Maple sugaring 2021

[Walnut Beast]

From what I remember in Minnesota the weather was not to bad seems like March or later. There was no snow and it was pretty muddy in the woods. Needed the Willy's in 4wd in  The woods. Amazing how much variation of sap flow when the temp swings are good 

[mike_belben]

Ive read that southern red maple (all i have) produces a very different but very good syrup and id like to try it this season on a stovetop scale to see if i should fab up a rig.  


Any of you guys done red maple or ever had the syrup?

[moodnacreek]

Always herd it took a lot more sap.

[doc henderson]

i heard as well that the other maples taste good, but less concentrated, so more sap to make the same amount of syrup.  we plan to try what maple we can find, and walnut as well.

[SwampDonkey]

Birches and also butternut trees were also tapped up this way. I know they do some white birch out in the Canadian west. I've tapped yellow birch, but you don't get the run nor the same window of opportunity that you get from sugar maple. And the mint flavour from the raw twig is gone when boiled down, goes up with the steam. And the sugar is fructose in birch, sucrose in maple. I'd rather have the sucrose. I told the neighbors that birch could be tapped, but they looked at me quite skeptically. :D

[Stephen1]

Ive read that southern red maple (all i have) produces a very different but very good syrup and id like to try it this season on a stovetop scale to see if i should fab up a rig.  


Any of you guys done red maple or ever had the syrup?

Most of our trees are red maples. We have a dozen SM versus 300 red maples.  We get sap in the 2-3% brix reading, so I'm not sure if it takes more sap.  The syrup is great though. 
Syrup produced is like wine, Each bush has a different flavour . Now Chris might be a little different with that many taps, all blended together, but they are in the same general area.   

[Chuck White]

I believe FWIW, that the Red Maple is the same as what we in this area call Soft Maple!

Approximately 1/3 of our taps are in Soft Maple!

Sugar content is lower than Sugar Maple!

[doc henderson]

Walnut is thought to require and 80 to 1 sap to syrup ratio.  sugar maple is closer to 60 to 1, I have read.   research, not first hand experience.

[Corley5]

  Our bush runs a fairly constant 2% sugar.  Early in the season it has pushed 2.75 and late it's been as low as 1.5.  Running raw sap at 1.5%  consumes a lot of energy and makes for a dark syrup.  An RO makes it better ;) ;D  2% sap is about 43-1.  We have no red/soft maples.

[Mike W]

No maple here to speak of, however my son loves to tap our birch trees each year as we have a lot of paper birch on the property.  Its something like 100 / 1 ratio or close to it, in rendering to syrup.  We mostly drink it straight, its great tasting water with a slight hint of sweet woody flavor, very good for you in minerals and such.  He has all the data on it (he's kind of a geek in that fashion), quite impressive stuff actually health wise.  Birch doesn't heal as well as maple, so in the 7 years he has been tapping, he still hasn't tapped the same tree twice, he averages around a gallon per day per tap, real small scale, total hobby stuff, nothing like the impressive set ups here, but he loves it, and it gives us just another reason to be in our woods (like we ever run short on reasons anyway).  It doesn't last long, need to freeze or render within a day or so of tapping, so needless, we freeze a lot, otherwise it starts to ferment quickly.  The tapping season is real short also, about 3 to 4 weeks tops, once the buds start to pop, it turns bitter flavored.

Fantastic and informative looking setups here guys, fun to see how the big boys play, thanks for taking the time to share your operations, way more to it then I would have ever thought, cool stuff.

[mike_belben]

Does a plain old refractometer work to check the brix?  I have one somewhere.  

How long can sap wait to be boiled off after it comes out of the tree?  


This thought process has me lookin at the back yard differently.  Ive only killed one tree with sap potentional that was pretty rough anyway.  Well, two.. But the other was where a slab is going and itd take a lot of syrup to change my mind on that!

[Corley5]

  I don't like to let raw sap sit more than 24 hours.  If it's cold it can go a while longer.  It's not much different than milk and will sour.  ROed sap needs to be boiled.  The process concentrates not only the sugar but the bacteria as well.
  Refractometers work for sap.  We use hydrometers meant for maple sap.  I've got a long one I drop in the raw tanks and a short I use with a cup to check the concentrate coming out of the RO.

[mike_belben]

What are the rules on freezing it?  Either by accident in the bucket overnight, or during the week in a chest freezer to collect for boiling on saturday for example. 

[Corley5]

It can be frozen.  Some operations use chilled milk bulk tanks, some walk in coolers, some freeze it for later.

[Stephen1]

We have always boiled on the weekends, so we boiled a lot of sap that was questionable over the years. We like it when ice froze in the buckets, kept the sap fresher longer. We would save bucket ice to put in the holding tank after we gathered to give us a few more days. It definetly gives dark syrup but we never had any complaints. 
We used to live 2 hrs away from our bush. That is changing up now that we are retired and I live 2 miles away.
We get to boil fresh sap!!!

[Stephen1]

We have always boiled on the weekends, so we boiled a lot of sap that was questionable over the years. We like it when ice froze in the buckets, kept the sap fresher longer. We would save bucket ice to put in the holding tank after we gathered to give us a few more days. It definetly gives dark syrup but we never had any complaints. 
We used to live 2 hrs away from our bush. That is changing up now that we are retired and I live 2 miles away.
We get to boil fresh sap!!!

[PoginyHill]

So just a dumb question here, whats different between say now and february if the day to night temp swings are the same?  Here in TN we can have 40 days and 20 nights right now.  Would sap not be good now?

Sap runs when the trees start to "wake up" for spring growth and sap starts to flow from it's storage in the roots to the buds. I think there are many triggers for that, not simply temperature: length of sunlight, time since fall, among other things maybe. Not a tree scientist here, but stuff I've heard or read about. Trees adapt to their local climate and spring awakening can vary a bit from year to year.

[Corley5]

  It can vary a LOT ;D   When I was a kid and we made syrup one year we pulled the buckets on March 30th.  The following year we hung the buckets on April 1st.  Four seasons ago there were a couple days of good run here around Valentines Day.  Operations that were ready made a lot of Golden Delicate.  Then it got cold again and didn't run for a month   
  There's still more than a bit of mystery to Maple Sugar 8) 8) 

[Corley5]

I got the tubing spinner out this morning.  We were going to start stringing  3/4" main line today but we're having a bit of a lake effect snow event.  Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny.  We'll do it tomorrow  ;D  

[SwampDonkey]

Up here, when I was a kid we tapped in March the old way. February is bitter cold up here and does not run much, mostly not. Now a days it is bitter cold until almost April. I've seen sap not run until almost April here for the last 20 years. Heck, dad planted grain in April for years when I was a kid, sure can't now, except maybe 2 out of 20 years. I here about them talking about sap running in February to the south of us when it is 15 degrees up here. It's not that much warmer in Fredericton. I'm talking here about within NB borders, not Georgia. :D

[mike_belben]

I think im looking forward to it.  Red maples really overseed and overtake my woodlot and ive cut a ton of RM sapplings out.. Thousands probably.. but i guess it must be a more recent takeover as there arent many large ones, they seem content to just stall in the shade of oaks and hickory, waiting their turn. 





 I have kept most of the maples in excess of 4" dbh. As the oaks get fatter and are needed for house timbers i guess theyll become the shade trees.   Atleast i get something every season from that. 

[Corley5]

Pulled in just short of three thousand feet of 3/4" main line today.  We got it tied up out of the snow and will go back and add the rest of the ties later.  Nice day in the mid 20s with no wind 8) 8)  We have two short mains left to do.  They're 500 or six hundred feet and about 400' of wet dry.  The plan is to get them hanging Thursday.  We've got a little storm coming in tonight with 3-6" of snow forecast.  I'm planning on plowing tomorrow.  I haven't after the last couple snows.
  The spinner is on loan from a big sugar operation in Pickford.  It makes life easier.  I've been going to build my own out of hay loader wheels, shafts, and angle iron.  Maybe next year ;D   In a couple pics you'll see Brad.  He's a neighbor and helps out when needed in the bush or firewood.  Helluva a worker 8) 8)   Last season's syrup sales enabled the purchase of the tractor.  It's more practical in this application than the Bobcat  8)  It's always nice to work from home ;D 8) ;D 8)



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Walnut Beast]

Looks pretty awesome. What do you do to keep the lines from freezing 

[Corley5]

They freeze and thaw naturally.  The mains and wet dry will have very little sap in them at the end of a run to freeze.  The vacuum pump and slope of the lines keeps them dry.  The 5/16" lateral lines will hold sap if they have sags.  Everything thaws as temps rise and the trees start to run.  There can be surges of sap as things begin to break loose in different parts of the bush

[Walnut Beast]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing 👍