I got three very large silver maple trees on some lots that I own and plan to build 3 houses on later this year. I was thinking if I could tap them and make some maple syrup. What do I do? Obviously, I might be able to get a quart to a half gallon of syrup. But, it would sort of be cool to try it. I was thinking of using my propane deep fryer to boil the sap. I have been told 40 gallons to a gallon of syrup. So, would I be able to get 20 gallons of sap out of 3 trees that are over 24" in diameter. ok guys let me know what to do.
Scotty Overkill would be the best to explain this, but here is a short video I made last year. If you can, but some gear online or at a local fleet and farm. I had to improvise.
Minnesota Marty, it all depends on the season.......silver amd red maples have a lower sugar content than hard maple, but they do still contain sugar. Silvers will be more in the 50:1 to 60:1 ratio than hard maples.... 24" DBH trees will be able to safely support 2 buckets each (3 would be pushing the tree pretty hard), and you can expect up to a gallon or more per day out of each tap on good days. Nights in the teens/low 20's and days in the mid/upper 30's are prime days.... So, say a total of 6 taps, you'd need at least 10 good days of flow to get your 60 gallon. And cooking that with a turkey fryer is going to take a heap of propane. I'd suggest a homemade rocket stove and wood to cook. It'll yield great results and be a lot cheaper/easier to fire....
Great info. thanks, I always wanted a reason to make a rocket stove, now I have one. I thought of a rocket stove but I thought it might be too hard to regulate the heat. I have also heard that to boil the sap to make the syrup one needs to keep the temp of the sap between 212 degrees and 220/225 degrees. Is that correct? The next question how long would it take to boil down 60 gallons of sap? I have seen the taps at fleet farm and I have a Christmas gift card yet from there that I can use.
Last year we did most of our reducing on the wood stove, until it got too warm. Used a big canner and added to it as we got more sap.
Sap becomes syrup at around 218.5°, at least here at my altitude. You want to keep the sap at a full boil until you get it cooked down a good bit. And a little trick I've learned is to put a very small dab of butter in the kettle each time you cook......the oil from the butter will keep the surface tension off of the boiling sap and do two things; keep it from boiling over and also help it evaporate a little faster. It's hard to say how log it will take but it's gonna take a while. I recommend cooking it off in batches every evening, and put what you end up with in a bucket. At the end of the week you can finish off what you accumulated on the kitchen stove. Sap is a lot like milk.......it will spoil if left sit too long, trust me I've ruined large batches of syrup because I left the sap go too long. So the sooner you cook it off once it's been taken from the tree, the better.
