sugar content

[slammer3364]

Iam in Elk County Pa.I tap mainly the same tres,about 80% Soft the rest Hard the only difference is alot of the Softs are huge old trees along a fence line.I noticed even when i pick up sap I get sticky.We boiled down 5 gal of light great syrup out of about 240 gals. of sap. I never made that much syrup out of that much sap.I do not have a way to check sugar content,wondered if anyone else was noticing it this year.

[MapleMike]

What you need is a Sap Hydrometer. It measures the % of sugar content in the sap. They run about $18.00. Sounds like your having a good run.

[CitySlicker]

you can use a beer hydrometer to measure the sugar content of your sap - they are less than $10.

also, note the rule of 86:

http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/FAQ.htm

"Let’s say you have trees that average 2% sugar content and you have trees large enough for two taps per tree. Using the "Rule of 86," you know that the number of gallons of sap you need to produce one gallon of syrup is equal to 86 divided by the percent sugar of 43 gallons of sap. "