Sap after snow or rain

[brucekremer]

I have noticed that after a rain or snow fall I find that there is more sap(?) in the buckets than what had normally been flowing. What is the quality of this sap? Is it mostly ground water the trees have pulled in from the rain/snow? Is it worth boiling?

[Russell Lampron]

All sap is worth boiling as long as it isn't yellow.

Russ

[brucekremer]

The sap isn't yellow but some of the sap on these days is an amber brown color.

[MaplePancakeMan]

if it tastes sweet boil it, if you want to make sure, you can for next year buy a refratometer on ebay i just got one for 40 bucks to my door tells you the sugar content of the sap, you can also get them for syrup. i went to all my trees every day i collect and test the buckets if its not a lot and very little sugar i just toss it saves time and energy

[MaplePancakeMan]

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Super-Clear-ATC-0-32-Brix-Refractometer-4_W0QQitemZ190102220049QQihZ009QQcategoryZ11876QQc mdZViewItem
Thats the link to the refractometer i got and i can attest that it does work.

[Dave Y]

That Is twice the money I paid for mine. I bought mine off of some "Governer". It works great. Wouldn't be without it.

[HanginAround]

Sap hyrdrometer is only about $15.

[brucekremer]

"All sap is worth boiling as long as it isn't yellow" Stated by Maple Addict What is wrong with "yellow sap"? Is it just the sugar content?
What's the difference between a " refratometer" and a "Sap hyrdrometer " if any? I am just a backyard sapper (about 30 trees) and don't have all the fancy equipment. We only use the syrup for ourselves, family and friends. We generally only get about 3-4 gallons of syrup each year for the last 4-5 years.

[TapME]

Snow in our part of the country is sometimes called poor mans fertilizer, and this year it has worked very well. Another 10-12 inches of it today.

[HanginAround]

A refractometer is an optical device, you look in an eyepiece at a scale that tells you Brix of the liquid. You have to be careful about calibration and temperature.

http://www.brixman.com/REAMS/images/refractometer.jpg

A hydrometer is a weighted glass tube with a very small stem with a scale in it. You measure specific gravity and therefore Brix by how high it floats in the liquid. Cheap, and works very well.

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_manual/z-image/fig5-1.jpg

[brucekremer]

Thanks Maple addict. I guess the hydrometer would be all I would need for my little backyard operation (and it sounds like it's cheaper too). Still though, is sap that's yellow bad?? and why??

[HanginAround]

Yellow isn't necessarily bad... usually means water in it, or there's bad wood in the tree... but if it's got sugar, you can boil it, and won't usually hurt the flavour or colour too much, but depends how fussy you are. If there's too much rainwater in it, it's barely worth boiling it.

Most people don't really need to know what the sugar content is anyway... more for curiosity, not like you can change it... if ya got it, boil it, unless you have no covers and it rained in it heavily.

People with RO's use them more to tweak the RO to get the desired concentration.

[brucekremer]

Thanks HanginAround. . . .Just what I wanted to know about yellow sap . . . I thought it was alot of rainwater since I only would see it after a rain or snow.
Thanks again.

[HanginAround]

No problem... I guess you have to make your own judgement about how much rain or snow got in it and if it's worth boiling. A few cans of yellow is different than a whole woods where it's been raining for a day, and they're all yellow.

[Uncle Tucker]

I have also noticed that I had bigger runs on snowy or rainy days. I think it is a low-pressure thing. Pressure difference makes the sap run out the tap hole. I think the lower outside pressure in the atmosphere the better sap run you will get. This also works for boiling, the lower the atmosphere pressure the easier it is for steam to be released. The way my brother stated it is” there is less pressure pushing down on the boiling sap”.