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deerfoot
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Barca: "South Central Ohio. Taps have been in for a couple weeks now. Couple good runs, but fairly slow overall so far. About four gallons in syrup done so far, hoping for 12-15 all told (only two of us). Good excuse to sit out in the shed and drink beer. :)"
Exactly what I always liked about sugar season. Very much like being in the ice fishing stack.
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yogi59weedr
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I still just do the covered 5 gallon bucket.
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Canoearoo
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we have made 3 gallons so far
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Barca
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Anyone here tap anything other than maple? I did a few black walnut trees last year. Crazy random drip rates and the syrup is just different, not as sweet or thick as maple but good none the less.... made for very interesting old fashioned's with black walnut bitters... I've read you can also tap sycamore: same as maple, and (birch) they don't grow around here... with a stupid 100:1 ratio on the birch).
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NEIowapaddler
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Barca: "Anyone here tap anything other than maple? I did a few black walnut trees last year. Crazy random drip rates and the syrup is just different, not as sweet or thick as maple but good none the less.... made for very interesting old fashioned's with black walnut bitterst... I've read you can also tap sycamore: same as maple, and (birch) they don't grow around here... with a stupid 100:1 ratio on the birch). "
We've tapped boxelders before. The syrup is just as sweet as maple, but doesn't have the maple flavor. Kinda like pancake syrup from the store. And the smell of it boiling would gag a raccoon. Seriously, it's one of the worst smells I've ever experienced. The syrup doesn't smell as bad, but still not too appetizing. It's a mystery how something that smells so bad can taste pretty decent.
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deerfoot
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Barca: "Anyone here tap anything other than maple? I did a few black walnut trees last year. Crazy random drip rates and the syrup is just different, not as sweet or thick as maple but good none the less.... made for very interesting old fashioned's with black walnut bitterst... I've read you can also tap sycamore: same as maple, and (birch) they don't grow around here... with a stupid 100:1 ratio on the birch). "
At the nature center (SE Wisconsin about 2 miles inland from Lake Michigan) where I volunteer we have tapped a few birch trees on an experimental basis. One advantage to tapping birch trees is you use the same equipment and methods and they start to run after maples are done. But as noted birch sap has a much lower sugar content so more is required. Birch syrup is used in gourmet cooking.
We had several botany professors from the local campus of the U of Wisconsin do a presentation on producing syrup from many different types of trees. Tree syrups are kind of like wine in that they all taste different.
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JimmyJustice
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Getting our supplies in order. A few changes this year. We will likely move away from hanging bags to running lines into sealed containers. Also have been kicking around the idea of using an RO system but have not committed to that just yet.
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yogi59weedr
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Hell I don't even know where I live..
That was supposed to be NW Illinois..
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yogi59weedr
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Warm here in NE Illinois. Any one tapping trees yet? I only tap five trees in my neighborhood. I'm hearing frost down about five inches.
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OCDave
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Day time temp today budged a bit over 40 but, I don't expect that to be a common occurrence for a few more weeks. I am ready but, patiently waiting.
(The trees I tap are in Cold Spring MN)
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NEIowapaddler
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Haven't done it yet here in NE Iowa. We could have; the temps have been perfect for the last week and we probably would have had a decent run. But I've been sick with the flu for the last 8 days so I'm glad we didn't. I'm just finally feeling well enough to get outside for a bit today and start pruning my apple trees. Man, being sick sucks.
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yogi59weedr
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I only tap 6 trees. 3 silver 3 sugar. 1st batch
Getting 5 gallon a day out of 2 of then .
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yogi59weedr
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My 1st batch was a little thin. I got the temp up to a rolling boil of 220° .
What should I do.
It's always a little thin .
Not like aunt jamimims
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Grizzlyman
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Have a new problem this year… squirrels figured out that if the chew the corners on the blue bags.. they get sweet sap on demand and of course the bag drains. Lost 2 bags already. Been tapping for about 10 years… don’t think this has happened before.
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NEIowapaddler
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We finished up with right around 20 gallons. One of our best years ever given the number of trees tapped and the amount of time we tapped. We only had taps out for less than 3 weeks, and it ran very well almost the whole time.
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podgeo
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I ended with 4 gallons liquid gold. Probably could have done more.
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MRH
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We tapped 19 trees March 23 on the eastern shore of Lake
Superior. Two feet of snow in the bush at the start. The sap flow was slow and spotty at first due to cool days. Warmer weather after April 1 quickened the flow. We pulled the taps and pails yesterday. We boiled three times and produced 20 pints. The syrup was light to medium, as always.
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JimmyJustice
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First batch of 2023. Roughly 50 gallons down to a bit more than 1.16 gallon. Sap was flowing well at the beginning of the week but slowed at the end. If weather reports are accurate, for this week...mid to late week should prove good weather for flowage in the MSP metro area.
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NEIowapaddler
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We haven't even tapped. At this rate we might not bother. The weather has been atrocious for syrup making here in Iowa. Too cold for the most part, and the few warmer days haven't even had nighttime freezes with them.
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Ahahn366
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Been slow here on the south shore but we were able to finish 3 gallons today before the storm set in
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NEIowapaddler
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We finally tapped on Sunday. Tapped about 55 trees. Collected 35 gallons yesterday, and 126 today. They're running as well as I've ever seen. The forecast looks pretty good for the next 10 days, so fingers crossed we get a decent run.
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JimmyJustice
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Finished up a couple of weeks ago due to schedule conflicts. We ended up with a little more than 5 gallons of syrup. Mostly "regular" but some blueberry/maple (wives like), some bacon/maple and enough of my personal favorite orange/bourbon/maple (perfect drizzle on your daily bourbon old fashion).
As always, we dreamt big, settled for less and learned some lessons. After years of discussing cleaver, mostly unacceptable (according to our wives) names for our product/label, we came up with one that might stick. Our RO system worked well and we refined our set up as we progressed. An upgrade in our evaporator is in order so I am on the lookout. Next year's plan is to bang out 10 gallons of finished product in one weekend and be done, weather permitting. We have the trees, just not the time to consume multiple weekends.
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Grizzlyman
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I tapped a bunch of trees a few years back when we had a string of 40* days in February… then reality set it and they didn’t produce until mid March. :)
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Pinetree
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Brainerd area some people just started tapping today. Still 2 feet of snow.
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TreeBear
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I haven't tapped since moving to Ely. It certainly isn't central MN! There are some patches of maple, but the land I have access to only has some really ugly Red Maple. Frost cracks galore, plenty of random hollows, and not much left for the canopies. I tapped 20 to test this year and, if it works, maybe I'll do more next year. So far not a drop, but we haven't had great conditions yet.
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outsidethebox
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When we lived in central Indiana, in a nice grove of sugar maples, I would begin tapping as early as late December-any time after a good, prolonged cold spell. The early sap makes the best syrup. I would make 10-12 gallons of syrup.
I have a friend out here in Kansas who, earlier this week went to his brother's place in Northern Michigan to help with the sugaring. Yesterday he posted a bunch of tasty looking pictures.
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Sorethumbs
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I am in central WI, tapped 2 maples on 3/5, sap was running when tapped. I picked a good trees as I had 22 gal of sap on Thursday when I pulled the taps. This is all I want to boil and enough for my use u til next year. I also tapped a butternut tree, got about a pint of sap in 24 hrs, not enough to mess with so I drank the sap and pulled the tap.
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OCDave
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I tapped a couple trees near St. Cloud 3 weeks ago. So far, they have yielded a whole quart of finished syrup. I tapped a bit early but, I didn't anticipate it would stay so cold, so long.
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HayRiverDrifter
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We have 180 taps on 3/16" lines. Today we had 300 gallons with a total of 1875 gal this year. We will break 2000 gallons tomorrow. My property is close to Wheeler, WI. Last night was the last hard freeze looking forward so we may only get another two days of sap.
The syrup has been really light this year. We had one boil a week ago that started to get darker, but then the next boil was very light again. It is very sweet and has a mild maple flavor. Tastes a bit buttery.
Is anyone else getting syrup that is lighter than in the past??
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HayRiverDrifter
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Grizzlyman: "Have a new problem this year… squirrels figured out that if the chew the corners on the blue bags.. they get sweet sap on demand and of course the bag drains. Lost 2 bags already. Been tapping for about 10 years… don’t think this has happened before."
Put a tab of duct tape on the bottom corners.
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HayRiverDrifter
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I have 180 taps on 6 lines. We used 3/16" lines. You can put up to 30 taps per line and if you get 20' of drop after your last tap, you get a fair amount of vacuum.
I pumped 160 gal from the tank last week. About 150 yesterday. 80 gal in the tank this morning and sap will run all day today. Things will freeze up this weekend. Starting next week, if the weather holds, we may get 2 to 3 weeks of good days.
I take the sap to a friend for processing and get 1/2 the syrup back.
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YetiJedi
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HayRiverDrifter: "I have 180 taps on 6 lines. We used 3/16" lines. You can put up to 30 taps per line and if you get 20' of drop after your last tap, you get a fair amount of vacuum.
I pumped 160 gal from the tank last week. About 150 yesterday. 80 gal in the tank this morning and sap will run all day today. Things will freeze up this weekend. Starting next week, if the weather holds, we may get 2 to 3 weeks of good days.
I take the sap to a friend for processing and get 1/2 the syrup back.
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Impressive! That's a lot of syrup...
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Sorethumbs
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Yogi, maple syurp will be thinner than the commercial stuff, 220 should be right, any more and you'll have sugar crystals in the bottom of the jars in a few weeks.
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NEIowapaddler
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HayRiverDrifter: "We have 180 taps on 3/16" lines. Today we had 300 gallons with a total of 1875 gal this year. We will break 2000 gallons tomorrow. My property is close to Wheeler, WI. Last night was the last hard freeze looking forward so we may only get another two days of sap.
The syrup has been really light this year. We had one boil a week ago that started to get darker, but then the next boil was very light again. It is very sweet and has a mild maple flavor. Tastes a bit buttery.
Is anyone else getting syrup that is lighter than in the past??
"
Our syrup usually starts out light and gets darker through the course of the season. But this year it was the opposite. The first couple batches were the darkest, and they got lighter after that. Weird.
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missmolly
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I don't tap, but I sure like reading about it. Thanks, all, for sharing your stories.
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Telco
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The syrup has been really light this year. We had one boil a week ago that started to get darker, but then the next boil was very light again. It is very sweet and has a mild maple flavor. Tastes a bit buttery.
Is anyone else getting syrup that is lighter than in the past??
At 1/60th of your scale but that describes our syrup exactly.
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yogi59weedr
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I tapped 5 trees. Ended up with about gallon and half of syrup. Gave half away and kept half for me.
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podgeo
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Any body getting any sap. I tapped a few trees yesterday and getting some. I got 25 taps out
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TreeBear
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It's warm enough here today, but I know we have a long ways to spring yet here in Ely. With it being 40 degrees though it sure gets a guy thinking about tapping.
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Barca
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South Central Ohio. Taps have been in for a couple weeks now. Couple good runs, but fairly slow overall so far. About four gallons in syrup done so far, hoping for 12-15 all told (only two of us). Good excuse to sit out in the shed and drink beer. :)
My one addition here is that nothing has happened as I have expected this year. Granted I've been tapping/boiling for only 7-8 years now, but the "accepted wisdom" of cold nights/warms days simply hasn't panned out. I've seen good runs on days I didn't expect and almost nothing on days I did. Guess it shows how much I have to learn..... odd how that's like fishing... lol
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Ahahn366
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Been warm for a couple days here in cornucopia Wisconsin but no welling around the maples. Today I dug out the shack and found most of the parts to the operation. I am going to Geneva IL this weekend to spend time with dear old dad's and when I get home it will be time to start tapping here. My brother and dad put 2 taps in the backyard tree in Geneva before the game yesterday and collected 1.5 gals by noon today. I wish I could show the restraint dad does but no..... I will put 200 in and work my ***s off making sugar for half the village. 
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podgeo
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30 gallons collected since Friday afetrnoon
25 taps in 14 trees
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