Homesteading Skills: Tapping Maples For Sap
BASIC TREE TAPPING FOR SAP
As winter slowly gives way to the warmth of spring, the sap of the maple trees begins to flow. Tapping maple trees for their sap is a tradition that yields one of nature’s sweetest rewards – pure maple syrup. In this article, you will see the process of tapping maple trees for sap and turning it into delicious syrup, so you can experience the magic right in your own backyard.
SUPPLIES
For basic tapping, you only need a few supplies. A hammer, drill, drillbit the size of your taps, and of course, taps and buckets (preferably with lids) for collecting! There are basic kits available to get you started also available in stores and online. When the sap is running good you can collect several gallons a day per tap, so keep that in mind when you size your buckets as to how often you have the ability to empty them!
THE BASICS
Once your sap is collected, you can store it in a cool place for up to 5 days before you do a boiloff. It takes roughly 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup!! (Thats 8 full 5-gallon buckets!) You can choose to collect all week and do a boil over the weekend. You may choose to boil but not “finish” the batches and then refrigerate until you have enough to boil up a batch. This all depends on your personal storage capabilities, how many trees you have available, and your time constraints.
PRO TIP: Do as much of the boil off as you can outside. The steam will form a sticky residue on your kitchen walls otherwise. The first year, I boiled in a pot over a campfire. I have used an old grill. I currently use a modified barrel (see below) I add the fresh sap to one side and the slightly boiled gets transferred to the other pan. You can see this batch is starting to turn a light golden color, but it is far from 66-68 brix! Some folks do a lot of syrup, as it is a good commodity for resale for income for your homestead in the early spring, if this is something you are interested in doing you may want to invest in an evaporator pan.
THE FINAL COOK:
Once the initial boil off is complete I bring the last few gallons of condensed sap into the house for finishing. I use a hydrometer to correctly gauge the BRIX level. This way all my hard work doesn’t go to waste after bottling. The mess of bottling can be a challenge for anyone. I have seen many a setup in my day, but my favorite has to be using a fry oil stand with cone filters or cheesecloth over an old 30 cup coffee brewer with the spigot. Filter going in and you can do a second filtering at the spout if you like. This setup makes bottling as mess free as it can be in a homestead setting. Of course, I encourage you to use whatever you can to make it work for you!
