2018 Nebraska Tapping Journal

[BillinTennessee]

I think it's great you can tap Maple trees that far west. You said you have Silver Maples. What kind of yield do you get. I am in Tennessee. We don't have many Sugar Maples here but I do have about 20 Black Maples that I can Tap. I have a few more but they are too small. Maybe in 5 years. I also have some Red Maple I might try next year. Unfortunately my trees are scattered out and in uneven terrain so I will stick with 5 Gallon food grade buckets. My problem here is the weather, it's just to warm to have an extended season. I just boiled 100 Gallons of sap off 25 Taps. Made 2 gallons of really good syrup. Then it warmed up again and the sap stopped flowing. I hope it gets cold again. I was hoping to make 10 Gallons this year but it isn't looking good. Good luck in Nebraska. Hope you have a good season.

[misterclassic]

Bill, it sounds like you have a pretty good yield. Last year we got around 9 gallons of syrup from around 350 gallons of sap. Our season is unpredictable and all I have to reference is my own notes as very few people are tapping in Nebraska. Last year it was in the 60's the last week in January, then down into the single digits for a few weeks then back up in the 60's again so it's touch & go.

My trees are 24" to 36" in diameter so I'm able to get two, sometimes three taps per tree. Some flow like gangbusters when the weather is good, some not so good. All our trees are on around two acres so we don't have to travel too far and it's fairly flat. We won't be doing anything for at least 10 days, last night we had -7 for the low and the long range doesn't look promising. Mother Nature calls the shots.

[maple flats]

Mother nature always calls the shots.

[jkment]

My son and I got into tapping silvers about 3rd year in, learning every year, working on filtration to make a nice product, built a wood fired heat evaporator, lots of work, we use buckets and tree saver spiles, hit the weather right in mid january boiled down about 30 gallons sap last weekend, about a 2% yield, made a nice dark amber clear product, we have about 50 taps out so far, going to shoot for about 100 taps this year, shooting for about 4 -5 gallons of syrup product to sell this year, we can boil down about 30-50 gallons for finishing in a day. lots of work but fun to do when you can't hunt, fish, or garden. Too much snow pack cool in the maple creek basin today, checked buckets, about a gallon is all today, I was researching myself to see if anyone in nebraska taps, pretty sparse group of us. There is some money in sapping if done right and efficient, no complaints on syrup I sold last year!! Plus we use maple syrup instead of buying honey now, good stuff man!!

[misterclassic]

It sounds like you have a nice little operation, roughly the same size as ours. We don't sell any of ours, at least not yet. The syrup does make great gifts though! And the friends who help us always get paid in syrup and so far no complaints with that arrangement! This year we put in 50 taps the third week in January and have only collected 5 gallons of sap total so far. It's been much too cold up here and this week doesn't look good either. It might get above freezing by next Sunday the 25th. I'm glad to hear of others in Nebraska tapping a few! It is addicting! This is our third year, last year we got around 8 gallons of syrup and we'll just have to wait & see what happens this year!

[jkment]

Looks to be a good week coming here, perfect temps, have little over 100 taps out, collected about 10 gallon last night, gonna be a busy weekend burning down if not before, 1 3/4 quart product finished out from at Jan. early Feb runs, last bit had quite a bit of niter in it, darnit, still working on filtration, happy drippin!!

Jay

[misterclassic]

It's supposed to be in the 50's up here Saturday & Sunday, 40's tomorrow and Friday. I think things will start moving now. I've only got 50 taps in so far with other commitments to tend to but when I see the sap start dripping that darn maple bug will hit and I'll be heading out with the drill & some taps & bags!

[misterclassic]

We've had 2 days of snow & high winds and I pulled the bags 3 days ago, there was only 3 gallons of sap from 50 taps. The temps had been in the 50's but not much flowing. It's been a disappointing season to say the least. Forecast for the next 5 days is highs in the low 40's and maybe 50 in a week, maybe THEN something will move.

[misterclassic]

Our trees woke up and we have sap! We collected 50 gallons of 2 1/2 percent sugar from 50 taps in 36 hours Friday and Saturday. High temp yesterday (Sunday) was only 30 so nothing flowed. Forecast is 40's & 50's for the upcoming week, looks good!

[misterclassic]

The sap collected Tuesday boiled down sweet but a two gallon sample I collected yesterday was boiled down and has that off flavor, buds have started opening so we're shutting down. I feel we have the sap potential to justify a larger evaporator so we'll be spending the next 10 months looking into that. I hope everyone has a great season yet, it sounds like out east it's going good for you!