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Post by Tooln on Mar 9, 2017 11:01:04 GMT -6
I have both ahrd an soft maple. I tap only the hard maple as it has a higher sugar content. I'm still thinking i'm going to try my oak project.
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Post by Tooln on Mar 15, 2017 17:40:58 GMT -6
Now that the weather is turning again sap is starting to run again. Put another 69 taps in today total now 144. I wanted to put in 75 but I ran out of hose.
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Post by riggs on Mar 15, 2017 18:06:06 GMT -6
I heard you can tap boxelders too but not near as much sugar content.
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Post by coop on Mar 17, 2017 13:39:13 GMT -6
I'm pretty sure the rule of thumb is 25-30 gallons of Sugar Maple sap/gallon of Syrup and 70-75 gallons of Boxelder/Silver Maple sap/gallon.
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Post by nhmountains on Mar 17, 2017 15:24:22 GMT -6
I'm pretty sure the rule of thumb is 25-30 gallons of Sugar Maple sap/gallon of Syrup and 70-75 gallons of Boxelder/Silver Maple sap/gallon. Here in the northeast it's 40-50 gallons of sugar maple sap per gallon of finished syrup. I haven't heard of box elder but, I've hear of white birch tapping. That is a few weeks later and takes 100 gallons sap for a gallon of finished syrup.
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Post by smsmith on Mar 17, 2017 17:20:46 GMT -6
Box elder is also known as Manitoba Maple
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Post by kabic on Mar 19, 2017 8:48:35 GMT -6
How many taps do you put in a tree? I see some multi trunk trees that have 1 or 2 taps in each trunk.
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Post by Tooln on Mar 19, 2017 12:44:18 GMT -6
How many taps do you put in a tree? I see some multi trunk trees that have 1 or 2 taps in each trunk. Depends on the size of the tree for me. Anything over 24" gets 2 I have a few 36'ers that get 3. No real rule that I'm aware of. So far this season has been real crappy because of the weather.
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Post by nhmountains on Mar 19, 2017 20:52:59 GMT -6
How many taps do you put in a tree? I see some multi trunk trees that have 1 or 2 taps in each trunk. The old timers here start with one. If you get a tree you can't put your arms around then it gets two. Really large ones along roads will get 3 or 4. The reason they say to limit the taps is as these trees age you'll want to ensure you have good wood to tap.
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Post by coop on Mar 20, 2017 17:05:30 GMT -6
My family and I took our first swing at making Maple syrup this weekend. Unfortunately it didn't go exactly as planned. We collected about 30 gallons of sap and got a fire going in the barrel stove about 4:00 pm Saturday afternoon. I got up a couple times during the night to stoke the fire. When I started the wind was blowing out of the North, so I set up behind a stack of split wood, sometime in the middle of the night the wind switched to the South. Left my wife in charge of keeping the fire stoked while I trimmed apple trees most of Sunday morning. Got back around 2:00 pm and she had a smoking hot fire but the sap wasn't boiling. The South wind was robbing too much heat. I set up a wind break but it was too late. We brought home 3 gallons of Maple sap concentrate. Hopefully we'll get one pancake breakfast out of it.
It sucks when great effort doesn't provide the intended result.
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Post by Tooln on Mar 21, 2017 1:07:47 GMT -6
Better luck next time.
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Post by nhmountains on Mar 21, 2017 5:02:22 GMT -6
Coop,
Next time definitely try putting up a windbreak. It will help a lot. When my father inlaw used to sugar with another guy he would keep all the doors to the sugar house closed. The boil was much better. Then his partner who owned the sugar house would show up. Open the doors and windows and the boil would slow way down. It used to make for some long nights for them.
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Post by Tooln on Mar 22, 2017 19:11:14 GMT -6
Went out and collected today. Found out my 275 gallon tote will hold 281 gallons. Next time out I'll have to use the tractor to pull the trailer as the trails are starting to break up.
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Post by nhmountains on Mar 22, 2017 20:43:30 GMT -6
Awesome Tooln. How many gallons are you up to now?
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Post by Tooln on Mar 22, 2017 21:57:02 GMT -6
144 taps, 496 gallons. The weather is starting to come around.
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