LOVE watching this thread! Does anybody make the really dark syrup? The darker, the better! I LOVE the old grade B extra dark. I don't know what they call it now... ?
You remind me of making syrup as a kid in Vermont. Bunch of us boys gathered deadwood for the fire under a metal tub we had. Maybe 12 trees total tapped. We'd burn & boil all day long to finally get to the point where we had to decide... syrup or maple sugar... it almost always ended up thick at least. Man, was that good stuff!
Most of the snow has melted with warm temps, but the cold has moved back in and the sap is really flowing. I have a fresh 10 gal sitting in a leftover snow pile after emptying some 5 gal pails early this morning, and another 15 gal filled up today. I'm pretty excited with the flow right now! Below is 4 out of the 12 trees tapped.
Well Seasoned, I really like the 5 gallon water bottles for sap storage. On Tuesday I did not get a drop of sap. On Wed. I came home to my five gallon container running over. All from one tree. Gonna be a good weekend for boiling. May have to start cooking some in the Nesco Thur. night to get a head start. The Nesco will hold over four gallon.
Same here..... one day maybe a quart, next day 2 gallons! It's like hitting the lottery when I get home from work to check the jugs. I expect a lot again today because temps are primo!
Struck it rich today! It was cold but it was a nice sunny day without a cloud in the sky. Every container looked like this: Yielded over 10 gallons today. Id been averaging a little under 5. Had to leave some in the woods!
I collected 15 gallons today, and it went right into a drum. I still have a bunch of 5 gal pails filled which will go into the drum as well. I needed to fine tune the evaporator, then ran out of daylight! Fresh 6" snow possible tomorrow.
Here is the evaporator so far..... thankfully Flamestead is walking me through the fine tuning stages, and I am super appreciative of his very knowledgeable advice!
Nice looking evaporator. Does that barrel have a screw in faucet or a lid? If not how do you get that sap out of there? I've got several of those blue food grade barrels, but thought they would be hard to keep cool in our weather here and to get the sap back out.
I picked one of those up as part of a rain barrel kit. Came with a spigot and bung and 2 holes predrilled into the barrel - one in the middle and one at the bottom. Ill be using it for overflow storage by tomorrow. I plan to build a little stand to keep it about 1.5' off the ground, so I can put the spigot on the bottom, and still get a pot or something under it for draw off. I have the supplies to build it but I've been procrastinating.
Yes, I have a faucet for the drum and Ill use a dolly with a ratchet strap to tilt. Can't wait to drink beer and tend the evaporator tomorrow!
A saw buck as a stand would work for a drum on its side, but lifting 400lbs would be a different story
We've been SLAMMED here.....since Monday, we've gathered 140 gallons of sap. I boiled off around 60 Wednesday evening and ended up with close to two gallons of gold! Just last evening alone we brought in 60 gallons, expecting almost that much this evening as well. Tomorrow will probably be good as its supposed to warm up, Sunday the same. I'll be boiling off close to 200 gallons this weekend......plan on running through next Wed/Thurs then yanking the taps. At any rate, I'm on track for 10-12 gallons of syrup at seasons end. Already have 5 in the bank.... Put out 24 taps at a 1770s Inn the other day. All buckets have been overflowing since..... The evaporator at full roll..... Finishing off three gallons...... My grade A extra lite.....this is the most DELICIOUS stuff..... My medium amber. Probably one of my faves as it really has that "maple" flavor..... I'll do a full thread with some videos when I'm finished up for the season!!
I'm looking forward to that! I love comparing notes with you guys here - I'll be stealing some of these ideas for next year. I set my taps way too high, and I think I'm having issues with the tension in the lines as well, so I'm only getting a fraction of what I could have I'll wager. Next year it's going to look much simpler - more like what you guys have. I also scrapped my rocket stove evaporator plans, and I think I'll be going with something more like cinder block version.
What is the minimum recommended diameter DBH for a tree to be tapped? And how many taps per inch diameter?
We usually don't tap anything less than 10" dbh. I will say that my smaller trees have been putting out a pile of sweet sap!! Overflowing the buckets all week! I'll get into more detail but for a quick tip, the crown (or canopy) of the tree is the real factor in sugar % and quantity. Big canopies put out a massive amount of sap, usually very high sugar content. Tall trees with small crowns are a lot less sweet......
You wanna do your best to tap the sweetest trees you can. Higher sugar content per gallon means less fuel for cooking, less time, etc. I used to tap lesser trees and had a yield of around 50:1, now that I'm being pickier with my trees I'm getting closer to 35:1. That's a mountain of fuel and time!!
