I was talking to a co-worker tonight and we somehow got on the converation of tapping a maple tree to make maple syrup. Think I am going to give this a try. Has anyone else done this before? Any pointers?
We used to make every year when I was a kid. When the sap was running we always had a pot boiling on the stove. I don't remember how many gallons we made.... but we made enough to last us the year. We had a dirt root cellar and kept it there. If it got crap growing in it, you skimmed it off, reboiled and it was good to go. Depending on your taste.... you can make it dark amber or just regular. I don't like the dark amber as well as the just Maple syrup gold. It takes a lot of sap to make a gallon and you have to cook and cook and cook. We used to just keep adding sap until our pot was about filled with syrup....then we'd bottle it. Today they have all kinds of neat stuff for making syrup.... but I don't think it taste any better than the old wood stove boil.
Used to make quite a bit, great way to get outside before the weather really turns nice. For the trees to run it has to freeze at night,usually into the mid 20's, then warm to well above freezing during the day. Usually the early sap has the most sugar content, later in season you usually need a lot more sap to make a gallon of syrup. It is as easy as collecting and boiling, I do suggest a hydrometer or similar tester to get the correct sugar content, not boiled long enough it can spoil, to far it will crystallize some on the bottom of the jar. Good luck and have fun!
I have family in Vermont that used to do it, they had a pretty good size operation going back in the day. I would ask them how they did it, but from the sounds of things there was more whiskey drank than maple boiled, so I'm not sure how good their memories are.
A friend of mine make it alot,,,as said it takes ALOT of sap for just one gallon after its boiled down.
Temps here are in the upper teens right now and in the 30's during the day but we did have some warm spells already this year. Am I to late to do it this year or am I still alrigt?
Youll still be fine as long as its freezing at night, real late in the year the sap will run yellow or milky, thats when we start pulling.
We do Ferg. Its ALOT of fun. We usually tap around 100 trees and fill up the sap in 40 gallon barrels. then burn and burn and burn until we get our syrup. We have this guage and other thing that tells us when the syrup is done and the right consistancy.. My dad knows all about it if you have any questions i would def. shoot him a pm. Also try to control where the smoke goes cuz if you dont your syrup could taste really smokey
Wasnt sure how to make tap and bucket but think I came up with good idea! Absolutely no way for rain or dirt to get in bucket. And sap is dripping like mad already! Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2
