The n00biest n00b. Hope it goes well

[rolosrevenge]

Hi. I just recently moved from Seattle to Minneapolis. I always thought it'd be the coolest thing to make my own maple syrup. The house I bought has a 24" diameter sugar maple on the property, a large box elder and another maple. The neighbors have monster silver maples, so I bought a starter kit on Amazon, read some how to's, went to a workshop and put out my first 5 taps, 2 in my sugar maple and 3 in my neighbor's silver maple (over 5' in diameter). Looking forward to learning how this works and expanding to my/neighbor's other trees in future years.

Since Saturday the sugar maple has only barely dripped out a couple cups of sap while the silver has gushed out over 6 gallons. Is that typical? Do different species start running at different times?

[prairietapper]

I am just a hobbiest also. but that has been my experience. not just different species of maples running at somewhat different times but even the same type. sun exposure is a factor too. sometimes I suspect trees in different soil types start and stop at different times. but that is just guess based on undocumented observation. but it seems the trees in clay here start later in the day than the ones in loam. sometimes not running the same day as the ones in loam. Some years some trees seem to give up more than others but a different season and it is reversed.
now if someone who documents their stuff better and makes a living doing this pipes up and tells me I am wrong. I would go with their opinion over mine!

[Sugarmaker]

I am just a hobbiest also. but that has been my experience. not just different species of maples running at somewhat different times but even the same type. sun exposure is a factor too. sometimes I suspect trees in different soil types start and stop at different times. but that is just guess based on undocumented observation. but it seems the trees in clay here start later in the day than the ones in loam. sometimes not running the same day as the ones in loam. Some years some trees seem to give up more than others but a different season and it is reversed.
now if someone who documents their stuff better and makes a living doing this pipes up and tells me I am wrong. I would go with their opinion over mine!

That pretty much summarizes it!:)
Regards,
Chris

[prairietapper]

also your sugar you have tapped will probably be still producing usable sap after the others are too buddy to use.
but take what I think with a grain of salt. I AM NO EXPERT!

[rolosrevenge]

Thanks for the replies. Hopefully it'll start running this week. It's supposed to be mid 40's every day with freezing at night.

[rolosrevenge]

So here's another question. I've been collecting sap for about a week, and freezing it in old (cleaned) milk jugs. I've quickly run out of space and am now filling newly purchased food grade 5 gallon buckets. i'm putting these out in the shade packed with snow around them.

How long will the sap stay good in the buckets? I've ordered some stainless steel steamer pans but they won't make it until next weekend. Will I need to try and boil down the bucket sap before then?

[RileySugarbush]

With the weather we are having they should last quite a while. The freezing nights gives you some ice in the buckets to keep the rest of the sap pretty cool during the days. You are doing the right thing keeping them out of the sun and buried in a snowbank will work for quite a while. Even if it gets slightly cloudy, boil it! We have made some fantastic dark syrup from cloudy sap on a block arch when we started out.

Our sugar maples in EP are just starting to run well, and we should have enough to sweeten the pans and even make a couple of gallons of syrup this Sunday. Not too far from Plymouth if you want to stop by!

[rolosrevenge]

With the weather we are having they should last quite a while. The freezing nights gives you some ice in the buckets to keep the rest of the sap pretty cool during the days. You are doing the right thing keeping them out of the sun and buried in a snowbank will work for quite a while. Even if it gets slightly cloudy, boil it! We have made some fantastic dark syrup from cloudy sap on a block arch when we started out.

Our sugar maples in EP are just starting to run well, and we should have enough to sweeten the pans and even make a couple of gallons of syrup this Sunday. Not too far from Plymouth if you want to stop by!
Do you think it'll last till the 24th? I just started keeping in buckets yesterday. Everything else is in the freezer. I should have 10 to 15 gallons by in buckets by Saturday, but nothing to boil it down in.

[Wannabe]

Out of the sun and packed in snow it'll last awhile. Here's another option if you are worried, take some of the froze solid ones out of the freezer and put the new unfroze ones in, rotate them every couple days. Just an idea.

[Sugarmaker]

Do you think it'll last till the 24th? I just started keeping in buckets yesterday. Everything else is in the freezer. I should have 10 to 15 gallons by in buckets by Saturday, but nothing to boil it down in.

The plan may work and if that's your best option then stay with it. Treat sap like milk. Keep it cold. Check the sap prior to boiling. it can sour and you should be able to smell that. Slight cloudy sap may still be OK to make syrup from. Just may be darker.
Best plan is to try to boil it the same day it runs, if possible. We all cant do that with the work thing and life.
Regards,
Chris

[RileySugarbush]

It is often said the best plan is to boil it the day it runs, but we can rarely do that, especially early in the season. As mentioned before, when we were starting out we had to store sap for a long time before we could boil and often had slightly cloudy sap. I still recall that as some of the most delicious dark syrup I ever tasted.

Today we have some sap that was in the bags for a week, frozen several times, and now collected and in the tank, on the north side of our sugarhouse. But not enough to sweeten our bigger evaporator. Other sap is still in the bags, and we will fire up for the first time on Sunday, so several days old, but still clear. Using these methods we have won multiple awards for our syrup. It may be best to boil right out of the tree if you want the lightest syrup possible, but I like darker syrup too!

If your sap isn't smelly you will be fine, just do your best to kept cold and give it a try!

[rolosrevenge]

So I'm starting to boil down today (sweeten the pans?) Got 2 stainless steel hotel pans. 5 gallons each over an open fire. That first batch of sap I was worried about was still crystal clear (lots of ice in the bucket I just threw out) and smelled fine. Boiled down to the finishing phase and the "maple juice?" tasted yummy. Looking forward to the finished product!

[Cedar Eater]

You'll boil faster and boost your efficiency if you don't keep your pans at full depth. IIRC, 2 gallons per pan is about 2" and that raises the gph.

[rolosrevenge]

You'll boil faster and boost your efficiency if you don't keep your pans at full depth. IIRC, 2 gallons per pan is about 2" and that raises the gph.
Yeah, I wish I'd read this comment before I started. Oh well. Boiled down 35 gallons of sap. The sap was really sweet it seems we'll be getting a gallon of syrup out of it. To make sure I was getting the right consistency, in addition to the candy thermometer, we checked the texture against some Costco pure maple syrup. I never knew silver maples could have such high sugar content.