Eastern Ontario 2014.

[NTBugtraq]

Have gotten 45 gallons in the last 2 hours from my 130 taps...woot!

Cheers,
Russ

[daverobitaille]

Karen, Your right. It is like music to listen to 80 buckets dripping!
Just pick up 20 gallons out of 8- taps in only 3 hours and it is going like crazy!

[daverobitaille]

Typo...80 taps...

[Yellzee]

just found out my main boiler (father -in-law) had to take today off and tonight.... sounds like I'm going to spend 2 hours collecting and hauling sap up to the shack... who is going to run the evaporator? bad timing for a holiday!!!

[NTBugtraq]

Typo...80 taps...

Lolz, thanks for the correction Dave, you had me incredibly envious there for a few minutes...;-]

Cheers,
Russ

[Kyle Baker]

Not a great run here today. Bogus.

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[Galena]

Not a great run, but 3 gallons off of 6 trees is fine by me. And they're all still slowly chugging out the sap. Just keep chugging, is all I ask! Trying to get my first batch of syrup finished, so boiling off on the electric stove (woodstove not been on all day or things would be different). May as well make marshmallow-vanilla syrup while it lasts! :-)

[Kyle Baker]

Is it possible that from tapping march 11 that some are drying up already?

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[NTBugtraq]

Kyle,

A research paper I read suggested that there was a "possibility" that taps slowed the longer they were there, but in that same report there appeared to be no slow-down in 3 months of tapping, so, I'd say no, its not your early tapping.

Patience...its a coming...;-]

Cheers,
Russ

[Kyle Baker]

Haha ok thanks Russ. Today just looked like it would have been way better. There's always tomorrow ;)

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[BrutemanAl]

I got home just after 5 and collected 6 gallons from 7 buckets, didnt even touch the water cooler bottle's, a few were about 1/4 full while the rest were pushing the half full mark, I plan on collecting it all tomorrow and boil when I can,busy at work also so it is long work days ... late night/early mornings boiling sap.

[Clinkis]

Decent run today. 60 gallons off 120 taps. Not as good as I was expecting but will take it after the year we've had. Also made my first syrup of the year this afternoon. About 8 litres. Very very light and mild.

[Bruce L]

Didn't seem like much of a run, but anything is better than nothing. Ran the vacuum pump from about 9:30-7:30 tonight, maybe hauled in 600-700 gallons, boiled a couple hours tonight and sweetened the pans up, if we get a better freeze tonight syrup should start rolling off steady.

[Yellzee]

Out here collecting a bit late but I would guess 80 to 100 gallons. Nice of the coyotes to serenade me, should really bring the shotgun back here at night!

[Galena]

Nice crisp sunny morning out there, ground frozen (watch for ice - nearly did a faceplant or two) but was comfortable in just t-shirt and a fleecy, no long johns. Busy boiling down what I got yesterday so I can get my first batch done and onto other ones.

Hope we all have a good run today!

[Big_Eddy]

Disappointing day yesterday. I was hoping for 100 gals from my 150 trees but only had 45. Do have 100 in the tank so boiling today instead of working so not all bad :)

[slw105]

Finally starting to get sap. 7.5 gallons on Saturday and 11.5 gallons yesterday. Not great from 32 pails but a start. We have over 4 feet of snow in the bush here in the Ottawa area. Should be a better run today. I don't expect great runs until the snow melts down some.

[SPM in King]

Yesterday was good here. Not great though. 300L on 80 taps. Today is slow...just a trickle. No sun and too much wind. Tomorrow should be better.

Steve.

[ennismaple]

We had a good, not great, day yesterday with close to 1 GPT of sap collected. We re-sweetened the pans and pushed through over 4,000 gallons of sap for the day. Now we just need to repeat that 10-15 more times and we'll be happy!

[Galena]

Moved west no maples but back now

Actually there are bigleaf maples out there, but the sugar content is so low that the ratio is like 72/1 as opposed to the traditional 40/1 ratio you have with REAL maples!!! And yeah I also lived in BC, got sick of the rain and mostly coniferous forests. Saw sense and returned to Ontario :-)

[Bruce L]

Got a nice freeze here last night, down to 18 Fahrenheit, not a great run today though, still a lot of snow tight to the trunks of the trees, maybe another 700-800 gallons. With the pans sweetened up yesterday though syrup was rolling off quick today, averaging between 6 and 7 gallons per hour

[Yellzee]

Well I am at least in the game now. 10 litres bottled up. Yummy medium syrup. Filtering disaster on the first batch as I over boiled. Playing with the new digital refractometer was a little unreliable. Even with temp compensation, It continued to give a slightly different reading every minute as hot syrup cooled on it. Went back to the hydrometer.
Sap tested at 3%.

[Clinkis]

Filtering disaster on the first batch as I over boiled.

Had my own filtering disaster......started filtering my first syrup of the year and realized it tasted like laundry soap! Apparently my filters got washed with laundry soap by accident at the end of last season. I'm blaming the wife and she's blaming me! None the less, had to dump about a gallon of syrup down the drain......brought tears to my eye!

[Run Forest Run!]

Clinkis, that's brutal. We haven't had enough syrup production around here yet to spare a gallon for the drain.

[Yellzee]

That is brutal Clinkis!

[ontario guy]

picke up 70 gallons off 130 taps. Was really hoping for more yesterday. Thursday and Friday should be better. I have to collect walking with buckets, the atv keeps getting stuck with all that snow in the bush... make a guy tired at night.

[Clinkis]

Clinkis, that's brutal. We haven't had enough syrup production around here yet to spare a gallon for the drain.

Me neither! On pace to make about half what I normally do. Next January when I'm putting Aunt Jamima on my pancakes I'll be thinking about that gallon going down the drain :cry:

[Galena]

Oh no, how terrible is that...and I don't know which is worse, having to dump a gallon of syrup or having to settle for Aunt Jemima or other lame 'table syrups'...*shudder* :-/

At this end was pleasantly surprised yesterday with 5.5 USG from my trees. Also finally finished first batch of syrup, though as I let it go up to 225 or so (before remembering it only had to be 219) it may crystallize a little. Ah well, it's golden and sweet and marshmallowy so I know it's mine "-)

[DrewCP]

Finally tapped in on Sunday, late morning. Put up all 65 buckets we have. Every tree was running hard. Called my old man last night to see where we were at. Close to 140 gallons in 3 days. I'll do a collection tonight and check sugar content. Looks like we will have a couple long days boiling ahead of us on the weekend. If we can collect another 70-100 gallons in the next 3 days we'll be laughing. 5-6 gallons of syrup does our family and friends with leftovers.

Can't believe the amount of snow in the bush. Still knee to thigh high in places. Had to use snowshoes and a toboggan to tap.

[Big_Eddy]

Boiled 100 gals yesterday and my tanks are now empty ready for the "big flood" that we all know is coming :) Had a good chat with Yellzee who stopped in on his way home. Light Syrup only so far this season. Will get yesterday's bottled up tonight. Once bottled, should get me to about 35 litres or the same as 2012. Didn't collect yesterday. My scout came back saying there wasn't enough in the buckets to bother. Will see tonight but without frost last night it's doubtful there will be much. Minus 5 forecasted for tonight so tomorrow might be a good day.

Drew. My family alone uses 24+ litres a year. Won't be any leftovers for friends if we don't get another couple of runs! I guess my 4 teenage or twenties boys like their pancakes more than most.

[Bruce L]

Clinkis that's really got to hurt. Our washer has a rinse drain and spin cycle that I always run prior to throwing the filters in. I have my filters sitting in a pail of hot water for about an hour to slip all the niter off first. Dump that in the yard beside the barn, cows love to lick it up. Dumped it down the toilet one night, too tired to go up to the barn, BIG MISTAKE, niter doesn't really flush very well, especially in cold water.

[Galena]

As much as possible I scrub out all the stainless steel hardware I use for boiling using hot water from the tap that is coming straight from the ground - not through the water softener. My reasoning being that as the trees are tapping down to the same source of water as my well, should minimize as much as possible any taste difference. Been leaching off the nitre and leftover syrup in batches of sap as I put em through, that way I get clean filters without worry of residue. In terms of nitre I make small enough batches that I usually just scrape it out and eat it myself. All those minerals, and syrupy too...numnumnum...:-)

BruceL - holy liftin, that must have been a lot of niter you were trying to flush!!! Maybe just scrape it off filters, put it in a plastic feedscoop (the square little giant kind, 4qt, should work), tamp it down, freeze it, un-feedscoop it, and let the cows go to town. Knowing cows, bet they would LOVE a nitre lick!

In terms of run, didn't collect today. Too much wind pretty much cancelled out the brief periods of sun. Only about 1 l out there max between all 6 trees.

[NTBugtraq]

FWIW, nitre is a carbonate...and softened water is water that has had the carbonates largely removed...meaning, it has room to absorb some...so you might want to consider washing your pans in soft water. I assume you filter your syrup, so you are trying to remove carbonates from your syrup, so using water that has had carbonates removed would be more harmonious with your efforts.

I got nothing today too...;-[

Cheers,
Russ

[Galena]

Makes sense...or will, once I have more coffee! :-) Thanks for the info Russ!

Today is sunny and windless and supposed to go to +5 (though I am listening to an Ottawa station and out here in the sticks we're usually 2 degrees warmer). Hoping for something today than just the few drips and drops out there now.

As an aside...this hobby is almost as frustrating as wildlife photography. You spend $$$ with good gear, go to where your subject is supposed to hang out, set up and wait...and wait...and wait...and then should the critter or bird or in question appear, it's either a) too far away for a good shot or b) too close or c) backlit, or d) has its backside to you or e) doing nothing but just sitting/standing there (generally you want to get a shot of critter/bird in action) or f)hiding behind some shrubs or trees...you get the idea.

[DrewCP]

Picked up another 25 gallons yesterday. Hoping for a good run today. Low was -5 and looking for a sunny high of 4. Not impressed with sugar content. Sitting right around 2.75%. We are used to 3.25-3.5%. Collection #'s were off too. With yesterday's count we are just over 100 gallons now........ Friday is not looking great for a run. Temp swing is perfect but calling for rain. Regardless, we'll be boiling this weekend.

[TurkeyJohn]

Just home at lunch, visited my 15 trees, Norways and Silvers, pulled about 6 gallons out of the buckets and dripping like crazy, hope to do a repeat when I get home tonight,

Have about 60 gallons so far, ready for a boiling on the weekend,:lol:

TurkeyJohn

[daverobitaille]

I am swimming in sap today! :)
It is going like crazy. In only 2 hrs I collected 20 gallons with 80 taps. Started to boil this morning with my 45 gallons in my storage tank.
probably another 40 to come by day end. That's a lot of sap for a hobbyist. Lol.

[rtgambit]

Greetings from the Kingston area! Yep, another good Kingston boy, here.

My trees seem to have been hit or miss since early Feb, but going over my numbers I'm at roughly around 140-150 gallons of sap from 20 taps. Today alone was about 20 gallons. I think I may finally have enough syrup to last us the year. :)

[NTBugtraq]

TurkeyJohn,

You're getting better than me. I've retrieved ~90 gallons from my 130 taps in 5 hours. Luckily, my new 100 gal storage tank arrived early this morning. Issue is my evap is boiling at about 12gph, and I'm getting 18gph...

Cheers,
Russ

[Yellzee]

You guys are depressing me. Maybe 70-80 gallons all day here. Still running some though

[NTBugtraq]

Come on Yellzee, you should only get depressed when you can't light your arch...;-]

Cheers,
Russ

[Yellzee]

Nicely done! Here is the handy helper95619561

[NTBugtraq]

I bet all you gotta say is; "Pose!"...haha, I have never been able to get a pic of all 5 of my dogs at one time, so grtz...;-]

Cheers,
Russ

[Clinkis]

Good run here today. I would say my best one day run of the season. The RO will be busy tonight. Now I just need about 7 or 8 more days like this!

[Galena]

Ok pretty happy with my run today...29l of sap from 18 spiles (actually only 17, one seems to need some persuading to get going again. So glad, I was afraid the April Fools Day run was a one-off!!

[BrutemanAl]

I collected 55 ltr's today(roughly 14 gallons) from 17 taps, had another 2 buckets but I didnt have room to bring that back( these numbers are from 2 days as I had to work late last night and didn't make it in to the forest yesterday),boiling some right now,but this dude needs some sleep so going to shut it down for now probably and get back up in 4 hrs and start again before heading to work.

[Highlandwelder]

Hi Folks, I've been lurking in the background. We gathered 725L off of 245 taps today. Have made 12L so far this year off of a 2x5 Lapierre. Been a learning experience so far!!! BTW my location is Eastern Ontario...even though my profile says OH.

[Run Forest Run!]

Galena, I got just about the same as you did. 30L from 18 spiles. Once I re-read Bruteman's instructions to me from last year on how to properly start up my propane burners I boiled down a total of 68L in 5.5 hours. The first boil of the season always seems to require a refresher course. lol

I'm now left with some "nearup" that I will save to finish to syrup in a larger batch. I'm done with making small batch after small batch. Too much clean-up. It was a great day to be playing outside. :) I hope for many more days like this one.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention.....box elders were running at 2.5% and my Freeman and silvers were clocking in at 3.5%.

[ontario guy]

Yesterday i collected 85 gallons, and still has a bit left this morning. this is about the limit of my 2x5 flat pan. The snow is still a pain gettign around the bush, only got stuck twice. We only bottled 8 liters but my whole pan is nearing syrup. commons satuturday.

[Yellzee]

I'm going to convert to litres as it will make me feel better maybe.. actuall collected 2 190 litre drums worth of sap, so 380 litres which is close enough to 100 USG... so better than I was thinking originally.

bottled another 10 litres last night... little darker... very sweet.

[Galena]

Welcome Highlander! :-)

[Big_Eddy]

I'm going to convert to litres as it will make me feel better maybe.. actuall collected 2 190 litre drums worth of sap, so 380 litres which is close enough to 100 USG... so better than I was thinking originally.

We really should standardize our reporting - I know we're Canadians and trilingual between GALLONS, gallons and litres - but still ...... (If I'm asked "how much sap?" - my usual answer is "10 Gals to make a litre". Every Canadian understands that math )

I'm sticking with CDN gallons for sap collection - I don't have enough appendages to count in litres and I only deal in US Gals when boiling. (My collecting tanks are marked in CDN Gals, the storage tank in USG - I bring 65 gals home and pump it into the tank and end up with 80 gals - gotta love that - wonder if I drain it out and pump it back in again if I would then have 100 :) )

We collected 65 gallons yesterday from 150 buckets. There were no full buckets, and the trees seemed to be all over the place. Some with nothing, some with half buckets. No correlation with size or location. We did not connect Wednesday.

Little frost overnight and supposed to pour rain all day today so not expecting a good run today. Will boil what we have Saturday and see. While the forecast doesn't look good for the next few days, there's still plenty of snow in the bush keeping things cool, and absolutely no signs of budding, so season is far from over even being into April.

If we're not boiling over the weekend, we'll be gathering more wood for the next boil.

[TurkeyJohn]

Agree with you on standardizing Big Eddy,

I base mine on my storage, 2 garbage cans with the gallons sitckers still on them and the blue sap buckets that are sold as 2 gallon pails.

Wondering what tool you use to measure sugar content? Have Silvers and Norways and didn't think they sugared as high as Karen's at 3.5%, sounds awesome though, had thought they were half of Sugars?

Newbie so bear with me,

TurkeyJohn

[Yellzee]

unless I get totally swamped in SAP... seems to be a non-issue this year... I always pump my collection barrel into one of two old pickle drums that are both 190 litres. I don't actually even try to keep close tabs on what I'm collecting... I go by if the back 200 gallon (US or CDN>???) tank is 1/2 full its a pretty good day. the important number... syrup produced is in litres... because I'm filling 1 litre and 500ml jars. I don't count the syrup that gets consumed in the QC testing process.

I am having a heck of a time filtering this year... like most I stack 3-4 pre-filters on top of orlon filter.. but I also stack 2 orlon filters... always worked decent in the past.. but I just can't seem to get a full 2 gallon pail to go through... pre-filters getting clogged, then the top real filter getting clogged.... I tried to finish right on 66 last night to have it as thin as possible and it still didn't all go through.

I am also filtering through Orlon as it comes off the evaportator... tonight I might try filtering just before it is finished and still thin... then hopefully the final filter will go better. I just don't want it to cool down too much sitting in the final filter.

[Run Forest Run!]

Wondering what tool you use to measure sugar content? Have Silvers and Norways and didn't think they sugared as high as Karen's at 3.5%, sounds awesome though, had thought they were half of Sugars?


TJ, because Silvers and Norways are often lawn trees, they don't have to compete for sun and water etc. like forest trees. That can often result in pretty decent sugar levels in their sap. My soft maples are decent producers and never register below 2%. Yesterday's reading was the best yet. I think my trees were presenting a peace offering to me for jerking my chain for the past month and a half. ;)

I use a sap hydrometer that I purchased from ebay. Here's the link if you are interested. I love it.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/0-10-Portable-BRIX-REFRACTOMETER-w-ATC-Fruit-Juice-Wine-Vegetable-Coolants-Sap-/331153445908?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d1a489414

[ennismaple]

With the hard freeze we got Wednesday night it didn't start running much until late yesterday morning. By early afternoon our double vertical releasers were dumping every 2 minutes! We ended up with 3100 USG of sap for the day. The RO was fired up about 3pm and the Beast roared to life about 3:30. All the sap was through the RO by just after 9pm and the last fire went into the evaporator about 9:30. In 6 hours of boiling we made 324L (what we say is 81 gallons). I'll take 15 gallons per hour coming off the evaporator any day of the week! It does make filtering and bottling a challenge...

[TurkeyJohn]

TJ, because Silvers and Norways are often lawn trees, they don't have to compete for sun and water etc. like forest trees. That can often result in pretty decent sugar levels in their sap. My soft maples are decent producers and never register below 2%. Yesterday's reading was the best yet. I think my trees were presenting a peace offering to me for jerking my chain for the past month and a half. ;)

I use a sap hydrometer that I purchased from ebay. Here's the link if you are interested. I love it.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/0-10-Portable-BRIX-REFRACTOMETER-w-ATC-Fruit-Juice-Wine-Vegetable-Coolants-Sap-/331153445908?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d1a489414

Thanks Karen, great info, guess there are some perks to not having to trek through the woods to my trees,

I'll look into that new-faggled gizmo you mentioned, looks reasonable enough, Boy, do I sound like my Dad,

TJ

[Run Forest Run!]

TJ, I should have referred to the item a sap refractometer, not a sap hydrometer. Whoopsie.

Yes, lawn trees provide a very civilized way to have access to good sap. Plus, I see all of my taps from inside the house. If they aren't dripping, I can tell without having put my coat and boots on. On days like today I won't be getting rained on to find out that my buckets are dry.

[Yellzee]

Pretty impressive Ennis! Love to see that in operation.

[NTBugtraq]

Eddy,

I think we should standardize on syrup, not sap...after all, not everyone refracts their sap to figure out its initial brix, and it makes such a difference.

I like the one test that I know I need, am I getting more sap than my evap can boil off? Other than that, its; am I getting lots or not? Really doesn't matter if that's L, GAL, or gal...;-]

Cheers,
Russ

[Galena]

Uhm Big Eddy...just a teeny bit confused...what exactly IS a Canadian gallon? I've lived here (almost) my whole life and never heard the term before. USG is 3.78l,, and Imperial is 4.5l. So is Cdn a dead-on 4l??

Meanwhile got 31 litres today...2 full 15l water containers and an extra l and a bit in a third. Yesterday's collection is still boiling away like mad at the moment to get it down to *nearup*, don't want to get swamped...would like to leave the house at some point in time this weekend!!

[Run Forest Run!]

You're a lucky girl Susan. Send some of that sap down here.

[Kyle Baker]

Ya, I was surprised at how well it ran today! Good times

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[Run Forest Run!]

You guys must have had a totally different day, weather wise, than we did. There was squat here. I'm glad that you got some decent runs.

[BrutemanAl]

I just finished boiling what I collected on Thursday, its filtering right now, if I had to guess I would say close to 2 ltrs finished syrup,it's really dark though, darkest so far this season.

[ennismaple]

Between what ran yesterday and overnight we have over 3000 gallons of beautiful sap ahead of us to start the day. The RO will get a workout today! The releasers are only dumping every 12 minutes which means we're getting about 100 gallons per hour but it's better than nothing!

[Galena]

Wow, I am so glad the trees were slow today and gave me *only* 15l...still haven't finished boiling off what I got yesterday though the end is in sight (I hope). And got just over 2l of beautiful crystal-clear light amber syrup from 50l of sap. Happy! Now just have to make sure I'm not up til midnight tonight making nearup....tomorrow is gonna be insane.

[Bruce L]

Been boiling every day steady for several days now, not real long boils, but average 15-20 gallons of syrup a day will add up. Tapped another bush tonight as there wasn't much today. Vacuum is making a big difference as our neighbors that are all buckets or tubing with no vacuum had nothing to boil on days we ere boiling.

[Yellzee]

Nothin here the last two days....today might be a huge day though!!

[ennismaple]

We ended up with almost 4600 gallons of sap between yesterday's and Friday's run so my brother had a late night. I just got the report back from the bush that the releaser in our new bush is already tripping at 1m45s intervals! Should be a good day.

[NTBugtraq]

Getting a steady 12gph now, comes in chunks of 4gal/20 mins with the sump pump arrangement I have now. This should be perfect as that's the same rate I can boil at. We're supposed to drop just below freezing at 8:00pm or so tonight, so it should be interesting to see how long the sap runs. Right now I'm looking at forecasts which should give me sap for the next 5 days in a row...;-]

Cheers,
Russ

[Bruce L]

Kind of a disappointment here today Marty, sap started tripping the releaser about every minute around 11:30, started boiling at 1:00 and all finished and walked out of the bush by 3:00

[BrutemanAl]

I had a good day, just small time sapper compared to some of you lol,18 taps and I collected almost 14 gallons, boiling away right now.

It started to run here around 930 am, I was in the forest around 915 and nothing was running, I was sitting on my atv watching a fox chasing something under the snow in the distance and all of a sudden I heard... drip drip drip!! I jumped of my atv and ran over to my favorite tree and sure enough it was dripping, I went to some other tree's and they had started, so I went back to my favorite tree and gave it a bug hug and said thank you... lol, glad no one else was around to see that!!!

[NTBugtraq]

Great news BrutemanAl, always nice when it starts...I was getting 12gph for about 2 hours, then it shot up to 16gph...still going at that rate.

Cheers,
Russ

[Clinkis]

Buckets were overflowing as of 2pm. Did a partial collection then. Some of those buckets are half full again. By far, the best run so far here. Well over 150 gallons.

[NTBugtraq]

Finally used my low-scale refractor. My sap is coming in at 3%, which sure surprised me. Anyone else use one?

Cheers,
Russ

[Bruce L]

Went back down to check the releaser and holding tank after more work done at upper bush and sap was going over the top!!!!! Big shock, trees must have opened up over the supper hour. More to boil tomorrow between bus runs.

[Run Forest Run!]

78 litres collected today. Looks like it may be finally here.

[Galena]

I had a good day, just small time sapper compared to some of you lol,18 taps and I collected almost 14 gallons, boiling away right now...
...so I went back to my favorite tree and gave it a bug hug and said thank you... lol, glad no one else was around to see that!!!

LOL I can relate on both fronts - got 33l of sap so that's what almost 9 USG? on 18 taps too. Mind, tree #7 is slowing right down, but that one little red in the far corner was often the only tree producing during March when nobody else was even close to trying.

As for the tree-hugging and saying thanks...hey, every time I go out to just check the pails I talk to the trees, give them encouragement when they're not running, kudos when they are and I'm collecting. And at the end of each night I go out and make one last walk-around and say thank you to each tree in turn. I'm sure some here are rolling their eyes but hey, it never hurts to put good energy out there.

In fact...and no word of a lie...back in March the bf and I were outside and he tossed a snowball at my superproducer, #2. I had just told him to not do it, but of course he did anyway. Well, soon every other tree is producing except #2. So I made the bf go out and apologize to #2 for throwing a snowball at it. And now #2 is pumping out sap, gave me more today than the other trees did. So treat your trees well!! What goes around comes around.

[DrewCP]

Loooooooooooong weekend.
Ran 205usg through our new 2'x4' pan.

Saturday was a miserable day. We are still outside on a block arch so wind is a major factor. Once we set up out wind breaks we started to get some results. Went through about 160usg on Saturday (including the 40usg left in the pan) With pre heated to boiling sap we were only able to get around 8usgph of evaporation. Wind is nasty. I lit fires and fryers at 06:45 and was boiling by 07:30, last add was at about 21:00. I cover the early hours then dad covers the later hours. He gets to sleep in and I get home to the family at a decent time.

Sunday promised to be better.........
Peach of a day! Sunny, warm and fairly calm. Ripped through the last 45usg of raw sap and 40usg of concentrate. By 15:00 were down to about 1.5" in the pan. Pulled the pan off the fire, filtered the concentrate, and added back to turkey fryers to finish. I find it to be so much less stress to finish 12" of syrup in 2 turkey fryers than less than an inch in a 2'x4' pan. I'd have to try hard to burn the syrup in a fryer! We achieved closer to 12usgph. By 16:30 we were at 221* and right around 66.5 brix (using hydrometer and temp conversion chart since I can never get 211* hot test syrup in my test cup. Always seems to be between 200 and 205*)
Bottled around 17:00 and ended up with around 4.75usg of syrup. Cool maple / straw colour. Taste is prominent maple with our traditional touch of smoke. Exactly what we were after. Sap was a little weak (2.75%) which had us running at about 44:1.
Did a late afternoon collect. Picked up another almost 75 gallons. One more boil next weekend and we are done no matter what.

[Yellzee]

Big day yesterday for sap, looks like over 200 gallons. Hard freeze at my house last night so we should have another good day today.

Finished off a large batch 17 litres that came out a darker amber, filtered much better... interesting it didn't have the creamy texture I normally associate with amber. Yummy all the same.

Lots still to boil off buy my boiler took the day off today... so have to go at it hard tonight.... but lots of collecting to do I'm sure.

[ennismaple]

Another good day yesterday - just shy of 1 GPT. That makes 45% of a crop in only 7 days from Monday to Sunday. We need a repeat of that this week to salvage a reasonable season.

[Galena]

Argh I need some advice...am boiling down the nearup from several large batches (approx 7l) into one big batch of syrup...but I am trying to reduce the amount without the temp going up to 225, but the texture is nowhere near close to what it needs to be - it's still far too drippy!! But if I reduce the temp so it's at 219 (where it should be) then it'll be a few hours before it's reduced enough, and I just don't have the time - I need to start work on the rest of yesterday's yield and get ready for today's. What do I do so I don't get a huge batch riddled with crystals?!

[NTBugtraq]

Mix it with your new sap??

Cheers,
Russ

[Galena]

I was just thinking that, and honestly I don't know...it would lower the temp and dilute the sugar content a little, but then I'd have even more to boil and get to the apron stage. Frustrating. But I'll try slinging in a litre of fresh sap and see what happens. Will have to go to my bigger pot!!:o

[NTBugtraq]

I was thinking more like 50/50, or even 25% nearup and 75% sap so it can be put into pails and stored till you have the time.

Cheers,
Russ

[Yellzee]

Another good run today. Messing around with evap settings and having the best boil yet. Might be the storm system pressure but happy with the rig right now. Probably a good 200 gallons behind at this point

[Yellzee]

Spring must really be here. Gonna have to switch from the sled to the trailer as ruts are starting. Man it's wet out there right now!

[NTBugtraq]

Yellzee, how many collection tanks/buckets do you have?

Cheers,
Russ

[Clinkis]

Spring must really be here. Gonna have to switch from the sled to the trailer as ruts are starting. Man it's wet out there right now!

Did my final collection of the year with the snowmobile. I was running through a lot of mud which can't be good for things especially when pulling a sled with 50 gallons of sap. Have to get the Rhino out for the remainder of the season. Another good day today. Sounds like we might get a couple more good days later this week. We might just salvage this season yet!

[Yellzee]

Two tanks. I have one big icb tote with about 150 taps on a 3/4 inch main line about 1000 feet from the house/shack. It is high enough on the hill I park my sled below it and it gravity drains. then a 45 gallon drum about 500' further up that two small 5/16 lines run into. Maybe 40 taps. That one I pump out with a bilge pump. I really should just give in and run a 1inch line right to the shack. Probably 1000$ by the time I am done to run the 1000' I figure. If that seems nuts to anyone let me know.

[BrutemanAl]

I collected 7 gallons yesterday,that was just what I had room for, there was probably another 10 gallons,but it is in water cooler bottle's so I will get that tonight after work,then tomorrow I will collect what is in the buckets and bottles and probably pull all the taps, my trees are starting to bud,they will probably open up on Thursday if the weather man is right with the temps going to 17.Finally seeing the forest floor though(in some spots lol),still allot of ice and snow in some low lying area's and I am starting to break through the layer of ice on my trail into the forest.

[NTBugtraq]

Nothing yesterday, but it was 26F all night and expected to go to 44F today, so let it run...

Cheers,
Russ

[Clinkis]

Went to -3C here last night. Just borderline cold enough. Keeping fingers crossed for a decent run as it very well could be last of the year with warmer temps in the forecast. So far year has turned out a little better then expected considering how late it was. I have made about 13 gallons so far.

[Galena]

Yep talk about a fast n furious run! Also hoping for one last batch today. Yesterday got 5l of nice clear and mostly yellow sap, all tastes OK so it's not buddy yet. Approx 5.5l syrup made so far, and two batches of nearup waiting to be made into syrup this evening.

[Yellzee]

well... my newest dilemma is the level of the water on my trail... I always have to drive through 10 feet of say 6 inch deep water... but after that rain I now have most of my trail under over a foot of water. I went back this morning to collect the sap from the other day (left it in the woods as it's way colder back there then up at the shack) and it occurred to me if I got stuck that I was completely surrounded in water deep than my boots!!! Hip waders will be mandatory gear tonight heading back to collect anything that runs. Hopefully the water recedes some today. Crazy thing is that it all has to exit about an 18 inch culvert at the road.. can't get the city to replace it but if they did with a nice big 4 footer there would probably never be water back there.

All the flood water had ice on it his morning of decent thickness so it must have been pretty cold my way.

snow is still hanging on in the woods... I really don't think we are that close to the end of the season .... unless the nights stay warm so it doesn't run. Radio forecast called for a couple nights below zero this week/weekend but it's not showing the same thing online.

[slw105]

Yep talk about a fast n furious run! Also hoping for one last batch today. Yesterday got 5l of nice clear and mostly yellow sap, all tastes OK so it's not buddy yet. Approx 5.5l syrup made so far, and two batches of nearup waiting to be made into syrup this evening.

The yellow could be caused by rain getting into your pails. Do you have lids?

[slw105]

Sap has been running very well since Friday here in Cantley, QC. 20 gallons on Friday, none on Saturday, 30 gallons Sunday, 20 gallons Monday. Looks like it will run well today.

[DrewCP]

Yep talk about a fast n furious run! Also hoping for one last batch today. Yesterday got 5l of nice clear and mostly yellow sap, all tastes OK so it's not buddy yet. Approx 5.5l syrup made so far, and two batches of nearup waiting to be made into syrup this evening.

On the bold, We had 6 of our trees turn to yellow sap sometime on Mon or Tues. Dumped around 10 gallons yellow of yellow sap on the ground. We'll see what today brings us. May be the last hurrah for us.

[ennismaple]

We had a long day yesterday - the RO was on before 7am and my brother pushed through close to 5,000 gallons. This gets us over 0.5L/tap but we need another 10 good days to get to our goal for the season.

[Big_Eddy]

I'm at roughly 1/2 litre per tap for the season too (about an hour's syrup for Ennis! ) Didn't collect sap yesterday after the scout came back reporting 6" of water on the trails, and 1/4" sap in the buckets. Boiled off remaining Monday sap though and all the tanks are empty. Will likely collect whatever there is tonight but not expecting anything spectacular.

As Yellzee indicated, the radio forecast is calling for more freezing nights but the web forecast isn't. I'd like to have sap to boil this weekend, one son is coming home from Uni between exams and he enjoys collecting and boiling as much as the others. He missed out his last visit due to the late start.

We have lots of snow in the bush still, although my trails are now mud (where they aren't water). Snow is disappearing quickly anywhere it's exposed to the sun. A few more cold nights would be good.

[Clinkis]

Taps were running fast and furious this morning but have pretty much dried up now. May pull my taps later this week. Trees still not showing any signs of budding but not calling for any good nighttime freezes til possibly later next week. Time to start moving on to other projects and getting ready for summer.

[Clinkis]

So after another disappointing sap run, and a long day spinning through mud and snow to collect it,I decided to pull my taps. Looks like there might be a couple decent days by mid next week. Good luck to everyone who is sticking it out to the bitter end.

[Yellzee]

Almost nothing back there.. What the heck?

[Galena]

On the bold, We had 6 of our trees turn to yellow sap sometime on Mon or Tues. Dumped around 10 gallons yellow of yellow sap on the ground. We'll see what today brings us. May be the last hurrah for us.

Yes I do have lids for my pails, though some could have blown in as it was pretty windy here too. And today my 15l of sap were back to being clear and colourless. Hanging in there til the weekend then pull the spiles probably Sunday.

[Big_Eddy]

We didn't collect today but there's perhaps 30 gallons in the buckets for tomorrow. I'm in till the end. 3 yrs ago I made more syrup two weeks AFTER I had intended to pull my taps than I did the remainder of the season. I got busy on the weekend and ran out of time. The next Friday is started flowing and didn't stop for a week.

[Yellzee]

Bottled another 10.5 litres. Up to 47.5 litres now. Still 2 large pots to finish. Probably 25-30 litres in there. I agree the end of season runs always seem to be the biggest! Holding out a while yet myself. No moths, flies, still snow in woods, I am expecting a couple good runs. There is ice forming now at my sump pump outlet so that looks good.

[BrutemanAl]

I had expected yesterday to be much better than it was, I only got around 7 gallons,probably going to call it quit's in the next day or 2, its getting really sloppy in the forest, wet and muddy and my atv is down for repairs, so walking in is an option, but its a long walk to and from,especially caring 7 gallons of sap though mud/ice/snow/water lol.

[Yellzee]

Good frost here last night. Hopefully today is better than yesterday! Gotta find some bottles today

[NTBugtraq]

Well, I boiled for 8hrs yesterday and had more sap left in the storage tank than when I started, so I must've got something like 120gals of sap yesterday. We were a low of 27F overnight, and now already 46F this morning, so the sap should flow good.

Cheers,
Russ

[Yellzee]

Ran a little bit. Not much. Still trickling some. Fun times on the trail

[NTBugtraq]

I took a short stroll in my bush today...yuck! If yours is like mine Yellzee...kudos for dragging sap through that. By this time yesterday I had 120gals, today, only 22gals...I clearly have no clue what makes sap flow. We were as high as 72.3F here today...wow...here's hoping some form of natural phenomena occurs overnight that makes sap flow again...

On the upside, I sold my first syrup today...lolz, I was so unprepared for that...;-] No questions asked at C$22.50/L...to a couple that looked like they'd bought maple syrup for 150 yrs combined...;-]

Cheers,
Russ

[Yellzee]

Russ, I couldn't even stroll to mine if I wanted to. probably 500 feet of floodwater in the way. 4 wheeler and winch earning it's keep. Wearing hip waders and probably stuck 4 times on the way to the high ground in back. Next year I have pipeline right to the house or I am not tapping! Every year I work on my trail and every spring I wreck it!!

[BrutemanAl]

Tonight after work I will be pulling all my stuff and getting it cleaned up, must say, this is only my 3rd year doing this and what a year this has been lol. I'm happy with the amount I ended up with considering the way the weather has been and all the other variables that were thrown in the equation this year.

From my 18 taps I ended up with 12 ltrs of finished sap, not sure what is back in the bush from yesterday as I had to work late and didn't make it into the forest, so the 13 ltrs could be a little more,but I have my doubts.

When all is said and done I will post a picture of my syrup,then it is time to start giving it to the neighbors that allow me to use their property. In the past I have given them syrup pretty much as it is done,but this year I decided to wait till I was 100 % done so I could take a few picture's of it all at once.

I am planning on changing the way I do thing's for next year , so the planning has begun( in my head, just have to make it work lol),hoping to make my little operation a bit bigger :) for next year.

Its been a slice everyone !! Thanks for all the help when I needed it this year, it is greatly appreciated, and everyone on here is top notch, great group of people if you ask me. Stay safe everyone and enjoy the rest of your year. Now i feel sad that this year is over for me :(

Ps... Big Eddy... I will still stop by sometime,whether it is sap season or not, have your # in my cell phone so I will give you a call sometime

[Yellzee]

Way to go Al, those are respectable numbers especially for this year!

There was a bit of frost on the ground this morning... Doubt anything will run but you never know!

[DrewCP]

Will run what we have tomorrow. Only have about 100usg in stock. Will decide what to do then. Think with 18 on Sunday and 21 on Monday the buds will be pretty fat.......

[Galena]

Got 33l yesterday, still have some keeners out there producing very well, but others are definitely slowing, it was warm last night though windy so it may have taken the temp down to around zero. No buds yet, sap nice and clear, but doubt I'll get much more over the next few days.

Once I get my hydrotherm this coming Monday I plan to test the batches of syrup I have made and see how close I am to brix. Will probably save the last gallon or so of sap for tinkering with batches if need be - and also so I can learn how to use the new toy.

[Yellzee]

As expected.... Basically zero back here. Is it bad I feel relieved?

[BrutemanAl]

Here is a few picture's of my sap from this year, not the best picture's but you get the jisk ,couple more jars in the freezer.

[Galena]

Very nice Al! Good work :-) I use the same backlit technique to show off the colours, and usually put it in 250 ml jars - larger jars hold more syrup so the colour looks darker in a 2l jar than a 250 or 500ml.

My trees are still dripping away, albeit slowing a little. #7 has dried. Got 9l of good sap yesterday.

ETA: At the local library, just found a new book called The Sugar Season: A year in the life of maple syrup, and one family's quest for the sweetest harvest. Auth is Douglas Whynott. Bio says he is in New Hampshire, wonder if he's here on MT?

[Run Forest Run!]

Al, those are gorgeous. I managed to collect 20L of sap yesterday and began boiling it down this morning before company arrived.
.
.
.

I burned it to a blackened crisp. :( It's just not my year.

[BrutemanAl]

Now I'm sad for you Karen, dont like to hear you burned it, expecially after the way this year has gone.

[Run Forest Run!]

Al, surprisingly I took it in stride. I couldn't believe how stupid I was to make such a classic mistake. It's not like I didn't know better.

Maybe if the cold spell comes this week I'll get a little bit of sap to work with (not burn). But if I don't, I'll be first in line supporting the maple industry by 'putting my money where my pancakes are' and buying it from those hard working sugarers out there.

[Galena]

Aw dang, Karen, that sucks :-( but glad you took it in stride. Want some Chateau Snaffles syrup?

[cavescott]

Well Karen sorry to hear you burnt your syrup. I may be able to help. Coulpe of days ago I left my arch just for a little bit to bottle a few gallons so my wife could deliver the last of my preorders. When I returned my whole front pan was full of black burnt syrup it was so thick it would hardly come out of the 1" tap at the end of the pan. By the time I had the pan cleaned out I had 6 gallons of of black gunk that I could do nothing with but dump it in the snow bank. that was sad enough but then i had to clean the pans which eventually came down to a wire wheel on my drill it was so baked on. Hope this helps you out i definatly feel your pain haha.
I am also glad to hear that other people are finding the syrup is very dirty and dark this year I thought I had screwed up some how, but I guess it is just the year.
I'm still hoping for more sap this week as I have only filled my preorders and have nothing left for the other clients I have during the summer. I should get some as my season falls behind everyone else because of elevation and such.

[NTBugtraq]

Yeah Karen and Scott, sorry for your snafu...I did it myself last week so I feel your pain.

Scott, you are somewhat north of me, but like you, this week is looking very promising. Despite 2 days of no sap, I still have no buds and lots of snow on the ground...so my fingers are crossed. Anyone know if its been a good or bad year "for the industry"?

Cheers,
Russ

[Kyle Baker]

Season total was around 23 litres from 50 taps. 18 silver maples, 32 sugar maples. I only boiled 4 batches this year.
I boiled over onto my stovetop finishing the first batch, then started finishing batches right on the evaporator in my finishing pan.
I also started using a hydrometer this year, so I know my syrup is properly finished which I know it wasn't always last year.
Could have been better, but all in all it was not such a bad year. Hopefully next year the weather will give us some better runs.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/14/era6ydag.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/14/hy6unyze.jpg

[BrutemanAl]

Wow!! looks good Kyle,by the looks of it you also got allot of dark syrup,I got 3 liters of dark with my last batch being almost black and tasting like liquid brown sugar.

[BrutemanAl]

Very nice Al! Good work :-) I use the same backlit technique to show off the colours, and usually put it in 250 ml jars - larger jars hold more syrup so the colour looks darker in a 2l jar than a 250 or 500ml.


I took the picture that way thinking of you,because last year when I posted a picture of my syrup you sent me a pm about them saying the pictures didnt do my syrup justice. lol, and you told me to use a white back ground or the window sill ( not your exact words I'm sure,but it was somewhere along those lines lol)

So this year I took your advice and used the window sill, my wife asked me why I didn't just leave them on the table and take a picture? She said table not good enough for your syrup and picture's? I said " nope apparently not" lol,Galena said last year this does not do my syrup justice so they are going in the window sill !!! She said who is Galena ? I said a fellow tapper who gave me advice on taking pictures of my finished syrup... she said what ever.... you maple people can be so strange sometimes. I laughed and said yep we are a special breed

[Galena]

I took the picture that way thinking of you,because last year when I posted a picture of my syrup you sent me a pm about them saying the pictures didnt do my syrup justice. lol, and you told me to use a white back ground or the window sill ( not your exact words I'm sure,but it was somewhere along those lines lol)

So this year I took your advice and used the window sill, my wife asked me why I didn't just leave them on the table and take a picture? She said table not good enough for your syrup and picture's? I said " nope apparently not" lol,Galena said last year this does not do my syrup justice so they are going in the window sill !!! She said who is Galena ? I said a fellow tapper who gave me advice on taking pictures of my finished syrup... she said what ever.... you maple people can be so strange sometimes. I laughed and said yep we are a special breed

Thanks Al and yep we are!!! And in food photography of any sort you don't want the surroundings to detract from the colours. After all in your previous chef life you usually plated food onto white dishes, right? Syrup is translucent so it will pick up and reflect back unwanted colours...so a tablecloth or other items will not only be reflected in the syrup but may also lend an unappealing cast to it. Any issue of Food&Drink from the LCBO is a good place to look for food photography and of course food porn.

Oh yeah you can tell wife my real name's Susan. Galena is the name of my space-cadet cat, which is why I'm using it here ;-)

ETA Kyle...good job on the windowsill shot too! Everyone else, take it from someone who knows a little about photography...make use of the nice diffused cloudy/murky light we have now and put those windowsills to work. Soon I'll have shots up too.

[Kyle Baker]

Wow!! looks good Kyle,by the looks of it you also got allot of dark syrup,I got 3 liters of dark with my last batch being almost black and tasting like liquid brown sugar.

Yes, I find that the sap from my silvers always produces lighter syrup, but the sugar maples I tap often give me a very amber colored syrup. I'm not sure why... I had a lot of yellow sap from them this year. Could have been the year maybe. Im wondering if its geographic and somehow has something to do with the location. Who knows! its good though!
And Susan, you gotta love a good window sill shot! It's the only way to capture the color on camera.

[Big_Eddy]

Backlight with Sunlight can give some interesting effects too. These would need some cropping and some better positioning before they would be worthy of Susan, but I'll share them for fun. (The pictures lost a bit of quality shrinking to web size, but the effect still shows)

[Run Forest Run!]

Eddy, nothing makes all of your hard work look better than a ray of sunlight through it. Nice job!

[DrewCP]

All Done!

Fired up Saturday morning around 07:00. Had around 115usg in stock and had not collected in a day or so. Checked the buckets on the trees. Looked cloudy and some yellow dumped it all. Was less than 20usg anyway. Ran the 2'x4' pan at around 12usg per hour. By 17:00 we were down to less than 2" in the pan. Pulled it off and transfered to turkey fryer. Good day. No issues. Setting up for an easy finish on Sunday.

I took the morning off on Sunday. Dad fired up the turkey Fryer and started boiling it down. By the time I got there the concentrate was at 218*f and all the buckets and spiles were pulled and washed. Awesome timing! Took a brix reading at 219*. Still not syrup. Hit solid 220*, bouncing to 221*. Took a sample. Bang on at minimum density of 66.5. Let it boil 5 more minutes and then pulled it off. Filtered it and botteled it. Ended up with 2.5usg. Darker than last week but tastes the same.

Will post pictures later. Will do a final cleanup of the storage bins and pan next weekend.

[Yellzee]

well... who is gambling the next few days are the big sap runs and the sap is still good? I am hoping for a huge run as my father-in-law took it upon himself to "boil down" the sap in our flue pan while finishing off a couple batches on the turkey pot... I walked in the door as it started to get to pan bottom level in the finishing area and threw pails of water on the fire to put it out... I think we salvaged everything but glad I wasn't 2 minutes later getting home.

so need enough to make it worth sweetening the pan all over and still getting more syrup.

[Run Forest Run!]

I'm definitely gambling on it. Hopefully it will salvage my season so that I have some syrup to see me through until next spring. These hurricane winds better simmer down though or there will be nothing but empty buckets flying all over the place.

[Big_Eddy]

well... who is gambling the next few days are the big sap runs and the sap is still good?

Not sure how much gambling is involved, but I'm hanging in. I'll be out tomorrow afternoon tipping out any rain and other less-palatable stuff before what I hope will be a few good days. I bottled up everything we've made so far this year and I still have empty glass and shelf space so why not stick at it? If I don't - my "after syrup's done" excuse will expire and I'll need to get to some of the other tasks that have been building up.

Plus - my helper crew is being bolstered for Easter - be good to put them to work.

[ennismaple]

Not gambling - counting on it! With a few good days we might be able to beat last year's numbers!

[Yellzee]

Ennis did you have some good days last week when it must have been just a bit too warm at night here? I had three nights with frost but no real sap runs.

suspect vacuum would have made a big difference as it did trickle a bit.

[NTBugtraq]

Ennis, I'm with you, we ARE going to get some good days this week. Yellzee I totally agree, vacuum would've made a huge difference for me.

My forest sump is like 1" above the thaw pond...lolz, had to throw away 5 gallons of sap once over the weekend...but that's fixed now. I have hopes for tomorrow, but suspect it will be Wednesday before I see more sap. Luckily, some neighbors who tapped for the first time brought over about 7-8 gallons they were going to throw away. So I will probably boil tomorrow morning in the hopes that sap flows during the day.

All I know, I have no buds on any of my trees, and they ain't going to just bud without sap...;-]

Cheers,
Russ

[Galena]

Well I'm kinda feeling like the Sorcerer's Apprentice...my 5 remaining trees gave me 17l nice clear sweet (I tested) today...I'm going nuts with all the evening boils!!! I already have approx 10l (5 batches, averaging 2l) already in the fridge already, gonna have to start chucking out other food soon to make room for all the dang syrup :-0

Love the pics everyone's posting, once I have a spare moment I'll get some shots of my batches..and if in doubt do what Karen (Run Forest Run) does, set up a white sheet as a backdrop. Get that nice pure array of colour showing through!

And just barely 1/2 hr ago was outside admiring a ginormous rainbow and absolutely fantastic golden-hour light...nice and pale gold, very soft, a photog's dream. Then saw that trees #3 and #4 are busting out the buds like crazy, but then I didn't tap them this year. Checked the crowns of all the other trees and right next door to them are the ones still chuggin out the sap. Nary a swollen bud in sight. I actually stood there and TOLD the trees Thanks for all they've done this year, I'm very happy and proud of them, now will they PLEASE stop til next spring!! Never thought I'd have this *problem*...;-)

[Run Forest Run!]

I'm anxious to see your pictures Susan. :) They are always a treat.

Tonight I compiled my 'Boxy Gold' box elder nearup and have boiled it down. Funny that the boiling point of water for me tonight was 208.8F (or 97.7C). I guess the cold weather system that is coming upon us is really messing with the barometric pressure. My syrup is now slowly dripping though my filters, buried under 4 layers of towels to keep the heat in so that it drips faster. I don't know how much I'll get from that batch, but I'm hoping that it will be somewhere around three quarters of a litre.

Next in line, tomorrow, I'll cook down my soft maple nearup. I doubt that there will be too much more soft maple sap to come as some of my trees popped today. Most are still tight, but it cuts down dramatically on my tap number. I can hear those darn frogs a few kilometres away, and they better not get any closer. :lol:

The sugars that I have recently tapped down the street are doing their best. They aren't filling their buckets, and their sugar averages 2-2.5%. One tree offers up closer to 3-3.5%. He's always been a reliable tree.

I'm crossing my fingers really tightly tonight, hoping that the freezing temperatures over the next few days will salvage my season. I've now officially gathered the same amount of sap that I did in 2012. Gee, I didn't think that I'd be revisiting a year like that again so soon. But, I'm thankful for whatever this season will bring.

[ennismaple]

Ennis did you have some good days last week when it must have been just a bit too warm at night here? I had three nights with frost but no real sap runs.

suspect vacuum would have made a big difference as it did trickle a bit.

Yellzee - from Wednesday to Sunday we didn't get any more than a slight freeze but got almost 4 GPT. Vacuum was the difference between having nothing to boil and some monster runs. The sugar content was low but still worth boiling with the RO. The sap actually ran well overnight last night and today despite the high temps - but looked like cream of mushroom soup! We dumped it and will hope to make good syrup again later this week

[Galena]

Ok time for a couple of dumb questions...yeah I know, I probably should know this stuff already but I don't. Shame on me *slapping wrist*

First off, what's wrong with yellow sap? So long as it's clear and doesn't smell or taste funky, I just toss it in and boil it up anyway. Never noticed it affecting taste. Maybe it darkens the syrup a little, which would be undesirable for the bigger producers.

Second: what the frig is with those big hairy dusty-brown moths in the buckets? Are they a pest/parasite or just some hapless critters with a sweet tooth?

Anyone know the answers, would love to hear them!

[NTBugtraq]

I got no moths, but flies galore...I'd say they had a sweet tooth. Funny tho, I get a ton of moths where I am, just none yet.

Cheers,
Russ

[Yellzee]

When I did buckets moths were a sign season was almost over! Yellow sap I haven't seen since tubing so I think it's water contaminated by bark or something. Weird I came to flush out for tomorrow's run and did find some slightly cloudy Sap Back here. Dumped and ready for tomorrow!

[NTBugtraq]

Well, this is only my 2nd year so no pro here, but I am keeping my eye on the buds. I have no buds (in fact I got 3" of snow today), so I pretty much don't care what the sap looks like...there's no way my trees are surviving without putting up some darn good sap to the branches...and that hasn't happened yet (or at least that's what I keep telling myself). Given most of my tapped trees are at least 60'-70', a lot of sap has to run for them to get stuff to the buds. But, I'll find out as I keep tasting the sap and seeing what happens with the boils. I'd be happy with any color sap at this point...(well, as long as its not more ground water which I pumped on Saturday...lolz)

Cheers,
Russ

[Big_Eddy]

Yellow or brown sap often happens after a rain and results from water running down the tree and into the bucket. Sometimes you have a bad pocket in a tree and there will be some staining after rain from within the tree too. With 150 trees in the bush, we dump the brown ones. Why add another half gallon of dirty water to 50 gallons of good sap? Occasionally on a hot day a few buckets will look yellowish. Always just a small amount on a too hot day without much flow. Not sure why. We keep and boil that. Makes for darker syrup but still syrup.

We collect the moths too. My pump has a pickup strainer that they don't get through so we just pour them in the collecting tank and take thm home. After the tank is pumped out they seem to dry off and fly away.

Occasionally ants will find a spout. Usually one that is leaking down the tree. I dislike it when that happens as there can be hundreds in the bucket. We end up using a cloth strainer to prevent getting them into the large tank. Ugh!

[NTBugtraq]

Funny day today. The temperature went below freezing around 3:00am, and has gone down since...we had an hour when it went back up a degree or so at 27F, but its lower still (21.2F now). Not supposed to be above freezing until 2:00pm tomorrow...sheez...

Cheers,
Russ

[Galena]

Cool. Never thought that just rain alone would turn the sap yellow, but it's boiling away now and I threw a whole collection of tree pee into a batch and it came out fine. Today I got 2l of tree pee off of one spile, and that was it, everyone else was all froze up! :-)

I know it has to be warm enough for the moths to hatch and mature, just wondering if this particular species are linked to maples. There were several dead ones frozen into the little scrapings of sap at the bottom of most pails, so none to rescue, though I've rescued a few others and turned them loose.

Guess I'll just keep on collecting til the sap's running clear and they aren't budding...

[NTBugtraq]

Check this out; Insects attracted to Maple Sap: Observations from Prince Edward Island, Canada (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3088023/)

Just one region, but interesting never the less. Clearly not something widely studied.

Cheers,
Russ

[BrutemanAl]

I had moths also in all my buckets, every bucket had at least 2 of them,then the day I pulled everything I had a massive amount of flies in my buckets along with a few moths. As for the yellow sap...., I had one tree this year and every few days the sap in the bucket would be a slight tinge of yellow, it didnt smell bad or taste bad so i collected it and boiled it and my syrup tasted just fine when done.

[ennismaple]

Moths are common at this time of the season - that's one of the purposes of the coarse strainers on collection tanks that are meant for bucket operations. I had one fly into the steam above my syrup pan the other day and it suffered a fast, sticky death. It filtered out not long after looking like a candy coated delicacy! No - I didn't try it but I'm sure Survivorman would have!

[Yellzee]

thinking I should not worry about collecting sap and go help make sandbags this evening... serious problems around here not far from me. Thankfully my own little swamp has peaked and started to go down. The Moira river is actually frighteningly close to even the 401 bridge in Belleville. I'm sure if you get closer it's not quite as bad as it looks from the highway but wow what a crazy amount of water.

[Galena]

Moths are common at this time of the season - that's one of the purposes of the coarse strainers on collection tanks that are meant for bucket operations. I had one fly into the steam above my syrup pan the other day and it suffered a fast, sticky death. It filtered out not long after looking like a candy coated delicacy! No - I didn't try it but I'm sure Survivorman would have!

Oh I know the moths are common as are flies and have no problems filtering them out when I bring in the sap. I just want to know what kind they are (will check out that article on PEI a little later).

As for that poor ol fly that flew into the steam...rest assured that that fly died a very happy death!! And now you have me wondering what it might have tasted like ;-)

Trees quiet today but most still have clear good sap sitting in the spiles. Maybe tomorrow.

[Big_Eddy]

Yellzee. If you do you should see Gavin there. He's been going every day after school. Just called to say he wouldn't be home till after dinner. Wanted to get another hundred sandbags filled before he left. Teenagers !! :)

[NTBugtraq]

Another frustrating day, after a very cold day yesterday (down to 13F) we only got up to 35F today, not even high enough to get my sump pails unfrozen. Couldn't even boil as my storage tank was frozen too. Ideal weather is forecasted for the next 7 days for me, so here's to it coming true.

Cheers,
Russ

[Yellzee]

Didn't make it Eddy, wife's birthday so was a good boy and went to supper with family. Feeling guilty for not helping out!

Bit of sap In the main tank but not enough to do anything with. Bet it just started then Froze again

[Galena]

Finally, a pic of the family so far...from left to right batches 1-5. And yes the big jars on the bottom are 2ls! I also already took 250ml each from batches 2 and 3. If the weather stays good (checked my trees around 8ish, they were dripping away...) could have a nice big batch for #6. Will it be another Red Queen? Who knows!9659

[Run Forest Run!]

Beautiful photo Galena. The box elder nearup that I cooked down last night yielded 1.1L. Unlike last year's buttery flavour, this year it has an interesting, almost molasses'esque', aftertaste. Quite tastey, but very different.

I still haven't cooked down my soft maple and sugar maple nearups. The sugar maples that I tap started to drip late this afternoon. 130 drops per minute.

[Kyle Baker]

Susan, is the far left one silver maple syrup by chance? Very light like my silver syrup was. ..

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk

[BrutemanAl]

thinking I should not worry about collecting sap and go help make sandbags this evening... serious problems around here not far from me. Thankfully my own little swamp has peaked and started to go down. The Moira river is actually frighteningly close to even the 401 bridge in Belleville. I'm sure if you get closer it's not quite as bad as it looks from the highway but wow what a crazy amount of water.

Its a mess just north of Belleville and in the Tweed area,a few sections of Hwy 62 have water on them from Moira Lake and Moira River. I am Installing a back up generator in Tweed today for someone and they have 6 sump pumps going in their basement constantly right now and still have 2" of water in their basement.The water on the Moira River is about 10-12 ft higher than normal right now, and the ice is not even off the lakes yet.

[Galena]

Susan, is the far left one silver maple syrup by chance? Very light like my silver syrup was. ..

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk

Hey Kyle

Nope, I don't have any silvers, mostly sugars and a few reds. My first batch is traditionally very pale and vanilla/marshmallowy in taste. So far that's also the only batch that is crystallizing a little, I know I overboiled!

So are you done for the season, Kyle?

[Kyle Baker]

Yep I pulled everYthing down and cleaned up over the weekend. I've been watching my trees but they aren't even dripping. The holes must be all dried up.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk

[Kyle Baker]

And 11 buckets back up! Addicted... lol

[Yellzee]

Well, 5 hours filling sandbags.. Big Eddy think I saw your son there... Great support from local business with food, water coffee etc. talking to mayor sounds like latest hope is it crests right about now! now time to hopefully collect sap!

[NTBugtraq]

I had my best sap day ever today. Boiled for 9 hours, still have 50 gallons in the storage tank and another 50 gallons in pails...and the sap is still flowing. Still no sign of buds, and forecast still looks very promising for the next 6 days.

Finally, a season..;-]

Cheers,
Russ

[Yellzee]

Well. Best run of year but cloudy in main tank . Tastes ok to me...not bitter so will filter and see how it looks . Running strong right now

[Galena]

Got 26l today, and they're still dripping happily away as of now. There was some slight clouding from a couple trees but everything smells and tastes fine as sap, it's boiling down now and no funky smells or weird foam. Still no buds on those trees! Will absolutely have to pull spiles next weekend though.

Kyle...we never did get a chance to meet up this year...dang!!! Stupid sap tsunami has kept me swimming fast just to stay afloat (along with life in general, and work). Anyway not surprised to see you put some buckets back up, my #7 tree is weeping sap from open holes, tempted to go put those back on...*sigh*

[Vandy]

And 11 buckets back up! Addicted... lol

:lol: I was tempted today also as sap was shooting out of the holes :cry:

[Yellzee]

Sap at 2.4% on digital refrac. Need to figure out how to zero portable refrac as it reads over 4 but distilled water tested at 2.

[Galena]

Yea gads, just got in another 14l of gorgeous clear clean sweet sap...that brings my yearly total to 320+ l...new record! Now just hoping that the oncoming warm weather kills the run. I'm sure tomorrow will be good, but after that...c'mon, trees, I need my sleep!!! :-)

[Run Forest Run!]

Galena, let your trees keep on leaking and don't wish the warm weather on us juuuuuuust yet. ;)

I was so happy to change my signature tonight from 171L collected to 290L. To 'speak American' I collected 35 gallons today from 22 taps. A couple had only dribs and drabs, but others overflowed. I wonder if they'll run through the night?

[butler]

I am in renfrew, Ontario....just left my sugar camp at 10:30 pm and taps were still dripping in the dark....great day today...200 gallons collected.

[sapdrink]

Dear all; I am looking to buy sap from anyone willing to sell. Our sugarbush is in the lanark area but has turned milky. Anyone with clear sap? Looking for large amounts. Thanks!

[Yellzee]

Hmmmm. Boiling the new sap but there is a noticeably different odour and we are getting more shaving cream like foam on top... Am I wasting my time? Sap is fairly clear after filtering. Tastes a bit different but I wouldn't say bad or buddy

[NTBugtraq]

I got an additional 100 gallons overnight, plus another 140 gallons in 2.5hrs this morning (I don't know where that onslaught came from, but I keep testing the sap and it keeps saying 2.3-3, so I'm happy. Its going to be another long day, the sap is still running but slower than this morning (thank god, I've pretty much run out of containers, using 1.75L Crown Royal bottles now...luckily I have 50 of them hanging around...;-])

Have now made 16.5L of beautiful dark amber (I think).

Cheers,
Russ

[Run Forest Run!]

That's great Russ. At this rate I think you'll have 51 Crown Royal bottles to use before you know it.

Looking out at my bags, jugs and buckets I've also got some emptying to do from the overnight flow.

[Yellzee]

175 gallons in the tank plus the 40 I brought in last night! Still running. It is quite cloudy in the main tank but clear in my smaller collection tank

[NTBugtraq]

If there's one thing I've learned this year, its that you gotta wait till you see some sign of buds. I keep looking at my trees and see no buds..none, nada...and figure...there's no way these trees are all going to die this year because of a lack of sap, there was simply too much snow for that to happen. So, the only logical conclusion was, there will be sap...;-] And there's no way the tree can put that much sap up into its canopy in a day, it takes time.

I was told you can reasonably expect 1 gal/tap/day, and 12 days/season. I've had ~5 sap running days so far this season, and got 500 gals in that time. That's under what I was told, but not too far. I still have 28F weather in my forecast 9 days from now...so its not unrealistic that I can get my 12 days still. I'm at 320 gals in the last 31 hours, which is pretty dead on what it should be.

A lousy season from no snow I can see (aka 2012), a lousy season from too much snow...no way. And, I understand, this should mean an amazing season next year too regardless of snow.

Karen, you go girl, I can't imagine collecting that much from buckets...you got a Gator or something to dump into as you're collecting...or are you just really buff...;-]

Cheers,
Russ

[Galena]

Well, all I can say it's a good thing I got up at 8am downstairs...stumbled around to check the trees and holy hand grenade...23.4l had appeared overnight, some of my 2-gal pails were 60% full...so quickly collected, went to work *yeah I know...ah the joys of being self-employed*, went to Good Friday dinner and tried not to fidget too much...got home...another 22l waiting. So just finishing making nearup of what I got yesterday, will be tomorrow before I start getting started on today's collection.

Ok trees, at least mine, you can ease up now, as of right now I have collected 365l this season, a new record. Still no sign of buds or sap souring, a couple more trees slowing up but #2 and #6 are in it til the end.

RFR's trees, keep going!!! Mama Karen needs you to give her all you got!!

Night all, off to babysit sap and nearup...zzzzz...

[Run Forest Run!]

Thanks for not including my trees in your wish Galena. I had overflowing buckets again this morning and a full day boiling, boiling and more boiling. I think I've got more nearup than brains at the moment. At some point I'll have to boil it down, but right now there is no time. My taps have given me 202L in the last 24 hours and I never got to empty them this evening. Lordy, lordy.

I seem to be the most interesting place on the street these days with lots of drop-ins. As long as they aren't looking for a long chat, their visits are welcome. Sugaring is serious business and distractions can end in disaster. (like last weekend - doh!)

And Russ, I don't have a gator or any such vehicle of assistance for my hunting and gathering. It's just me schlepping up and down and back again, over and over and over. All of those syrup tastings even out the effort. :lol:

[Bruce L]

Best of luck to you Karen ,and everyone else. We have two bushes washed now, one more to go. Buds are definitely out here, sap has a pungent smell to it. Hope to finish cleaning up this weekend, then onto other jobs(won't need much wood for the sugarhouse), but plan to make several improvements for next year

[SPM in King]

Ran here yesterday and a bit today. But nothing like some others are getting. I have perhaps 400l on 100 taps. Not great at all. I thought perhaps the trees were shocked by the ice damage. I have spent the last 3 days cleaning up. Al sorts of branches for next year's fire wood pile...

Looking at last year's totals, I am just over 1/2 of what I had. 2000l vs. 3600 last year. No cold nights in the forecast, so it looks like tomorrow is the last boil.

Enjoy the las few days!

[Run Forest Run!]

Steve, I was waiting to hear how you were doing. I've finally caught up with the sap and just turned off the burners for today. I was doing the same thing you were today - cleaning up the ice storm damage while feeding sap to the pans. Sorry to hear that you didn't get a big flow. I'll have enough syrup to see me through until next year once I finish off my pans of nearup. Not a stellar year, but let's call it adequate.

[NTBugtraq]

Well, my goal this season was to make $4000 worth of syrup. Between what I've made and what sap I have still to process, I estimate I've been able to make $1465 worth. I blew $300 worth of product through one full pan burn and my front pan burn last night...so, 6 more sap flowing days before it turns buddy and I'm good...otherwise, its less than an expected season (12 good sap flowing days of 1 gpt).

Please, let's all chant together, "buds need sap, lots more sap, before they form..."

Cheers,
Russ

[Yellzee]

Well, sap flowing like crazy today but very cloudy so I pulled the line out of the tank and drained it all. Forgot to save any for my pan though!?! Final totals in a few days after we finish everything. Big Eddy and Ennis... You still going strong?

[NTBugtraq]

What's wrong with cloudy sap? Did it taste off?

Cheers,
Russ

[Yellzee]

Tasted a bit off and had a bit of odour...although my tank needs cleaning so odour may not be the new sap. Main thing is my trail from the shack to the tank is so far destroyed I am lucky to get any more sap dragged up. It's also time to move on to other spring stuff! Spent the weekend at the trailer with my boys!

Next year pipeline to the shack will be in place so avoid this. Spent all fall fixing my trail only to wreck it again.

[NTBugtraq]

Got another 80 gals of sap today. Not gangbusters like yesterday, but decent. Still no buds. Another 9 hours boiling...evap is still only at +5F...;-[

Cheers,
Russ

[Galena]

Got batch #6 of syrup done yesterday, 3l of nice really clear red syrup. Boiling down what I got yesterday (16l), a little concerned that the sap is starting to get cloudy and as it was evaporating, definitely stringy when being skimmed and transferred to a faster pot. I know there are threads here already on ropey sap so I'll dig em up. I just don't want to dump sap!

And still got another 20l today, but not going to get to it tonight. So yep my total sap collection *crossed fingers* is 400l. New record by far! Now, if it's all good when I boil it into batch #7, I'll be so happy.

My trees on tap STILL not budding, though glad to see #7 started to bud out yesterday. Some spiles definitely drying and slowing up, but my best tree (gave me 9l today) still chugging clear sap. I smell and taste the sap from each spile to ensure that it's still good.

[Run Forest Run!]

The trees on my property didn't produce today, but the eight taps down the street (in sugar maples) gave another 60L today. It's clear and boils without any buddy stink, so it was another busy day at the burners. Woohoo!

BTW Russ, that's one poofy pup pic. Cute.

[Galena]

RFR, cover your trees' ears so they don't hear...my trees are finally drying!! Still not budding but so relieved. And this morning when rinsing out a water jug, noticed a distinct sour smell, about 1 cup sap I somehow missed pouring into the pot in the bottom...and yep it came out cloudy and yucky cottage-cheesy texture. Went down the drain. Was quick to go check the last 20l of sap I got yesterday, thank gawd it's still good. Now I get that started later today, maybe make batch #7 by evening, and of course pull spiles and clean equipment.

[NTBugtraq]

Thanks Karen, that's Emma, one of my 3 Bichons...but the pic is from back in the days when I lived in a neighborhood and had a professional job. Now she either looks totally ratty, or near completely shaved...;-]

No sap today...but my gradient is finally established so I've bottled 7.5L so far and expect to do another 4-6L this afternoon.

Woot on your 400L Susan, that's amazing!

Cheers,
Russ

[Galena]

Russ....yep I guessed right on your pup being a Bichon...remind me to tell you someday about the dog show judge in Best In Show :-) And yep the official final count is 402.3l.

Got the last 2l+ today about an hour ago. Lots of dry spiles, light yeasty smell (though not rancid like this morning's surprise was!) and clouding in the sap, but not serious. One of the trees, #9, was still producing nice clear sap.

Now *all* I have to do is clean everything, let it dry, put it away, and continue turning the last dozen litres or so into nearup so I can make my last batch of liquid gold. Or amber in my case. May be another Red Queen! Hope to get 4l out of this last 84.5l batch of sap!

[dscanuck]

About to do my bottling of the season. I was wondering if anyone ever bottled syrup with blueberries. Was thinking of trying something this year.

[jow]

That would be neat to do! Interested in if that would work....be like the worm in a tequila lol kinda ....

[NTBugtraq]

About to do my bottling of the season. I was wondering if anyone ever bottled syrup with blueberries. Was thinking of trying something this year.

I think you'd have to make sure they don't float but instead sink in the syrup, otherwise they could pose a mold problem. Maybe boil them in your syrup during the last couple of degrees (like put them in at +5F)

Made 14L of syrup today, and finally, it was drawn-off my arch pans directly into my filters. That was a huge relief, thought it was never going to happen. I still have another 60 gals of sap on hand, and the arch is full, so I expect another nice crop of syrup tomorrow. Forecast calls for it to drop below zero again tomorrow night, so hopefully more sap on Wednesay and Thursday. Still no buds.

Susan...let me remind you about a judge in Best In Show...;-]

Cheers,
Russ

[Galena]

@ Russ...Ok bear with me here, things went kinda pear-shaped...in the movie Best In Show, which is a comedy revolving around the dog show world that came out in I think the early 1990s...there is of course a big climatic dog show scene. In it the main judge is a larger woman in a black skirt suit if I recall correctly.

Anyhoo that woman wasn't some extra or actor being paid scale. She IS a real world, internationally-recognized dog show judge who does travel everywhere...and I know this cause one of the first people who befriended me on the photo site on which I compete, and with whom I went on a photo expedition with some 8 years ago (sadly he has since left the site so I can't send you a linky to his profile)...is her brother!!! And the resemblance between the two is so strong that there is no way it could be otherwise.

I don't know her professional name, whether she goes by the surname Morgan or not, but his surname was Morgan. Paul, I think, I have to go through some 90 pages of PMs to verify it.

So it's one of those 6 degree of separation thingies, I guess two? One and a half? in this instance :-)

[ennismaple]

We boiled Friday, Saturday and Sunday and each day the sugar content got worse. Sunday the sap looked like crap, we couldn't filter it coming off the wagon, it was impossible to filter the finished syrup - and the syrup tasted pretty good and almost came back to medium! Crazy season... We definitely couldn't have boiled today (Monday) because the sap started to go ropey in the float boxes and in the lines that feed the RO. I was glad to get the Beast drained, rinsed and it's now having a snotty sap bath for a month or two.

All things considered we'll take the season we got and we're happy with the changes we made to simplify our operation. We already have plans for making things bigger and better next year!

[Big_Eddy]

I'm all done except for the cleaning. Collected and boiled Saturday and Sunday but the sap was pretty cloudy both days. Siphoned out the flue pans and finished that off last night. Buckets are still hanging on the trees but with no frost in the foreseeable future they will come down the first free evening. Total for the season was just under 0.6l per tap - slightly under our average but not as bad as I thought it was going to end up. This weekend's syrup is amber and has a strong maple taste, everything else was light.

[Kyle Baker]

I rounded up enough sap Friday and Saturday to boil up a final batch Sunday. The sap was clear and the 35-40 gallons of sap made 4.5 litres of some of the lightest, clearest syrup I made all season.
My new season total was a bit over 27 litres. Not bad at all for a hobby guy :)
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/23/2urabedu.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/23/e4u5ypy3.jpg

[Yellzee]

Well. After 11 years at this I finally know what snotty sap looks like. Scooped the stuff in the evap since Saturday and it definitely looks like snot hanging off the spoon !!!

[Galena]

Kyle...wow wtg!!!! Good work, I was wondering how things were going down there.

I got about 18l total syrup. All kinds of colours, started very light, went to dark, then light, then dark and finally light again. Will try to post some *family* pix tomorrow evening.

[Kyle Baker]

Thanks Susan :) i thought I was done but the weekend was too good not to get something out of it! Might be the best tasting syrup I made all year, so I'm glad I did. And that batch only took 6.5 hours from start to finish. I like my new evaporator!

[Yellzee]

Sad ending, the big nearup pot from my father-in-lAw boiling all Friday and Saturday was crap when almost finished. Tasted bad! About 15 litres I guess. It waS the cloudy sap I did use. Will wonder if it was bad from the get go or from sitting in the pot in the shack all day Sun and Monday while it waS warm out. I headed out with family for Easter so couldn't finish.

Final season totals at 93 litres. Same number of taps as last year when I had 153 litres. My guess is 160ish taps.

Like the photo shoots everyone has. I didn't have any real light syrup interestingly.


Pots washed, drums at the shack washed. Now to pull taps, flush lines and wash tanks at the back.

Trying to decide next years plan.....

[Run Forest Run!]

Kyle and Galena, you two were really pounding out the syrup this year! Way to go! Kyle, your pictures look fabulous. You'll be enjoying all of that delicious hard work all year long.

Yellzee, that's really brutal that you lost such a big batch at the end. Not a great way to end the season was it?

While the taps were quiet today I collected 26L from the 8 sugar maple taps yesterday and boiled it down this afternoon. It was a little bit cloudy so I kept waiting to smell something offensive, but never did. Like most new sugarers I'm kind of wanting to see and smell the bad stuff just for the sake of education. But, I can't complain that I've not experienced it yet. That means more useable syrup.

It's supposed to get cool tonight, but I'm figuring that it's quickly going to wind down for me.

[Galena]

RFR, I noticed that some of my sap was cloudy and had just the slightest yeasty smell to it, and when boiling it, skimming it at times showed long fine threads (I thought they were a hair at first) after the sap dropped off the sieve. Also when making it into syrup and finishing it, took a good hard boil to get the window with no thread aftewards. However the final results in terms of taste, colour etc are all fine. I'd suggest keeping the sap tightly sealed up and in as cool a place as you can til you boil it - leave it in an open container and you could get a whiff of yucky, sour sap that globs out of the container like partially set gelatin! The smell is distinctive enough that it leaves no doubt it's gone off.

Hope this helps!

[Run Forest Run!]

Thanks Susan. That description is very helpful. After all was said and done, the slightly cloudy sap boiled down nicely with positive results. I did detect a very slight yeastiness in the sap so with time perhaps that is what develops further to become what is known as the dreaded buddy stench. I think I now have a bit of an idea of what I'm sniffing for.

I finished rendering down the remaining nearup pots last night, but, with quite a bit of very fine niter I've decided to let all of the syrup from this year settle in bottles before reheating and bottling for storage. Interestingly, the pure sugar maple syrup has very little niter, while the soft maple syrup blends have quite a bit. The sugar maple syrup is quite clear now and could be rebottled, but the soft syrups and no where close to clear yet. I'm looking at 12L of finished syrup, which is 70% of last year's total. All done in about half the time of last year, with most of my production being since April 17. What a crazy year.

[NTBugtraq]

I had 15 gal of fresh sap today, way less than expected given it was 27.5F overnight. Since I had 60 gals in the tank, I boiled down to make 1.5L of new syrup. Still have 30 gal or more of sap to boil, and what's on the evap. Still expecting more sap...no buds on trees still.

Cheers,
Russ

[Yellzee]

Go Russ!!! You must be one of the last still going

[Galena]

No problem Karen, and sounds like you got last sap at exactly the same stage I did - just about to turn buddy. The 1/2 cup or so of sap that did sour on me was very, VERY obviously off - sour, acidic, rancid stench and a very unappealing texture which some have described as very loosely set gelatin or snotty. Apparently when it's further along, it's more lumpy/chunky like cottage cheese and/or cream of mushroom soup. Anyway glad you still got a lot of good syrup out of it, even the about-to-bud stuff!

@ Russ...yep my trees still aren't budding yet, even though I pulled spiles 2 days ago. And I checked the leaking spile holes (hate seeing them leak like that but it always stops eventually) and the sap I tasted still seemed perfectly usable. But nope, I'm done! Hope the last couple sub-zero nights are helping!

[Run Forest Run!]

I'll be checking the sugar maples down the street tomorrow morning to see what their buckets have. I haven't been there in a couple of days and if there isn't anything decent I'll pull the taps and buckets.

[cavescott]

The buds havent popped here yet either. I am usually a bit behind everyone else thank goodness. I just broke what I made last year but I now have double the taps. Hoping to have at a couple more days but who knows. Hope everyone had fun in the outdoors. M:cool:uch better then sitting in front of the TV.

[Run Forest Run!]

There was 24L in my eight sugar maple buckets this morning with sugar counts of 3.5% and 2.0%. Reluctantly, but realistically, I pulled the taps as I left. The sap was still dripping, but I've run out the clock on the time I can spend collecting and boiling for this year. The 24L is currently boiling down and I'll be washing out buckets while I enjoy the sweet smell of hot syrup on the breeze. :)

[NTBugtraq]

I'm getting the feeling that nobody ends the season cause the season has ended, but because they've ended their time with it...no criticism, but just good reason for me to hold out for more...;-]

WTG Karen, but if you think about it, if your trees really have had only half the sap they got last year, after such a winter, those poor trees are really going to suffer...;-[

Cheers,
Russ

[Galena]

Well I finally got my new toy in the mail yesterday - a 10' hydrotherm and cup, both VERY well wrapped up and swaddled in oh about an entire bale of shredded newspaper - thanks Atkinson! And the little nummy maple taffy they included was a nice touch too :-)

So, I read the instructions that came with it and also referred to Big Eddy's tut on how to use one. Now, I know that getting 17l of syrup from 402l sap is kinda freakin statistically crazy, even though I took it all off at 220 and each batch was aproning well.

But, after heating a sample amount from each batch up to 150, only batch 1 was above Brix, which I already knew because it's crystallizing nicely (grrrr), only batch 2 was close to Brix. Each batch from 3-7 all saw the hydrotherm slowly sink and gently sit at the bottom, sometimes slowly bobbling back up so just the very tip of it it was visible above the syrup. I kept the hydrotherm in a tall coffee mug filled with the hottest water I could get from my tap, rinsed it and the hydro cup out well after every testing every batch and carefully wiped it dry before using again.

So just a teeny bit disheartened....apparently all my syrup, all this time, hasn't been *real* syrup at all, just really enthusiastic nearup that was sure it was syrup and convinced me, too. And now I know it's thinner than a supermodel's thighs. Argh.

I do plan to try and do the hydrotherm thing again today, as I planned to blend a couple of batches for clients anyway, so will get some practice with that.

Any hints or tips welcome!!

[NTBugtraq]

I have been trying to find a less messy way to filter, so have been watching more than a few youtubes. In one, the guy kept his cup in the middle of his finishing pan, full of syrup and his hydrotherm. It seemed a brilliant way of keeping it to temp for faster readings. He just tipped it while grabbing the hydrotherm and dumped the contents. Then he scooped some more and re-inserted the hydrotherm for a test. I figured the small amount of syrup left-over from the previous batch couldn't really make much difference with a fresh batch filling the cup...he didn't say a word about it so I guess he thinks that too. Worth a try.

Cheers,
Russ

[Galena]

96999700 Here's all the kids, shown in 1l jars for uniformity and clarity. Took first pic on a cloudy day and second pic on a sunny day with sunlight coming through at more of an angle.

That's essentially what Big Eddy suggests in his tut, too. Anyway Karen has kindly offered to call and help me through this learning stage, so we'll be teleconferencing about 6 this evening! :-)

[Kyle Baker]

Looks awesome Susan!

[Galena]

Looks awesome Susan!

Thanks Kyle! Hey, any idea how much sap you got this year? And have done a recount...I thought I had 17 l, actually it's closer to 19l. Good work on your 27l!

Karen (RFR) and I had a nice long chat about this crazy hobby and hydrotherms - thanks so much for your time again! I'll both PM you the link to the G&M article I mentioned, and post it here too.

[Kyle Baker]

I never really take the time to keep track of how much sap I collect. I know roughly while I cook each batch by the level in my barrel, but I don't record it. This year I used a hydrometer, but due to the syrup being too hot when I test it causing it to read lighter than it is, I think for next year ill go with a hydrotherm as well. Slower to get a reading from, but much more accurate.

[Galena]

Here's the article which I just mentioned. Apologies in advance if it's already been posted here.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/this-maple-syrup-isnt-your-typical-pancake-topping/article18003462/

@ Kyle...hmmm...did you fill the same collecting tank to the same level each time out? If you did you could make a reasonable guesstimate as to how much sap you got.

That is, if you're a total maple nerd like me :-)

[NTBugtraq]

Yeah, really nice stuff Susan...and wtg on nearly 4 times as much sap this year, that's amazing!

With no new sap coming in, but customers still stopping in, I decided I wanted to give them a taste other than just syrup. So I have a Maple Loaf autolysing in the fridge right now...AP, WW, and Rolled Oats, cloves, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and of course, maple syrup. Tomorrow I'm making Oatmeal Maple cookies...trying to replace all sugars with syrup (not maple sugar, just syrup). Should be fun. They say value-adds is the way to go...right?

I now have no sap flowing days in my forecast...which really baffles me...how are my trees going to bud if there are no days that sap should flow? Alas...I plan on boiling what sap I have in storage tomorrow (~50 gals) and then draining the evap. I just cannot pull the taps, I have to wait and see what happens. Maybe everything else will be ropey or something, Idk, but I don't want to contaminate the good sap I have now. I expect to get at least another 12L of syrup, which will put me at 45L for the season (from call it 130 taps)...not really decent.

Cheers,
Russ

[NTBugtraq]

Here's the article which I just mentioned. Apologies in advance if it's already been posted here.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/this-maple-syrup-isnt-your-typical-pancake-topping/article18003462/

So basically they're saying that if you get your sap the way most of us do, and cook it the way most of us do, we all should have this amazing syrup he's producing...nice. I have always made my syrup at at least 67.5 brix, and more often 68 to 70. All my syrup has been dark, although I've never bothered to compare it to one of those $30 grading kits. Its always a very mapley flavor, as that's what I like. The article makes it sound like this is rare...idk, but maybe its because I have never eaten Quebec maple syrup that I think it isn't rare.

FWIW, I don't see how collecting in buckets versus gravity into tubing makes any difference to the end result. I get how buckets make a lot of sense on a few taps, but they say he has >3000, that's a lot of buckets to collect and a lot of money being spent on collecting just to be able to say; "its done the way we always have"...minus the lead that used to be in those spiels and buckets..not to mention the lost sap if the buckets aren't collected before they overflow. Given the article says he collects the sap from the buckets and then puts it into some form of "tubing" to get it to the evaporator, he can't be claiming the tubing is imparting a flavor or denying a flavor (other than the flavor of bugs)....;-]

I have been wondering why people are willing to pay me $25/L though...I hoped it was because my syrup tasted better than what they might have been used to. I wonder how much the Gereli Farm is getting for there's?

Anyway Susan, thanks for that link, it really makes me feel like my decision to try and make this profitable has a chance.

Cheers,
Russ

[Kyle Baker]

Haha Galena, the only quantity that matters to me is amount of finished syrup ;)

[Galena]

Haha Galena, the only quantity that matters to me is amount of finished syrup ;)

Yeah, can't argue with that! :-) So did you go hydrotherm and all that this year?

[Kyle Baker]

Yeah, can't argue with that! :-) So did you go hydrotherm and all that this year?

I tried out a hydrometer this year. It worked well, but im guessing most of my syrup is higher than 66 brix. Hot testing syrup with the hydrometer right out of the pan is only accurate of the syrup is at 211 degrees f. My guess is it was usually hotter when I'd test so the hydrometer wouldn't float right as it's thinner when hotter. I either need a tiny thermometer to dip into my cup, Or just buy a hydrotherm.

[Vandy]

I tried out a hydrometer this year. It worked well, but im guessing most of my syrup is higher than 66 brix. Hot testing syrup with the hydrometer right out of the pan is only accurate of the syrup is at 211 degrees f. My guess is it was usually hotter when I'd test so the hydrometer wouldn't float right as it's thinner when hotter. I either need a tiny thermometer to dip into my cup, Or just buy a hydrotherm.

Hydrotherm won't solve all your issues... It does take a lot longer to register and you still have to be real close to syrup as it needs to float as well. If the hydrometer isn't floating, the hydrotherm won't either...

[Yellzee]

Hey Kyle, curious if you retested any of your syrup cold to see how it finished. I always test boiling hot about 1/2 notch past done and it is fine cold. I always figure it cools down quicker than I would expect and some water in the filters ends up in the mix to balance it out. I think the hydrometers are more accurate/closer calibration than the therms but no proof of that.

[Kyle Baker]

Ill cold test some to see where it wound up.

[ontario guy]

I have 300 feet of 3/4 mainline for sale with 33 taps on it. I am in the ottawa area if anyone is interested.

How did everyone do this year... i got 65 liters from 130 taps.

[DrewCP]

I'm getting the feeling that nobody ends the season cause the season has ended, but because they've ended their time with it...no criticism

100% nailed our style. I don't have the time to commit more than 2 weekends to boiling per season. We do 2 big runs then pull the taps no matter what. As long as we have our family covered and enough to give a couple dozen 250ml kents away we are good.

[NTBugtraq]

Anyone else considered looking for ramps, fiddleheads, or puff balls? Not to mention those valuable shrooms (seriously, not mentioning them)...?? Clean up time is the time to find those other riches...

Cheers,
Russ

[BrutemanAl]

Fiddle heads , Morels , and wild leeks !!! Thats what I go after when the sap is done for the season :)

[Yellzee]

my kid ate one of those wild leaks and complained for hours! now that I am aware of them it's all I can smell in the back.. I could harvest a massive crop if I wanted to.

fiddleheads... never considered eating them..,. maybe I'll try one small salad.

Got my lines all cleaned out.... there were already major chunks of mould/fungus in a lot of the t fittings on the lateral lines.... had to do a lot of work to clean them out. I think next year when I hopefully have vacuum I'll flush them once a week once it gets warmer to prevent this.

found some nice teeth marks in my mainline in the area it was knocked down in at the start of the season. bear maybe?

neighbor saw a bear about 300 feet down the road from my house last week.

[Cole]

Hey Ontario guy I live in same area and got 79L off 130ish taps wasn't a great season but did ok

[ontario guy]

ya i should have got more but my pipeline stopped early, i am thinking not enought slope.

That is why i want to get rid of it.

[rtgambit]

How did everyone do this year... i got 65 liters from 130 taps.

17 L from 25 taps. Would have had another 5 L, but I couldn't boil it off fast enough and had some spoil.

Picked up an evaporator /w 2x2 pan just this past weekend, moving into the shed for this upcoming season to avoid drafts and keep the boil going. Will also be tapping 50 trees this year.