British Red said:
Though I'm sure there are many methods, I've been tapping maple and birch to make syrup - long as I can remember. Here is how we do it.
Sap runs best when night temps are below freezing, and day temps are above freezing. The further apart the two temps are - the better the sap runs.
Drill straight into the trunk with a 5/16 or 3/8 bit. You don't need to go too deep. These holes will not noticeably bother the tree. We have trees still producing that have been drilled for 50, or more, years.
Make a spile. We often use staghorn sumac, which has a pithy core and is easily adapted. Shape the "tree" end of the spile so it is outwardly funnel shaped. This seals the hole when the spile is taped in, , creating a vacuum, and drawing out the sap almost in a suction fashion. Around the spile we twist a piece of wire and shape it into a hook to hold a bucket. Buckets should be emptied every other day, or every day - if the weather is warm.
We dump the buckets into 50 or 100 gallon drums and draw sap from these drums to fill our 25 gallon kettles which we boil over an open fire. Care must be taken to watch the kettles as the sap boils down, using a paddle to keep the syrup from burning, or much labor will be lost if the syrup burns. Making sugar is a process beyond making syrup, and has its own concerns.
PG
