Anyone else cook maple syrup on AR?

[Backroadmeats]

It was a balmy 56 degree day here in minnesota so we tapped some maple trees . I used to do this every year but had some stuff going on the last few and haven't had time. So today me and the wife and kiddos put out 90 maple taps. Kids said the five gallon buckets are already half full so sounds like I will be cooking down sap tomorrow! If all the pails are full I will have 150 gallons on sap to boil off.

[RichieB]

How much syrup will you get out of the 150 gal. of sap?

[Backroadmeats]

5 gallons maybe. The sugar content of the syrup is higher in the beginning of the season so we will see!!

[RonB]

I don't think I've ever tasted homemade maple syrup. Goode luck with yours.

How much syrup will 150 gal of sap produce?

[RonB]

Spinaker - so if my math is right, ya gotta cook 10 gal to get 1 qt!! And if I could find enough maples to get a gal, I'd wind up with less than 1/2 cup - wow!

[glitchy]

Know I know why that little bottle of ‘real’ maple syrup is like $10-12 at the store.

[Spinaker]

Yep, but it is really fun to do. The sap itself tastes a little bit sugary, but not like you would think. To sell it you have to have a ton of sap and a large evaporator. RonB

[RichieB]

My D.I.L. grew up in Northern Vermont. Her parents are still there and my son & family are a bit south of Burlington. Both of her grandparents were dairy farmers. They also dabbled in maple syrup in the spring. They had long given up farming when we got to know them, so I never sampled their syrup. When we visited son, D.I.L and grand kids (a long long time ago) there were farmers markets we would hit. And yes maple syrup from farmers was readily available. Oh so good. And cheaper than what you would get in a retail store.

PS: 2nd dose of vaccine 3.25.21. 2 Weeks after that heading North!

[Argoboy]

My in-laws make a little maple syrup every year, they tap about 100 trees, we always say it is a 40:1 ratio, they make it in batches after boiling for about 3 days. It will warm up here tomorrow so it should run good. Warm sunny days and freezing nights are best. It is a lot of work carrying pails of sap in the mud. My Argo works good for collecting sap while not making ruts in the woods.

[Backroadmeats]

I was just looking at an argo for maple syrup,. I don't think the wife is buying it. I had a polaris ranger 6x6 with tracks on it a few years ago that worked good too. I have ran as many as 300 taps at one time but I have scales that back now.

[Spinaker]

Yep! Just had our second day of syrup camp today! We had a pretty good haul. We boiled off about 40 Gallons this weekend. Taps are still flowing, but there is nothing like that first haul. I bet you are probably about a week behind us, being further north, so I bet you have some good stuff on your hands there.


What does your evaporator look like?

[Backroadmeats]

Spinaker well it was a little disappointing only got about 65 gallons today. We will fire up the evaporator and put out another 100 taps tomorrow looks like good weather for sap flow after tomorrow.

[Spinaker]

For that many trees that is a bit low, but tomorrow looks to be perfect. Is it still below freezing up there at night?

[Backroadmeats]

It only got down to 40 last night but will freeze every night for the next week it looks like.

[willxfmr]

My son and I did it for a few years just tapping the 2 maples in our backyard. If I remember correctly, the best we did was 10 gallons of sap in one season. It doesn't make a lot of syrup, but it did create a lot of memories, so no matter what the total yield was, it was well worth the effort.

[Spinaker]

Yeah, that is where we are at. Not much syrup, but it is a lot of fun to make.

[Backroadmeats]

Here is a picture of my evaporator and the 135 gallons of sap collected yesterday. .so far we have boiled off about 175 gallons of sap

[Spinaker]

Sweet! I love that. How many gallons of syrup have you bottled so far?

[Backroadmeats]

Spinaker We haven't bottled any yet.. my pan will hold about 40 gallons so we just keep boiling for 3-4 days the finish what we have. Probably going to drain it off tomorrow and see what we get hoping for 7-8 gallons then we will pull the taps!! I have to much to do in the the locker..