Running low

I’m running low on bourbon barrel aged maple syrup. I make it by taking a recently emptied bourbon barrel (bought from a local distillery) and I fill it with 190-200 degree F maple syrup. Based on the barrel size I wait to allow it to age to perfection. I first started making this with a 5 gal bourbon barrel, that took 3 months to acquire the perfect balance of flavor between maple and bourbon. Because that sold so well I immediately got 2 more barrels, at 10 gal each. I filled them as before, the 10 gal size took 5- 6 months to get to the perfect balance between the 2 flavors. I then got 15 gal barrels , then 20 gal. My current barrels (I have 3 aging now) , one which was filled on Jan 25-2024. To verify if it’s reday I draw out a small sample and taste it. If not yet a perfect balance of flavors it is resealed to age further, if too much bourbon flavor I add some regular syrup to get it to about a 50/50 balance between the 2 flavors. It’s now ready. The other 2 were filled on September 11, 2024. That 30 gal will now be processed. For that I start by pumping the syrup from the bourbon barrel into a 2×6′ propane fired finisher. In there I heat it to between 180 -200F and test it for density. Then I adjust as needed, most often I need to add some distilled water and blend it completely then retest.

I then heat it back to 190-200 and pump it thru the filter press and into the bottler. Once in there I test again for density and taste. Then I fill bottles, I currently offer 3 sizes a 100ml (3.38 fl oz), a 200ml (6.73 fl oz) and a 375 ml (12.68 fl oz). My first batch years ago was offered in the 200ml only, the other 2 sizes were added later.

Next Monday the temperatures will be warm enough to pump the syrup, when I process a SS barrel of regular syrup I use a heater band around the barrel to heat the contents for faster pumping. Since the bourbon barrel aged syrup is in a heavy wooden oak barrel, heating is not an option, thus it pumps very slow (like molasses in Jan, as an old saying goes) The warmer temperatures forecast for Sunday, Monday Tues and part of Thurs should make it pumpable. I cleaned the equipment to do it today. I might even try pumping the barrel tomorrow morning before it has time to get very cold, but if that doesn’t work I’ll need to wait until the weather warms next week. Once I get it pumped into the finisher the outside temps matter only for me working in the cold. As I age, the cold bothers me more than it did 10+ yrs ago. I’m now 78 and I get slower every year.

Once I get a few cases of the bottles filled, I label them, price them snd the take them home. There I set them up to dip the tops of each bottle in hot wax, it adds a nice touch. I then enter some of each size in the online store inventory and I take a case or two to my only local outlet, The Eclectic Chic, in Glenwood Plaza, on rt 46 just south of the rt 5 intersection. All the rest is bottled and left at the sugarhouse on storage racks until needed. I don’t bottle the whole batch, some is packed into 1 gal or 5 gal jugs to refilter and bottle as I need to replenish one or more sizes.

From my family to yours, I hope you all a very Merry Christmas and me the new year bring peace to all.

Dave Klish and family

Update, I tried pumping the bourbon barrel aged maple syrup into the finish pan early this morning. I tried it because the outside temps had been on the warm side for the last few days.

Success, it was still warm enough to pump easily. Now it’s very cold, but next Monday the temps will again be warmer and since I already have the product in the finisher I can heat it there and get it filtered. Since I have to haul water from home to fill the water jacket on the canning unit, I’ll just need to get water to flow to put a few gallons in the large tank I have on the back of my F350 truck. If the hose is frozen I’ll need to either wait for it to thaw or I have at times unhooked it from the house and put it in the garage to thaw. I drained the hose but it seems there is always a frozen pocket someplace. That water I simply hook up to a pump that pushes water thru the tankless water heater for use in washing hands and a few utensils while mixing distilled water in if needed, which it almost always needs some because as the syrup ages in the oak barrel, some water soaks into the oak and evaporates off. thus I need to get the syrup back to 66.9 sugar. I also need to pump about 4.5 gallons of water into the water jacket on the bottler. The bottler has an electric heating element that heats the water surrounding the inner walls of the bottler thus heating the syrup or in this case the bourbon barrel aged syrup. I bottle at 185+/- 1 degree F. The electric heating elememt does well holding that temperature. From there I have a foot pedal that opens and closes the dispensing valve as I fill the containers.

While it will be too cold until Monday, that will still allow me to restock my local outlet, The Eclectic Chic. If today had remained warm enough I could have easily bottled a case or 2 of the 2 sizes I’m very low on at the Chic, but alas, I now need to wait for Monday. The temperatures started dropping during the night and dropped further rhru the day, well below freezing to make hauling water difficult.