PDA

View Full Version : Is my yield low?



parrothead600
04-07-2018, 08:08 PM
I got a late start this year. I didn't tap until March 17. By April 1, I had gotten 5 (55 gallon) drums of sap from approx 30 taps. I do batch boiling where I spend the week collecting sap and then spend the weekend boiling the sap down. Later, it is taken into the house for final reduction and bottling.
Anyway, out of the 5 drums that I processed, my final yield was 5.65 gallons of finished syrup. I measured the sugar content of my sap before boiling and I averaged around 2-2.5 brix (measured with a refractometer that is meant for home beer brewing)
By my math, this makes a 48:1 ratio. Does this seem right?

maple flats
04-08-2018, 08:28 AM
Which was the average sugar % and was that reading from the day you got the sap or a week later when you boiled? As sap ages micro organisms feed on the sugar, thus you then have less sugar. Were the barrels each full to have 55 gal or were they slightly below true full? Too many variables to tell you if it was the right amount of syrup.

Sugarmaker
04-08-2018, 09:04 AM
Sounds about right to me!
Regards,
Chris

U.P. Sapsucker
04-09-2018, 04:49 PM
Divide your percent of sugar by 86. 2% sap gets you 43 gallons to make 1 gallon of syrup. 2.5% sugar gets you to 34.4 gallons to make 1 gallon. Your sugar must have been a little lower than that, hope this helps

parrothead600
04-11-2018, 06:52 AM
All this info combined adds up. I measured the brix before it was poured into the barrells. If the sugar content dropped to 1.8 or 1.9%, by the time I boiled, I would end up with approx 48:1 ratio.
Good info. Thanks

Jolly Acres Farm
04-20-2018, 08:12 AM
I also, had low yield for my sugar/sap content over the years, here's what I discovered. The rule of 86 was for the old 65 brix standard. We finish and bottle our syrup thicker at 68 brix. So the rule never worked out for us, there is a forum on here about this. When we used the adjusted formula for our finished brix, it works perefect. Our new rule is the rule of 90, actualy it is 90.2, but 90 works great.