Sap to syrup

My daughter and I tapped 6 soft maple trees yesterday. That is mostly what we have here to work with but these ones are close to home. Today we had 4 litres of sap and boiled it down and ended up with 120ml of syrup. That seems like a higher sugar content then I am used to where we usually tap. Maybe I figured it out wrong but to me that came out to about 32-1. I think sugar maple are usually around 40-1 are they not?
Should also say she is doing her science fair on making maple syrup so that’s why we boiled down the small amount.

It varies.
I made a sign for a pretty big sugaring outfit and while I was delivering it a guy came in with a plastic tank full of sap. The guy tested the sap and paid the man. He told me they pay according to the sugar content of each batch.

Is the 32-1 sugar ratio or syrup?


I'm sure I'm wrong but I thought it was 14:1 for syrup.

I have on several occasions had a 30 to 1 ratio

That’s sap to syrup ratio.

Use the rule of 86. sugar content divided by 86 will tell you number of gallons of sap to syrup. Thus if your sap is 2% then 86/2=43 gallons of sap. Its not exact as this was the old standard at 66 brix finished syrup. With the newer standard being a higher brix 87.1 is closer for the math but 86 is easier to use in your head.

You are correct in that you are wrong. lol General rule of thumb for Sugar Maple is 40:1 sap to syrup.

Here is how you figure it out.. The rule of 86 You divide 86 by the sugar content of the sap to get the amount of sap needed to produce 1 gallon of syrup.

Sugar content varies from tree to tree, location to location. Many variables Trees that receive more sunshine (trees on the edge of the woods, hedgerow trees, roadside trees) will usually have higher sugar contents than woods grown trees. Also trees near a water source such as a creek or pond typically have lower sugar contents as they suck up the water while the sap is running which results in more gallons of sap per tree but with a diluted sugar content.

Average for sugar maple is usually between 2 and 2.5% sugar.
86/2= 43 gallons
86/2.5= 34.4 gallons

Have never made syrup from soft maple but most who have claim 60-80 gallons to one gallon of syrup average.

Also usually sugar content starts low early in the season and increases when optimum conditions exists. We have one woodlot that usually starts at 1.5 in Feb and then increases to 2 by march. The other woodlot starts at 2 and increases to 2.5. There is also a hedgerow of old maples that often is 4% or better.

I must type to slow Krisp beat me to it.

Thanks

I do really well with yard trees, even silver maples. The trees with a large canopy exposed to a lot of sunlight.

We tapped several soft maples this year and they are all checking over 2 percent with a hydrometer. I haven't seen any difference between soft and hard maple sugar content.

I tried a few soft(red)maples years ago and it seemed to take a lot more sap.
I have a bunch of black birch in a little hollow on my property and have heard it makes good syrup. But, from what I have read, it's 60:1 sap to syrup. Has anyone here made birch syrup? how does it compare to sugar maple?

It is closer to 80 to 100 to 1. VERY low in sugar and it is fructose and glucose unlike maple which is sucrose, so it can and will scorch easily if you do birch you really want/need an RO system..

How's the taste of the birch?