Boiling Issue

[steve J]

I know the rule of thumb is 42 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. But it is taking far more sap than that for me to make a gallons of syrup. I say 90% of my trees are red maples with the rest sugar maples. I kept accurate records each time of how many gallons of syrup I had boiled and it appears to me that its taking 68 gallons of sap. I made 9.5 gallons on 646 gallons boiled? I have a 2x4 with blower using a flat 3 section pan. Is it possible that I am boiling off some of the syrup? Of the 7 batches I did only 2 required just a few mins of finishing the other 5 were on thin side and required more time to finish? I have no idea what sugar content of sap was I am located in an area that has lots of ledge so roots tend to fan out more vs going deep into the ground.

[325abn]

Syrup won't boil off it will burn.

I was in the 63:1 range this year.

40:1 is one of the main myths of sappin!

[Russell Lampron]

Sugar content has been low throughout the maple producing region this season. The ratio that you are getting is about what you can expect from reds in a year with low sugar.

[bigschuss]

I say 90% of my trees are red maples with the rest sugar maples.

Isn't that your issue right there? The often cited 40 to 1 ratio is for sugar maples. All I tap is sugar maples, and I am always quite near that average ratio. Always. Not sure if it's a myth? Unless of course you been tapping reds or silvers or the accidental random ash.

[blissville maples]

the only rule is to divide your sugar % into 87. not all sap is 40:1....and no the sugar will not evaporate, maple syrup has some water left in its 67% pure sugar with minerals and water. if you boil beyond 219 you will further take more water out and at a certain point will take it all out and end up with different candies based on the temp.....also hard to account for the losses of cleaning filtering spilling etc.

[Cedar Eater]

Sugar doesn't boil off. A small amount gets carried off in steam or else you wouldn't smell sweetness in it, but a major sugar loss would require it to fall on the floor from an overly vigorous boil or get taken away in some kind of condensate removal system like a steam hood. It's far more likely that the sap was just low in sugar for you as it has been for so many of us this year.

[seandicare]

i wish i had 68/1.....mine was closer to 100/1......not sure of the species of trees though....just know they were maples, and not sure of sugar% either

[Sundown]

Buy yourself a sap hydrometer so you know what percent of sugar you are dealing with. Then multiply the gallons of sap by the sugar percentage and divide that by 86. That will be pretty close to your ratio. Maple sap averages about 2%. Using the rule of 86, 43 gallons of 2% sap will yield one gallon of syrup. Understand that sugar content varies from year to year and soft or red maple is usually lower then hard or sugar maple. My sugar was lower then usual this year and averaged 2%. If you can find 3% to 3.5% you are living large!!

[Ghs57]

My sugar content this year was 1.81%, up from 1.75 last year. I would love to see 2% from a tree. Mine are reds, but don't quote me on that. I will ID these trees this year so I know for sure.

[Sugarmaker]

Steve j,
Your doing fine with the sap your getting from your trees. As mentioned If you have not checked your sap sugar content I would expect you to find it at about 1.5% Reds may drop as low as 1% sugar content or less.
That very reason is why I spend a lot of my time gathering sap from sugar maples in two counties that provide 2% or higher sugar content. We gathered 6622 gallons of sap and made 154 gallons of syrup from that sap.
If you want to get closer to the myth you may need to look for trees producing higher sugar content!
Regards,
Chris

[Cedar Eater]

Trees that have good crowns will generally have sweeter sap, so reds can have a higher sugar content than sugar maples if they are getting more sunlight, nutrients, and an optimal amount of water. This is why good management of your sugarbush can make a big difference.

[berkshires]

I know the rule of thumb is 42 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. But it is taking far more sap than that for me to make a gallons of syrup. I say 90% of my trees are red maples with the rest sugar maples.

Yeah, that's the rule of thumb for sugar maples. And it's pretty accurate. Whoever told you that applies to red maples too was pulling your leg. With all sugar maples, I averaged about 40 galls sap per gallon syrup.

GO

[motowbrowne]

Sugar doesn't boil off. A small amount gets carried off in steam or else you wouldn't smell sweetness in it, but a major sugar loss would require it to fall on the floor from an overly vigorous boil or get taken away in some kind of condensate removal system like a steam hood. It's far more likely that the sap was just low in sugar for you as it has been for so many of us this year.

Not so sure about this one. I think the sweet smell is from volatile compounds in the sap that have a sweet scent. I don't think you can smell sugar. If sugar was being carried away by the steam, over time everything in your cook shack would get glazed like a donut. The steam leaves, the sugar stays.

[steve J]

Thanks for all the replies and it sounds like I was not the only one with a high ratio. I knew reds were lower in sugar just did not know how much lower. I wanted to be sure it was not something I was doing wrong vs the trees which I have to tap and have no control over.

[TedA]

As some folks have already stated, the sugar content of the sap varies from year to year and from the beginning of the season to the end. Last year I started out around 70:1 but it got better as the season progressed. At the end of the season, it averaged out to 53:1. This year it was just the opposite. I borrowed a refractometer from a friend who likes to brew beer and found that some of my trees in the yard (quite open) were running 4.5% early in the season. By the end of the season, these same trees (sugar maples) were running 2.5 to 2.8%. At the end of the season, the sap to syrup averaged out to 42:1. All in all, it was a very good season in my part of northern Wisconsin.