I'm making maple syrup

[LinvilleGorge]

I just like to do poo just to see if I can. Bonus points for when folks are telling me I can't. You can't make maple syrup in NC they said! I say bullshit knowing full well that the reason Sugar Mountain earned its name is because it used to be a favorite place for collecting maple sap. It's fun to create stuff. Be outside. Appreciate how past generations lived and not just learn about it yourself but teach it to the next generation.

Anyway, I have quite a few maples on my property so I figured why not? Let's give it a shot. I tapped one tree Friday morning just to see if they were running yet. Collected about half a gallon of sap and just boiled it down in the kitchen today. It was delicious! So I tapped 20 more trees today. We'll see how it all turns out.

 

[jayboogieman]

Watch out for the maple syrup mafia coming down from the northeast to run you out of business

[LinvilleGorge]

Just now, jayboogieman said:

Watch out for the maple syrup mafia coming down from the northeast to run you out of business

I don't think I'll be much of a threat. I'm hoping to get maybe a gallon total. Just enough for ourselves and to maybe give a few bottles to friends and family.

[jayboogieman]

Just now, LinvilleGorge said:

I don't think I'll be much of a threat. I'm hoping to get maybe a gallon total. Just enough for ourselves and to maybe give a few bottles to friends and family.

That's cool. You'll just have to worry about these guys then

 

[LinvilleGorge]

I collected about 3 gallons off of 8 taps today. Only the trees on full sun are running right now. The shaded trees haven't started running.

[CamWhoaaCam]

Did you sell drugs in your past?

 

That looks like quite the experiment.

[LinvilleGorge]

4 minutes ago, CamWhoaaCam said:

Did you sell drugs in your past?

 

That looks like quite the experiment.

 

[LinvilleGorge]

Holy poo, it's 70 damn degrees. I hope this doesn't kickstart the maples into budding. Sap collection is over as soon as they begin budding. There should be a good month left but we should be a good month away from flirting with 70 degree temps too.

[LinvilleGorge]

I never followed up on this.

I ended up with about a gallon of deliciousness. I'm going to tap earlier this coming winter. I got the majority of my sap in the one major cold snap we had shortly after I tapped. I'm gonna tap right before the first forecasted cold snap this weekend. I talked to a friend of a friend who runs a legit maple sugar operation up in Wisconsin and he said there's no downside to tapping early and in an area that doesn't really hard freeze in the winter that's what he'd do if tapping recreationally.

[LinvilleGorge]

I'm still at it. This batch is about done. It's syrup at 219. Once it starts climbing above the boiling temp of water it happens fast. This is what 10 gallons of sap boils down to.

Got some more sap boiling down on the turkey fryer in the deck. Got about 20 gallons of sap still to go. Taking advantage of this warm spells to do some boiling.

Hope we get at least one more nice cold snap. It's on the back side of these cold snaps that the maples really start flowing.

[OHYO]

4 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I'm still at it. This batch is about done. It's syrup at 219. Once it starts climbing above the boiling temp of water it happens fast. This is what 10 gallons of sap boils down to.

Got some more sap boiling down on the turkey fryer in the deck. Got about 20 gallons of sap still to go. Taking advantage of this warm spells to do some boiling.

Hope we get at least one more nice cold snap. It's on the back side of these cold snaps that the maples really start flowing.

Are you tapping on the south facing side of the tree?

[LinvilleGorge]

16 minutes ago, OHYO said:

Are you tapping on the south facing side of the tree?

Yeah, but here in the south I really don't think it matters. It matters up north when they get a long hard freeze all winter. The south side of the tree is going to warm up and start flowing first. I just don't think we get cold enough long enough for it to really matter.

[pamlicopanther]

Just saw this thread.

 

Really cool experiment.  We are in Eastern NC and yep this time of year a few warms days and the maples are popping.

 

I like trying those kind of things too.

 

Reminds me....I want to get back to my roots and start brewing my own beer like a did several years ago before life got out of control.

 

[LinvilleGorge]

On 1/31/2025 at 2:18 AM, pamlicopanther said:

Just saw this thread.

 

Really cool experiment.  We are in Eastern NC and yep this time of year a few warms days and the maples are popping.

 

I like trying those kind of things too.

 

Reminds me....I want to get back to my roots and start brewing my own beer like a did several years ago before life got out of control.

 

I brewed for a few years back 15-20 years ago. Now there's just so much good beer available commercially and it takes so much time I've just gotten out of it. Still have all my equipment. I really should start back up again. I have two good buddies who are head brewers and two different small breweries. Me and one of them almost bought a small brewery back in the early '00s. His uncle owned it and he worked for him. They brewed good beer the uncle was just an antisocial wierdo and they were in a poo hole town in the greater Philly area so it was barely staying afloat financially. We were just going to buy the equipment and relocate it to WNC. Still think from time to time how that different life timeline would've played out.