My Maples have started budding, should I pull my taps? I haven't gotten as much syrup made as I had hoped, but I don't want a bunch of nasty tasting syrup
My Maples have started budding, should I pull my taps? I haven't gotten as much syrup made as I had hoped, but I don't want a bunch of nasty tasting syrup
Putting out somewhere between 25 - 200 taps this year. Probably coser to the latter. No matter what I say today!
If you are tapped in sugar maples you should have some more time.
Listen for the peepers. They usually tell me when I'm done.
John
100+ Taps, 40 on 5/16 tubing
Lunchbox Vacuum/Releaser, hodorskib's Small Scale RO
3x7 Stainless Flat Pan
No chickens........yet.
http://s219.photobucket.com/albums/c.../Maple%20Camp/
The peepers?
2012 - First year - 100 taps on buckets
2x5 Wood-fired arch
12 x 12 Sugar shack
2 Snowmobile drawn haulers
7 children that help....................just the eating part! JK!
I heard peepers this past weekend, but got good sap. Hopefully, the peepers are just disoriented due to the unseasonable weather and that usually accurate rule is wrong this year!
2010: 12 taps, sloppily-built concrete block arch
2011: 20 taps, better-built concrete block arch
2012: 91 taps (tubes into 5-gal buckets), new 2x4 divided pan
2013: 96 taps, same set-up
2014 & 2015: Only five taps due to business obligations
2016: Retirement & tapping as many trees as I please!
Assisted by: My 17 year-old Black Lab mix and Stan the excellent assistant brewmaster.
I find with my reds that once the buds start to swell the end is near.
The sap also starts to get cloudy and have a slight yellowish color when the buds are getting large.
At that point you have to decide how much grade B and commercial grade you want to make.
1st Generation Hobby Maple Producer, you got to start somewhere.
222 Taps, all on Vacuum! No more buckets.
Lapierre 2'x5' raised flue w/Hood and Preheater
Surge SP11, Lapierre Hobby Releaser
Modified 5" Filter Press made by Daryl with a Gear Pump
Homemade 2 membrane RO
Kabota RTV Sap Hauler
Hardy's Maple Syrup on Facebook
I was at my in-laws' yesterday and was stunned to see the sugar maples in their front yard were all fully budded out. Every branch had fat red clusters popping out. Their trees are sheltered by the house and face SE, so I'm sure that helped. Mine haven't swelled too much yet, but I can't help think time is almost up.
Sawyerkirk, don't pull your taps yet. Just make a bucket by bucket decision when you collect. If it looks too yellow or if it smells, toss it and hang it back up. If it's a little yellow, but tastes okay, you might want to keep it. The next bucket you get to could be crystal clear. The trees never go all at once and more than once, I've gotten yellow sap from a tap, but a cold snap gets it running clear again for a couple days.
Sean
Woodville Maples
www.woodvillemaples.com
www.facebook.com/woodvillemaples
Around 300 taps on tubing, 25+ on buckets if I put them out
Mix of natural and mechanical vac, S3 Controller from Mountain Maple
2x6 W.F. Mason with Phaneuf pans
Deer Run 250 RO
Ford F350
6+ hives of bees (if they make it through the winters)
Keeping the day job until I can start living the dream.
Definately heard the peepers, some of my buckets were pee colored, not much sap the past few days, I've still got a couple hundred gallons to boil down, so I should end up with enough. I have noticed I have alot more sediment this year, oddly enough I am filtering alot more than last year not real sure whats happening there.
Putting out somewhere between 25 - 200 taps this year. Probably coser to the latter. No matter what I say today!
Saw silvers that were budded out a couple of days ago. Haven't taken a close look at the sugars, hope we can get one last run with the cold snap the next couple of nights. Predicting a couple of days up to 60 next week, that may do it for here in Bloomington.
Michael B.
2010- 6 taps & untold hours boiling over stove, gas grill & open fire. Two gallons bottled & family & friends received early Christmas gifts!
2011- 18 taps & a home built arch (old filing cabinet with steam table pans)
2012- 25+ taps and teaching a Parks & Rec course on Maple Syrup (Yikes!)
Tapping trees here in Bloomington and at a family cabin in Butler County, KY.
I would not use sap color, smell or cloudiness to determine when to pull taps. Often times, a warm spell will give you cloudy, yellow sap but a cold stretch will bring the sap back to normal. I have also seen crystal-clear sap make buddy syrup.
If you want to check for buddy sap, just take a quart of sap and bring it to a boil on the kitchen stove. The steam from the sap will have a distinctive bitter smell.
2012: Probably 750 gravity taps and 50 buckets.
600 gal stainless milk tank.
2 - 100 gallon stock tanks
one 30 gal barrel
50 buckets
3' x 10' Waterloo Raised Flue wood fired evaporator w/ open pans.
12" x 20" Filter Canner
Sawmill next to sugarhouse solves my sugarwood problem
Gather with GMC 3500 2wd Pickup w/ 425 gallon Plastic Tank.
Been tapping here in Lyman NH since 1989 but I've been sugaring since 8 years old in 1968.