# Anyone maple tapping?



## roselle (Oct 20, 2013)

Anyone else maple tapping? We collected our first sap of the season today. We got 80 gallons from 58 taps. We will start the evaporator up tomorrow and cook it down. We may put in more taps later...We'll see how the weather holds out.


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

Isn't this more of an east coast thing than just about anywhere else, except maybe Michigan? I doubt that people west of the Mississippi have access to sugar maples.

80 gallons? I am impressed. I actually thought it was a little early to start tapping maples.

I live in a big city and about 10 years ago more than 100 maples were taken out of my neighborhood due to disease. Many had hollow spots. There are many maple trees left, and I have considered asking people if I can tap their trees. But, I know it would not be so easy to do so when someone may have 3 trees and another 2. And if they are the trees on the boulevard, anyone could mess with the taps. And, these are not sugar maples.

I have never tapped nor evaporated maple syrup, so it would all be a new learning experience for me.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

Seems early. In Minnesota it was usually done in very early spring(Feb-March). But if you are getting sap it is obviously working now for you! Good luck to you.


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## jeff47041 (Jan 5, 2013)

I tap my trees but I have always waited until about March. Wow, 58 taps! You're big time. I only tap 5 trees and get enough syrup for us for the year. I just have silver maples, but I do get good sap from them.

Several years ago, we planted, I think, 53 baby maples to make a maple grove so that in the future, we will be able to tap a lot more for bartering. 

I started it to show my grand daughter where syrup comes from. It's just our little tradition to do it together.


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## sgtusmc98 (Sep 8, 2013)

Can't tap as south as Tennessee can you? Always heard you couldn't but thought it would be great to be able too.


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## roselle (Oct 20, 2013)

sgtusmc98 said:


> Can't tap as south as Tennessee can you? Always heard you couldn't but thought it would be great to be able too.


I sit on the Tn. line. I know that some do tap in Tn., although we are in Ky. It is snowing like crazy now....I know this will make some sweet boys even more eager to tend the evaporator. Give it a try! You can start using simple plumbing couplers, for taps. We then ran a food grade tubing into a 5 gallon bucket....We put a hole in the lid...Although you are really sterilizing the sap, it is our preference not to see bird poo floating in our sap...Just saying....

We now use metal hangers and 4 gallon bags. I am little and my helpers aren't very strong, either due to health problems or also small size. Last year we bought a 4 ft. evaporator, but you can cook the sap down on an open fire...Best not to do all the cooking inside...Don't ask! However you can do the final stages without damaging your interior...Life is full of surprises...Isn't it?...It's all a learning experience.

You need a good thermometer and the truth is digital stink! Use a candy thermometer. We have moved on and are able to measure the sugar content with a refractometer. You can also measure the sugar content of the sap, before cooking...This way...If you have too many trees (Don't See how though!)...You can select the ones with the highest sugar content.

Give maple tapping a try....It is such a joyful experience. We HATE GMO's, so when we saw the GMO super sugar beets released, knowing eventually it may be in our sugar...We decided to tap the maple trees and switch as much maple sugar, for white sugar as possible...It's just us....

Good luck and if I can guide you from "our mistakes" just PM me or ask here...I love to get people tapping!


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## roselle (Oct 20, 2013)

jeff47041 said:


> I tap my trees but I have always waited until about March. Wow, 58 taps! You're big time. I only tap 5 trees and get enough syrup for us for the year. I just have silver maples, but I do get good sap from them.
> 
> Several years ago, we planted, I think, 53 baby maples to make a maple grove so that in the future, we will be able to tap a lot more for bartering.
> 
> I started it to show my grand daughter where syrup comes from. It's just our little tradition to do it together.


Hi!

I am sure you could be tapping right along us. What the trees need to have sap flow are freezing temperatures at night and enough thawing during the day for the sap to flow. I think in the more Northern "tapping" states, it is simply too cold now, for the sap to flow. There is so much science in maple tapping and we learn something new every year. Last year I think we were able to tap from right before Christmas, until late February. We quit, because we got sick, and by the time we were better, it was time to start plowing and planting. I think some quit here in the middle of March.

It takes many years before a tree is able to be tapped. It needs a minimum 10 inch diameter to be able to tap, without damaging the tree...I think that is about a 31 inch circumference.

I don't think many people realize that you can get quite a bit of maple syrup from the sap of one good sized tree...Even a white or red maple.

Good luck! What a wonderful tradition you have started with your grandchild. Those trees will be priceless one day!

Good Luck!


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## roselle (Oct 20, 2013)

hiwall said:


> Seems early. In Minnesota it was usually done in very early spring(Feb-March). But if you are getting sap it is obviously working now for you! Good luck to you.


I think maybe it is so cold in Minnesota, that the trees remain frozen. The trees need to freeze at night, then thaw enough during the day for the sap to flow. It took us a few years to realize we didn't have to wait until the North started tapping. We always tap on a warm day, right before a string of freezing at night, above freezing daily temps. We don't want to tap when the trees are frozen, because you can cause cracks in the tree...We also learned to mark the trees, before the leaves all fall.....Guessing from just the trunk and branches doesn't always work. Good luck to you too!


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## roselle (Oct 20, 2013)

weedygarden said:


> Isn't this more of an east coast thing than just about anywhere else, except maybe Michigan? I doubt that people west of the Mississippi have access to sugar maples.
> 
> 80 gallons? I am impressed. I actually thought it was a little early to start tapping maples.
> 
> ...


You don't need many trees, but you do need good trees. I think you can tap the maples anywhere you have freezing temps at night, followed by thawing during the day. You can also tap box elders, although we have no need to do that. You can tap birch trees as well and I think that is big in Alaska.

You can get 40 gallons of sap a year off of a nice big sugar maple, but you can tap white, red, and black are especially wonderful. If you have good sugar content, 40 gallons of sap will give you about a gallon of syrup. Give it a try! I have a friend that just sets his sap on top of his wood stove and lets it cook mostly down that way. Then he just finishes it on his kitchen stove, which is how we finish ours. We tap some smaller trees, that surprisingly give a lot. You can't judge a maple tree by it's cover! Just don't tap a sick or diseased tree. You never want to harm that precious tree!

Also we are preppers here! Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to process your own organic sweetener, if something happens?...You will already have the skill. Doing a few trees will be fun and not as much work as we do. Sometimes we are doing 200 gallons of sap in a day. I wrote about using plumbing bits and pieces above...You don't need taps for those few trees. You could tape the lids and mark the tape in a way you might notice if someone has messed with your set-up. I worry even way out in the boonies....But my life has been messed with in so many ways....

Now go do it! Check your weather...You want temps 32 or less...32 will cause the sap to run when the temp goes above the freezing point...Look for a period of time...At least several days of this...We call that a run. Each day you will collect the sap and cook, unless you can refrigerate. The sap will spoil just like milk and you surely don't want that.

Now scoot off to the hardware store and get your plumbing and scavenge bakeries for your food grade buckets...Have fun!


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

I just ordered some spiles and hooks from Tap My Trees. I am curious about the 4 gallon bags that you have. Where did you get them, and do you or anyone have some recommendations for supplies?

http://www.tapmytrees.com/


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## roselle (Oct 20, 2013)

weedygarden said:


> I just ordered some spiles and hooks from Tap My Trees. I am curious about the 4 gallon bags that you have. Where did you get them, and do you or anyone have some recommendations for supplies?
> 
> http://www.tapmytrees.com/


Here's the bags:
http://andersonsmaplesyrup.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=66

Here's the spiles we use:
http://andersonsmaplesyrup.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65&products_id=472

You need ones with the little thing on top to hold the bag. They also make some with the hook, in case you want to use buckets instead. We just use the bags and holders.

These are the bag hangers:
http://andersonsmaplesyrup.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66&products_id=478

TapMyTrees is a nice maple tapping business. They also have a homeschool curriculum they will share as well.


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## sgtusmc98 (Sep 8, 2013)

Thanks rosella,
I'll have to look for some trees and look more into it. We too have been trying to get away from GMO's and it's hard. My wife isn't much of a prepper, not for beyond a week or two any way but she is into homesteading and being self sustaining, getting your own syrup would be great for all situations, gota find some trees!


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

Roselle thank you for such wonderful instruction, one of the things that I haven't done is sugaring, I've seen it done and would like to try it, but unfortunately all we have in my part of the country are Oak, and Hickory mostly with a few Sycamores not big enough to tap. If there are any Maples they're usually smaller varieties used for ornamentation, and for some reason sugar Maples don't do well in Missouri.


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## bugoutbob (Nov 11, 2012)

As a point of interest,I don't do it but has a friend who does, you can also make a great syrup with the sap of birch tress. It takes more birch sap than maple but the finished product is great


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

We're going to tap this spring for the first time. DW went around last year while the leaves were on the trees and marked the maples she found with spray paint. She found used aluminum spiles online for a decent price. I think she bought 50 but we're not going to use that many. We just plan on cooking it down on a little boxwood stove in the yard. We bought a hydrometer at Lehman's right after Christmas, so we're good there.

We're really looking forward to trying this.

And of course-a big :thankyou: for those that provided the info and links.


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## CulexPipiens (Nov 17, 2010)

I wish... our high temperature today was -11. It'll be a month or two at least before we can think about tapping.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

We've been making syrup for the past couple weekends. We collect sap all week from 16 taps and boil on the weekends. The boxwood stove really doesn't make enough heat to maintain a rolling boil so I made a cooker out of some old cement blocks and the grates from our gas grill. It's wonderful stuff, the home made syrup, and I'm sure we'll be doing this every year. I'm going to try and attach some pics of our little syrup making operation.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

We're cooking sap today. We have about 15 gallons to boil down right now. 

Anybody else making syrup today?


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Had hoped to do that today, but the wind is too high. Monday looks like a better day. We're only working with three taps this year (our 'learning year' ).

Sounds like you have quite the production going! Thanks for the pics - your grate over the cement blocks looks better than what I had planned, and it's something I can get set up today easy enough. It really helps seeing how you're doing it. :2thumb:


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## roselle (Oct 20, 2013)

HI Everyone!
I am so happy to see so many new tappers. Isn't this such a priceless and humbling experience? Out of those seemingly dormant trees, flows a barely sweet, and often times very dirty liquid....By the time it goes from bucket to evaporator anyways! With lots of effort, you will have liquid gold!

We started on January 2, and finished our last syrup earlier this week. We see it through...Wind, snow, rain, sick, cold....We feel that if God puts the sap into our sap bags, we will honor Him, by sacrificing to bring it home....

We brought in over 1000 gallons of sap...Eight lbs. a gallon, so 8000 lbs. of sap! Ha! Our biggest run this year was 400 gallons! We raced three big storms to get the sap in and finished. Wind is definitely our enemy. 

My favorite is to be coming up to my trees and before I can really see the bags, if there is sap, there will be a tiny light in the bottom of the bags. I know the sun is reflecting off of the sap...To me, it is like a little beacon He has left guiding me to this wonderful treasure! I am always excited to see the little lights. 

We have become more selfish with the syrup. Children do this. They do it in any kind of weather. They work the evaporator and sometimes even the wood stainless steal canner, if the trees overflowed....All the while keeping the wood boiler going. It sometimes takes days to get the sap made into syrup. Seemed everyone that walked in, walked out with some. I realized that they didn't understand how hard this is...It's also not cheap. We bought an evaporator, taps, bags, hangers, jars, refractometers, 3 truckloads of pallet wood...And it has been 10 weeks of work, during a brutal winter. I don't like being selfish, but we don't do this as a hobby...We use it. I do share some, but only with very special people.

Our season went on for almost a month longer than any other one, that we tapped in. We were excited. Our sugar level runs about 1.5-2%, so takes about 65-70 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup. We also cooked ours to about 70% BRIX, since we like it a bit thicker. 

Hope everyone had fun!


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Roselle, you're a lot more technical than we are.  We hit 217°, let it start to thicken, and call it good. we're not selling it and are giving very little away, so it's good enough for us for now. Our trees took off all of a sudden-got 17 gallons yesterday and a lot today. DW has been cooking most of the day and I jumped in after work. We have one big pot going on the cement block cooker outside and 2 smaller ones on the kitchen stove with the windows open and the paddle fan on. We're running out of storage containers for the sap.

I like maple sugaring. It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Jason, I'm in the same boat (running out of sap containers). We've only got 3 trees tapped, but two of them are putting out 3 gallons a day each. Our problem is our winds - it is just too windy (20+ mph) for the past week and in our upcoming forecast. No boiling down for us right now. So I'm collecting the sap every day and putting it in the basement freezer. But today I'm officially out of room!

I've assumed I need to collect the sap every day and get it in the freezer so it won't spoil. Is that necessary, or is that overkill? How often do you all collect your sap?


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## roselle (Oct 20, 2013)

Jason said:


> Roselle, you're a lot more technical than we are.  We hit 217°, let it start to thicken, and call it good. we're not selling it and are giving very little away, so it's good enough for us for now. Our trees took off all of a sudden-got 17 gallons yesterday and a lot today. DW has been cooking most of the day and I jumped in after work. We have one big pot going on the cement block cooker outside and 2 smaller ones on the kitchen stove with the windows open and the paddle fan on. We're running out of storage containers for the sap.
> 
> I like maple sugaring. It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun.


Oh we started with plumbing couplets, food grade tubing, and buckets...Cooked on kero cookers in the garage and on the cook-top in the house...Not good! We strained with white flannel...I found that most thermometers weren't accurate, so switched to refractometers, but can tell by how it is bubbling now. We don't sell, so can make to our desired thickness. Just found that if temp off it would mold rather quickly.

You can pasteurize, by bringing the finished syrup up to 180-190 degrees, putting in jars, put lids on, and turn upside down. It will keep longer this way.

Also check your local boiling temp...Believe it or not, it is different in different locations...That can also make a difference. Maple tapping is a fun project, isn't it...Lots of hard work though!


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## roselle (Oct 20, 2013)

goshengirl said:


> Jason, I'm in the same boat (running out of sap containers). We've only got 3 trees tapped, but two of them are putting out 3 gallons a day each. Our problem is our winds - it is just too windy (20+ mph) for the past week and in our upcoming forecast. No boiling down for us right now. So I'm collecting the sap every day and putting it in the basement freezer. But today I'm officially out of room!
> 
> I've assumed I need to collect the sap every day and get it in the freezer so it won't spoil. Is that necessary, or is that overkill? How often do you all collect your sap?


You are doing the right thing. Sap will spoil just like milk. When you remove from the freezer...Save the liquid and throw away the ice. The sugar separates from the water, and this will cut your cooking time. Good luck!


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

goshengirl said:


> Sounds like you have quite the production going! Thanks for the pics - your grate over the cement blocks looks better than what I had planned, and it's something I can get set up today easy enough. It really helps seeing how you're doing it. :2thumb:


Goshengirl, this post made my day. Somehow I missed it earlier and just caught it now. I'm absolutely thrilled that we are able to help you learn this. It's our first year too and we're learning as we go. I've seen those cement things online and figured it'd be easy to do.

Just keep an eye on your blocks-the heat can crack them. A few of mine are starting to crack but they're still holding the weight just fine.

I agree with Roselle about the sap-treat it like milk. We're not freezing ours. It's been cool enough to leave on the porch in picnic drink coolers-the big orange plastic ones- and we haven't had any trouble at all.


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## cqp33 (Apr 2, 2012)

someone earlier mentioned GMO's in sugar, well I hate to be the bearer of bad news but all sugar that is store bought is GMO, it isn't allowed to be NON-GMO or the beets will be rejected. I have done some work for a very large sugar producer and learned this while working there, PM me if you want the name of the name of the sugar company I worked at and learned this. Also I found this 
http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/jun08/sugar_beet_industry_converts_to_gmo.php

I am tapping now too, didn't get that much this year as I got to late of start here in TN, but you can bet next year will be full of tapping of my trees! I have 19 maple trees on our 34 acres and 4 of them can support 3 taps each, 9 can support 2 taps and 1 for the remaining 6 so that is a total of 36 taps we can run next year and we will run all we can. Gives us time to prepare for that!


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

I used maple syrup instead of honey in my tea last night. Stash wild raspberry hibiscus tea. It was incredible.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

My wife pulled our taps the other day and brought in our last 5 gallons of sap. It's sprinkling now but I'm going to go try to light a fire and cook it down, ending the maple season for us. We've had a ball with it, the syrup is delicious, and we've learned a fantastic new skill set. 

We WILL be doing this again next year.


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