OT--Anyone Tapping trees for Maple syrup?

[potatomansoup]

I heard you should tap the south side of he tree. I helped my buddy set taps in 10 trees and probably 50' of line to 5 gallon pails. The next day he got 20 gallons of sap. Not sure when were going to do more but it's a good time out in the woods!

I heard the same, and it seems to work, still some trees give us tons of sap and some are nearly dry...
But it's worth the effort and it gets all the sticks and debri burned up for spring

[South_Texas70]

Just curious, doing it for my 1st time this year.

We tapped seven trees around the house on Tuesday and I have over 5 gallons of sap so far!!! I only had three buckets to hang and improvised with plastic (gallon) water jugs. I will start the great boil tomorrow afternoon. I will probably be consuming adult beverages while watching sap boil!!! This is our first time as well. I grew up in NH but never thought about making our own syrup!! I am actually consuming some Crown Royal Maple flavored spirits while writing this. This is my way of prepping for tomorrow's boil!! Let us know how it goes; its a great pass time when not ice fishing!!

Tex

[SmellsLikeFishNH]

Hey guys,
Here is my update. Spent the day boiling the sap. It came out great!!! Certainly inefficient doing it with propane and certainly a LOT of work for only 20 ounces of syrup, but Im glad I did it. Not sure im ready to invest in an evaporator and wood burning setup just yet, but I will keep it going for the rest of this season.

Here are some pix.

[pirkaus]

That's some good looking syrup there Scott
Break out the pancakes
Pirk

[WetlinesNCocktails]

Nice!  I bet it will taste great.  Nothin like the smell of the sap boiling.  That sticky sweet smelling steam in the air.

[potatomansoup]

Looks good Scott, I find a flatter pan boils more efficiently.. it's worth the effort!
I got chased off the ice today so I finished my boil too, here are my pics.


219 degrees is syrup!

Keep going and you have candy- just pour it over the snow

[Y Bone]

Nice looking color. I started small like you then I got Maple fever. Now have 2 by 6 evaporator.

[Hounded819]

alot of work but alot of fun. did anouther 10 gal yesterday and didnt here how it went today. when your ready for an evaporator let me know we deal with a few diffrent people and some pvt people that make them

[South_Texas70]

We tapped our trees last week and have 40 gallons of raw sap...
We used to use an open fire and turkey fryer to boil but the propane is too expensive and open fire is inefficient, so I made an old filing cabinet into an evaporator, now I can boil down 40 gallons in much less time..
I am going to bottle it in whiskey bottles
so that's what I am doing today instead of fishing, tomorrow I will be on the ice again.
Clay


I love the use of the filing cabinet!! I just got rid of one.... had I only thought of it!! The sap has stopped in my area, I dont think it got above freezing in our area today! Hopefully this week it will get going again. 

Tex

[Hounded819]

Hey guys,
Here is my update. Spent the day boiling the sap. It came out great!!! Certainly inefficient doing it with propane and certainly a LOT of work for only 20 ounces of syrup, but Im glad I did it. Not sure im ready to invest in an evaporator and wood burning setup just yet, but I will keep it going for the rest of this season.

Here are some pix.

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Hope you dont have wallpaper in the house. if so preheating it inside will peal it off the walls and make everything sicky

[SmellsLikeFishNH]

Awesome Pix Clay!!!!

I did just a little preheating in the house, as soon as it hit a boil, I brought it right outside and tossed it in the big pot. I totally forgot my BBQ has a side burner on it, so next boil I will use that as well, will preheat on it, and then boil in the turkey fryer....Im sure a flatter pan will work better, shallower and more surface area to boil on. I just dont have that sort of setup yet, maybe over the spring and summer I will look for an evaporator setup. Ive probably only got 30 trees to work with, so its not like I can go much bigger on my scale.

Thanks again for all the sharing on this thread guys.

-Scott

[potatomansoup]

30trees is plenty...
It's a lot of fun and friends from the south will be envious...

[fishingwithkids]

Hows the sap flowing? I have only 12 taps and just about slowed to a crawl. the weekend was banner though. at the time sunday I had only 5 taps and got 13 gallons of sap. my goal for the year is 1 gallon of syrup.
   good luck !

[SmellsLikeFishNH]

Past 2 days have really stopped the flow, I had 5 gallons of sap total for 2 days with 30 taps....im usually averaging 10-15 gallons a day. Its gonna pick right back up today I would suspect.

Im still not sure what my goal is....LOL Ive certainly got plenty now to last me the year, but lots of people are also asking me for some. Its been fun doing this....

[potatomansoup]

Past 2 days have really stopped the flow, I had 5 gallons of sap total for 2 days with 30 taps....im usually averaging 10-15 gallons a day. Its gonna pick right back up today I would suspect.

Im still not sure what my goal is....LOL Ive certainly got plenty now to last me the year, but lots of people are also asking me for some. Its been fun doing this....

Yeah we really need the contrast of cold nights and warm days... Should be good for another week or so..

[Oddfish]

I was wondering........The f taps I have nearly stopped except for one over the last two days.  I even cleared one out to see if it was just sealing itself but nothing was flowing.  I hope you are right about it going for the next week.  we do have cold nights and above freezing days.

This was the first year, actually this OT got me into action.  Every year as I go to the Bellamy in Feb. I see taps on trees and think I gotta do that.  Well, this thread pushed me over the edge.  I did about everything wrong.  Used home made taps.  used too small of catch containers. Had leaky taps.........and still have 20oz. of finished syurp in the fridge.  If I had done it right I think I would have gotten about a half gallon out of those two trees.  I will be looking for more trees next year.  I'm hooked.  Thanks Scott, just what I need one more addictive sport for my wife to be annoyed by....LOL.

Oddfish

[fishingwithkids]

well my kids and I will be boiling today. I dragged out the evaporator I threw together last year and cleaned out the boiling pots. I have about 25 gallons of sap I will boil down outside then do the finishing in the kitchen. the kids have already gone through about a quart with pancakes, putting it on icecream, and their favorite maple fraps. Busy day ahead of me.

[potatomansoup]

We heated some to 225 degrees and poured it over snow, made great candy

[Oddfish]

We heated some to 225 degrees and poured it over snow, made great candy

Like

Oddfish

[SmellsLikeFishNH]

Ive only gotten a gallon of sap over the last 3 days..its been pretty much a stoppage of flow with those extremely warm days then this cold with barely temps above mid 30's here in Merrimack. The next week isnt looking too good yet either, staying cold. I checked all my taps yesterday at 5pm and all of them still had ice in the spouts...so it never warmed up enough yesterday. Im hoping for a few more good runs before its over.

Oddfish, it was my 1st year as well, im enjoying it, I just hope Im not done yet LOL Liquid gold!!!

[Oddfish]

Ive only gotten a gallon of sap over the last 3 days..its been pretty much a stoppage of flow with those extremely warm days then this cold with barely temps above mid 30's here in Merrimack. The next week isnt looking too good yet either, staying cold. I checked all my taps yesterday at 5pm and all of them still had ice in the spouts...so it never warmed up enough yesterday. Im hoping for a few more good runs before its over.

Oddfish, it was my 1st year as well, im enjoying it, I just hope Im not done yet LOL Liquid gold!!!

Mine started at about 1600 yesterday and went nuts until 2000, got about a gallon and a half off the four taps, I expect today will go well too.

Oddfish

[Hounded819]

most of ours hasnt run unless we turn on the pump. even with temps around 35 40 but with the wind it hasnt warmed up to make a good run. Smellslikefish next weekend is open house if you make a trip up this way stop in and check out the set up we have.

[Oddfish]

The front tree is ripping today, I think it has put out over two gallons and still going although it has slowed slightly.

OD

[SmellsLikeFishNH]

most of ours hasnt run unless we turn on the pump. even with temps around 35 40 but with the wind it hasnt warmed up to make a good run. Smellslikefish next weekend is open house if you make a trip up this way stop in and check out the set up we have.

Send me a note as to where to go, Id love to come and check it out. If you guys have too much sap, Id love to buy some from you or lighten your load LOL

Oddfish, I got 5 gallons today. Most of my trees are in my wood line, so they dont get sun all day long, Im sure if they had nice sun exposure it would of been a better day. Just gotta make do with what I get I suppose.

[fishingwithkids]

Boiled yesrerday ended up with just over a half gallon of syrup. Crepes and corned beef hash this morning

[South_Texas70]

I started boiling on Thursday evening (10 gallons of sap) drank lots of Sam Adams. I had to cut it off at 3AM started back up at 9AM and continued until 4PM. I ended up with 2 pints. I have a problem with scorching it at the end. The syrup ends up with a little bit of an odd taste. I was tasting it throughout but once it got past 215 I got the odd taste. It is still good and the wife and I enjoy it. Anyone have any pointers on how to prevent scorching it or what that burned tast might be?? I am wondering if I should be stirring it during the final boil or maybe use a lower heat at the end???

Thanks

Tex

[Oddfish]

I started boiling on Thursday evening (10 gallons of sap) drank lots of Sam Adams. I had to cut it off at 3AM started back up at 9AM and continued until 4PM. I ended up with 2 pints. I have a problem with scorching it at the end. The syrup ends up with a little bit of an odd taste. I was tasting it throughout but once it got past 215 I got the odd taste. It is still good and the wife and I enjoy it. Anyone have any pointers on how to prevent scorching it or what that burned tast might be?? I am wondering if I should be stirring it during the final boil or maybe use a lower heat at the end???

Thanks

Tex

I'm in no way an expert on boiling down sap, but I am a master brewer and that mostly involves boiling down sugar water.

I have reduced the heat to a minimal boil near the end. Even at a minimal boil the water is leaving at a decent rate. If the boil is too violent it allows parts of the bottom of the pan to exceed 300+ degrees F.  If this happens burning, scorching, maiyard reactions, excessive caramelization, etc. Will occur.  This has, in my case, left a very light colored syrup.

Oddfish

[South_Texas70]

Thanks oddfish. I guess next time I will slowly raise the heat to bring it to a slow boil and go from there.

Tex

[potatomansoup]

I boil to 219 degrees, as soon as I reach 215 I let the fire burn down and finish on the stove or turkey fryer... Perfect every time... Invest in a digital thermometer for a fryer... I think I spent 20 bucks...but knowing the temp saves everything

[South_Texas70]

I boil to 219 degrees, as soon as I reach 215 I let the fire burn down and finish on the stove or turkey fryer... Perfect every time... Invest in a digital thermometer for a fryer... I think I spent 20 bucks...but knowing the temp saves everything

Thanks for the tips potatomansoup. I have been using a Coleman stove with a steam table pan (16"x24"X6"). I have been getting the water to a heavy steam, not even a rolling boil. when I am left with about 2-3 inches of sap in the pan (usually about 1 gallon boiled down from 10 gals) I pull it off and then bring it to a boil on the stove and bring it to 219 with the digital therm as well. Do you stir it as your bringing it up to the final 4 degrees? Do you keep it at a constant boil on the fryer? Maybe I need to ease up on the Sam Adams??? HA HA       I will post some pics so you can see the set up.

My wife was commenting on how much I have invested in this syrup making. I started with a kit from tapmytree.com, I bought an oldfashioned hand auger to drill the trees, I then bought two stainless steam table pans for a restaurant supply store in Manch, and then finally my new Coleman propane stove!! I told her the Coleman stove was for camping  not really the syrup. I hate to tell you fellas, but I am in this about $200!!! HA HA However, it does not matter, I love being able to harvest from the land!! Its also bragging rights to my buddies back in Texas! Plus its an exuse to be outside drinking beer until 3AM!!
 We have actually been drinking the raw sap that I collect in 1 gal water jugs. Pretty good stuff, I guess the Indians used to drink it to cleanse themselves.  I hear it is also good to use for brewing your own beer. Any thoughts on that Oddfish??
 Any other tips would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks gents!!

Tex