Second day maple sap 2023

Here's the result of the first boil, about 8 oz of "pre-syrup":

When I get enough to fill a pot it will be time to do a finish boil to get to the magic 66% sugar level.

I forgot to mention that the sap at the end of the first day measured 3% sugar.  The sap may have benefited from some freeze concentration as this was from late evening when ice was forming.

Today the sap measured 2.8 (maybe 2.6 ?) - it's hard to tell but somewhat lower, the ice had melted.

Why would I care ?  It affects the amount of sap versus finished syrup.  I'd often heard a 40 to 1 ratio (something over 2%) but 3% is 29 to 1, that's 11 gallons of sap that doesn't have to be boiled to get the same amount of syrup.

I found out that I may not have purchased the correct refractometer.  The one I bought has a scale from 0 to 32 percent.  So the readings for sap are scrunched at the bottom of the scale.  There are 0 to 10 percent versions of this same meter - that's the one I should have gotten.  Ideally an even smaller range would be better, say 0 to 5 percent ?  But I didn't see any of those for sale.  There are also digital versions but they are a lot more expensive.

Live and learn.

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm