Eastern Ontario 2015 [Archive] - Page 2

Bushfrosh

03-31-2015, 11:15 AM

It's been a pretty good year so far for me. Obviously the winter pushed the season back like last lear but I'm ahead of where I was last year at the end of March. As of March 22, I've made just over 20L of the golden delicious (or 0.4L/tap of syrup). I wasn't able to be back in the bush until this past Sunday (March 29) when I was surprised to collect roughly 273L of ice blocks (or 5.5L/tap of sap) (I took a couple of pictures of my ice blocks which I will try to remember to post when I get the chance). Last night was another good collection as I finished collecting 176L (or 3.5L/tap) of sap under the moonlight. I think I'm easily looking at over 10L of syrup once I get it finished and there is more on the way in the next couple of days. I'm thinking the goal of at least 1L/tap of syrup is well within reach!

Enjoy the week everyone!

ennismaple

03-31-2015, 01:16 PM

I need to hear this.. I've tried to look it up but can't find it... Is there a link?
Lesley

For those who want to hear my interview with John Moore. My segment starts at 49:45 of the podcast.

https://soundcloud.com/johnmoore-in-the-morning/march-25th-2015#t=0:25

Lespetras

03-31-2015, 05:57 PM

For those who want to hear my interview with John Moore. My segment starts at 49:45 of the podcast.

https://soundcloud.com/johnmoore-in-the-morning/march-25th-2015#t=0:25

Thanks Marty! I listened to it and it was really good! Great job!!

Finished batch number 7 this morning, boiling 106 litres and made 3700 ml for a sugar content of 3%! Collected again this evening and collected 57 litres... Gonna start batch number 8 tonight to keep on top of it.. Great weather in inverary and some of our non-producing taps have finally started to kick in!

Lespetras

03-31-2015, 06:05 PM

Yep this is definitely a good season for hobbyists, though look at what happened with Lesley - 500+l and counting!!! But I am very glad my house is brick, cause anytime I get frustrated with this run, I can just go outside and bang my head against it. Everyone else is welcome to come by and do the same, if you don't have a brick house :-)
I hope your not still banging your head Susan! I really hope this weather today brought you some good fortune!

Galena

03-31-2015, 06:49 PM

I hope your not still banging your head Susan! I really hope this weather today brought you some good fortune!

Thanks Lesley, and thankfully the weather has improved and thank gawd for that, I was starting to wear the bricks down ;-) Collected a total of 23l from both bushes today and almost as much yesterday too. So definitely think tomorrow will be time to hook up the propane! Just cursing myself for having arranged to have my annual dental cleaning at 3pm tomorrow...will have to drive home like snot to get home in time to collect!

rtgambit

04-01-2015, 12:17 AM

It's a great day for sap flow all over!

Took 4 trips with my 2 6 gallon pails, but I brought in 48 gallons (180 L) of sap today. Boiled from 7pm - midnight, probably about 30 gallons worth. Definitely need to cut up more firewood. My pile is getting low.

BrutemanAl

04-01-2015, 06:14 AM

Stevenick

04-01-2015, 07:03 AM

Finally felt like it was maple season yesterday.
4th boil of season yesterday.
400l of sap - 9.5 litres of liquid gold. 5 hours.
We are boiling on 3 homebuilt evaporators.
If it evers runs well we are hoping we can keep up!

Home built 2x3 (restaurant sink on woodstove with forced air under fire)
Backyard 4 pan evaporator
Home built 4 pan evaporator
Gravity lines
235 taps

Galena

04-01-2015, 08:40 AM

LOL yesterday I heard a DJ on my fave station, Live 88.5, an alt-rock station which prides itself on being a very green station.

Anyway so this jock was complaining about the weather - the cold nights and warmish days. I fired off an email pleading with her to not jinx the weather, that sugarers need this weather pattern for a good maple sap run. (Don't worry, I kept it light, I don't want her thinking we're ALL crazy ;-)

She not only sent back an email apologizing, but also made a point of mentioning it on-air too, I caught it just as I came in from collecting at the virgins. As a follow-up I sent her the link to Marty's interview and the piece that got published on Alan Cross' blog :-)

Was up til 1:30 last night making nearup, very glad I don't have work today! Now must get dressed and go get more 2l jars, I want to make a big batch of #2 soon.

Kyle Baker

04-01-2015, 10:36 AM

Finally got some sap! Im sitting on around 50 gallons to boil up this Friday. Should be more today :)

cheesegenie

04-01-2015, 08:40 PM

Three weeks, $50. in gas for the tractor, snow up to my waist to tap, 5 fourtyfive gallon drums of sap, 20 hours of boiling, a cord or two of wood and I have 12 litres of syrup. I love this hobby. But, I don't chase golf balls around, that would be a waste of time.

Lespetras

04-01-2015, 10:48 PM

Run Forest Run!

04-01-2015, 10:53 PM

Yesterday was a great day for me, went over to the forest and collected 12 gallons ( roughly 45 L I believe) from 5 trees, 2 buckets were over flowing and 1 of my water cooler jugs was almost filled to the top. Started boiling it last night, will finish it this afternoon.

On a side note,my boys officially move in today !!!!

What a great day for you Al - considering it's April Fools day and all. And to think you weren't going to sugar this year. Pfft. ;) Have a great first tuck-in and bed time story with your new family.

Galena

04-02-2015, 07:55 AM

Ok so my 75l of sap is supposed to make, by my calculations of a sugar content of 3%, is supposed to make 2l of syrup...right? Ummh not according to my nearup...7l of nearup really, REALLY wanted to become syrup last night! Almost had a boilover, but caught it in the nick of time. Had to turn the heat wayy down and watch very closely while I reduced it to the 4l of nearup that I wanted. Will finish it off when I get home from work, I have to get my speshul finishing rig set up and did not have it ready for syrup last night!

TurkeyJohn

04-02-2015, 11:25 AM

Hey Folks,

Swimming in sap here in Kingston, collected 10 gallons off our 12 trees last night and expecting more today. Big boil down tomorrow for Good Friday.

Question though, I've tried propane, electric element and the stove, but tried the actual barrel for finishing last weekend and found it to work the best, plus the cheapest for fuel. If you are able to quickly douse the heat, or in my case, I lifted the pan right off once I thought it was ready, is this the best method for finishing? Obviously, if you're in the quantities that you can't lift the pan off, if would be different.

Also, heard from a family friend that they had to through some sap away, I'm thinking may be tap pulling time next week or may even pull over the weekend if I've got enough. What's the train of thought on here??

Happy Sapping,

Turkey John

Lespetras

04-02-2015, 11:47 AM

Also, heard from a family friend that they had to through some sap away, I'm thinking may be tap pulling time next week or may even pull over the weekend if I've got enough. What's the train of thought on here??

Happy Sapping,

Turkey John

Oh I hope not!! Really already pulling taps? I thought the trees were just starting to hit their stride.. Where is your family friend located? Maybe I'm just being greedy, but I've promised to do wedding favours of maple syrup for friends of mine as I was collecting more than I thought... Also... As I'll be looking for it, what is a telltale sign of 'budding sap' other than buds on the trees in your experience? What should I look for in the sap?
Lesley

Big_Eddy

04-02-2015, 12:59 PM

Karen
This picture is for you. We were filtering all night last night - at least now my draw-off pots are empty and I can boil some more.
11535

Turkey John.
Not sure why your friend dumped sap, but with the temperatures we have been having until now, sap has been keeping up to a week in a clean container and out of the sun. As the days warm up, that will shorten considerably until sap not boiled the day it's collected will start to go. If your sap is slightly cloudy it's still okay to boil, but if you can't see the bottom of the tank, pull the plug. Now is the time to stop adding new sap to old sap, and to start rinsing out your storage tanks every time before any new sap is added. Also - start keeping the blocks of frozen sap and adding them to your tank, instead of discarding them.

As for finishing - when I was still boiling on my flat pan without an outlet valve, I always tried to get as close to syrup as possible on the fire. With experience, I got to know that ~100-120 gallons into the pan would boil down to about 3/8" syrup. Still deep enough that it was manageable, but not so much that I couldn't dump off. I'd very carefully tickle the depth down from about 3/4" to 3/8" by tossing in handfuls of twigs. That way the coal bed was almost gone and I didn't have too much heat left below. Place a stock pot beside the arch, rotate the pan 45 degrees, then quickly upend it, pouring the whole pan over one corner and into the pot. Without too much heat under the pan, and by lifting it pretty high, I wouldn't have problems with syrup burning on. I'd then drop it back into place and immediately refill with sap, or if out of sap I would lift it right off and lean it against the side of the arch. If there was too much heat (coals) remaining, a scoop of snow over the coals does a great job of reducing the heat long enough to pour off the syrup.

I hate trying to boil "almost syrup" in a stock pot on propane. Just too hard to get the right amount of heat to evaporate off that last bit of water, without the whole pot foaming over and making a mess. I'd much rather take it a bit too far on the fire, then add a scoop or two of sap over the propane to get to final density.

Susan - see above. Propane, Stove, whatever. Those last few Brix are never fun in a pot. Sugarmakers have a slight variation on the usual saying - "A watched pot never boils OVER"

Lesley
I'm expecting at least another week, probably 2. Forecast looks good, and the trees are just starting to flow. Don't worry too much about buddy sap - it is a ways off yet.

Al - Way to go!

CheeseGenie
Time to tap more trees :lol:

Run Forest Run!

04-02-2015, 01:17 PM

:o :o :o :o Big_Eddy, I've now seen heaven on earth! 'WOW' just doesn't cover it. Last night my third batch boiled down to 5.25L. I was thrilled. If I was bottling your haul I'd need sedation.

TurkeyJohn

04-02-2015, 01:27 PM

Sounded like the sap had been left to sit too long, I'm thinking not days but weeks, which isn't good.

I'm running with 2 new garbage cans and when they're full time ot boil,

Taps running like crazy, hard to believe given the slow start....

TurkeyJohn

Lespetras

04-02-2015, 01:48 PM

Holy moly big Eddy! What a great supply! Are you sure your just feeding the family.. Lol

Run Forest Run!

04-02-2015, 02:06 PM

Lesley, looking at your totals for the season so far you are KILLING IT! What a great first year you and your husband are having. :D Is your syrup all light? Mine sure is.

Big_Eddy

04-02-2015, 02:39 PM

Lesley is doing very well

Lesley 35 taps, 20 litres syrup 0.57 l/t
Karen 28 taps, 11.45 litres syrup 0.41 l/t
Big_Eddy 156 taps, 52 litres syrup 0.33 l/t

I think I need to have a chat with my trees! ;)

(In defence of my trees, the 52 litres above equals 104 500ml bottles - I've found that I usually end up with almost 600ml in a 500ml bottle - still - they need to pull it together)

Run Forest Run!

04-02-2015, 02:41 PM

I think I need to have a chat with my trees! ;)

While you are doing that, I'll guard your syrup. :evil:

Lespetras

04-02-2015, 03:16 PM

Thanks guys, Yes.. We think We have beginners luck on our side for sure.. We were only hoping for 10 litres of syrup! And are doing well.. No Karen... Some of the syrup is a bit darker.. Like I would call it a medium... I don't think we have had a really dark batch yet... It's funny because the light is supposed to be very popular yet my family all enjoys the darker syrup!

Thanks for breaking it down like that big Eddy... So we are on target hopefully for a litre per tap.. But we'll see.. Also as you had mentioned the spoiled sap ...my husband and I ran outside and started packing snow around our big sap reservoir... Thanks for the tip!
Good luck to all... I think I'm losing all of my baby weight lugging all this sap up the hills... No need to hit the gym!

67HEAVEN

04-02-2015, 03:27 PM

I think I'm losing all of my baby weight lugging all this sap up the hills... No need to hit the gym!

And I'm certain I'm gaining weight from all this syrup tasting and testing, not to mention pancakes, etc. LOL

My totals so far...
10 taps (last two didn't come on stream until two days ago; so it was 8 taps until then)
9.5 L of syrup
Average = .95 l/t

The only explanation I can offer for what seems like big numbers is the environment. Sandy, damp soil year round. Four of the five trees are so old and large that it takes two people to join arms around them. Well spaced out so they get plenty of sunlight. Three silver maples (about 50-60 years old each) and one sugar maple (approximately 100 years) and the most recent addition is a Manitoba maple (about 35 years). Two taps each.

Galena

04-02-2015, 07:24 PM

Uhm don't know my total figures yet, just doing it one batch at a time...plan to finish off #2 home batch tonight, the one that wanted to become syrup last night and had to have a severe talking-to. 'No, nearup! Not ready to be syrup yet! You wait!' all said in my best Yoda voice :-) Big_Eddy, you're quite welcome to do the maff on my numbers once the season's done and I have some data to give you :-) Lesley...now that you know you have a primo little sugarbush, in future years you could always opt to tap only half your trees and give the other half the year off, then flip...that's what I did originally, but having only 6 tappable trees doesn't leave me much choice :-)

Popped my propane cherry today, only quit boiling outside cause starting to rain and get dark, so not much fun hovering over a big graniteware pot. Mostly once it began to boil I kept the temp at approx 225. Don't know if the wind blowing in the one side where the holder doesn't have a little sidewall, helped at all.

Oh and today's yields..I think 13l from the virgins and 18l from the home trees. Hardly disappointed, I could still go out there and collect more sap as they're still plunking it out, but have to work tomorrow! :-p But this weekend is planning on being kinda punky apparently, so right now am finishing off the first propane batch (the virgins), and plan to syrup home batch #2. Let me say, having a second bush is both curse and blessing. I'm glad to have such great trees and hot spiles, but dang! Then I realize I don't have enough collecting pails for all the sap and so have to resort to using freezer-size Ziplocs!

Bruce L

04-02-2015, 10:03 PM

Good run today, figure 1000 gallons or more today, only problem was once I parked the school bus, 800 gallon holding tank filled at 6;00 is just a little too much, my wife and I literally ran out of steam, left an hour early to finish up in the morning.

Run Forest Run!

04-02-2015, 10:08 PM

Bruce, how much syrup have you made so far this year?

BrutemanAl

04-03-2015, 07:28 AM

I have collected about 60-70 Ltrs (I think, been hard to keep track with the boys around that never stop moving lol) this week from 5 tree's, finished boiling it all last night and have 8 cups of dark syrup, didn't filter very well though, can see the niter in it, but to be honest I don't care, its all for my wife and I and my boys this year . :)

Galena

04-03-2015, 07:56 AM

Sounds just like where you want to be this year, Al! Very happy for you, both in terms of family and sugaring :-)

Hey Eddy,if you're bored, so far my home bush of 6 trees and 18 spiles have given me a total of 113l of sap and 5l syrup. And the virgin bush of 3 trees with 6 spiles have produced so far 65l and as the second batch is currently boiling, is expected to make just over a litre, so say 2l syrup for them. Oh yes and finally figured out why my home nearup wanted to be syrup so bad at 4l instead of 2.5. Last year I froze all the year-end cloth filters, then dug em out and put them in batch #2, so that jacked the sugar content a little. Will be keeping all the used cloth filters til the run's finished, then make a batch from the residue and distilled water for when I feel the urge to make huge amounts of steam :-)

Big_Eddy

04-03-2015, 09:45 AM

I calculate based in taps not trees.

Al. 2l, 5 taps. 0.4l/tap
Susan 7l, 24 taps 0.3 l/tap

I have about 650 l of sap to boil today. Should be good for another 15-20l

Lespetras

04-03-2015, 04:46 PM

Ok.. Latest batch number 9 completed.. Boiled down 166litres, originally 174 litres but then had to take out 8 litres as we ran out of propane on Good Friday! This made 5600 ml of syrup for a sugar content of 2.9%.. I've noticed a steady decline in the percentages which I understand to be a normal downward trend as the season gets on.. Here is a picture of the difference in syrup colour... Light was two weeks ago.. Dark was today's batch. I'm starting to think the more you have to boil down, the longer the boil equals a darker syrup.. Or is that just a coincidence?
11544

Run Forest Run!

04-03-2015, 04:53 PM

Lesley, I think you'd find that if you had put some of that last batch in a sample sized jar that your syrup would still be graded as light. All of my 1L bottle of syrup look the same as your last batch does and they are considered light. The larger the bottle, the darker your syrup looks. The batch in that gorgeous Crown bottle, however, is probably extra light. That bottle looks like it has been sprayed with gold leaf. Beautiful. If you put an inch or so of syrup into a 250ml jar and hold it up to the light you'll get a better idea of the grade of your syrup.

Lespetras

04-03-2015, 04:58 PM

67HEAVEN

04-03-2015, 05:45 PM

I'll tell you what I'm learning as a first year newbie.......I've got a whole lot more to learn. http://i39.tinypic.com/123nqcn.jpg

For example, I had a great discussion with a local maple farmer who's been doing this for close to 70 years. I mentioned that I was considering switching to 5 gallon food-grade pails next year, rather than on-the-tree aluminum. I said I'd drill a hole in the middle of the lid to get the tube in.

"No-no", the farmer says. "That's a great way to let all the rain water in. Drill the hole at the side of the pail, almost at the top. No rainwater will get in then".

Like I said, I've got lots to learn.

Run Forest Run!

04-03-2015, 06:01 PM

Good tip.. I'll try that with my left over syrup!
Lesley :)

I took some photos for you Lesley. Both the small sample sized bottle and the larger bottle are from batch #2. With the small bottle positioned next to my colour samples, the batch is somewhere between light and extra-light (but would be considered light for sales purposes if I was selling the stuff). As you can see the large bottle looks like it would be graded as dark. Not so.

11545

11546

May I add that my large bottle looks full of nitre on the bottom. It's not. It's the countertop showing through the bottle. Thank Gawd! :o

Galena

04-03-2015, 06:31 PM

I calculate based in taps not trees.

Al. 2l, 5 taps. 0.4l/tap
Susan 7l, 24 taps 0.3 l/tap

I have about 650 l of sap to boil today. Should be good for another 15-20l

Oh OK. What's the formula you use, just so I can figure out what they are for the two different bushes? I'm too stupid and lazy to figure it out myself ;-D

Run Forest Run!

04-03-2015, 07:14 PM

Galena, just take the total amount of your syrup and divide that by the number of the taps you have.

ie. You've made 10L of syrup and you have 20 taps. 10 divided by 20 = .5 Your current yield would be .5L per tap.

I know you are smacking your head about now.

Lespetras

04-03-2015, 07:14 PM

May I add that my large bottle looks full of nitre on the bottom. It's not. It's the countertop showing through the bottle. Thank Gawd! :o

Thanks Karen, great pics... Also, this 'nitre' that I keep hearing about... Is it the cloudy sediment that forms on the bottom of an undistubed bottle of syrup? If so.. I've gotta refilter almost every bottle... Yikes! Like we filter all syrup three times throughout the process.. Is this not enough?

Run Forest Run!

04-03-2015, 07:20 PM

Rob Walton

04-03-2015, 09:09 PM

Nice looking syrup Lesley and Karen.
I am envious of all the sap you guys have collected.
New Brunswick seem to be holding on to the sap awful tightly.

Galena

04-03-2015, 09:27 PM

Thanks Karen, great pics... Also, this 'nitre' that I keep hearing about... Is it the cloudy sediment that forms on the bottom of an undistubed bottle of syrup? If so.. I've gotta refilter almost every bottle... Yikes! Like we filter all syrup three times throughout the process.. Is this not enough?

Lesley, I would also advise against filtering again just to get out that little bit of nitre. It won't harm you, and each time you filter you will lose some syrup. It'll eventually settle into the bottoms of your bottles, so just let it do that. Then when you're pouring out syrup just watch for the nitre.

Just as an aside...my home trees are giving me very little nitre this year, but the virgin bush is VERY nitrey; I have to double up the number of coffee filters when I filter nearup and earlier this evening, saw that I had a HUGE nitre cloud in one jar that filtered through a syrup filter a little too easily - maybe I was using a filter that still had some residual nitre in it. But the second jar of that batch, which is STILL filtering through, is absolutely crystal clear. I guess I needs to make me some more syrup filters :-)

Karen...thanks I knew it had to be fairly simple. Just a little worn out from working all day, then sugaring almost all evening and sometimes well into the wee hours.

Bruce L

04-04-2015, 08:33 AM

Lespetras

04-04-2015, 11:07 AM

Lesley,what are you using for filtering? Do you have the paper pre-filter on top of your felt or orlon filter? If not, give that a try, that should take care of your nitre problem.We process quite a lot of syrup daily, no filter press,lots of nitre, but it doesn't make it through the filter.
Bruce
Thanks Bruce,
No paper filter. . We are using an initial filter at the buckets.. then before the fine tune boil down when it reaches 216-217 degrees. . We filter again (with a cheese cloth) then when complete.. before hot packing we use an orlon filter.. so perhaps the cheese cloth phase should be replaced by a paper filter? Or do we put a paper filter in the orlon filter?

Yellzee

04-04-2015, 11:14 AM

Lespetras

04-04-2015, 11:29 AM

Are you maybe stirring the syrup in the filter or squeezing it? I found this lets nitre through. Need to diump it in and just let it go through by itself

And my wife thinks I have a problem that even after giving up the maple business I'm still stalking this forum
I'm gonna plead the fifth on both accounts.. and just say I am both impatient and greedy. . My husband just cannot stand to see any of the finished product be wasted😉

Run Forest Run!

04-04-2015, 11:42 AM

Lesley, you can retrieve the syrup left in the filters by dipping them into the next batch of boiling sap. Nothing's wasted at all.

Galena

04-04-2015, 11:46 AM

Aha, there's a part of your problem, you're forcing nitre through into the syrup. Naughty naughty! ;-) Also I'm not too sure if cheesecloth, even several layers of it, would be sufficient to trap stuff as fine as nitre. If you really want to keep those last dregs that don't filter through, I suggest making a salvage jar, which is just that - a jar dedicated to capturing the dregs of each batch, and which you can retrieve the syrup from later, with the help of distilled H20.

FWIW when I'm bottling syrup, it goes into the largest storage jars, usually 2ls in my case. Then when someone arranges to trade goodies with me I decant from the storage jar into the 500ml or 250ml I'm sending them. By this stage any nitre has settled to the bottom and thus easy to see and ensure it doesn't get into a trading jar.

And when I do send or give jars of syrup, I ALWAYS include the following caveats:

1) That the syrup is home-bottled;
2) That the syrup may contain nitre and I then explain what nitre is, what it looks like, and that it is harmless;
3) Ditto crystals in syrup, if I am sending syrup from a batch that has shown signs of crystallizing; and
4) The jar MUST be refrigerated once it's been opened. Some years ago I sent some syrup to some friends, one of whom is a Cordon Bleu-certified chef, and someone put the open jar of syrup in the pantry...don't think it moulded, but I thought they would have known better.

As for current syrup batches, yesterday I finished the second virgin batch. Working with a batch of sap of 45l, I was expecting a little over 1l and got 2l instead! So I'm just rolling with it! And nope, this batch wasn't boosted with residue from filters, like I had done with the home second batch.

Bruce L

04-04-2015, 08:31 PM

Lesley, you need a paper pre-filter on top of your cheesecloth or orlon/felt filter to catch all of the nitre, let the filter do it's work of filtering the syrup.NEVER EVER move the filter while syrup is going through

Lespetras

04-04-2015, 08:53 PM

Great tips from everyone! Yes many. .newbie mistakes.. but it's a learning process! Good idea about the big canning jars Susan, and thx Bruce for great info on filtering! I'll let you know how this next batch goes.. working on batch number 10.. 130 litres..

Galena

04-04-2015, 09:17 PM

Nuthin wrong at all with making mistakes, Lesley, it's all part of the process and making syrup is a helluvalot more work than just putting some sap onto boil. Just so long as you take away the gist of what we're telling you (in this case, no more messing with filters during syruping!) and learn from it, then you can add that to your repertoire. FWIW I usually put a syruping batch in the setup I have, then go to bed so I'm not distracted and tempted to fiddle with it :-D

Of course, a lot of us are probably secretly jealous of the astounding amounts of sap/syrup you've gotten this year - that's really an accomplishment in itself. But we all have different bushes of varying size and age and sub-species of maple, in different climatic zones and subjected to varying weather patterns. So I'm very happy with what my grand total of 24 taps have done and are doing now - #6 is now giving #5 and #2 a serious run for their money, and I know when #6 kicks into gear, there's no turning back!

Well must get back to supervising a batch of sap boiling away...and check your inbox ;-)

Rob Walton

04-04-2015, 09:21 PM

A lot of expertise here on this site. Been at it 3 years and still learning! And loving every minute of it and every lick from the bowl/pot (once it has cooled down of course....:D)

maple75

04-04-2015, 10:52 PM

First time making syrup. Located in Pembroke, ON.
Tapped 10 tree, 13 taps about ten days ago. Been collecting every night or two and freezing the sap to keep. Had two really good days but other than that pretty slow. Boiled what I had today and I am a little confused with my results!
I started with only 45 litres of sap and got 2 litres of syrup. About twice more than I expected. I boiled using a wood stove outside and finished on the kitchen stove. Used a thermometer to get to 7.5 degrees above boiling water. I compared the finished syrup with some bought syrup and the consistency is similar, the taste seems good also but I am still worried that I didn't boil it enough due to the amount I was left with.
The end product is a little cloudy, I was planning on using the pre filters I bought from the hardware store then coffee filters for last filtering. I ended up abandoning the coffee filter idea. Seemed impossible to get the syrup through them, would love to hear what others do with the coffee filters!

PS: Great forum, lots of information, thanks to all who have contributed!

Run Forest Run!

04-04-2015, 11:05 PM

Welcome maple75. If you got 2L from 45L of sap it is likely that your syrup is a little thin. The sugar content in your sap would have had to have been around 4%. That is by no means impossible, but you never know.

For this first batch I might suggest leaving the syrup in your bottles on the counter or fridge for a few days. The nitre will fall to the bottom and you can decant the clear syrup off the top and then put that in a bottle for table use. It's much easier for a first timer.

Enjoy your syrup!

ARKmaple

04-04-2015, 11:31 PM

I am having a similar problem with my filtering process this year. I spent the money and bought an orlon filter. Now if I dump 10 litres of hot syrup into the filter with a pre filter inside it pretty much comes to a halt half way through and starts to turn cold. After an hour I loose my patience and started to stir...
Will it all run through if I leave it over night or am I dumping to much in at once?

Big_Eddy

04-04-2015, 11:50 PM

ARKMaple
Tell us more about your setup. Is the Orlon filter hanging in free air or in some kind of enclosure? Did you preheat it or not? Are you inside or out where it is cold?

In my experience, the secret to successful filtering is to pre-steam the filter to get it moist and hot, then to filter such that the outside surface of the filter does not cool. It's the cooling of the outside that slows the flow. I use a filter canner (BEST money ever spent on maple, and I've spent plenty) By keeping the filter inside the closed canister, the steam from the filtered syrup keeps the filter hot both inside and out. I can filter 3 or 4 x 15l batches with one Orlon, rinsing out the pre-filters between batches. Use 3-4 pre filters and collapse them down once the flow slows to dump the syrup into the next one. Lift them out and rinse them well between batches.

No stirring, no squeezing, and never wring out a filter. If you want to save any sweet left after filtering, rinse in a pail of sap and dump that into your next batch.

Clamer33

04-05-2015, 12:27 AM

I was given some tips about filtering when I started so I will pass them on to help you all. For the cloth cone filters it is a really good idea to charge the filters prior to use. This is done by hot water, put all your filters and pre filters in a pot of really warm to boiling water. (hot sap will also work) Pull them out just about 5-10 minutes before you need them. This will give the filter some time to drip the water off. Doing this before hand will help pass more syrup through and help you filter more syrup. When I used to filter with the cone shape filters I would start with 3-5 pre filters. When the filtering slowed I would remove one prefilter at a time. Till I got to the last one. Then I would clean them in a pot of boiling water and repeat these steps all over. After the first year and getting feed up with going thru what seemed and endless task of filtering. I purchased the same filters but in large flat sheets. I think they are 36" by 36". These can be bought at most maple suppliers, I bought mine from Atkinson. And let me tell you they will filter a lot faster and just as good if not better. And work for a lot longer. I still use two prefilters. I still use these today, but only to filter the stuff coming of my evaporator. I they finish via propane and run it through my lapierre canister filter with DE to make it crystal clear.

I have a little Stainless steel rack that sits in my finishing pan which is 16x32. and about 4 inches off the bottom of the pan. I lay the filters across that rack and let the hot syrup work its way through the filters. As the filter plugs up I move the filter forward or backward to open up a clean area. I can run for about 6-8 hours with 1 main filter and 2 prefilters. Which is about 15 gallons of 98% finished syrup, before I then finish it on propane.

Some don't do tips.

Don't use dry filters, they plug to fast and steal too much of the syrup
Don't squeeze filter to extract more syrup
Don't twist or ring out filters for any reasons to filter or clean, this will break down the fibers
Don't wash the filters with soap or any chemicals

Do always wash/rinse filter when finished in boiling hot water. I clean mine by leaving them in a pot of boiling water for 30 minutes or more.
You can wash them in your washing machine provided you run a clean cycle of hot water prior to washing them to make sure your machine is clean. I do this at the end of the year. But only on a front load machine.
Always make sure you hang them to dry completely. DON't use the dryer either! If they get any smell or mold throw them out.

If you follow these steps I have had my filters for 3 and 4 years and they still work like the first day.

Galena

04-05-2015, 08:33 AM

... then coffee filters for last filtering. I ended up abandoning the coffee filter idea. Seemed impossible to get the syrup through them, would love to hear what others do with the coffee filters!

PS: Great forum, lots of information, thanks to all who have contributed!

I use coffee filters for filtering the nearup (that's when it's very reduced sap, say 20l boiled down to 4l for easier storage, but still by no means syrup) and depending on the hard water level in the area, use 1 paper coffee filter per funnel. Then I prep another 2 or so filters/funnels as at some point the filter is apt to clog up with nitre. When it does, I lift the clogged coffee filter/funnel out of the top of the jar, put a new one in its place, then use a sharp paring knife to slice the bottom of the clogged one so the nearup goes into the new filter. As a general rule, lot of the nitre will get left behind in the old filter.

However when finishing a batch to syrup, I don't use coffee filters as I also find them reluctant to let the syrup through! I use a very clean piece of white T-shirt that has been washed only in hot water - no soap or detergent at all - and allowed to air dry. I have some pics of my primitive (think Gilligan's Island) but fairly effective setup. I may still have a tiny bit of nitre left afterward but not much.

Karen, saw what you said about possibly syrup being a little thin...I was looking at that 4l 2nd batch from my home trees this morning, comparing it to a jar of grocery-store maple syrup and the other syrup I've made so far from both bushes. It does look a leetle on the thready side when I invert the jar and watch the drips coming off the bottom, so think I will try to rework it a little. It's from 75l of sap, and I have great trees, but it's still a little too on the bubble for me! :-)

maple75

04-05-2015, 09:42 AM

Do you wet the t-shirt or large sheet filters like you would the cone pre filters?
When finish boiling, I used a good quality thermometer and checked it's accuracy with boiling water, I am confident the thermometer was accurate. I boiled to 7.5 degrees above boiling water, but was afraid to over cook it and ruin it. What happens if you over cook it a little? Is there any lee way? Can I let it cook (by lowering heat) for some time at the desired temperature or do I need to stop it as soon as I reach that temperature?

Thanks.

Galena

04-05-2015, 12:10 PM

Actually no, I haven't damped the pieces of T-shirt that I use for final filtering, though next time I finish a batch I should, as Big_Eddy told me this trick about pre-warming filters when I visited a few weeks ago.

Glad you're using a good therm and boiling water first, though I believe you only want to boil only 7.2 degrees over the temp of boiling water, not 7.5. If you do overcook a batch, you'll see pretty little sparkly sugar crystals starting to form. They're perfectly harmless but they do mean that you went a little too long at a little too high a temp. Easy enough to fix, though. Return the syrup to your finishing pot and and some sap or distilled water - I'll use either to rinse out the syrup jars and dissolve out the sugar crystals.

Now, as to whether or not you should stop immediately once your syrup reaches the right temp...that's actually a little tricky to answer. Most of my batches boil to the right temp just fine, and once I double-check with the dipper that the syrup is sheeting and the bubbles are really tiny and almost starting to look like suede - then I'll pour it off.

But....I just finished reworking a batch of syrup that looked a little tiny bit thin, just a smidge. (I think now that the fact that this batch was in big 2l jars and the other jars of syrup I compared it against were all 1l or smaller probably had something to do with it.) I boiled water, checked the temp - exactly 212. Then I boiled the syrup and was a little worried to see the temp go up past 219, and still not look ready to be poured off, until it got to 222 and everything looked ready for it to become syrup!

So I went and poured it off again, it's just finishing going through the filters now. I recall now that when I first made this batch it did go to 222 then as well, so I'm a little puzzled as to what's going on. But the first time I worked this batch it didn't crystallize (crystals usually take about 12-24 hrs to start forming) and though it's too soon to tell just yet as it's still quite warm.

So, sorry for the kinda roundabout answer on the last of your question but hope I've otherwise been useful :-)

Galena

04-05-2015, 07:30 PM

*crickets chirping*

Wow, is it ever quiet around here...good thing I have 50l of home bush to finish boiling tonight, and another 12l or so from the virgins evaporating away on the woodstove before I go on my big adventure to Lesley's.

Moved the big boiling op indoors as had kinda scare with the propane. I got it all set up and it was starting to heat up nicely but the wind shifted into gear a little...and the hose connecting at the burner began to catch on fire from the wind blowing on it, although I had one of the three shielded sides facing the direction that the wind wa coming from...so I quickly turned everything off and left it to cool down before removing sap, unhitching propane tank and putting everything away :-/

So that sucks, I wanted to get as much done out there as possible but not about to take chances with a blistered hose!

Run Forest Run!

04-05-2015, 08:10 PM

Whoa, that's scary Galena! There must be something seriously wrong with your hose/connection. The wind alone would never do that!

So you're now off to visit Lesley? First Big Eddy! I'm feeling left out. :cry: :cool:

Bruce L

04-05-2015, 08:29 PM

Good run today, brought in about 1300 gallons of sap,most so far this year.Lots of visitors today out for Sunday drives I guess.

Run Forest Run!

04-05-2015, 08:30 PM

After about 2pm the taps started to leak like crazy. It was wonderful to see.

Kyle Baker

04-05-2015, 09:20 PM

I boiled the last three days to make my first batch of the year. The total was a whopping 13.75 litres. I only figured I'd have about 2-3 gallons so Im pretty happy with the outcome. It tastes great and is the largest batch I've ever finished in one go. The sap was running hard again today so another batch will be starting up this week.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/04/05/14a2214050656ce50597c1a38001ef48.jpg

Galena

04-06-2015, 08:13 AM

Great-looking batch there, Kyle! Glad everything finally worked out for you and you got a good run, there should be more coming soon...I'm kinda scared to go check my trees, peeked in on them last night about 10pm and the best trees were still dripping...better be ready to collect before I head for Inverary :-)

Karen, I think I may have been in your neck of the woods last fall, I went up to Powassan Labour Day long weekend to shoot rodeo. Isn't that your area? And hey you could always come visit me ...and show me how to do the propane thing safely, surely replacement hoses are easy to come by.

Run Forest Run!

04-06-2015, 09:32 AM

Galena, I had to look up Powassan. It's 3 hours or 289 km away from here. lol I'm 20 min from YYZ.

Today might be the biggest sap run of the season so far. Grab your floaties!

ennismaple

04-06-2015, 06:00 PM

Crazy weekend. Sap ran OK both Thursday and Friday. Sugar content on Friday was great and I ended up averaging 20 gallons of syrup made per hour! By the end I'd made 150 gallons using only 1 chord of wood and I was back to the house before dark! Lots of visitors to the sugar camp, which is a blessing and a curse because it distracts you from the task at hand.

The sap ran surprisingly well on Saturday. By late afternoon we had almost 3,000 gallons in the woods and decided to gather and boil. I was almost back to the sugar camp with the first 525 gallon load of sap and heard something funny behind me. Crap - blown tire on the wagon. Grrrrrrrr.... We got it off and tried to squeeze it back onto the rim while filling with air but no luck. Sunday morning we almost got it seated back onto the rim by spraying ether into it and igniting it but we couldn't get the air pig onto it before it lost it's bead again. What are the chances of finding someone to fix a wagon tire on Easter Sunday morning? Not good. We managed to find an emergency tire repair service and someone willing to meet us at their shop to fix it. Long story short - I'd punctured an old patch with a rock so they put another used tire on it and off we go.

By the time the tire was fixed and back on the wagon it was after lunch the sap was pouring!!! The releaser in our 650 tap woods was dumping every 2 minutes and in our 1800 tap woods our double vertical releaser was dumping every 75 seconds!!! All the tanks were within a foot of running over. At it's peak I figure we were getting over 600 gallons of sap per hour!! 9 hours and almost 6,000 gallons of sap later we'd finally emptied the tanks and the RO had caught up. Another late night but definitely worth being exhausted today. 5 more days like that and we might be able to call this season a success! Minus the breaking stuff part...

Ontario Ian

04-06-2015, 06:23 PM

I'm a newbie on the forum, but been making syrup a long time, started with my grandfather when I was 9, that was 21 years ago. haven't missed a season since. we have a little over 500 taps now a days on pipeline and vacuum, with a 2 1/5 x 12 intensofire. located just east of cornwall, On. had a good run over the weekend, boiled this morning and made 13 gallons, that's puts us at 41 gallons for the year! hopefully make some more!

Galena

04-06-2015, 07:59 PM

Welcome to the madhouse Ian! I'm just pulling my floaties off cause my trees ran today, even though I told them to not do so as I was visiting Lesley and co for a few hours :-) Back in a bit, have some sap coming to nearup and don't want surprises...

Bruce L

04-06-2015, 08:06 PM

Sap must like running in snowstorms,went down to check at 7:30, figure the tanks and buckets will be full by morning if it doesn't quit tonight.Didn't bother starting the pump, afraid of freeze-up if I left it running

Lespetras

04-06-2015, 08:54 PM

Well, it's been a heck of a couple of days!! I collected 218 litres of sap in 24 hours! My husband conveniently threw his back out lol (for real) and Ive gained muscles in my arms that I didn't know I had! I almost feel like scarlet Ohara on the Tara plantation, fending for herself! Too bad my kids weren't bigger... I could've worked them into some child labour (joke) but in all seriousness we really weren't prepared for this volume so had to be innovative with storage containers.. Tomorrow is supposed to be just as good!!
Had a very nice visit from Susan (aka Galena)... Was able to learn a few tricks of the trade from her with both boiling the syrup and filtering! Thanks so much Susan.. Our last batch was very clear... No nitre! However we did lose one full litre from 6 during this process :(... So my totals will need to be adjusted! Oh and thanks Bruce on your inner filter advice, had to do it.. Can't argue with a sixth generation maplers advice.. So we Purchased some of thise and they work great! Can you clean them and use them again? They were pricy!
I'm currently drinking a nice glass of vino and boiling my sap.. Gonna be a late one!
Lesley

Run Forest Run!

04-06-2015, 09:38 PM

I'm currently drinking a nice glass of vino and boiling my sap.. Gonna be a late one!
Lesley

A long day boiling here too Lesley. Except I'm enjoying a couple of BBQ'd hotdogs and a glass of water. Not nearly as chichi but a welcome meal to enjoy in the glow of the propane burners.

Stevenick

04-06-2015, 09:44 PM

800 litres of sap collected and boiled on 3 home made evaporators....
Best run so far.
We are 235 taps on gravity and looking to expand next year to 500-1000 on vac.
Looking for ideas and used vac equipment.

Lespetras

04-06-2015, 09:46 PM

A long day boiling here too Lesley. Except I'm enjoying a couple of BBQ'd hotdogs and a glass of water. Not nearly as chichi but a welcome meal to enjoy in the glow of the propane burners.
It's too bad that you did not live closer karen, would've enjoyed your company and expertise today also, though it does sound like you have your hands too full there to step away from your trees.. Not a bad thing :)

maple75

04-06-2015, 10:01 PM

15 litres today from 13 taps, I have 4 taps in the middle of the bush that have given up next to nothing all season, moved two of them tonight and already collected more from the new location!
Total so far 75 litres of sap, one boil, 1.8 litres of syrup and almost enough sap for another boil.
So far most of my sap has come from the two taps in the front yard, out in the open, close to the road. More than 50% from those two taps alone.

Run Forest Run!

04-06-2015, 10:14 PM

You are doing great maple75! Keep it up!

maple75

04-06-2015, 10:29 PM

You are doing great maple75! Keep it up!

Thanks, I am hooked though now! Already eyeing up all the trees for next year. Just what I needed, another hobby! lol

Galena

04-07-2015, 07:35 AM

...Had a very nice visit from Susan (aka Galena)... Was able to learn a few tricks of the trade from her with both boiling the syrup and filtering! Thanks so much Susan.. Our last batch was very clear... No nitre! However we did lose one full litre from 6 during this process :(...Lesley

Think of it this way, Lesley: you didn't lose a litre of syrup. You lost a litre of water! And easy enough to change the figures :-)
BTW probably best to use that second big 2g stockpot (the one that the remainder of that batch was stored in) as your dedicated finishing pot...the saucepan we used is just not really meant to handle sloshy amounts of hot liquid! Also, remember how long that batch took to come to a boil? Its greater surface area not only meant that the syrup heated up faster, but also lost heat a lot faster, too. The stockpot is deeper so yes it will take longer to boil but will also stay hot much longer.

ETA: when I was filtering off some nearup when I got home, noticed that there wasn't much nitre (this is a batch from my home trees). Normally nitre is pretty much a thin mud colour. But what there was is very dark brown, almost black! I tasted it, nothing off about it, just the usual gritty texture of nitre. So not alarmed but will be curious to see how this batch of syrup, which I will have to make later today, will turn out.

Lespetras

04-07-2015, 12:28 PM

Is everyone else as exhausted as I am:o
Next year.. Half the tress -check, build an arch-check, get husband back surgery and recover-check, train my border collie to fetch sap-check check, lines instead of buckets - check!!!

Kyle Baker

04-07-2015, 12:34 PM

Lespetras

04-07-2015, 12:50 PM

Lespetras, you're doing very well this year! With 35 taps you've made a bit more than double the syrup I have. I have 57 taps this year. The big thing is you want to have lots of pan space to lessen your hours boiling. What size of pan are you using?
Hi Kyle,
Normally we are using 2 commercial size steamer pans 12 inch by 24 inch each.. today we've added a third..

Kyle Baker

04-07-2015, 01:00 PM

2 years ago i only used one of those steam pans. I boiled forever! Good call going to a few of them.

Galena

04-07-2015, 01:04 PM

Just got home to work and now into the home work - floaties on everyone! Have to try and find a way to get to town for groceries etc (including hopefully more 2l jars) without losing too much boil time...argh. Probably up til the wee hours again!

Run Forest Run!

04-07-2015, 01:19 PM

Hi Kyle,
Normally we are using 2 commercial size steamer pans 12 inch by 24 inch each.. today we've added a third..

About a month ago I remember advising a young first-timer, her name is Lesley I believe ;), to consider getting a second propane burner added to her set-up to help with her syrup making. Looks like that was good advice. Lesley, you and hubby are killing it this season!

I feel totally exhausted today. I should have got the license plate number of the truck that must have hit me. Thankfully the drips are slower this morning. I really need to get a second wind or stronger coffee! I collected just shy of 200L yesterday.

Ontario Ian

04-07-2015, 05:26 PM

good day today, made 20 gallons, in for it tomorrow my buddy called and he is over run with sap so I bought 1300 gallons off him not sure if it was a good idea or not. so I got a big day tomorrow. made medium all morning and it went back to light this afternoon.

shaping up to be a good year after all!!!!

Galena

04-07-2015, 06:33 PM

Ok new daily record, collected 41l of sap from my trees today and some from the virgins, I think another 13l, as didn't quite fill a 15l water bottle. So made batch #3 from my home trees, expected to get 2.5l...generously estimated 5% sugar content...getting just a little over 4! So now that I have virgin bush #3 on the boil to finish tonight, supposed to make 1l at 3% but I still have a 2l jar ready for it :-)

So don't know when I'll next be here, what with 54l of sap to try and get boiled off tonight AND finish another batch of syrup...the used filters are piling up in the freezer, that's for sure!

Kyle Baker

04-07-2015, 07:14 PM

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/04/07/a47c7ad5f59f9bc3d254706edb0abec8.jpg

Yarrr! Me barrel be full and the buckets be flowin' over. Just hauled around 75 gallons of sap from my away trees. Haven't collected at home yet but we're pretty full looking here too. Best run of the year.

ennismaple

04-07-2015, 07:39 PM

We've got 3,000 gallons in the sugar camp and lots more in the woods. We didn't boil today because of work commitments and it looks like we may regret it! Tomorrow will be a looooong day!

Galena

04-07-2015, 07:41 PM

Yaarrr, yeah yer barrel be dang full there Kyle me boyo, good work! Wharr ye be plundering that foine clear barrel-sap from?

Just finished off two batches, #3 of my home batch was meant to be *only* 2.5 l (est sugar content at 5%) and got 4l at 222...and the virgins were supposed to give me about 1.5l and gave me a teeny little bit over 2l, at exactly 219. Go figure. I'm too tire...zzzzzzz....

Kyle Baker

04-07-2015, 08:55 PM

The barrel o sap is down towards carleys corners outside of merrickville.

maple75

04-08-2015, 03:18 AM

Best day here so far for sap, 35 litres from my 13 taps, about double what my best day was up till now.
Hopefully more days like this to come!

ontario guy

04-08-2015, 10:04 AM

Well 100g, 110g and yesterday 130g of sap... i need some sleep.

i have a 2x5 flat pan so am stuggling a little. We are having a great year for syrup.

We have 128 taps adn sap is still at close to 3% so we must have 20 liter in the pans, i will have syrup in the back pan pretty soon.

we wait for this all year....we will sleep next week when it is 15 degrees.
Mark

Bushfrosh

04-08-2015, 12:14 PM

Wow. I'm already over 1L of syrup per spile (55L from 50 taps) and I still have over 450L of sap to process. I didn't collect my buckets on Sunday and was thinking my season was winding down then Monday and Tuesday happened. I haven't done the official math yet but I know I collected over 700L these 2 days. One tree by itself, with just one spile, spewed out over 30L!!! I'm likely pulling my spiles at the end of this week - my bottler keeps telling me I've made enough and the weather's looking like there aren't any more cold nights. Not to mention the buds have to be getting pretty darn close!

Lespetras

04-08-2015, 12:54 PM

About a month ago I remember advising a young first-timer, her name is Lesley I believe ;), to consider getting a second propane burner added to her set-up to help with her syrup making. Looks like that was good advice. Lesley, you and hubby are killing it this season!
Yes Karen, if not for the added burners.. We wouldn't have been able to keep up! Thanks so much for advice!

Sounds like everyone is drowning in sap... Must push on to get through rest of season :D

Run Forest Run!

04-08-2015, 01:02 PM

Lesley, are you getting sap today too? Things are quiet here.

Lespetras

04-08-2015, 02:53 PM

Lesley, are you getting sap today too? Things are quiet here.

Not as much... But the taps are slowly dripping. I predict about 50-60 litres for the day, paling in comparison to the 200+/day we were getting. Some of the local syrup producers in Inverary are thinking that things are going to start slowing down this weekend ("there will probably be a lull") and the south facing trees will slowly peter off.. But the north facing trees will continue into next week? Not sure what all this means... But apparently my trees in the back yard (the sugar bush) will continue... Good Lord!!! I thought I was done! Another sign they told me to look for is moths.. Apparently it's a tell tale sign that things are coming to an end... Low and behold.. we did have a moth here this morning! Not that I want it to end but we have spent close to $300 in propane!!
What are your thoughts on the season? Do you think it's getting close to the end?
Lesley

Run Forest Run!

04-08-2015, 03:05 PM

I'm starting to think along the lines of your local producers. I'm keeping my buckets up for a while yet, but with the long range temps not showing anything below freezing our Easter Monday tidal wave may have been the big one for my area this year. The trees that I tap in a forest down the street are just thawing out, but without cold night temps they likely won't gush like they have done in previous years.

I've finally got the last of the 200L from Monday finishing up on the stove. That was insane, 80L more than my biggest single day in four seasons. Can't wait to bottle up what I've got so that I can update my signature.

67HEAVEN

04-08-2015, 03:19 PM

That's why I posted the question yesterday about, "Am I finished for the year?".

Given that major flow is apparently negated by the lack of freezing, where does all that stored sap end up? Does it stay in the root system and get slowly pulled up to the leaves? Does it take the rest of the year off? Does it dissolve or turn into something other than sap? This newbie has questions. :lol:

Galena

04-08-2015, 03:29 PM

In the last 3 days alone I've collected 115l from home bush and 39l from virgins...so desperately boiling to keep up. Thought I'd put the propane to work cause I got a new *universal* hose/adaptor, and guess what, of course it doesn't fit the propane burner. Grrrr....meantime sap staying outside on north side of house.

Never heard the moth thing before but I've been seeing them since last week. Must run.

Maplesapper

04-08-2015, 04:41 PM

Brown moths usually always preceed our last few boils.
No moths seen yet.
Tonnes of snow left, but we will have to pull taps this weekend.

Looks like lows will be 4+ for the next 10 days

Run Forest Run!

04-08-2015, 05:26 PM

I got a new *universal* hose/adaptor, and guess what, of course it doesn't fit the propane burner.

It seems, my dear, that you must live in an alternate universe. :confused:

Kyle Baker

04-08-2015, 06:13 PM

Took the day off work to boil today. Here is a little video of my setup in action. Its nothing fancy but it was Boiling off as fast as the sap feed was running in. https://youtu.be/FT4XPijs_KA

67HEAVEN

04-08-2015, 06:15 PM

Galena

04-08-2015, 06:29 PM

It seems, my dear, that you must live in an alternate universe. :confused:

LOL so what else is new? ;-) But I got the propane burner from Home Hardware, it seems to be the predecessor to yours (only 60k BTU instead of 65) and I went to Crappy Tire to find a replacement hose. Just like Canon and Nikon. Never the twain will meet, and the products from one will NEVER work with the other :-/

Run Forest Run!

04-08-2015, 06:55 PM

Hey Kyle, thanks for sharing your video. I hope you don't mind but I watched a few of your other videos. I want to say that your work on the bouzouki is beyond wonderful. I could listen to that all day long as the sap boiled down. Sugaring is obviously not your only talent.

Lespetras

04-08-2015, 07:03 PM

So as I predicted, collected a total of 58 litres of sap today... Definitely slowing down, as are sugar contents... A brown moth was indeed in another one of my buckets this evening...

Batch number 11: 180 litres made 5725 ml, sugar content 2.7%
Working on batch 12 of 160 litres... Should have it completed tomorrow

I'll have to watch the Kyle videos.. My interest has been peaked!

Lesley

Kyle Baker

04-08-2015, 08:56 PM

MustardSeedMum

04-08-2015, 11:29 PM

I've heard the moth thing as well. I had a few yesterday in my buckets. Temperatures in my neck of the woods don't look promising the next few days.
This seems to be a rather abrupt end, if this is the end for us. :(

Kyle Baker

04-09-2015, 08:02 AM

Finished another 5 litres yesterday with plenty more in the pans and lots of sap to go. Compared to the first batch the colour and clarity is great! I always filter the same way through a couple pre filters in an orlon filter. This is just a few bottles to show to colour. http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04/09/fce8bcad77550e77c0a75845e6c38fef.jpg

Lespetras

04-09-2015, 09:13 AM

Finished another 5 litres yesterday with plenty more in the pans and lots of sap to go. Compared to the first batch the colour and clarity is great! I always filter the same way through a couple pre filters in an orlon filter.
Kyle,
When you are filtering that volume at a time... Do you separate the syrup into two separate prefilters inside the Orlon filter? Or do you put it all through one prefilter and then a second after? Reason I'm asking is because I have filtered a few batches of that volume and find it too much for one prefilter and end up losing a bunch of syrup...
Lesley

bonus18

04-09-2015, 09:42 AM

Hi Kyle,

Nice video. I noticed a copper part attached to your two pans. Could you explain how that works and/or setup? I assume it moves the sap to the finishing pan. I just would like to know if in fact that's what that part is doing. I have two pans as well and struggle trying to reduce the sap into one pan once all of the Sap has been dumped into both pans.

Thanks

Kyle Baker

04-09-2015, 11:59 AM

Lespetras

04-09-2015, 12:15 PM

Run Forest Run!

04-09-2015, 12:21 PM

Lesley congratulations on hitting 1L/tap. Are you planning on bathing in the stuff? :lol: You go girl!

Kyle Baker

04-09-2015, 12:35 PM

Bonus18, what you see in my video is a siphon to keep both pans level. I add sap to back pan and the sweet all naturally moves to my front pan where i eventually finish it. Ill find a photo of the siphon out of the pans.

Bruce L

04-09-2015, 12:37 PM

Biggest day this year was definitely Tuesday, pulled in somewhere between 1800-2000 gallons of sap, made 41 gallons after the bus run Tuesday night.Yesterday not so much, seemed to be a long time between syrup draw-offs, sap checked in at 2.2%

Big_Eddy

04-09-2015, 01:47 PM

Hey Les, i anyways tuck two pre filters inside the orlon. All stacked inside each other. As they plug up, pull them out, pour the extra syrup into the next filter if it won't run through. By the time its just the orlon there isn't much sugar sand left.

I do the same, but stack 4 pre-filters inside the Orlon. When the syrup stops flowing, I collapse the inner one with a large wooden spoon to allow the second to take over. I NEVER collapse or remove the final one, so there is always at least one pre-filter "protecting" the Orlon. After the batch runs through, I pull all the pre-filters out, rinse them in hot water, and put them back in place for the next batch. I usually filter and bottle 30-40 litres in an evening - 3 batches of 10-12 litres each - and can do so with 1 Orlon without plugging. If you do remove the last pre-filter, you will be finished soon after. The nitre will plug the Orlon quickly. I should take a picture of the nitre pulled out by the pre-filter from a typical batch and post it.

Pre-filters seem to last me 2 seasons or so.

Lespetras

04-09-2015, 02:47 PM

Lesley congratulations on hitting 1L/tap. Are you planning on bathing in the stuff? :lol: You go girl!
Thanks Karen... We've given lots away as gifts already but will have probably have enough for a bathtub full:emb:

Kyle Baker

04-09-2015, 02:57 PM

This video one guy did shows the siphon the best. Evaporator siphon: https://youtu.be/K8IhHZNVPII

Lespetras

04-09-2015, 06:50 PM

Batch number 12: 160 litres, only 4525 ml of syrup.. Sugar content 2.4 %, taps dripping really slow.. No negative temps in inverary... Gonna wait to pull spiles for a few more days...
Boiling another batch tonight.. Small one though
Lesley

Galena

04-09-2015, 08:11 PM

Ok so just finished syruping off another WTF! batch...I was going to make a batch of nearup from 115l of sap but oh no, approx 50l of that sap stomped its foot and made it quite clear that it wanted to become syrup, dammit. So I turned the heat off, got the syruping rig ready, and currently looks like 2.5-3l of finished syrup. Thankfully it finished really fast and is sitting in the bain-maries, quietly dripping through.

Still bogged down here, I cancelled work tomorrow...my Friday client is a terrific person and grew up in the country, so she understands the need to stay home and boil like mad! On a plus note, bought a smallish brand-new garbage can for sap storage, there's currently 50l of home bush sitting in there. I am madly boiling off the virgin batch (note to self: DO NOT take on extra trees unless it's meant to be a BAD year!!) and 1/4 of CT's stock of 2l jars...but holy crap $20 per case of 6!!!! Gonna do some serious shopping around in the off-season for better prices. That's frickin crazy.

And yes still colllecting sap and storing it outside, and guess what, out of storage containers yet again...*groan* Hope the trees really rein it in tonight, I'm seriously bushed!

Run Forest Run!

04-09-2015, 08:26 PM

Wow. :o I didn't realize that you were still getting swamped. And here I am relaxing with my feet up. Give us a current syrup total when you get a breather.

67HEAVEN

04-09-2015, 08:29 PM

...and 1/4 of CT's stock of 2l jars...but holy crap $20 per case of 6!!!! Gonna do some serious shopping around in the off-season for better prices. That's frickin crazy.

Home Hardware has them for $16.99 - http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/index.htm/Indoor-Living/Housewares/Preserving-Products/Jars/Reg-Wide-Gem/6-Pack-1-9L-Wide-Mason-Jars/_/N-ntkpp/R-I4448170

Kyle Baker

04-09-2015, 08:33 PM

Get half gallon jugs from a maple supply. .. they're $2.75 ish per jug i think. 6 in a case

Run Forest Run!

04-09-2015, 08:36 PM

You can find canning jars for dirt cheap at your local ReUse centre or thrift store. While I currently have more than I need at home, the ones I've seen there don't ever look like they've been used to store used kitty litter or any such vile substance.

Galena

04-09-2015, 09:18 PM

Wow. :o I didn't realize that you were still getting swamped. And here I am relaxing with my feet up. Give us a current syrup total when you get a breather.

Uhh...current syrup....virgin bush of 6 taps/3 trees...3 batches totalling 5.20 l....home bush...4 batches, 18 taps/6 trees totalling 12l. So far.

50l of home tree sap in the garbage can *priority batch after boiling off current virgin batch* and what 33l? I think, from today, in holding.

Currently boiling virgin bush #4...I think 40l? Not counting the 13l I collected from them today.

Bring yer floaties, and a lifebelt and a liferaft...I should get a mug made up that says 'Eat. Sleep. Work. Boil sap. Make syrup'

ETA: Have found canning jars at local Sally Ann etc but usually the ones with zinc screw-thingies and glass lids. Very lucky to find anything relatively new.

Kyle...I have a 1/2 gallon glass jug....but safe to pour hot syrup into? Not about to try!!!!

And thanks 67Heaven but local HH says they only get in 2ls during *canning season*, meaning the fall. Sounded totally bewildered when I asked them nicely to get them in like right frickin now....*sigh.*...

Run Forest Run!

04-09-2015, 09:35 PM

local HH says they only get in 2ls during *canning season*, meaning the fall.

I ran out of pectin one fall when doing up preserves. The local grocer said that they only carried that in season. Uhm, what? :confused: And to top it off, that weekend was Fair weekend. You know, when there is an entire section dedicated to home canning competitions . . . .

Kyle Baker

04-10-2015, 05:21 AM

Galena, The ones I'm talking about are made for hot syrup.http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/04/10/a44446fbad29d28dac947dc02d3d476c.jpg You can get them at CDL in Lanark or covells building supplies in rideau ferry.

Big_Eddy

04-10-2015, 08:56 AM

Took the day off work to boil today. Here is a little video of my setup in action. Its nothing fancy but it was Boiling off as fast as the sap feed was running in. https://youtu.be/FT4XPijs_KA

I thought I would try making a video too. See below. I had trouble getting video of the syrup pan. Too much steam. I guess that's a good thing. https://vimeo.com/124617515

https://vimeo.com/124617584

Galena

04-10-2015, 09:36 AM

Thanks Kyle, if I get caught up today (and don't lose power with all the thunderboomers rolling through today) I'll head for Rideau Ferry tomorrow. Wish I'd known about that place sooner, everywhere around here is really inconsistent in terms of supplies, but ah well. Wonder if they also have stainless steel funnels that will fit the neck of that bottle?

Oh and that batch of syrup that insisted I finish it yesterday, tons of nitre in it this morning....because it went straight from sap to syrup, with no chance to pour off nearup and get most of that **** nitre. So will have to carefully decant it. Stoopid tree blood, told it I knew better!

ETA: checked home trees this morning and thank gawd they are slowing down...a lot....maybe 3l total between all of them. Haven't been to virgins yet but hope they also got the memo.

Kyle Baker

04-10-2015, 10:15 AM

Yes covells has a good little section of syrup making supplies. Ive never used anything but a plastic funnel with no issues. They may have a ss one though.

Bushfrosh

04-10-2015, 10:19 AM

In addition to Mason jars, I save glass jars throughout the year. Large jam jars, applesauce jars, spaghetti jars - they all seem to do the trick but especially the ones that have the dimple on the lids that makes the wonderful popping sound shortly after bottling.

Lespetras

04-10-2015, 12:30 PM

MustardSeedMum

04-10-2015, 01:48 PM

Lespetras

04-10-2015, 01:56 PM

Lesley, it might be your containers that had the remnants of old sap, perhaps? I noticed that one of my white collecting buckets that was sitting empty had a few mold spores on the bottom - so I will have to give them a wash if we're going to get more sap.

Doubtful that it is buddy sap - perhaps boil a little of it separately. Apparently you can tell right away if it is buddy.
Okay great.. Thanks for advice. Nevertheless, I dumped like 30litres of sap and pulled the south facing spiles today:cry: as there were tons if brown moths... Like 2 in each bucket!

MustardSeedMum

04-10-2015, 02:00 PM

Okay great.. Thanks for advice. Nevertheless, I dumped like 30litres of sap and pulled the south facing spiles today:cry: as there were tons if brown moths... Like 2 in each bucket!

2 is nothing, Lesley!! But since you're way past your 1L/tap, I wouldn't sweat it.
Although we all hate to do it until the last possible moment, it *is* ok to pull taps when we want to be done with sugaring for the season - even if the sap is still good.

You've had a great run. I'd like to see a picture of the trees that gave you this much syrup! :D

Lespetras

04-10-2015, 02:05 PM

2 is nothing, Lesley!! But since you're way past your 1L/tap, I wouldn't sweat it.
Although we all hate to do it until the last possible moment, it *is* ok to pull taps when we want to be done with sugaring for the season - even if the sap is still good.

You've had a great run. I'd like to see a picture of the trees that gave you this much syrup! :D
Ok.. I'll take a few pics of my biggest producers.. I didn't pull all spiles.. Just front yard ones, the sugar bush I left alone, the locals told me a few days ago that the north facing trees would continue.. This is about half of my taps

Bruce L

04-10-2015, 03:22 PM

Lespetras

04-10-2015, 04:57 PM

Hi Lesley, I also noticed the sap starting to smell strong last couple of days,though it is not buddy yet it is getting close. I boiled the last today,planned on it yesterday but the bus dropped the transmission, so I didn't get the kids home until later, and started boiling much later than planned.
Bruce,
In your vast experience, what are your thoughts on this whole north facing south facing trees business? Do the north facing ones continue on for a while after the south facing ones or is this an old wives tale?
Lesley

Bushfrosh

04-10-2015, 07:55 PM

Okay... Has anyone's sap started to smell off? Our small amount that we collected last night and sat in the reservoir overnight has a musty scent.. I'm gonna throw out.. Is this the 'budding'sap? Still clear though.. Maybe should have refrigerated? But temp didn't go above6 degrees
Lesley

I had that musty smell last year. However, I did not smell it in the cold sap but as soon as I started to heat it, the smell became apparent. I kept boiling foolishly hoping the smell would disappear but it did not. The smell was not what I expected from a "buddy" smell so I thought maybe it was just that particular collection had gone bad since I had not been in the bush for a couple of days. I had just gathered a monster run so I tried boiling some of that but, as soon as it got heated, the smell appeared once again. So, that's how my 2014 season ended. I had my traditional celebratory beverage and dumped my monster run of sap. To me, the musty smell meant buds but maybe it was not...

Lespetras

04-10-2015, 08:20 PM

You've had a great run. I'd like to see a picture of the trees that gave you this much syrup! :D

Msm,
Here are a few pictures of my trees
11671
The queen of sap
11672
The brothers of mass production
11675
The sisters of diddly squat
11676
The constant casualty

Run Forest Run!

04-10-2015, 08:26 PM

Love the names. Too funny. :lol:

Bruce L

04-10-2015, 08:28 PM

Lesley, yes the north trees will continue to run quite a bit longer, in our case most all of the trees run longer now since we started using check valves. The sapwood will be as clear as the day we drilled.

Galena

04-10-2015, 09:02 PM

Hey all, still managing to stay awake and make a dent in the garbage can o' sap...made 2.5l dark amber syrup from 56l of the virgins, boiled off FINALLY at 224...was at 220 for the longest time! And yes being the crazy person I am collected from both bushes today, just cause I don't have enough work to do already *eyeroll* Both are wayy down, thank gawd, still producing nice clear scent-free sap though some is tree pee. But still enough to make me put two just-emptied water bottles back into service!! So still an estimated 120l+ out there. Very glad I was able to take this Friday off.

Lespetras

04-10-2015, 09:06 PM

Love the names. Too funny. :lol:
Yes.. I've grown quite fond of my tress this spring, even the underachievers hold a special spot in my heart.
Thanks Bruce, good to know, I'll hang on to the sugar bush for a bit longer then!
Lesley

ennismaple

04-10-2015, 10:28 PM

Over 16,000 gallons of sap collected the last 3 days - I don't know if the RO, the evaporator, our tractor driver or the sugarmakers are more tired! It didn't freeze last night so we didn't expect to boil today - and we were surprised by some tanks that were almost overflowing this morning! Close to 4,000 gallons of sap later we were making beautiful light syrup that was verging on extra-light!!! Crazy. We've barely made any amber yet and we have so many orders for it. A good problem to have.

Lespetras

04-10-2015, 10:35 PM

Batch 13: 76 litres.. Made 2125 ml of syrup.. sugar content 2.4

MustardSeedMum

04-10-2015, 10:43 PM

Msm,
Here are a few pictures of my trees
11671
The queen of sap
11672
The brothers of mass production
11675
The sisters of diddly squat
11676
The constant casualty

bwahahaha. THose are awesome names. I had more than my fair share of sisters. :lol:

maple75

04-11-2015, 03:14 AM

Wednesday was my best day, 50 litres of sap, the Thursday 30 litres. Friday I only got 15 litre and it was brown ( syrup colored) I am assuming that means my season is over? We dumped it and have 150 litres now in the freezer to boil on Sunday, day off!)

Run Forest Run!

04-11-2015, 09:46 AM

Friday I only got 15 litre and it was brown ( syrup colored) I am assuming that means my season is over?!

That was just stained rain water that ran into your bucket maple75. Good call on dumping it because you only make clouds, not syrup, when you boil it. That doesn't mean your season is over, it just means it rained. :) Have fun boiling on Sunday!

67HEAVEN

04-11-2015, 10:46 AM

It didn't freeze last night so we didn't expect to boil today - and we were surprised by some tanks that were almost overflowing this morning!

Congratulations. This first year newbie is still befuddled by the random effect of Mother Nature. Here in southern Northumberland County (almost on Lake Ontario), I haven't collected anything from my buckets since April 6th. Yet, not that far northeast and northwest of me, people seem to be collecting still. Then, in spite of no freeze-up overnight, ennismaple gets flooded.

There has to be more to this than a relationship to freezing. In ennismaple's case, perhaps it's the vacuum system, but that doesn't explain others who are on buckets like me, and have been harvesting. http://i58.tinypic.com/23m4lko.jpg

Lespetras

04-11-2015, 02:04 PM

There has to be more to this than a relationship to freezing. In ennismaple's case, perhaps it's the vacuum system, but that doesn't explain others who are on buckets like me, and have been harvesting. http://i58.tinypic.com/23m4lko.jpg
Hi there 67,
Yes, we are on buckets like yourself, first year for us too... And we have still been getting small amounts of sap in south frontenac, not too far from you. Today however, this has drastically slowed down.. Like only very small amounts of sap... Now I know I've said this a few times in posts already and had a confirmation from locals and Bruce L. But apparently the north facing trees produce for quite a bit longer after the others stop.. Perhaps you do not have any north facing trees?

Anyhow wanted to share a picture of our canned stock... Minus the frozen stuff... Much of our stash has been gifted away... But we are proud of our hard work!
11680
Lesley

Run Forest Run!

04-11-2015, 02:06 PM

What a gorgeous photo of your efforts Lesley. I'm a real fan of the classic Crown jars with the glass top. Lovely. :)

MustardSeedMum

04-11-2015, 03:08 PM

You're right 67, there's more to it than meets the eye when it comes to trees giving up sap or not. And I know not what it is. :rolleyes:

I am in the process of pulling my buckets today. None are producing any sap - didn't expect it to, as the weather has not been cooperative. The wind yesterday effectively shut down any hope of getting more sap.

Yet, I have 1 lone tree with 2 taps in it dripping happily away. This tree is south-facing in the bush. But there are 3 other trees right around it that are not dripping. Why it's dripping when everybody else is not beats the heck out of me. The only reason I can come up with is that it is my leaning pisa tree. As in this tree is sideways about 35 degrees. :lol:

Well, got to hop off now and load up the fire for my last 75L of sap + whatever my leaning pisa gives me today. Today will be my last boil. I am ending my season - got to move on to my other projects. My husband has just bought some chicken coop plans and we'll have to get a start on that.

Galena

04-11-2015, 06:23 PM

Wow, almost caught up with my trees, and they're still quietly dripping away, but greatly slowed down...and the owner of the virgin bush actually groaned when I turned up with her share of batch #3!! She plans to give a lot of it away, which is fine by me :-)

Looking at getting another 4l of syrup tonight from the remnants of the tsunami day when I got 50l. I wish the run this year were more like last year, with one moderately big run every few days, as opposed to getting walloped with one huge run and then it just drops off quickly.

Made an important discovery today...finished syrup with heavy nitre in it will refilter quite nicely at room temp. I had some nitre hills in a 250ml jar of virgin batch #4 (haven't delivered that yet ;-) and just set up a piece of clean T-shirt and funnel, clean jar, dumped in the nitre-laden syrup and it did its thing perfectly, I got out about 99% of the nitre this way (think I still see a teeny bit at the bottom).

And...for a personal best...have yet to produce a batch, from either bush, this year that has crystallized! So, glad that I'm finally getting the hang of this sugaring thing.

And that's my next project. Seeing I've got stupid amounts of home bush syrup eating up all the space in my fridge, I'm going to properly heat-seal one 2l jar from each big batch and store it in a cupboard. Most of the rest will live in the fridge and probably be traded/given away, but I do plan to try sugarmaking this year. Apparently you can get a pound of sugar from just 2 cups finished syrup.

And yep Lesley, getting to work on the pics after supper, just confirm with me that you got that pic I sent you so I know there's no issues with email.

ETA: I am getting rid of my blue plastic spiles, all 30 of them. Totally useless, replaced 3/4 of them and the remaining few pull out with a light tug, and they all leaked like ****. Apart from very minor sap leakage from a few holes, have NONE of those problems with metal spiles, so keeping them, though will see if I can get em tapered down to 5/16ths.

Anyway either come and get them or pay shipping. PM me if you want them.

Lespetras

04-11-2015, 08:37 PM

So.. We actually collected approx 35 litres of sap from remaining taps today (I've pulled 4).. Still hanging in there,
Boiled down to 1100 ml... Sugar content 2.7%..
Lesley

Galena

04-12-2015, 01:10 PM

Pulled some dry taps today from both bushes. #7, my only red, is the lowest producer anyway and always dries first. Over at the virgin bush, pulled 2 buckets on blue plastic spiles - didn't need to work hard to get em out!!

Both bushes are still going, not much, but still enough - like yesterday, got 6.5l from home trees - to make sure that I'll have to go collect this evening. The evenings are cool and I am keeping storage containers on the north side of the house, under a tarp with the silver side facing out to stop containers from getting warm.

And for the number-obsessed here *hi Karen!;-)*...from the homebush, to date, not counting the last big batch still on the boil, I have 15.25l syrup from the homebush of 18 taps. And the virgin bush, again only so far cause it's still going, has given me a very respectable 7l syrup from 6 taps.

And a shout-out to the jocks at my favourite station, Live 88.5...they've been fielding my song requests like troopers, think I'll drop off some syrup to them once done as a thank you :-)

Back to supervising boiling pots again.

maple75

04-12-2015, 02:45 PM

Well, I went and bought a hydrometer, after boiling the first 45litres of sap I got and getting 2 litres of syrup using thermometer, I figured I needed a hydrometer to see where I really was at! I opened a jar from that first batch and checked it, it is at 71 brix. Now what? lol... should I heat it up again and add some sap? Or, what will happen to it if I leave it alone, there isn't any crystals in it yet?
It will probably get used up fairly quickly.

Run Forest Run!

04-12-2015, 02:55 PM

Hey maple75. It will develop crystals fairly quickly, unless the syrup is in your belly. :lol: If you are going to eat it within the next month or two then don't bother fiddling with it if you don't feel like it. Should you want to thin it somewhat then you can either add sap, or some distilled water and heat it up again. Either is fine. Know that if you heat it past around 190/200+F you will create new niter. If you do, then don't bother filtering that syrup, just let the niter settle to the bottom of your jars and toss that bit when you get down to that level.

Hope you had fun this year. :D

maple75

04-12-2015, 03:26 PM

Really enjoying sugaring for the first time! I am boiling again today, still not done this season and already looking forward to next year!! Just picked up 25 more spiles for next season (it's all that was left at the local hardware store!), and evaporator improvements are coming as soon as I am done for this year!
I have also just reclassified all the trees on my property into two categories: 1- Maple trees, 2- fuel for boiling sap!!

MustardSeedMum

04-12-2015, 04:54 PM

Maple75, Galena's got more blue spiles for sale, I believe. :)

It's a fun little hobby, isn't it - this sugaring business?! Welcome on board the crazy train!

maple75

04-13-2015, 04:02 AM

boiled on Sunday, and again surprised at the amount of syrup I got out of my sap. Started with 130litres of sap, finished 6.2 litres of syrup. Finished syrup tested 67.5brix at 60 degree Fahrenheit with my new hydrometer! I got in trouble last weekend for taking the roasting pan from the kitchen so I picked up a couple full steam table pans, 4 inches deep, worked much better.
Sap is still dripping here sunday, picked up 15litres from my 13 taps.

Big_Eddy

04-13-2015, 08:27 AM

I'm done. We were planning to pull the taps on Saturday morning, but they were all dripping away so we left them until Sunday. They were still dripping Sunday too, but we pulled them anyway as the forecast doesn't show freezing temperatures again. Spent a nice afternoon in the sun washing buckets and jugs while the last 20 gallons of sap boiled off, then drained the flue pan into pails and finished everything off in the syrup pan while boiling water in the back. Probably another 30 litres of syrup when it was all done. I'll know better once I have it filtered and bottled.

Now the evaporator will sit with vinegar in it for a week or two before final cleaning, and preparation for storage.

Overall it was a good season for us. 156 trees, >100l of syrup, mostly medium, all delicious. Because it stayed cold a long time, then went to warm quickly, we didn't seem to have as many "bugs in sap" days, and moths seemed light this year. The evaporator ran well, averaging about 20 gals/hr evaporation for most of the season - about 4gph more than last year - due to drier wood and some tweaks to the bricking.

I'll work out my final stats once I catch my breath.

Galena

04-13-2015, 08:30 AM

Made almost 3 full litres of gorgeous red syrup yesterday from the home batch so now I'm at 18.5l, meaning I've met the 1l/tap thingy...yay! And the virgins still producing happily even though only on 4 taps there now.

One change I will make starting next year, though, is to stop tapping #7, the only red. It's never been a strong producer. Even on Sap Tsunami day, April 6, when all the sugars were kicking it between 4-12l each, it gave just over 2.5l. Even the next slowest tree, #1, is quite capable of producing much higher numbers than that!

Lespetras

04-13-2015, 08:34 AM

Collected and boiled 48litres yesterday for a 1.3 litre yield. Sugar content 2.3%, no sap dripping yet this morning.. We'll see how the day goes.
Lesley

Lespetras

04-13-2015, 03:51 PM

So I know many of you are finished for the year... And I was starting to pull some more of my spiles this morning -starting with the poor performers... Low and behold, sap started literally gushing out of a few of them ( like the sisters of diddly squat that probably gave me a grand total of 6 litres between all three this season are gushing sap?)So my husband being the syrup hound he is.. Put the spiles back in place and by 1:30 today we did a full collection of 42 more litres of clear, coolish sugar tasting sap. I'm starting to think we may have tapped them wrong.. This is crazy right? Like its 16C outside and no freezing temps... What the heck? Like the buckets are still filling like crazy, I anticipate another 40-50 litres by this evening.... I just can't bring myself to pull my spiles with this sap flow... So yes, trucked off to costco and purchased more propane! I really don't think things will last like this but as I am a maple syrup virgin I can't help but wonder just how long this is gonna carry on for..
Les

Galena

04-13-2015, 04:43 PM

Could carry on for awhile, Lesley. The Sisters of Diddly-Squat suddenly gushing forth? Well, tree #9 - who is like my George Harrison tree, definitely there but not calling attention to himself (during Beatles phase obviously) - but now giving superstar #6 a run her money. Ditto #1 is now challenging #2. And #5 is still chugging along in the middle as it usually does this time of the run.

I'm guessing, but as your trees are all quite a bit smaller than mine, I'm guessing that they may stop fairly gradually? Mine started a bit later than yours and only just got up to steam last week, so I think they could just blow out any time by next weekend....ETA as they indeed did, went from 20l down to 2.5l overnight. So mine are likely to just hit the brakes, but in the meantime have given me between yesterday and today 30l...yet more work...*groan*

Will see what the virgin bush does, though of course it's only 3 trees there compared to your 30. But with only 4 spiles left wondering what there will be, esp as I am currently boiling a virgin batch so should add as much as I can to it....btw I named those trees...#3 there is Big Sugar, cause that's what it is ;-) #2 is a split-trunked red, and one spile would either produce heavily or not at all. The other spile on the other trunk produces consistently. So they are Two Be and Not Two Be. And the #1 tree there is...actually I don't have a name for that one!

Clinkis

04-13-2015, 07:22 PM

Went around this afternoon and pulled a few remaining buckets and, lone behold, most were over half full with clear sweet sap. Kinda kicking myself for pulling the plug after yesterday's debuckle. If I'd held out for one more day perhaps I could of redeemed myself....oh well. Time to move on to the many other responsibilities around the farm.

cheesegenie

04-13-2015, 08:05 PM

Well I spent the day washing buckets, pails and all the other stuff. Next is the pans and put all that other stuff away. Very big job, but I used the evaporator to heat up the water, so endless amount of hot water.

Galena

04-13-2015, 09:33 PM

I made the fatal mistake of washing up and storing away sap-storage containers on Sunday...since then have had to press-gang two of them back into service!!!

It ain't over til the fat tree (in my case #2) stops dripping ;-)

Lespetras

04-13-2015, 11:19 PM

Oh my... Just finished batch 16! 64 litres made 2300ml. Sugar content 3.1%. I had full intention of carrying on to make sugar but got tired and bottled... Would have been good had my one bottle not broken! ----!!! I lost an entire litre
Lesley:mad:

Run Forest Run!

04-13-2015, 11:38 PM

Oh no, not an entire litre! What happened?

Lespetras

04-13-2015, 11:49 PM

Oh no, not an entire litre! What happened?
The bottle broke, it wasn't hot enough for the syrup I put in and totally cracked.. Then when I tried to move it the bottom fell out:cry:
Just sucks when you work so hard and boil so long... But it's all good.. I've leaned a valuable lesson! And I'm gonna try for the sugar tomorrow night.. I will be shocked if we get another run like today... Apparently the temp went up to 21*C today.. And isn't going below 5*C tonight so I'm thinking this is the end?
How about there?

Run Forest Run!

04-14-2015, 12:49 AM

Thank goodness you didn't hurt yourself with hot syrup or broken glass. I can only imagine the mess you had to clean up. :( Temps here tonight are going to be the same as where you are. Not ideal for sap. Sometimes you still get a surprise, but they become few and far between at this time of year. You will start to notice the sap becoming a little more opaque, but still not cloudy. Then one day you look in the bucket and the stuff looks gross and smells a little funky. I think we are only a few days away from gross and funky. :lol:

ennismaple

04-14-2015, 01:42 PM

Today might or might not be our last boil - depending on how the syrup tastes and smells. We made beautiful light and medium until Saturday. Sunday we finally got some amber. Today's will definitely be amber - maybe 'C'. While most around us haven't gotten a freeze-up since Friday night we got a decent freeze Saturday night and a light freeze Sunday night - the benefits of being beside a lake still covered in ice!. As a result, we're still getting close to 3/4 gallon of sap per tap for each of the last 3 days. The sugar content isn't great but it's definitely worth boiling - especially when you can RO 75% of the water out of it!

Doing some quick math - we made 50% of our crop in 7 days and 75% of our crop in 10 days. We were well rested until Good Friday and we're now exhausted! At least we're exhausted with a lot of full drums in the basement.

Lespetras

04-14-2015, 03:52 PM

Sometimes you still get a surprise, but they become few and far between at this time of year. You will start to notice the sap becoming a little more opaque, but still not cloudy. Then one day you look in the bucket and the stuff looks gross and smells a little funky. I think we are only a few days away from gross and funky. :lol:
So sap is still flowing from the trees today.. It looks a tiny bit cloudy... Smells and tastes fine.. I'm gonna boil it and see, I'm trying to redeem myself from last nights mishap! 20 litres so far, will do another run at 8 tonight and report, having fun in the sun:cool:
Lesley

butler

04-14-2015, 06:01 PM

Don't get much time to post... But if anyone in the Ottawa valley is interested... Upgrading my evap next year so I am selling my 2 year old cdl 2x6 .. Fully loaded.. $5400 for valley folks.. Thanks

Galena

04-14-2015, 07:28 PM

Just absolutely exhausted here, but trees at both bushes still producing. Got 6.5l from homebush tonight, boiling it up to make nearup tonight along with the gathering from the last two days...so that's...36l finishing up now. And yep still have a couple litres going from the virgins.

Also heard from a client who did find some small but tappable maples on her property, which is largely birch. She reports 25g of sap from 7 taps!! Wisely they boiled outsisde mostly but did have an indoor sap-boilover recently. I've offered to help finish their syrup if they need it.

Oh and speakin of which, have learned a very important lesson from last two batches, #5 and #6. And it must be temp-related cause batch #4 was from the same great sap collection as batch #5 but definitely finished at a lower temp. Anyway. #5 and #6 didn't finish til 222 or 224. It was way up there and yes the temp of boiling water was normal at 212 both times. Both have nice colour on them, but **** did they ever show a CRAPLOAD of nitre in the bottom, which I haven't had from my trees all season!! I should have been tipped off that somethin' weren't right when both batches filtered in record time, just about shot straight through the cloth in a few minutes flat.

So been trying to refinish the syrup....letting batch #5 do it's thang at room temp through just one cloth filter, and alternately heating #6 to about 170 and refiltering but through 2 layers of cloth. Jury still out on both methods, though #5's smaller 500ml jar filtered clean. Haven't yet checked the 2l jar of #5 to see if it's done the same.

Sadly #6 looks just as nitrey as before and even worse lost some syrup to the filters....Argh....well, will just have one helluva salvage batch when I do boil those suckahs down, have a giant Ziploc Freezer bag jammed with filters awaiting a reboil!!!

Lespetras

04-14-2015, 08:43 PM

So collected more sap... Total of 35 litres and boiled it down... Currently at 217 C and it smells off... I don't know but I think I'm gonna throw it out! It's still sweet but it's just different from the other syrup we've made this year. And I don't really like it! My husband is refusing to throw it out ... But I think the season is done! Gonna pull spiles tmw! Thanks yor a
Everyone's input thus year.. Also gonna try some maple sugar tonight with some of my blotted syrup!
Lesley

Galena

04-14-2015, 09:07 PM

LOL if hubby refuses to toss spoiled syrup, Lesley, make sure he eats it ;-)

Also planning on pulling spiles by Friday at latest. Kid sis coming for a weekend. We only see each other 1x a year for a few hours, normally. But this time she is free of her 3 kids and hubby, so want to spend quality time with her and not fretting over syrup!

Lespetras

04-14-2015, 10:36 PM

Run Forest Run!

04-14-2015, 11:10 PM

Lesley, so what did the syrup taste like?

Lespetras

04-14-2015, 11:34 PM

Lesley, so what did the syrup taste like?
It's funny you ask that... Because I was about to write a thread about it.. But then erased it... So the aftertaste is terrible! So gross it's hard to explain... It smells 'earthy'.. Like vegetables cooking at the end. So we tossed it..
But to make matters worse.. I decided to go ahead and boil the syrup from last night.. You know the disaster night, to make candy and this also tasted aweful.. But I had my husband taste it and he says it's fine.. But I think that the one taste of buddy has my taste buds buggered because I put that aside and threw on two more syrup from like two weeks ago and I can still smell that **** buddy scent! I don't know... 6 litres later, I better call it a night lol! All I can say is once you have a taste for buddy, it screws with your mind.., like there is a fine line between really good syrup and really bad.. Sort of like cheese...lol.. Maple candy will have to wait until my poor damaged taste buds recover.. Needless to say our maple season is over and actually I am depressed about it because we really loved it... But 2016 is not that far away:rolleyes:
Lesley

Lespetras

04-15-2015, 07:38 AM

Galena

04-15-2015, 07:44 AM

Yep you've had a helluva learning curve this year, Lesley! I've also had to adjust a syrup amount or two due to syrup loss through filters. So have to rejuggle #s.

Make notes of what you've learned esp the buddy stuff. So far I've been lucky to avoid any encounters with buddy sap, but mostly having such a small bush to run helps. Mind the virgins could still throw me for a loop so can't get complacent! :-)

Kyle Baker

04-15-2015, 07:46 AM

Nice candy Leslie. Where did you get that nice leaf mould?

Lespetras

04-15-2015, 07:49 AM

Nice candy Leslie. Where did you get that nice leaf mould?
Hi Kyle,
Actually got it from the bulk barn... Worked out ok

Vandy

04-15-2015, 08:12 AM

It smells 'earthy'.. Like vegetables cooking at the end. So we tossed it..

****. I have my final batch of nearup that should give me 10-12 liters that smells like this.. I figured I was at fault as I dropped a bunch of broccoli and cauliflower into my pan when I was preparing my sugar shack cooked meal (filet minion over coals, backed potatoes, and veg). Maybe the smell isn't from the vegetables I dropped in..

This batch was just before I tossed 90Gal of sap due to 'butt' smelling steam..

Anyway, great season, got overrun with sap. Final tally to come, but have bottled 86 liters.

Need to upgrade my evap rate to 10Gal/hour from 4Gal/hour.

Kyle Baker

04-15-2015, 08:52 AM

Wow good job vandy! Yes you need to get your rate up. Ive got some ideas. Ill email you!

Run Forest Run!

04-15-2015, 11:15 AM

Lesley, what a drag that your last few batches were disposables. It's such a shame since it takes a lot of hard work to turn that sap into syrup. You had a record breaking season regardless of whether you are a newbie or not! 'Unbelievable' would be an understatement! When you said that you were depressed about the season being over I kind of chuckled. You're now one of us. The moment a spile is pulled, the countdown to next year begins. You'll never take a vacation in the spring ever again. You'll only ever make last minute plans to get together with friends - because it depends on how much sap you collected that day. And, your family will write you off for a month. The list goes on.

Congratulations again on such a stellar first year. I know you'll be back next year. :)

Big_Eddy

04-15-2015, 12:17 PM

You'll never take a vacation in the spring ever again.

More likely you'll use up all your vacation in the spring - like the rest of us.

Run Forest Run!

04-15-2015, 12:20 PM

More likely you'll use up all your vacation in the spring - like the rest of us.

You're right about that BigE. I should have said a spring beach vacation. :lol:

ennismaple

04-15-2015, 01:28 PM

... And on waking up this morning buddy scent free, I smelled the stuff I put aside and realized that it too was buddy bad!! So that means that my batch from 2 nights ago the 2300 ml is null and void! And so subtracted from my totals :cry:
On a positive note after 3 attempts last night.. I made delicious homemade maple candy... It's yummy and 2 litres made a ton!:D

Lesley - Nice looking sugar! You want to let it sit for a day or two to allow the excess moisture to evaporate. Otherwise, the sugar will get soggy.

We ended up with almost 5,000 gallons of sap yesterday that made a beautiful amber syrup with no aftertaste. The sugar content was down, as is expected at the end of the season, but the RO makes it less painful to boil low sugar sap. It froze last night and is supposed to freeze tonight so we're hoping for one more boil to finish off the season and get enough amber to see us through the year.

can'twaitforabigrun

04-15-2015, 02:03 PM

Galena

04-15-2015, 03:12 PM

Did someone say 'vacation'? What's that? ;-)

Also...was boiling up the last few litres from the virgin bush, collected last yesterday...wasn't long before this musty, rotting-vegetation smell, like a swampy smell (made me think of frogs) began to rise in the steam - so pulled it off the heat pronto, dumped it, rinsed out that pot and boiled bottom with vinegar. Then scrubbed it out with baking soda and rinsed again with hot water. Will probably boil a potful of hot water in it just to be extra careful.

And to think, I had my last jars of nearup from the virgin bush all ready to go and get dumped in so I could make one last batch...*sigh*...ah well will do what I can with the 3ish litres of nearup. Still have about 4.25l of homebush nearup to finish. Might fridge it til Saturday so can show Sis how it's done.

So once I finish having a slightly late lunch, will go over to virgins and pull spiles there. Still some out in my trees, but only a couple litres, and they've done enough. I'm happy.

ETA: Hardly anything left at the virgin bush anyway so pulled all taps and thanked the trees, then helped the landowner muck stalls and bring in the beasties :-)

Then came home and collected sap, and pulled spiles that had already been dry for a day or two anyway. Ended up pulling all taps from #2 and #5, but on Super Six Sap Machine all three spiles are still going, so they're all still in, esp as I heard tonight's meant to be -2. So #1 still has a spile in, as does #9. Hope that tonight's cold will spur a last little bit of sap.

Oh yes, and hovered like a nervous hummingbird over the little boiling pot when I boiled down the 2l I collected from the home trees, inhaling steam...but no rank odours, just that clean sweet smell of fresh sap :-) #6 is REALLY killing it this year, I think it's the top producer but haven't checked the numbers yet.

Lespetras

04-16-2015, 08:19 AM

ennismaple

04-17-2015, 01:14 PM

Ennis, Have you hit a liter per tap yet? Seems like most producers in Ontario aim for a litre per tap on vacuum systems, whereas those in Vermont aim for 1/2 GPT (1.89 L). Have you heard of anyone in Ontario hitting the 1/2 GPT mark this year or in past seasons?

We ended up just over 1 L/tap. I know a number of producers near us who were more like 0.75L/tap and some who are over 1. We're not running high vacuum (yet) so just over 1L is a decent number for 20" Hg. Running 27" Hg we'd get 35% more sap - which could push us close to that 1/2 USG/tap mark. It's in the plans I just need to convince the CFO!

How are things up the Ottawa Valley?

can'twaitforabigrun

04-17-2015, 04:29 PM

We gathered close to 1/2gpt yesterday. They finished boiling that up this morning and I'm heading up tomorrow to help clean everything up. Not sure how much we made yet, ill post on here Sunday or Monday.

Galena

04-17-2015, 06:23 PM

We ended up just over 1 L/tap. I know a number of producers near us who were more like 0.75L/tap and some who are over 1. We're not running high vacuum (yet) so just over 1L is a decent number for 20" Hg. Running 27" Hg we'd get 35% more sap - which could push us close to that 1/2 USG/tap mark. It's in the plans I just need to convince the CFO!

How are things up the Ottawa Valley?

Hey Marty, I got 18.25l approx from my 18-tap homebush - so far, still have to syrup batch #7 - and got 8.25l syup from 6-tap virgin bush, so very happy with results. Pulled taps this morning, sad to see sap tears from the holes but it was time...*sigh*...the west and south spiles esp still wanted to go.

Ontario Ian

04-18-2015, 06:20 AM

That was a busy end of the season, ended up making just over 200 gallons. few more days of cleaning up and that will be it for this year! we averaged .8 liters per tap, had some pump issues so I know we missed some sap. All in all a great year!

ennismaple

04-20-2015, 01:26 PM

The sap was definitely still running on the weekend as we pulled the taps but there was no way you could possibly make syrup out of it! The sap in the tanks was so milky there was a layer of white sludge an inch thick across the bottom. The sap in the RO feed lines had gone ropey and stunk like sour milk. As we washed the lines the snot that was coming into the tanks was gumming up the releaser to the point that sap got sucked back into the moisture trap until the ball got sucked into the vacuum line - causing the regulator to kick in and the moisture trap to drain. I can't imagine how bad it would have smelled and tasted had we boiled it!