Soft maples

[notacarpenter]

This is my 4th year with my back yard operation, I sugar for my own personal use, and to share with family. I have about 100 taps, but most are from soft maple. I always knew the sugar content was lower in the sap, but it wasn't until I really started paying attention this year while boiling....Turns out that the ratio of sap to syrup has been 70 to 1!!! I guess I never kept track simply because I loved the boiling process, and always liked what I turned out. It's some pretty attractive syrup but I never realized the downfall of not having the hard maple. Anyone else out there as crazy as me???

[jluckay]

yah, it seems were in the same boat. we tapped at the end of january & the sugar this year has been high . we were getting 2.5 t0 2.75 for the first week or so. now we are back to normal , around 1.5 to 1.75. i to had not realized the ratio , but seems about rite. we normally cook off around 90-100 gal a night & after filtering end up with around 1.25 gal of product

[happy thoughts]

This is my 6th year tapping. By soft maples I'll assume you mean red maple? A lot of folks that measure sap with a hydrometer on the forum seem to feel the sugar content is low this year. 70/1 almost doesn't seem worth it, but I guess that's what an addiction will do to ya:)

As for red maple, that's all I used to tap at our other place and have tried to keep rough volume counts of sap collected. At worst I got about a 48/1 ratio. The property was pretty dry with better then excellent drainage that always caused a problem trying to keep the garden watered so maybe that was a factor in my own ratios.

Wyalusing? As in PA? If so, that's some really pretty country. I wonder if all the flooding last summer has affected sugar content? I know your area was hit hard. I live in the next county over and the ground water level is still pretty high here. That said, I only tap hard maples now and this is only my second year tapping this place so I don't have much to compare to but so far haven't noticed much difference in sap/syrup yield from last year. But just a thought anyway.

Good luck and have a great season!

[jmp]

I only have the luxury to tap reds here (Acer rubrum) and we average about 45:1. Bummer but its better than nothing! :)

[Maplebrook]

Some tap red maples or they don't tap at all. An average ratio for me is mid 50's :1
Darren

[Vermont Creation Hardwood]

I have about 2/3 sugar maples to 1/3 red maples. Last year I tapped and kept the sap separate, boiled and bottled separately. The red maple varied in sugar content even more than the sugar maples. I have some reds putting out 2-3% and others barely making 1%. My sugars average 2%, but one regularly puts out 3-5%.

The red maple syrup I made tastes different from the sugar maple syrup. It is a more buttery, nutty flavor. Some of my friends and family prefer the red syrup, others prefer the sugar syrup. This year I've tapped them all together, too much work to keep them separate.

But those of you with only red maples tapped, you should market your syrup as Red Maple Syrup, unique and different.

[acerrubrum]

How do you guys measure sap %. Are you just keeping track of gallons of sap gathered and seeing how much syrup it makes? I've heard some use a hydrometer to measure it, could someone explain that?
I have mostly red maples too, it seems like I can taste the higher % sap difference between the few sugar maples i have and the reds.
Thanks.
Pat

[RileySugarbush]

Just float one of these in sap and read off the sugar %


http://www.mapleguys.com/index.php?item=86&ret=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mapleguys.com%2Findex.php%3Fp age%3D1%26category%3D9

[jmp]

Acerrubrum you can use a sap hydrometer, which is designed to measure the sugar content of cold raw sap. Just fill a container with the raw cold sap at a depth greater than the overall height of the hydrometer and slowly and gently release it. If you drop it too fast it can hit the bottom of the container and crack. Read the number on the hydrometer and viola! You know your sugar content.

[acerrubrum]

Thanks for the responses. I have a hydrometer but don't think it's a sap hydrometer, I'm guessing there two different things. Mine doesn't show any percentages, just brix 75-45.
Pat.

[jmp]

Pat, yes two different tools. They cost about 20 bucks and are worth it. Good luck!

[acerrubrum]

Thanks John.
I called the supplier and sure enough, i've got the syrup hydometer, didn't know there was such a thing as a sap hydormeter.
Can you tell I'm new to this?
Sure am having lots of fun though.
Pat.

[tbear]

I tap only soft (silver) maples. That's not my choice; just whats available. I boiled off approx. 100 gallons of sap and ended up with just under two gallons of syrup. I think the ratio was higher last year. The syrup is good though!

[jmp]

Pat as long as you are having fun thats all that matters!

[notacarpenter]

Yeah, I thought about using a sap hydrometer, but I'm afraid I would get too depressed with the reading. It has to be all the rain we had this past fall. I just keep collecting and hope for the best (and have fun). I will say that I haven't had a problem with niter so far this year!! My product has been pretty clear.

[MapleMoonChaos]

I tap a mix of red and sugar maples ( four years now ). I usually average about 40-45 to 1 or about 2 %,occassionally as high as 4 %, but so far this year my sap has been very low 1%. I just boiled over 100 gallons and only got about 1 1/2 gallons of syrup. also I got some "stuff" in my filters i've never seen before kinda looked like applesauce, not the normal looking niter i usually get. any idea what it is ?