This is our third year of sugaring and seeing our end product quantity less than desired. We have a 40 gal jacketed steam kettle with wood stove built under it. Process: boil and add, boil and add up to 80 gal in 13 hour period. We re-calibrated refractometer and tested 10 trees consistently at 2% with 1 at 3%. Tested 40 gal first batch at 2%, assuming should yield 4 qts. Boiled all day, adding 30+ gal more and ended up with 4 ˝ qts of high quality 68%. Expected 6-7 qts. Seems like there may be a variable we are unaware of. Any ideas would be helpful. Didn’t know if boiling the same pot for 13 hours could reduce/breakdown sugar content? The syrup is amazing!
Central Pennsylvania
2015 – 35 taps – 340 gal sap = 32 qts
2017 – 40 taps – 160 gal sap = 12 qts
2018 – 75 taps – 280 gal sap = 16 qts (so far)