Question for those on buckets

[Coatesy]

So heavy rain here today. Sap has been running well the last couple days did my collection (in the rain) and pretty much all buckets are close to full 18 hours since last collected. Curious how much of it might be rain water and how others on buckets deal with this.

Also, the three bottles I made are pretty clear. The taste is fantastic, but I notice a dark cloudy area in the top of the bottles now few days later.??

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[lyford]

If your buckets are covered and the sap looks clear and not yellow I'd bet there is very little rain water in there. The yellow could indicate rain water that ran down the tree trunch and fell in the bucket. The dark stuff may be niter or sugar sand which is totally normal, but it usually settles to the bottom not the top.

[BCPP]

I'd agree, if buckets are covered not much will be rain water. Some because lids get off centered sometimes or blown open. If you have refractometer or sap hydrometer you can measure sugar% and compare to what's dripping.

[bowhunter]

There won't be much rain water in the buckets if they're covered. If not you will probably have slightly more inches of rain in the bucket than it rained if the buckets are tapered. If it rain 2 inches then about 2 inches of the water in your bucket is rain water. It will still make syrup, you just have to boil or RO the extra water out.