Gladwin County

[bakerrunner]

I'm in Rhodes, closer to Pinconning than Gladwin. I drilled a dozen taps yesterday (Feb 24). I ended up with 3/4 of a gallon when I got home this evening, so things are not running. We still have quite a lot of snow and ice. Temps are still low. I'm hoping for good flow in the next two weeks. A cold front next week will shut things down, highs in the mid 20's. I have more trees to tap once things start to flow.

[Spolcik]

Things look like they are about to let loose down here. ( Flint Area ) I know it's hard but be patient it's coming your way soon!

[bakerrunner]

Cool. Can't wait. Nothing from the taps today. Big winter storm in order. I'll wait it out.

[Ausable]

Here in Glennie - I'm getting a wee bit - about 5 gallons from 25 trees - nothing to get excited about. But - depending on the latest storm - I have to get busy and get the rest tapped. Hey Rhodes! - Jason & Tiffany. - My Granddaughter and her Husband - Stacie and Troy tap trees over your way. --- Have a Good Season. ---Mike---

[bakerrunner]

Gladwin Co. (Rhodes) update. We have had freezing temps all weekend and today. I have 1/2 gallon on one tree, but frozen solid. The flow over the weekend was so slow. I decided to use the down time to buy some concrete block to build a steam table arch (3 pans). I also purchased a maple syrup hydrometer and some CDL Smart Spouts (clear). Last year I used 1/2" PVC water pipe, but I worry about damaging the tree, so we're switching to the smart spout with tubing and 5 gallon buckets sitting on the ground. Hopefully I will get decent gravity flow with these 5/16" spouts. Tomorrow and the rest of the week should be awesome for sap flow. I will be collecting heavy and boiling on Friday.

[bakerrunner]

Finally, some decent flow! I'm totally in love with the CDL Smart Spouts!!! Using a 5/16" drill bit is perfect for the spout. I just tap it in lightly with a wood block. The flow with these small diameter spouts is awesome! I'm using gravity, and the sap is running very steady. I have a few spouts wired to milk jugs and some with long tubes running into a 5 gallon bucket. I predict a great week of sap collecting and boiling starting Friday.

[DonMcJr]

SOunds like it's running good for you too! Awesome!

[bakerrunner]

It finally is Don!! Had some good flow today, and set about 5 or 6 more milk jugs and two 5 gallon buckets with two tubes. We have about 10 gallons collected. I'm going to start boiling tomorrow.

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PS. Sap is coming out at 2.5%! Not bad.

[DonMcJr]

Awesome! Pics !

[bakerrunner]

The sap is flowing in Rhodes!!! Woot! I have about 40 taps set, collected 9 gallons so far. I'm boiling on a homemade concrete block/fire brick arch in a single full size, 4" deep steam table pan, and a pre-warming enameled stock pot. The weather here is 37 and sunny. The week ahead looks great. I should be able to get quite a bit of syrup made this year. Here are some pics. You Tube vid of the arch to follow.

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[bakerrunner]

As promised, here is the video of my evaporator in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2H76Q_2WaE

[bakerrunner]

Got 36 oz. bottled, collected 50 gallons total. I boiled about 10 gallons tonight, will finish it tomorrow. Need more boiling capacity. Looking forward to collecting more.

[DonMcJr]

Nice Video! I like that Home-made brick arch! Good Job!

[bakerrunner]

Thanks Don. I have 48 oz. bottled so far. Collected 20 gallons tonight! Boiling as we speak. I'm picking up another steam table pan tomorrow. Going to be boiling all weekend! Hope I have enough dry wood.

[bakerrunner]

Great run the past couple days, Thursday collected 20 gallons, Friday collected 14 gallons. Boiled down about 40+ gallons today. Didn't quite get to a finished product, but really close. Hoping to have a gallon of finished syrup. Battled damp wood today, but my homemade arch is doing good. I added another steam table pan, so I've doubled my capacity, and it made a huge difference.

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[DonMcJr]

Nice looking Sryup! Good job!

[bakerrunner]

Thanks Don. I finished off what I boiled Saturday tonight and I have 2 quarts, and it is DARK! Almost like molasses! But very sweet with a hint of smoke (but in a good way). I have about 25 gallons of sap left in the barrel. The jugs on the trees have all been frozen the past few days, so we'll collect again in a few days. I'm going to commence boiling tomorrow.

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[bakerrunner]

No action yet! Everything is still frozen up. I haven't been boiling either. Saturday will be a big day!!

[DonMcJr]

No flow here yet either. Jason what do you filter with after boiling?

[bakerrunner]

Right now I sift out debris with a small sieve, then when I get the sap close enough to do the final finishing, I filter through a cheese cloth lined strainer. Then after it reaches syrup stage, I let the sand and sediment settle out, and then carefully pour off the good stuff, gently reheat to 180, then bottle. It's tedious but it works. Next year I'll have to figure out some way to filter. With as much sap as I'm collecting, I will need to be more efficient boiling and getting to a final product.

[bakerrunner]

Interesting weekend. Lots of lessons learned.

At the beginning of the season, I set some test taps, this was the weekend after Valentine's day I believe. These taps didn't flow very good, because the weather turned cold again. I also switched from the large 1/2" PVC water line spiles to the CDL Smart Spouts, 5/16". At only 19 cents each, I recommend these little beauties! Anyway, we built a cement block arch and collected about 10 gallons, and I took a Friday off work and boiled that down to make about 48 oz. of the most beautiful light syrup I have ever made. Then we collected, and collected, and the weather turned again, we had almost 50 gallons in our storage tank, and no time to boil. So it stayed in there a couple weeks.

Last weekend I boiled down 2 quarts of finished syrup, and it was very dark. I thought it was because I boiled it too long, but I think it was the age of the sap. I collected fresh sap this weekend, and it boils great, and fast. The old stuff, I could not get to boil. So the old stuff is getting pitched and my buckets cleaned and sanitized and the new stuff being collected will get boiled this week and this weekend. I'll pull some late nights to get it done.

Next year I will need a sugar shack for sure and a better arch. My trees are being very good to me, and I need to be able to keep up with them.

[bakerrunner]

Collected 36 gallons of pure sweet clear as day Michigan maple sap tonight. Drip, drip, drip. Boiling late into the night. Finally got a good boil on and fresh sap. Love it!!

[Run Forest Run!]

Hopefully you'll get close to another gallon of syrup from your recent haul. Boil on J&T!

[bakerrunner]

Thanks Karen! We're on our way!
I've learned a lot this season. I can't believe the difference working with fresh sap makes! I finally got some heat out of my arch. I moved it out of the wind, to the other side of the barn, and I found some really dry wood, so things are hopping. Too bad I have a day job! I'm going to be tired tomorrow! I'm going tonight until I pass out! This is so much fun.

Jason

[DonMcJr]

Very cool Jason! Very cool!

[Run Forest Run!]

Jason we will all be expecting to read about the results of your all-nighter in the morning. Have fun tonight and be careful to not set fire to your yard if you get groggy after all the excitement you've had today.

[Run Forest Run!]

Well, it's now morning. . . .

How'd you do with the big boil last night Jason and Tiffany? Any syrup totals to report?

[bakerrunner]

Hey Karen,
I stayed up until 1:30 AM last night (this morning!). I finished off 1 1/2 quarts tonight. It's beautiful! Perfect light amber. We collected another 20 gallons tonight, sap has slowed, which is good. Boiling as I write this. I don't plan to stay up so late tonight! I took Friday off from work, so it'll be a full weekend of boiling, finishing and bottling. I'll post some pics tomorrow when I get the stuff I finished tonight bottled.

[Run Forest Run!]

Great job Jason! I've just packed it in for tonight after a long day of boiling and collecting. Good thing all of this is fun, otherwise it would kill us! Looking forward to seing your pictures. :)

[bakerrunner]

Thanks Karen!

Well, we collected another 20 gallons tonight. I pulled a few taps that weren't producing very much, I tapped those at the beginning of the season. I need to slow the amount I'm collecting a little. All my storage tanks are full. I finished another 30 oz. tonight.

Season stats:

Collected 138 gallons from about 46 taps. Discarded about 10 gallons because it was getting too old. I have boiled 68 gallons, resulting in just over 1 1/2 gallons of finished syrup (196 oz.). 84 oz. is light amber the rest is dark amber (from older sap).

I have learned that you need to boil the sap ASAP. If the sap in your holding tank starts to get cloudy, chuck it, it will result in very dark syrup, and the sap will take FOREVER to boil. Also, use dry, dry, dry wood.

I am up late again tonight boiling.

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[Run Forest Run!]

J&T that finished syrup is picture perfect! I also love the mood shot of the moon through the trees. Hopefully you aren't freezing to death boiling so late into the night. It's pretty nippy here tonight so I'm glad I finished boiling today at 5:45. While it's only just below freezing, the dampness goes right through your bones tonight. It snowed on and off the entire time I was boiling today.

My batch of near syrup is now filtered and will be getting its final boil tomorrow and then filtered again and bottled. It will be the biggest single batch I've ever made. Couldn't be happier.

Have a great night Jason!

[DonMcJr]

Good looking syrup! You don't have to throw out cloudy sap...Dark syrup doesn't look as dark after you filter it and it tastes good too. The only sap you should throw out is stinky sap! If you try to make all lighter Syrup you're gonna drive yourself crazy it gets darker as the season progresses...

[bakerrunner]

J&T that finished syrup is picture perfect! I also love the mood shot of the moon through the trees. Hopefully you aren't freezing to death boiling so late into the night. It's pretty nippy here tonight so I'm glad I finished boiling today at 5:45. While it's only just below freezing, the dampness goes right through your bones tonight. It snowed on and off the entire time I was boiling today.

My batch of near syrup is now filtered and will be getting its final boil tomorrow and then filtered again and bottled. It will be the biggest single batch I've ever made. Couldn't be happier.

Have a great night Jason!

Great work Karen keep it up. The weather here was really warm today, but it's supposed to get down to 22 tonight! I have the day off tomorrow, so Friday and Saturday I will be boiling steady!

[bakerrunner]

Good looking syrup! You don't have to throw out cloudy sap...Dark syrup doesn't look as dark after you filter it and it tastes good too. The only sap you should throw out is stinky sap! If you try to make all lighter Syrup you're gonna drive yourself crazy it gets darker as the season progresses...

Thanks for the advice Don. I did make quite a bit of dark amber, and I personally like it, because it has such a strong maple flavor. I only tossed the cloudy sap because I was running out of room to store it!!! I felt bad, but I wanted to concentrate on getting the fresh stuff processed. I really need a bigger arch. Last year we hardly got any sap because of the strange weather, so this year we tapped all the trees that were big enough, and we have sap coming out of our ears. I actually sold some raw sap to some friends. I hope things slow down so I can get caught up on my boiling.

[Run Forest Run!]

J&T, I finished and bottled my batch today. I am thrilled. This single batch is more than my total batches for all of 2012! I made 1.02 gallons (3.875 Litres) of a lovely light syrup. I got 38:1 ratio with my sap. Can't complain. :) No chance here at all to make anything other than light at the moment.

Now I can update the info in my signature!

[bakerrunner]

Great job Karen. We also doubled what we did last year. So far we bottled 2.3 gallons! We have about 50 or so gallons of sap left to go. We pulled our taps today, because of life obligations that will demand our time next week. But I am very happy with our season. Best of luck to you!

Jason

[Run Forest Run!]

You too Jason. Enjoy all that syrup that you two worked so hard for! :)