solascriptura Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Anyone here tap their trees and make their own syrup? I was wondering what the supplies would be best. Bags or buckets? Plastic spouts or aluminum? Any advice? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Kind of depends on the size of your operation For one, six inch tree, a tap and a bucket. I've seen lots of gallon water jugs used around here instead of the old metal ones with lids. I don't think the material the spout is made of makes much difference. Metal probably lasts longer. For hundreds of trees, they run miles of plastic tubing fron tree to tree, downhill and end up in a huge vat. I haven't seen bags on trees around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upward Journey Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 When I was a child we had a sugar maple in our yard, I always dreamed of tapping it. Now I'm on the other side of the continent in the middle of a city, but I still dream of someday having a tree I can tap. Old dreams die hard :D I know, not at all what you were asking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsheresomewhere Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Metal taps and buckets last longer. It is a lot of work to make the syrup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMamaBird Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 We use aluminium. We only had six spiles last year, we're upping it to 10 this year. Have fun! It's a lot of work but very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solascriptura Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Metal taps and buckets last longer. It is a lot of work to make the syrup. A friend gave me 2gallons of sap last year and I ended up with 1 cup after all the boiling! I know it's a lot of babysitting, but the flavor was amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoCandJ Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 We use metal taps and gallon jugs. We only tap like 5 trees and I process in the house on our stove. I wash the walls after I'm all done processing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucy the Valiant Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 We use metal taps and plastic milk jugs - we tap about 50 trees, and the kids help DH do the syrup outside (we have a DIY evaporator made from an old oil tank w/hotel pans). They sell the extra as a little side business. :) If you are in need of extra trees to tap, your neighbors may be willing to let you tap theirs in exchange for some syrup at the end of the season. Fun stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostSurprise Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 I use metal taps and cleaned out milk jugs. We only have 3 maples in the yard though. I've seen plenty of people who use buckets and tubing but I can't imagine how annoying it would be to clean that tubing. Dh bought the bags and metal holders one year. I didn't like them. Hard to clean. The metal holder was sharp and I kept cutting myself when removing and replacing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2ndGenHomeschooler Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 We tapped 2 huge trees in our yard last year and ended up with a gallon of syrup (It takes about 40 gallons of sap to get one gallon of syrup). This year we're going to tap 4 (or maybe 5?). Our trees are big so we can do 3 taps each. We used plumbing supplies from the hardware store and a couple of 5 gallon buckets. My DH bought small PVC type tubes (they were elbows I think but I don't know the correct terms, sorry..)and then we used leftover blue flex tubing from our recent plumbing upgrades to funnel it into the buckets. I think the buckets came from grocery store bakery or meat departments. My husband drilled holes in the trees and wedged the elbows in and that was it. It was pretty cheap to do and didn't require any special equipment. The syrup was soooo good! We're hoping to get twice as much this year. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.