Maple Syrup Tapping 101, tips for a beginner

[canfossi]

I am going to try tapping maple syrup, I am in Eastern Ontario and have 100 acres. I bought 5 spigots today and want to get started, do you have any tips or know of any good websites? I plan on boilnig it outside, I am very new to this so bear with me. Thanks any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Chris

[Terri]

I am apparently more of a newbie than you are! Where in the WORLD did you buy 5 spigots? I have only seen them in big packets!

[MELOC]

there is lots of info out there if you do a web search.

on the average, it takes 40+ gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. each tap can yield between 1/2 to 1 1/2 gallons of sap per day. so 5 taps will yield @ 1 pint of syrup per day max. you may wish to save sap for a couple of days to get better use of the fire outdoors. make sure it is kept cold.

a flat pan is better than a stock pot. the sap will boil off at @ 1 inch per hour, so the shallower the pan the better.

filter the sap through cheesecloth, felt or a cotton filter prior to boiling to get rid of debris, bugs and sap "sand". the end product with need filtered too, or you can live with the sediment that will occur (like i did last year). skim the scum off of the sap as it boils.

a candy thermometer helps to tell you when the syrup is done. it should read around 217 F or 103-104C (i think...online research will give better info). it will be hard to use if you only have 1 pint of syrup in the bottom of the pan, so the bigger the batch, the easier it is to use the thermometer.

the big producers measure density or brix to determine when syrup is finished cooking. thermometer readings will work for a hobbyist.

sugar and black maples are the best to tap, but red maple and silver maple will work. silvers make a lot of sediment.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/for-fact/0036.html

http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/7038.htm

http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/

[Micahn]

Originally Posted by Terri

I am apparently more of a newbie than you are! Where in the WORLD did you buy 5 spigots? I have only seen them in big packets!

You can bye them online 1 at a time or however many you want.
Here is one place
http://www.leaderevaporator.com/items.php?149
Search around you can find them other places as well.

[bill not in oh]

So long as it's 101...

Can one collect the sap in a [food grade] plastic bucket - or does it have to be one of those pretty stainless steel buckets?

[seedspreader]

Originally Posted by bill in oh

So long as it's 101...

Can one collect the sap in a [food grade] plastic bucket - or does it have to be one of those pretty stainless steel buckets?

Stainless???? egads man, that's milk...

galvanized, plastic, whatever.

Milk jugs work best for the beginner.

[Terri]

Thanks!

[bill not in oh]

I found this link - looks like 101 to me...

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser...ple_index.html

[SRSLADE]

Can you buy or make a few more taps? 25 would be nice.What do you plan to boil it in? I've found if you take a piece of a plastic milk jug and roll it in this shape O you can then stick it in the hole. cut a square about3.5 long and 1.5 wide A tap.Zeals right any thing will gather sap.Then just tap a nail in the tree below tap to hold your container to gather sap.

[canfossi]

Thanks for all the great advice everyone. Terri, I just bought them at my local farm co-op. They were $1.75 each. Chris

[ripcat-ranch]

I just bought some spiles (spouts or spigets) from BascomMaple.com for .45 cents a piece. The shipping cost is a $12.00 minimum charge so if you go there you might want to buy some other things to get your money's worth. I bought the ones you use for tubing but use plastic milk jugs on them and it works great. You might check at a local feed store, our Agway here carries the spouts among other maple syrup items you might need.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by MELOC

a candy thermometer helps to tell you when the syrup is done. it should read around 217 F or 103-104C (i think...online research will give better info). it will be hard to use if you only have 1 pint of syrup in the bottom of the pan, so the bigger the batch, the easier it is to use the thermometer.

.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/for-fact/0036.html

http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/7038.htm

http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/

Actually Meloc, syrup is syrup at 7.1 degrees F above the boiliing point of water.You are realy better off to take syrup to 218. A barometer, and a "boiling point of water" chart is very helpfull.

[sue currin]

I like to use milk jugs and 2 litter drink bottles. I cut a hole in them near the top, then wrap a thin wire around the neck of the 2 litter and through the handle of the milk jug. Then i put the spout through the hole wrip the wire around a nail in the tree above the spout. " this keeps it from falling off the spout when the wind blows" This way I can keep a lid on the jugs to keep out unwanted things. I did 20 taps last year, I want to double that this year. I still need to get the boiling down pat. I found taps at an antique store for 30 cents a piece. I bought some new ones and they are no way as good as the old ones.

[MELOC]

Originally Posted by michiganfarmer

Actually Meloc, syrup is syrup at 7.1 degrees F above the boiliing point of water.You are realy better off to take syrup to 218. A barometer, and a "boiling point of water" chart is very helpfull.

it was off the top of my head...and i encourage research. i have pdf of various boiling guides that i refer to. i am no pro...this is only my second year actually.

now, maybe someone can impart some detailed info on sap lines so i don't have to buy the $20 book.

i would like to see pics of your 1200 tap runs michiganfarmer.

i ran a small run yesterday and was underwhelmed. i seem to have vacuum/vapor lock issues. i am only using one size tubing as i am on a very small budget. i think i would have had better luck with buckets.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by MELOC

i would like to see pics of your 1200 tap runs michiganfarmer.

i ran a small run yesterday and was underwhelmed. i seem to have vacuum/vapor lock issues. i am only using one size tubing as i am on a very small budget. i think i would have had better luck with buckets.

I hope I didnt come off sounding arrogent. I think I do sometimes, but I really have no malace in my heart.

As long as one end of your tubing starts at a tree, with other trees "teeed" into the tubing, and the other end goes into a drum, or bucket there wont be any vapor locking. When the trees run hard they will push those air bubbes right out. When they are running hard, and Im putting tubing in, I cant hold the pressure back with my tounge. The trees push hard.

I will get some pictures this weekend. Well I will try. If I can remember my camera. My memory for detail is crap. I will go to the woods planning on working on tubing, but I will forget half my tools.

Anyway, here is what I know about tubing. When I first started with tubing I would tap 20 trees, put the spiles in, and run 5/16" tubing from all of them into a 55 gallon drum. To get ready for this I sat in my house making "drops". A drop is a spile, with 12-18 inches of 5/16" tubing hooked to it, and a "T" on the bottom end of the tubing. I made a few hundred of these drops. I put as many as I could fit in a duffel bag that I could carry over my shoulder. I got a pair of pants that had a hammer loop, and some small tool pockets. I carried a straight claw hammer, and a pair of dykes(diagonal wire cutters). I put my 18 volt drill in the duffel bag. I carried a box of tubing on one shoulder, the hammer in the loop, the dykes in my side pocket, and the duffel bad on the other shoulder. I set the box down in the woods. I drilled a tree, and tapped the drop in. The first tree in the run doesnt get a drop. It just gets a spile because the tubing will connect directly to this. I did this untill I had the number of trees tapped that I wanted for one "run". I grabbed the box of tubing, pulled the tubing out from the center of the coil, stuck the end of the tubing in my mouth, and chewed on it gently to warm, and soften it a little, then push it on the first spile. Pull the box with you to the next tree witch should have the first drop. Cut the tubing with the dykes, warm both ends, push the tubing on, and go to the next tree. Repeat untill you have 15 or 20 trees, then set a drum by the last tree, cut the tubing long enough to put it in the drum. A lid for the drum helps keep stuff out. I drilled a hole int eh side of the drum just below the lid to I could fit the lid on, and still get the tubing in.


The second year I had a dozen drums in the woods, each with 20-40 taps tubed into them with 5/16" tubing.

The third year I heard that 5/16" tubing is only suppose to have 5 taps on it. I wasnt going to spend the money on miles of 1" mainlinethat year, so I cut down to 15 taps on 5/16" tubing. I ran a couple 1" mainlines through the woods so I could connect 15 taps with 5/16 to the mainline.

Last year I spent the money and finished tubing the whole woods. I have 8-1" mainlines that are 600-800 feet long running north, and south, are spaced about 20-30 yards apart, and are pluged at the south end. I have an adapter to conect 5/16" tubing about every 20 yards along each mainline. The north end of all the 8 mainlines "T" into another 1" mainline that runs east, and west, is plugged on one end, and goes into a 1500 gallon tank on the other and.


Im pretty lucky with my woods. It is higher on the south end. Everything slopes toward my collection tank.

[MELOC]

i think i have about 15 taps on my tap line. i don't have as long of drop at some areas and i do have dips in the line. i heard you say a week or so ago that pressure should push the air out, so i was not concerned about a total downhill run and dips in the line. one thing i did notice was that i have a few minor leaks that give a very slow drip, and i was thinking i may be sucking a small bit of air...maybe not.

i am using clear vinyl tubing this year. i may or may not be able to get 1 500 foot roll of 4 season tubing. i will use the vinyl as drops if i do. i think i would have done better with containers than with the line. i think i would have harvested nearly twice the sap as i did yesterday if it was open run into containers. i read again last night about the use of vacuum and how it increases yield as the back pressure from tubing can inhibit flow. definately not in the budget.

i also checked out bascom's site and catalogue for adapter tees to mainline size and i really could not find anything stated as such. where do you get adapters to tie into the mainline?

[michiganfarmer]

let me try this again. the link didnt work http://www.rmgmaple.com/cgi-bin/eqstore/quikstore.cgi
In the drop down, look for gathering-fittings manifolds. click "view products". the first picture is the fitting to connect 5/16 to 1"

[DOlthaus]

OK, I got all excited, think I may be too late in the season here in SW Ohio, I drilled holes for taps. (All three ) Nothing... How long can I leave the taps? Will I need to redrill this season if I don't get sap for a few days? I'm a total newbie. Thanks