lots of sap

[bunkerchump]

how do you measure?

Sap Hydrometer. Works similar to a syrup hydrometer except is calibrated to pick up much lower sugar content. Divide the sugar content which reads from the hydrometer into 86 and that's how many gallons of sap you need to make one gallon of syrup. For example, a 1.75 reading on the hydrometer will need just over 49 gallons. That's why I was dumping last nights take which was at or below 1.25 (almost 70 gallons required). BTW, the hydrometer is calibrated to read sap at 38 degrees F.

[Blocmi]

It's amazing how much sap flow can differ within a small area(CT). It's been a poor week for me so far. From 25 taps I collected 10 gallons Tuesday, 5 gallons Wednesday, and 3 gallons today. I had better runs on ten taps in the first week of January than with all 25 in now.

[Starting Small]

I have noticed the same thing in North Central CT. We just need a good freeze to get the trees back in order. If not tonight the weekend looks to have cold nights and then we are back in business!
-Dave

[bunkerchump]

Yeah, I'm with you Dave. I'm hoping it gets cold enough tonight, but as you say, the weekend looks better. I have plans Sunday, so I'd like to get enough to process Saturday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Just went out and collected today's take and the SAP flow decreased, but the sugar content was a bit higher, but nowhere near levels from last weekend.