Maple Sugaring??

PhilNH5 · Feb 19, 2002

We Tapped Today!

Folks thanks again for all the input.

Dave, thanks for the site. I checked the book I was referencing (Susan Carol Hauser - Sugartime) and I messed the states all up.

Randy, thanks for your info as well. I tapped this evening when I got home from work. Only 5 trees. Four of them started running in a steady trickle while I was drilling. Couldn't get the taps in fast enough. The fifth tree was a slow steady drip.

Pretty heady stuff for me and my family. My wife doesn't even like maple syrup and she is as excited as I am.

Phil

TWINKLE_TOES · Feb 19, 2002

Re: We Tapped Today!

Phil,
Sounds like a lot of fun and pretty tasty./w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif Wonder if Western red Maple could be tapped?

<font color=blue>My wife doesn't even like maple syrup and she is as excited as I am</font color=blue>
If your wife enjoyed that she may also like this. Beware, the still costs about the same as a three point attachment. I bought a set-up for my wife's birthday and the house has stunk everyday since. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gifShe throughly enjoys it. Rosemary, Lavender, Garlic, oranges, lemons ....

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=rural&Number=60450&Search=true&Forum=All_Forums&Words=lavender&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=50&Old=allposts&Main=60450>Lavender</A>

Al

poorboy · Feb 19, 2002

Thanks sugarmaker,
I do live in the Eastern part but I've never heard of putney. I'll check into that. I know when I do a little fencing in the early spring and stretch wire onto one of these they absolutly pour.
Sounds like a very good science project for one of my sixth graders. My two boys are only 2 & 4 right now but I would love to keep them busy in the next couple of years.
Cold nights and warm days is pretty common here. I wonder if the trees in the hollow would be better than on the points and ridges since their is often a 10 degree difference between the two. The plot thickens for a young 12 year old mind.

By they way how much do taps cost and where can some be found. Approx. how much sap would need to be collected for a pint of product?

Thanks guys for the hope, I'm getting sappy just thinking about it./w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif
Patrick

Thomas · Feb 20, 2002

Re: We Tapped Today!

Make your wife some home made pancakes than pour some of your syrup on them w/a hunk of real butter..that might change her mind.

Youare · Feb 20, 2002

Re: We Tapped Today!

I should have thought of this sooner but maybe next time it will help. When I tap, if it is a one tap tree I look for a large root bulge on the south side of the tree and tap in line with either the root system or a large branch section of the tree. The theory is more sap will be passing through that section of the tree.

South taps will generally run sooner than those on the north or colder side of the tree in the early part of the season.

Where do you plan on boiling down your sap? Some people make the mistake of boiling it down on the kitchen stove, that puts a lot of moisture into the house, one quart of syrup will require boiling away at least 10 gallons of water. I usually finish off my syrup on the kitchen stove, this means boiling less than a cup of water out of the syrup.

There is nothing like the smell of boiling sap, and the taste of maple syrup you just made.
Sap should run today for you, supposed to be almost 50 again today.

Randy

PhilNH5 · Feb 20, 2002

Re: We Tapped Today!

Randy,
I did place all the taps on the south side of each tree. I also read about the root and/or large branch but I decided to just stick with southside. It was evening and light was fading fast so I took the quickest route.

I plan on cooking down over an open fire in the back yard. I am trying to do this with a minimum of $$ this year so I will be using a 6 gallon stockpot. Then I will finish off in the kitchen.

Last night it went to 30F. The sap ran all night I guess 'cause each gallon jug was filled this morning. Tonight I may use the side burner on the gas grill to begin boiling. I did not expect to have so much so soon.

Thanks for you help and here's another question for you. When the season is over how do I get the taps out of the tree. I used aluminum taps with a J-hook that I hammered in. Will they just pull out or do I need a pry bar to release them?

Thanks, Phil

gmason · Feb 20, 2002

Re: We Tapped Today!

I can remember when I was 13-14 and my Dad got the bug to make some "gold" . We had 5-6 large maples near the house(1/4mile). One tree had 4 buckets on it. Every morning(if it was a warm night) I'd go get the "water", carrying 5gal buckets back UP to the house.

Dad had someone make a 2x2x12" stainless cooking container that sat on a small gas stove in the basement. He set-up a bucket overtop of the boiling sap to drip freash sap into the mix as it boiled off.

I remember we had a 30gal crock barrel that we would wait to get full before we started boiling.

The trick was getting the final mix to the exact temp and that's when you had syrup and any more you had candy.
The first few runs where very golden and pretty color, tward the end they would turn darker. But after walking those buckets up them there hills I was glad to see it warm up.

g

Youare · Feb 20, 2002

Re: We Tapped Today!

To remove taps I just take a hammer and pull them out trying not to damage the bark of the tree. Some times just a few slight taps to rock the tap back and forth loosens them enough so you can pull them out by hand. Generally they come out fairly easy.

If you are going to boil outside over a wood fire ttry to make sure the smoke from the fire does not get around the pot, it will flavor the syrup and make it dark. My first homemade evaporator was a 55 gallon barrel with the top cut out. I drilled to sets of holes about a foot off the bottom through which I placed two pieces of 3/4 diameter pipe. On top of the pipe I placed some old wire racks from an old electric oven.

Under the racks I cut a rectangular hole for a draft hole under the fire and to clean out the ashes. I cut a larger square opening a little above the racks to load the wood into the barrel. I took a pair of cheap hinges and attached the square cut-out back on for a door and made some type of latch.

I had a galvinized wash tub that fit tight into the top on the barrel. Just below the tub bottom I cut a 6" diameter hole to attack a stove pipe to which I extended up and out away from the barrel. I made the best syrup in that rig. I used it for probably 6 years and then gave it to a friend who used it for quite some time.

I have a small back yard evaporator in our little sugar house that works well.

Randy

sugarmaker · Feb 20, 2002

Re: We Tapped Today!

Al,

Yes, one can certainly make maple syrup from red maples, silver maples, black maples, box elder and other members of the maple/Acer family (folks in Alaska even make a jet-black birch syrup!). I've made red maple syrup and it's pretty good!

Sugarmaple is the usual choice simply because its sap usually has a higher sugar content than it's cousins. So with your red maples, you'll just end up boiling more sap down for an equivalent amount of finished syrup. Go for it!

You are right, the evaporators and other specialized maple equipment gets pricey. Again, I recommend Rink Mann's book for excellent low-cost ideas for the backyard sugarer.

Dave

sugarmaker · Feb 20, 2002

Patrick,

Sounds like you've got everything you need: maples, weather, and unlimited free labor!

Your south-facing trees will run earlier in each day, earlier in the season, and probably better overall. Sounds like a great sixth-grade science project: tap a wide variety of locations and monitor/record/graph the sap output. Check out the University of Vermont's <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/treemet1.html> Proctor Maple Research Center</A> to see what happens when your sixth-graders grow up and get some research funding.

As for the taps, you can buy new for about $1 each from any of the maple equipment suppliers. Try or <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.waterloosmallusa.com> Waterloo/Small Brothers. Around here folks who have converted to pipeline sell used bucket/cover/spout combos for about $1.50 a set. Check your local farmer's advertiser in Feb or Mar.

The rule for sugarmaple sap is 40:1; that is, you'll need 40 x .125 = 5 gallons of sap to make 1 pint of syrup. My ratio is higher depending on my particular trees, how much I spill down my boots collecting, how leaky my tanks are, and how much I ruin because I was getting a beer out of the snow instead of watching the evaporator.

I'll echo others' warning against boiling down sap in the house: it's a good way to remove wallpaper, plaster, and in general lose the wife's support for the project. Boil outside over a fire, BBQ grill, Coleman Stove, turkey cooker, etc.

Dave