Reds

[adk1]

Ok, I have read all the books and know the difference between tapping Reds vs sugars as far as the brix, and everythign that I have read generalizes that the reds start running earlier and stop earlier. But can someone tell me roughly how much earlier on average? We live in the southern adirondacks.

[bobbyjake]

Reds don't really start any earlier than sugars, frozen is frozen. They do seem to come on a little faster than Rocks but not earlier, probably cause they are usually growing in wetter areas where the ground is often not frozen as hard.

Reds will stop before sugars, but generally not more than a few days all things being equal. The buds on reds are 5 times bigger than sugars, so they look like they are ready to burst sometimes weeks in advance, but in reality 3-7 days is more like it.

[red maples]

yeah exactly Tap 'em at the same time I treat mine no differently. they all get tapped at the same time!!!

[NH Maplemaker]

I was at Bascom a few months back attending a tubing installation seminar with the folks from Leader. As the speaker ( a young man named Brad) said, at today's syrup prices Even for dark and B you are crazy to go bye good red's and not tap them! This year for the first
time we are going to tap all the reds in our woods. Jim L.

[adk1]

ok, that is what I figured. I think that I also have some silvers in there. Hard to tell though. I would say that 50% plus are sugars though

[Revi]

The reds start about the same time as the sugars, but they quit earlier. They will cut out about a week or two before the sugars stop giving sap. We pull the taps on the reds that are on buckets and leave the sugars until the end of the season.

[jimsudz]

Going to tap some reds this year,they will be on tubing along with the sugars. Will the reds turn buddy or just stop running ? I was going to run all the reds on seperate laterals so I could just plug off the lat twords the end of season. Is there any benefit to doing this.

[Dennis H.]

If you are using buckets you are able to see what kind of sap you are getting from the tree.
So instead of pulling all red's at once just keep on the quality of sap in the buckets and pull the taps for the trees that are producing nasty looking sap.

[3rdgen.maple]

Im not to far south of the adirondacks so I will chime in my input. My reds on average bud about a week earlier than the sugars give or take a day. They just stop giving sap on my buckets. I pull them when they bud and get a start on bucket washing while feeding the evaporator. I have a few reds on my new tubing setup and the plan is, when I see the reds bud I will pull the tap and cap the end and let the sugars keep going.

[kiegscustoms]

I have put a lot of thought into separating reds from sugars on the lats, but if there is no way to how will capping the spouts (stubbies) work with vac? I don't want to pull 1/3 to 1/2 my taps and have 400-600 vac leaks in order to keep the sugars running do I? Or do the peg "T" s seal the stubbies tight enough that there isn't a leak? Ultimately I would like to have all the reds on lats with quick disconnects so I can just cut em loose and put 1 cap on the QD.

[3rdgen.maple]

400 to 600 is a bit different then me pulling like 10. I just have a few on one section and the rest I use buckets. Cappping them should seal off the tap and it wouldnt be hard to chase down a leak with that few but 600, not sure if I would want to either.

[Dennis H.]

Yes the tees will cap the stubbies. Push the stem of the tee into the stubby and give it a 1/2 twist and you are good. Sysytem is sealed till next season. That is how I check for tubing and mainline leaks during the fall. Fire up the vac and walk the lines.

[NH Maplemaker]

We have talk some about painting all the stubbies that will be on the reds a bright color. That way when we feel it is time to pull the reds it will be very easy to find them to pull and cap!! anyone of my help could do it. Jim L.

[3rdgen.maple]

We have talk some about painting all the stubbies that will be on the reds a bright color. That way when we feel it is time to pull the reds it will be very easy to find them to pull and cap!! anyone of my help could do it. Jim L.

Might be easier to just use a different color tubing for your drops..

[red maples]

difference between sugars and reds is very easy to tell apart. bark and big red buds especially if once you are into the later part of the season. If you tap reds with buckets they will stop and sometimes be picky if would like to run or not and that goes tree to tree. sometimes one might run great 20 feet away that one doesn't feel like it today!!

Put them on Vacuum they just don't stop!!! They run just as good as sugars. And you can get the the same grades as the sugars at the same time It might be a slight bit darker but just like sugars it all depends on the weather, time of season and what the sap compositions has to offer. The one difference that I have seen is as the syrup gets darker(very dark and grade B) it gets a deep redish hue to it. at least mine does anyway. But the flavor still excellent.

[adk1]

well thats good, I prefer Grade A dark amber anyways

[Dave Y]

Red Maples is correct about the color I have a lot of reds and the syrup does have a red tint to it. I have never had my reds bud before they stopped running. They will quit a few days before the sugars. I dont have time to go out and take taps off of reds before the season is over. I pull every thing at once and if the bucket is empty it is empty. Never had aproblem doing it that way.

[Dennis H.]

2 years ago when I had some on buckets it was very interesting to see what the trees do. I had some reds that in about 20 hrs had the 2 gal buckets over flowing and a tree right beside it that had maybe 1/2 gal of sap.

[Russell Lampron]

I tap mostly reds and the season usually ends before the buds are a factor. Like others that tap them my syrup also has a red tint to it and excellent flavor. I have all but 2 of mine on vacuum and get close to 20 gallons of sap per tap per season. One of the reds that I put a bucket on runs just as good as the sugars next to it and the other not so much.

The color samples in the test kit and on the Lovibond disc are more amber colored. This makes the syrup hard to grade. I like the red tint though. The syrup is very pretty to look at as well as drink with a boiling soda.

[Revi]

We have 96% sugars on the tubing, so we just leave the Reds. The Reds are all on the lower end of the lot where we have buckets, so its easy to unplug them and leave the sugars.

We tapped a bunch of Reds across the street on a neighbor's land, but now we have enough buckets near the sugarhouse so we don't really need them any more.

I always like seeing the difference between the different trees. Buckets are good for that. All the bucket trees have names. One is named Ready Red because it wants to make sap early.

[adk1]

I would like to see a closeup pic of some syrup made with Red Maples. Anyone have one?

[DrTimPerkins]

All the bucket trees have names. One is named Ready Red because it wants to make sap early.

Kind of like Ready-Revi :)

[Slatebelt*Pa*Tapper]

we have about 150+ tree's available to tap on our property alone. almost all are reds, i think there are only about 10 black maple in all.

i have noticed toward the end of the season sap has a yellowing hue to it on some of the reds and i normally pull each tap when i see it, until its no longer worth while continuing.

heres a syrup pic but not as red as some syrup is in the later part of the season when it really is red. but no matter what color it is, it is as good as any syrup around, Ive been told by a few that had it and they tell me it seems sweeter than the northern syrups, all i say is really..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v185/hinkjc/Maple%20syrup%20Making/1stbatchofsyrup2008013-1.jpg

[Paddymountain]

I have about 70 reds on my property covering about 3 acres, I had tapped them 2 years ago ,and made some fine syrup. Now that I have a real sugarshack, my goal is to put them on vacuum (previously buckets). I will need about 800 feet of mainline to do it. After reading Russel Lampron's,
post ,I started crunching the numbers. At alomst 20 gal sap per tap I could make up to 25 gal of syrup ,right here at the house! I was thinking if I made
15-20 that would be great, but possibly I could do better than that. What's nice is I'm self-employed and my shack is right beside my shop, so it would be fairly easy to look after a vacuum pump.

[batsofbedlam]

I tap about 50 reds out of 340 taps on vacuum on my home sugarbush. The syrup tastes better than straight sugar maples and shut off by themselves before getting buddy. I've yet to have a negative experience with tapping reds.
A few years back, I visited a sugarbush in Quebec where the owner tapped 36,000 reds and has been making great syrup for years.
My suggestion; if you have them, tap them.

[red maples]

Yellowing sap is not necessarily bad, if the but if the syrup starts to change flavor in a negative way then its might be time to pull taps.

The one negative thing about reds is a slightly lower sugar content of the sap so you may have to boil a little longer. But it all depends on the health of the sugar bush in general. OH yeah and weather may have a little influence too;)

[Slatebelt*Pa*Tapper]

Well the vacuum sounds great, but i perfer the old school thing at this time, sounds like production would improve big time going with vacuum on the reds. maybe if id ever sell to the general public id consider going with vacuum just to make the extra syrup, but cost wise isn't looking good at this time for that. Our land is very flat here, would need some good suction.

I made some syrup the one year with the yellowing sap,
it was somewhat sweet but surly had an off flavor to it, but with that said it didn't bother me none and i surly would eat it with pancakes or french toast smothered in it.

what i may try this year with the yellowing sap is make some wine with it, plan to use a recipe that calls for 12 gals of sap boiled down to 1 and use that one gal to make some wine with it. probably make 2-3 small batches to try. will more than likely do 15 to 1 instead of the 12 to 1 and see how it turns out.

12 gallons maple sap, reduced to 1 gallon
2 oranges or 1 lemon, sliced thin
1 campden tablet
1 package wine yeast

rest of the recipe is here
http://scorpius.spaceports.com/~goodwine/maplewine.htm (http://scorpius.spaceports.com/~goodwine/maplewine.htm)

[Housewright]

All Reds in central VA

[ADKMAPLE]

that is some real fine looking syrup right there, thanks for sharing. do you filter using a press?

[Housewright]

Orlon cone filter and two prefilters

[Randy Brutkoski]

Is the syrup look redish down there or is it just the lighting in that picture that makes it look red.

[Housewright]

Thats just sunlight. I have read posts from others tapping reds that their syrup has a red color also.

[adk1]

I no doubt will tap the reds I have with the sugars. Since I started this post however I ahve decided to start right out using tubing rather than the sap sacks. Having said that, since the reds turn quicker than the sugars, I will need to think about what I am going to do as far as pulling the taps on the reds. I guess I will jsut pay attention to the reds buds and once they start to open up I will pull the tap to each tree when I walk the lines? Secondly, should I cap the spout once I do this so that it does not affect the natural gravity vaccume that I may get? What does everyone else do?

[Sugarmaker]

Capping the spout sounds like the way to go. If you have the tees with the cups you can plug them into the cup.
Chris

[adk1]

Capping the spout sounds like the way to go. If you have the tees with the cups you can plug them into the cup.
Chris

yeah, when I do buy the t's that is probably what I will do. sounds easier.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Been tapping red maples since I have vacuum and an RO. I have never had to pull the reds prior to the sugars. It may sometimes be a problem but so far it has not happened here. I watch the buds. Reds often swell and then go back down with a hard freeze without producing any "buddy" sap/syrup.

[adk1]

Been tapping red maples since I have vacuum and an RO. I have never had to pull the reds prior to the sugars. It may sometimes be a problem but so far it has not happened here. I watch the buds. Reds often swell and then go back down with a hard freeze without producing any "buddy" sap/syrup.

Ok, yeah, I dont know of any local producer around here who taps reds. The buds of my reds, at least some of them are swollen right now, none have popped yet that is for sure. Curious to know if you can tell when to pull the tap based solely on the bud?

[3rdgen.maple]

You will see them start to open. Noticed the reds at my place started swelling right after that 2 day warm spell about 12 days ago. I hope thats not an indication of a short year. What I notice here with the reds/soft maples is they just stop running when the buds pop and then about a week later so do the sugars. I will watch the few I have on my vac and more than likely I will not pull them till the seasons over. I was thinking when I laid out the laterals that maybe I would put in a 5/16 valve on them and just shut the darn line off but I guess its easy enough to pull the tap and cap it on the T. We will see what happens.

[adk1]

that is pretty much what I am thinking too. I jsut finished flagging all my sugars and reds. Blue flagging is sugarmaple, red is red maple.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

I made some red syrup 3 or 4 years ago, I thought I had screwed up, I canned it and sold it grade off, had great flavor.

[Revi]

Reds are maples too. They are a little different from Sugars, but they seem to give lots of sap, and most of the time the sugar content is about the same for the reds. We check the bucket trees every day, and I separate the red sap from the sugars and test them with a sap hydrometer. It's usually very similar.

[adk1]

Reds are maples too. They are a little different from Sugars, but they seem to give lots of sap, and most of the time the sugar content is about the same for the reds. We check the bucket trees every day, and I separate the red sap from the sugars and test them with a sap hydrometer. It's usually very similar.

so do you add it altogether and boil it?

[TapME]

so do you add it altogether and boil it?

It all makes great pancake syrup. Some times its a little darker but the taste is there. And yes I mix it all of it together.