Kit Instructions

Your Sapsuckers™ Home Maple Syrup Kit, from first tap to last pour. These are the full instructions for The First Tap™ and The Triple Tap™. The card in your box is the short version. Questions? Email info@sapsuckers.ca.

What's in your kit

The First Tap™ The Triple Tap™
Aluminum spiles (taps) 1 3
8 mm (5/16") drill bit 1 1
Sap collection bags (about 15 L each) 2 5
Sap bag holders (2 pieces: holder + ring) 1 3
Reusable felt cone filter, made in Canada 1 1

You'll also need: a cordless drill, a hammer or mallet, a tape measure, a big pot (a wide stockpot or turkey fryer works best), an outdoor burner or fire pit, a candy thermometer, clean glass jars or bottles, and a cooler or snowbank for storing sap.

1. Pick your tree

  • Sugar maple gives the sweetest sap. Red, silver and black maples work too.
  • Measure around the trunk at chest height. 80 cm (31") or more = one tap. 145 cm (57") or more = two taps. Two is the most we recommend on any backyard tree. With the Triple Tap™, put your third tap on a second tree.
  • Choose a healthy tree. Skip trees with big dead limbs, split trunks or fresh damage.

2. Know when to tap

Sap runs when nights drop below freezing and days climb above zero. In southern Ontario that's usually late February to early April, and Family Day weekend is a great time to be ready. Watch the 10-day forecast: once you see a stretch of below-zero nights and 3–5°C days, tap.

3. Tap the tree

  1. Pick your spot. About 1 m (3 ft) off the ground, on the sunny south side if you can, over solid-looking bark. Stay at least 15 cm (6") to the side of any old tap hole.
  2. Drill. Put the 8 mm bit in your drill and drill straight in, angled very slightly upward so sap can drain out, 4–5 cm (1½–2") deep. Wrap a piece of tape around the bit at 5 cm as a depth guide. Pull the bit out to clear the shavings. Light-coloured shavings mean healthy wood; dark brown means move to another spot.
  3. Set the spile. Push the spile into the hole and tap it in gently with a hammer until it's snug and doesn't wiggle. Don't pound it. Too hard can split the bark and cause a leak.
  4. Hang the bag. Fold about 5 cm (2") of the bag over the ring. Slide it into the holder until the ring sits on the ledge inside, then pull the bottom of the bag to wedge it tight. The weight of the sap keeps it locked in. Hang the holder on the spile and give it an extra tug to make sure it's secure.

If it's a good sap day, you'll see drips within minutes.

4. Collect the sap

  • Check your bags every day. Each bag holds about 15 L. On a big run day a tap can fill a bag in a day or two, so check twice on warm, sunny days after a hard freeze, or it'll overflow.
  • A full bag is heavy. 15 L of sap weighs about 15 kg (33 lb). Empty your bags when they're half to two-thirds full so they're easy to handle, and lift the holder straight up off the spile so you don't pry the spile loose. A full bag is a job for an adult, not the kids.
  • To empty a bag, leave it in the holder and use the holder as a spout to pour into a clean, food-safe bucket. Hang it back on the spile and give it a tug. Check for holes while you're at it. A twig or a curious animal can poke a small hole that drains the whole bag, which is why your kit comes with spare bags. Swap one in.
  • Keep sap cold. Sap is like milk: it spoils. Store it in a cooler or bucket packed in snow, below 5°C, and boil within 2–3 days. Can't boil in time? Run the sap through your felt cone to catch any bark or debris, then freeze it. Cloudy or sour-smelling sap goes on the garden, not in the pot.
  • Sap is mostly water with about 2% sugar. It takes about 40 L of sap to make 1 L of syrup. A tap usually gives 20–55 L of sap a season, about ½–1½ L of syrup.

5. Boil it down

  • Boil outside. 40 L of sap makes about 39 L of steam, enough to peel wallpaper. Use a propane burner, camp stove or fire pit.
  • Fill the pot partway and keep it at a rolling boil. Add more sap as it boils down, keeping at least 5 cm (2") of liquid in the pot at all times.
  • Never walk away. When the pot gets low, syrup goes from perfect to burnt in minutes. (We know. We burned a batch our first year.)
  • Foam is normal. Skim it off with a spoon.
  • When the liquid turns light golden and the bubbles get smaller and thicker, move it indoors to finish on the stove, in a smaller pot where you can watch it closely.

6. Finish at the right temperature

  • First, check where water boils in your kitchen today with your candy thermometer. It's about 100°C (212°F) but changes with the weather and your elevation.
  • Your syrup is done at 4°C (7°F) above that, usually 104°C (219°F).
  • Not hot enough = thin syrup that can spoil. Too hot = sugar crystals in the jar.
  • Take it off the heat as soon as it hits temperature.

7. Filter with your felt cone

All maple syrup has "sugar sand": fine minerals that make it cloudy and gritty. Your Canadian-made felt filter takes it out.

  1. Wet the filter first. Soak it in hot water, then wring it out well. A dry filter soaks up syrup and clogs faster.
  2. Set the cone point-down in a clean pot or a large heatproof jug. Clip or hold the rim so it can't slip in.
  3. Pour the syrup in while it's hot, above 82°C (180°F). Hot syrup flows through; cool syrup crawls.
  4. Let gravity do the work. Don't squeeze the cone. That pushes the sugar sand right through.
  5. If it slows to a drip, pour what's left into a second wetted filter, or rinse this one in hot water and keep going.

Caring for your filter: rinse it right after use in hot water only, from the outside in. No soap and no washing machine. Soap gets trapped in the felt and flavours your next batch. Hang it to dry completely, then store it in a clean, dry bag. With care it lasts for seasons.

8. Bottle it

  • Sterilize clean glass jars or bottles and lids in boiling water.
  • Reheat filtered syrup to 82–85°C (180–185°F). Don't boil it again.
  • Fill jars to the top, cap tightly, and turn upside down for a few minutes to seal the lid.
  • Sealed jars keep in a cool, dark cupboard for a year or more. Once opened, keep it in the fridge.
  • A little sediment at the bottom of the jar is normal and safe.

9. End of season

  • When nights stop freezing and the buds start to swell, sap turns cloudy and tastes off ("buddy"). That's the end of the season.
  • Pull the spiles by wiggling them gently while pulling, or tap them out from the sides. Don't plug the hole. The tree seals it naturally within a season or two.
  • Wash the spiles, holders and bags in hot water and dry them well. Next year, drill a fresh hole at least 15 cm (6") from this year's.

Safety

  • Boiling sap and hot syrup cause serious burns. Keep kids and pets clear of the burner and the finishing pot.
  • Never run a propane burner indoors or in a garage.
  • Use the drill with care, and wear eye protection if you're drilling above head height.

Questions, photos of your first drip, or bragging about your first litre: email info@sapsuckers.ca or tag @sapsuckerscanada.

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