The end of the sap season came for our sugarbush on March 12th. The weather last week and two weeks ago has been unseasonably warm and without the cold nights to go along with the warm days the sap flow stopped. The stop was so sudden it was amazing. We went from getting 10 gallons a day to less than a gallon in about 12 hours.
I finished boiling my last 10 gallons of sap on Sunday March 18th making another three bottles of medium amber maple syrup.
We had a family & friends pancake breakfast on St. Patrick’s day and had a fun time sharing the fruits of our labor.
The Stats:
The season: Feb. 11th – Mar. 12th (31d)
Taps: 12 taps in Red Maples
Total sap collected: 102 gallons
Total syrup produced: about 1.5 gallons
Total syrup by grade: about 1 gal Grade A light, and about 0.5 gal Grade A medium amber.
Average sugar content of sap: 1.26%
No. of 20lb propane refills: 5
Total cost books, supplies, fuel: $275
Cost/gallon: $183.33/gallon of syrup.
At $183/gallon of syrup it is definitely cheaper to buy from the store or a large scale maple producer. However that includes a few one time costs and some supplies for next year like more taps and glass. I will definitely need to look into a wood fired arch in lieu of the gas grill next year with more taps to keep my fuel costs down. I also find myself wishing I had sugar maples in lieu of red maples for the higher sugar content of their sap, which would translate into more syrup per gallon of sap.
As it stands we have consumed and given away about 3/4 of a gallon of syrup. That leaves us with another 3/4 of a gallon for the year. A couple bottles are slated to be given away but we should have more than enough syrup for our needs. All told it was a good experience and will be fun to do with the kids as they get older.
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