Tapping trees

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Some people tap trees by snapping the end off thin branches and feeding them into bottles (or running a tube sealed to the branch into a bottle).
James

Here, when a thin branch breaks off a maple tree in the winter, the tree will leak sap when the temperatures are right. If the temperature is cold enough, just at freezing, a maple icicle forms. A refreshing little treat.
 
Some people tap trees by snapping the end off thin branches and feeding them into bottles (or running a tube sealed to the branch into a bottle). Perhaps some of the thinner wood on the tree has been broken off by the storms over the last month or so and it's weeping some sap as a result?

James
You are right James I reckon, the tree lost loads of twigs this year, particularly in the storm and currently crows are snapping the highest bits off and carrying them away as nest material. I’ve not noticed the sap dripping in prior years - perhaps the temperature has an effect too?
 
Oops posted the above before reading Mikes post. The temperature does have an effect.
 
My next question, now, is: Are you reducing the pressure, to boil off the liquid at a lowered temperature?
 
My next question, now, is: Are you reducing the pressure, to boil off the liquid at a lowered temperature?
When the Howden Glucose Refinery was still operating, producing 10 tons per hour of glucose syrup we used to run the evaporator at -0.9 bar. The vapour went into a spray cooled condenser with a tail pipe 40 feet long. Warm water from the tail tank was pumped through a cooling tower then back into the condenser. The vacuum was generated by liquid ring vacuum pumps and flow/tank level conditions had automatic controls which operators kept turning into manual until I got sick of being called out of bed at night because the system got out of balance through their efforts. I chained up the overrides and never got called out to condenser problems again. (That's possibly a bit bigger system than would be involved for a small scale maple syrup enterprise) 😎
 
I had a go at tapping a birch tree last year. I was amazed at how much sap it produced…and how much sap was actually needed to make syrup!


Yes, that’s why I’d rather just drink it. Feels such a waste to boil it all down. I’d say the waxing moon is a good time to tap too!
 
I could probably have sycamore honey too. There are perhaps as many as four dozen within 100m of my home apiary despite me taking down a dozen this winter to clear some space around the pond. Hmmm. I wonder if sycamore stumps will still produce sap if I tap them?

James
My Howes lists Sycamore among the 13 best sources of nectar in the UK, especially so as they flower in late May, so I'm thinking of trying to encourage them locally - they seem too sparse to self seed here. I don't know if they'll coppice or pollard well, but if you have animals they might offer a treat every year or two.
 
How about Field Maple? It's a nicer looking tree and today, I'm hearing a lot of buzzing above me, with two mature trees in the garden.
 

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