Backyard Syrup Enthusiasts 2021

[Mvhomesteader]

As the first real snow storm of the season is in full swing and after a really cold week, it hardly seems that maple season is approaching, but it is.

Welcome to all backyard operators and anyone who loves the pursuit of maple. Backyard syrupers seem to come in all levels of sophistication. I'm pretty simple with my setup. This is my sixth season making syrup, fourth here in Mount Vernon, northwest of Augusta. I use a concrete block arch with 3 steam trays in conjunction with a wood stove/steam tray as a warming pan. This setup will evaporate around 7 gallons per hour so I can easily get a gallon of syrup a day. No big changes in operation from past seasons....aiming for 13 gallons again this year. We still have 2 left from last year.

My wife and I have a small homestead here where we raise a good portion of our food. Syrup is food, right???? Anyway every homesteader general loves tools. My favorite homestead tool which crosses into maple production is the chain saw. I keep two, both Stihls, an 026 and an 029/ms390 combo saw my son cannibalized, covering 16 to 20 bar length. We burn a cord+ of wood for sap another 3 for the house. Sap wood is everything, whatever is most plentiful. If there is any big stuff, my son has an 084 with a 36" bar used for milling. That is one big saw.

My least expensive favorite tool is an old hair dryer I use to warm the engine on my tractor. 45 minutes with an old wool blanket cover works great even in the cold we've had.

While we wait for sap to run, what other favorite tools are out there?

Best of luck to everyone this season!

[CanterburyMaple]

Greetings! I got bit by the maple sugar bug last March when I saw a neighbor with buckets out and tapped 8 maple trees. I've since been grateful for discovering MapleTrader and everyone's wealth of experience and knowledge. I talked to most of my neighbors and am planning on tapping 50+ trees in my neighborhood this year, and putting together a homemade RO and homemade cinderblock evaporator. I did tapped some "waste" maples in late November and have collected ~15 gallons that I could play around with to tweak my evaporator structure and filtering skills. Was goign to tap this week with temps near 40, but with the deep cold in the forecast, it looks like it won't be until Feb 20th or later.

[Mvhomesteader]

I agree Canterberry Maple--hold the line for a bit. Seems to be one of my go-to statements lately. I typically tap after mid February, but it will be too cold next week and into the following week. I used to get antsy in January when temps could be up for a week, but I've got over that tendency finally.

Interesting that you tapped in November and got some sap. That coberates with what I've read in old tapping stories. Are those taps still functional? If like to know how long they run, and how they compare flow wise with your taps this spring. Any idea of the sugar content? Good experiment......

[CanterburyMaple]

So the taps ran until about early to mid-January, then dried up even on days when they "should have ben running". Seem consistent with the 4-6 week life of a tap hole. I added an additional hole on 3 of the larger "waste" trees, and I've gotten another ~5-ish gallons ove rthe past few weeks. Keeping well frozen outside with this arctic weather haha! I'm almost done building my RO (4 membrane set-up patterned off of soulyrested.com and their diagrams), so I'm going to try a full RO cycle (wash prep/run sap/flush membranes) to see what mistakes I've made in design, any leaks, and what I need to learn before the gushers start coming. Looks like the 17th or 18th might be my tapping days for my property as I'll be out of town for a few days then need to tap my neighbors trees. The itch is getting very hard not to scratch...

[Mvhomesteader]

So the taps ran until about early to mid-January, then dried up even on days when they "should have ben running". Seem consistent with the 4-6 week life of a tap hole. I added an additional hole on 3 of the larger "waste" trees, and I've gotten another ~5-ish gallons ove rthe past few weeks.

Interesting evolution of your tap holes. Do you happen to know the sugar content? It would be interesting to see how it compares with traditional spring taps.

Just looked at the 10 day forecast and I see 30 for the 18th and 19th....still cold at night. At least it's getting warmer during the day. I usually tap around mid month, but that's too cold this year. I might wait till I see some days of 35 or so. I'll use the time to boil my spiles, clean out the arch, gather more newspaper, etc. and remove three pine trees that cast some shade on a couple of my sugar maples.

[CanterburyMaple]

I'm guessing the sugar content was pretty low. I was probably getting a cup of syrup for every 4 gallons of sap, so that's 1 to 64 ratio, vs. the 1 to 44 ratio for 2% sap. Consistent with what others have said on here about low sugar contents in the fall/early winter. Just got 2 hydrometers so I can test both sap and syrup BRIX, woot! And yes, agree on the cold setting in for longer. Tapping in February looks "optimistic" this year. I still have plenty to do: need to drill holes in lids/buckets and get my sap storage container fitted with a valve at the bottom. And create a snow refrigerator for it at that. And dig out my evaporator that got buried in snow (but I covered it with a tarp first).

[CanterburyMaple]

I have finished tapping about 70 maples on my street. Pushing 50 degrees here in Gorham today, crazy! Hoping to run the RO on Saturday and do a big boil on Sunday. Sap is dripping, not sure I'd say it's "Flowing".

[DrTimPerkins]

Interesting that you tapped in November and got some sap. That coberates with what I've read in old tapping stories. Are those taps still functional? If like to know how long they run, and how they compare flow wise with your taps this spring. Any idea of the sugar content? Good experiment......

Sap will flow from tapholes (or wounds) in maple anytime the weather conditions are appropriate: warm periods after freezing periods. The sap sugar content will be considerably lower in the fall however.

Tapholes exposed to air (gravity flow...buckets, bags, tubing without vacuum) will dry out after 4-6 weeks...perhaps a tad longer if it is cold and there is little flow during that time. They will not flow (much) after that.

Tapholes on strong vacuum with good sanitation practices can remain viable far longer. Tapping in January and sap flows into mid-April are not uncommon.

Reaming, bumping, drilling deeper may rejuvenate flow a bit (a lot depends on the timing) after stoppage (drying out...actually a misnomer since it is more akin to "clogging up" and a natural wound response to microbes in the taphole), however the internal wound of these practices can be 2-3X the size, so in general, these practices are not sustainable in the long-term and should be avoided.

[Mvhomesteader]

Thanks Dr. Tim for the information. I'll tuck that away for reference. I probably got lucky in 2019 when I tapped in mid February but the flow didn't kick in till mid March. The taps were gravity open for a month. The cold, as you said, might have helped. I'll wait this year for better weather. I see now the 20th is still cold......

Canterbury Maple- I use the snow dumping off the metal shed roof as my outside fridge, digging bucket holes for 5 gallon pails as they accumulate. The only thing that roof is good for. You can actually cover the buckets with snow or a blanket on a deep freeze night to limit ice accumulation. Works pretty good and it is near the evaporator so lugging is limited.

[DrTimPerkins]

Thanks Dr. Tim for the information. I'll tuck that away for reference.

It's kind of humorous, but we see throughout the maple region that about every 5 yrs or so someone "discovers" they can make sap in the fall, and there will be a big story in the local news about it. Most likely your great grandfather knew about it 80-100 yrs or more about it, but knew enough not to bother given that the sugar content is low, can't put too many holes in a tree each year, and the cold weather after the fall season will split buckets.

If you've got a lot of trees and you don't manage to tap them all in the spring, tapping some in the fall can be interesting and give you syrup then.

Bill Clark, the VMSMA President many years ago, always put out a few buckets around the holidays in order to have fresh syrup for Christmas.