Slow start?

[MN Maple]

I've had my taps out since the 12th, but have only managed to collect about 80 gallons on 40 taps over 6 days. I'm headed out today to check (it's been 3 days) and hopefully I'll find at least 50-60 gallons. This is my 3rd year and I'm still never sure what to expect for output, I find that it is incredibly variable from tree to tree. Most of the trees I use are yard trees at various locations, so I guess the "micro climate" must play a big part.

Hope to spend the evening boiling sap and drinkin' Captain...

[buck3m]

I'd say we've only had a day and a half of good runs. About 450 gallons from 250 taps so far. Now it looks like it's going to go from too cold during the day to too warm at night!

But you never know about the weather and there's not much choice but to take what you get.

[StewieSugar]

Same here, although this is my first year.

Most of my trees are on the northeast-facing slope of a hill (bluff), and they are varying dramatically between each other.

One tree I am consistently getting 2-3 gallons per day (when weather is right), and it alone has produced half my sap out of 23 taps. A tree fifty feet away that looks about the same size has produced one quart of sap - total.

With 23 taps, I was expecting 20 to 40 gallons a day of sap when things ran well, but I'm averaging (on good days) about 5-6 gallons.

I'm chalking this up to a "learning year" and am marking the better trees for next year.

Either way, though, I'm still ejoying it!

[RileySugarbush]

115 taps and we have collected 60 gallons, a couple days ago.

Not much flow since, maybe another 60 in the bags this morning.

But.....


I just got a call from home: "Dad, the sap bags are all really full!"

Collecting tonight, boiling tomorrow!

[Davydd]

I'm new at this. None of my trees are very big. They range from 12" in diameter up to about 20". One has produced almost all of the sap. Two others are producing just a little bit and two, including my largest diameter, haven't given up anything. Five taps total.

It is just for fun. I can see there is no economy in small operations as there is in home brewing. If I didn't already have a lot of home brewing equipment to use this would have been too big of an investment.

[RileySugarbush]

Collected 90 gallons this afternoon. We have 150 to sweeten the pans tomorrow. David, you are welcome to stop by if you want. give me a call 952 270-9206.

[twigbender]

We tapped on March 9th in Olmsted County. Got 40 gallons on 40 taps last Sat and Sun and cooked that down to sweeten the pan. Got another 28 gallons on Tue and cooked that down. Collected 60 gallons on Wed/Thur so will have some serious cooking to do today. In Beltrami county it's just beginning to run . . . maybe a cup per tap average, at best.

[Davydd]

Collected 90 gallons this afternoon. We have 150 to sweeten the pans tomorrow. David, you are welcome to stop by if you want. give me a call 952 270-9206.
John,

I would like to but am heading for La Crosse, WI. Brand new grandson born this morning.

[RileySugarbush]

Sweetened and drew off over three gallons of medium amber today. Great tasting syrup. Sap ranged from 2.3 to 3.5% off of our sugar maples. Plus 10 gallons of 3.8% off of some silver maples in a yard across the lake!

[Peepers]

I only have 4 decent sized trees tapped here, 3 silvers in the front yard and a big box elder in the back yard / field edge. The maples really kicked in yesterday and today. I think the rain we had last night gave em something to turn into sap. We got over a half gallon of syrup from those 4 trees in 2 days. Haven't boiled last nights and today's sap yet but they were running good this AM again. The two smaller box elders in the woods that I have single-tapped haven't been doing much.

This warm stretch is going to shut the sap down for a few days but hopefully we'll get some cold nights starting Wed night. Hopefully the sap won't be buddy already...

On the good-news front the extra surface-area from the kitchen sink I had welded shut together with a more-enclosed block arch this year are speeding things up dramatically for me. Gone are the long nights and early mornings stoking the campfire under the turkey fryer pot. That is until I find some more trees to tap! :D

[KenWP]

My boxelders are the only thing really running since tuesday. I tapped another one today and it poured sap before I could get the tap in. Something chewed on the trunk of the one boxelder and its pouring sap down the trunk of the tree. I don't expect much untill wednesday at the earlierest

[SilverLeaf]

...Plus 10 gallons of 3.8% off of some silver maples in a yard across the lake!

...Oh good - it's not just me. I don't know exact sugar content, but the sap from my Silvers (which is the only kind I've got!) has been exceptionally potent so far as well. I thought I was imagining things!

And speaking of imagining things, I wish I were imagining this, but my trees are looking primed to bud out already...:cry: Anyone else noticing this? I'm just hoping they can hold off 'til tuesday night when the weather gets cool again. If not, then this will have been the shortest season I've ever seen. My taps were just as slow to start as everyone else's on this thread...

[Jim Powell]

Good to hear you are really starting to run on Riley lake, John. I did not collect any sap last week because of such low flow. I dumped it all out Saturday, and collected less than 10 gallons from my 68 taps yesterday. I just got it all up to boiling on a fish fryer and stored it overnight. Once this big wave of rain passes this morning, I'll walk up into the woods to see whats happened.

JCP

[Davydd]

I was down in La Crosse, WI Sunday and the maples in my son's back yard were budding.

I evaporated my sap haul yesterday from my sugar maples. I had about 13 gallons stored plus what was in the sacks on the trees. I managed to harvest eight 8 oz. jars of syrup. The syrup might be a tad thin but I tested it by sight, how it flowed on a spoon and taste comparing it to some microwaved commercial syrup to determine when to stop. The thermometer reading wasn't correct calibration wise but it did climb about 7 degrees. Having never done this before I was flying by the seat of my pants.

I pulled my spiles out yesterday and noticed the largest tree that was a frustratingly poor producer was now stained with sap this morning. This coming week looks good weather wise but I have to move on to other stuff to do to prepare for our RV getaway in April. It was fun.

This was my haul.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k309/Davydd_2006/8JarsMapleSyrup.jpg

[RileySugarbush]

Congratulations on your first season!

It looks like you did well and even if it is a little light, I'm sure you will enjoy each drop. It will be interesting to see what you do next year.....

[Davydd]

Here is another picture comparing my syrup to Archer Farms maple syrup. Color is almost identical. I don't know if that means anything but my syrup tastes better than the Archer Farms stuff in my opinion of course. :)

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k309/Davydd_2006/MapleSyrupComparison.jpg

[Peepers]

Better too thin than to boil it to much unless you're trying to make candy out of it. I had a batch last year that I must have gone too far with because I had 4 pints half or more full of crystals. The crystals tasted good if we could chip em out without breaking the jars but they weren't much use on pancakes!
After the crystal incident we picked up a syrup hydrometer this year instead of messing with the thermometer. Watching it drip off the spoon is almost as good as the hydrometer I'm finding. When it starts gelling up right away instead of dripping like water then its getting mighty close.

Low of 33 predicted tonight, maybe we'll slip another degree lower and the sap will turn back on! With all this rain once it gets cold at night again I'm hoping it runs like crazy.

[Jim Powell]

Well my trees finally woke up. I collected a little on Saturday and Sunday about 15 gal each day. Many trees weren't flowing any thought. But Monday, they all were, and I collected 70 gallons, today it was around 120. Several of the big maples gave up 10 - 12 gallons each today. I boiled down all but about 25 gallons which I'll start going before I head up into the woods tomorrow. Gathering this morning at 33°, in rain and mud was lots of fun, but I didn't get stuck in it!

The run on Monday measured 4%, and the run today was 3.5%. I think my filtered yield will be around 9 gallons.

Thanks to whoever came up with Advil!

JCP

[RileySugarbush]

We made 9 gallons in a bit over 7 hours tonight! Still have 180 gallons of sap in tanks. Thursday we start again!

All very light so far.

[Peepers]

It seems the sap is slowing down from the maples in my yard. The buds are almost all popped open and flowering but the sap and syrup are still great. As long as their is sap we'll keep boiling it down. I tapped about a month ago so I'm not sure if its the budding slowing it down or if we need to ream the holes again. Either way sitting at 4 gallons of syrup out of 3 silvers and a box elder I am very pleased with this year. I'm glad I decided to double-tap my big trees this year as we were getting 5+ gallons a tree some days.

Next year I need to craft a way to keep my pans above the fire rather than down in it. The scorching on the sides can lead to some dark syrup if left to cool in the pans and then boiled more the next day.

I'm glad to hear that things are flowing down in Minnetrista for you Jim!