1.2% sugar in sap???

[Sugarmaker]

Good idea to check your sap hydrometer in water, it should read 0 brix. I had one that was too high by 1 point. I want a couple hundred trees at 5% like Galena's! Wow!
Regards,
Chris

[wlatrout]

I have 100 tapes on soft maple and 20 tapes on yard sugar maples and the first batch of sap off the softs was above 2% since then I have seen from 1% to 1 3/4 %. On the sugars I have had 4% down to 2 1/2 %. My trees here in no. in. have pretty much stopped flowing but we are getting below freezing tonight. Don't know if it will start again. Was getting some cloody sap yesterday that still tasted alright so we will see if the fat lady sings. Been a good year considering the weather so no complaints.

[johnallin]

Attachment 19885
Attachment 19886

Well, this explains a bunch.... Unfortunately I had dumped 75 gallons last week to learn now that my hydrometer was reading a full point low.

Looking at the picture of the "off" hydrometer (attachment 19886) I see what looks like a red line. On my Leader sap hydro there's a red line that ends at zero indicating the paper is in proper position.

In your case it looks like the paper has moved down about 1°. Save it for a backup - just make the correction when you use it.

[Austin351]

Looking at the picture of the "off" hydrometer (attachment 19886) I see what looks like a red line. On my Leader sap hydro there's a red line that ends at zero indicating the paper is in proper position.

In your case it looks like the paper has moved down about 1°. Save it for a backup - just make the correction when you use it.

Yep, I checked in water like Sugarmaker stated, it shows at least .75 low. My new hydrometer was right on. I marked on the case that it was low and figured it would become a back-up.