You can see the processing of "sugar water" or "sap" by using a vaccum gathering system, a reverse osmosis machine, and an oil-fired evaporator. Depending on the sugar content, it usually takes about 50 gallons or more of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Ideal condtions for making syrup are a combination of nighttime temperatures in the 20's and daytime temperatures beween 40 and 50 degrees. The syrup and sugar season ends by the the last week in March.