# anyone do any Maple sugaring?



## ericjeeper (Jan 29, 2008)

Me and my son pulled some yesterday here in Indiana. Boiled down to right at a quart jar.


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## younggun (Jan 29, 2008)

back in school we used to help a local state park with there syrup operation.


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## beowulf343 (Jan 29, 2008)

Yep, sugarbush has been in the family for over 50 years. Brings back alot of good memories as a kid. Dad's planning to tap around 2200 this year.


Kind of early to be tapping in january, isn't it? We usually don't start until around march.


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## younggun (Jan 30, 2008)

beowulf343 said:


> Kind of early to be tapping in january, isn't it? We usually don't start until around march.



sugar content is usually what decides when to start. the place i helped when it reached a certain percentage


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## ericjeeper (Jan 30, 2008)

*Indiana is a bit south of you in New York*

The weather WAS perfect.. But By next week it should be perfect again. There might have been a little bit of flowage today. But the bags are frozen with yesterdays load.
Was hoping to have enough stored back to have a few Homesteader friends over for the weekend. To boil some off to share


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## Burvol (Jan 30, 2008)

I went out east and tried some of that Maple Goodness. It makes me what to try it on maple trees out west. I have heard of it being done.


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## beowulf343 (Feb 3, 2008)

younggun said:


> sugar content is usually what decides when to start. the place i helped when it reached a certain percentage



Not a good way to judge when to start tapping. Sugar content varies way to much. It will vary year from year. It will vary from tree to tree (we have several maples that will have a couple percentage points higher sugar content than another one right next to it.) It will even vary depending on where the tree is located. Cornell has done some interesting studies on factors that increase or decrease sugar content in maples.

Most people start tapping when the weather warms up enough to start the sap flowing. I was curious about the January start. It's something a few outfits have tried around here. Tap in January and get a run or two. However, the tap holes will dry up after 5-6 weeks so they take the risk of losing a couple good runs in March. Forgot that Indiana isn't NY.


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## younggun (Feb 3, 2008)

i think it was 0.05%


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## cjk (Feb 3, 2008)

We did it a couple years ago with help from our elderly neighbor. He has done it for a long time. His rule was when it freezes at night and thaws during the day it was time to start. We are getting low and plan to do it this spring. Its a lot of work but you cant beat the taste. And what else is there to do that time of year. 

How do you measure sugar content?


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## Mad Professor (Feb 4, 2008)

cjk said:


> We did it a couple years ago with help from our elderly neighbor. He has done it for a long time. His rule was when it freezes at night and thaws during the day it was time to start. We are getting low and plan to do it this spring. Its a lot of work but you cant beat the taste. And what else is there to do that time of year.
> 
> How do you measure sugar content?



Two ways, specific gravity (density) or boiling point (temperature)


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## cjk (Feb 5, 2008)

OK. I thought you were using a meter of some kind. 
We boiled to 219 degrees I think. Came out great.


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