Eastern Ontario 2018

[Big_Eddy]

I hope everyone is enjoying the cooler temperatures these last few weeks, and using the time to recharge in preparation for what we can all hope is another great season. I know I'm enjoying the cold and the snow and our bush looks great right now with a nice thick blanket on it. That should help to keep things cool and prolong the season.

Here's wishing everyone a few more weeks of respite, then another wonderful maple season.

Big Eddy

[brokenjaw]

My thick blanket has gotten awful thin... with the lack of snow having snowmobile trails closed, been looking at whipping together a 2’x4’ Davy Jones type arch for our 2018 season! On parental leave so have a little extra time on hands... but not much, little monsters keep you busy!

[butler]

Hey everyone... I live in renfrew Ontario... just going to throw this out there.... looking for a good used hobby reverse osmosis...let me know if your selling or upgrading. Hoping to find a 250 gph. Hope everyone had a great season
613-762-0217.

[halladaymaple]

Sent you a PM

Thanks
Darrell

[dmichel]

Just curious if any has tapped their trees yet with warm spell? I had mine out the 3rd week of Feb last year but this warmth makes menwonder if im missing the first of the season....

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[dmichel]

Hey everyone... I live in renfrew Ontario... just going to throw this out there.... looking for a good used hobby reverse osmosis...let me know if your selling or upgrading. Hoping to find a 250 gph. Hope everyone had a great season
613-762-0217.Have you considered building your own? I just ordered everything for a much smaller unit but I thinknyou could scale up to the size you want pretty easily. I'm guessing you could build a 250gph for a couple grand.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[Lespetras]

Hi there Eastern Ontario!!
It's been a strange few years for the trees. The drought in 2016, then the flooding of 2017.. my trees are a bit stressed to say the least.. hoping for a fruitful season come 2018!
Have to admit, a few of our more luscious maples are looking a bit apprehensive, had fewer leaves last summer and a few noticeable dead limbs.. hoping they are not spooked
Here's to a great year!

[Galena]

Just curious if any has tapped their trees yet with warm spell? I had mine out the 3rd week of Feb last year but this warmth makes menwonder if im missing the first of the season....

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

Well, last year was by far the earliest I've ever tapped and yes, it was the right thing to do as the expected April Tsap Tsunami never happened :-( SO far most of this part of the province is far too cold, you need a prolonged warm spell. A day or two or warm weather is not nearly enough. Whereabouts you located?

ETA: Lesley, good on you for noticing that some of your trees are showing signs of stress. I also had much less foliage, or at least much smaller leaves, this year on all my trees - I think only Surprise, my bush maple, looked relatively healthy and vigourous.

Personally I am going to try holding off til first week of March, but if the temps keep bombing up and down like have so far all winter, I may not tap at all.

[BrutemanAl]

Hi all, just checking in, got a new setup for the year :) Late spring last year I started a barrel evaporator, its not completely done yet, but pretty close. I plan on putting it in the forest and spending my weekends boiling away with the kids. The last year has been a huge change for me, I have never felt better, I have lost 150 lbs and can do so much more now, cant wait to start tapping with the kids this year.

[Galena]

... The last year has been a huge change for me, I have never felt better, I have lost 150 lbs and can do so much more now, cant wait to start tapping with the kids this year.

Wow, Al! That amount of weight loss is awesome, and will help you keep up with the boys ;-) Here's to a great season for you :-)

[Run Forest Run!]

OMG Al! Congratulations on your achievement! Wishing you a great sugaring season and great health.

[JeffB]

Hello all

Looks like some of the regular posters are gearing up for 2018 season.
I'm thinking it's still a little early as of yet.
I have been out to the shack a few times on the sled but haven't done a thing for preparation yet.
The bush looks good a few small limbs have fall but all sap lines are still intact .
I'm looking to upgrade to a new sap collector. I hope to find a deal on a Polaris ranger or honda pioneer side by side .
But all in all I'm pretty much ready wood has been stacked shack and equipment just needs a final cleaning and sterilization and I should be ready to go in the near future.

Till then charge ur drills and get ready for what I feel will be a great season.

And wow good job on the weight loss Al let me know ur secret !!!

[Galena]

Temps in my area are doing exactly what I want them to do by NOT warming up like crazy as happened last year. Lots of snow, more today, quite happy to let the temps stay cold til early March. Though historically March can, and often will, pull a fast one on you and freeze up for anywhere from a few days to almost weeks at a time.

In terms of prep this year...so far I've done nothing more than just look at my equipment. Not much point in doing more than that til the temps start to go the way they need to go. But I do have travel plans at end of April, so must pull spiles before then. Wouldn't mind a short but productive season, as opposed to the completely overlong, hard-frozen, painful misery that defined last year in all senses of the word!

And btw JeffB...I think you posted to the wrong thread. Central Ontario seems to be starting their tapping season, but so far nobody here in Eastern Ontario has said anything about actually tapping yet.

[pgeller]

If he's Havelock, he's in the right zone.

Nothing more than sanitizing buckets and spiles. Looking toto build an RO for this year as the amount collected is getting to be 20 hour boils on the weekend. Let the cold weather stay i say to keep that good blanket of snow over things until our fluctuations start.

[Galena]

This article should be a good read for everyone and will help noobs see what tapping too soon can do to a tree.
https://onmaplesyrup.wordpress.com/2018/02/08/ontario-maple-syrup-industry-production-report-february-8-2018/#more-2793

[Chelsroode]

The long term forcast looks similar to last year. Above zero in the daytime after family day and below at night. I will be interested to see what the 14 day weather forecast looks like for the end of this week as it should be showing early March temps.

Wondering if we will have a similar run to last year.


Chelsea

[Chelsroode]

Good read

Thank you

[Galena]

Hi Chelsea, you're not too far from me (I'm near Oxford Mills). Always good to know fellow locals so then we can compare notes on the season. Welcome to the site! :-)

[Chelsroode]

Hi Chelsea, you're not too far from me (I'm near Oxford Mills). Always good to know fellow locals so then we can compare notes on the season. Welcome to the site! :-)

Thank you !

[paulslund]

So what's the verdict on next week? I've been quite surprised with the warmer weather and thaws we've had this year considering the forecast was for a long, cold and snowy winter.. sure has put a damper on the snowmobiling.

Starting Sunday the Ottawa area forecast is calling for highs of 1-2 degrees and below zero nights...is that enough to thaw the trees to get sap going or should I just wait and see if we get back to freezing temps into March. My preference is to wait.. primarily because I'm no where near to ready and don't want to rush but I will if that's the right call..

Thanks!
Paul.

[Galena]

So what's the verdict on next week? I've been quite surprised with the warmer weather and thaws we've had this year considering the forecast was for a long, cold and snowy winter.. sure has put a damper on the snowmobiling.

Starting Sunday the Ottawa area forecast is calling for highs of 1-2 degrees and below zero nights...is that enough to thaw the trees to get sap going or should I just wait and see if we get back to freezing temps into March. My preference is to wait.. primarily because I'm no where near to ready and don't want to rush but I will if that's the right call..

Thanks!
Paul.

Hmmmm...sledders out here having a fine old time with all the snow we have. Some years they barely get out a half-dozen times. They've been out an awful lot this year.

In terms of tapping, I peeked at the forecast for next week and yes, it does look promising...for now!!! For example this time last week it was calling for Tuesday to be zero. Now it says -6 for a daytime high. (btw I'm SE of Ottawa so we're usually 2-4 degrees warmer.)

If you have smaller trees, and temperatures actually do go with what the forecast says now, then it might be worth tapping. But if you have gigantic old trees like I do - like big enough that two adults might be able to reach around their trunks - I could tap next week and probably not see a significant amount of sap from my biggest trees for another 2-3 weeks. And if I get a lot of NW winds, then that usually kills the run til it warms up or I get a wind from the the South. Hope this helps!

[TurkeyJohn]

Just read that article that was shared...

Great info and getting itchy here in Kingston too....next week looking awful tempting....

TurkeyJohn

[ennismaple]

We'll probably start this weekend but I wouldn't expect much sap next week if it only gets a few degrees above freezing. That generally means only a few hours of above freezing temps.

[Galena]

This article should be a good read for everyone and will help noobs see what tapping too soon can do to a tree.
https://onmaplesyrup.wordpress.com/2018/02/08/ontario-maple-syrup-industry-production-report-february-8-2018/#more-2793

You mean this one? ;-0

I have to admit that I wasted no time getting on the snowpants and wading through nice deep snow to check my trees to see how they had healed and if I had any splits in the bark. I did have small bark splits on some trees, but a couple had none at all - though I didn't like seeing spile holes from years ago still taking their sweet time to heal over. Conversely, one tree heals over so fast that I have trouble finding last year's spile holes!

[paulslund]

Hmmmm...sledders out here having a fine old time with all the snow we have. Some years they barely get out a half-dozen times. They've been out an awful lot this year.

In terms of tapping, I peeked at the forecast for next week and yes, it does look promising...for now!!! For example this time last week it was calling for Tuesday to be zero. Now it says -6 for a daytime high. (btw I'm SE of Ottawa so we're usually 2-4 degrees warmer.)

If you have smaller trees, and temperatures actually do go with what the forecast says now, then it might be worth tapping. But if you have gigantic old trees like I do - like big enough that two adults might be able to reach around their trunks - I could tap next week and probably not see a significant amount of sap from my biggest trees for another 2-3 weeks. And if I get a lot of NW winds, then that usually kills the run til it warms up or I get a wind from the the South. Hope this helps!

Kemptville sure has had some good sledding this year..especially compared to last year. My area seems to get hit w the freezing rain and such..we had just opened up last Wed from the Jan thaw that killed us. Was out in Osgoode yesterday and they have considerably more snow than my local trails. I'm just south of Ottawa in North Gower.

Hmm.. my silvers are massive, but my sugars are small. Starting Sunday forecast is for 8 days of 2 degree highs.. So I think I'll wait until the big thaw starts.. but will keep a close eye on it.. The weatherman tends to understate the warm spells until we get closer to them (case in point.. 2/3 days ago the high for Wed was 2, and that was it for the week. Now it's 5/6 for Wed/Thursday and no overnight freezing! :mad:)

Thanks!
Paul.

[Galena]

Kemptville sure has had some good sledding this year..especially compared to last year. My area seems to get hit w the freezing rain and such..we had just opened up last Wed from the Jan thaw that killed us. Was out in Osgoode yesterday and they have considerably more snow than my local trails. I'm just south of Ottawa in North Gower.

Hmm.. my silvers are massive, but my sugars are small. Starting Sunday forecast is for 8 days of 2 degree highs.. So I think I'll wait until the big thaw starts.. but will keep a close eye on it.. The weatherman tends to understate the warm spells until we get closer to them (case in point.. 2/3 days ago the high for Wed was 2, and that was it for the week. Now it's 5/6 for Wed/Thursday and no overnight freezing! :mad:)

Thanks!
Paul.

The local microclimates are really something else. I am familiar with North Gower, having lived and worked in that area for some years, and North Gower is almost always a transition point between deepest darkest BBQhaven and Kemptville area. Not at all unusual for it to be snowing in Barrhaven, raining in North Gower, and then completely dry in Kemptville....and yes sometimes the complete opposite occurs!

Are your trees all bush trees or roadside? Knowing how flat and open that area is, I would think that wind plays a big factor. I know it certainly affects my trees.

ETA: just checked forecast and I see nothing promising in terms of a feasible time to tap til the last weekend in February. Some temps between now and then do look promising, but they're also calling for either precip or cloudy weather, which only slows down the thaw out here.

[paulslund]

The local microclimates are really something else. I am familiar with North Gower, having lived and worked in that area for some years, and North Gower is almost always a transition point between deepest darkest BBQhaven and Kemptville area. Not at all unusual for it to be snowing in Barrhaven, raining in North Gower, and then completely dry in Kemptville....and yes sometimes the complete opposite occurs!

Are your trees all bush trees or roadside? Knowing how flat and open that area is, I would think that wind plays a big factor. I know it certainly affects my trees.

ETA: just checked forecast and I see nothing promising in terms of a feasible time to tap til the last weekend in February. Some temps between now and then do look promising, but they're also calling for either precip or cloudy weather, which only slows down the thaw out here.

Tell me about it.. I work in Kanata and sometimes get message from my wife saying how heavy the snow is coming down at home, and nothing at work! LOL... makes planning for sledding difficult at best!

So most of my Silvers are on the edge of the bush.. I'm on 2 acres and the trees I"m tapping this year are all along the perimeter of the landscaped yard. My sugars are either just on the edge near the road or on the edge of the yard.. but get good morning/mid day sun I believe.. I'm going to hold off until end of Feb.. other than next Monday the highs are only 1-2 degrees. My plan was originally have everything ready to go in Jan so I could jump on the taping.. didn't happen (maybe I need to stop spending time sledding! Nah! LOL..). Thanks for the advice!

[Galena]

Tell me about it.. I work in Kanata and sometimes get message from my wife saying how heavy the snow is coming down at home, and nothing at work! LOL... makes planning for sledding difficult at best!

So most of my Silvers are on the edge of the bush.. I'm on 2 acres and the trees I"m tapping this year are all along the perimeter of the landscaped yard. My sugars are either just on the edge near the road or on the edge of the yard.. but get good morning/mid day sun I believe.. I'm going to hold off until end of Feb.. other than next Monday the highs are only 1-2 degrees. My plan was originally have everything ready to go in Jan so I could jump on the taping.. didn't happen (maybe I need to stop spending time sledding! Nah! LOL..). Thanks for the advice!

Yeah, I've also seen that Kanata/North Gower microclimate thing before too.

Always good to be in touch with other sugarers near you :-) Most of my trees are yard maples, but there is a little one-spiler bush maple that actually did really well for its first season last year. Looked at the forecast again this morning and definitely sittin on my hands til last weekend of February at teh very earliest. Usually I set spiles around March 4/5 depending of course on that fickle weather!

FWIW I wouldn't advise tapping in January if you can help it. Even if it is deceptively warm for a few days, it'll soon freeze up again and hurt the trees. See that link I posted for some pics as to what you don't want to see. Esp if you're a hobbyist doing it for fun, family and friends...why rush? And besides you need to get your sledding quota in! ;-)

[paulslund]

And besides you need to get your sledding quota in! ;-)
Oh, you've got that right! LOL

[Galena]

Oh, you've got that right! LOL

Oh don't I know it, I think the sledders are doing overtime now. Last thing I hear at night and first thing in the morning, esp as I'm right close by the Kemptville Clubhouse.

[Lespetras]

Okay.. I'm having a hard time not tapping today.. beautiful sap day! Gonna wait though..
Anyone tapping yet? I see a lot of people saying to wait

[Galena]

Okay.. I'm having a hard time not tapping today.. beautiful sap day! Gonna wait though..
Anyone tapping yet? I see a lot of people saying to wait

Hehe Lesley, you always want to start early :-) Don't forget you get get insane amounts of sap! But seriously look at the long-term forecast for your area and decide if it's worth it. Esp if your trees showed lots of stress this past year, as did mine. If you really need a fix, maybe go out and check the spile holes, see how they're healing and if any of them have splits in the bark.

FWIW I'm stiull holding off til last weekend of February and no sooner. Really hoping for a nice gradual and steady warmup, not crazy temps rocketing all over the place like they did last year.

[Vandy]

Man, Next weekend is looking very tempting.. Nice Forecast here in Portland..

[TurkeyJohn]

Okay.. I'm having a hard time not tapping today.. beautiful sap day! Gonna wait though..
Anyone tapping yet? I see a lot of people saying to wait

Getting the itch badly here close to Rideau Acres....forecast has me on the fence for the weekend...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Galena]

Everyone, just check the local forecast for your area/town/city and look at the long term forecast.

[Chelsroode]

Okay.. I'm having a hard time not tapping today.. beautiful sap day! Gonna wait though..
Anyone tapping yet? I see a lot of people saying to wait

I have been watching the weather closely. Thinking of tapping on family day and spending this week getting the equipment organized ☺️ Feels like Spring is on its way

[paulslund]

17605

This is not what I was expecting for the end of Feb this year... but it is what it is.. Yesterday and today sunny and +7,+8, cold for two days and then warm spikes for a couple of days before it tappers off. All of my tap holes from last year have healed up nicely (actually I think they had healed up by fall last year as I tapped a few fall trees).

So do these high spikes have a strong thawing effect on the trees that they will begin flowing nicely even when the highs are only 2-3 degrees? Or does it take longer to thaw I wonder.. I guess it's anybody's guess right now..

And then again, like last year, we could get a cold spell that brings 2 feet of snow in March break...

[Galena]

Paul, I think the person who can answer your question best is Dr Tim Perkins. But, FWIW, I find strong short thaws have little effect on my trees, with perhaps the exception of my little bush maple. That's why I look for slower, more gradual increases in terms of weather. And of course we could still get horrendous freezeups like ladt year. Besides, in that forecast though the temps look good, right now I see a lot of clouds and precip. I'm still holding off.

[Maple Dan]

Paul, I think the person who can answer your question best is Dr Tim Perkins. But, FWIW, I find strong short thaws have little effect on my trees, with perhaps the exception of my little bush maple. That's why I look for slower, more gradual increases in terms of weather. And of course we could still get horrendous freezeups like ladt year. Besides, in that forecast though the temps look good, right now I see a lot of clouds and precip. I'm still holding off.
Tapped my first 30 buckets today and they were dripping 30-40 per minute. Things could really start Monday.

[Galena]

Great to hear, Maple Dan! You're SW of me so good to see how others in the area are doing. How big are your trees? Bush or treeline? Are they sugars or reds, silvers?

[Maple Dan]

It is a fairly young bush after some logging years ago. It is mainly sugar maples in the 12"- 14" range with the odd soft maple mixed in.

[Big_Eddy]

14 Day forecast is looking promising. May have to drill some holes Sunday or Monday.

17626

[paulslund]

Paul, I think the person who can answer your question best is Dr Tim Perkins. But, FWIW, I find strong short thaws have little effect on my trees, with perhaps the exception of my little bush maple. That's why I look for slower, more gradual increases in terms of weather. And of course we could still get horrendous freezeups like ladt year. Besides, in that forecast though the temps look good, right now I see a lot of clouds and precip. I'm still holding off.

It appears that Dr. Perkins no longer accepts PMs..

It now looks like the weather is going be even a bit warmer, with overnight lows of only around -6 (give or take).. Then the forecasted high on March 2 is -2.. so perhaps the freeze will start again.

The problem I think I have is that my Silvers get buddy pretty early in comparison to most.. last year I had buddy sap around March 25 (and that is consistent with the prior year). I didn't tap my sugars last year, but they are smaller than my silvers (around 10 inch mark.. but a few a bit smaller (shh)). Last year I caught the tail end of the Feb thaw..then we had a deep freeze for the first 2 weeks of march, and then about 1 1/2 weeks before my trees went buddy...

So I'll keep watching it.. all the silvers I'm tapping could support two taps but I only tap once. so maybe I'll tap after the downpour next week and see what the following weeks does, and then perhaps save taping my sugars until after the freeze, if any, occurs in March.. I think sugars don't bud out as early as silvers.. so at least my smaller trees won't be stressed too much..??

Decisions decisions...

So, I did try sledding down to Kemptville last night via the Osgoode side... a lot of spots I figured I would have been better off on the ATV than the sled.. gave up after 1/2 hour and went home.. Methinks the local sledding is done for unless something drastic happens in March!

[Galena]

Yeah, no surprise that Dr Tim's mailbox here would fill up quickly. I can send you his email addie.

If your trees are on the small side - like 1-2 spiles - you probably could get some sap now. Reds and silvers should be ready to go and they always bud out 2-3 weeks sooner than sugars. But I wouldn't go so far as to wait for a March freezeup to come along and pass before tapping! But suit yourself. I tapped mid-Feb last year and yes, it was the best run I had, as in March we had end-over-end freezes.

I tapped a total of 62 days last year, and on 39 days I got NOTHING. Either there was no sap at all, or it was a mingy little bit frozen solid in the bottom. If there is less than a litre per pail, I don't bother collecting and let my 2g pails fill a little more.

Hey if you and wifey do manage to sled out this direction and head for the Kemptville Clubhouse, let me know and we can meet at clubhouse for coffee as I really am in the immediate area. Don't worry, not hitting on you, I just like to meet and talk shop with other sugarers. Can even walk over and say hi to my 6 trees if you like!

[paulslund]

Yeah, no surprise that Dr Tim's mailbox here would fill up quickly. I can send you his email addie.

If your trees are on the small side - like 1-2 spiles - you probably could get some sap now. Reds and silvers should be ready to go and they always bud out 2-3 weeks sooner than sugars. But I wouldn't go so far as to wait for a March freezeup to come along and pass before tapping! But suit yourself. I tapped mid-Feb last year and yes, it was the best run I had, as in March we had end-over-end freezes.

I tapped a total of 62 days last year, and on 39 days I got NOTHING. Either there was no sap at all, or it was a mingy little bit frozen solid in the bottom. If there is less than a litre per pail, I don't bother collecting and let my 2g pails fill a little more.

Hey if you and wifey do manage to sled out this direction and head for the Kemptville Clubhouse, let me know and we can meet at clubhouse for coffee as I really am in the immediate area. Don't worry, not hitting on you, I just like to meet and talk shop with other sugarers. Can even walk over and say hi to my 6 trees if you like!

Yeah.. I think I'll get to tapping soon.. I guess if it freezes up it freezes up.. it'll eventually thaw again.

I'll definitely let you know if we sled down to Kemptville yet.. My goal was to do a big loop..stop at the Timmy's where the Cdn Tire is, and then work my way back.. didn't even make it there.. Hopefully we'll get some more snow, but I fear that if we do, the ground will have thawed too much to get them groomed again.. we'd need a boatload of snow! But hey.. it happened last year! LOL

[dmichel]

Yeah.. I think I'll get to tapping soon.. I guess if it freezes up it freezes up.. it'll eventually thaw again.

I'll definitely let you know if we sled down to Kemptville yet.. My goal was to do a big loop..stop at the Timmy's where the Cdn Tire is, and then work my way back.. didn't even make it there.. Hopefully we'll get some more snow, but I fear that if we do, the ground will have thawed too much to get them groomed again.. we'd need a boatload of snow! But hey.. it happened last year! LOLI'm near Toronto and put a bunch of taps our yesterday and today. Last year's run in Feb was awesome so I don't want to miss it. The forecast looks close to highs we need so if it shifts up a bit it could be great.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[hotrodstones]

Put out 46 taps on Wednesday, yesterday morning went around to collect sap. so far collected 100 Liters, nothing yesterday from our reds, or our silvers, just a little from our sugars, hopping to boil Family day. if only the weather would get colder @ night

Chris
Niagara-on-the-Lake

[Galena]

Just stuck my nose outside this morning. Frickin cold though gorgeous and sunny. Definitely not tapping today. See some double-digit temps around midweek, but still planning on waiting til next Friday. Actually gonna be a bit of a PITA if it does start going good next weekend as I'm in yoga school all day - may have to see if neighbours able to check trees and possibly collect sap for me.

[BrutemanAl]

So I bought this the other day, I go pick it up next weekend, also comes with taps and a few other goodies. Does this mean I am hooked ?

17639

17637

17638

[Galena]

Hehe I'd say yes! Looks great Al, have fun gettin it all together. Don't scorch the pans :-)

[TurkeyJohn]

So I bought this the other day, I go pick it up next weekend, also comes with taps and a few other goodies. Does this mean I am hooked ?

17639

17637

17638

Looks like a dandy set up Al, good luck and we look forward to frequent updates on your season....

When are you tapping?

Turkey John


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hotrodstones]

To cold today frozen, hopping to get some sap tomorrow, only 3 degrees with sun, next week looks good, still gona boil Monday.

[hotrodstones]

Nice set up, hope you have a good season.

[BrutemanAl]

Looks like a dandy set up Al, good luck and we look forward to frequent updates on your season....

When are you tapping?

Turkey John


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I won't be starting to tap until Monday then next Friday night, and get the rest in Saturday afternoon, I have to work next Saturday for a few hours and this weekend we in Ottawa for Winterlude

[Run Forest Run!]

Al, your new setup will be fantastic. Congrats on that too!

[Galena]

Temps are looking very good for this week, finally see what LOOKS like a nice 2-week stretch of ideal temps. I just might tap Wednesday instead of Friday.

[TurkeyJohn]

All tapped in, had the boy helping this morning. Beauty of a day. Would hate to miss a day of that sunshine...https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180218/025fcb9ef1d537965f67ab1fccc61dad.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Galena]

Didn't tap today but did walk the trails and say hi to the trees and look for good areas to drill this year.

[Bruce L]

Got a little over 300 tapped this afternoon,should finish that bush in the morning if it isn’t raining,then on to the next bush

[Big_Eddy]

We put 160 buckets out today. Dripping a bit.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/f19f4e49e79093d0898b217703b337aa.jpg

[BAP]

Very nice picture. Looks great.

[BrutemanAl]

We put 160 buckets out today. Dripping a bit.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180219/f19f4e49e79093d0898b217703b337aa.jpg

That looks fantastic, has me itching to get home from Ottawa today to start tapping

[TurkeyJohn]

Drip, drip, drip already....windy, but nothing gorilla tape and hockey pucks can't cure...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BrutemanAl]

and sooooo it begins.... got home from Ottawa at 130 this afternoon, by 2 pm I was in the forest tapping trees, it was running really well, only got 26 in but it's a start

[TurkeyJohn]

and sooooo it begins.... got home from Ottawa at 130 this afternoon, by 2 pm I was in the forest tapping trees, it was running really well, only got 26 in but it's a start

Right on Al, get that new rig ready Bud....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Galena]

Hey all, what exactly is the advantage of a tapping bit over a regular drill bit of the same size? Do they come in different sizes? Isn't how you use the drill (or brace and bit, as I do) that matters? I am trying to justify spending $35 or so on a drilling bit and don't really want to if I don't have to.

[TurkeyJohn]

Checking buckets this morning and find this. May have to keep a hockey stick handy at minimum this season. Either a big dog, big coyote or some FB friends are suggesting even a wolf...https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180220/c4c159bb37e803bc5acbef690d51f6e4.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Big_Eddy]

Hey all, what exactly is the advantage of a tapping bit over a regular drill bit of the same size? Do they come in different sizes? Isn't how you use the drill (or brace and bit, as I do) that matters? I am trying to justify spending $35 or so on a drilling bit and don't really want to if I don't have to.

Tapping bit is only used for a (cordless) drill. It is designed with a sharper point than a typical "universal" drill bit, and the flutes are sharp as well to allow it to cut well in hard (and frozen) wood. Run it on your high speed setting and a quick in and out.

With a brace - you can't get up enough speed to take advantage of a tapping bit. Use an auger bit. Try to hold your brace consistently level to avoid making an oval hole.

As a side note - the 5/16" plastic (blue) bucket taps are more sensitive to an oval hole than the old metal taps. Plastic bucket taps need to be close to level (5 degree slope max) or the weight of a full bucket will tend to pull them out of the tree. Unlike the typical older metal spile, there is very little taper to them, so not much "wedging" into the hole to seal it and hold them tight.

[Galena]

Thanks Big_Eddy, makes sense. A friend of mine does have bits for a brace so I'll get them from him.

As for that track...well, doesn't look fresh in pic though maybe it is...but I'd say a largeish dog or coyote whose track has melted and re-frozen. Much the same way my own bootprints grow from a Men's size 8 to size 11 :-)

But still probably wouldn't hurt to at least carry pepper spray and/or a big stick. I do when I go rambling over the 200 acre property across the way, as there are resident coyotes over there.

ETA: SOOOOO glad I haven't tapped yet, today is cold, wet, miserable and a punky +2....far off the projected high of +11. However it's going to get warmer this evening, think about +9, so tonight I may for the first time ever go out and set my spiles by flashlight.

[Lespetras]

We tapped today...
33 buckets! Couldn't wait one day longer. Every tap was dripping.. oh I'm excited!

[Ontario Ian]

We tapped today...
33 buckets! Couldn't wait one day longer. Every tap was dripping.. oh I'm excited!

when the bug bites..... we tapped also, it's seems very early but the 2 week forcast looks ok!

[Galena]

Ditto, I tapped this evening and most of the taps are going.

One thing causin me some concern, though. Small light green lichen that looks almost like a paint spatter going up the trunks of the trees. Is it just lichen or mold? Is it harmful to the trees? Will post some pics tomorrow, had enough wading around in soggy snow for one day.

[Fort Wisers]

We tapped this weekend past.
We were late getting to the game last year and vowed we wouldn't be this year LOL.
Seems so odd to tap in February but, as everyone is mentioning, hard to resist with what the forecast is calling for.
Good luck everyone!

[Galena]

We tapped this weekend past.
We were late getting to the game last year and vowed we wouldn't be this year LOL.
Seems so odd to tap in February but, as everyone is mentioning, hard to resist with what the forecast is calling for.
Good luck everyone!

LOL I wouldn't say you were late getting to the game at all, at least not this year. I also far prefer to tap in March, but also have to go with the temps say. Not so sure how good the run will be with temps just above zero the next little while though.

ETA: Just finished first collection. 17l during first 24 hrs (actually make that more like 18 hrs). All trees going, and while collecting from my bush maple, noticed another tree about same size, age, appearance etc....all leaves at its base are maple leaves, and it sure doesn't look like a Manitoba maple or birch. So gave it a spile. Will keep its sap separate til I am sure it's maple, then just chuck it in with the rest.

Flow is definitely slowing with the cooling temps though, have no idea what to expect past this weekend.

[BrutemanAl]

Tapping bit is only used for a (cordless) drill. It is designed with a sharper point than a typical "universal" drill bit, and the flutes are sharp as well to allow it to cut well in hard (and frozen) wood. Run it on your high speed setting and a quick in and out.

With a brace - you can't get up enough speed to take advantage of a tapping bit. Use an auger bit. Try to hold your brace consistently level to avoid making an oval hole.

As a side note - the 5/16" plastic (blue) bucket taps are more sensitive to an oval hole than the old metal taps. Plastic bucket taps need to be close to level (5 degree slope max) or the weight of a full bucket will tend to pull them out of the tree. Unlike the typical older metal spile, there is very little taper to them, so not much "wedging" into the hole to seal it and hold them tight.

This maybe a silly question .... but when you say a “ Brace” what do you mean?

That was some good info Eddy, I didn’t know that about the plastic spikes but it makes sense.

I need to come for a visit Big Eddy, would like to see your evaporator in action.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BrutemanAl]

Ohhh and yesterday after work I collected 41 L, brought it home and buried it in a snow pile I made in my back yard, today I only collected about 9 L. I will start to boil it this weekend.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Big_Eddy]

This maybe a silly question .... but when you say a “ Brace” what do you mean?

That was some good info Eddy, I didn’t know that about the plastic spikes but it makes sense.

I need to come for a visit Big Eddy, would like to see your evaporator in action.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Brace 17737

We should be boiling on the weekend.
Steam rising = visitors welcome.

[paulslund]

I ended up tapping 9 of the 20 trees Monday afternoon, and 7 this afternoon with the kids. The rest will go in this weekend. Not a lot dripping though, so I don't think I missed anything... Some higher temps this weekend for a few days.. then drops to around 2 give or take.. Odd that the forecast dropped... usually the understate so as not to tease us until they know for sure what the temps will be (yes.. that sounds like a conspiracy, but I'm positive that's what they do! :-) )

[BrutemanAl]

Brace 17737

We should be boiling on the weekend.
Steam rising = visitors welcome.

That’s what I thought it was


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Maplelane1]

Alright then... I'm going to tap today; this evening, after work actually.

I missed out on most of last years run, which was my first tapping year. In the end I collected 20 gal of sap that left me with a measly 1.5l of syrup that went moldy because of a couple mistakes we made during the jarring process. Did I say I'm a newb..:). Anyhow after last years tapping and boiling experience I'm now even more intrigued about it all, if not already hooked. Wishing all a good tapping season.

And thanks for all your posts everyone. This newb is learning heaps.

[Galena]

Anyhow after last years tapping and boiling experience I'm now even more intrigued about it all, if not already hooked. Wishing all a good tapping season.

And thanks for all your posts everyone. This newb is learning heaps.

Hehe, funny how that happens :-) Feel free to ask any questions. Whereabouts are you located? That way you can get some idea as to how things are in relation to sugar makers near you.

[Vandy]

Steam was rising in Delta last night on way to hockey in Athens with my son.

Going to tap sat..

[Maplelane1]

Hi Galena - I'm in Douro Dummer TWP, just 10 min northeast of Lakefield.

Question:
Our syrup last year had a slight smokey flavour and I chalk that up to the makeshift evaporator we used with pans resting on cinder blocks over an open flame. That said, can the smokey flavour be 'filtered' out?

Had planned to tap today but held off because the overnight temp was -7 and the high today barely reached 0. Maybe tomorrow but for sure this weekend.

[Galena]

Hi Galena - I'm in Douro Dummer TWP, just 10 min northeast of Lakefield.

Question:
Our syrup last year had a slight smokey flavour and I chalk that up to the makeshift evaporator we used with pans resting on cinder blocks over an open flame. That said, can the smokey flavour be 'filtered' out?

Had planned to tap today but held off because the overnight temp was -7 and the high today barely reached 0. Maybe tomorrow but for sure this weekend.

This weekend should be perfect, but go with what your local longterm forecast says. I don't even know where your area is will have to google it.

So you made smokey syrup - dang! I'm always trying to make my syrup smokey! You've already answered your own question in terms of how you made it, albeit accidentally :-) And I very much doubt that it can be filtered out. Trying to contain the fire somehow should help - my own evaporator is a tiny old cast-iron woodstove with two removable burner pans in the top. Smoke goes out via a chimney and doesn't get in the sap.

Generally us small hobbysists use the evaporator to get the bulk of the sap boiled off, then finish on a stove with a controllable heat source. So I'll wait til I've got about 1g of nearup - sap that's been boiled way down but still not quite syrup - get out my ol' faithful finishing pot set to work. Get a really good digital candy thermometer - I pd $30 for one from Hendrix, a restaurant-supply store. It's a syrup saver.

Hope this helps!

[Maplelane1]

Hope this helps! Yes, it does. :)

[Galena]

Hey, didn't you say that batch went moldy? Surely you're not trying to filter smokey flavour out of moldy syrup, are you? Just be aware that the mold could be botulism. Invest in a good hydrotherm and cup so you can accurately measure the density of your syrup this year.

[Maplelane1]

It went moldy after a few months of storage - we threw the lot out. We do a lot of canning with sealer jars (pickles etc.) so my guess is we didn't do a good job of sterilizing the jars we used nor did we pasteurize properly. Will make changes this year for sure.

Re filtering the smokey flavor out: I meant can the smokey flavor be filtered out at time of bottling, not after. I use a block arch but didn't install a flue so it was quite smokey around the pans - which i'm assuming is how the smokey flavor was infused in the syrup. Will install a flue this year and hopefully that reduces the smokey flavor. I mean, it had a unique flavor but not 'pure' maple syrup.

We finished the syrup the same way, and used a thermometer to know when it was done. Prior to the batch going bad the syrup was quite good. It's all a learning process. Hence the excitement about this year: try anew !!

[Galena]

Yes, a thermometer comes in handy to ensure that you're finishing it at the right temp....But did you use a hydrotherm to check the density? It has to be as close to that red line as much as possible, like within 2 hashmarks either way, if not bang on. That is much more important.

In terms of storing in glass, you have to ensure that the jar is heated to 185 degrees for 10 min. And the syrup (assuming you're doing it straight from cold) has to be heated to no less than 185, and NO MORE THAN 190. Otherwise you'll end up with nitre, aka sugar sand, forming in the bottom. I generally bring it up to heat over medium, certainly don't crank it to high. Make sure you use new lids if doing Mason jars and that the collars are either new or not corroded. If using jugs, use only new lids, and of course they have to be heated to temp too.

BTW at what temp did you finish your syrup? And the smokey flavour is completely infused in the syrup, no way to get rid of it. Enjoy it! Or send it to me! ;-)

[JeffB]

Wowzers!!! Fly back in from Mexico to find Maple Season is about to start ! I better get to work this weekend.

Maplelane...all cinder block arches will give syrup a hint of Smokey essencese. There really no way to get away from it or remove it ... unless u go to a sealed arch and pan set up.

Do yourself a favour Maplelane ..buy new syrup bottles and lids it saves a lot of time and effort eliminating the sterilization process.
Bottle syrup at minimum185° and no more then 200° max..put the cap on ..lay bottles on their side. At 185° or more will sterilize the lid and create a vacuum seal .
I package all my syrup this way and have never had mold..

[Maplelane1]

Thank you both for the tips!

I didn't bottle at 185. Once the sap was finished I removed from heat then prepared the jars... Clearly a mistake. I won't do that this year. I also did not use a hydrotherm... Do i need one? I mean, if I tell my wife I have to buy something a stranger on-line told me to she'll give me that look. ;)

[Galena]

Thank you both for the tips!

I didn't bottle at 185. Once the sap was finished I removed from heat then prepared the jars... Clearly a mistake. I won't do that this year. I also did not use a hydrotherm... Do i need one? I mean, if I tell my wife I have to buy something a stranger on-line told me to she'll give me that look. ;)

FWIW I would still sterilize absolutely brand-new bottles and lids....they usually have a little bit of an unplesant scent anyway so a rinse under hot water won't hurt. If you're going to bottle straight off the fire,then yes you probably can go right into the jars/bottles/jugs - but you should still check the density first with a therm before doing so. But if you're going to reheat syrup from cold, watch out for going over 190.

I think most here would say yes, you do need a hydrotherm, cause if your density is off you'll either get syrup finishing too hot and too dense, which will then crystallize on you. Nothing wrong with that, still perfectly edible and can always melt out the crystals with warm fresh sap or distilled water. NO TAP WATER.

Or you will get syrup that is too thin, too watery, and thus could host unwanted bacteria - I know the only batch in recent memory that molded on me, once sealed, was a batch (a very small one, like 500ml) that I knew had thermed out a bit low.

The rest of you here can explain the mysteries of the hydrotherm as I will be in yoga school tonight and pretty much all weekend. I think Big_Eddy has a Hydrotherm 101 on his page, take a look. And BruceL is a 7th generation sugarer, he can share his knowledge with you too. Check too in other forums on this site. Good luck!

ETA:here's an old thread you may want to check out

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?29902-Newbie-with-questions

[JeffB]

Hey maplelane
I'm Jeff I'm just over in Havelock so we pretty much nieghbors.
To answer your question yes u need a thermometer BUT I suggest a Hydotherm.
A thermometer will give u a close read ing depending on boiling point of water on the giving day you are finishing your syrup.
Boiling point of water fluctuates with barimetric pressure and a few degrees can make a big difference.

Buy a hydrotherm and test cup very accurate easy to use.
It works at any temperature to tell u when your syrup is at correct brix.
Co Op on hwy7 can hook you up for 50 bucks.
Best investment u could make.
They also have EVERYTHING you need bottles,filters,taps and even a book or 2 that's well worth a new Mapler's time to read.
Or you can post here or pm me any questions

[JeffB]

OH ! And may say that the "look" will never stop once the maple bug has bitten you.. May I suggest the saying "Yes honey! But all the other syrup makers have 1" lol
Almost 5 yrs into it I still get the "look":o

[pgeller]

This is only my 4th season and I started with a cinder block arch and roasting pans as well. I do not yet have a hydrotherm but use a thermometer. We bring it close on the fire then pull it off. Finish it in the garage on an induction plate and stock pot. For your finishing temp which is close to me but you are higher than me in the county I use saptapapps.com/boiltemp/. As for jarring (I use mason jars), Well you can, so you know all about those steps, i never have a problem and if we question any of it being too thin by looks we boil on the plate or bbq a little more and re jar. I jar when it's hot and my jars were in the boiling water and pour through a filter to make sure there is no sugar sand. I store the jars in the freezer.

That's my process and it keeps changing and refining. My two cents for under 75 taps in the county.

[Maplelane1]

I sincerely appreciate everyone's input, advice and suggested reading - thank you. Big_Eddy is a wealth of knowledge - thanks for that lead, Galena.

I'm going to take you up one your offer, Jeff, stay tuned ! For now I'm reading, digesting info and ... anxious to get going ! I put in 7 taps today after work, in the rain, and plan more for tomorrow.

Run sap run!

[Lespetras]

Excited to introduce our new homemade evaporator
17795
Trying to save money from our propane setup..

[Big_Eddy]

9 times out of 10 mouldy syrup was under density. The thermometer will get you close but only if you correct for the daily boiling point. If you do stick with the thermometer then add 1/2 a degree F to be sure. Thicker syrup has a better mouth feel anyway.

[Run Forest Run!]

Excited to introduce our new homemade evaporator.
Trying to save money from our propane setup..

Fabulous! I'm so jealous!

[Lespetras]

Fabulous! I'm so jealous!

Yes Karen,
We had to go for it.. I looked at the Costco set up... but gonna wait to see what happens with this first... hope it has the same stamina

[Run Forest Run!]

I'll report in on how well it is working when I start boiling this week. I trust you will do the same. :D

[TurkeyJohn]

Excited to introduce our new homemade evaporator
17795
Trying to save money from our propane setup..

Looks great Les, nice shiny barrel too...

Hope it’s a great season for all of us...

John


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TurkeyJohn]

Just checked buckets, going to be a good day when they drip overnight. Will be making clouds this afternoon, first of the season for us....can’t wait...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JeffB]

Never fails...
Jumped right in, charged drill batteries and headed out to bush Friday knowing it was gonna rain, was hoping it would hold off untill I put some taps in .
Well that never happened ! 3 taps in on my first run of lines and the drizzle and rain started. :mad:
Four and half hours later i was soaked and chilled and thinking WTF ! but all 150 taps are in and ready to collect the liquid gold. :D

Thats a nice barrel evaporator set up , Im sure you will like it more then your propane set up . (i know i sure did)

Hint : Get yourself a pair of welder gloves from Canadian tire , they work great for saving your hands and from the steam and heat if your going to use the laddle proccess to tansfer from pan to pan

[TurkeyJohn]

And we’re off, first boil of 2018...https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180224/b3ef246135bd78c794fe4669f747152e.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Galena]

hehe love the setup TurkeyJohn!

[BrutemanAl]

Had to work to for a while today and this afternoon headed over to the bush, I was a little disappointed, most of my taps are leaking really bad, think I may have put them in to far :( I did still collect about 65 L and started boiling it tonight.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Big_Eddy]

Fixed the pinhole in my pan, made a new grate, put up the chimney and cleared all the bikes out of the sugar house. We have 180 gals in the tank. Steam tomorrow. :)

I love the first boil of the season. The steam, the smells, the smoke, the sounds of bubbling and boiling. Multiple sips of fresh sap and semi-sweet syrup.
But most of all, I love watching the colour develop. From that first fill with crystal clear sap, through to the first draw of delicate golden syrup, there is something magical about seeing the colour develop as the gradient forms.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

[Lespetras]

Looks great Les, nice shiny barrel too...

Hope it’s a great season for all of us...

John


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks TurkeyJohn...

I really like your set up too.. similar. Do you find your able to keep in top of the sap with this method?

[Run Forest Run!]

Me too Big Eddy. I did my first collection today and plan to do my first boil tomorrow as well. Can't wait.

[Lespetras]

I love the first boil of the season. The steam, the smells, the smoke, the sounds of bubbling and boiling. Multiple sips of fresh sap and semi-sweet syrup.
But most of all, I love watching the colour develop. From that first fill with crystal clear sap, through to the first draw of delicate golden syrup, there is something magical about seeing the colour develop as the gradient forms.


I could not agree more Big Eddy. We finished our first batch tonight.. so light and vanilla tasting.. it truly is a rare treat!

[TurkeyJohn]

Thanks TurkeyJohn...

I really like your set up too.. similar. Do you find your able to keep in top of the sap with this method?

So far so good, I’ve got a little cake pan that fits perfectly across the top with a small hole for a feeder/preheated, works well....

In the past I’ve piled cinder blocks around to try to insulate but don’t bother now as I don’t think it was that effective....

Worked yesterday, biggest challenge is feeding the fire to keep it boiling...dry wood a challenge, even tarped it was damp...

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180225/ecf4d09abb6f1a5b929828dcc9a176a8.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Vandy]

Taped yesterday and boiled last night :)

Crappy Rain today :(

[Galena]

Same problem here with the wood, John. I took apart a bunch of pallets and stashed the wood so it would stay dry, or so I thought...luckily my evaporator stove is pretty small and the lids come off the top. It's just the right size for a buffet pan.

I'm trying a different approach to boiling this year, or at least evaporating. Going to try and get 45-60l of sap collected and stash in the teeny little sugar shack, then fire it up and boil it down and keep the nearup, then finish the nearup on the electric stove once I have enough to make a batch, usually around 100l. Otherwise I'm staying up late most nights trying to keep up with the run, which looks like it will be really good this year *knocking on wood*.

[ashadedacre]

Tapped on family day first boil yesterday 24th. Yes butterscotch beginnings!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180225/c3a05beb95d8e9fd0d9a191c744202ff.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180225/67771a8d50f7aac75ab5f787c6678ced.jpg

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

[JeffB]

Happy day!
Trees are starting off slow here put all my taps in Saturday (149).
27 hours later collected 340 liters but a good run considering the first day.
12.2 liters a hour if you average it out.. so if this weather they calling for keeps up that should increase two fold I hope.
I still have 8 inches of snow on the sap trails collecting was a little tricky.
I'm going to have to wait till Wednesday to collect again and start the first boil that night die to my work load this week .:mad:
This should be a good yr with any luck

[BrutemanAl]

Taps started flowing pretty good just after lunch today here in Codrington, I collected 67L today, boiling away now. not sure what I am going to do if this week stays the way it looks, I already dont have room for more sap lol, may have to get my barrel evaporator up and going next weekend.

[Big_Eddy]

Taps started flowing pretty good just after lunch today here in Codrington, I collected 67L today, boiling away now. not sure what I am going to do if this week stays the way it looks, I already dont have room for more sap lol, may have to get my barrel evaporator up and going next weekend.

Took it easy today. With the rain, started boiling about 11am with 160 gallons in the tank. Boiled off 75 and the pans are sweetened. It was a good flow day and now there's 185 gals in the tank. Will need to put some serious hours into boiling tomorrow. Burning pine slab wood. Hot and fast. No ash or coals, but going through wood a lot faster than my usual beech and ash.

Was a great afternoon for being outside.

[Galena]

I got my evaporator fired up for first time this year, will try to get 40ish l boiled off tonight. Good thing that pan hold 15l at a time!!

[pgeller]

150 gal after one week of collection on 35 pails. The rain this morning had me wait until 3 to collect. Hopefully having the evaporator out next weekend to get some of it cooked off.

[BrutemanAl]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180226/9c13e627d2e1070ac63d842694a620e2.jpg

Picture of my little helper today, we had a fantastic afternoon in the bush, boiled about 50 L tonight, it’s a great start, also got my hands on 75 more buckets and lids, now I need more taps. I don’t plan on using them till next year probably.

[Clinkis]

Busy few days. Replaced the 270 taps on my pipelines and got them all tapped and made all necessary repairs. Vacuum pump fired up. Sap ran well today collected about 350 gallons so far. Today got the evaporator all cleaned up and setup and connected the new RO. Brought in about 250 gallons this afternoon. Ran the new RO and it worked excellent. Got the evaporator sweetened and then made about 15 litres of the lightest mildest flavoured syrup I've every made. Looks like it's going to be a busy week.

[Galena]

Wondering how I am going to find enough scrap wood kicking around to fuel the evaporator esp as the trees are running well, they were still going late into last night. I got about 25l boiled off, but it takes a lot to get the fire up to heat and keep it going fast enough in order to make it worthwhile. Will have to get out there with the bowsaw and get at some deadfall in the back.

[DrewCP]

Wondering how I am going to find enough scrap wood kicking around to fuel the evaporator esp as the trees are running well, they were still going late into last night. I got about 25l boiled off, but it takes a lot to get the fire up to heat and keep it going fast enough in order to make it worthwhile. Will have to get out there with the bowsaw and get at some deadfall in the back.

On the BOLD
Shipping pallets are what we have used forever. Free and dry. Good mix of softwood and hardwood. I break them down with a circular saw. Could use a chainsaw but it's not as precise. You can see it all cut up in the background of this picture.

17829

[DrewCP]

Way behind as usual. Moved our new CDL 18x48 from last year into it's new home but still haven't completed a steam vent yet. It's not going to vent at the peak so we have to modify how steam gets to our cupola. Can't tap until Thursday. Dad refuses to tap a tree in February. Lol.

Good luck everyone.

[Galena]

I do have some pallets chopped up, but my delivery guy dropped the ball and never did get me the pallets I requested in the fall. Also I don't have a truck or trailer, so am making do with deadfall. And the guy who did chop up them for me did use a circular saw.

[DrewCP]

I do have some pallets chopped up, but my delivery guy dropped the ball and never did get me the pallets I requested in the fall. Also I don't have a truck or trailer, so am making do with deadfall. And the guy who did chop up them for me did use a circular saw.

I see you are in North Grenville. My son has a hockey game in South Grenville (Spencerville) on Sunday. I may be able to drop off a trailer load of pallets along the way if you are interested. I drove by my "source" yesterday and they looked pretty flush with pallets. Disassembly NOT included. LOL.


Drew.

[Galena]

I see you are in North Grenville. My son has a hockey game in South Grenville (Spencerville) on Sunday. I may be able to drop off a trailer load of pallets along the way if you are interested. I drove by my "source" yesterday and they looked pretty flush with pallets. Disassembly NOT included. LOL.


Drew.
Drew, that would be awesome!!! I am about 15 min away from Spencerville, between Oxford Station and Oxford Mills at Pattersons Corners. Lots of room to drop them off in my driveway. I'll PM you my address and phone #. MEantime will find me a circular saw and get a new blade for it - I know the guy who bucked up 30ish pallets went through a circ saw blade in doing so.

[Motoman89]

Got my first 100+ gals tonight. Hoping to have my pans all washed and setup tomorrow night. Might even have time to sweeten my pans if all goes well. Love this!

[Fort Wisers]

Between Friday night and Yesterday afternoon we've collected about 22 litres of sap.
For our little 6 tap operation we're happy with that. Another sunny morning today should net another good run!
Will start boiling late this week or weekend.

[Galena]

Between Friday night and Yesterday afternoon we've collected about 22 litres of sap.
For our little 6 tap operation we're happy with that. Another sunny morning today should net another good run!
Will start boiling late this week or weekend.

Hehe yep the fun thing about starting with a small operation and a few taps is seeing how much sap you can get :-) Fwiw, cause I'm also local, I was looking at frozen sap just now...but it's going to be +8 this afternoon. I'll probably have close to 30l (from 17 taps) by this afternoon.

Been having snafu 101 with the outdoor evaporator. Rusty old cast iron woodstove, so it leaks smoke out into the shack...hopefully some heat tape, just applied this morning, will help stop that. Other main problem is the lack of dry wood, spent way too much time yesterday running around finding and bucking deadfall, and just having to constantly run outside to check and stoke fire and add more wood. It took far too long - around 8hrs - to reduce 42l sap to 4l of nearup, with punky/damp wood being a big part of it. So must make sure I source another couple cord of wood so I don't have to go into the household supply.

[Vandy]

Wow! After the rain Sunday till Monday around noon, I had over flowing buckets! I had to relieve about 30 buckets at lunch. Kids collected at 5pm - 110 Gal of sap from about 120 taps. With more coming today I'm going to be busy. Got through 45 Gal last night..

[Fort Wisers]

Hehe yep the fun thing about starting with a small operation and a few taps is seeing how much sap you can get :-) Fwiw, cause I'm also local, I was looking at frozen sap just now...but it's going to be +8 this afternoon. I'll probably have close to 30l (from 17 taps) by this afternoon.

Been having snafu 101 with the outdoor evaporator. Rusty old cast iron woodstove, so it leaks smoke out into the shack...hopefully some heat tape, just applied this morning, will help stop that. Other main problem is the lack of dry wood, spent way too much time yesterday running around finding and bucking deadfall, and just having to constantly run outside to check and stoke fire and add more wood. It took far too long - around 8hrs - to reduce 42l sap to 4l of nearup, with punky/damp wood being a big part of it. So must make sure I source another couple cord of wood so I don't have to go into the household supply.

Hey @Galena,
Yeah today should be a good run, it's certainly a beautiful morning.
We are hoping we have enough wood to get through our boil, luckily our boil is very small lol.
Call around and see if Rona etc has any pallets, we have a truck and trailer and can grab a load or two and run them your way this weekend maybe, let us know.
Take care and good luck

[Galena]

Hey @Galena,
Yeah today should be a good run, it's certainly a beautiful morning.
We are hoping we have enough wood to get through our boil, luckily our boil is very small lol.
Call around and see if Rona etc has any pallets, we have a truck and trailer and can grab a load or two and run them your way this weekend maybe, let us know.
Take care and good luck

Hey Wisers, that's a good idea, I will call Rona and see what their pallet situation is. Drew has also offered to stop by with a load of pallets this coming Sunday, in his experience about 12 broken-down pallets will boil a lot of sap. It would be awesome to get another load of pallets , and then you can visit my 7-tree setup and pepper me with questions. And of course I am always glad to help out in any way I can, too. Eastern Ontario has the most awesome maple peeps! :-)

ETA: trying to find some way to seal up the leaks in the woodstove so I don't get a faceful of smoke and stinging eyes each time I go in the shack. Still haven't yet found something that works, but in the meantime eye protection in the form of goggles works well to ensure I can see. And will probably get someone to put a hole or soffitty type thing in to let smoke out.

[Fort Wisers]

Hey Wisers, that's a good idea, I will call Rona and see what their pallet situation is. Drew has also offered to stop by with a load of pallets this coming Sunday, in his experience about 12 broken-down pallets will boil a lot of sap. It would be awesome to get another load of pallets , and then you can visit my 7-tree setup and pepper me with questions. And of course I am always glad to help out in any way I can, too. Eastern Ontario has the most awesome maple peeps! :-)

ETA: trying to find some way to seal up the leaks in the woodstove so I don't get a faceful of smoke and stinging eyes each time I go in the shack. Still haven't yet found something that works, but in the meantime eye protection in the form of goggles works well to ensure I can see. And will probably get someone to put a hole or soffitty type thing in to let smoke out.

Keep us posted on the pallet situation....

There is a high temperature rated stove sealant used to seal up the seams in old cast stoves.
Something like this:
https://www.rutland.com/p/51/hi-temp-stove--gasket-cement

You may be able to find something at Rona / CT / Home Depot or the Fireplace Station etc that would work.
Only issue is you'll have to let the stove cool and stay cool while the stuff cures.

Just did another sap collection, I believe we're at about 34 litres total so that's 12 litres in the last 24 hours...happy with that.
Hoping to start boil tomorrow.

[Big_Eddy]

Hey Wisers, that's a good idea, I will call Rona and see what their pallet situation is. Drew has also offered to stop by with a load of pallets this coming Sunday, in his experience about 12 broken-down pallets will boil a lot of sap. It would be awesome to get another load of pallets , and then you can visit my 7-tree setup and pepper me with questions. And of course I am always glad to help out in any way I can, too. Eastern Ontario has the most awesome maple peeps! :-)

ETA: trying to find some way to seal up the leaks in the woodstove so I don't get a faceful of smoke and stinging eyes each time I go in the shack. Still haven't yet found something that works, but in the meantime eye protection in the form of goggles works well to ensure I can see. And will probably get someone to put a hole or soffitty type thing in to let smoke out.

Galena
Don't worry about plugging the holes. The answer is more draft i.e. more stack. If you have enough stack height for a good draw, all those cracks will be the Galena version of AUF and AOF.
12' of 6" or 7" stack should do the trick. It may smoke a bit until the fire is going or when stoking, but once going and with enough draft it will suck air in any cracks.

[Galena]

Hey Wisers, glad you got a lot more sap, I don't think there is an end to it in sight. Honestly I really would love to get even more pallets - I am down to the dregs in terms of what I have left of mine, and Drew won't be around til this Sunday, and my trees just gave me another 35l of sap so I currently have 65l total (30 from yesterday) to tackle. I'm even having to press the household woodstove into evaporator mode just to keep up. So if you are willing to swing by with a load that would be awesome!

Good idea too on gasket cement, and I don't fire the sugar shack stove after 10pm (gotta sleep sometime) so it's nice and cold in the morning. May give that a go.

Big_Eddy....good idea on the stack idea but I'm not so sure it'll work. The 3ft stack I currently have up is rather rickety, and doubt that another 3ft length would help. See pics in link below.
http://www.dpchallenge.com/portfolio.php?USER_ID=59029&collection_id=42927

[BrutemanAl]

I can’t keep up here, I’m collecting about 60 L everyday after work and boil every night about 40 L. I should have started collecting skids from work a long time ago, then I would be able to fire up my barrel evaporator. Right now I’m using the good old turkey fryer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TurkeyJohn]

Dry wood an on going issue here too. Can’t keep up to the sap, boiled Saturday and took out of work early to put a dent in it and while I’m boiling the trees filled another can. Looking out my kitchen window, two full 20 gallon cans. I’ve packed them in snow, hope they can wait until Friday night...Any other suggestions to keep the sap fresher longer would be appreciated....So far, 4 and a half bottles and one given to the in laws already....

TurkeyJohn


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[michaelhh]

Hello all.
First time poster. Lurker no more.
My family and I moved to Merrickville a few years ago and the place we bought has a sugar shack on the property so we started out spring 2016. I had wanted to do this for a long time.
The previous owners had been tapping for probably 30 years so they gave us some info on what they had been doing. Some years they had up to 70-80 taps.
This year I'm doing the same as last year - around 25 taps. That's the bare minimum for our pan but it's the max of what we can handle right now.
It's been great so far and hopefully we have enough to boil on Sunday.
Looking forward to sharing with you folks!

[Galena]

Welcome Michael and family! You were lucky to find a place that had a setup and equipment ready to go :-) I live in Oxford Mills, about 20 min drive away so if you need any help let me know. Have fun!

[michaelhh]

Thanks Galena! Yes we are very lucky. It is really helpful and interesting for me to have this conversation going and to see what others are doing. Lots of fun indeed!

Have a great day,

Michael

[JeffB]

Hey there former Lurker .. I'm Jeff

Welcome to the site ..
Great resource for info and some know how.
That's a nice set up you got yourself now the learning curve and head aches will begin. Lol
I read your bio and you have a raised flue pan set up.
I'm thinking you will need a few more taps to keep that pan set up with sap .
With a raised flue pan u should get at least 20gallon a hour evaporation rate. You will be firing it and then shutting down unless you have 100 gallons stored.
I have a 2x4 as well but my evaporator has a blower and I don't fire it up unless I have 150 gallons on hand.
My evaporation rate averages 22 to 25 gallons a hour once the pans are sweetened.
Just my thoughts.. have fun and enjoy your new set up . I look forward to your updates in future

[michaelhh]

Hey Jeff,

Thanks for the welcome. Learning curve indeed!

Agreed about the amount of taps! Right now 25 is about all we can manage with the time and energy we have since we are hauling the sap by hand to the shack. Hoping to get an atv in the future to help with that. Or at least a yoke for my shoulders :)
The raised flue really does work well.
In 2016 with 10 taps we only had enough sap to use the front finishing pans and we were shovelling snow like crazy into the flue pan all day to keep it from scorching. Made a mess of the flue pan with leaves and junk getting cooked back there. Not to mention a real waste of the heat potential of that setup. I reached out to a commercial producer and he gave me great advice: You will use just as much wood to boil sap from 10 taps as you would 25 with the pan I'm luck enough to have.
So I will not do that again! I have lots to learn but I'm trying not to repeat mistakes I made.
Last year I had 130gal stored in tank and buckets but we had that freeze so that was dicey with a storage tank frozen solid. I'm sure I was not alone in that predicament!
Hopefully by the weekend we will have close to 100 gal so we can boil on Sunday. Fingers crossed!
Hope to get out later to put in 5 more taps and see what we have in the pails today.

Michael

[Lespetras]

Anyone else having trouble keeping on top of sap? I think this is the biggest stretch of sap days we've experienced in 4 years. We simply cannot get ahead. A bit frustrating. Currently we have 450litres sitting in our reservoirs. All buckets overflowing.. haven't been able to collect in 2 days as we can't put a dent in what we have.
Panicking!!!!!

[deckers007]

Yup, same here, 1500 liters behind as of this morning and the sap was still flowing from the pump. I am normally very happy if i can get my 1200 liter tank half full, now i have sap left in my transfer tank and in my collection tank in the bush. on top of that my buckets are overflowing. will be boiling every night this week and into the weekend to stay ahead before sap goes bad. just to be clear i am NOT complaining ;)

[JeffB]

Lol I can't get home to collect my sap . My wife informs me after her little walk to bush today.
All 5 collection drums are overflowing and they are 200liter each.
I only finished tapping Sunday .:o
I will be home tonight but way to late to collect.
It's gonna be a busy weekend

[Galena]

Oh boy a lot of you have much worse problems than I do! I'm almost glad that 3 of my spiles have punked out, so that means I only have 14 taps...but they're all pretty hot. I think I'm around 48l in storage, including today's collection.

At least now I can try to get the rustbucket woodstove patched up, if I do it now it will finish curing by tomorrow this time and I can try to get a some more done. Right now it's the inside woodstove doing all the heavy lifting. Works but sooooo slow!!!

[Run Forest Run!]

You guys are killing me! No sap again today either. Six days in and only 59L collected in total. :(

[SPM in King]

Karen, I feel your pain! Too warm here. Collected 150L yesterday and almost none today. FYI, new sugar bush...did not have time to tap last year so we are just getting things up and running. Hope to have 80 taps in by the weekend (47 so far).

Good to be back in the swing of things. I miss talking to the trees...

[Run Forest Run!]

Steve, great to see you back! New sugar bush eh? How exciting!

[Maplelane1]

I'm new to the whole sap thing and loving it but not sure if what I'm seeing is normal. I'm collecting on avg 2 6 gallon pails FULL (to the rim) of sap daily, since Saturday, from 14 taps on 12 trees. I was clearly not prepared as every bucket, pail, pot and Tupperware tote I have is full of sap. Am I over-reacting or is this normal?

[TurkeyJohn]

I'm new to the whole sap thing and loving it but not sure if what I'm seeing is normal. I'm collecting on avg 2 6 gallon pails FULL (to the rim) of sap daily, since Saturday, from 14 taps on 12 trees. I was clearly not prepared as every bucket, pail, pot and Tupperware tote I have is full of sap. Am I over-reacting or is this normal?

Not over reacting at all... I’m a newbie too. Have only been doing 5 or 6 years and have never seen a run like this....ive got two 20 gallon cans full and with what’s on the trees I’d have a third....but need the third to transport it to the boiler...

Sap Tsunami!!!!

Have a feeling it may dry up so rolling with it....

TurkeyJohn


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Galena]

I'm new to the whole sap thing and loving it but not sure if what I'm seeing is normal. I'm collecting on avg 2 6 gallon pails FULL (to the rim) of sap daily, since Saturday, from 14 taps on 12 trees. I was clearly not prepared as every bucket, pail, pot and Tupperware tote I have is full of sap. Am I over-reacting or is this normal?

Yep essentially what TurkeyJohn said...a sap tsunami :-) This is insanely good in terms of sap flow but as most of us are hobbyists, it can really be a detriment when, like you said, every available container is pressed into service. 5g plastic camping water totes from Crappy Tire are another storage solution, as are 15 or 18l water bottles.

FWIW I bought a Rubbermaid garbage can which is used ONLY for sap storage and yes it is food grade, so long as the # on the bottom isn't 7, which means it's made from recycled stuff and could be anything. I'll scrounge around and see if I can find the table which tells you which #s mean what.

ETA: # 1, 2, 4 and 5 are safe to use. Check inside the recycle logo on the bottom for one of these and you're good to go.
https://www.wikihow.com/Identify-Food-Grade-Buckets

ETA 2.0:....heads up everyone, weather meant to be getting colder and calling for snow -possibly a lot. Noobs, March almost always brings at least one freezeup...that doesn't mean it's time to go pull spiles though. Sit it out and meanwhile boil what the tsunami has brought you!

[Maplelane1]

ETA 2.0:....heads up everyone, weather meant to be getting colder and calling for snow -possibly a lot. Noobs, March almost always brings at least one freezeup...that doesn't mean it's time to go pull spiles though. Sit it out and meanwhile boil what the tsunami has brought you!

Was wondering about that - whether to take taps out when temps drop or keep them in for a march run. Will keep them in !

I'm using food grade/non-toxic containers, and just bought yesterday a 45 gal drum that contained vanilla. Cleaned the residue out but still has a slight smell of vanilla - thinking that ain't such a bad thing...vanilla and maple syrup..??

Built my block arch today and topped up the propane tanks for the turkey frier... I'm...ah...gonna be boiling this weekend :)

All the best everyone !

[michaelhh]

I have 50 gal as of this evening - halfway to the 100 gal I'll need to do a boil on my 2x4 as JeffB suggested on the weekend. I have an old galvanized 100gal tank that I didn't really want to use but after hearing all the stories about running out of storage space, I'll shut up and use it. Sap isn't going to be in there for very long and I'm almost out of 5gal pails anyway.
Using what I have on hand and boiling it all on Sunday hopefully.

Do any of you notice this year in general the sap is not as sweet as last year as far as taste goes?
I'm wondering how much the sugar content in the sap would change year to year. Last summer was a wet one...

Michael

[Galena]

Hehe it's perfectly normal for there to be a note of vanilla or even marshmallow in the first batch :-) check out this flavour wheel, it's really cool.http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/science-and-innovation/research-centres/quebec/saint-hyacinthe-research-and-development-centre/maple-syrup-flavour/flavour-wheel-for-maple-products/?id=1231363888838

FWIW one of the weirdest batches I ever had a very distinct, mild but present note of fresh mown hay. It was gorgeous and only enhanced the syrup, not detract from it.

Essentially, you leave the taps in til the bitter end, when buds on the trees pop out and they either stop producing sap or start producing sap that looks thick, cloudy, possibly has a texture nicely described as ropey. Like snot, basically. THEN you know it's time to call it quits and pull spiles. My trees are pretty good at just drying up by mid-April. Don't forget to get a good set of floaties, too, for the sap tsunami. Happy boiling!

Michael...sorry no can't say I've personally noticed sap tasting any less sweet, unless perhaps you're tapping some soft maples, which would be running very well this time of year, but usually have a lower sugar content.But why lose sleep over it? It's the syrup that matters.

[Clinkis]

Sap flowing well in my neck of the woods. Collected around 800 gallons of sap so far. Managed to process about 600 galllons so far. And YES I’ve noticed sugar content is in the low side (1.7-1.8% range). Today was a little better around 2%. Im usually in the 2.2-2.4 range. Thank goodness for the RO.

[Lespetras]

Niter is not my friend!!

[Fort Wisers]

Hey gang, wow, yes some good production over the last couple of days.
Collected twice yesterday or the buckets would have overflowed.
Started the boil yesterday as well, boiled down maybe 25 litres so far?

Galena, have you been able to source any pallets yet? Let us know and we can do a run for you, hope your stove seals up nicely.
I do agree with Big Eddy though that if you're drafting well, the cracks shouldn't spew too much smoke once the stack starts drawing......

Just fired up the evaporator and poured another coffee.
Day will consist of feeding the fire / boil pot and wrenching on the rhino (our UTV for at camp).

Actually glad the temps are dropping for a couple of days to slow the flow down for a bit LOL.
Take care everyone and welcome to the new folks on the forum!!

[Galena]

Hey Wisers, Drew is going to be in the area and is bringing me some pallets this Sunday. But as I've already collected 150l on only 5 days' worth of run so far, I wouldn't mind another load of pallets. Even just a couple til this weekend would be awesome.

I gasketed the rustbucket stove yesterday and it should be fully cured by 5pm. So we'll know then how well it's been sealed up and may help how well it's drawing! I just can't put up another length of smoke pipe. My shack is one of those tincan jobbies, very flimsy.

Don't let the lower temps lull you into a false sense of complacency...yes the run may stop or slow a lot, but when the warm weather returns, the sap tsunami will probably resume.

[Fort Wisers]

Hey Wisers, Drew is going to be in the area and is bringing me some pallets this Sunday. But as I've already collected 150l on only 5 days' worth of run so far, I wouldn't mind another load of pallets. Even just a couple til this weekend would be awesome.

I gasketed the rustbucket stove yesterday and it should be fully cured by 5pm. So we'll know then how well it's been sealed up and may help how well it's drawing! I just can't put up another length of smoke pipe. My shack is one of those tincan jobbies, very flimsy.

Don't let the lower temps lull you into a false sense of complacency...yes the run may stop or slow a lot, but when the warm weather returns, the sap tsunami will probably resume.

Not going to get complacent, just need a small break to get on top of a bunch of other overdue chores lol
Sent you a PM about pallets
Cheers

[Big_Eddy]

Boiled Sunday and sweetened the pans, boiled Monday and took off 15 litres of nice light syrup, boiled all day Tuesday to empty the tanks and took off 15 litres of darker syrup (sap was aging)
About 300 gallons boiled off total.

Collected another 70 gallons Tuesday, nothing Wednesday. (Not cold enough Tuesday night)
Nice freeze overnight Wednesday so expecting a good day today and tomorrow with the incoming storm front. Lots more steam planned for the weekend.

Always takes a couple of boils to get in tune with the evaporator. Back in the swing now - will see how hard we can push it over the weekend.

[JeffB]

Made it home late last night and had a early day at work today.
Got home and just finished collecting for first time since tap went in Sunday. Ever 1 of my drums spilling out onto the ground.
I now have 1000liters of sap in a storage tank
I'm surprised a little it's still crystal clear not cloudy at all seeing as it's been in the bush for 3 days.
I spent rest of afternoon setting up the shack and giving everything a sterilizing.
I will start boiling Friday after work . Everything is set up and ready to go ! Add sap add fire will have steam.
Lines are still dripping but slow the bush needs a freeze up to kick start them again.

[Fort Wisers]

Good day again today, collected another ~ 10+litres of sap today and have ran 45 litres through our "evap rig" between today and yesterday.
I'm sure some of you are laughing at these small little numbers but we're having fun lol.
A good buddy came over today as he was interested in seeing what we were doing.
The intent was he and I would work on the ATV while feeding the stove....
Not a lot of ATV work got completed but we did managed to put in a number of hours rocking and "solving the worlds problems"!

JeffB, good to hear your sap is keeping nicely. Half of why we started boiling is because we were worried about spoiling.

Hard to beat this hobby, blue skies, geese returning home and the crackle of a stove....good times!

[Maplelane1]

Slower here today. Only 6 Gal of sap which is half of what I've been collecting daily. Seems they like to drip a lot more when the sun shines...just an observation.

Snow coming and temps to dip tonight but rising above zero tomorrow so here's hoping for some more flow.

Ready to start boiling tomorrow! Sounds like I won't be alone either...

[Galena]

Hey Wisers, I doubt anyone's laughing at you, just with you cause we remember our first little setups and the results :-) The 'having fun' part is important too!

@Maplelane1...yep my trees also produce better when it's sunny. Warms em up. Having said that, though today was sunny it was also a mite breezy, so I was very relieved to get *only* 16l today instead of 30l+. And no fear I think there will be a lot more sap to come, though March freezeups could play merry hell with the run again as they did last year...we'll see! Have fun boiling :-)

ETA: Just checked trees this morning, so glad to see they're all asleep, tucked up in their blankies and not a drop of sap anywhere. Whew! Now maybe I can cacth up. Going to finish batch #1 tonight.

[paulslund]

Hehe it's perfectly normal for there to be a note of vanilla or even marshmallow in the first batch :-) check out this flavour wheel, it's really cool.http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/science-and-innovation/research-centres/quebec/saint-hyacinthe-research-and-development-centre/maple-syrup-flavour/flavour-wheel-for-maple-products/?id=1231363888838

FWIW one of the weirdest batches I ever had a very distinct, mild but present note of fresh mown hay. It was gorgeous and only enhanced the syrup, not detract from it.

Essentially, you leave the taps in til the bitter end, when buds on the trees pop out and they either stop producing sap or start producing sap that looks thick, cloudy, possibly has a texture nicely described as ropey. Like snot, basically. THEN you know it's time to call it quits and pull spiles. My trees are pretty good at just drying up by mid-April. Don't forget to get a good set of floaties, too, for the sap tsunami. Happy boiling!

Michael...sorry no can't say I've personally noticed sap tasting any less sweet, unless perhaps you're tapping some soft maples, which would be running very well this time of year, but usually have a lower sugar content.But why lose sleep over it? It's the syrup that matters.

Hey Galena.

That is a really neat site you posted. I'm going to study that a lot.

No sap tsunami for me.. Finally by big three producers thawed enough to give a gallon/day on Tuesday and Wednesday, but otherwise I think only have around 100lrs collected.. 30 in the freezer and the rest on the trees.. That's after about 2 weeks for 9 or my 20 taps.. My little sugars aren't giving that much, and my big silvers maybe still need more time to thaw.. Not sure how this cooling period will affect me but I imagine collection might be slow afterwards.. might just try to freeze it all until things flow again.. just running out of containers to do that with.. LOL...

[michaelhh]

My wife, daughter and her friend collected 10 gal after school yesterday from our now 25 taps so not overwhelming. We have all our sap in 5 gal pails right now but we never seem to have enough lids. FYI, there are lots of pails and lids at the Rona in Nepean for those in need in the Ottawa area. All sold out in every store in Kemptville for obvious reasons!
Have to do a mad cleanup of the shack and evap tomorrow morning and let the squirrels know I'm back and they will have to tolerate my presence for a while out there.
Whatever happens with the flow, I'm boiling Sunday!
Good boiling everyone.
Michael

[marlmucker]

Finally fired things up yesterday. Burned through approx. 170 gallons of sap. Good start.17941

[Galena]

I was outside getting firewood for the house, when I heard that telltale *plink...plink*...oh dear gawd. Despite sapsicles up to 4in' in length, all my spiles were going, albeit quite slowly. Maybe 1g total between all 7 trees, I didn't bother collecting. So good to know that those 3 spiles that quit on me are back at work, maybe it just took that nice brisk weather to recharge them.

[TurkeyJohn]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180303/f6d15ade71c4f9890a8d479052e668ac.jpg

Anyone else catching up into the evening???

Recruited a turkey fryer and the fire pit for preheating duty!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Galena]

Looks great John! Maybe use em for Halloween too :-)

[BrutemanAl]

Tomorrow in the early morning I am off to Clayton to get my new ( to me ) evaporator. Hope to be home by noonish and then I am going off load the goodies and get the barrel evaporator out and give it a go, see if I can get caught up on boiling.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Run Forest Run!]

Very exciting Al! Have fun. :D

[BrutemanAl]

I have a question and I think I may have learnt something, I am on a few Facebook maple syrup groups and I see allot of people talk about the famous .... nitre... and people mention when doing the the final boil and get it to the proper brix, they filter it through a cone filter with pre filters in it, or cotton tee shirts... a bunch of different ways, anyhow, after filtering it they let it cool then bring it back up to between 180-190 degrees then bottle it. Does this make sense? I always just brought it up to the proper brix, filtered it and then stuck it in jars, always have nitre, but I don’t care lol

How does everyone else do it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Galena]

I finish the syrup, filter it through paper coffee filters (cut-up clean white cotton tees vary way too much in the tightness of the weave, I've had whole batches just shoot right through, so I stopped using them) mounted with wooden clothespins onto stainless-steel funnels sitting atop the mouths of pre-heated Mason jars. Then, usually the next day, I check the brix and fix it if it needs it. Then I bring the syrup SLOWLY up to 185 while sterilizing the jars/lids in the oven for 10 min. DO NOT GO OVER 190 when reheating or you will create more nitre. In my case I do care about nitre cause I sometimes enter at fall fairs, and the presence of nitre will eliminate you in a heartbeat. Anyhow I am not saying my way is any better or worse than anyone else's, but it's what works for me :-)

This pic shows what I do, though here the funnel isn't stainless, as I only started use stainless ones a few years ago. http://www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=1056914

ETA: Just finished the first batch and this time I did check Brix as it was boiling to help fine-tune the timing. It finished at 221.5, but the therm I used is only my second-best one, and water did boil at 210 today, so it really was pretty much bang on to my usual finishing temp of 224 (12 degrees over the *normal* boiling point of water, which is 212. Looks like it'll be 3+l syrup from 123.8l sap. Darker than normal, and more robust flavour than typical, but it's probably the biggest first-run batch I've ever made.

ETA2: Oh btw I was expecting around 3.5l....it's almost 5l instead. Not complaining but wondering what my sugar content is! Back to bed for a little more shuteye :-)

[SPM in King]

Al, this is what you get if you filter too hot:

17962

I filter the raw syrup from my main pan through a Tshirt. Then I finish the syrup in a pot, cool it to 185 and filter through a cone filter with a bunch of prefilters inside. As the prefilters fill up, take them out, one at a time. Hot syrup goes straight into sterilized bottles.

[jnexus]

Hey,

My process is to draw it off the evaporator as close as I can to finished syrup, the bubbles will to look very glassy, small and tight ( almost like a foam ). If I get it right, I can open my valve at the back of the finishing pan and have it trickle out constantly.
I have a 5 GAL / 20L De Laval stainless milk container that I use to hold the syrup until I have a reasonable amount.
Then I will take the still very hot syrup and pour it through the heavy cotton filter with a couple of orlon pre - filters ( I do this using a stainless canner that has metal bands to hold the filters in place. ) from the canner I will fill up my Hydrometer cup and take a reading ( adjusted for temperature).
I usually aim for 66.5 - 67.0 Brix, I find the syrup has a pleasant thicker feeling on your tongue higher in the range.

I like to filter it first before the first reading, because I feel like the presence of niter / any other contaminant might skew the Hydrometer reading a bit. Also, double filtering will ensure crystal clear syrup.

Then I will put it on the stove and bring it back up to 190 ish ( if at perfect density) , pour it through another set of clean filters, back into the canner and hot pack immediately to ensure sterilized containers.

If not, boil more if on the stove up to the appropriate adjusted temp (boil water and see its boiling point on the day and add 3.94 C or 7.1 f), once reaching a bit more then that temp because I like my syrup thicker, ladle some out, hot test for density, filter and pack.

As long as the last thing you do before hot packing is filter, you are pretty much guaranteed to have niter free syrup and if you have pre filtered the syrup before bringing it back up to temp, and your filters are clean and you haven't had to boil it too much to bring up the density,
it will race through the second filtering and packing at 190 f is no issue.

Good Luck,

Jason

[Galena]

Well I somehow ended up with 4300-4400ml of gorgeous syrup, crystal clear and beautiful with a robust(!) marshmallowy/vanilla note...but it's probably going to crystallize on me :-/

A little bit bummed, cause it thermed out perfectly last night, red line absolutely dead level with the meniscus, when I checked it while hot. But this morning that red line went about 6 hashmarks above the surface of the therm cup. I do have both fresh sap and distilled water, so could try to *fix* it, but think I won't bother and just let it do what it will. Hari Om.

[Maplelane1]

Quick question...

I have a batch - about a litre - of syrup from last night. Took it off the the fire when it was at 212 F and put in fridge. It's thick !! Thinking I over-boiled. Can I just add it to the batch I'm doing today? Or should I just write it off and start a-new with today's batch?

I'm such a newb....

[michaelhh]

I finished at around 221 last year and had some crystallization but I liked how the syrup turned out otherwise so I was OK with it. Sounds like yours turned out great!
I sprung for a refractometer this year. Hoping that and my trusty thermapen will give me all ( or more than I need!) to know.

Now to build some kind of a holder for my orlon filter so I don't have to arrange a weird combination of wooden spoons and cupboard doors to filter syrup this year!

Sun is coming out!

[Maplelane1]

Thanks for putting it into perspective, Michael. You're right...it's thick and all but man is it tasty. If you have a sweet tooth I have the cure ! First one's free...;)

[TurkeyJohn]

I finished at around 221 last year and had some crystallization but I liked how the syrup turned out otherwise so I was OK with it. Sounds like yours turned out great!
I sprung for a refractometer this year. Hoping that and my trusty thermapen will give me all ( or more than I need!) to know.

Now to build some kind of a holder for my orlon filter so I don't have to arrange a weird combination of wooden spoons and cupboard doors to filter syrup this year!

Sun is coming out!

We’ve got a little wine rack over our counter. When I’m filtering, I slide the loops of the filter over the end of the bottles. Now I support it until it’s almost done, but this way I can let it hang to get all that liquid gold....
I’ll try to get a pic next time.

TurkeyJohn


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jim Coleman]

We’ve got a little wine rack over our counter. When I’m filtering, I slide the loops of the filter over the end of the bottles. Now I support it until it’s almost done, but this way I can let it hang to get all that liquid gold....
I’ll try to get a pic next time.

TurkeyJohn


Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkSaps runnin'.... I use a tomato cage and snip it with wire cutters. Leave the vertical supports exposed at the top and hang the filter from the cage. It fits perfectly for the Orion filters and I just filter it into a stainless steel pot then bottle it.

I have made 9 litres of syrup so far. 31 taps and a home made wood burning evaporator.

Hope this works for you.

Jim

[Galena]

Quick question...

I have a batch - about a litre - of syrup from last night. Took it off the the fire when it was at 212 F and put in fridge. It's thick !! Thinking I over-boiled. Can I just add it to the batch I'm doing today? Or should I just write it off and start a-new with today's batch?

I'm such a newb....

212 is barely simmering for syrup, which will boil around 7.1-7.5 degrees HIGHER than the boiling point of water that day. So it could be just nearup. You need a hydrotherm to check the density. Or, if you have a bottle of store-bought maple syrup kickin around in the fridge, take it out and invert it. Notice how the syrup falls off the bottom of the jar. Now do the same with your jar of syrup (lid sealed tight I hope) and invert it. See how it compares to the store stuff. Not super-accurate method but will give you an idea, if you have thin strings of syrup coming off the bottom, then it needs more work.

[BrutemanAl]

What a great day, got up at 5 am, drove almost 3 hrs to get my new to me evaporator and other goodies. Got home at 12, unloaded the truck and trailer, went to the forest and collected sap, came back and got my barrel evaporator out... it’s not pretty, but it works pretty good, boiled sap all afternoon, finished sap I have been boiling all week after work, it turned out incredible, best I have ever made I think, can’t wait for tomorrow to boil more sap.

Gathered 60 L today and there is probably another 60 L still in the forest.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180304/816d1b856e1df1d4f205a1bdb0479409.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180304/7e3783196709096b157c0968215cb6f2.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180304/aef19a64c87d21aab1b7a1fd8c9386f6.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TurkeyJohn]

What a great day, got up at 5 am, drove almost 3 hrs to get my new to me evaporator and other goodies. Got home at 12, unloaded the truck and trailer, went to the forest and collected sap, came back and got my barrel evaporator out... it’s not pretty, but it works pretty good, boiled sap all afternoon, finished sap I have been boiling all week after work, it turned out incredible, best I have ever made I think, can’t wait for tomorrow to boil more sap.

Gathered 60 L today and there is probably another 60 L still in the forest.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180304/816d1b856e1df1d4f205a1bdb0479409.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180304/7e3783196709096b157c0968215cb6f2.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180304/aef19a64c87d21aab1b7a1fd8c9386f6.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Your barrel boiler is prettier than mine Al,
Great job when it all comes together Bud, nice haul!!
TurkeyJohn


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Galena]

Wow Al, that is some setup! Very glad it's working so well for you :-)
Hey if you want to showcase the syrup, backlight it. Natural window light works great esp on cloudy or overcast days. Sit a jar on the windowledge and you'll see what I mean. Check the following link for examples amd yeah, with some I used a white shim behind the jars and a flash to bring out detail, but I did not alter colour in any of them.
http://www.dpchallenge.com/portfolio.php?USER_ID=59029&collection_id=41009

[Fort Wisers]

Collected another ~23 litres today (didn't collect yesterday) so we're at a total of about 83 litres collected now.
Picked up a new evaporator, tired of boiling off ~1/2 GPH on our little rig lol
Will post picks soon....
Glad to see everyone else is making good progress!

[michaelhh]

There is so much great advice on here! Looks like lots of folks getting syrup and it's going well.
Collected about 25 gal but had to stop cuz it was dark and I was hungry! Sap is running very well here. I've got 85 gal and hopefully some more tomorrow morning before I get boiling.
Spent a lot of time cleaning the shack and evap and this afternoon and it feels good to have that out of the way.
Have a great day tomorrow everyone!

[Vandy]

Great Day yesterday to get caught up from last week. Still have 2 barrels waiting to be boiled....
Some pics of my homemade arch.

http://www.vandy.ca/maple/2018/IMG_20180303_1134589.gif
http://www.vandy.ca/maple/2018/IMG_20180303_1134216.gif
http://www.vandy.ca/maple/2018/IMG_20180303_1134367.gif
http://www.vandy.ca/maple/2018/IMG_20180303_1136084.gif

[Galena]

Wow, cool setup! I love seeing how inventive fellow MTers get with their setup. This year for sure I am definitely going to get a real shack put up, cause the tincan special just isn't working. The gasketing cement did very little to reduce the amount of smoke, and it quickly gets unbearably hot in there. I spend more time standing outside it than in it, trying to guess if it needs more wood or not. Drew should be by in about an hour so looking forward to meeting him and getting pallets that took somethin of a scenic drive to get here :-)

Nice windy day out there so though I have a good 28-30l sap out there, I'm leaving the pails as they are or they'll get blown off!

[BrutemanAl]

Wow Al, that is some setup! Very glad it's working so well for you :-)
Hey if you want to showcase the syrup, backlight it. Natural window light works great esp on cloudy or overcast days. Sit a jar on the windowledge and you'll see what I mean. Check the following link for examples amd yeah, with some I used a white shim behind the jars and a flash to bring out detail, but I did not alter colour in any of them.
http://www.dpchallenge.com/portfolio.php?USER_ID=59029&collection_id=41009

Lol every year you mention the best way to showcase my syrup and every year I wait for you to mention it lol.

When I posted the pictures last night I told my wife you would say something about it lol.

It’s all good lol



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BrutemanAl]

Great Day yesterday to get caught up from last week. Still have 2 barrels waiting to be boiled....
Some pics of my homemade arch.

http://www.vandy.ca/maple/2018/IMG_20180303_1134589.gif
http://www.vandy.ca/maple/2018/IMG_20180303_1134216.gif
http://www.vandy.ca/maple/2018/IMG_20180303_1134367.gif
http://www.vandy.ca/maple/2018/IMG_20180303_1136084.gif

Great idea for the cable reels , now you have me thinking, we have tons of them at work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Galena]

Hehe @ Al...yeah, well I am kinda bossy, and I bet your syrup would look fantastic backlit...just sayin ;-)

Been having a fine ol time with a borrowed circular saw and a generous stack of pallets courtesy of DrewCP, who very kindly came by earlier this afternoon. And now I'm not getting smoked out of my shack cause I'm chucking wood from these nice dry pallets in almost as soon as I buck em up. Thanks again Drew, I really appreciate it!

[ashadedacre]

Tapped on family day first boil yesterday 24th. Yes butterscotch beginnings!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180225/c3a05beb95d8e9fd0d9a191c744202ff.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180225/67771a8d50f7aac75ab5f787c6678ced.jpg

Sent from my SM-G903W using TapatalkForgot to put up pics of first boil finished. No marshmallow butterscotch start this year.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180304/64176f05a84456df84117d197e0a76ff.jpg

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

[ashadedacre]

Tapped on family day first boil yesterday 24th. Yes butterscotch beginnings!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180225/c3a05beb95d8e9fd0d9a191c744202ff.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180225/67771a8d50f7aac75ab5f787c6678ced.jpg

Sent from my SM-G903W using TapatalkSo forgot to post pics of finished product from 1st 12L yield. We also handbalm (well with 4wheeler help now). Limit is hours and pan size still working 1 large pan on 3 burner stove. Old sugar shack on our property has remnants of a Findlay big evaporator and another arch finisher. Old family did this for 100 years prior to us. Want to move the shack closer or at least the contents and rebuild.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180304/2d6d962ae772230345e6ea39ade870b4.jpg

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

[ashadedacre]

So forgot to post pics of finished product from 1st 12L yield. We also handbalm (well with 4wheeler help now). Limit is hours and pan size still working 1 large pan on 3 burner stove. Old sugar shack on our property has remnants of a Findlay big evaporator and another arch finisher. Old family did this for 100 years prior to us. Want to move the shack closer or at least the contents and rebuild.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180304/2d6d962ae772230345e6ea39ade870b4.jpg

Sent from my SM-G903W using TapatalkOmg sorry people... new phone didn't refresh so I posted 3 times and don't know how to delete the other 2 !!

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

[ashadedacre]

Hehe @ Al...yeah, well I am kinda bossy, and I bet your syrup would look fantastic backlit...just sayin ;-)

Been having a fine ol time with a borrowed circular saw and a generous stack of pallets courtesy of DrewCP, who very kindly came by earlier this afternoon. And now I'm not getting smoked out of my shack cause I'm chucking wood from these nice dry pallets in almost as soon as I buck em up. Thanks again Drew, I really appreciate it!Hey Galena I did your backlit suggestion....except I posted the awesome results 3 times....does anyone know how to delete duplicate posts?

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

[Fort Wisers]

Hey everyone!
WOW, some nice looking set-ups and syrup!
Galena, glad you got some good dry wood......you'll be off to the races now!

So today we boiled through all of our sap supply in short time with the new evap set-up.
We picked up this unit from a gentleman who has been most helpful in taking the next step (he also runs a 1000 tap operation with larger version of what we bought of him).
The pan is continuous flow with what we'd describe as "drop flues" so we've learned a lot just in this one boil already, as this is a huge step for us from our little turkey deep fry pot on a woodstove set-up lol!
The evap unit is WAY to much for 6 tap operation but we knew we'd be taking a step to a bigger evap at some point anyhow.
We actually went looking at these units for my bro in-law and decided to bite the bullet as well.

When we were boiling earlier today we didn't have the gravity feed tank installed (or purchased) so my wife and I took turns hand feeding sap into the tube, the boil rate was high enough that we never really got a break.
Still have to add braces to the underside of the tank....tomorrow perhaps.
We also learned that, with an operation as small as ours, it takes a lot of sap (by our standards) just to sweeten the pans (huge thanks to Big Eddy for his write-up on this subject).
We are actually about "half sweetened" as even whats in the final section is only boiling at about 1.5F above water.

It seems a little nuts running an evaporator this big for 6 taps, but next year we plan on tapping up north as well so.....
We're having fun anyhow....
Also collected maybe 12 litres of sap again, won't stop running, but now we need all we can get so we're happy to see it flowing!

17971

[Galena]

Hi ashedacre, hmm sorry I don't know how to delete duplicate posts...anyone else know how to do that?

Yes, nice backlit shot, maybe stick it in the window cause the colour from the table disguises the colour of the syrup. If you shoot from down low and close in on the jars of syrup, esp on a cloudy/overcast day (sunlight will produce glare and throw off the colour) then you can take pics showing the real colour of your syrup.

See this link to my Maple Gallery and browse through so you can see what I mean.http://www.dpchallenge.com/portfolio.php?USER_ID=59029&collection_id=41009

[BrutemanAl]

I hate... no.... HATE FILTERING!!! The syrup I finished last night has niter in it, I brought it up to the proper brix, filtered it right away in the garage, took for ever to go through the cone filter which had 2 pre filters in it which I removed when the flow slowed down, brought the pot inside, heated it up to 180 degrees , wet the cone filter (not the same 1 as in the garage, I have 2) and put 2 pre filters in and poured the hot syrup in , removed the prefilters as the filtering slowed and let the syrup drip through the cone filter which took for everrrrrrrr. I just do not get it, I have done the coffee filter thing, tee shirt thing, cone filters with pre filters, even cut up a Egyptian Cotton Chef jacket I had from when I was a chef and tried that. Anyone giving live hands on filtering lessons I can attend ? Lol... ohhh ya .... I HATE FILTERING!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Run Forest Run!]

Al, do yourself a favour and skip the filtering this year. Let the syrup settle out in 2L large mouth mason jars and then ladle off the clear stuff later on. It will save you a lot of time, wasted syrup and swearing in front of your boys. I have given in to this method for the past several years and find it much less frustrating.

[BrutemanAl]

Al, do yourself a favour and skip the filtering this year. Let the syrup settle out in 2L large mouth mason jars and then ladle off the clear stuff later on. It will save you a lot of time, wasted syrup and swearing in front of your boys. I have given in to this method for the past several years and find it much less frustrating.

I will give it 1 more try, if it doesn’t work I am going the same route as you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Galena]

I agree with Karen, it's a lot less hassle. And I have noticed a lot of nitre this year for whatever reason, though I suspect the two bush maples may have a role in it. That's why I use coffee filters, they're disposable. They do a great job but once they clog up, I get the next filter and funnel set up and ready under the clogged one. Then I use a knife to poke out the bottom of the clogged filter so yes, it will dump some nitre into the new filter setup...but a lot of nitre will stay behind in the pleats of the clogged one.

But yeah...a year or two ago I had a batch, thankfully a small one, that was just so clogged with nitre it was impossible to do anything with. I think I eventually consigned it to my salvage jar, where I put the rogue leftovers and hopeless batches, and played around with it using distilled water a bit later in the year and was able to wrestle a decent, nitre-free batch at long last.

[Fort Wisers]

Hi ashedacre, hmm sorry I don't know how to delete duplicate posts...anyone else know how to do that?

Yes, nice backlit shot, maybe stick it in the window cause the colour from the table disguises the colour of the syrup. If you shoot from down low and close in on the jars of syrup, esp on a cloudy/overcast day (sunlight will produce glare and throw off the colour) then you can take pics showing the real colour of your syrup.

See this link to my Maple Gallery and browse through so you can see what I mean.http://www.dpchallenge.com/portfolio.php?USER_ID=59029&collection_id=41009


asheddacre, you can probably PM one of the forum moderators (sorry we don't know who they are) and have them delete the duplicate posts, I've done the same thing in the past on other forums.
Galena, love the comparison shot of the syrup and sleeman! How are you for wood supply these days?

[Clinkis]

If you click on edit post at the bottom there is an option to delete there.

[Galena]

Hey Wisers :-) I've got a nice big stack of I think 13 pallets under cover thanks to DrewCP, and had fun yesterday bucking up three of them. Will tackle more later today, I have to figure out where to store them and do some more bucking today. Amazing how little wood it takes to get the stove going, so long as it's dry!

And how are things at Fort Wisers? Sounds like you're enjoying the new setup, and you may as well get it and learn how to use it now so when you expand your operation - and I bet you will, hehe - you're all set to go.

[DrewCP]

Yes it was good to get down to Galena with a load of pallets. Just really good (lucky) timing. I have literally been to the Kemptville, Winchester, Spencerville area 3 times in the last 10 or 15 years. Odds of someone needing pallets, me having them, seeing the post and then actually having to be 15 minutes away are pretty slim!

Picture of the load.
17982


Between working overtime and coaching hockey I have had pretty limited time to do anything else. We are tapped in and have around 400L in stock. Cool temps will let it keep for a while inside the barn on the concrete floor.
We have been moving indoors for the first time EVER. We are converting our 20x30 barn into a multi purpose shop. 24x20 garage then a 16x10 workshop and 16x10 sugar shack. I installed the Class A chimney on Saturday and got a good start on design for the steam vent. We were going to do a dormer style cupola out of the skylight but will be settling for a hinged flap that can be opened up from the inside. We also need to build a "steam chute" inside to direct the steam through the trusses to the vent. Not using the ridge or high point to vent is a bit of a design pain. Hoping it works. Dad should have this done today. We could fire up Tuesday or Wednesday.

17983

[Galena]

[QUOTE=DrewCP;348040]Yes it was good to get down to Galena with a load of pallets. Just really good (lucky) timing. I have literally been to the Kemptville, Winchester, Spencerville area 3 times in the last 10 or 15 years. Odds of someone needing pallets, me having them, seeing the post and then actually having to be 15 minutes away are pretty slim!

Picture of the load.
17982

Hehe that would be fate and/or karma at work :-) Happens a lot these days! If there is any way I can help out in turn, please let me know.

[Fort Wisers]

Hey Wisers :-) I've got a nice big stack of I think 13 pallets under cover thanks to DrewCP, and had fun yesterday bucking up three of them. Will tackle more later today, I have to figure out where to store them and do some more bucking today. Amazing how little wood it takes to get the stove going, so long as it's dry!

And how are things at Fort Wisers? Sounds like you're enjoying the new setup, and you may as well get it and learn how to use it now so when you expand your operation - and I bet you will, hehe - you're all set to go.

That's awesome about your wood supply......
So, technically (LOL) Fort Wisers is our camp (small cabin north of Mattawa)......it's a long story why it got this name and is best told over a glass of, you guessed it, Wisers Whiskey.
We haven't been in a couple of weeks, but will assume all is well!
We had some fun and aggravation setting up our new rig over the weekend due to a steep learning curve and being inexperienced enough, both with continuous flow methods and syrup production in general, to have a lot of moments where we didn't have a clue what to do at that moment or next lol.
I'm hoping we're not the only ones who go through this sort of experience?

And because its continuous flow, we have yet to produce a single drop of finished syrup since the beast took our entire sap supply.
Previously partly boiled on our old rig, what was in storage, what we could run from the trees to keep the machine from going hungry all went into the thing as we got the pan half sweetened (all while reading Big Eddy's post about what the heck "sweetening the pans" was even all about LOLOL).
It was a chaotic Sunday afternoon, that's for sure, but my wife and I exchanged much in terms of yelling, supporting, encouraging etc etc to keep the wheels from completely coming off the train LOL....
OK, so I'll try and be an honest husband and divulge that I did most of the yelling while she did most of the encouraging LOL.

In the end, it's been an adjustment, but we have learned a ton about this different method of production and continue to learn about maple syrup production in general, so that's good.
We're getting a strong sense (or maybe always had the sense but are reinforcing it) that this is a life long learning process that you're never really fully on top of.
The manufacturer of the unit was kind enough to answer a bunch of very "newbie" questions on a Sunday so we're very thankful for that.
Having access to this board has also proven invaluable, but you guys already know that!
In the end, it's a bit of a waste having a rig this big for 6 taps, but we feel we've bit off and digested a good start on the learning curve anyhow, so as we expend in terms of taps, that learning will help....as you pointed out.

Obviously the plan is to expand (as you predicted last year when we got started lol) now that we have firing capacity to handle a lot more taps, we kind of did things backwards and got too big an evap unit for our tap count.
We're limited down here at home, as we only have so many maple trees on this property, but up north we have a fair bit more maples, our final goal is the operation will run out of that location.
But we're years away from that lol......

In the mean time, if you ever have extra sap you don't have capacity to boil let us know, we now have too much machine and not enough sap LOL.
Ah the pains of growing and learning.....what else would we do with our time.....

Cheers

[TurkeyJohn]

Hey everyone!
WOW, some nice looking set-ups and syrup!
Galena, glad you got some good dry wood......you'll be off to the races now!

So today we boiled through all of our sap supply in short time with the new evap set-up.
We picked up this unit from a gentleman who has been most helpful in taking the next step (he also runs a 1000 tap operation with larger version of what we bought of him).
The pan is continuous flow with what we'd describe as "drop flues" so we've learned a lot just in this one boil already, as this is a huge step for us from our little turkey deep fry pot on a woodstove set-up lol!
The evap unit is WAY to much for 6 tap operation but we knew we'd be taking a step to a bigger evap at some point anyhow.
We actually went looking at these units for my bro in-law and decided to bite the bullet as well.

When we were boiling earlier today we didn't have the gravity feed tank installed (or purchased) so my wife and I took turns hand feeding sap into the tube, the boil rate was high enough that we never really got a break.
Still have to add braces to the underside of the tank....tomorrow perhaps.
We also learned that, with an operation as small as ours, it takes a lot of sap (by our standards) just to sweeten the pans (huge thanks to Big Eddy for his write-up on this subject).
We are actually about "half sweetened" as even whats in the final section is only boiling at about 1.5F above water.

It seems a little nuts running an evaporator this big for 6 taps, but next year we plan on tapping up north as well so.....
We're having fun anyhow....
Also collected maybe 12 litres of sap again, won't stop running, but now we need all we can get so we're happy to see it flowing!

17971

Great problem to have Fort Wisers.
It's funny how we all start small and then aspire to big things...
In the boat game it's called one footitis, always want a foot bigger boat.
I think in Maple Syrup land it's evaporator envy. Loving some set ups on here and may have to go even larger, can't keep up to the sap this year and with a second pan added too....

Turkey John

[Galena]

Sounds like you have ambitious plans for the Fort Wisers setup! You must be a learning a ton about sugaring and all that cool equipment.

If I do have more sap than I can handle, will let you know...some years ago an MTer in Jasper had 25g end-of season sap and he was tired of boiling, so I went down and was able to take 16g of it, which made a really nice little batch. He ended up keeping the last few gallons and boiling it down and also syruped it out. I've also seen posts from people relatively local to us (Bishops Mills) who have dumped perfectly good sap in the past just cause they couldn't keep up. I was shocked to read that post and wished I'd known about it before they let it go.

[Fort Wisers]

Hey Turkey John, yeah we played the boat game for a bit then finally just got ride of our final boat LOL.
Galena, good to know about people being over sapped.....maybe we'll post something about having capacity to boil.

We did a calculation based on Big Eddy's note on sweetening continuous flow pans and our rig will take roughly 520 litres just to sweeten before we can draw off anything near finished.
Doubt we'll hit that on 6 taps even over the whole season lolol
So we'll boil as much as we can over the next couple of weeks and then transfer it manually and finish on our old rig.


Thanks gang!

[Big_Eddy]

Well - after I spent about 20 hours feeding wood into my homemade 20x60 evaporator this weekend and ended on Sunday night with almost as much sap in the tanks as I started with, my wife is suggesting I might need a bigger evaporator.
Anyone want to fund my expansion?

Now I need a free evening to set aside for bottling as I've run out of stainless pots.

Al - I'll be doing a large finishing and filtering run sometime over the next few days. Would there be interest in me creating a "How I filter" thread with pictures? I filter in batches of ~15l but my process can be applied to smaller batches as well.
IMO - the best thing you can do to reduce filtering frustration is to preheat your felt filter with steam, AND hang the filter so that the outside remains hot (i.e. inside a container of some kind so the outside is not exposed to cold air) while the syrup is flowing through.

[Clinkis]

I 2nd Big Eddy’s Suggestions on filtering. I soak my cone filter and pre filter in hot water right up til I’m ready to filter. Then gently ring out excess water and put them into a filtering canister which sits right beside my evaporator. I think, like Big Eddy mentioned, keeping the filter enclosed and hot improves its efficiency. Also NEVER try and force syrup through the filter. This will push nitre through as well. Let gravity push through what it can and if there is any left that doesn’t go through add it to your next batch. I then reheat the syrup to 185 and bottle.

I do hundreds of litres with this method every year and it seems to work well for me. I’m pretty sure this is the 4th season with the same cone filter. After each use I soak it in hot water to clean.

Al, your more then welcome to check out my filtering techniques sometime. I’m only about 20 mins away from codrington.

[ennismaple]

ETA: Just finished the first batch and this time I did check Brix as it was boiling to help fine-tune the timing. It finished at 221.5, but the therm I used is only my second-best one, and water did boil at 210 today, so it really was pretty much bang on to my usual finishing temp of 224 (12 degrees over the *normal* boiling point of water, which is 212. Looks like it'll be 3+l syrup from 123.8l sap. Darker than normal, and more robust flavour than typical, but it's probably the biggest first-run batch I've ever made.

If you're taking it off at 12° F above the boiling point of water it will be very thick! Ours comes off at 7 degrees over (219±) depending on atmospheric pressure, which is then checked with the hydrotherm.

[Galena]

I know it's high, but for me 219 is the starting point, bubbles are still really big and frothy. 222-224 is what works and it all thermed out within 1-2 hashmarks of Brix last 2 yrs since I began following that. Mind, I finish mine on one of those super-annoying glasstop stoves which kinda pulse off and on, so maybe that throws the temp off. I don't know.

And the next day after I finished #1 I thermed it again cold and this time it was within 2 hashmarks of the cold syrup end of the scale. So I'll go with that! :-)

ETA: Batch #2 so far looks like it's going to the light gold that I usually get with the first one. Boiled and filtered about 70l down to 5l nearup. LOTS of nitre!

[Lespetras]

Not sure about everyone else but the sugar content of our trees is really low. Unless my numbers are incorrect, we are currently boiling at a ratio of 50:1.
I have been unable to keep track of our individual batches as our sap got ahead of us and we ended up needing to combine everything.. that being said it took roughly 1000 litres of sap to make 19.5 litres of syrup!
Fingers crossed for higher sugar content moving forward.

[Run Forest Run!]

Wow Lesley, I can't believe how much sap you sugarers are getting in your area. You've collected 1000L more than I have and I have 28 taps in. I can't wait to get making some serious steam. I will say that at least my sugar content is good.

[Lespetras]

Wow Lesley, I can't believe how much sap you sugarers are getting in your area. You've collected 1000L more than I have and I have 28 taps in. I can't wait to get making some serious steam. I will say that at least my sugar content is good.

Hi Karen,
Yes the sap is flowing.. but if my memory serves me correctly.. your trees are always a few weeks behind. I wouldn't get stressed about that.. as for the sugar content.. it us a bit disappointing but not gonna stop us. We have tried a few if your tricks like throwing out the ice etc.

[Galena]

Wow that is low. I did see another post about low sugar content recently, poor guy was boiling at 60:1 and 70:1. He also had massive amounts of sap. My trees seem stable each year at 3% but most of them are huge old sugar maples. If memory serves, Lesley, your bush is almost all young trees and I remember you said that they seemed to have a rough year in terms of foliage since last season. Wouldn't surprise me if low sugar content is to be expected as a result. Hope it gets better.

[BrutemanAl]

Well - after I spent about 20 hours feeding wood into my homemade 20x60 evaporator this weekend and ended on Sunday night with almost as much sap in the tanks as I started with, my wife is suggesting I might need a bigger evaporator.
Anyone want to fund my expansion?

Now I need a free evening to set aside for bottling as I've run out of stainless pots.

Al - I'll be doing a large finishing and filtering run sometime over the next few days. Would there be interest in me creating a "How I filter" thread with pictures? I filter in batches of ~15l but my process can be applied to smaller batches as well.
IMO - the best thing you can do to reduce filtering frustration is to preheat your felt filter with steam, AND hang the filter so that the outside remains hot (i.e. inside a container of some kind so the outside is not exposed to cold air) while the syrup is flowing through.

I would be all over that Big Eddy, If possible I would even come and see it done, your only a 20 min drive away after all


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BrutemanAl]

I 2nd Big Eddy’s Suggestions on filtering. I soak my cone filter and pre filter in hot water right up til I’m ready to filter. Then gently ring out excess water and put them into a filtering canister which sits right beside my evaporator. I think, like Big Eddy mentioned, keeping the filter enclosed and hot improves its efficiency. Also NEVER try and force syrup through the filter. This will push nitre through as well. Let gravity push through what it can and if there is any left that doesn’t go through add it to your next batch. I then reheat the syrup to 185 and bottle.

I do hundreds of litres with this method every year and it seems to work well for me. I’m pretty sure this is the 4th season with the same cone filter. After each use I soak it in hot water to clean.

Al, your more then welcome to check out my filtering techniques sometime. I’m only about 20 mins away from codrington.

Pm me where you are, it’s great to know there is a few close by willing to help and share there techniques


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wobbletop]

Not sure about everyone else but the sugar content of our trees is really low. Unless my numbers are incorrect, we are currently boiling at a ratio of 50:1.
I have been unable to keep track of our individual batches as our sap got ahead of us and we ended up needing to combine everything.. that being said it took roughly 1000 litres of sap to make 19.5 litres of syrup!
Fingers crossed for higher sugar content moving forward.

Ours was 50:1 as well. 300L sap to about 6.25L syrup. I measured the sap at around 2.0-2.2%.

[Lespetras]

If memory serves, Lesley, your bush is almost all young trees and I remember you said that they seemed to have a rough year in terms of foliage since last season.

Yes there could be something to that for sure

[Lespetras]

Ours was 50:1 as well. 300L sap to about 6.25L syrup. I measured the sap at around 2.0-2.2%.
Yes it's been a rough start as far as numbers and boiling times.. where abouts are you located? I wonder if it's location derived? We are just north of kingston

[wobbletop]

Just west of Toronto. North of Milton.

[Clinkis]

Not sure about everyone else but the sugar content of our trees is really low. Unless my numbers are incorrect, we are currently boiling at a ratio of 50:1.
I have been unable to keep track of our individual batches as our sap got ahead of us and we ended up needing to combine everything.. that being said it took roughly 1000 litres of sap to make 19.5 litres of syrup!
Fingers crossed for higher sugar content moving forward.

I've been getting very low sugar numbers as well. 1.7-1.8% but getting lots of sap at least. I usually average over 2. Here's
Hoping it improves.

[Galena]

Thinking it would be a good idea for those who are having really low sugar right now to see what your areas and bushes might have in common. Are they:
* Small sugar maples? ie 1-spilers? Smaller trees produce a lot, a lot faster, but I would think that they are also that much more susceptible to infections and the effects of bad weather.
* Are they located on flat ground or on hilly land? Perhaps airflow and drainage are an issue;
* Did your area get the hard freezeups last March?
* Was the foliage in the crowns this year past much sparser than normal, perhaps leaves were undersized? If they were, then that would probably be a good sign of stress in the trees.

Just my .002 worth. Meanwhile, I've *finally* caught up to my trees, have another 100l reduced to nearup. And not 100% sure, but think I detected a slight almond-y note in this batch when I tried some splashover that had cooked down to syrup. A definite nuttiness, that's for sure. WIll try again later with a clean palate.

[Vandy]

If you're taking it off at 12° F above the boiling point of water it will be very thick! Ours comes off at 7 degrees over (219±) depending on atmospheric pressure, which is then checked with the hydrotherm.

+1. Same here. I've actually let the hydrotherm start collecting dust. Doesn't need to be perfect for friends and family consumption. I take it to 219 and stop when I like the looks of the drip from ladle.

[michaelhh]

I think I did the same as wobbletop on Sunday on my RF 2x4. I'm glad to hear others are also noticing lower sugar content. I was pretty sure I could taste it in the sap. Not a big deal though.
I feel like our big trees did better in the drought of 2016 than the wet of 2017.
Also lots of nitre when I did the initial filter drawing off the pan through a cheesecloth and 1 prefilter. I've been letting it sit in 2L mason jars hoping it will settle out some then syphon off the good stuff before I heat it back up and filter it for real.
Burned one of my syrup pans on the last draw off (newb!) so I will need to address that mess after work today.
I have a hard time drawing off as I couldn't get my arch level before boiling. So when I draw off ,I shim the opposite corner that I'm drawing off from to help it flow but then the syrup pan got dry too quick= burn. Lesson learned.
The first draw off was 65 Brix (cool) and the second was 71 (cool) so oops on the second one. Between the 2 I should be able to get close to 67.

[Fort Wisers]

Woohoo, we added another tap, bringing us to a grand total of 7 LOL.
We''re not even sure how we passed this tree all year without even considering it for a bucket.

Because of our situation with our new evap unit, we haven't finished any product yet, so we can't comment on the sugar content of the sap.
Sure tastes sweet, but that's hardly an accurate test...
In terms of just straight production, our trees in the lower, wetter ground tend to produce about 30% more then the ones in dryer land.
This rule doesn't apply to our biggest tree though, it's the highest and driest yest pretty much always produces the most sap.
It also gets the most sun exposure during the day so that likely helps.
That being said, it hasn't been sunny lately and it's still the top producer so......

Take care, happy boiling

[Galena]

+1. Same here. I've actually let the hydrotherm start collecting dust. Doesn't need to be perfect for friends and family consumption. I take it to 219 and stop when I like the looks of the drip from ladle.

I understand, but for me, at 219 the syrup still comes off the ladle far too thready for my liking. I like to see very little thread, if any, and 3-4 big misshapen glops before I take it off the heat. And again. Maybe my glasstop stove is effing with the numbers, cause I've never finished a batch of my own on anyhting but that stove.

ETA: MchaelHH, cheesecloth won't be any use in keeping nitre out, unless maybe you have 10 or 20 layers of it going! Try paper coffee filters. Much smaller, a lot easier to handle and when they get saturated with nitre, chuck em in the fire.

[BrutemanAl]

Well went over to the forest after work, wasn’t expecting really anything, didn’t go yesterday because I figured it was to cold and there wouldn’t be much, well when I got there all the buckets had sapsicles hanging off the taps and they were dripping away and almost all my buckets were over flowing, brought home 67 L, ran around dumping sap into not so full buckets and into buckets I had emptied, figure there is another 80 L still over there. May have to come up with a small stand to put my big holding tank on and start using that lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Run Forest Run!]

Congrats to all of you guys in Eastern Ontario. You are killing it! You've got some awesome early season numbers. :)

[deckers007]

So far so good...Closing in on 6500 liters of sap from from 300 taps, collected 850 today and temps where only +1.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[Galena]

Karen...funny how often our respective areas have entirely different runs...weren't you the ones killing it last year?

Al, wow sounds like you better get some sort of storage system out there pronto. Should keep you busy with all the boiling!

At this end, got a measly 20l sap from yesterday/today....but fine by me. The forecast looks good for the next 2weeks or so, so just trying to buck up pallets and get organized.

[TurkeyJohn]

My hanging filter solution...https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180307/5f95b794d2eb0da91db20672a03f5044.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Galena]

Hehe that's an oldy but a goody, TurkeyJohn! Do you boil the filter afterwards to get out all the trapped nitre and syrup?

[TurkeyJohn]

Hehe that's an oldy but a goody, TurkeyJohn! Do you boil the filter afterwards to get out all the trapped nitre and syrup?

Rinse it like heck in hot water and turn it inside out. Working pretty well so far, seems to clean the old nitre and syrup out. Just heat it up in hot water before I filter again and hang it in the same spot, toss any water and good to go...

So far so good,

TJ

[Galena]

When I used cut-up tee shirts as filters I would save the grotted-up ones - still have some bagged up in my freezer! - and boil them clean in a pot of distilled water and make a very small batch of salvage syrup. Useful trick to pull out in the middle of summer or any other time it's not sugaring season to give people a chance to see how syrup's made :-)

[Fort Wisers]

Looking at that pic TurkeyJohn posted of the filter hanging and the liquid gold dripping through makes me hungry!
I feel like i should whip up some pancakes and sausages and drown them in the good stuff!

Well, maybe this isn't the place to post, and if not then please folks feel free to tell me so.
We've collected another 25 litres into storage and have about half that in the buckets again (even in the snow there's a steady drip?!).
So in the meantime we spent a bit of time further off setting up the new rig (pic below, click to enlarge, I hope LOL).

Got a braced shelf completed under the gravity tank and a ball valve added to the tank outlet.
Also hung an old kitchen cabinet (left over from a reno) to store off season stuff like buckets, lids etc (which currently take up space when not being used in our already very cramped storage room in the basement).
The cabinet is a little banged up as we were rough on everything during removal but we have some left over cedar v-groove we'll apply to dress up the sides and bottom and then maybe give it a fresh coat of paint.
The inside needs a very good cleaning as well LOL.
But that will have to happen later.....

While the final goal in a few years will be to build a dedicated sugar shack up north, that won't happen for a few years at best, so this will do for now.
Soon off to grab another evap unit for my brother in-law and then heading out for a long over due night out with my wife.....sans kids!!

18026

[Galena]

Looks good and sturdy, and this thread is just a good a place to post it as any :-) There is a section on the forum dedicated to homemade setups, if you want more feedback on technical details you can post it there too.

[TurkeyJohn]

Looking at that pic TurkeyJohn posted of the filter hanging and the liquid gold dripping through makes me hungry!
I feel like i should whip up some pancakes and sausages and drown them in the good stuff!

Well, maybe this isn't the place to post, and if not then please folks feel free to tell me so.
We've collected another 25 litres into storage and have about half that in the buckets again (even in the snow there's a steady drip?!).
So in the meantime we spent a bit of time further off setting up the new rig (pic below, click to enlarge, I hope LOL).

Got a braced shelf completed under the gravity tank and a ball valve added to the tank outlet.
Also hung an old kitchen cabinet (left over from a reno) to store off season stuff like buckets, lids etc (which currently take up space when not being used in our already very cramped storage room in the basement).
The cabinet is a little banged up as we were rough on everything during removal but we have some left over cedar v-groove we'll apply to dress up the sides and bottom and then maybe give it a fresh coat of paint.
The inside needs a very good cleaning as well LOL.
But that will have to happen later.....

While the final goal in a few years will be to build a dedicated sugar shack up north, that won't happen for a few years at best, so this will do for now.
Soon off to grab another evap unit for my brother in-law and then heading out for a long over due night out with my wife.....sans kids!!

18026

That's a sweet rig there Fort, making me jealous Dude, like I said before, getting sappers envy seeing all these nice outfits on here.... So clean and tidy too.

My spot looks like photos of trench warfare with all the mud and debris, I keep tidying up, but you know how it goes....looks like I'm one of those folks you see on Moonshiners, love that show...

Good luck on the night out, happy wife, happy life, helped me out more than once,

TJ

[BrutemanAl]

Lol TJ, same with my area, all mud and leaves from the atv, garage floor is sticky and stained from small amounts is sap I spilt or missed the filter when filtering it before the 1st boil, it is what it is lol.

On a side note, I collected another 67 L today from 10 of my 32 trees.

At work we have a wooden shed , 12 ft X 8 ft and about 8 ft high, we used it to hold barrels of scrap metal and wire before taking it to the scrap yard and the boss said today he was going to bull doze the shed and burn it, I said wooo wooo wooo Mr! No you won’t, I will take it and use it for my sugar shack to put my new to me evaporator in it, he said take it if you want, soooo I have a shed for my sugar shack and he also said if I want I can have all the left over siding from when we built the new shop to put on the outside.

After work I went and talked to the neighbour who owns the property I tap the trees on and asked if I can put it all at the top of their property in the field, they said sure, we don’t use the property up there. Now to figure out how to get it up there lol.

What a great day this has turned into :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Galena]

Al, that is so awesome that you were able to score yourself a free sugar shack...and that neighbours willing to let you put it where it works for you! You could probably float it up there somehow. If your boss has a second shack just like it that he doesn't want, let me know! ;-)

[Fort Wisers]

LOLOL don't worry everyone, if I had turned the camera 180 degrees you'd see our shop is a mess as well, I simply took a shot of the one and only "good side".

Al, that's so awesome about you acquiring a structure for your sugar shack, that does make for a really great day, send pics when it's complete,!

Galena, been reading back through a couple of your posts about you finishing at higher temp readings then is "typical" and you wondering about if the on/off cycles ofyour glass top stove has something to do with it.
We also run a glass top induction stove and understand what you mean about the very quick upi and down cycles of heat when you're on any setting but high.

Last year was our first year ever trying maple syrup production, so we had no idea what to expect (not that we're much further along now but you know what I mean).
We read "Back Yard Sugarin' " at 20 times, esp. the section on finishing, we felt like we had a decent handle on what to do, knowing though that reading and doing are two very different things.
Come time to finish, we also noticed that the candy thermometer reading at about 219 (callibrated that day in boiling water) seemed way too early.
But, being newbies we pulled that batch off at about that temp........it turned out way too thin.

A few days later we tried making another batch, again at 219 it seemed too thin so we decided to go old school and let it cook some more and try to read the state by the dripping off the spoon method.
Well, being a bit leary about how thin our first batch turned out, and not having enough experience to read via the drip method, we left it a tad too long and it came out thick.
Anyhow, long story short, keeping in mind we're still very new at this, we'd be inclined to believe what you're saying about glass top stoves and how quickly the cycle, possibly throwing off temperature readings.

This year, our new rig has a nice CDL probe and since everything is fired by wood heat, we're truly hoping for predictable results (ah the naive nature of newbies LOL)!
Boiling this morning after getting the monkeys to school!
Cheers all

[michaelhh]

Thanks for the advice on the coffee filters Galena - will try that next time for sure!
And I prob won't use the cheesecloth again!
Still haven't done the final filtering of last weekends boil - just keeping it cool in the garage and hoping the nitre will settle out a bit.
TJ - love the filtering rig!
Al - nice score! Definitely shows the power of just asking.
Fort Wisers - That is a sweet rig. Looks like the perfect size for what you are doing. And probably what I am doing! The thermometer port seems like a great thing and a good way to keep from burning your hand sticking a thermometer in the boiling sap.
Collected 50 gal from our 25 taps so far this week. Hope to boil again on Sunday but not sure if we'll have enough so I'll just wait and see! Scooping the bigger ice chunks out of the pails.
Went out this morning before work to collect and it was very pretty out there. And quiet.
Have a good rest of your day folks.

[TurkeyJohn]

Lol TJ, same with my area, all mud and leaves from the atv, garage floor is sticky and stained from small amounts is sap I spilt or missed the filter when filtering it before the 1st boil, it is what it is lol.

On a side note, I collected another 67 L today from 10 of my 32 trees.

At work we have a wooden shed , 12 ft X 8 ft and about 8 ft high, we used it to hold barrels of scrap metal and wire before taking it to the scrap yard and the boss said today he was going to bull doze the shed and burn it, I said wooo wooo wooo Mr! No you won’t, I will take it and use it for my sugar shack to put my new to me evaporator in it, he said take it if you want, soooo I have a shed for my sugar shack and he also said if I want I can have all the left over siding from when we built the new shop to put on the outside.

After work I went and talked to the neighbour who owns the property I tap the trees on and asked if I can put it all at the top of their property in the field, they said sure, we don’t use the property up there. Now to figure out how to get it up there lol.

What a great day this has turned into :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great news Al, things coming together for you...love it when a plan comes together...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk