When to stop collecting?

[Mboeselager]

Quick question for the group. I've been making syrup for about 6 years as a hobby. I've heard there is a time when the SAP will turn sour due to the tree's budding. I live in Wisconsin and am finding it difficult to understand when the tree's are "budding". One year I went too long and had to scrap a batch due to the taste and don't want to do that again.

1. How do you identify when to stop?
2. Can you taste the SAP and tell?
3. Is there a typical date when it's time to pull out the taps.

Thanks in advance.

[82cabby]

Dates are all over the map depending on the weather. You usually can smell the sap when it’s gone to bud. Or if it’s yellow or too cloudy. If you’re on buckets you can decide tree by tree, tubing it’s more of an all or nothing decision.

[maple flats]

If in doubt, keep the latest sap separate until you test boil it. Bad sap will smell like dirty socks.
The type of trees will vary greatly when you should quit. Sugar maples have pointed buds early on, as the season nears the end they will swell, then at the very tip a little color will appear, they are done then. On Red maples the sap will stop flowing before you need to quit, on silver maples the buds, which are large flat top clusters will open and flower, (reds also have very similar buds). Once any color appears on the buds, time is over. Both Reds and silvers will be over a week and maybe even more than 2 weeks before sugar maples are done. The timing does not use a calendar, it's all related to the weather.
Here in central NY I've been done some years as early as March 22, and as late as April 24. Every year is different.

[DrTimPerkins]

When to stop depends upon several things:
- you're out of wood
- you're out of energy
- you've spent all your money on shiny toys
- sap turns buddy (no...you can't taste it in the sap..as Dave says...boil a little down by half and smell/taste, once sap turns buddy, it rarely comes back)
- sap turns sour (happens when it is hot, sap ferments, might be the end of the season unless you get another good freeze).
- your wife says it's time to do something different

[O3C]

Showed this to my wife. She laughed. Do you think now is the time to tell her about the new sap pan for next year ? Ron

[levic900rr]

I pulled my buckets last night. My one Red maple had turned sour and the others just dried up a bit after this last warm weekend.

[Swingpure]

Sugar maples have pointed buds early on, as the season nears the end they will swell, then at the very tip a little color will appear, they are done then.

Today I opened a plastic bottle of syrup, given to us by a friend of my wife’s, who makes and sells maple syrup. The syrup was very dark and had an almost molasses taste to it. I still used it on my French Toast. My guess was that it was syrup from near the end of the season.Assuming that guess was correct, I have spoken to people and have read some posts, where they stop collecting sap, before the syrup gets too dark. I guess for some, they have enough syrup for their needs, and for others they want to end before they get into the darker syrup.

I guess there is stopping before the sap goes bad, but are there clues on when to stop before the syrup gets too dark and molasses like?

[highlandcattle]

Oh that's a good one. I needed that. A dark day here. Rain right down the road. Snow pretty much gone. Ron's collected about 33 gallons. He's going back out to his sugar shack(garage)to boil. Unlike other wives, I look forward to this each year. Even though we're off the farm..this gives him something to do...

[DrTimPerkins]

I could add another....

- fishing season is starting

[jrgagne99]

When the peepers are out at night, it's all over for me.