By Lori Johnson
Growing up in Neillsville, Bryan Smagacz didn’t look into the future and see himself as a maple sap harvester and maker of maple syrup. But in 2014 when he bought a house in Eau Claire, it came with maple trees and in 2015, he put out seven taps and made three gallons of maple syrup goodness. Little did he know that that was just the beginning!
As the owner of Smack’s Sugar Shack, established in 2019, Smagacz made 70 gallons in 2020. This year he’s already reached that with more season yet to come and a goal of 100 gallons he hopes to reach.
There are people who have made making maple syrup a tradition for many years, but for those who have not had the experience, Smagacz was ready and willing to share.
Brian Smagacz uses a vacuum tubing system to collect sap from 500 taps
he has on the maple trees throughout his property. Submitted Photo
“The process includes finding maple trees to tap, tapping them in March/April, collecting the sap to then boil it into syrup. I use a reverse osmosis pump setup to remove 75% of the water before boiling. You can filter the sap, near syrup, finished syrup or even not at all and if for your own use, just let the syrup settle out. (It must be filtered when you sell it, however). I currently have 500 taps on a vacuum tubing system. I plan to do 800-1000 someday.”
Smagacz continued, “The tubing system connects every tree to small tubes of 2-10 taps on it which goes into bigger 3/4" or 1" mainline tubing that takes it back to my vacuum pump station. It's called a double guzzler and produces nearly perfect vacuum and also pumps the sap into a holding tank. Power is run 100ft into the woods for it and I also have a line that carries the sap right to the sugar shack dubbed The Smack Shack. That houses all the syrup equipment, some wood, tanks and the reverse osmosis process happens here. Once brought to 8-10% sugar content (what's left after 75% water taken out from 1-2% sugar in raw sap.) It goes to a head tank that slowly drips into the pan after its slightly warmed by my exhaust flue pipe (chimney). It goes from one evaporator to a smaller divided pan that has an automatic valve which opens when its syrup. I keep my syrup in 5 gallon jugs ‘til I filter and bottle after season. To fire up and process the syrup, the wood used is primarily maple and oaks which are plentiful on the property. I split very fine to the size of the wrist using a wood splitter. It burns hot and fast in my home built wood evaporator. I build most of my equipment and even one of my pans.”
In the springtime, Neillsville native Bryan Smagacz spends much of his time tapping maple trees
and boiling the same to make maple syrup. He is shown next to his syrup makers. Submitted photo
Not only is Smagacz busy with the syrup making process, but also keeping in touch with the many others who do. He has a Facebook group of 3300 people called Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producers. He also moderates in a few other groups for a birch group and a bigger 9K people called Maple Syrup Chat. It’s a good way to keep in touch, learn new trends and just enjoy people who enjoy the same satisfying activity.
Smack’s Sugar Shack makes maple syrup, maple cream, maple sugar and desserts using maple syrup as the sweetener. (A family favorite is maple nut candy). Birch syrup is also made. Any extra sap is sold by the gallon. Smagacz sells his products at Festival Foods Farmers Markets in Eau Claire. This year he will be in charge of running the Mall Drive location on Mondays also along with attending Westridge and Birch Street markets Sat/Sun/Tues/Wed when his work schedule allows.
Making maple syrup and other products is hard work, but lots of fun and the rewards are oh so sweet!
And finally the finished product
