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Thread: Is Red Maple sap inherently dirty?

  1. #11
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    May 2009
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    UVM Proctor Maple Research Center, Underhill Ctr, VT
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sugar Bear View Post
    As I see it the only reason anybody should be tapping Reds is if they don't have any or enough sugars to tap.
    That was definitely the way people thought 25+ yrs ago. However with good vacuum, reds will produce quite well. We went from having no red maples tapped in our sugarbush to about 1/3 of our taps being red maple. We make plenty of great tasting maple syrup.

    We do have a project starting next spring comparing sap yield, sugar content, timing of buddy flavor development, wounding, and syrup flavor. Dr. Abby is the PI on that project.
    Dr. Tim Perkins
    UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
    http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
    https://mapleresearch.org
    Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu

  2. #12
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    Nov 2013
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    N.E.Ohio
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins View Post
    That was definitely the way people thought 25+ yrs ago. However with good vacuum, reds will produce quite well. We went from having no red maples tapped in our sugarbush to about 1/3 of our taps being red maple. We make plenty of great tasting maple syrup.

    We do have a project starting next spring comparing sap yield, sugar content, timing of buddy flavor development, wounding, and syrup flavor. Dr. Abby is the PI on that project.
    Dr Tim,
    Cant wait to see the results on this study. That was definitely the thought 25 years ago, but there is so much untapped potential in our area (im assuming all over the maple country). Ive said it before we tap all reds and do pretty well all things considered. The syrup tastes great and have so many repeat customers, would highly recommend that people not skip over red maples, they go just as long and most could probably gain 20-50 percent more taps. Just my 2 cents
    Kevin

  3. #13
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    Mar 2008
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    Canaan NH
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    Almost all of my 150 taps are reds and are woods trees. In my experience, they make less syrup in general than sugars, though it has excellent flavor and I have many satisfied customers that prefer my syrup especially. In my operation, I try to do all of the best tapping and sanitation practices, i.e. "strive for 5", new CV spouts each year, new drops every 5 years, tapping depth 2" with tapping bit, seating until thud only, etc. Even with decent vacuum (average about 25 inches at releaser, 23 at top of farthest lateral), I've never been able to make the coveted 0.5 gpt. Best ever was 0.42 in 2018 with all new drops. In my chart below, I attribute about 20% less production in years 2015 and 2017 due to trips to Florida at tail end of season. The reds run a very comparable time-frame to the sugar maples, but sap yield does tend to tail off a bit toward the end relative to my neighbors with sugars, in spite of CV spouts and good sanitation. Also my sugar content averages maybe 0.2-0.3% less than neighbors with sugar maples.



    Syrup Production.JPG
    Last edited by jrgagne99; 04-15-2021 at 12:53 PM.
    Boulder Trail Sugaring
    150 Taps on Vacuum
    Homemade 20"x40" Hybrid Pan - 15 gph
    Homemade Steamaway - 10 gph
    Waterguys single-post RO

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Puslinch, ON
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    “ Hopefully you mean Filter-Aid/DE and not Filter-
    Brite


    Yes, Filter-Aid purchased from my maple supplier. Thanks for the clarification.
    Bob Harris, @puslinchbob, since 2009
    400 taps in 2 very flat red maple bushes
    2 Sapguzzler vacuum pumps each with 200 taps
    30" x 96" Smoky Lake Silver Plate with pre-heat and auto drawoff
    Bombardier Traxter XT fitted with tracks pulling 400 litre tank

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
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    Weston, CT
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins View Post
    That was definitely the way people thought 25+ yrs ago. However with good vacuum, reds will produce quite well. We went from having no red maples tapped in our sugarbush to about 1/3 of our taps being red maple. We make plenty of great tasting maple syrup.

    We do have a project starting next spring comparing sap yield, sugar content, timing of buddy flavor development, wounding, and syrup flavor. Dr. Abby is the PI on that project.
    That sounds like a very interesting project. Please post the results of that when done.

    I have no more sugars to tap so I will be tapping some Red Maples next year. I plan to set up some kind of vacuum on them.

    I tapped a few this year along with a silver. Got decent sap flow on gravity to buckets.

    They never showed more the half a percent sugar this year. Had a home built RO to deal with them however and they made great syrup very much if not the same as the sugar syrup.

    With that said I would still tap the sugars over the reds if I had more to tap, but I do not, so I will tap the many Reds I have.



    .
    If you think it's easy to make good money in maple syrup .... then your obviously good at stealing somebody's Maple Syrup.

    Favorite Tree: Sugar Maple
    Most Hated Animal: Sap Sucker
    Most Loved Animal: Devon Rex Cat
    Favorite Kingpin: Bruce Bascom
    40 Sugar Maple Taps ... 23 in CT and 17 in NY .... 29 on gravity tubing and 11 on 5G buckets ... 2019 Totals 508 gallons of sap, 7 boils, 11.4 gallons of syrup.
    1 Girlfriend that gives away all my syrup to her friends.

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