Tapping involves drilling a 1 1/2 - 2" hole in the tree with a gasoline powered drill and lightly tapping a spile into the hole with a hammer. The hole in the tree exposes a very small portion of the tree's sap layer so it can release its sap into the spile and tubing system. We do not tap trees any smaller than 10". A 1" diameter tree gets one tap, a 14" tree gets two taps, an 18" tree gets three taps and a 24" tree gets four taps. It is important to lightly hammer the spile into the tree so that the tree does not split around the spile, causing damage to the tree and sap to leak from the damaged portion. The spiles are 7/16" in diameter and connected to the tubing system which runs to the mainline and then into the collection tanks. The tapholes will last 3 - 7 weeks depending on the weather. Warm weather causes the tapholes to heal and dry up faster. On a good day an average two tap tree will produce two to four gallons of sap. Over the season the average yield will be 15 - 20 gallons of sap per tree. On the average it requires 45 to 55 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. The range has been from 25 to 90 gallons of sap to one gallon of syrup. The actual sugar content of the sap ranges from 1 to 3% and averages 1.8%. We use six vacuum pumps to help gently draw the sap from the trees.
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| Matt drilling a taphole |
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| A newly tapped maple tree |
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| Daniel and Matt unload the vacuum pump while Mike tells them where to place it |
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| Daniel and Matt gas up the tapper |
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| The drill bit beginning to enter the outer layer of the tree |
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| The drill bit goes through the bark, and from 1 1/2 - 2" into the tree |
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| A fresh, newly drilled taphole |
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| "Drive the spile light to be right" |
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| A one taphole tree |
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| A two taphole tree |
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| A three taphole tree |
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| From sunny and 28 degrees on Saturday to 14 - 17 degrees and icy mix on Sunday |
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Sometimes a heavy snowfall will bury the tubing.
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| Mike pulling tubing out of the snow and ice |
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| A six-way where the tubing joins the main line |
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Join us on a short tour of the buildings that house our festival activities. We have moved the two log cabins to our farm from other sites in our county and we built the other two buildings 15 - 20 years ago.
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| Our old sugarhouse with Emily's border collie, Cody, in front |
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| The sugarstore, home to lots of delicious goodies!! |
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| The pre-Civil War cabin we moved to our property - with Caleb's dog, Quincy |
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| Our other cabin that was built prior to 1850 |
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When the sap is flowing we turn on the vacuum pumps and check the entire tubing system for leaks. First, the mainline is checked, then we check the lateral lines that go to the individual trees. We check for damage from falling tree limbs and squirrels. The squirrels like to chew on the tubing, leaving holes for the sap to leak from and destroying the vacuum on the system.
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| Sap tanks in the back sugarbush |
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| Caleb tries out the sap |
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| Moving the new tank to the front sugarbush |
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| The inside of the shiny new tank at the front |
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| The 550 gallon sap transport tank |
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| The storage tank at the sugarhouse |
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| This ultraviolet light sterilizes the sap for higher quality syrup |
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| The sap is pumped through the UV light into this storage tank |
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| The Reverse Osmosis Machine |
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Thank you for touring Leane and Michael's Sugarbush - the largest maple syrup operation in Indiana.
For further information about maple syrup production or our annual festival please email us at sugrbush@wcrtc.net.
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