Good time to clean the Evaporator!

[SandMan]

Have not been above freezing for 4 days now. It looks like it may be another 4-5 days before I see any more sap. I drained the evaporator today and finished the front pan on propane. Gave the whole evaporator a good scrubbing and rinse. Very surprised how much niter was in the float box between the flu pan and front pan???? More then I've ever seen...almost like a layer of mud. The front pan had a fair amount for the small amount of sap that I've ran through it.

I knew my sugar content had been running on the lower side, but with the clean up, I was able to calculate that I'm averaging 1.6% sugar content. That is way below what I normally see from my trees. I usually start at 2% and drop down to 1.8% by the end of a typical season. I've been doing some thinning over the past few years so I'm a little surprised at the low sugar levels this year? Anyone else having this issue????

I put the snow equipment back on the tractor today....I guess Maple Season will have to wait a bit longer!

"Frozen in Sunapee"

[325abn]

About the same here. Its all locked up tight. I pulled my pan and tweeked my bricks a little. Ready for the next BIG run that is surely coming our way!! Gonna be collecting 3.5 sap.......................... :) Wishfull thinking??

[Shawn]

Have not had a run since a week ago Sunday now. Have drained front pan and cleaned it and some some chores in the sugar house itself. Snow headed this way but funny they say temps in high 30's then looks like on Saturday we may get back to normal and get some sap. Who knows could be boiling in tank top and shorts!!:cool:

[BlueberryHill]

Some of my trees out in the sunlight put out some sap on Saturday. Enough to make it worthwhile to fire up and cook it off yesterday. Boiled all my sap in 4 hours, drained the pan at the end of the day and finished it indoors. Gonna clean the pan real good tonight and cross my fingers for some good runs later in the week.