anyone else making maple sugar/syrup?

[SPIKER]

I'm pretty low on my leftover syrup so I'm making more had taps in trees for two weeks almost now and have almost enough to last for 2 years again. I thought people might like to see what I'm doing. see attached pics.

sap bag on tree hanging get 1~1.5 gallon a day from ave tap
running into a 5 gallon bucket using taps and tubes
boiling sap into syrup

Mark M

 

[supdog]

Nice Setup!

I'm boiling today's harvest right now. Smells great.

I have a question for you. Right now I just hang buckets or jugs off my trees, but I've been thinking about moving over to the 5gal buckets with tubes. I've never quite understood how you can use tubes and not have them freeze solid over night. I would think that it would cut into your yields.

Do you have problems with the tubes freezing?
Does you notice that you collect more sap from your bags as opposed to the 5 gal buckets?

Thanks,

 

[JB4310]

Looks good, I just started fooling around with making syrup last year when I tapped my one maple, got enough sap to make almost a gallon of syrup.

This year is bad we have had above freezing temps every day now for close to a month, even the nights have not gotten below freezing for a couple of weeks. I just tapped this week and hardly got a gallon of sap

I think I missed the boat by a couple of weeks, I just thought it was way to early for spring in the first week of February. Maybe I could buy some sap from a bigger operation, I do love maple syrup.

these pics are from last year.

JB.

 

[SPIKER]

Nice Setup!

I'm boiling today's harvest right now. Smells great.

Do you have problems with the tubes freezing?
Does you notice that you collect more sap from your bags as opposed to the 5 gal buckets?

Thanks,

It could be that there is some freezing that keeps the sap flow down in AM some but normally the tubes being smaller melt faster than the large wood tree,

This is the first year I tried the bags, there is a harder time pouring the sap out of the bags, I get a lot of spillage and bark bits in the sap from them. The bags also are up hanging off the tap where sun gets on them and will cause more bacteria to grow faster.

anyhow I cant really say if I get more from the taps & bags or taps lines & buckets. I have larger trees tapped on bags in more remote area than the smaller one from tubes... I have been getting close to 2 or more gallons from a single tap on the big tree in the pic.

it sets on top of the creek so sugar content may be lower.


the guy that got a gallon of syrup from one tree, not sure how as it takes 30!45gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup, though thisis to grade where as boiling to lower sugar content is possible.
I boil to temperature 219F +/- a degree which is old way, new way is hydrometer but they are expensive and easly broken... dont ask how I know

Mark

 

[JB4310]

the guy that got a gallon of syrup from one tree, not sure how as it takes 30!45gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup, though thisis to grade where as boiling to lower sugar content is possible.
I boil to temperature 219F +/- a degree which is old way, new way is hydrometer but they are expensive and easly broken... dont ask how I know

Mark

Not quite a gallon, but yeah this tree was great last year, easily got over 30 gallons of sap and had a high sugar content.

I've got all oaks and pines on my property, this one maple is right on the border line but the south side is on my side

JB.

 

[20 20]

I did my own last year, probably do it again this year, takes forever to cook it down. It is to early for us yet another couple of weeks.

 

[Lloyd_E]

Just tapped 8 trees. I do maple, beech and some ash. Historically a lot of deciduous trees were tapped but Maple was found to produce the best syrup/sugar. I am halfway through Scott and Helen Nearing's Sugaring book. Interesting read. During the American revolution the gov't proposed a boycott of all sugar because it was primarily produced by the british in british colonies. At that point in history indigenous peoples and settlers were producing syrup and sugar on massive quantities. One tribe was reported producing 90 tonnes of sugar by heated rock method. Interesting that maple sugar didn't take off in a big way. The indigenous peoples used sugar like we used salt - they cured meats and ailments with it as well as just enjoying it.

 

[forgeblast]

Very cool, does the beech and ash have a different flavor? color? or do you combine them into one batch? I heard stories of sappers who would tap all types of trees it just didnt occur to me to tap those species.

 

[studor]

I am about a week behind in putting in the spiles and hanging buckets. We tap 10- 15 trees and that usually produces a years supply. Our neighbours tap about 800 trees and so if we run out we can always get a little from them

 

[JB4310]

You can tap Ash trees? I've got plenty of those, some real big ones, 2-3+ ft in diameter. heard of Birch never Ash.

JB.

 

[Lloyd_E]

Forge/JB,

I just mix them together. Nothing ventured... nothing gained.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/140078-maple-syrup-time.html

Supposed to be warm tomorrow so I will be checking everything. I am also going to go from propane to wood for the fire source. I need to build a wood fire burner of some sort...
thinking a 55 gallon drum cut in half length ways with an opening at the top towards the closed end for the pot to sit - feed wood from the front.

lloyd

 

[JB4310]

Forge/JB,

I just mix them together. Nothing ventured... nothing gained.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/140078-maple-syrup-time.html

Supposed to be warm tomorrow so I will be checking everything. I am also going to go from propane to wood for the fire source. I need to build a wood fire burner of some sort...
thinking a 55 gallon drum cut in half length ways with an opening at the top towards the closed end for the pot to sit - feed wood from the front.

lloyd

How about just a block or brick walled arch, easy to build and adjust as needed, not sure how the barrel would work.

Conditions may be good in the coming days, 20's overnite and 50's day. Maybe I didn't miss the boat I may try tapping one of the large Ash trees.

JB.

 

[Lloyd_E]

JB,

Good advice - KISS....(keep it simple stupid!)

lloyd

 

[JB4310]

JB,

Good advice - KISS....(keep it simple stupid!)

lloyd

Hollow blocks will crumble from the heat sometimes so be careful you don't want to lose a pan full of syrup.

I have a stone BBQ fireplace, it's not the perfect set up but since I already have it I use it, I choke down the width with blocks. The idea is a long narrow fire chamber to really concentrate the flame and get it licking the bottom of the pan over as wide an area as possible.

Good luck,
JB.

 

[JB4310]

Was a great day yesterday, Sat, high close to 50, my pails were overflowing by 3 in the afternoon, that's 5 gallons from 2 pails, last year I had 3 pails on this one tree so you can see not to difficult to get a gallon of syrup from one good tree. Don't know if that's extraordinary for a tree to produce this much sap?

My problem is storing it long enough to make it worth while to boil, it's so warm in the day it's hard to find a cool spot.

JB.

 

[SPIKER]

I spent all day hauling sap & boiling down my stored sap from Wed through Sat afternoon. I collected Saturday about 130 PM and added that to the stored sap I had in cold freeze snow banks. I had close to 50 gallons at that point and at 430 I walked down and pulled what had run as it was getting close to drawing off. I got a good 4 gallons more from my 17 taps as it was cooler at night than was supposed to be. I have 2+ gallons waiting for final boil and canning and then I have about 6 or so gallons left from yesterdays boiling which needs to come down to about 1.5 gallons for finishing & canning. I think I'll leave the taps in through this week and pull off one or two more batches prior to pulling the taps and calling it a year for me. I'll have 2 years worth of syrup at that point by my figures. I dont sell it but might can up some pints for x-mas gifts if I get enough. Just getting too old for the physical labor it takes. I usually use the tractor but with the thaw the tractor ruts up the yard a lot more than I like so I'm going to put on the rider chains and try that this week if I do leave the taps in.

I usually try and boil the sap ASAP then you can store it a little longer. I do store it for a day or maybe 2 if it is really cold or I can keep it buried in a snow bank for those 2 days but rarely longer due to bacterial growth in there eats up the sugars and clouds up the sap & clogs filters.

That looks like a good tree, I think the large # of branches probably helps with the amount of sugar & sap it needs/stores for spring from the year prior. I have seen a lot more sugar from yard trees though.

I didnt take pics as I was staying busy all day yesterday but rest assured nothing new happened, just kept at it. split wood stoked fire & added sap to be boiled down.

I have a dozen or so large BEECH and have thought about taping them and trying that once just to see but have not down this yet. I know BIRCH was known to be good to tap but only heard rumors about BEECH so maybe I should try ones and see...

Mark M