taps are in!

[harrison6jd]

we got about 70 in this afternoon. flowing very nicely by the time I got back down to the tank. snow up past my knees. an hour tomorrow and I should be all tapped in and then I can check for leaks and maybe add a new line.

[RIFoster]

I have 14 taps in on 3 lines so far. Once the hole was drilled and the spile in, sap was dripping visibly, but I get no visible flow on the line, maybe 4oz of sap in total all day long.

[harrison6jd]

same here. got a little surge and then it slowed up. the trees are just loosening up and its hard to be patient. last night didn't get below freezing either so that didn't help.

finished tapping today and checked for any leaks. its not flowing hard so I will have to check again. with all the snow, I cant haul the sap out with the skidsteer as usual so I have to get a new pump and pump it to a tank in the truck through a neighbors property. a big PIA but its the only way till some snow melts.

[thecabinguy]

I donned the snowshoes and got most of my taps in and bags hung over the weekend. Looks like we got some good flow today. I could only see a few as I drove by in the dark, but the bags were bulging. Today's temps helped with the snowpack. I still won't be able to collect until I can get the quad through the woods. Maybe next week. Once I manage to get the quad through once, I'm good. Still too deep now. Glad I got most of my taps in though. My trees can be stingy. I hate to miss any amount of sap run. Long range forecasts are predicting nice sap run weather for us through all of March. Could be a good year. Some more rain and a few more sunny warm days and I might be operational.

[harrison6jd]

I was just reading dr tims explanation of a possible slow start even though the weather is right. at least where I am, the bottom 2' of the tree trunk is still covered with snow preventing sun and warm air from getting to that part of the tree. cant have a good flow with part of the tree still frozen. yes? as it warms up, a well will form around the base of the tree letting her flow as it should. gives me more time to continue preparations.

[harrison6jd]

collected about 100 gallons of sap yesterday and very little today. will start to cook tomorrow afternoon and see how far I get.

[harrison6jd]

as I approached my tank, I was disappointed today because I couldnt see any air bubbles moving in the lines. ...................that's because they were full of sap! what a great run I had here today. I was able to add another short line with 10 taps on it.

[RIFoster]

Got 2 gallon from 14 taps, dumped it all out because it tastes like tubing.

[harrison6jd]

that tubing taste goes away before it gets bottled. I did the same thing you did when I first stated tubing and it wasn't till later, someone told me not to worry about it. I wasted lot of sap. I try to do things as pure as I can so it was hard to boil the sap that tasted like tubes. you can do a search on this site and see that most deal with the same situation when adding new tube. this week looks good for us here.
Got 2 gallon from 14 taps, dumped it all out because it tastes like tubing.

[RIFoster]

Still getting basically nothing, but what I do tastes like crap. Where does that taste "go" when boiling? Creeps me out tasting like chemicals.

[harrison6jd]

I cant tell you where the taste goes...but it goes. even the veterans here may not have a scientific answer for you. in order to believe, you may have to take a bit of the off taste sap and cook it. I was a non believer also when I first put up the tubes.


Still getting basically nothing, but what I do tastes like crap. Where does that taste "go" when boiling? Creeps me out tasting like chemicals.

[harrison6jd]

the past few days have given very little in sap. by the time it gets moving, the sun is on the way down so ive had only a few runs and on the short side. got about 40 gallons today though. the sun poked out for a few but never really stayed.

[RIFoster]

Getting about 1/3 gallon per tree right now. Boiled 3 gallons down to about 12 oz of nearly-there syrup - virtually no maple flavor, just a sort of cotton-candy caramel sweet flavor. Not bad, just not 'maple'.

[harrison6jd]

I guess as long as its sweet, enjoy it.

my trees are on the north slope in the woods so I needs mid 30's to get them running. today was sunny and windy but hovering around 32. the lines thawed but it didn't see a drip even at 330pm.

[harrison6jd]

collected yesterdays sap, maybe about 70 gallons. went and checked today around noon and had 50 in there already. flow was cruising in the tubes. one of my 5/16 lines had almost no air bubbles in it so I think I may need an upgrade next year. thinking of running an actual mainline instead of all 5/16. vac gauges should be here Friday so I can get a real idea of whats happening.

[RIFoster]

I'm getting ~2gal/day out of 3 taps in 1 tree that's split into 3 separate trunks, and then 9 others on 3 separate 5/16 lines produce a total of 1 gal/day. Strange behavior.

[harrison6jd]

cooked what I had Friday and had nothing to do Saturday. my neighbor offered me 130 gallons of his sap as he wouldn't be able to boil it before going bad. ended up with about 3.5 gallons a finished product. today, my son went for a hike in the woods and told me we had 100 plus gallons of sap in the tank. I didn't expect that because the nights here haven't be cold. looks like I cooking tomorrow.:)

[harrison6jd]

finished f 3gallons from my neighbor today while boiling down the 100. tubes were running at 830 Monday morning. will go see what yesterday gave me.

[RIFoster]

All my buckets were full of sap, then got washed out with rain. Bust year here. Got 2 pints of maple-less sugar syrup. I'll probably have some equipment for sale shortly.

[harrison6jd]

I have some sap now from Thursday and Friday. its got a little cloud to it as it usually does this time of year but tastes great. if you want some or all, let me know. maybe 100 gallons. I will have more coming and a neighbor is giving me his sap for what is left of the season. I don't have enough wood to boil it all and it will get dumped.

looks like just the 2 of us on here this year.

[harrison6jd]

today, I boiled down some sap that was a little cloudy but tasted fine. will end up with few gallons of finished syrup from that and there's another 100 gallons in the woods. looks like I am cooking tomorrow as well. filtering is becoming a chore with the not perfect sap but its still sweet.

[RIFoster]

I'm using propane on mine, burning a lot. I have no way to handle/process 100gal at a time, otherwise I'd be happy to take it.

[harrison6jd]

I boiled down the 100 but didn't check the sugar content. I ended up with 3 gallons of finished dark syrup so the sap was well on the sweet side. hardly anything sap Saturday and sunday but I am hoping for 1 more little run. we will see. if I get some, I will post it up and if you want 10 gallons or so, you are welcome to it. im at about 70 percent of last season but that seems to be the norm but im always happy if I can make ANY syrup.

[harrison6jd]

well, it loos like tis is the end for me also. I had a small run yesterday but not enough to run the evaporator. so today will be a cleaning day and put all equipment to bed. this weekend I will pull taps and and flush the lines. have a great year.