When to stop collecting?

[Mboeselager]

Quick question for the group. I've been making syrup for about 6 years as a hobby. I've heard there is a time when the SAP will turn sour due to the tree's budding. I live in Wisconsin and am finding it difficult to understand when the tree's are "budding". One year I went too long and had to scrap a batch due to the taste and don't want to do that again.

1. How do you identify when to stop?
2. Can you taste the SAP and tell?
3. Is there a typical date when it's time to pull out the taps.

Thanks in advance.

[82cabby]

Dates are all over the map depending on the weather. You usually can smell the sap when it’s gone to bud. Or if it’s yellow or too cloudy. If you’re on buckets you can decide tree by tree, tubing it’s more of an all or nothing decision.

[maple flats]

If in doubt, keep the latest sap separate until you test boil it. Bad sap will smell like dirty socks.
The type of trees will vary greatly when you should quit. Sugar maples have pointed buds early on, as the season nears the end they will swell, then at the very tip a little color will appear, they are done then. On Red maples the sap will stop flowing before you need to quit, on silver maples the buds, which are large flat top clusters will open and flower, (reds also have very similar buds). Once any color appears on the buds, time is over. Both Reds and silvers will be over a week and maybe even more than 2 weeks before sugar maples are done. The timing does not use a calendar, it's all related to the weather.
Here in central NY I've been done some years as early as March 22, and as late as April 24. Every year is different.

[DrTimPerkins]

When to stop depends upon several things:
- you're out of wood
- you're out of energy
- you've spent all your money on shiny toys
- sap turns buddy (no...you can't taste it in the sap..as Dave says...boil a little down by half and smell/taste, once sap turns buddy, it rarely comes back)
- sap turns sour (happens when it is hot, sap ferments, might be the end of the season unless you get another good freeze).
- your wife says it's time to do something different :D

[O3C]

Showed this to my wife. She laughed. Do you think now is the time to tell her about the new sap pan for next year ? Ron

[highlandcattle]

Oh that's a good one. I needed that. A dark day here. Rain right down the road. Snow pretty much gone. Ron's collected about 33 gallons. He's going back out to his sugar shack(garage)to boil. Unlike other wives, I look forward to this each year. Even though we're off the farm..this gives him something to do...

[DrTimPerkins]

I could add another....

- fishing season is starting ;)

[jrgagne99]

When the peepers are out at night, it's all over for me.

[DrTimPerkins]

When the peepers are out at night, it's all over for me.

That's a pretty good indicator for us too. If we're lucky we'll get another day. Here's hoping that they're a long way off.

[levic900rr]

Im worried that next week might be the end for the greater Burlington VT area. @drTim, I didn't know there was an offseason for fishing? :lol:

[Openwater]

I could add another....

- fishing season is starting ;)
That's my sign to switch from maple to trout. Trout season opens in 2 weeks here in PA, so I need to get the maple stuff cleaned and stowed, then start doing some creek and tackle maintenance.

[ir3333]

Totally up to you.
My neighbour has 330 taps and as soon as he gets 200 litres of syrup he's done. I think he only
gathered sap 4 times last year!
Last year i boiled until the sugar content was lo.After i stopped my trees
ran for another ten days.

[TwoSaps2]

I've never run to the end of the season. We are a boutique, high quality operation. AKA small potatoes. We run between 30-50 taps, and cook until we don't feel like it. Could be 2 batches, could be 4. Just tapped last weekend in far northern WI. We'll start cooking tomorrow. First batch will be about 200 gallons of sap.

[tgormley358]

Sugar content declines toward the end of the season, and and when it declines to a certain point, do you stop due to the much longer boil / RO times? I’ll using a refractometer this year first time, so I’m testing sap much more frequently, and I’ve noticed some trees / patches are showing <1%, while others are still at or above 2%. I’m considering whether to stop collecting from the low sugar trees, although with RO it’s just more electricity cost. The sugar %s are different enough from patch to patch that I’ve wondered about the reliability of the refractometer. But it’s been consistent in the same patches.

[levic900rr]

I pulled my buckets last night. My one Red maple had turned sour and the others just dried up a bit after this last warm weekend.

[DrTimPerkins]

The sugar %s are different enough from patch to patch that I’ve wondered about the reliability of the refractometer.

Trees can vary considerably in their SSC% due to genetics and environment (crown position, nutrition, growth rates, stress etc.). Not at all surprising.

[OldeMapleFarm]

I end my season due to lack of sap more than anything. I have a north facing sugarbush that thaws out later than many. I've got 108 taps with 90+ of those on 3/16 in lines. This year was strange with many days in the high 60s and even 70s. My sap started to get a little cloudy yesterday but I made 2 gals of real nice amber syrup. Today (3/23) there is no sap running at my sugarbush neither in the buckets or lines on the hill. I didn't make as much as I usually do and I missed the first good run we had here in SW Vt a few weeks ago. Time to pull the taps, clean up and plan for next year...

[red/one]

We end it when we see sap quality diminish, and when I get tired. Did a final boil last night of 120 gallons, walked out of the shack, the peepers were singing and the worms were scurrying.
My wife and I will finish bottling this weekend.

[tapdrinker]

when I fulfill my orders for the family and I have 2 gal for myself.
then if I feel like making more... I do.
yes trout fishing and golf are some motivators to stop.
Trees really tell the story. Once sap goes below 2 brix I don't process or the trees bud.

[ir3333]

had a long boil late in the season this year with the usual darker syrup result.Checked the sap in my trees and the sugar content in the smaller trees
was 1% or less but my bigger trees were still 2% and higher.
The next time i collected sap i dumped full pails from the smaller trees and just collected from the big trees. My barrels were above 2% sugar and I
had shorter boils with nice amber syrup.

[Swingpure]

Sugar maples have pointed buds early on, as the season nears the end they will swell, then at the very tip a little color will appear, they are done then.

Today I opened a plastic bottle of syrup, given to us by a friend of my wife’s, who makes and sells maple syrup. The syrup was very dark and had an almost molasses taste to it. I still used it on my French Toast. My guess was that it was syrup from near the end of the season.Assuming that guess was correct, I have spoken to people and have read some posts, where they stop collecting sap, before the syrup gets too dark. I guess for some, they have enough syrup for their needs, and for others they want to end before they get into the darker syrup.

I guess there is stopping before the sap goes bad, but are there clues on when to stop before the syrup gets too dark and molasses like?

[Swingpure]

So, when you decide to stop collecting for whatever reason and you pull your taps, for how long does the sap continue to run out of the tree, before it stops?

[DrTimPerkins]

So, when you decide to stop collecting for whatever reason and you pull your taps, for how long does the sap continue to run out of the tree, before it stops?

Depends on when/why you stop and what the weather is like after that point. If you stop early (for any reason), the sap can continue running as long as the weather is good for sap flows...typically not more than a week or two. If you stop when it turns buddy or the tapholes dry out, sap flows (from most taphole) will be low or none.