Using a flat top coal stove to make maple syrup

I recently bought a maple syrup kit to make some homemade maple syrup. (three 2 gal buckets, three taps and a book) I don't have a sugar shack and it seems to me that the top of my Cubby might make a good heat source for the evaporation process. Most home syrup making instructions I've read thus far recommend cooking off the sap outdoors with a wood fire. If I do it on the Chubby indoors I imagine I'll raise the humidity inside the house but that might not be such a bad thing. Your thoughts?

Go for it, sounds good, and, if you have extra, run it up to 'Freddy's Coffee Shop' Saturday morning.
Cheers

I would never cook syrup indoors, at least in a house. Besides the sap part, 29 gallons of evaporated water for 1 gallon of syrup is one heck of a lot of moisture. Im also thinking you would not want to run your Chubby that hot for that long.

Now if your just gonna boil down a few gallons of juice into a pint of syrup, that might work.

One recipe Ive never seen printed, was keeping the sap at the double point, so instead of boiling the last 2 gallons to make the final gallon, I used it at that point to make popcorn balls out of and they were really delicious. Your results may vary. It's been many years since I made syrup and theres a reason.

Depends on how dry and air-tight your house.

I have a friend and his mother that boils sap on their wood-burning Kalamazoo kitchen range. Large old farm house and the extra moisture is a help,.... even when drying the laundry next to the range, the kitchen doesn't get "damp".

With my two stoves going in this leaky old Victorian I have a 2-1/2 quart tea kettle on each, that when filled, each kettle actually holds 3 quarts. They get filled 3 - 4 times a day. That's at least 5 gallons of water evaporated each day.
Plus, I hang all the laundry and kitchen towels to dry near the range and don't need to run the bathroom exhaust fans after showering. And I have about 30 large houseplants that need 3-4 gallons of water a week. With all that, having too much moisture is still not a problem.

If you start seeing condensation on some windows you know it's putting too much moisture into the air.

Paul

warminmn wrote: ↑

Wed. Feb. 06, 2019 2:30 pm

I would never cook syrup indoors, at least in a house. Besides the sap part, 29 gallons of evaporated water for 1 gallon of syrup is one heck of a lot of moisture. Im also thinking you would not want to run your Chubby that hot for that long.

Now if your just gonna boil down a few gallons of juice into a pint of syrup, that might work.

One recipe Ive never seen printed, was keeping the sap at the double point, so instead of boiling the last 2 gallons to make the final gallon, I used it at that point to make popcorn balls out of and they were really delicious. Your results may vary. It's been many years since I made syrup and theres a reason.

I think I'm with Paul on this one MN... I'm reading an evaporation rate out of a 12" pot is about 1 - 1.5 gallons per hour. That sounds like a lot but I've kept a large lobster pot filled with water on the Chubby and kept filling it as it boiled down and I can't say I noticed any additional humidity. I think the Chubby does a pretty good job evaporating the humidity that's circulating out of the top of the pot. I won't know for sure until I try it though. This isn't a big operation... I think the ratio of derived syrup from sugar maple sap 1:40 . I may see 1 qt. of syrup on the first boil but again.. don't know what I'm doing at this point.

The ratio depends on a few factors we cant control. 10 gallons of sap may not be bad. I guess Im still unsure why someone would do that in a house, but maybe its just me. Let us know how well it works.

Between the stove running hot enough to boil the sap and the increased humidity in the house, I don't think you will enjoy the experience...but it will make you appriciate what goes into making a gallon of syrup.

If you can borrow a turkey frier burner, that would probably work well if you can set it up outside or in the garage.

Rob R. wrote: ↑

Wed. Feb. 06, 2019 5:05 pm

Between the stove running hot enough to boil the sap and the increased humidity in the house, I don't think you will enjoy the experience...but it will make you appriciate what goes into making a gallon of syrup.

If you can borrow a turkey frier burner, that would probably work well if you can set it up outside or in the garage.

Rob, are you implying that the evaporator pan with a heat source (wood fueled) outdoors is going to be significantly hotter than the Chubby running at 450 -500 F? I'm thinking of using a large 5 gal. lobster pot atop the Chubby for the sap boil. I don't think a pan would work out in Chubby scenario.

Howdy, so i have to put in my 2 cents on this one. i use my vigilant to "boil" out the water in the sap. It does add humidity to the house but no more than putting the water on the stove as i do every night. now keep in mind i only use it to evap the sap down to about 2" in the pot. the real humidity comes when boiling down the 2 inches on the electric stove. that is when i get the water on the windows and running down the walls. its a hard balance to manage, the last thing you want to do is put a 5 gallon canning container on the stove only to have it all boil out. it smells great for a day but after that not so much! i have yet to find a better option to finish the sap process either outside or inside but for me its a hobby. i usually get 1 to 2 gallons a syrup a year.

carver012 wrote: ↑

Wed. Feb. 06, 2019 9:37 pm

Howdy, so i have to put in my 2 cents on this one. i use my vigilant to "boil" out the water in the sap. It does add humidity to the house but no more than putting the water on the stove as i do every night. now keep in mind i only use it to evap the sap down to about 2" in the pot. the real humidity comes when boiling down the 2 inches on the electric stove. that is when i get the water on the windows and running down the walls. its a hard balance to manage, the last thing you want to do is put a 5 gallon canning container on the stove only to have it all boil out. it smells great for a day but after that not so much! i have yet to find a better option to finish the sap process either outside or inside but for me its a hobby. i usually get 1 to 2 gallons a syrup a year.

Morning.. thanks for the input. I watched a few how to videos and at least one mentioned finishing off the last few inches indoors on the stovetop. I think better control was mentioned as the reason. Which is one of reasons why I'm interested in doing it indoors on the Chubby.... the others being I already have one hot fire going and I don't want to be standing around outside in the cold. I'm also doing this for s's & g's. We don't use that much syrup through the year so 1 or 2 quarts would be more than plenty (probably give one away)