Lightest of the season!!!

[maple flats]

I started with Medium and then made Dark A from 3/17 thru 4/7. Then yesterday I drew my first light A. I've never had this before. The best I've had in the past is 1 grade lighter.
I'm thinking it might be because of the long boils and higher concentrations going in. Starting last Thursday thru yesterday I've had the most sap I ever got, in fact Friday was my best 1 day ever with just over 2500 gal. (I sure do need a fast way to haul, thinking gooseneck equipment trailer). I have also been boiling longer hours at a time. I suspect these all lead to the Light Amber made yesterday.

[maplecrest]

I had same , but there was no flavor.

[jrgagne99]

I got back into some A-Dark last night, after spending the whole second half of the season in B. This has never happened to me before. 150 red maples.

[Revi]

You know you are torturing all of us who have pulled our taps.

[Oddmott]

I had same , but there was no flavor.

Same, did a really small batch on Sunday, that would have been on the boiler far less than our typical batches. It came out very light and clear, but had zero maple flavour. It tasted more like the coating of caramel popcorn. Quite odd.

[jrgagne99]

You know you are torturing all of us who have pulled our taps.

No, it is you who is torturing me! You're lucky enough to be over, but I'm too stubborn to pull 'em. Tonight, I swear I will start pulling.

[sapman]

I was making light /high medium til my last boil Sunday. Had been buddy for a few days, though. For me it has slowed way down. Starting to pull taps today.

[maple flats]

I still got 900 gal sap (on 1250 taps/vacuum) and it looks like it may have crossed the line to medium amber. I'll bottle and test today. My forecast calls for 32 degrees tomorrow night and my buds are still tight. randomly checking about 10% or so of my taps over all mains and several laterals I find no dry holes yet. I tapped 2/17 and still good yesterday. I like those CV1, but plan to start using CV2 next year. I won't pull the plug until I see the buds get big, they are still tight. My trees are from higher elevations which is likely helping. The buds at the sugarhouse are starting to swell, (I am not tapped there for this year).

[PerryW]

I had 30 gallons of no-flavor fancy at the beginning. Then there was 20 gallons of buterscotch, than finally 30 gallons of good fancy. Then a few days of dark, then a couple day of medium and straight into B yesterday.

7742

[maple flats]

All of mine had good maple flavor. The lighter color just was less intense flavor. I hauled my last sap yesterday and boiled it down to B, but the flavor was the strongest I've ever made. I'm still finishing what was in the pans but before I could finish the syrup pan started acting like it had sugared up. I let the fire burn out, drained the pan and filled it with water to set overnight. Maybe then I can flush it and get my final totals. I still have about 20 gal to finish off in the front pan only while the flue pan has water in it. As I get low in the front pan, I'll move it to the finisher. I already have 312 gal total and I can only guess what the sugar % is in my last 20 or so gal of super concentrate.

[Russell Lampron]

I started with Medium and then made Dark A from 3/17 thru 4/7. Then yesterday I drew my first light A. I've never had this before. The best I've had in the past is 1 grade lighter.
I'm thinking it might be because of the long boils and higher concentrations going in. Starting last Thursday thru yesterday I've had the most sap I ever got, in fact Friday was my best 1 day ever with just over 2500 gal. (I sure do need a fast way to haul, thinking gooseneck equipment trailer). I have also been boiling longer hours at a time. I suspect these all lead to the Light Amber made yesterday.

I have had this happen for me more than once. The last time was 2011. The syrup kept getting lighter as the season went farther into April with the lightest being the very last boil.