First Timer Question

[FoolsHumor]

Greetings,

Could someone tolerate a beginner’s questions? Twenty five years ago I bought a farm and within a month had bought taps from the local hardware store. Problem is I never did anything with them until a couple of weeks ago. This past summer the Lady of the House decided we should tap some trees and make syrup for Christmas gifts. So I cruised the edge of the woods while the leaves were on and I gave my best shot at identifying and marking some sugar maples. So now we move to three weeks ago. I tapped 4 trees and very quickly had 12 gallons of sap. Enough to do a test run before investing time and money in a more serious system. Using a large aluminum backing pan, an old Coleman 2 burner camp stove and a gallon of fresh fuel I boiled sap for 7 hours and finally got down to where I had little enough volume to finish it inside the house. Problem is my 12 gallons turned into less than 20 ounces of unfinished syrup. Figures out to about an 80:1 ratio. Long ways from the 32 to 40 the books claim. My syrup seemed to taste correct, I think. So, the questions are……

(1) Are the 32:1 ratio’s just for sugar maples in the New England climate? Most books seem to relate to that area.

(2) Have I tapped something other than sugar maples? I tasted the raw sap and it was not at all sweet.

(3) When the sap is filling a couple of gallon jugs a day from a single tap is the sugar content below the magic 3%?

(4) What else have I missed?

Any and all help is appreciated.

Regards,

Bob in Greene County Indiana

[maple flats]

Sugar % does vary. Not by region but by crown size and tree health. And some trees are genetically better. You should however get more than 1/80 on any sugar. Did you identify correctly? Right now look at the trees. Are there opposite branching, you must look in the tops because most opposites get pulled or broken off, if there is any opposites you have a maple. Next look at the buds, you will either need a lower limb or a sucker low to the ground to see or a good pair of binocs. The buds now on a sugar will be sort of greyish color and will come to a sharp point. If no sharp point you have some other maple. Other maples have different sugar %'s. Reds can be close to sugars if the have strong crowns but not quite, silvers may be about 1% or less. Blacks will be as high as sugar. The rest are usually too low to bother with, but they will all make good syrup. It is just the time needed to remove the extra water. If identification is a problem try getting pictures from a dendrology web site, they will show examples or buy the North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual, the maple producers bible.

[maplehound]

You don't say what was used to gather it in. If you are using an open bucket and it rained or had snow on the tree that melted and added warter to the bucket that would greatly reduce the sugar content. Also when you start out with just 12 gallons of sap it won't make very much syrup and you might not be able to tell if it is at syrup stage with that small an amount. another thing to look at may be that the trees weren't totally thawed out and the sugara content may still be low, it may come up as the season gets to a better start.