In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

Maple Syrup System 2015

Discussion in 'The Wood Pile' started by Shawn Curry, Feb 28, 2015.

  1. Shawn Curry

    Shawn Curry

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    New feature this year: thanks to the 1.5' snow pack, I needed about a mile and a half of trenches to access my trees. So I took advantage of the 28 degree heat wave we have today to finish that up.

    Got my first two taps in as well - couple of singles that I didn't have tapped last year. Stay tuned for more pics of the (hopefully) finished system tomorrow!

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    Looks like the deer appreciate my trench system too!

    image.jpg
     
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  2. Shawn Curry

    Shawn Curry

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    Couple more pics of the trenches. This one heads East from the house and gives me access to 5 more - 3 of which are some if the largest I have.

    Enjoy!

    image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg
     
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  3. Backwoods Savage

    Backwoods Savage Moderator

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    Looks like a lot of work Shawn! I think wishlist was planning on tapping today. Still no above freezing weather predicted for us. High of 31 one day but snow, sleet, rain and freezing rain that day. Yuck. At least we should stay above zero.
     
  4. TriumphRob

    TriumphRob

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    You do the trenches with a shovel or a snow blower?
     
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  5. Shawn Curry

    Shawn Curry

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    Shovel... Spent my snowblower money on chainsaws... :(
     
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  6. My IS heats my home

    My IS heats my home

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    Enjoyed your pics Shawn. Theres alot of hard work in there with the snow shoveling, I hope it all works out in the end when the sap starts running for you.
    How many trees in all do you have tapped? Whats the furthest distance from the house you have to go to collect?
    and lastly, what is your heat source and where, when you boil?
     
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  7. sherwood

    sherwood

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    The weather prediction for March augers well for the maple syrup season, for a change. And I'll add two questions to the above: how many taps/taps per DBH and how much syrup did you make last year. I was going to make some this year, and it seems it would be a good year to start, but I still have two gallons left, so I decided to wait a year.
     
  8. My IS heats my home

    My IS heats my home

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    How many trees do you tap sherwood ? two gallons is alot being leftover.
     
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  9. Shawn Curry

    Shawn Curry

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    I'm aiming for 25 taps this year, with 10 collection points. The farthest ones are maybe 4-500' from the house. My heat source is currently a dual burner electric hot plate that I set up either in my garage or my front porch. I'd like to build a little rocket type stove though. I have a nice pile of bricks over at my sister's house, that I got in exchange for my labor helping them with firewood. That project might have to wait until some of the snow melts though.

    So far I've only done one tap per tree, but a lot of them I could probably have more. I had 9 taps last year and made a gallon of syrup. It was my first time doing it, and I wasted a lot of the sap - turned some of it into caramel, and I put a lot on the ground because I just didn't have the storage when it really got flowing.
     
  10. sherwood

    sherwood

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    The key is in the third sentence: ...and it seems it would be a good year to start...I have never made maple syrup. Before I built my home, a local farmer tapped the trees on my property. Hasn't been done since 1973. The syrup I have I bought from a local producer. My daughter "cleaned" the basement, and I found this syrup in a cardboard box, amongst my gardening paraphernalia. Didn't know I had any left until then....

    I'm asking my questions because I'm trying to learn as much as I can.....I think I'll be lucky to make a few quarts the first try. I'm concerned about where I am going to boil the syrup down. Everyone says it's impossible in the house. I was wondering if one put it on the soapstone and evaporated most of it very slowly, if everything would still get sticky.

    Have a friend who has a really old stove in his garage (that he burns all sorts of trash in), in his workshop. He keeps the stove going all day when he is out there, and the garage door is always open 24/7. So, I was thinking maybe we could boil it down there and split the syrup? Or would it be to sticky? Do I have to try to find an old cauldron?
     
  11. My IS heats my home

    My IS heats my home

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    My bad...
     
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  12. sherwood

    sherwood

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    How much sap do you think you get in, say, 24 hours from one tap? How long can you store the sap while waiting to have room to boil it down? I gather you have purchased some storage containers for this year? How much sap do you think you got from the 9 trees last year? How long did the season last (so, how much per day?) How big were the trees, and did they have large crowns? Did you find you were getting 1 oz/40 oz? Did you make any maple sugar?

    I have a lot of big maple, but only a few near the house have really large crowns, as they are mostly woods trees. I understand that the larger the crown the more sap you get? I have about 8 big sugar maple in the perimeter around the house, that would be ultra easy to collect sap from, as well as a fair number along the road between the house and the gate. I could pretty much avoid ticks if I only tapped those. Looking to learn as much as I can, so looking forward to your posts.
     
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  13. Shawn Curry

    Shawn Curry

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    The sap is only around 2-4% sugar, so you have to boil off a *lot* of water. It takes 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. If you're tapping other kinds of maples, it can be as much as 100 gallons. So unless you're planning to remove some wallpaper or repaint your walls, you want to do it outside. The first batch I ever did, I started on the side burner of my propane grill, and I ran out of propane so I had to finish it inside. :picard: Trust me, "they" are right about this one.
     
  14. Canadian border VT

    Canadian border VT

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    Well as a 7 generation Vermonter and my great grandfather andngrand father and his 5 brothrs and all of them sugared and I have done S.o.s.,, read sugar on snow parties on 3 continents. Here is some advice. First sugar maples have a sugar content of sap which can be tested, above 5 is really good,. Roughly 40 gallons of sap to a gallon of syrup. If you do not have an arch, Do Not Boil Inside, you will probably get divorced... easiest and cheapest way is a couple single burner propane and aluminum or steel pots 20+ quart size. One for raw sap, one in middle and 1 for finishing. You will need a hydrometer and thermostat and an old milk can works great to pour finished through cheesecloth and quart later. But to be honest it's a lot like wood it's easier and cheaper to buy it.
     
  15. Shawn Curry

    Shawn Curry

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    Lots of questions! Here goes! :)

    It usually starts flowing in early March, but you get the best flow when it starts to warm up a little. When it gets above 40 degrees during the day, back down to freezing overnight, is optimal. I got plenty of sap from my closed-canopy woods trees, so I'm not sure if it's the crown size as much as the overall DBH of the tree. The first half of March last year I only ended up with about 2 5 gallon jugs full. A couple weeks later, I could fill 5 jugs per day, faster than I could boil it off. It started to taper off mid April I think? By that time it was warming up, and I had a couple of my jugs start to get moldy inside to I called it quits and pulled my taps. The sap will spoil but if it's under 40 degrees storage it will keep for a while. When it starts to warm up, it will start to attract bugs too so the shelf life definitely drops considerably. I picked up a 55 gallon plastic drum for overflow storage, and I can get my hands on another if I need it.

    I agree it's like wood - much more fun to DIY! :D
     
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  16. Canadian border VT

    Canadian border VT

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    A good tap will through 4 to 6 gallons a day most old metal buckets were about 3.5 and depending on weather collect every 12 hours. Plastic barrels will hold sap efficiently until it get too warm.
     
  17. Canadian border VT

    Canadian border VT

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    Gramps always said 1 tap per foot of diameter keep them even spaced I have always found sap sweetness and amount had more to do with type of soil tree was in the more rock the better just my experience..
     
  18. Shawn Curry

    Shawn Curry

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    Thanks - I appreciate you sharing your knowledge - good stuff! :handshake: This is only my 2nd year doing it, so I still have a whole lot to learn!
     
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  19. Canadian border VT

    Canadian border VT

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    Hey glad to help felt like since I been on here I been asking for more than giving. Depending on elevation you should be tapped out now. Quoting gramps again when water starts running down side of road in daytime sap is flowin. It's over when sap goes yellowish. Early sap makes fancy or grade a light syrup. later sap darker grades darker grades better for baking liter for candies rest is personal preference... oh yeah got to know your maples. Hard maple make good sap soft maple wasting your time boiling. Hard maple depending on what you call it rock maple sugar maple etc.
     
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  20. Unicorn1

    Unicorn1

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    I'm always available to taste test any food, drink, condiment etc, even moonshine.:D
     
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