It is sugaring time

[coastie]

I'm thinking i may just have freak trees. This is also the first year we've owned the house, so not sure if they've ever been tapped before. I also believe that the water table is fairly close to the trees. There's a well nearby and when i checked it in the summer the water was only 11' below grade. in the spring with the thaw i imagine it's a lot closer to the surface than 11'.

I had the thermometer i was using set in the pot while the sap was boiling and it was holding pretty much on 100C. now maybe it's not too accurate once you get past 100C, but as far as i can tell, it's accurate when boiling. I may bite the bullet and by this refractometer, and also use it for brewing beer. I'm really interested in knowing what i have because i didn't expect anything close to this much yield. I'll admit it's a little on the thin side, so i may not have gotten to true syrup.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...ue&ref_=ox_sc_sfl_title_15&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

f that is no fooling legit than you need to call Cornell and their maple people. They are always looking for high sugar content trees to try to clone and use in the development of new varieties.

Get a hydrometer for syrup. Very easy to use.

 

[VTHunter]

My first batch I finished off using a digital thermometer. We boiled to 219F, which was 7 degrees above the BP of water. We're basically at sea level. We should have used a hydrometer, because I am sure 219 didn't bring us to 66 brix. We ended up with 'thin, liquidy' syrup. It is still good, but not true syrup. I considered boiling further, but decided against it, as we are just using for us and friends. I have heard folks completely dismiss the temp method and swear by the hydrometer...

 

[NHAtHeart]

I put in 2 taps tonight just for the hell of it, we're supposed to get some cold weather the next few days and my area is about 2 weeks behind most of NH due to elevation and north slope. I'd be cool if I could even get a pint of syrup this year.

 

[Brin747]

We got about 25 more gallons of sap this week out of our 15 trees. Hoping to get a little more over the next week with freezing nights forecast. We'll see how it goes.

- - - Updated - - -

Any thoughts on how long sap is okay to store before boiling?

 

[Kevin_NH]

Any thoughts on how long sap is okay to store before boiling?

Depends on temperature. Got room in your chest freezer? Sap keeps pretty much forever while frozen.

If you leave the sap outside in a barrel when the nights are below freezing, you can pull off the chunks of ice to get a head start on reducing the water content. Just like making Applejack, without the kick.

 

[roccoracer]

I am starting my last cook for the season. I have 110 gallons of sap to do.

 

[NHAtHeart]

I'm almost up to a quart of sap , if I can make it to a gallon over the weekend hopefully I'll get 3 or so ounces of syrup. My girls are pretty excited about it and come out to check the buckets with me. Next year I'll be putting in 15 taps across 9 trees, it's something the family can do together and it's pretty fun.

 

[coastie]

Depends on temperature. Got room in your chest freezer? Sap keeps pretty much forever while frozen.

If you leave the sap outside in a barrel when the nights are below freezing, you can pull off the chunks of ice to get a head start on reducing the water content. Just like making Applejack, without the kick.

I wouldn't dump the ice. I tested my ice this year and it was running 1.5 percent sugar. Definitely worth saving and boiling imho if you are a small operation. At a minimum I would test it first.

 

[Fixxah]

Anyone made maple rock candy?

 

[coastie]

Anyone made maple rock candy?

We make a lot of maple candy both soft and hard. Just made some with the kids this morning.

 

[NHAtHeart]

Sap is running like crazy today, I've gotten almost a quart off of one tap, about a pint off another and I put two more taps into a third tree I found. I'm shooting for 1 gallon of sap so I can make enough syrup for my kids to have waffles.

 

[Martlet]

Sap is running like crazy today, I've gotten almost a quart off of one tap, about a pint off another and I put two more taps into a third tree I found. I'm shooting for 1 gallon of sap so I can make enough syrup for my kids to have waffles.

A quart isn't much off a tree in a day. My neighbor left his taps in until today. He said the last week the sugar content was so low it was a waste of time.

 

[roccoracer]

I took all my taps down yesterday. It was not a good year of production for me. I will have about 11 gallons for the year.

 

[NHAtHeart]

A quart isn't much off a tree in a day. My neighbor left his taps in until today. He said the last week the sugar content was so low it was a waste of time.

Eh, I'm hoping I can get enough for a few ounces of syrup this year. Next year we'll do it for real, my kids are having fun going out and checking the buckets and stuff.

 

[roccoracer]

Eh, I'm hoping I can get enough for a few ounces of syrup this year. Next year we'll do it for real, my kids are having fun going out and checking the buckets and stuff.

When the sap is running well you should get a gallon per day per tap. I have 15 gallons of sap that I would dump on the ground. If you are close I could give it to you to boil with your kids.

 

[roccoracer]

I am finishing my last for the year now.

 

[NHAtHeart]

When the sap is running well you should get a gallon per day per tap. I have 15 gallons of sap that I would dump on the ground. If you are close I could give it to you to boil with your kids.

Monadnock region of NH unless that's what you're boiling in the picture .

 

[roccoracer]

Monadnock region of NH unless that's what you're boiling in the picture .

I live in Chesterfield mass. The 15 gallons i have are still in my evaporator and i was going to dump it on the ground tomorrow and start cleaning my equipment. I work in the Bennington vermont area daily and i could meet you in that area if you would like. The sap is cloudy but It makes delicious dark syrup.

 

[NHAtHeart]

I live in Chesterfield mass. The 15 gallons i have are still in my evaporator and i was going to dump it on the ground tomorrow and start cleaning my equipment. I work in the Bennington vermont area daily and i could meet you in that area if you would like. The sap is cloudy but It makes delicious dark syrup.

Ah, probably too far, you're about 2 hours out from me, I appreciate the offer though. Next year I'm putting in 20 taps so I should have better stories for this thread!

 

[roccoracer]

I finished this batch. Nice dark syrup. It will look better after it is filtered and bottled.

 

[Brin747]

We boiled off about 15 gallons today. Our makeshift setup worked pretty well, an old homebuilt woodstove that I picked up last year with some banquet trays for boiling. The two small trays on top are used to preheat the sap, then we were pouring them into the larger pans as they boiled down. Ended up filling a wine bottle I had saved for it as well as a half filled small mason jar. We have another 5 gallons to boil plus whatever is in the buckets right now.

Not a bad first year...

 

[cockpitbob]

I am finishing my last for the year now.

Indoors? I'm told the ants and flys will be licking your walls all summer

 

[roccoracer]

Indoors? I'm told the ants and flys will be licking your walls all summer

I normally finish in the sugar house but I was tired of sitting out there alone.

 

[roccoracer]

Here is my bounty for the year. I already gave away a gallon before the picture.

 

[NHAtHeart]

Impressive! I'm hoping for 4-5 gallons finished next year. Do you sell any or just give it away?

 

[roccoracer]

Impressive! I'm hoping for 4-5 gallons finished next year. Do you sell any or just give it away?

I will sell most of it this year. This will be the first time I sell any.

 

[Brin747]

Here goes the last of my sap...

 

[NHAtHeart]

I know you guys say the season is over but I've got 1 tree that's putting out a decent amount of nice clear sap up here in the mountains. I got just over 2 quarts off that tree today. It's about 12" diameter but has been running good.

 

[Brin747]

I pulled all of my taps yesterday. The stuff we gathered this week had a very low sugar content.

 

[NHAtHeart]

Our syrup was fantastic, we finished boiling it today and got about 7 ounces out of 8 quarts of sap. It came out about medium amber and was delicious.