Brown Sap...WHOA!!!

[ebliese]

I noticed some brown colored sap in one of my buckets today, then noticed two more buckets with the same thing. I looked here on Maple Trader and some people said it was from rain water running into the buckets but we have had no rain and my buckets have lids on them. So my wife and I kept the brown sap separate. After we tested the sugar content of the clear sap (2.5%), we tested the brown sap. WHOA, 8.4%! Guess we've got three trees that are super sugary this year.

[maple flats]

Sounds like it's part way to syrup already. Taste it too, there might be dirt or some other unwanted in it, the hydrom,eter just uses the specific gravity of the sap to read the sugar %, other things in there would do the same.
My thought is some dirt or such got it somehow.

[berkshires]

I have had some very concentrated sap, after tossing ice, that looks a little brown, and is very sweet (nature's RO). Not sure it was quite that brown though.

GO

[ebliese]

We did taste it (in part because we were wondering if there was some off flavor). It was very sweet for sap. We didn't see any unwanted objects in the buckets. It is a possibility an unwanted got in somehow but this morning at the end of the dropline in the bucket lid I saw a frozen drop of sap which had a brownish color so that makes me think it could be something with the tree. We had good, white shavings when I drilled the holes for the spiles with these trees. There are no obvious damage to the trees in the area of the taps.

[GeneralStark]

There are no obvious damage to the trees in the area of the taps.

Are there any obvious defects in the tree above where you have tapped them? Do the trees have multiple trunks or do they split? Any woodpecker holes?

I have seen yellow and brown sap in buckets and it has typically been in trees with various defects that could allow water (rain or snowmelt) to penetrate into the tree. Water running down the side of the tree from rain or snowmelt is also a factor as you mentioned, and even with covers, it can make its way into the bucket.

I have also seen off colored sap when it has started to ferment, usually later in the season. Given that you are in Michigan, and it has likely been cold, this is probably unlikely but a bucket on the south side of a tree in an exposed area can certainly get warm...

[therealtreehugger]

Are they silver maples? The only silver maple I ever tapped gave brownish sap. The first time I saw it in the bucket I dumped it. I was convinced someone took a wiz on it. But when it was still brownish the next day, I kept it.

[buckeye gold]

boil some on a propane burner or stove and see how it smells.

[ebliese]

The trees are all hard maples (sugar or black) with one trunk and no woodpecker holes. One of the trees has some defects on the east side (looks like some branches broke off at some point) about ten feet up. I have started my tapping pattern on the north side of the trees. One of the trees I tapped in 2018 and I don't recall the brownish colored sap. However, that was my first year tapping and I didn't keep the best records. I have not tapped since 2018 (time, commitments).

Boiling the brownish sap on a stove is a good suggestion. We will probably do that and see what it smells like.

[raptorfan85]

Is the bucket by the road or where someone else could get to it? I had someone put coca cola in a couple of my road side buckets before I changed to tubing...

[Brian]

That looks like ro ed sap already. I would boil it and not look back. I bet it makes great syrup. I have boiled sap that looked like that and made nice fancy syrup years ago when we tapped road side trees with buckets.

[Aaron Stack]

Huh. I had two buckets with about a half gallon total that looked just like that. Thought it spoiled so I dumped it. Next time I’ll have to test it