NY observation

[Mike in NY]

Our 1st boil started out w/ med amber so when had few days w/ no sap took everything apart and cleaned up.. Started on a long boil at 5am and went to dark amber; the stuff we see usually late march/april. Still goes through the filters well. Imagine we will boil well past midnight tonight and then tear down and clean up again. Nieghbor 1/4 mile away is making light amber. is anyone else making darker syrup than normal for this early in the yr?

[grinch5010]

Been making dark since the second batch.

[John c]

Darker with every batch, but still a very nice red color to it. I like darker syrup anyway, so I'm happy.
Good luck to ya!

[SPILEDRIVER]

thats weird john,im only 5 miles down the road from you and im makeing the lightest syrup ive ever made.ive only had one batch of medium,everything else has been light/fancy.all my trees are large crowned roadside/hedge row mature trees and my sugars been steady rite at 2%average but i really think tonights boil and threw saturdays boil its all gonna change,havent checked yet but going by taste the sugar is takeing a nose dive..........

[John c]

thats weird john,im only 5 miles down the road from you and im makeing the lightest syrup ive ever made.ive only had one batch of medium,everything else has been light/fancy.all my trees are large crowned roadside/hedge row mature trees and my sugars been steady rite at 2%average but i really think tonights boil and threw saturdays boil its all gonna change,havent checked yet but going by taste the sugar is takeing a nose dive..........
You are right about the sugar taking a nose dive! According to the refractometer it has dropped off 1% practically overnight. I have been 3% and over so far, but now it's only 2%. If it gets any lower than that I'm gonna hang it up for the year.
I did get some very light syrup at first, but I'm not a fan of light syrup, so I mixed it back in with some dark stuff. Now it's perfect!

[stoweski]

Went from dark to medium to dark and now looking like 'darker'. Made 12 gallons so far... collected 300 gallons in the past two days so I'm boiling like a fool now. Hoping for a few more gallons before our next cooldown this weekend.

I don't like light syrup either but I need a bit for friends and don't have any. Guess they'll have to deal with medium! I'll save the "B" for me!!! The more it looks like pine tar the better! :D

[SPILEDRIVER]

i prefer the darker stuff as well but ive got some weird customers who want the lite stuff.......if things stay the way they are im gonna boil threw saturday nite and be done......exstended forcast dosnt look very good after that anyway

[adk1]

Wondering how you are making out now with these really warm temps. You must be roasting down there

[SPILEDRIVER]

well adk the only good thing about this kind of weather this early is the firewood orders have slowed way down giving me more time to boil the sap im not gonna be getting for much longer.i really think sunday is gonna be the end down here.all next week its forcasted to be 40s at night and mid to upper 50s daytime.............bummmmmmmmmmmmmer

[Mike in NY]

i prefer the darker stuff as well but ive got some weird customers who want the lite stuff.......if things stay the way they are im gonna boil threw saturday nite and be done......exstended forcast dosnt look very good after that anywayI like the darker syrup myself but for our candy we get more consistent results with the lighter /medium grades.

[John c]

I like the darker syrup myself but for our candy we get more consistent results with the lighter /medium grades.
That's a big 10-4!