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Started Tapping Maple trees on Clinton Camp Farm Today

A

Adirondack case guy

Well-known Member
We got off to a slow start, this morning. It was only 17F. The clear skies clowded over, and by 1:00PM temps rose to 38F, but we got all snow , and as I post it is still snowing. Were getting good old "sap snow", about 2" this afternoon. There were 6 of us, 3 generations of family tapping the trees. Today I was the elder 65 near 66, so I got to be the tractor driver. My uncle 4th generation will be there tomarrow, so we will put him in the tractor. We have a small group of windfalls from Huricane Sandy to clear in one section, so I will tackel that job tomarrow. I was not willing to cut them two weeks ago as the trees were still lodged in others and "Loaded" The recent winds dropped them to the ground, so I feel safe cutting them from the root balls tomarrow. I will post more pics tomarrow night. We hung 650 buckets today. Planning on hanging 1000-1200 total, so if all goes well we will just be waiting for the sap to run after that. Far cry from our "hay days when we were hanging 3000 buckets in this 65 Acer sugar bush.
Loren, the Acg.
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Nice!! Nothing better than sugaring! It appears that the younger generation only know cheap imitations of maple syrup but when I serve the real stuff they look at me like I have 2 heads. I have made syrup from walnuts too and it was like a caramel flavored maple syrup. If you have a small pan and a few walnuts, I strongly advise you to give it a try. Happy Sugaring!
 
Looks like you have a good crew. I have not yet set my 25 taps but I am looking at doing it on Friday or Saturday if the forecast stays how it is. Got a very small sugar house built last fall to keep the snow off our 2x4 evaporator. The evaporator was only $60 at an auction in the fall of 2011 and we were happy to change from boiling on an open fire.
Zach
 
We tapped about 50 trees today for our hobby sugaring operation. It's one of my favorite times of the year, sitting around our two stoves boiling sap.
 
I think its amazing that the wood lot or sugar bush, you have supports all the firewood and sap needs, I used to marvel at the speculation of doing that with the 11 acre woodlot that was mostly maple,highest point on the property at about 650 feet above sea level, I can almost see 360 degrees for many miles, from the berkshires, to the catskills, to the adirondacks, my favorite place actually.
 
That's something we sure don't see here in Louisiana. About how much sap will those tapped trees yield, and how much syrup can you reduce from that? What is the average juice yield from one tree? How long is the sapping season? What do you do to the hole when sap collecting is done for the season?
 
Loren
I'll trade you some fine Florida oranges for some of that syrup when you get it done. I know its got to be 10 times better than the store bought syrup down here!!!
 
walnuts? can you tell us more on this? i run from 5 taps to 80 taps. its a one man setup and its a lot of work for a 60 yr old goat. Bob
 
Jerry,
It all depends on the sugar content in the sap. Rule of thumb, 2-3% sugar in sap yields about a 40 to one ratio. Sap for some reason, hasen't been real sweet for the past few years, so that ratio is wider. A lot of water has to be boiled off to get a gallon of syrup.
Loren
 
Vito,
The total 65 Acer sugar bush is on dead level Lime stone bed rock. Tryed tubing 20 years ago, sap don't flow in tubing, on level ground. This project is more about preserving a 100 plus year family tradition, than making it a cash crop operation.
Loren,the Acg.
 
Wow you really have the maples!

I found a few maples in our wood lot. This is the first time i have made syrup. I have 17 taps so far and found some more to tap when I find more buckets. Made a wood fired evaporator using steam pans for the sap. Made about a gallon of syrup so far. Hoping to make a few more gallons for fun. Daughter loves getting out in the woods and the pancakes that the syrup goes on.

The syrup I made so far was strained through a dishcloth. Think I need one of those wool filters cause there is a dark sediment layer at the bottom of the jar. Any suggestions for me?
 
you will have a 3-4 week season but the trees don't run every day. need a freeze every so often to keep the trees running at full speed. if you get a few runs and it turns warm the syrup turns dark and the season winds down. when the season is over you pull the taps and the tree heals itself.
 
Bill I had a similar issue with sediment, the biggest improvement I saw was after cooking down the syrup, don't bottle it right away.
Let it sit overnight to cool, the next day pour it off and re-heat it before bottling. Much cleaner and hardly any sand.
I have only done about fifty taps for a few years now and don't have all the fancy equipment but get by and enjoy doing it just as much as much as I enjoy eating it.
Dave
 
We have 1/2" felt filters plus cotton cloth strainers to eliminate the lime sediment. I will post pics of the canning process as the season evolves.
Loren, the Acg.
 
John,
It is a Tanaka. It is a real pain to start if it runs out of fuel. Have to hold it upside down after fuling so the carb will prime and draw. We got it from Grimm, in Rutland VT, before they were swallowed by Leader.
Loren
 
My nephew and grand-nephew came Sunday, and we started repairing and replacing tubing on Monday. By the time we get done we will have burned through about 3000 feet of new small tubing, and at least 500 feet of 3/4". That will get rid of most everything that is older than fifteen years, plus picking up another 30 or 40 new trees, and improving the layout of the mainlines.

We will have the main bush pretty well done today, and tomorrow will move uphill to the neighbor's "Rodent Central." This is unimproved woods with lots of small spruce and balsam, perfect squirrel habitat. There are is red flagging hanging everywhere from last fall when I went through and hung the lines up for the winter.
 
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