How to Tap and Make your own Maple Syrup

[FermentNEthinG]

The sap is on the move folks! Just pumped 400 gallons up to my buddies sugar house! :rockin:

 

[Brewsday]

Quick question:

What can you use for the brass nipple that's readily available and cheap?

 

[FATC1TY]

Quick question:

What can you use for the brass nipple that's readily available and cheap?

The brass nipple. Not being a smartass about it either. Just about every hardware store will have a male/male barbed brass nipple in stock.

 

[snaps10]

Or a vinyl nipple. I found a YouTube video where a guy screwed a male garden hose nipple into a tree.

Personally, my trees are dry and I don't know if we'll get a freeze again. Next year...

 

[Brewsday]

Funny...I'm watching weather forecasts for a stretch where we break freezing during the day (we did 2x last week).

 

[Cider123]

I like those tree saver, plastic taps. They are cheap and easy to use.
Ah ya, it's getting close to that time around here.

 

[TyTanium]

Looks like we'll get a nice stretch late next week in Chicago.

Upper 30's during the day, upper 20's at night. I'm gonna go for it.

 

[Huaco]

You guys actually doing this need to post plenty of pix so all us poor saps without access to good trees can live vicariously though you...

 

[Brewsday]

no pun intended??? (...us poor saps..)

 

[Brewsday]

Seriously folks, let's say I have a couple buckets of sap, can I heat it and use it as my sparge water (Batch sparge)? I'm guessing it won't be as efficient as pure water but then it comes "pre-charged" with sugars. I;m not concerned with hitting some exact OG.

 

[Quaker]

I've heard of others that brewed with sap and absolutely no flavor comes through unless you already concentrated it to some extent. Sap really just tastes like water.

 

[Huaco]

Careful out there guys. "Diligent" neighbors could cause you problems.
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2013/02/14/drug-raid-leads-to-a-sticky-situation-for-officers/

 

[NickTheGreat]

They should charge the nosey neighbors with the cost of sending the cops out.

I've never made maple syrup or meth, but it seems like it'd take substantially different equipment. :fro:

 

[Gunfighter04]

i was wondering how the amish around here always have cash. must be the meth!

 

[Brewsday]

OK Huaco...here's your pics.
Here's how a cheapskate homebrewer (me) taps maples...
Go to the basement and "shop"...first a roll of poly tube I bought when Lowes shut some stores, a 5/16 speed and drill, 2 old drilled lids, 2 old bungs and 2 old grape juice bags I saved from wine kits (I knew I'd need them some day), 2 old buckets from the garage (don't need to be clean) and a few bricks to hold them down while Nemo passed through (I set these before the 29" of snow as the weather person on TV promised above freezing days soon after the storm).

I did break down and buy 2 tree-saver taps for $1.09 @.

Drill the trees about 2" deep (premarked the bit), prewrap the hose connection with electric tape so it's snug then tap the spiles (word of the day) into the holes until tight. Press fit the hose, through drilled lid, shove into bung, put bung in wine sack and wait.

This morning I put 1.5 gallons into the fridge.

We've had a couple days recently where daytime temp barely reached 32 if that so although started, flow rates aren't spectacular...but for only 2 taps, I'm happy. The sap is almost crystal clear and I am sure, with this set-up, I'm not getting water.

 

[TyTanium]

Wow, that's impressive! My taps have been very slow...I've only gotten a gallon or so over the past two weeks, and we've had some very warm days.

 

[fc36]

Wow, that's impressive! My taps have been very slow...I've only gotten a gallon or so over the past two weeks, and we've had some very warm days.

Where are you tapping at? I think I may have to stop by and check out your setup. My brother has been tapping trees around town the past coupla years, but since he joined pipefitters local 597, they've got him working like a dog (60-70 hour weeks during a refinery outage). I also have access to a whole sh*tload of 1/4" SS pipe that I can fashion into spiles. Hit me with a PM if you're interested in getting together and talking homebrew and maple tree tapping.

 

[Homercidal]

Dang, I have to remember to pick up the stuff for this. And that bag and tubing looks like Da Bomb!

 

[Homercidal]

Got about 7 taps set up yesterday. 1 of my Box Elders wasn't flowing. I'm not sure it's a healthy tree. Another small stand of them flowed pretty well. They were smaller, so 1 tap each. At my sisters house I tapped 3 of the trunks coming from her large maple and it's running great. She still has another 1 or 2 trunks on that tree and 2 other trees, but the 2 other trees are right next to the sidewalk so I'm afraid of people peeing in the buckets or dropping their gum in there or something.

My daughter was SO excited when she drilled the hole on the first tree and sap started running out. She was yelling, "Put the spile in, quick!! We're losing precious sap!" LOL!

So it looks like I have to plan a full day of boiling sap pretty soon.

 

[Huaco]

We are in full bud on our trees here in the South... Some trees such as Bradford Pear have already fully leafed out!

 

[Homercidal]

The rest of our week looks pretty good. 40 or so during the day and down into the 20s at night. Another guy at work who does all the homestead stuff is collecting now. He says it's running good now. He also said his boil was going, even though he lives out of town a few miles. I don't know what kind of set up he has, maybe his wife is watching it(?)

I planned to use my electric BK for the majority in the garage, and then switch to the stovetop when it gets down to the element.