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Pails of Sap

Submitted by themadgardener on Tue, 03/10/2020 - 00:00
Pails of Sap

In roughly 24 hours we were able to gather 12 gallons of sap! Not the high flow for a single day but certainly nothing to complain about!

Sap begins to flow as soon as temperatures fluctuate above and below the freezing point. Typically this means day time temps are above freezing and night time temps are below freezing as days tend to be warmer than nights. However, if you have a really cold day where it is below freezing followed by a warm night, where it is above freezing, sap will flow!

It is a good idea to filter your sap before you begin boiling to remove any debris (leaves, sticks, and whatever else managed to get blown into your collection containers) to avoid any off flavors. Also, sap is mostly water so it flows through the filter faster than syrup although I do filter before I put the syrup into canning jars! For my setup I purchased a fryer filter stand (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009Z21LOI), cooking oil filters for the initial filtering (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0018OZFTS) and then a synthetic filter immediately after the sap is boiled down to syrup (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S8ZVFPS/). On occasion I will filter mid-process meaning if, while boiling, I notice there is a build-up of sediment or things have been blown into the evaporator (happens on a windy day) I will then run it all through a filter! Finally, I have had bad luck with the filter slipping while filtering - was an easy fix, I just purchased a couple clips, problem solved!

Did you know that the sugar content in sap can range from 1.8% to 8.4%? (see https://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Sugar_content_of_maple_sap/) It varies throughout the season with it starting out lower, then rising, falling, and then rising again right at the end of the run. Typically 2% is considered the average which is why it often takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup The goal is to have your syrup with a sugar content of 66%

2020 Harvest

I will be updating this article throughout the season with how much we harvested!

  • March 10, 2020 - 12 gallons collected
  • March 11, 2020 - 3 gallons collected
  • March 12, 2020 - 12 gallons collected
  • March 13, 2020 - 4 gallons collected
  • March 14, 2020 - 0 gallons collected - temperatures did not get above freezing
  • March 15, 2020 - 4 gallons collected
  • March 16, 2020 - 10 gallons collected
  • March 17, 2020 - 6 gallons collected
  • March 18, 2020 - 4 gallons collected
  • March 19, 2020 - 4 gallons collected
  • March 20, 2020 - 1 gallon collected
  • March 21, 2020 - 0 gallons - temperatures barely got above freezing
  • March 22, 2020 - 4 gallons collected
  • March 23, 2020 - 14 gallons collected
  • March 24, 2020 - 7 gallons collected
  • March 25, 2020 - 2 gallons collected
  • March 26, 2020 - 12 gallons collected
  • March 27, 2020 - 9 gallons collected
  • March 28, 2020 - 1 gallon collected - temps did not fall below zero