common because of their flexibility but also durability. The final stages of maple sugaring have also dramatically altered with time. Native Americans boiled the sap by using a pan held over hot rocks. Today technology has influenced the ways in which this process takes place.
Holding tank hooked up to the evaporator.
Most sugar makers now own stainless steel machines, evaporators that boil the sap to the desired consistency. Also, the sweetness and other characteristics of syrup, like color, are determined by the evaporation process. Sugar makers are more capable of producing sweeter syrup than Natives may ever have been because of their more advanced tools they use for sugaring.
THE EQUIPMENT
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| The
Evaporator
The evaporator boils the water out of the sap and makes the concentration of sap higher. The evaporator consists of rectangular pans which the sap winds through as it becomes more dense and more water is boiled off. Evaporators are often run on wood or oil. Both Keith and Rick have evaporators that burn wood.
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Reverse
Osmosis machine.
The R.O. lets sugar makers remove a large amount of water from the sap before the boiling process actually begins. This takes hours off of the evaporation process. Keith acquired the R.O. this sap season and instead of boiling his normal 10-12 hours a day, the most he boiled was 2 1/2 hours.
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The
vacuum for the sap.
This forces the sap through the tubing and into the holding tanks. Sap makers believe they can get more sap out of the tree with the vacuum than j with just spouts and buckets. With this machine you can have tubing running uphill and on flat land Without it , all of your lines must be running downhill into the holding tanks. |
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The Wood Stove under the Evaporator The wood stove underneath the evaporator is what heats the sap up and helps to boil the remainder of the water out of the sap.
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The steam hood The steam hood helps use the steam and heat that comes up from the sap to help evaporate the water from the sap faster. Prior to the steam hood, all the steam and heat would just go up into the air.
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Railroad Tracks Both Keith and Rick keep their wood on railroad tracks in order to keep the wood away from moisture. When they go through a row of wood they use a winch to pull the next row of wood up to the door of the sap house. |
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Bank Filter Presses Keith uses two bank filter presses because there is a lot more niter in his syrup than other sap makers. The machines have filter papers in them and Keith also uses a clay called tenacious earth. The clay helps to cling to impurities and prevent them from going through the filter papers. |
The
Canning Machine
The canning machine puts the syrup in the containers. It is run by propane to keep the syrup at the correct temperature, 180 degrees.
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The Filter Press The syrup is put through a series of filter papers in order to get any impurities like niter out of the syrup. Niter is a type the limestone that is in the syrup. Rick Kobik uses this machine.
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