Maple strup

[ray634]

I set 6 taps yesterday afternoon. Pulled almost 5 gallons overnight. Sugar is 3.5 on the refractometer and is boiling at 211.4*.
My son is going to do some maple wine and needs the base at 25 so I do not need to bring this batch all the way to syrup.
I tap 4 or 5 trees 18 to 30 inches with 2 taps each if I can and on a good run I get over 5 gallons per tree per day. Kind of slow today with the warm overnight but should pick up thru the week with the roller coaster temps.

[corny13]

     A good friend sent me a quart he made last winter in Cass co.  That stuff is great would love to try doing it myself some day!

[Boar]

that would be cool to try, good for yu ray.

[Fawkinnae]

I had no idea those trees produce that much sap. Very interesting!

[ray634]

I finished the season yesterday with 20 pints. I experimented with a few different cooking methods this year and decided I need to make a dedicated wood stove to cook on. The turkey cooker set up works but it is slow and expensive. The fish house stove is too small to do much and needs wood every 10 minutes.
My son let me use his beer brewing keg and I put it over the fire pit. It convinced me that a large wood stove in the shed would keep things clean and more efficient.

[dew2]

  I used to tap trees south of Duluth,I'd tap 30-40 trees never got near what you are getting 5 gal a day one tree.You got 20Pts thats 2 1/2 gallons,when I tapped that would have been near 135 gallons of sap.I stopped at 55-60 gallons I just wanted a gallon per year.I didnt share and did it to bring in spring by getting out in the sun and woods.
 I didnt have the tools to measure sugar content just did it.My boiling was over a wood fire in the backyard in a 55 gal drum cut in half,and cinder blocks under each end.No maples where I live now or very few!