Maple Sugaring??

[Shorty Harris]

I have pretty much decided that the next thing I would like to try is producing my own maple syrup. I have access to many maple trees, although I am not 100% sure as to what specific species (Sugar, Red, Black, Silver) I have. I do know that they are Maples.. like 5 acre's of em. :o

Has anyone here ever done any tapping? Got any tips for a sugaring newb? I have a pretty good rudimentary understanding of the process..lets face it, its not Rocket Surgery lol.

Pretty much decided that I will go with collection bags instead of Buckets and lids. This is not set in stone as I am open to everything at this stage of the game.

Also is there a way of telling the different types of Maples from just the bark? The trees I have access to are most are over 100ft and fairly large around. If My calcs are correct I should be able to get a min of between 2 and 3 spiles per Tree.

Just looking for any insight, tips, tricks, warnings. Must have equip that will help the process, as well as things that would be good to have on hand.

Thanks!!

[skid]

I'm no expert, but I tapped my maples a couple of years ago. Being the cheap person I am, I used some 3/8 stainless tubing I had laying around for the taps and hung some 2 litre plastic milk jugs on the taps. Amazingly enough I managed to fill the 4 jugs full of sap every day for a few days. I boiled it down and eventually made about a 1/4 cup of syrup. It takes a lot of sap to make syrup!! Tasted good though... BTW I tapped big leaf maples which don't have quite as much sugar on average in the sap as sugar maples. You can tap all maples and Birch too, but sugar maple is the best.

[Shorty Harris]

Yeah Skid, I have heard it takes like 10gals of sap to produce 1qt of syrup depending on the type of tree. The sugar maple has the highest % of sugar..something in the order of 2%.