2015 Tapping and Flow Reports!

[Lethalbowman]

Boiled down approx. 50 gallons Sunday morning into late evening on my block arch and now have 5 gallons to finish when time allows. Sure wish I had had time to build my Oil Tank arch as I am sure my boil rate would have improved with that rig. It has not gotten above freezing for the last couple of days so I have not even checked my taps. I guess I will have to venture out tomorrow as it's supposed to warm up a bit.

[Ed R]

Everybody be ready for the potential all night run tommorrow night into Wednesday. Get it gathered up before hand and have your sap storage situation straight.

[Michigan Maples]

Hello, new member here, and new to sugaring. Last year was our first, only three taps, made about a quart and a half of the greatest thing I have ever tasted. This year I put out 12 taps into 9 buckets. We've gotten around 45 gallons so far, although only collected 2 gallons over this past weekend. Forecast looks good sap, is still running clear. Hope to collect for another week here in SW lower Michigan. We're in Van Buren Co.

[DonMcJr]

No sap today either...before the flood hits heres the article from todays paper that im in if you didnt see it on the other post...

http://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/local/2015/03/22/maple-trees-yield-sweet-harvest-syrup-spring/25184247/

[Plungerke]

Liked your interview, great job!

[sugarmangraham]

Congrats on the article Don. I just got done reading it.

No flow in my neck of the woods yesterday or today. I am ready for the next runs though.

[ronintank]

Nice job in the interview Don. You represented us well.

[Ausable]

Hello, new member here, and new to sugaring. Last year was our first, only three taps, made about a quart and a half of the greatest thing I have ever tasted. This year I put out 12 taps into 9 buckets. We've gotten around 45 gallons so far, although only collected 2 gallons over this past weekend. Forecast looks good sap, is still running clear. Hope to collect for another week here in SW lower Michigan. We're in Van Buren Co.

Hey! Michigan Maples - Welcome aboard.

[JBIV]

Well done Don!!

[bryce]

Cool article Don...fun to read!

[huntingken111]

Great article Don are they interviewing you on the beekeeping soon too.

[wishlist]

Was that a typo, 20 gallons on 43 taps? Wow, if not those east siders better let us in on the secret!

[austin357]

Way cool don keep up the good work

[bakerrunner]

Great article Don.

So not much flow yesterday and very little today. I'm thinking tomorrow will let loose?

Some questions...

How long is too long to hold raw sap before you boil it? I can't really get to boiling until tomorrow or Thursday on my collected sap, it will have been in the tank about a week, but kept cool.

How do I know when the buds break? My big trees have buds, but they still look closed to me, but are swelling. The trees in the woods, the buds are still tight. I'm hoping to have at least another week to collect and boil. Weather seems to be okay. I remember getting sap into April last year.

I haven't hit my finished syrup target yet for the year, and my spare time is dwindling. Hopefully things will continue for a bit yet.

[DonMcJr]

I made 14 gallons on 41 taps in 2012... and I had to quit a week early for my arm surgery that year. So if its a long season i can do 20 gallons on 43 taps...

Not sure how long a week is longest I have stored it...had to float 2 liter bottles with frozen sap in it cause it was warm alot that year.

Buds...when the open they look like a flower. Google Maple Tree Flower. I never have had buddy sap my trees just quit flowing...

[DonMcJr]

Oh and wishlist...my trees are averaging 2.25% to sometimes 3.75% sap... as for the secret...your guess is as good as mine...

[DonMcJr]

Great article Don are they interviewing you on the beekeeping soon too.

They might...he took notes on how many beehives I have but didnt mention it in the article...I know he said to call him when I go Sturgeon fishing!

[austin357]

They might...he took notes on how many beehives I have but didnt mention it in the article...I know he said to call him when I go Sturgeon fishing! that sturgeon fishin is a blast

[huntingken111]

Wow you guys on east side have it all, best walleye fishing and sturgeon. Haven't been to woods yet but like Don am a third shifter and my sleep schedule stinks. 3 to 4 hours max even when sap isn't running. Those 24 to 36 hour stay ups are killers on Fridays just so you can have one day as normal person and enjoy Saturday then on Sunday turn schedule around to go back to work that night.

[austin357]

Wow you guys on east side have it all, best walleye fishing and sturgeon. Haven't been to woods yet but like Don am a third shifter and my sleep schedule stinks. 3 to 4 hours max even when sap isn't running. Those 24 to 36 hour stay ups are killers on Fridays just so you can have one day as normal person and enjoy Saturday then on Sunday turn schedule around to go back to work that night. did the nights thing 5 years its no fun been on days now for a month still tryin to get used to it. I will be checkin my buckets around 8 tonight my brother checked one and it was half full so hopefully it was a good day

[huntingken111]

Just got done collecting 135 gallons from 43 taps on dc shurflo pump. Some bags where overflowing total collection of 325 gallons. Hope this keeps up could use another week like today.

[Michigan Maples]

Hey! Michigan Maples - Welcome aboard.

Thank You for the welcome! Update on our second season, today's haul was our best yet. Went out three days ago and got only 2 gallons from our 12 taps. Today we took home 26 gallons from them all. Most were around half full(5gal buckets), one was full to overflowing. It took my entire collection capacity to get it all home. Good problem to have!
That brings our season total to around 70 gallons thus far, with a goal of 2 gallons finished. We're nearly there! :-)

[Michigan Maples]

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Learning to attach photos

[Run Forest Run!]

That's a really nice photo. :) Great lighting too.

[DonMcJr]

Almost 40 gallons from 43 taps today it was still flowing when I collected at 5pm...

[sugarmangraham]

Same here about a gallon per tap today

[DonMcJr]

Wonder if it flowed all night? I wont get home tol 930am to check...

[austin357]

I got 35 gallons yesterday hoping for a few more days like that

[Tweegs]

Good run yesterday and ran all night here.

Head tank is full, pick-up tank is full (had to make room in the holding tank last night).

Vacuum pulled in about 1 gallon/tap from 8 PM last night to 6 AM this morning.

Firing up this morning with around 500 gallons already in the tanks plus, I’m going to guess, another 100 in the buckets, easy.

Going to be a long day.

[Todd Postill]

58 gal.yesterday all buckets running good for now.hight of 23 for tomorrow (fri.) but next 5 days after that look real good for sap flow.

[DonMcJr]

FLOOD! lol it did run all night! Running right now too!

Since 5pm yesterday my 26 buckets gave me 35 gallons and my 17 tube taps gave me around 25 gallons!

Gonna be another Friday and Saturday night boil to get the tanks empty again! Woo hoo!

[Run Forest Run!]

Sap tsunami. Don's favourite thing. :D With all the new customers you're going to have, you're going to need every drop!

[ronintank]

Well I can't do anything with the weather but complain.
Looks like another cold weekend of boiling (I boil outside) and trying to keep the sap thawed enough so it can flow thru the valves into the pans.
The last 2 weekend up here have been cold and it looks like 2 more on the way.
By golly I think a new building may be in the future for next season.

[Ed R]

Best run I've had a my place since I started making syrup down here four years ago. 320 gallons of sap off of 110-115 taps in a one day period. I had to gather everything twice in a day. I have to go out late today and clean everything up before the next run. I should pick up another 50 gallons or so. I still have 70 gallons to boil from yesterday. Lake Erie helped me out on this run, Kept the temps down the day before with an east wind, froze up quick and hard then warmed up with the rain.

[TerryEspo]

You guys are killing me !!

I need to stop reading all the posts that tell me all about the sap everyone is getting. Darn winter wont let go here, -17C tonight.

-17ºC= 1.4 ºF

Glad all you guy and gals are getting some.

Good luck Don with another all nighter this weekend.

Terry

[JBIV]

48 gals yesterday, 100 gals today!!

[Sam Caruth]

Had some truck problems, but once I finally got out to the woods to collect, I had nothing but overflowing buckets. It was a warm couple of days. But now buds are starting to swell real good. Luckily we have a high of 25 tomorrow. About 150 gallons waiting to be boiled. Gives me time to finish boiling, and help recess the buds. Looks like I have at least a good week left!

[Thumb Bum]

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this is my first post for the year it's been a busy one.I went from 13 taps to 50,and have a new barrel arch that's not big enough.just shy of 5 gallons of syrup made already and up to my ears in sap.

[BobMac]

Yesterday just a little in each bucket,this afternoon 80 gals out of 18 taps.Gonna
need the cool down to get caught up :)

[Snappyssweets]

Went out this morning after pulling just shy of 40 gallons yesterday. To 35 gallons pulled this morning. We have pulled 20 more during day with one more to go in about an hour.
I sure can not complain for my first year in this I have produced just shy of 5 gallons now. Boiling non stop daily. (I am so building a wood burning method for next year) Still can not complain I am only 36 hours behind still from gather to finish. I may make that 500 gallon goal for first season yet. I am just over 400 now. Will likely call it a year as of Monday no matter what. Just plug the holes and call it a year.

[DonMcJr]

Awesome snappy! Great for year 1! You do know you dont plug the holes right?

[Michmaple]

55 gallons yesterday 220 gallons today they ran all night! Wheew can we say sap flood!

[Snappyssweets]

Honestly No Don I don't if you want to shoot me a message with any info I would appreciate any help.

Thanks

[bakerrunner]

Collected 30 today from 16 taps, but I hadn't gotten to them in a few days, so some were running over. Put up 1.25 gallons of finished syrup so far. Have about 40 to process so far, and still dripping. Trees are about to break. Next warm up will put an end to it I think.

[Moser's Maple]

Honestly No Don I don't if you want to shoot me a message with any info I would appreciate any help.

Thanks
just pull the taps, the trees will heal themselves

[Tweegs]

We were at a hard boil for 14 hours yesterday.
Got through 550 gallons and drew off a little over 10 gallons.

With what was in the buckets and what came in during the day, there’s still 250 gallons in the holding tank.
My wife will wrap that up today; she’s been at it since 7...bless her heart.:lol:

We’re going to spend this evening on general clean up; tanks, evaporator, etc.
Taking tomorrow off, sleeping in, lounging about…it’s going to be cold.

[DonMcJr]

I collected alot yesterday morning and from 10am to 8am tbis morning all my taps gave me another 20 gallons. Just got done cleaning pans and kinda disappointed. My new smoky lake steam filter/bottler ran out of water during my last boil and i caught it quick and turned it off. Well as tired as I was I didnt thing about the little bit of syrup that was in there. I was only warming it up on very low heat trying to make sure it stayed around 100 F so when I filtered it was warm. The water running out burned that little bit of syrup and I didnt know and filtered and bottled 4 gallons of syrup over the burnt syrup. Haven't tasted it but set it aside for now. Might be ok to cook with or on ice cream. I did wonder why the last 2 bottles I bottled looked kinda burnt but was too tired and just shut everything down and didnt see it til I cleaned today.

I always say ya learn from your mistakes...but yikes a 4 gallon of syrup mistake sucks! Also my Smoky Lake pan the SS is way smoother than my Leader Half Pint Pan...had to scrub for an hour to get three 1 inch patches of burnt syrup off...any tricks for cleaning it if that ever happens again?

[Tweegs]

Don,
For a quick clean up I’ve chucked a wire brush up in my drill, then stuck a Scotch brite pad to the wire brush.
Not a lot of pressure, not a lot of speed, keep the area a little wet.
You’ll cut through it fairly quick.

[Cedar Eater]

Boil water hard for 20 minutes in it. You can add a little vinegar or baking soda (not both). Let cool. Should come off in large flakes. Repeat as necessary.

[DonMcJr]

Thanks!

Good news...I just took a teaspoon of the 2nd from last bottle I bottled...taste fine BUT that batch Im keeping for myself just incase...

[Cedar Eater]

This cold has been relentless here in the NELP. We only got about 5 gallons out of this last run and don't expect anything but dribbles until Wednesday. Oh well, it gives me time to do my tax returns.

[Lethalbowman]

It took 2 trips with my Otter sled but I hauled 50 gallons of rather slushy sap from my 50 taps yesterday. Many of the bags only had 3-4" in them while others were ready to burst. Several of the taps were frozen up. I have 80 gallons to boil for Sundays batch.
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[Tweegs]

Bah,
Just got a call from my wife.
The supply line from the holding tank to head tank froze up.
At least she was able to get 150 gallons boiled off before it froze.
Looks like we’ll finish tomorrow.

Forecast has changed, supposed to get near 40 tomorrow. Yesterday they said not above freezing.
Wish they’d make up their minds.

[firetech]

Feel your pain Tweegs, 840 gals of sap the raw sap tank valve was froze, the permeate tank valve was froze so everything got pumped over to the concentrate tank and we played tag with the liquids. but all is boiled and we got to see some B-ball no Spartan game tonite no cable in the sugarhouse. Go Green

[Tweegs]

Hey Firetech,
Missed you at the conference this year.
Got a chance to meet with the good Dr. Tim, albeit briefly. Always good to put a face to a name.

Thinking an R.O. is definitely in my future. Been dreaming up ways to get vacuum over to my neighbor’s property and think I’ve come up with a viable option. That would get 80 taps off buckets, but we’re already on the ragged edge of what my little 2X6 can do with raw sap. An R.O. would alleviate that problem.

Looks like we’re going to have to wait until around noon before I can attempt to clear that frozen line, cold as it is. Need to choreograph a juggling act to get the evaporator and holding tank cleaned before it warms up enough to hit the switch on the vacuum. What I thought was going to be a pajama day has turned into a scramble day…Gotta love sap season.:lol:

[Too Tall]

Final tally for the season:

.5 cases of Bud Light per every 1 gallon of syrup
.2 bottles of Crown per every 1 gallon of syrup
2.4 bottles of Two Hearted per every gallon of syrup

10 gallons of syrup made. It was a good season after getting off to a bit of a slow start. The sap is still flowing but we're "done with it" for this year. Time to start planning improvements for next year.

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[FDA]

I collected alot yesterday morning and from 10am to 8am tbis morning all my taps gave me another 20 gallons. Just got done cleaning pans and kinda disappointed. My new smoky lake steam filter/bottler ran out of water during my last boil and i caught it quick and turned it off. Well as tired as I was I didnt thing about the little bit of syrup that was in there. I was only warming it up on very low heat trying to make sure it stayed around 100 F so when I filtered it was warm. The water running out burned that little bit of syrup and I didnt know and filtered and bottled 4 gallons of syrup over the burnt syrup. Haven't tasted it but set it aside for now. Might be ok to cook with or on ice cream. I did wonder why the last 2 bottles I bottled looked kinda burnt but was too tired and just shut everything down and didnt see it til I cleaned today.

I always say ya learn from your mistakes...but yikes a 4 gallon of syrup mistake sucks! Also my Smoky Lake pan the SS is way smoother than my Leader Half Pint Pan...had to scrub for an hour to get three 1 inch patches of burnt syrup off...any tricks for cleaning it if that ever happens again?

I think Smokey Lakes sells a sight gauge for that steam pan so you can see the liquid level. Did you damage the steam pan with no water in it?

[billdean]

Not that I have a lot to add, but I am new here. First time tapping and making syrup. I put my first 12 taps in last Thursday. Thursday through Friday morning I believe I did well. At least I am very happy with 12 gallons of sap. It has been slow the last couple of days I guess because of the colder weather. Some trees run some don't? Saturday I collected about 4 gallons and probably will get that today. I had my first boil Saturday and received about 3 1/2 pints of Maple Syrup. I am not sure I did every thing exactly right but it sure tastes good. I boiler it down until I obtained a temperature of 217.6 to 218 degrees. I am really happy with that but it sure is a lot of work.
I had an experience tapping a tree yesterday. Its was a big old sugar maple. I drilled in about 2" and hit a hollow spot. When I pulled the drill bit out dark brown sap came pouring out. At first I thought I'd hit the mother load. Then I tasted the sap. It was very bitter and had a bad smell to it. I backed off and left the tree alone until I could asked someone what I should do. Well, for my first experience I am thrilled. Thanks everyone for teaching how.
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[Cedar Eater]

Not that I have a lot to add, but I am new here. First time tapping and making syrup. I put my first 12 taps in last Thursday. Thursday through Friday morning I believe I did well. At least I am very happy with 12 gallons of sap. It has been slow the last couple of days I guess because of the colder weather. Some trees run some don't? Saturday I collected about 4 gallons and probably will get that today. I had my first boil Saturday and received about 3 1/2 pints of Maple Syrup. I am not sure I did every thing exactly right but it sure tastes good. I boiler it down until I obtained a temperature of 217.6 to 218 degrees. I am really happy with that but it sure is a lot of work.
I had an experience tapping a tree yesterday. Its was a big old sugar maple. I drilled in about 2" and hit a hollow spot. When I pulled the drill bit out dark brown sap came pouring out. At first I thought I'd hit the mother load. Then I tasted the sap. It was very bitter and had a bad smell to it. I backed off and left the tree alone until I could asked someone what I should do. Well, for my first experience I am thrilled. Thanks everyone for teaching how.
11454

Sounds like you hit a pocket of water that got inside from a rotted dead branch or a critter den. It might be okay to tap that tree in another place, but it might be completely rotted inside. Welcome to the Michigan forum.

[Cedar Eater]

It doesn't usually get very windy here, but it's tearing my tarp off my house today. It's finally warm enough again, but the trees just aren't giving it up.

[Snappyssweets]

Looked good this morning, sun was out, temp was rising, Sap was starting to run. I pulled in 13 gallons went inside. Walked out 4 hours later. We have winds blowing everything everywhere, snow on the ground, Ice on the lines, jugs and spiles. managed another ten gallons some trees still running but its slow. Here's to tomorrow.

[michiganmilkman]

were running a case of hamms for the season

[Tweegs]

Ran all night.
Holding tank was empty 5 PM last night, near full this morning…300 gallons.
Didn’t kick any of the buckets so not sure how those went.

[Joe Meyer]

My 5 gallon buckets were all empty at 7 last night. This morning most were 1/2 full. I didn't expect that. It didn't freeze last night so I don't have high expectations for the day.

[DonMcJr]

I didn't collect yesterday. This morning I got 40 gallons from all my 43 taps...it's running right now too...

[Lethalbowman]

114701147111472
It has gotten mighty darn cold here in Northern Michigan as my 55 gallon holding drum shows. I thought I was getting ready to do some ice fishing as I had to chop a hole in the top of the frozen sap just to get to the liquid stuff. Once I had removed 15 gallons I could see that the side walls had 2" of ice built up on them. I don't think I have to worry about that sap spoiling. My Sunday boil started out sunny with a steady wind but turned rather sour as the winds began to gust to 35-40 mph and then the snow moved in. **** it was cold out there. I will be building a sugar shack for next year. I managed to reduce 40 gallons of sap down to about 4 gallons before calling it quits for the day. I will now bring the batch to 216 degrees on my fish fryer before finishing it in the kitchen on the stove.

[Snappyssweets]

With the temps not dropping below freezing last night. I wasn't expecting much, however it flowed all night and is continuing today. So far I have pulled 65 gallons with another to go before night. Highest ever for me was 70 gallons in a day. Was thinking of pulling taps this evening but with temps slated for below freezing here tonight and nice again tomorrow. I think I will give it one more day.

[Todd Postill]

just finished collecting 60 gallons as of 5:30 p.m still running strong cant wait to see what todays final is going to be.

[CWebster]

3 buckets blown off, 1 snapped spile, 1 that sprung a leak,, 160 gallons from 93 buckets. Still running pretty hard....just glad the sap fairy found my place...waitin on the wood fairy now..

[DonMcJr]

I collected this morning and just woke up...i can see its still flowing in my tube line and my 2.5 gallon bucket on the one tree I can see is full. Ugh...I got alot to do tomorrow so it looks like ill be collecting alot in the evening cause I cant do it in the morning....

[sugarmangraham]

I collected about 60 gallons this morning after work. I didn't collect yesterday but it looks like it flowed all day today and there is probably another 40-50+ gallons waiting for me to pick up tomorrow. So far I have about 30 gallons through the evaporator today to make room for tomorrows collection.

[DonMcJr]

Yep went and emptied the one bucket and checked the tube line tank and them 17 taps got 25 gallons alone today...buckets will probably bring me 50 gallons tomorrow eve since I didnt collect them today!

I have 150 gallons of storage and was empty Sunday and as of now my 40 gallon is full and after I empty buckets tomorrow I might have to boil for a few hours wednesday just to make room...

[Forrest hunters]

Looks like I will be pulling taps on Sunday. Only 3 night in the next week gonna get below 32. Saturday night being the last. This is in Rockford just north of Grand Rapids. What is everyone else seeing?

[Snappyssweets]

I want to thank everyone.
I will update tomorrow night, as I have decided to postpone pulling my taps until tomorrow evening.
I set a new one day high today with 83 gallons of sap pulled. Its still flowing but I am not going out tonight again. My back is killing me.

This is my first year. I can not thank everyone enough for the support and input on things. I set out with a goal of 500 gallons of sap.
I made my own taps, been boiling with propane pretty much non stop since I started. Already bought a barrel for changing things for next year.
As of tonight I have pulled 511 gallons of sap. I could likely keep pulling a couple more days past tomorrow. However truth is I lack the storage and ability to process any more then what I will pull tomorrow. No sense to wasting, so I will pack it in and call it a wonderful year.

[huntingken111]

I did not collect all weekend because everything had ice on it but today at about 3 half the bags were full and the two shurflo pumps brought me 175 gallons all together 300 gallons today. Just boiled down 250 gallons as I had 60 in tank already another 100 to go but shut down now because I have to leave for work to rest up for tomorrows boil. Looks like some trees are ready to bud trying to hang on till weekend hope trees agree with me.

[billdean]

18 Gallons on 20 taps today. Been boiling all day to make room for more. It was still flowing well at 7:00 pm tonight. Suppose to be a low of 29 tonight then back up to 45 for tomorrow. I have 4 huge maples that have been doing nothing, but today they seemed to come alive. I would like to get a few more days like this before I pull all my taps, heck I just got started. Better planning next year.

[Hannah]

40+ gallons today off 35 taps. Looking like its going to be a good couple days to end the season. Will be pulling taps this weekend. Has been a great season for sure.

[Cedar Eater]

Still frozen here in the NELP. Got about 3 gallons today. Waiting for the trees to wake up again.

[homelite770g]

Holding on pretty good o. The lakeshore got almost 60 gal from 66 taps. Still have a lot of ice cubes in my tank. Plant to pull taps this weekend or maybe Friday night. Have one tap that has yet to yeild a drop

[bryce]

330 gallons pulled between the last two days. The sap is still clear and tastes good...still had ice chunks in some of the 55 gal drums. One tree's sap has developed a very faint discoloration, but still tastes great!

Hopefully it keeps coming for a few more days yet! My goal was to get 10 gallons of sap per tap...might be a little short on that this year, but we'll see...if we have a couple more days like the last two then I might get close.

Would also like to thank those who helped me get started in my first year! Big learning year! Make some critical changes this off season and prep for next year!

[Sam Caruth]

We are having a flood here! With the cold weekend, Monday and Today are running real good. But, this week will bust the buds open. Pulling my taps on roadside trees Thursday night, and pulling taps in woods trees over the weekend. It may run a bit more, but I have other thinks to tend to. Need to get the boat ready for the year. ;)

[Lethalbowman]

I did a 0-dark-30 check on my 1st 25 taps and collected 20 gallons before heading off to work this morning. I re-calibrated my Refractometer and found I had gotten 2.5%! I plan to start one last batch this week that should allow me to end up with 4 gallons for the year.

[billdean]

Collected 18 gallons this morning on 20 tapped trees. Some trees ran all night. I hope to get another 18 gallons before the end of the day. Some of my trees seem to be slowing down, other speeding up, and still some don't hardly want to give up the sap. I guess I have a lot to learn on what trees are the best ones to tap. I will be boiling down more sap today. Next year I will have to get some sort of holding tank.

[toquin]

Getting cloudy. 122 gal, 32 apple boxes of sassafras. 12 boils, 21days,normal year.

[fishman]

Still slow in the UP. Two consecutive days around 38 has gotten it started though. About 1-2 quarts per tap is all.

[Snappyssweets]

2015 season was total of 540 gallons of sap.
I pulled taps today. Now to finish the boiling down and determine what I ended with for the year.
Thanks again everyone and good luck to all of you with taps still in and to all of you further north then I am in Mid Michigan.

[billdean]

Total for today was 32 gallons. I empty all my containers this morning at 10:00 am with a total of 18 gallons. I emptied them again at 6:30 pm and had another 14. All off 20 taps. Been cooking it down all day and still have a couple hour to go. Most of my trees are giving up real clear sap. I do have one or two that have a tinge of yellow but it tastes ok. I am not sure why they would be a slightly different color? The bugs are sure getting into the sap buckets. I hope a little protein won't hurt the syrup.115201152111522

[bakerrunner]

In Rhodes, MI. Collected about 40 gallons today from 16 taps. I overflowed. Didn't get to collect yesterday. Collected two buckets near the house this morning (10 gal total), those two buckets were half full again tonight. I can't process fast enough. Boiling right now. Might be a late night. Not sure what will happen with the rain and warm temps tomorrow. Buds are ready to pop, but the sap is still crystal clear. Already have over a gallon bottled.

[homelite770g]

Got about 120 gal from 66 taps very sweet to the taste and still very clear. Was going to pull taps but mite hold off buds are nowhere to be seen

[Paperman]

/\/\/\ Same here, looks good for a few days, was down to 25 last night and headed to 40 ish today.

[Michigan Maples]

Nothing but ice over the weekend, but collected 25 gallons of clear sweet sap yesterday from my 12 taps. Forecast looks like I should leave them out for a few more days. 91 gallons collected so far, I think I will easily reach my goal of 2 gallons finished. So, sap is still running clear and still no signs of buds, but 60's over the next two days then back to overnights below freezing. Probably pull the taps this weekend, that'll be four weeks collecting.

[Michigan Maples]

Total for today was 32 gallons. I empty all my containers this morning at 10:00 am with a total of 18 gallons. I emptied them again at 6:30 pm and had another 14. All off 20 taps. Been cooking it down all day and still have a couple hour to go. Most of my trees are giving up real clear sap. I do have one or two that have a tinge of yellow but it tastes ok. I am not sure why they would be a slightly different color? The bugs are sure getting into the sap buckets. I hope a little protein won't hurt the syrup.115201152111522

I noticed some of the sap was slightly colored yesterday as well, but most was very clear. The bugs filter out. :-) The wife made me develop a closed bucket system this year, she didn't like the ants.

[Paint River Yooper]

Same here in Iron County. Trees are running hard. I am boiling with 2 turkey fryers and can't keep up. Sap is coming out of some trees as if a faucet was turned on. I started this year for the first time since the mid seventies, then I was one of the fire tenders and long arm carriers, LOL. I was going to tap just 10, that is now 30 and converted from milk jugs and ice cream pails to sap sacks. I ameasily bringing 25 Gal. + now that sap is flowing. I am collecting twice daily on some trees, and sap is averaging better than 2.6%. I have boiled twice for 2.5 Gal. of Syrup and the 3rd boil is under way should finish by noon. I am running out of bottles and jars, and the wife is saying time to pull the spiles as we can't use this much syrup and all the give away syrup now is ready to go.
Total for today was 32 gallons. I empty all my containers this morning at 10:00 am with a total of 18 gallons. I emptied them again at 6:30 pm and had another 14. All off 20 taps. Been cooking it down all day and still have a couple hour to go. Most of my trees are giving up real clear sap. I do have one or two that have a tinge of yellow but it tastes ok. I am not sure why they would be a slightly different color? The bugs are sure getting into the sap buckets. I hope a little protein won't hurt the syrup.115201152111522

[Michigan Maples]

That's a really nice photo. :) Great lighting too.

Thank You! Had fun documenting the maple season this year, got a couple of videos on You Tube.

[homelite770g]

Got another hundred gallons of sap tonight had to dump sum from ants there was way to manybto skim out. Trees running hard even the crappybtrees are really running

[bakerrunner]

Rhodes, MI. Pulling taps, need to catch up on boiling, will end up with about 3 gallons finished. Life is calling. I could probably go another week, but no time to boil. I really need to increase my capacity and boiling efficiency. Next year, I could probably finish 5 or more gallons. Sap is still crystal clear, buds really are swelling. Tomorrow might make them pop with the near 70 degree weather and rain.

[Cedar Eater]

Really good sap run today. 16+ gallons and still dripping at 9 PM. Likely to run all night. Boiling down a 31 gallon batch right now.

[DonMcJr]

I was all caught up as of Sunday. Didnt collect buckets yesterday and i had 135 gallons...im guessing my tube line went all night and might be close to overflowing and I should have at least another 50 gallons in the buckets.

Gonna be a busy weekend...boil 160 plus gallons, gotta split more wood when I get home in an hour...

Looks like after Sunday its not going below freezing at night so it may be over for me after this weekend...we shall see!

[austin357]

My trees have been running like crazy i cant seem to keep up ran out of wood tues night i did manage to get the 100 gallons i had cooked down to about 30 gallons but now have another 100 gallons and full buckets on some trees im pulling taps tonight i just dont have enough storage or time to keep up i figure i collected somewhere around 300 gallons total this year big step up from last year now i just need to get some wood to finish things up

[Lethalbowman]

The trees were gushing yesterday when I went out to collect @ 5:30 p.m. I could not believe how much crystal clear sap was in the bags. I maxed out my storage capacity and ended up hydrating the forest floor with the remaining sap. The temp never got below "50" last night so I am sure the flow came to an end. planning an all day boil tomorrow so I hope to use up all the sap I have collected. This will be my last batch for the year as I will be pulling my taps. I promised my wife I would be done! A promise is a promise even if the weather looks like the sap will continue to run next week. I should end up with +- 4 gallons of finished syrup for the year.

[Gardootz]

This is the first year that we have tried this new hobby of tapping our maples. We put out 20 taps on sapsacks. It has been an exciting 3 weeks collecting the overflowing sacks most nights. So far have processed 5 gallons of syrup and have approximately 80 more gallons of sap to process. Pulled the taps on 3/31/15. Learned a lot from this group thank you all for your great advice. I will be researching more through this next year to upgrade the processing of the sap. I have been using my firepit and ciderblocks for my arc and a turkey fryer. I know that I am going to be upgrading they turkey fryer with a better 3 burner propane system. This should help with the time in boiling down when I have to use the propane. But it will also help in my other hobby in making beer. It is great that thee two hobbies go well together. Can drink a lot of beer watching sap boil. Have to make a lot more beer before next maple season.

[homelite770g]

Pentwater. Fixing to pull taps Friday and have one last boil getting low on firewood and time got called back to work collected about 1500 gallons so far and my bulk tank started to leak so perfect time to stop got almost 30 gallons In jars

[Cedar Eater]

My one tapped birch started running yesterday. I'm thinking of pulling some of my maple taps and switching to birch.

[homelite770g]

All taps pulled now in pentwater. Some of the neighbors are pulling too

[homelite770g]

Well I hit the thirty gallons of syrup mark when all said n done prolly close to thirty five. Had a lot of ants and yellow sap when I pulled taps this morning

[Tweegs]

Still rolling.
Good freeze overnight but this may be the last hoorah.
Buckets aren’t doing much, vac is still bringing it in.
We haven’t hit very dark syrup yet and since there is a demand for it, we have a few boils worth of wood left and the buds look like they’ll hold off a while longer, we’ll keep plugging away.

[billdean]

Started flowing real good here this afternoon. I pulled a lot of taps yesterday but I still have about 10 producing some today. I have had no flow for 2 days. I just emptied my buckets and collected about 15 gallons. It is still nice and clear with a sugar content of 2 3/4 precent. Maybe a day or two left for me. I need to start working on my wood supply for the year. So far I have somewhere around 3 gallons of syrup for the year. I am really happy with my results seeing this was my first year. Everyone who has tried my syrup said it was the best they had ever tasted. I have never had anything more than the store bought stuff. They are right. It is pretty darn good.

[Run Forest Run!]

Good for you Bill! You are right, there is nothing like the taste of your very own syrup. I know we are going to see you back here next year for another kick at the can.

[Hannah]

Finished everything up today and pulled taps this afternoon. I am sure we could get one more small boil but honestly I have had enough and its time to get ready for walleye season. Finished bottling what we boiled yesterday and ended the season with 7.5 gallons of the good stuff. It's amazing how the color and flavor changes throughout the season. It's been a delight reading and talking to everyone here. I am already planning a rebuild of the stove and a bigger pan for next year to accommodate the increase in tap count:)

[BobMac]

Was going to pull the taps this weekend,Probably wait till Monday or Tuesday now that it got
to freezing the last couple of days. Never know what mother Nature is going to give you :)
Got up at 5:30am look what she gave us,

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c357/rwmccor/bea92d1b-1c87-41ae-b04b-791efe11b32d.jpg (http://s31.photobucket.com/user/rwmccor/media/bea92d1b-1c87-41ae-b04b-791efe11b32d.jpg.html)

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter !

[Run Forest Run!]

That's what it looks like around here this morning too.

[bryce]

Still have taps out, but started to pull the taps which were not producing. Finished up a boil last night; 8 gallons. Still have one more boil to go...looks like the last boil will be about 5 gallons. Almost 25 gallons for the first year. So much fun and thanks for the advice from those on this forum. This year was a steep learning curve! Still have to figure out a good filtration method to take the nitre out!

[Forrest hunters]

11575115761157711578I pulled my 202 taps yesterday. Sad day. One bush had cloudy and yellow sap and other bush had clear with some cloudy and still running. Weather doesn't go below freezing anymore so pulled and dumped sap. Kept about 50-60 gallon to fill evaporator and let set for a couple weeks to clean it. Can't wait for that wonderful spoiled sap smell to exit evaporator. Still need to finish what was in pans and one final batch from boiling on Saturday. Great season with the new Smoky Lake Silver Plate addition 2x6. Boiled right at 50GPH with start up and shut down.

[FDA]

11575115761157711578I pulled my 202 taps yesterday. Sad day. One bush had cloudy and yellow sap and other bush had clear with some cloudy and still running. Weather doesn't go below freezing anymore so pulled and dumped sap. Kept about 50-60 gallon to fill evaporator and let set for a couple weeks to clean it. Can't wait for that wonderful spoiled sap smell to exit evaporator. Still need to finish what was in pans and one final batch from boiling on Saturday. Great season with the new Smoky Lake Silver Plate addition 2x6. Boiled right at 50GPH with start up and shut down.

What is a silver plate addition?

[Forrest hunters]

Stainless steel sides. Air tight arch, stainless stack, draw off valves in bottom of flue channels, blower for AUF, heavy duty front door with latch. Everything insulated except fire box. I am sure I am forgetting something. Jim said it would boil at 40-45GPH when he sold it to me. I put big wood, not so good wood, only 6 month cured wood and really dry wood and never went below 50GPH. I averaged 50 GPH for the season and that is with start up and shut down. Some hours of boiling I am sure I was at 60+ as the sap was just flying in there.

[FDA]

ok thanks, in the second picture what is pipe on the finish pan for? Its on the opposite side of the draw off boxes. is that some kind of bypass ?

[Forrest hunters]

That is a bypass from the first to last channel. The finishing pan is 4 channels and I choose to have draw off as far back in the arch as possible as you have better heat there than at the very front of the arch. If you look at the draw off side I can draw off either the 3rd or 4th channel. If I am drawing off 3rd sap enters 4th and then goes through the bypass to 1 then 2 and then 3rd for draw. If I am drawing off 4th sap enters 3rd then 2 then 1 through bypass to 4. Pretty slick that Jim is. I was worried about sap cooling in these channels but it never seemed to affect any boils.

[DonMcJr]

What a weekend...boiled my butt off. Emptied the evaporator pan and still have a gallon or 2 of syrup to finish.

Taps are still in but little flow this weekend. Today looks promising but I haven't been out to check yet.

I do see the smaller Maples out my back windows that I dont tap yet have open buds and my honey bees are enjoying them!

Looks like Ill pull taps this week unless the forecast changes...

[FDA]

That is a bypass from the first to last channel. The finishing pan is 4 channels and I choose to have draw off as far back in the arch as possible as you have better heat there than at the very front of the arch. If you look at the draw off side I can draw off either the 3rd or 4th channel. If I am drawing off 3rd sap enters 4th and then goes through the bypass to 1 then 2 and then 3rd for draw. If I am drawing off 4th sap enters 3rd then 2 then 1 through bypass to 4. Pretty slick that Jim is. I was worried about sap cooling in these channels but it never seemed to affect any boils.

Do you have a picture of the inside of that pan? Sounds interesting.

[Forrest hunters]

FDA, I do not have pics of the pan and it is full of sap right up to top of float box right now. Using the old sap and spoiled stuff to clean pans. I will be able to get some once I empty and power was them. Hit me up in 3-4 weeks and I can get some pics.

[mapledavefarm]

Pretty slick that Jim is.

that's for sure. Sunrise metal shop originated this concept a couple years ago. This is just a copy of that design.

[sugarmangraham]

Just got done pulling all my taps. Kinda sad but relieved at the same time. Collected about 30 gallons tonight and will boil it tomorrow when I get home from work to see how it turns out. It didn't smell at all and was pretty clear yet.

[Kbrooks80]

Pulled all my taps yesterday. First year with some tubing and a wood fired arch. Made over 30 gallons of syrup. Must find ways to run faster next year.
Had to dump over 200 gallons of sap cause we couldn't boil fast enough. Had fun though.

[fishman]

Running real good since 8 am. If the sun stays out it could be our best run of the year.

[Lethalbowman]

11613
Several of the 20 bag holders I had not pulled over the weekend looked like this Monday evening when I went out to my sugarbush to pull the last of my 50 taps. Although just about full or spilling over they were all full of bugs of all shapes and sizes. I gave the forest floor a good watering with the still fairly clear sap as I emptied each bag and removed the tap from the trees. I still have 25-30 gallons of sap in my storage tank that I will most likely water the garden with as I just have way to many things on my plate right now to even think about starting another batch. It was a good season as I will finish with right around 4 gallons of finished syrup produced. I will work on building my sugar shack and transforming the oil tank I picked up from a neighbor into an improved evaporator for next year. It's almost time for Spring Turkey and Walleye fishing seasons to start. I am so blessed to live in an area that has so many opportunities going on throughout the seasons to keep me busy.

[Cedar Eater]

I only got 8 gallons of sap today and it looks like it might not freeze overnight. What I'm getting is still clear, but I'm wondering if the end of this season for me is near.

[Ausable]

Cedar - It all depends on the weather, the trees and Mother Nature. The day before yesterday I had my best sap run of the year - yesterday blah!. Most years I'm done by now. ------ We start getting our Spring rains and less freezing nights - The end is near.

[bryce]

11621

I noticed a significant change in syrup color between the RO/boiled syrup and straight boiled syrup.

[billdean]

Seems to be done here. No more freezing nights in the forecast and the sap stopped. I pulled all my taps yesterday. Now to get ready for next year.

[Run Forest Run!]

Great photo Bryce! The syrup train is rolling in. :D

[Tweegs]

We’re done.

We ran 300 gallons of very cloudy sap through on Sunday managing only 2.5 gallons of dark, a mid-range dark. That it wasn’t commercial grade I found surprising, given the quality of the sap.

We turned off the vacuum yesterday with about 100 gallons in the tank. Awful looking stuff and I can’t bring myself to light a fire under it. We’ll use it to clean the pans.

In all, we got:
16 gal medium
54 gal dark
6 gal very dark
No light, no commercial.

We processed around 4600 gallons of sap for an average of about 60:1 or 0.22 gallons finished syrup per tap.
Not exactly a banner year.

We collected an average of 8 gallons sap per tap on buckets and a little over 17 gallons per tap on vacuum.
Mistakes were made…overflowing buckets, overflowing main tank on a couple of occasions, our numbers don’t reflect what really happened, only what we actually collected.

We spent 135 hours boiling 12 different times and consumed about 11 cord of wood.

We’re both pooped. Rain the next couple of days, they say, so we’re going to relax.
Pull taps and clean up this weekend.

[Lethalbowman]

Finally finished up my last batch for the year this morning before heading off to work. I had expected it to be much darker than it is. Now to start planning for next year.
11658

[Cedar Eater]

Sap started flowing again here today and it's still clear. I'm not sure that I'll get enough to justify a small batch because the temp got to 60.8 today, but I tapped 3 birches today and they're running like the creek.

[Cedar Eater]

Got six more gallons of maple sap during the last two days when the temps dipped below freezing overnight. Boiled it down to two quarts today and will finish it tomorrow. I'll probably pull all the maple taps tomorrow.

[zandstrafarms]

Did I do something wrong??

Everyone seems to be v getting fantastic flows, but it seems like I had maybe once good week of getting full to overflowing gallons. All other times lucky to get even a half gallon sap power tap.

Trees were silvers and c red in lowland swamps. Late match early April I got fed up with poor flow and moved v some taps to my blacks in my upper woods. Flow was great so I put in about 20 taps.

They are still flowubg, maybe a bit yellow though. No buds on the blacks. The reds are fully flowered so I stopped collecting those and they seem to have stopped anyway.

Now I also put in 5 NEW taps last week and all 5 are flowing great...

On a side note I moved my 55 gal barrels into the water to keep cold. Water approx 45*

Did a burn last Wednesday of 45 gal, got just under gal. Of syrup

Toral syrup is 4 gal for 60 taps on bucket. Seems low.

We are north of grand Rapids in sand lake..

[Cedar Eater]

Are your trees out in the wide open or fairly crowded in the woods? It seems to make a big difference. I only had about three days where I averaged 1 gallon per tap and most of that sap came from 3 of my 15 trees, the largest and most open trees with the best crowns. One tree with two taps gave me 5 gallons one day. I got barely over 3 gallons of syrup from 15 reds and maybe some of those were sugars. It seemed like it took forever for the ground to thaw and when it did, the nights were not consistently dropping into the twenties.

[Tweegs]

I have a number of silvers in a low, swampy area.
Over the years I’ve noticed that when there is standing water the silvers give up little sap. In years when these low lying areas are dry, the silvers deliver abundant sap.

It’s rare, in any year, to see my silvers produce more than 2% sugar content, 1~ 1.5% is typical.

Based on my experience, I would offer that if you have enough taps that are on higher ground to satisfy your needs, avoid the swamp.

[zandstrafarms]

Yeah I was thinking standing water had a bit to do with low sap flow, but even that wasn't 100% true. It was hut or miss among silvers and reds as to which flowed while others didn't, and some took longer to flow. Didn't matter how close or far to the water, although one swamp dud better than the other!

Swamps are probably more dense with young trees compared to my back woods. Back woods not overly dense, but not as clear as I see in some photis from others.

Went out today and many of my new taps were half full (in the back woods on the blacks ), but rotten already :( guess I am done too! Was hoping for one last burn! Although I think my carhart has had enough... it's got several burn holes all over!

Anyone out here do consolations for sap setups? We are trying to figure out if it's worth investing money and time into doing a vacuum system and professional evaporators. We could run approx 300-400 taps on 30 acres.