BC sugaring

[tuckermtn]

Tapped one test silver maple yesterday...gathered about .5 gal from it this afternoon...was reasonibly clear and using a friends hyrometer (for beer) it tested close to 4%! Holy smokes......I had to drop the hyrometer in there 3 or 4 times to make sure it was reading accurately...suppose I should have gotten an accurate starting and finishing ammount so I could confirm the sugar content..

have the sap in a pan on the stove as I type...going to batch it and see what it tastes like..

if all goes well, I'll tap 6-8 more trees at my daughters school for a science project..

[Brent]

if you don't go at it too fast you might be able to add another 1/2 gal today and set up a nice cross flow.

By the end of the day you'll have enough for 1 pancake.... not to large a one though.

[tuckermtn]

we tapped two more silver maples with my daughters' elementary school yesterday...a little bit of crowd control with 80 kids watching...great fun.

ran pretty well today...we got almost three gallons of sap from the three taps we have in- but two of the trees we at 4% sap, and the other was 3.5%...not too shabby...

I think if I have my math correct, (rule of 86) that means only 22 gallons of sap for one gallon of syrup...so we should be able to make almost a pint from these three gallons...and good since we are doing it on the stove in a pasta pot...

wish I had that ratio back in NH...

cheers-

tuckermtn

[tuckermtn]

did my first carbon-neutral sugaring today...just got back from the 1/4 mile round trip of gathering with my two milk jugs and my back pack...and have the two pots on the electric stove (all hydro-power around here) as I type-

taught 5 elementary school classes today about making syrup - samples, pot on the home-ec stove, sap in a jar, etc...

the first few batches we have made out here in BC have been pretty passable as maple syrup- light amber with a good maple flavor- surprised the heck out of me...

made about a quart and a half so far- we'll keep at it till we get sick of the two-pot on the kitchen stove thing- but so far its still good fun...

best of luck...

-tuckermtn

[Brent]

I'm too old to be that green any more.

When we first moved to this property we hung a dozen or so bucket in the woods about 800 - 900 feet from the house. I used to take 3 of the 5 gallon water jugs to the woods and fill them. One in a back pack and one in each hand. Through snow at the beginning too !

Boy was I stupid just 4 years ago.

[tuckermtn]

we pulled two of three taps the other day- was still running, but we started to get nervous about the little electric stove in our rental...we had to replace two of the burners that got fried from being on for 3-4 hrs straight and there was a nasty burned electric smell after a few hours of boiling...

one tap is still in and doing well- our neighbor (who has a gas stove) is going to keep at it and see how long it lasts.

but the sugaring we did showed some promise- lowest sap sugar from the silver maples was 3% (highest was 4.5), taste of finished syrup was quite good, and over 10 days we made almost a gallon from three taps-

I'm not ready to sell the place back in NH, but its nice to know if Heide and I retire out here (still 30 or so yrs away) that I can still do some sugaring...a Half Pint would be just about perfect...

best of luck to all...