It is sugaring time

VTHunter said:
Like others, my family is considering tapping our trees in VT this year (first time). It seemed to me that it is a little early, but I am no expert. I guess if it is running, thats all that matters. The weather shows it getting very cold at the end of this week. Roccoracer, from the picture, it appears you use the traditional bucket method and many taps. We were leaning towards plastic lines. We have many trees spread over a very large area.

Is there any benefit of one method over the other, or is it preference?
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Running lines is the best. It takes more effort the first year but after that it is much easier. Also you plumb all your lines to one or two collection sources so that also makes it easier. I also use some lines and put 3 taps into a 5 gallon bucket instead of 3 separate buckets.
 
whacko said:
My wife took my 14 year old to some audobon society property yesterday for a presentation on the process. They got to tap a tree and put out a bucket......but the sap was not running yesterday as it was only 34 degrees when they were out. I find the whole process fascinating. It is a dream of mine to own land enough to do that kind of stuff. Probably never gonna happen but I can dream I guess.

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MURICA! **** YEAH!
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You dont need much land. GOt friends with maples in their yard? Neighbors? Most of my taps are a neighbor because they have some nice large sugars and all I have are reds YOU can get buckets from bakeries for nothing. Taps are just a few bucks. Put the bucket on the ground and run the tube into it. Tubing and taps are reusable. YOu dont need much of a set up to boil. Below are the two set ups I used. My first year I did it with a propane burner but that used a lot of gas and I am cheap. Second year I put some cinderblocks down and a large buffet tray between them and boiled with wood. Did that for a few years and then built the barrel boiler I currently have.
 
Probably going to tap the trees in the next couple days. I resisted a couple weeks ago but the forecast looks decent for the next couple weeks. Last year was the first time my family and I did it and it was awesome. Probably 100$ worth of startup equipment is a generous price estimate. And almost 0 investment this year. I think we had 10 taps and got about 1 gallon of syrup for the season, which was enough for what we needed. A little leftover is being put into a batch of beer I'm making too!!!!
 
Al-Jim19 said:
Probably going to tap the trees in the next couple days. I resisted a couple weeks ago but the forecast looks decent for the next couple weeks. Last year was the first time my family and I did it and it was awesome. Probably 100$ worth of startup equipment is a generous price estimate. And almost 0 investment this year. I think we had 10 taps and got about 1 gallon of syrup for the season, which was enough for what we needed. A little leftover is being put into a batch of beer I'm making too!!!!
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Your maple beer sounds interesting. Let us know how it goes.

Putting the rest of the taps in over the next couple of days. Be about 45 when all are in.

Was up at Bascom Maple on Monday and they had already made 1400 gals of syrup. I drooled over the hobby evaporators and came quite close to throwing one on the card but my wife would execute me.
 
i bought a commercial maple beer... wasn't too great. that's just one though--but i looooove maple and a maple beer done right would be awesome.
 
I tapped my trees (4 of them) on Tuesday night, and by yesterday morning i had 30 gallons. I boiled yesterday for about 10 hours and finished it today with about another 3. It came out very light, but very delicious. First time doing anything like this.

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I'm sitting out under a beautiful full snow moon boiling 20 gallons of sap down. I'm using a fire pit/boiler I made out of the old green house foundation cinder blocks. I think it's gonna be a late nite. Great excuse for a little bourbon.
 
I will be firing up my evap tonight. My sap is flowing a little but not enough for a day of boiling. I have about 60 gallons of sap stored and I will empty my buckets this evening and see how much more. I like to have 200 gallons or more before I plan a full day of cooking but I will cook what I have anyway tonight.
 
Boiled down about 55 gals on on Sat evening and Sunday. Finished a little over 1.5 gals of syrup. Got another 40 boiled down today and will finish it tomorrow. Kids are making candy with the rest of last years. Mine is coming out rather dark this year so far. Usually get a lighter syrup at the start. I am running the pans lower to try to get a faster boil and that may be it.
 
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We just started up the evap. My first boil of the year.
afcc56de5c5ebf330406855fc9416b7f.jpg
 
wow, I didnt realize how low the yield is for the volume you get out of the trees! Is it a lot of work processing the sap from tap to bottle? I'm just curious
 
I have a 2x3 mason hobby evaporator, but am still very new and very novice to the whole process. The gentleman who does most of the boiling insists that he has to finish the syrup over his home stove. Is that true or should the evaporator be the only device we need?
 
Delkancott said:
I have a 2x3 mason hobby evaporator, but am still very new and very novice to the whole process. The gentleman who does most of the boiling insists that he has to finish the syrup over his home stove. Is that true or should the evaporator be the only device we need?
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I finish in my sugar house on a turkey cooker. I have a mason 2x4 XL.
 
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Delkancott said:
I have a 2x3 mason hobby evaporator, but am still very new and very novice to the whole process. The gentleman who does most of the boiling insists that he has to finish the syrup over his home stove. Is that true or should the evaporator be the only device we need?
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Don't do a lot in your kitchen or the flies and ants will be licking your walls all summer.[laugh]
 
coastie said:
You dont need much land. GOt friends with maples in their yard? Neighbors? Most of my taps are a neighbor because they have some nice large sugars and all I have are reds YOU can get buckets from bakeries for nothing. Taps are just a few bucks. Put the bucket on the ground and run the tube into it. Tubing and taps are reusable. YOu dont need much of a set up to boil. Below are the two set ups I used. My first year I did it with a propane burner but that used a lot of gas and I am cheap. Second year I put some cinderblocks down and a large buffet tray between them and boiled with wood. Did that for a few years and then built the barrel boiler I currently have.
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i didnt realize you could get that much sap out of a few trees. If i tapped say....4 trees.....how much sap would i get on average for the season?

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coastie said:
You dont need much land. GOt friends with maples in their yard? Neighbors? Most of my taps are a neighbor because they have some nice large sugars and all I have are reds YOU can get buckets from bakeries for nothing. Taps are just a few bucks. Put the bucket on the ground and run the tube into it. Tubing and taps are reusable. YOu dont need much of a set up to boil. Below are the two set ups I used. My first year I did it with a propane burner but that used a lot of gas and I am cheap. Second year I put some cinderblocks down and a large buffet tray between them and boiled with wood. Did that for a few years and then built the barrel boiler I currently have.
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i didnt realize you could get that much sap out of a few trees. If i tapped say....4 trees.....how much sap would i get on average for the season?

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coastie said:
You dont need much land. GOt friends with maples in their yard? Neighbors? Most of my taps are a neighbor because they have some nice large sugars and all I have are reds YOU can get buckets from bakeries for nothing. Taps are just a few bucks. Put the bucket on the ground and run the tube into it. Tubing and taps are reusable. YOu dont need much of a set up to boil. Below are the two set ups I used. My first year I did it with a propane burner but that used a lot of gas and I am cheap. Second year I put some cinderblocks down and a large buffet tray between them and boiled with wood. Did that for a few years and then built the barrel boiler I currently have.
Click to expand...
i didnt realize you could get that much sap out of a few trees. If i tapped say....4 trees.....how much sap would i get on average for the season?
 
Great day... sap was running well (for my small operation anyway). I ended up with ~20 gallons from my 14 buckets. One two gallon bucket looked off in color so tossed it but still the best day that I've had. I have 30 gallons ready for boiling on Saturday. Also have to boil down one gallon on concentrate from last weekend which should end up as a couple quarts of syrup.
 
whacko said:
i didnt realize you could get that much sap out of a few trees. If i tapped say....4 trees.....how much sap would i get on average for the season?

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i didnt realize you could get that much sap out of a few trees. If i tapped say....4 trees.....how much sap would i get on average for the season?

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i didnt realize you could get that much sap out of a few trees. If i tapped say....4 trees.....how much sap would i get on average for the season?
Click to expand...

It depends on the tree type, size etc. From the sugar maples I tap I average about a gallon a tap a day. Twice that if it is running well. I pulled 43 gallons of sap from 23 taps today from them. As high as the sugar content is in it that will get me about 5 qts of syrup. My reds produce half that amount and have a lower sugar content. 4 taps I would say 2-4 gallons a day. If you get a 4 week season then you are looking at 50-mabe 100 gals of sap. You might get a gallon or 2 of syrup. Its nature so it is hard to guesstimate. THis year is the best I have had so far. I will be over 5 gals of finished syrup by the end of the weekend and the weather looks like I still have at least 2 good weeks in the season.
 
ACfarmer said:
Great day... sap was running well (for my small operation anyway). I ended up with ~20 gallons from my 14 buckets. One two gallon bucket looked off in color so tossed it but still the best day that I've had. I have 30 gallons ready for boiling on Saturday. Also have to boil down one gallon on concentrate from last weekend which should end up as a couple quarts of syrup.
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Ours didn't run today. Didn't help that the buckets kept blowing off the hooks.


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