say it's not over.......

[woodey24]

Rookie here. If it gets cold at night this next week like it is supposed to will the sap start to run again? Or is really over?

[Snappyssweets]

depends on the trees. If they bud its likely all over. If they don't you may or may not get some good sap.
For me its over. I pulled my spiles and brought the buckets in today. Everything pulled the last two days was cloudy. I am boiling it now separatly so as not to risk it.
This year we have seen every grade possible in a short window of time. We have golden, light amber, amber, dark amber, and Well HOLY CRAP that is dark. I think its called B or used to be. It will be perfect for making candy out of though.

for anyone still pulling and or producing. Good luck I wish you all the best luck especially the guys further north.

[Jolly Acres Farm]

Woodey24,

I'm not sure where you are at but here in the U.P. it just started to run good the last two days......

[woodey24]

I am southern, 15 miles from OH border. Some of the trees are quite Budden some not much at all. Today's cook produced a quite darker syrup compared to last weekends. Hope your season goes longer than ours appeared to.

[Woody77]

Well for me I pulled taps today so its over . Time to get the racecars ready .it was the shortest season I've ever had but made more than I have evre made .so I guess I'm glad to be sad.

[Michigan Maples]

I gathered about 15 gallons yesterday and pulled all of the buckets and spiels. Couple of the buckets were looking a bit cloudy, and some were still clear, but I'm done. Time to finish everything up and clean everything, and store it for next year. Great season for us though, as I'm finishing the syrup today it looks like around 7 gallons finished.

[woodey24]

We have everything boiled down, last sap pretty dark. About 5 gallons of syrup this year, not bad for our rookie season. We got in the game a bit late this year. Gonna put out more taps next year. Taps are still in but looking at pulling them this weekend. Good luck racing and see ya next year as season prep begins.

[BreezyHill]

Let the buds guide you. If they are out then pull the spouts out. We will have to cap off our soft maple trees for the next freeze and run cycle. Til then the pump runs and the releasers dumps to the tank that has a ground drain line. It can and has cleared up after a three day 60+ temp run this season. So it can again but it is hard to say until you are a few hours into the run.

We are keeping the vac on to keep the lines cleaned out and the tap holes moist.

The long range looks intriguing if we can make it thru this warm spell.


Good Luck!

[Cedar Eater]

I'm keeping the fingers crossed that we make it until the next cold snap without any buddy sap. Some of my reds look great, but some look ready to pop. I guess I'll do my best to isolate those if the sap starts to stink. I've only just barely reached 100 gallons of sap this year with 55 taps.

[woodey24]

we got around 175 gallons on nearly 70 taps. First season and we missed the first run. Going to hold out. BreezyHill, will regular taps be ok, if it starts to run again? No vacuum here to keep the lines clear etc... The cold nights keep getting pushed. If the cold nights do come back is moving taps to other trees an option?

[CedarRidge]

Wow
Yea it's over here. Pulled taps on Sunday (12th) Not to bad for first year, 21taps and approx. 210 gal sap.
Have to finish boiling last 80 gal down, its turned real dark.

[Sue @ Battel's Sugar Bush]

Woodey, sap will still run, but the question is whether you want to keep the sap you'll get. If the trees have used too much of carbohydrates in the sap to produce their buds, any syrup you produce from that sap will be "buddy" or bitter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hannah]

So is everyone pulling taps? I'm in the Clare area and plan on waiting to see what the sap looks like in a coupledays after the first cold night. I suspect it will be cloudy and bitter but I'm not pulling taps till I find out for sure.

[Cedar Eater]

I'm cooking down sap that has a yellow tint separately from the clear stuff. It's coming from one sapline that has four large trees that all have fairly obvious buds. The steam stinks but the syrup is good and I'll keep it for mixing with whiskey (cheap Canadian). My other two lines (21 taps) have been giving me about seven gallons per day of clear sap. I sure hope the cold snap on Thursday night starts another run.

[Run Forest Run!]

Hey Sue@Battel's, great job on your web presence. I toured your pages and am loving your recipe section. A few will be making their way to my kitchen A'SAP'. What a wonderful family sugaring history you've got and are continuing to pass down. Have a great season.

[Sue @ Battel's Sugar Bush]

Hannah, we're not pulling taps yet here in the Thumb. A couple of us in the family are eternal optimists. Our annual open house is this weekend so if nothing else visitors can see the taps.

Thanks, Forest!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cedar Eater]

Your facebook link in your sig line doesn't work. I found you at https://www.facebook.com/battelsyrup/

[mitten mapler]

We are not pulling taps in st Helen either hoping for a good run the next few days as of Monday buds were still small and tight

[PeddlerLakeSapper]

Trees are dripping in Clarksville. Buckets are going back on tomorrow.

[woodey24]

Im going to the woods tomorrow afternoon to dump any sap thats been sitting there in preparation for a hopeful weekend run. Good luck to those still in the game.

[lindseyr1980]

Not pulling taps until Sunday. Hoping for one last run. Only a few of my trees have started to bud, I pulled those. Sap flow has been super slow the last week, but started to pick up again today. Fingers crossed!

[woodey24]

I went and dumped what sap had been in the buckets from last Sat. Hoping for a good run over next few days. I had some sap that was red? Only 4 of my really large trees have budded so fingers crossed. Good luck.

[Lethalbowman]

Forecast 13862
The forecast is looking real good for a descent sap run for the next week here in Northern Michigan. My trees all look real good still as I can hardly see any buds swelling at treetop level. I hope to gather more sap than I know what to do with next week.

[Hannah]

All my trees buds are tight and the sap is running clear today. Looking forward to this next weeks forecast.

[TrapperX]

I re-tapped 6 trees, the sap is running clear and collected 18 gallons since 10am this morning.
Have to wait until morning to check the 10 other trees and hope they don't overfill the 5 gallon buckets ;)

[odave]

Got about a gallon and a half from my 6 remaining taps today. One sugar and 3 Norways left. My red and the silvers are done.

[Lethalbowman]

It's a rather frosty 18 degrees here this morning in Northern Michigan. I am rather excited about what is to come in the next few days. I think we are going to have a real good sap run finally! I cleaned up my pans and have been stacking up the split wood so that I am ready to give the new evaporator a real workout. Bring it on.

[Tweegs]

Haven’t pulled any taps yet.

Got about 100 gallons off the vacuum yesterday, a bit cloudy, didn’t check the sugar content.
Didn’t check the buckets, either.
We’ll take what we can get at this point.

The silvers have flowered, but we ran a small test batch of sap last night, all is good.

Buds are still tight on the sugars, I’m a little worried about the silvers though.
By pure accident, I put 95% of the silvers on one main line when I laid out the tubing system. Put a ball valve on that line a couple days ago, just in case.

Been working diligently these past few days. Buckets, tanks and pans are all clean, I’ll have at least 2 cord of wood split up and ready to go by day’s end.

Here’s hoping we’re in for a really busy week.
We’re at about 25% of our normal crop so far. Sure could use a spurt.

[woodey24]

I haven't pulled any either, actually put 10 more in this am. The sap was pouring out. Tasted sweet off the tap. Weather forecast only has night Temps over freezing 3 times in next 2 weeks....

[Lethalbowman]

13883 KB
The sap is running and looks nice and clear, hope I got enough wood cut and split to keep the evaporator running hot.

[woodey24]

What do the yellow stars mean on the thread?

[odave]

People can rate the thread as to how much they like the information and discussion. You can set your stars from the "Rate This Thread" dropdown in the top-right of the post list. It helps separate the wheat from the chaff (or the syrup from the niter) in terms of discussion quality. But not everyone rates threads, so some good discussions can have no stars.

[Lethalbowman]

I have been getting 10 gallons of nice clear sap each of the last couple of days. I think the trees continued to drip last night so I am looking forward to getting back out to collect tonight. Should have enough to fire up the evaporator Thursday morning.

[Cedar Eater]

I'm still getting nice clear sap. I finished a 30 gallon batch last night and I will be finishing another one today and I've already started another with about 12 gallons collected today. I'll collect one more time at the freeze up tonight. We're supposed to get 5-8 inches of snow followed by ice for tomorrow.

[Jolly Acres Farm]

We collected 20 gallons of 2.3% brix on 03-23-16. It was nice crystal clear sap. Wish we could get a good run......have yet to have one this year!

[zandstrafarms]

Running again here!

Been up and down alot though, had to pull 75+ red and silver and move to blacks and sugars. 625 gal sap from 150 taps so far, 6 gal syrup. 3 batches burned, every batch same color but different taste.

Just got 175 gal today alone thanks to temps!

I'm in mid west, north of grand rapids

[Cedar Eater]

Sap ran like never before yesterday and today. Making very dark syrup from all reds, but not a buddy batch yet.

[Tweegs]

Ran hard here yesterday.

Pulled taps on 22 silvers yesterday, they were getting too close for comfort.
With permission, yesterday I set up a 5/16 take-down system on my neighbor’s property…20 sugars, remote, very hard to get to.
Nearly a solid stream of sap the moment I pulled the bit out of those trees.

Wouldn’t have tapped those trees, but the buds are still tight and the weatherman says another cold snap is coming by week’s end.
From the looks of the buds on those sugars, I’m guessing we’ve got about two weeks left in the season.

We’re still way below a “normal” crop, but gaining. Fresh taps in good trees should help a bit.

[Lethalbowman]

I have collected 50 gallons of nice clear sap in the last 24 hours. I am trying to finish off my most recent batch and it's turning out to be med-dark amber again. They are calling for some really cold temps here in the next week so it should extend the season.

[Hannah]

How is the sugar content holding for you guys?

I usually check several trees when collecting buckets but this last time I didn't and ended up getting some very weak sap. I boiled 75 gallons for ONE gallon of syrup.

It must be creeping back up, as my average today did not warrant those horrible #'s. So, today I checked every tree and it is ranging from 0.7 - 2.5 with the average at 1.25%. But,that's still a not so fun loving 69/1 ratio.

I use a small flat pan and cannot justify boiling the real weak sap. Going to check each day for the next few days and start pulling taps on the weak trees that do not increase in sugar content. My cut off is going to be 1.5%, anything less and I am pulling the tap.

[billdean]

How is the sugar content holding for you guys?

I usually check several trees when collecting buckets but this last time I didn't and ended up getting some very weak sap. I boiled 75 gallons for ONE gallon of syrup.

It must be creeping back up, as my average today did not warrant those horrible #'s. So, today I checked every tree and it is ranging from 0.7 - 2.5 with the average at 1.25%. But,that's still a not so fun loving 69/1 ratio.

I use a small flat pan and cannot justify boiling the real weak sap. Going to check each day for the next few days and start pulling taps on the weak trees that do not increase in sugar content. My cut off is going to be 1.5%, anything less and I am pulling the tap.


Hannah............I forgot myself to check the sugar content. I can tell you that it is lower than it has been. I boiled down 46 gallons of sap and ended up with a tad over 3 quarts. It still tastes wonderful. I am pulling all my taps tomorrow. Until next year.............

[Tweegs]

We pulled in 350 gallons Friday night to Sunday morning @ 1.7%
RO’d that down to 100 gallons at just under 5% and ran it.
Managed 3 gallons of Amber, just a notch above dark.
Flavor was fair to good, not earthy or off.

Boiled in shorts and T-shirts swatting mosquitoes all the while…definitely a departure from normal circumstances.

Supposed to freeze tonight and tomorrow and again this weekend. Buds are still tight. We’re going to keep rollin’, for now.

[UPMaple]

We had a great run here in the UP the last couple days. Third day of boiling.

Trying to catch up before the next run again tomorrow.

[Wolfcreek Maple]

We pulled taps here in Ingham county Sunday.Boiled last of sap Saturday evening syrup had good color and taste was fair,not the flavor we like so shut the operation down for 2016.

[Cedar Eater]

Still boiling. Still gathering. Getting exhausted. Planning to pull taps tomorrow on all but cold swamp trees. Met my five gallon goal with mostly dark syrup. Might reach seven before I stop completely.

[firetech]

Good lordy this season is tough. We had 2500 taps in working with about 800 all sugars the reds were dropped a week ago. Basically I'm batch boiling now. 300-400 gals of sap, one pass on the RO into the evaporator, concentrate it down. clear the flue pan fill with water, take it down to 10-12 gals in the syrup pan into the gas finisher, Its taking me 3 times longer to make syrup, Tonites run yielded a nice dark syrup. I'm going to try to get thru this weekend, good luck to all who are still in,

[vinkandy]

Pulled all my taps last night in the Grand Haven, MI area. Season started out with excellent flow and about 2% sugar. Ran 110 taps and came up with 6 gallons of a nice Grade A Amber Rich. Ever since the warm up we had the week of March 6-12, my syrup has come out dark. Saturday the 12th, my syrup came out borderline a very dark A or lighter B. Flavor was off a little because of the warm up and trying to keep the sap cool. Was a tiny big cloudy. The syrup I made Saturday the 26th, came out a very strong woody flavor. Almost tastes burnt. My sap was a tiny big cloudy, however I think it's due to the buddy sap. Based on what I read, it was very metabolic. I don't care for the flavor at all, however the visitors that came over for Easter Dinner really enjoyed the unique flavor. I'll keep it for marinade. Ended up with 12 gallons overall. Half is dark Grade B and the other is A Amber Rich.

[Cedar Eater]

I think the sugar content went up. I lost track of how many gallons I boiled, but it couldn't have been more than 70. I finished 6 quarts from that. I shut down one sap line today and let my neighbor take over another one. I have fourteen taps on two remaining lines plus a bunch of trees with drop lines into jugs and all are still giving clear sap that boils down to good syrup.

[woodey24]

I am in process of boiling down about 90 gallons. No bad smell off of the steam so going with it. Haven't been in woods in a couple of days to check hoping still have a bit left, going to dump any cloudy and keep any clear. Cold nights ahead so still going with it. I still have the 80 taps all into buckets in the woods.

[woodey24]

Made my first batch of bad, real bad tasting syrup. Hoping to get some sap over weekend to make one last batch, regardless the size... If not its over for me this year. Been a great adventure and look forward to stocking up and making a better run at it next year.

[PeddlerLakeSapper]

Don't you think the next batch will be bad too?

[Cedar Eater]

Made my first batch of bad, real bad tasting syrup. Hoping to get some sap over weekend to make one last batch, regardless the size... If not its over for me this year. Been a great adventure and look forward to stocking up and making a better run at it next year.

Please remind me what kind of trees you are tapping. Are you going to exclude the ones with biggest buds?

[woodey24]

I am only tapped into maples right now. I plan on giving some walnuts a try next year. I have to drive right by them to get to the maples. Some on here had said that the walnuts run a bit longer than maples so if anybody was having success I was thinking to give a few a shot. I have pulled some of my taps that were on trees that budded, seems everyone says the reds are budded. I have moved taps to new trees or another section of the tree because the taps dried up. I don't know if I put some in wrong, i didn't use tubing that was made for syrup, I used fountain pop line that wasn't very snug on the taps. I feared that air got in to allow bacterial to grow.
The bad syrup that I made, I had 90 gallons of sap in 2 different barrels. I didn't batch do them because they were collected same day. The second barrels sap was a thicker density, towards shampoo. It was too late to take the sap back out so I kept cooking. I then took a small portion off of it once it had cooked down a bit and boiled it inside. I didn't smell the dirty socks like others have talked but didn't really smell the sweet either. When we went to taste it, it was definitely not edible. The sap had been collected for about 5 days but was kept pretty cool. I didn't have time over easter weekend to cook.
Learning as we go...

[woodey24]

I think this batch was bad due to the sap going bad because I wasn't able to boil.

[Lethalbowman]

14101
I am working on boiling down the 65 gallons I have been keeping cold all week. Not sure if this will be my last batch as the temps have dropped big time and are not expected to get above freezing for a few days. I may just move a few of my taps to different trees and see what I get when it warms up.

[Lethalbowman]

I forgot to mention that the snows have returned and the forecast is for up to 5" for this area. Maybe the trees will re-set and start over again.

[Cedar Eater]

Looks like Tuesday might be the start of the next run. I finished a small batch of one and half pints today and the steam smelled like cooking sweet corn until I got it down to about twice that. The taste was still great.

[UPMaple]

Still boiling here. The snow has returned and everything is froze up. Looks like we may see another run next week.

Red Maples were starting to swell a bit before the freeze in some areas. Sugars are still tight.

[Lethalbowman]

14143
Finished off this batch a dark amber Friday, I have another 65 gallons reduced down to 5 ready to finish this week.

[Jolly Acres Farm]

We have 6.25 gallons of light Amber that we finished off last week that we are going to bottle today. We have 44 gallons of 1.9% sap that the ice concentrated down to 36 gallons of 2.3% we are going to finish off. Looking forward to a nice couple of good runs this weekend. Sugar's are still nice and tight here.

[Cedar Eater]

The low last night was 4 degF. The next run didn't start today. The temp never got high enough. Now it looks like that won't happen until next Monday. And we're expecting 4-8 more inches of snow tonight after the 7 we got on Sunday. This season is weird.

[woodey24]

Had a little run the last couple of days. supposed to be a bit warmer tomorrow so hoping to get enough for a last cook. Buds still holding tight..........UPDATE... I pulled everything.... Sap ran but was cloudy. Thanks to all for the help. Looking fwd to next year already.