A Sap Drip's Life (2.0)

Author’s note: This is a revised version of my 2020 posting “a sap drips life” to reflect my improved grammatical and linguistic skills, changes to the maple sugaring process, and my improved understanding of the maple sugaring process.

The sugar maple tree on the western flank of Mount Ellen produces a sugar-water, which we call “sap.” Sucked out of the tree by a vacuum operating at around 25 inches of mercury, the drip of sap enters into the classic neon green tubing. Down the tubing it goes, where it reaches the busy intersection of the feeder main. 

The feeder main is a 1.5 inch black pipe, which travels directly up the side of the mountain. This little drip of sap takes a leap of faith and joins thousands of others on a chaotic trip down the feeder main. After anywhere from one and a half to one quarter of a mile, being pushed by gallons of sap and sucked by a vacuum, this little drop of sap makes it to the Autobahn of the sugarbush: the mainline.

This 2.5 inch black pipe strung up tight to trees stretching just over 1 mile contains the sap that has been sucked out of nearly 6,000 sugar maple trees. As the sap makes its way to the collection tank, where it joins up to 6,000 gallons of sap, Don and Wyatt jump into the old army truck and drive up to the sugarbush. They carefully attach all the hoses and start the pump. They can transport 2,300 gallons of sap per truckload. That’s about 60 gallons of syrup.

As Wyatt and Don reach the sugarhouse, about four miles away, they carefully back the truck into the driveway and begin the unload. The sap exits the truck tank, through the pump and into another 6,000 gallon collection tank. It will soon go through a process of reverse osmosis. 

Reverse osmosis sends the sap through very thick and very tight filters at high pressure, which removes about 75% of the water contained in the sap. This excess water, called “Permeate”, is stored (although the tank fills up nearly instantly and always overflows) and is used for cleaning. Permeate is as pure as distilled water.

When the sap exits the reverse osmosis machine, its sap content has risen from around 2% to nearly 10%. This sap is then stored in a 700 gallon and a 500 gallon tank in the rafters of the sugarhouse. It is now called “concentrate.”

When Don finds that there is sufficient concentrate to begin boiling, he will get his motley crew - Glynn and Wyatt - to come down to the sugarhouse. They will start a small fire inside the large firebox, which will quickly turn into a much larger and much hotter fire as they pump 800 cubic feet of air per minute into the firebox. 

The firebox then heats up a piggyback pan, and the steam from the piggyback heats the steamaway pan on the top of the stack. The concentrated sap travels down a PVC tube and into the steamaway pan, where it is also pumped with 800 cubic feet per minute of air. After it exits the steamaway, the sap takes on a light golden brown color, and its sugar content is now hovering around 20%. 

The sap then travels into the aforementioned piggyback pan. There, it does most of its hard boiling (being the hottest pan). When the sap exits the piggyback, it has taken on a darker brown color and it’s now nearly 50% sugar. 

From the piggyback pan, the syrup enters the finishing pans. There are three of these pans, and they are at a more consistent, steady boil, and are open to the outside. These pans are divided into two trays each, and the syrup flows from one pan to the next. Wyatt watches the temperature gauge at the drawoff valve to look for that magic number 6. When the needle hits 6 (217 degrees Fahrenheit), Wyatt will open the valve and the syrup will flow into the finishing tank.

On a good day, they can fill up 2 or 2 and a half 55 gallon drums full of syrup. Before it is bottled, it must be filtered (which is often done while boiling). When bottled, the syrup needs to be re-heated to just below boiling so that it is watery enough to flow smoothly. 

From there, well, it can end up in any number of places, but most usually in your belly.