# Time to collect your maple sugaring gear!



## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

Time to collect your spiles, jugs, and bit & brace. Mid February is a good tim to get the taps in the trees. By mid March it's mostly over. Let's hear from the maple sugaring fanatics! I am a fanatic in exile, having no access to maple trees. I learned this craft from my 7th grade science teacher. Taught my kids the craft a few years ago. Nothing is better than homemade maple syrup on a hot stack of pancakes!


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## Firecracker (Aug 19, 2005)

yummy... we have to buy some this year


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## frenchriver1 (Jul 5, 2005)

It has been predicted that the great maple harvest industry in the northeast will be gone in 50 year as the optimal weather for such activity will move north into Canada...


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

I will be 97 year old in 50 years, so I am just going to continue making syrup for the time being. :lol:

I was sorely tempted to tap a few weeks ago, when we had that warm spell. I know I would have gotten quite a bit if sap before the ground thawed. But I also know that it could hurt the trees when real cold weather came back around, like it just did. So, yes, mid-February is usually primetime, in the SE part of the State. It takes me about 2 hours to get my hoses and buckets washed, tap trees, and get it all in place. I can do it on short notice. I just take the buckets and lids into a nice shower with me, and wash them with a mildly soapy solution, with just a bit of bleach added. Works great. I don't forget to charge my cordless drill anymore, either. 
My kids used to go through between 3 and 5 gallons of syrup each year - they ate waffles almost every morning, before school. Now they usually eat other stuff, and we don't use as much. That is good, because I get less sap lately, because the season is shorter than it was, just 10 years ago. Now Winter seems to hang on longer, then everything thaws quickly, in 3 weeks. Once the ground is totally thawed, the sap really slows down - even when it gets below freezing at night.


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## PerchOnly (Oct 24, 2007)

I would love to hear from some people who do this reguarly. I was thinking of doing it this spring. Seems like when I was a kid I used 1/2" copper pipe. I know professionally they use tubing, is that what non professionals do? What size of tubing? Can you use a milk just to collect the sap?

Thanks.


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

Perch, 

You can order spiles online. In Ann Arbor, the downtown hardware store near Ashley and Main Streets used to carry them in stock. I will dig up some of the old posts on this subject later tonight. 

Yes, milk jugs are perfect. You impale them on the spile, then tie them through the handle around the tree. Works great. This is how I do it.


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## PerchOnly (Oct 24, 2007)

Thanks for the info. The term "spile" was new to me, but I used it to search on the internet and found some information. 

I just need to find where they are sold for a reasonable price near me. Worse case I'll use copper pipe I guess.

When you said impale the milk jugs, I take it you do it through the side and not just use the opening on the top?


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## Paul Thompson (Jul 16, 2007)

My cousin and her husband have a sugar shack, last year they boiled a little over 100 qrts. it was a very short season last spring. But that's farming. I hope they ( and others) do well this spring.


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## PerchOnly (Oct 24, 2007)

One more question, can you stop and start the boiling process? I suspect that it wouldn't hurt anything, but since I've never done it, I thought I'd ask. I was planning on doing it over an outside open fire and doing it 24/7 didn't seem feasable. 

Thanks!


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

You should search for old maple syrup threads in this forum - there are a bunch, and have most of the info you need. I use old metal spiles, which I inherited from my wife's Grandfather. I never had real maple syrup growing up, but my kids do. You can find lots of different spiles on Ebay. There is a place in Mason, MI called Sugarbush Supply (I think), and they have everything you would need. I use rubber tubing, which runs from the spiles through holes in the lids of 5 gallon buckets. I run either 2 or 3 lines into a bucket, and usually check them twice daily, when the sap is running hard. I cook round-the-clock, but not outside. I might have to find a different method this year, as my wife wants to evict my operation from inside the house. :sad:


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## PerchOnly (Oct 24, 2007)

Thanks for the advise. I keep forgetting that probably everything has been talked about one time or another on this website.:lol::lol::lol:


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

Perch,

Yes you cut an "x" in the side of the jug opposite the handle. Stick the spile through the hole. The milk jugs needs to be well washed and rinsed. Don't want spoiled milk or soap residue in your sap. 

Yes you can start and stop the boiling process. However you need to refrigerate or freeze the uncompleted product to avoid spoiling. I always did it on the kitchen stove and never had a problem. A suggestion is to take 5 gallons of sap and boil it down to 1 pint of syrup, in one session. If you start after dinner you will get it finished that evening. Use all 4 burners on the stove, and consolidate the sap as the volume reduces.


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## PerchOnly (Oct 24, 2007)

Thanks for the stove suggestion, gives me a good starting point!


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## jackbob42 (Nov 12, 2003)

How much does a jug of pure maple syrup go for? 
With all the time into collecting and boiling , it just don't seem like it's worth it. I mean , you can buy syrup in the store pretty cheap. I know it's not " pure " , but will people still buy pure maple syrup?
I make just enough for my family , but I just can't imagine a person making a profit at it.


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

More good maple sugaring information.


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## Frantz (Dec 9, 2003)

You would have to make a lot to make a profit. I have had good years, with an overabundance and to be honest, I will not even give the stuff to family, it is just that good! Let them get their own. Hey you, quit eyeballing my maple trees!:evilsmile


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## Frantz (Dec 9, 2003)

Just a little blurb I found when searching to purchase 6 or so spiles.

Thoughts?

I tapped a boxelder maple in my yard this year. I drilled a 1/4" diameter hole about 2" deep and angled upward. The hole is about three feet above the ground. I then inserted 1/4" drip irrigation tubing an inch into the hole, sealing around the hole with softened parrafin wax. The tube runs to a 1/4" hole drilled into the handle of a five gallon plastic water container (square shaped polyethylene container for storing water). Over the past three weeks (as of 2/29/08) I've gotten about five gallons of sap which has boiled down to a nice golden syrup. The sap keeps flowing -- today I got a couple of quarts. So my solution to diy spiles is no spile at all! The tube goes straight in and the wax keeps the hole from leaking around the tubing.


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## kroppe (May 7, 2000)

February is the time to get the spiles in. Sap will be running before you know it.


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

jackbob42 said:


> How much does a jug of pure maple syrup go for?
> ..............


$15-17 a quart in the plain plastic jug. Fancy glass containers are more.

http://www.nelsonmapleproducts.com/

How much for a pint of mulberry jam?

L & O


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