pulled today

[konwinski]

Well, 2012 is in the books for me. I pulled the taps today and started cleaning up. I had a pretty good second year. I only ruined 1/2 gallon of syrup. I'll chalk that up to a learning experience. I am already thinking about next year, only about 47 more weeks. I need to sit down for a while and think about this year and figure out what I want to change and improve on for next year. I won't be improving my equipment as much as Don Mc did! Wow Don, very impressive jump from woodburner/turkey fryer to a half pint!! If only I had your money! Isn't it nice to all be addicted to something that has no bad health effects, except sleep deprivation:) I love to see the little things that God has put on this earth for us, His children, to enjoy!

Good luck to the rest of you who still have taps in. And to the yoopers for when they tap in a few months when the snow melts!! LOL

Ken

[twofer]

Boiling right now but I think we'll be pulling the taps tomorrow as I think we are really pushing our luck with the buds being as open as they are.

[DonMcJr]

It's been fun! I don't know I might not have a choice on if I pull taps or not... This batch is VERY Dark... Hoping it turns out cause I been boiling for almost 15 hours...

I just can't stand this 20 hour boil and I have probally 50 taps available for next year in my woods...So I invested on a time saver...LOL!

[Tweegs]

Today will be the last boil for me, I’m 99% sure of that.
Looking at highs well into the 60’s and the lowest low being around 40 as far as the forecasts stretch.

With the sap I have out there, I expect to end the season with around half of the syrup I made last year.

Mother Nature is a fickle one, she is. Ah well, kind of looking forward to being done and getting on to other things, chief among them is getting the fruit trees pruned.

Never a shortage of work to be done.

[firetech]

We boiled off 1275 gals of sap yesterday made 24gals of dark amber and very dark (B). Today we will get 500-700 gals of sap. Tomorrow we are pulling all buckets and barrels. So far we are at 165 gals

[BoarsNest]

We pulled our taps on Saturday. For starting so early and ending early we still ended up with just under 20 gallons. I was hoping for 30 but that's how it goes. My buddy sold a bunch of sap for syrup so we have probably another 30 gallons to bottle and sell so we should recover a fraction of our costs. Lots of fun this year again, but the wife is ready for me to stay home a Saturday and work on her list.

[michiganfarmer2]

Boiling right now but I think we'll be pulling the taps tomorrow as I think we are really pushing our luck with the buds being as open as they are.where are you anyway?Grand rapids? Lansing? Keep it simple as us northwoods rednecks dont know small southern towns

[jblaker]

We are done, will pull taps on Sat. Even more addicted to "sappen"

[Josh Schaeding]

We pulled our taps yesterday in Hemlock, MI The first 10 gallons of syrup was light the last 10 gallons were very dark.

[Forrest hunters]

Pulled yesterday myself. I kept what was in about 50% of the bags, but some was a touch cloudy or yellow. Dumped the worst of it. If it still looks okay on Thursday or Friday I will finish the sweet off that I have and whats in the pan and if not I will dump the bad sap in the pan and let it clean the pan for the next month.

I see a lot of people talking about how dark there later batches were and mine was too. Touch different flavor too. My second batch was 2.5 gallons caned and was really dark and when we had pancakes last night it was really thick out of the fridge. Anyone else notic the flavor or thickness?

[Tweegs]

I had a gallon get thick quick, but that was my fault. We saved it for our own use.

Our last batch ran on the darker side of medium, but we never got to a true dark.

Made a total of 17 gallons this year, 8 light, 9 medium.

I haven’t pulled the taps yet but that is just a formality. We were done last Sunday.

[Ed R]

I've finished off the last batch of syrup at my house in southern Mi last night. It had been sitting in the freezer since last Wednesday. I ended up making 15 gallons of syrup off of 68 taps, all red and silver maples. It was a very succsessful 1st year,with the exception of the scorched front pan from leaving my 14 year old son in charge of the evaporator while I was inside finishing and canning syrup. Had to pitch everything and start over, probably lost at least 2 gallons of syrup minimum there. It doesn't pay to have to many coals in the fire at once. I caught it in time before the pan was ruined. At the main family operation in mid michigan we finished with 440 gallons of syrup off of 1400 taps. I took some vacation time at the end of last week to help out, it got alittle crazy up there with several all night boils.

[DonMcJr]

My taps are still in and I am not sure if its still flowing or not...I went straight from work at 7am to pick up my new half pint and when I got home straight to bed. I woke up just enough time to get back to work. So ill be checking the buckets in the morning and assemblying my new half pint for Saturday evening boil...with this warm weather I am assuming its my 1st and last boil with my new rig but I'm leaving the taps in for another week just in case....