2018 Season

[Dennis H.]

I can now say that the 2018 sugar'in season is now on.

Took me 2 days to tap the trees. I wanted to make a few changes with a few of the Lat's and add a few trees that I never picked up before.

Today was leak patrol, did not have too many, only about 6 spots that I had to repair. One was a bug hole that was about 1" from the tap. Somehow I did not see that but I sure could hear it.

Sap was running nicely when I left the cabin, releaser was dumping about ever 3 min and I already had over 50 gals in the tank. If it keeps running like that till this evening I may have an almost full tank.

Then once I got home I had to hurry and put the sap tank on the truck for hauling and also get the RO together and rinsed.

SO all told the past 3 days have been very busy and looong.

[Dennis H.]

Looks like I will be jumping in deep end head first this season.
Sap tank was almost full today, 1st run of the season! The rest of the week looks just as good so I may be a little busy.

Looked at me records and my 1st boil last season was Jan 22nd and 1st this season is the 21st.

[minehart gap]

Dennis, sounds like you might be in for a good week.

I tapped 163 on Friday. Started about noon and had flow by 2:30. Leak patrol the rest of the day and all day yesterday. A lot of my spiles are not seating. I tap until the sound changes but I’m just not getting it. Laterals show no leaks then an hour later there is a line of bubbles. Might be the change in temperature in the trees. First boil was today.

[Dennis H.]

Minehart Gap, I understand your pain with the leaks.
I tapped the trees the day before the warmer temps so the trees were still frozen and the next day a lot of the trees had sap weeping around the tap. Gave each one a light tap with my tapping hammer and it appears to fix that.

[minehart gap]

Dennis, I believe that at least a part of my problem is that I am using a rawhide carpenter hammer that is used to seat finish boards into joints without marking anything. It’s very light but solid. I am going to try a slightly heavier hammer and probably order a tapping hammer.

Not that I am complaining, my trees have been running sap at about 3/4 gallon per day since Friday. No shut down over night just keep flowing. This is the first time that any of them have been tapped. It did drop below 32 Friday night but has been at least 40 since. Is that normal? Again, not complaining as long as I’m not hurting the trees.

[Dennis H.]

I use 1 lb dead blow hammer that I picked up at harbor freight for something like $2 years ago.
Not too heavy to carry around and with it made of plastic have not had any issues with harming the check valve spout.
Yeah it would be cool to have a real tapping hammer but I'm cheap!

[Paddymountain]

You guys have my drill finger itching! I going to start getting things online this week,
and hopefully will catch the run projected for next. Never tapped in January before
and it didn't sound realistic even last week, but temps are temps, and we need to follow that
not the calendar.
have fun everyone!

way to go Minehart! you'll have bugs to work out ,but the guys here are more than wiling to help

[Paddymountain]

I managed to get 150 taps in tonight, not ready to boil just interested in getting my tubing cleaned out a little.
Need to get the vacuum at the house up and running, maybe tomorrow night.

[minehart gap]

Paddymountain, if your trees run anything like mine are your lines will be clean tomorrow. Best of luck for the season.

Of my 6 laterals 4 are still running very good. The temps here haven't dropped below freezing since Saturday morning. Just an observation but the 2 laterals that have stopped are the laterals that have the check valve adapters and stubby spouts. 1.4 gap/day/tap since yesterday.

I went around this afternoon and retapped nearly every tap. good vacuum now. After checking lines, I started to boil. My boil rate never caught up to the sap entering the tank and the evaporator was at a very good boil. I am going to have to burn some vacation time to boil (gee darn)

Dennis, thanks for the hammer tip. I will pick one up tomorrow.

[Paddymountain]

I have about 320 taps in. looking for 4 decent days starting tomorrow.
Even if we get a week or two of freezing, I'll have made some syrup!
Not putting any buckets out until weather looks for sure like sugaring.

[Dennis H.]

Yesterday I was greeted with an overflowing tank of sap!
The day before The sap was just a small trickle. Then the rain came and the sap flowed. When the sap was a trickle the ground was crunchy, like walking on egg shells. I guess once the rain came it must have thawed it out quickly.

I see there is a cool down coming this week, give me a break maybe to filter and finish the 1st syrup of the season.

[Paddymountain]

Same here Dennis H. Saturday was just a trickle. I was wondering why my vacuum wasn't working.
Finally about 4:30 it broke loose and we were getting some sap. I ended up with about 120 gallons til noon
yesterday. Also gathered 80 gallon from gravity bushes. I got it all boiled last night, and are hoping for
enough of a run today to boil tonight. Looks like freeze up after today for awhile. First time boiling in January.

[Paddymountain]

Still waiting on the weather. I made a little syrup the last weekend in January, but freeze up since.
The weather is starting to look better for this weekend and beyond. Have all my tubing tapped, about 360, won't put
any buckets out just yet

[Dennis H.]

Strange week of weather so far.
I figured that with the rain and warm temps over the weekend it would get the sap flowing again but it really does not want to flow.
It is looking like we should get some really warm temps the next few days, wait and see I guess.

[sticknstring]

Will the warm weather the next two days put a halt to the sap running? Yesterday i didnt get much out of the 4 taps i put in Sunday, but today did much better i think. Going to collect what i have tomorrow night to put in my garage refrigerator(set at 32-34 degrees) to store while the temps get up. Trying to figure this thing out, i know you want highs around 40 and lows 25ish, but i would feel more comfortable knowing what a stretch of warmer temps means. Forecast here seems to be a couple days of near perfect temps, followed by a couple days of too warm, then back to good temps for a couple days and so on. Also, what temps do you have to get your sap into the fridge or a freezer? 2 days straight above 35 the whole time? 3 days? Feel like there is a lot to try to not do wrong with this stuff. Probably overthinking, but since the final yield is so small, i definitely dont want to waste anything.

[Plutoman15]

Yesterday was better than today. I have half my trees not giving anything. Will be interesting what 60 degrees does after being low 20’s last night. Gushers hopefully.

Joe

[Dennis H.]

Sticknstring you are doing nothing wrong. The wait can drive you crazy.

I do have to admit that this season opener has me a little going in circles and scratching my head.
The 1st week after tapping back in Jan the trees ran like crazy, that was after all those crazy cold temps in Dec.
Now The temps are close to that in Jan but trees will not give an ounce of sap! I think it has to do with the snow on the ground, kind of like a blanket.
The snow is keeping the ground from warming up too fast but also keeping the trees from taking off to quickly.

I was surprised how little the sap was flowing yesterday when I checked on things. The overnight temps were down in the teens so again low temps with snow on the ground, slow start again. The next 2 days hopefully will things pick up. Just do not wish for too warm for too many days, could mean an early end to the season.

[HowardR]

Dennis, Joe and Sticknsting,

I was wondering whether I had a blockage in my lines, but your postings helped me to understand what was happening. Your postings are greatly appreciated!

[sticknstring]

17602 The girls with our first sap collection! We have 5 trees tapped, 6 taps total. We got about 3 gallons from the 4 taps close to home. Going to run up to our ground at daybreak to collect from the other two taps up there. The taps we pulled from today were put in on Sunday afternoon. The two at our ground were tapped monday night. Not sure how well we did with this haul, but we celebrated what we got so far.

Edit...are there any image tooks to help correct the picture rotation?

[Dennis H.]

Great to see the kids helping out sticknstring.

What is with the arrow behind the bucket?

I did not run today for sap but will be heading 1st thing in the morning.

[sticknstring]

I put an old arrow thru the handle on each side of the bucket just to help make sure it didnt get knocked over. Plenty of old arrows layin around. Would be better if sap rushed out and weighed the bucket down, but that hasnt been the case so far, lol

[HondoLane]

2018 marks Year 1 for this guy. I busted my butt to get ready hoping I was going to miss it. I finally got my equipment and was able to tap 6 trees on Monday. Tuesday I ran out and saw a very minimal amount. I'm in Carbon County.

[sticknstring]

Well, yesterday, the girls and I made our first "collection". From 3 trees, 4 taps total we gathered right around 3 gallons of sap. I was hoping/thinking there would be more than that but we were excited nonetheless to get our first bit of sap. So given that information, 3 gallons from 4 taps in 3 different trees, I planned to make the 40 minute trip up to our ground before daybreak this morning to collect what we may have from the two trees the girls and I tapped on Monday night. Now up there, it tends to be a degree or two less on average, so I expected much of the same from those the trees we tapped up there as we got back home.

So, this morning, I made my first big rookie mistake;^) I just don't know which lesson I learned from it..... I either learned that you should never take one 5 gallon bucket to collect sap from two taps that have their own 5 gallon bucket because each one may be 3/4 full and you will have just driven 40 minutes one way to not be able to haul all of your sap home. Or, I learned that if you are worried that you may have done something wrong because you are getting very much sap from one set of trees, you can get rid of that worry by only taking one 5 gallon bucket to collect sap from two taps that each have their own 5 gallon bucket because you expected to do just as "poorly" there, so each bucket will be 3/4 full so you have just driven 40 minutes one way and are not able to haul all of your sap home.

Either way, it was pretty exciting to get what feels like our first "good run". just 12 hours ago, I was worried we would really have enough sap to bother building a fire to evaporate on Sunday. Now, I am thinking that if things keep running like that, I may not be able to store all of it until Sunday. We have 8 gallons in the "deer/beer fridge" staying cool, at least another 2 gallons left in the bucket from this morning and room for about another 15 or so gallons in the fridge before I would need to freeze it.

My wife leave for Elk county on Friday afternoon, so I do have a question. With the temps yesterday and last night being 37 and above, a high today of 64, low tonight of 49 and high tomorrow of 52 before it gets back down to 21 tomorrow night, is it imperative that I get back up to the ground before it freezes tomorrow night to collect the last couple gallons I had to leave up there so it doesn't go bad? It is going to be really tight for me to get back up tonight or tomorrow night, most likely will need to go up either late tonight or well before daybreak tomorrow. I would rather not but then again, I definitely don't want to lose any sap.

Thanks in advance for any advice

[Dennis H.]

Ah, the there can not be that much up there mistake. I can guarantee that from now on you will be carrying more than enough buckets with you.

As for the sap if it is in the sap it may start to turn on you. Now if it is shaded where the buckets sit and if there is still any snow on the ground around the buckets you may be able to get away from running up tonight.

Years past if I needed to store sap a few days, now this is before I got large tanks, and we still had snow around, I would fill the buckets with sap put the lids on and bury them with snow.

Good luck, and by the way I do not think it matters how many years you have been or will be doing this you will always make a bone headed mistake from time to time. I hate valves, we use entirely too many valves to keep track of, not saying anymore.

[Maplewalnut]

2018 marks Year 1 for this guy. I busted my butt to get ready hoping I was going to miss it. I finally got my equipment and was able to tap 6 trees on Monday. Tuesday I ran out and saw a very minimal amount. I'm in Carbon County.

Hondo- let me know if you ever need help with anything or more equipment, (buckets, taps small tanks etc) I'm just north of you in Mt Pocono area. I think a lot of us started just like you. Its addicting, fasten your seatbelt.

[HondoLane]

Hondo- let me know if you ever need help with anything or more equipment, (buckets, taps small tanks etc) I'm just north of you in Mt Pocono area. I think a lot of us started just like you. Its addicting, fasten your seatbelt.

I appreciate the offer. I would like to watch the process in person. I've watch enough YouTube videos but first hand experience always better.

I collected 10 gallons today on 6 taps. So I'm off to a good start I think. It sure is addicting. I already picked out and found 5 more trees!!

[Paddymountain]

I gathered 160 gallons last night and about the same tonight. We are making some syrup, but
sugar content could be a little higher. Looks like a freeze Friday night which should help reset
the trees. Might hold off and boil on Saturday so I can get caught up on my bottling.
hope everyone is still having fun!!!!!

[Dennis H.]

Paddymountain, I am in the same boat as you, sugar content is low. I picked up another load of sap this evening and the sugar content was right at 1%!!! Holy cow that is low for this early in the season.

[sticknstring]

Went back up to the ground this morning before daybreak. The sap I left there yesterday I was expecting to be bad with the super warm temps, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was still completely clear and tasted perfectly fine. it is in the fridge and cooling at 31 degrees. Also, from those two trees, I got around 3 gallons or so of new sap in that 24 hour period. My other 3 trees, I haven't gotten a total of a gallon since Wednesday night. I am trying to at least pretend that I can figure out how this sap flow thing works, but I am certainly completely clueless at this point! Two smaller trees running good and 3 BIG trees hardly running at all. But I have about 13 gallons or more now and when I get back from Elk county on Sunday, I am really hoping to have enough more to get to 20 gallons. Sunday we will light our first fire and get the steam rolling. A day of smores, hot dogs and at the end, hopefully some syrup to finish off on the stove! The girls are excited and I very much am as well. Seems as if I have caught the bug.... Good luck to everybody this weekend, hopefully your buckets are full!

[HowardR]

There's a big run coming after tonight's freeze. I just wish the forecast for next week was not so warm. This could be a great maple season, but right now it looks to be another short season like last year, cut off by a warm week in mid-February.

[Paddymountain]

HowardR: the forecast isn't real bad, yeah 60's for Tuesday but still cold at nights! I'm hoping for a great steady season.
Dennis H: You think the sugar content was bad yesterday; my reds are down from 1.4-1.0, sugars are down from 2.3-2.0 today
I'm looking for the good freeze coming tonight to give us a reset. I have gathered a tad over 1000 gallons up until
yesterday, and am sitting on 260 right now and have to go pump a couple of barrels yet this afternoon.
Should boil a little tonight, but might wait until tomorrow so I can get everything filtered and bottled.
Keep your heads up everyone the tsunami will be here before you know it!!!

[HowardR]

Paddymountain: You are making me more optimistic about the long-term forecast. Meanwhile, the forecast for the next few days is for perfect maple syrup weather.

[Dennis H.]

Ran for sap this morning and found that the trees gave me another 230 gallons since yesterday evening.
Not too bad.

As for the warm temps, there is still a little ice in the ground at the sugarbush. Very wet but when you start to walk around you can still feel the crunchy ice. That should help holds things over thru these warm spells.

So far this season is looking really good. Collected a total of 2460 gallons of sap.

[Dennis H.]

Local Girl Scout Troop stopping by this afternoon, I guess I better get things cleaned up a little.

Thankfully I was able to bring back about 80 gals of sap this morning, that way they can get to experience that sweet smelling steam coming off the pans.

[weaver]

We just did our first boil, we have 31 taps and collected 41 gallons in the last week, ended up with 2.5 quarts. We moved some of our taps that weren’t doing so well so hopefully this will be a good week.

[HowardR]

"Sugar snow" on the ground this morning. This is going to be a good run!

[sticknstring]

Is it a MUST to have a pipe with a block arch? I want to cook today, but i dont have a pipe set up to be used with my block arch. Maybe its better to have it, but is it a make or break situation? What do i need to worry about if i dont have one?

[sbedilion]

You will just have syrup w a campfire/smoke taste. I get a touch of it with a stove pipe. Several of my friends and myself like the smoke taste in the syrup.

[sticknstring]

Steam is flyin on our first boil!!!! It and the smoke is headin towards the mountain your way Dennis!!17662

[HermitageMaple]

Getting the tubing fixed and rinsed. Will tap by the end of the week most likely. Lewis County, New York (Lake Bonaparte).

[sticknstring]

Well, not sure if we did good or not. The finished product was just a touch over or right at 2-1/2 pints of super sweet syrup, but more vanilla tasting to me than maple. Not sure if once it cools the taste changes a little or not. I knew it would be different from the imitation syrup u buy at the store, expected something closer to what you would find at cracker barrel. The 2-1/2 pint yield was out of 15-17ish gallons of sap. Took about 5 hrs and 45 minutes to get it down to where i needed to get it off the fire and into a pan on the stove because it was beginning to burn in my steamer pan a bit. My arch is a little out of level, so the sap was a little deeper on one side, leaving it too shallow on the higher side at the end. My youngest made it to the end and was excited but my 7 year old conked out about 20 minutes before we finished and put it in the jars. She did her best to pretend she was awake and stoked about the final product. She gets zombie like when she falls asleep at night, so im sure til morning she wont even remember taking the picture ;^). Round 1 was a good one i think, learned a few things i gotta try to do a little different next time. I didnt expect to get it all right the first time around. Would like to hear some opinions on the flavor from you experienced guys on the flavor tho, did i do something wrong, did i need to go farther with cooking it? Or did i accidentally tap vanilla trees? Lol


17669

[Dennis H.]

Good job sticknstring.
How did the syrup look in the end, light, dark.
Don't use cracker barrel as a guide, they do a blend, part corn syrup part maple.

[sticknstring]

Dennis, it seems like a dark color to me. I think i got some "niter" or whatever its called. Its sitting on the counter cooling down and i can see some lighter stuff in there, not necessarily crystals, but kinds of a "milky way" looking consistency swirled about. Trying to get a better pic of a jar, but cant get a good rep of it with my lighting in the house. Maybe in the morning after i get back from sap collection at our ground.


Edit to add picture. I shook the one jar up, you can see the other two have clear separation of the syrup and the cloudy stuff, im fully assuming niter.17679

[Kippster]

Been tapped for a few days, but got the first fire under the pan tonight. Boiled down about 100 gal of sap. concentrate wont float the hydrometer yet, but the steam smells awfully good. 17672 17670 17671

Good to be back in maple mode!!!

[Paddymountain]

We avoided diaster this weekend, finished boiling at 2:00 on Saturday, filtered and bottled until 5:30
Have a drop flue so plugged the front pan as usual about 3:15. BUT!
shut the arch doors at 4:00 or so, and since it was snowing shut the chimney roof cap around 5:30 and when I went up to the house.
Big Mistake! Went down yesterday and the front pan was almost getting to maple creme stage.
Fortunatley, no scorchng! But had to thin it with sap from the flue pan and build a little fire to get it out.
We now have extra dark syrup for ourselves, (gotta spin the positive some how!)
I think it will make close to 3 gallons of syrup. Anyway, dodged a bullet have everthing cleaned out and ready to go again!

[HondoLane]

I'm hooked!!! First ever boil yesterday. Homebut arch and pan. Boiled close to 14 gallons to get around 14 ozs of finished product from 6 taps. Thanks to this site I now have a new family tradition started! Finish was really clear and light. Had a vanilla flavor which was so good!
17674

[HowardR]

The sap is pouring out of my gravity-fed lines at the rate of 30 gallons per hour -- and a similar rate should continue, day and night, for several days.

This reminds me of the big run of the 2014 season. The sap kept pouring out. I bought more storage containers. I tried boiling the oldest sap first. I tried sap ice cubes. But after a few days, the sap started fermenting and I ended up dumping hundreds of gallons. After the season ended, I built my RO (http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?23321-Must-a-cheap-RO-be-5000), which is right now removing 15 gallons per hour of water from the sap. I'll keep it running day and night until I catch up.

[helptheold]

The sap is pouring out of my gravity-fed lines at the rate of 30 gallons per hour -- and a similar rate should continue, day and night, for several days.

This reminds me of the big run of the 2014 season. The sap kept pouring out. I bought more storage containers. I tried boiling the oldest sap first. I tried sap ice cubes. But after a few days, the sap started fermenting and I ended up dumping hundreds of gallons. After the season ended, I built my RO (http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?23321-Must-a-cheap-RO-be-5000), which is right now removing 15 gallons per hour of water from the sap. I'll keep it running day and night until I catch up.

I've been trying to talk my husband into making one like yours but he's not very handy. Is it hard to do? He is a chemist so he knows some stuff already :)

His suggestion was to buy a household water filtration system like this (http://a.co/iNaMDmX) since we don't have many taps (as of now!).

[Plutoman15]

Small RO's are easy to build. Most parts you can order from Amazon. You can build a small one for probably $200 and push you sap up to 4-8%. Saves a lot of boil time. I am sure there are plans/directions online somewhere. You need a pump, filter, RO membrane, hose, and a needle valve, and some fittings.

[HowardR]

I've been trying to talk my husband into making one like yours but he's not very handy. Is it hard to do? He is a chemist so he knows some stuff already :)

He could do it. I put detailed building instructions on my RO thread (http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?23321-Must-a-cheap-RO-be-5000). I got the design from Bowhunter, a retired engineer who had already built one for himself.

[sbedilion]

I can’t wait to build an RO for next year. Boiling 100 gallons of 1% sap is getting old. I’m getting 15 gallons a hr which isn’t bad for my driveway but it’s a looong day for very little reward.

HowardR...very nice write up on your custom RO.

[sbedilion]

Next few days are going to be hard. I’m sitting on 100 gallons of sap collected today with tmw temps at 70degs. I can’t boil it until tmw after work. I’m sure I will have another 80-100gallons tmw. Plus I’m currently boiling down yesterday’s batch of concentrate now...roughly 40 gallons (100 gallons originally).

Weather looks very iffy on the 10 day. 7 days well above freezing following by several days close to freezing but not below. Hopefully the predictions are off and temps drop down again. Thoughts? I haven’t done this long enough to know what 10-15 days of warm weather can do.

[helptheold]

I can’t wait to build an RO for next year. Boiling 100 gallons of 1% sap is getting old. I’m getting 15 gallons a hr which isn’t bad for my driveway but it’s a looong day for very little reward.

HowardR...very nice write up on your custom RO.

Same here, I'm trying to explain to my husband that making an RO will save time and money!

[Plutoman15]

RO is the way to go. I too have 1% sap but I bought the bucket RO which is a small system and added a second membrane. I am able to push my 1% sap up to 4%+ which cuts my boil time down to a quarter of what it would be.

This is my first year and I just canned a little over half a gallon. I filtered several times along the way but did not filter after the last few degrees and wish I would have just before bottling. I have some sand in the bottom of my jars. My sap produced a lot of clay like gray sand. Clogs my filters pretty bad. Does the amount of sand you get change year to year from the same trees or will it be the same every year?

Joe

[sticknstring]

17689

Guessin this isnt a good thing??

[Dennis H.]

Wow, no that is not a good sign.
All my trees are on the north side of a ridge so I am hoping that will helps things out for the next few days of warm temps.

[HowardR]

I can't remember a bigger sap run then yesterday and today's run. Monday's run was huge. But then with the temperature getting up into the 70s today, the sap just continued to pour out. This evening I finally started putting through the sap that I wasn't able to process on Monday and Tuesday.

I was explaining to my grandson how maple syrup production works. First you tap more trees. Then comes the year when you can't keep up, so you buy more equipment. Then, since you have more equipment, you tap more trees. Then comes the year when you can't keep up, so you buy more equipment.

[Plutoman15]

My best day was Sunday, yesterday was half that so I was thinking today would not give much but it actually was decent. I also thought it would spoil but all my sap was clear. I tasted some and didn’t notice anything off so I concentrated it and put it in the freezer hoping we get another round beginning of March when it gets cold again.

Joe

[Dennis H.]

Wow, the sap flow is almost coming to a full stop.
Has not been below freezing in two days and yesterday was 77 degrees and today basically is a repeat of yesterday.

Sap tank was overflowing this morning but was just a trickle coming into the releaser, so not real high hopes for much tomorrow.

Might get a freeze Thursday and if that doesn't happen will be a few more days till the next forcasted freeze.

[rhallett]

Plan on putting 25 taps out this coming Saturday. Schedule only permits me to weekend boil for 3 weeks... let's see what happens!!

[HowardR]

According to the long-term forecast, next week will be perfect maple syrup weather (following a rainy week without a frost). I'm hoping that budding continues to hold off and that we get a good end-of-season run.

On the subject of rain, this is the rainiest maple syrup season that I can remember. I wonder if soggy ground lowers sugar concentration, and I'm hopeful rainy days discourage tree budding.

[sbedilion]

According to the long-term forecast, next week will be perfect maple syrup weather (following a rainy week without a frost). I'm hoping that budding continues to hold off and that we get a good end-of-season run.

On the subject of rain, this is the rainiest maple syrup season that I can remember. I wonder if soggy ground lowers sugar concentration, and I'm hopeful rainy days discourage tree budding.


I was sort of thinking the same. I had massive sap runs. It's my first year running tubing (3/16th) so I really don't have anything way to judge what a "massive run" is. Anyways....if the tree is absorbing lots of water would that dilute the sap? I'm sure there is a thread on this site somewhere that covers it. 4 more hours to kill at work....I'll start searching. haha

[sticknstring]

Well, our first season is over I believe. My trees close to home are silvers and buds are popping. We only got about 10 or so gallons out of those 4 taps anyways and 2 of the gallons I had to pitch because it got too warm and spoiled. My trees up at our ground did fantastic, two trees one tap a piece and we got closer 20 gallons from them in just over a week but having to drive 35 minutes one way made it logistically tough to collect the sap up there enough to keep the weather from wasting sap.

The first boil we did we boiled 15-17 gallons down to 2 and a half pints of dark syrup, I definitely cooked it to hot as we got some crystallization and probably cooked it too long as it is pretty strong sweetness wise. Very vanilla tasting with a hint of maple and very smokey from cooking on a wood fire block arch in the open.

I boiled our second batch of sap down last night, about 12 gallons or so of sap down to about a gallon and a half of what I consider near syrup. Wanted to get it cooked down so it didn't go bad. Honestly, this last batch seemed super super sweet even as sap. I could taste a huge difference in sugar taste from our first batch of sap, and could even smell it without problem. I kinda thought maybe it was going bad because of how sweet it smelled/tasted. But I had it, so I boiled it down and it tastes perfectly fine, no off taste at all. BUT, I don't think I have to go much farther to get it to a proper syrup taste, maybe reduce it by 25 or so percent. Anymore than that I think it will be too sweet if that makes sense. I don't have the tools to measure sugar content, so I just kind of go by taste. It tastes pretty dang good now, but a 3/4 to a full gallon is way more syrup than you should get from 12 gallons of sap, so I don't know what to think. Maybe I will order a refractometer off amazon and test both the first stuff we finished and our last boil to see where it is. I pulled all my buckets because the close trees are budding and the far trees are too far to drive up everyday with this warm weather, plus I have to work a builder show this weekend and wont be able to do much of anything with sap.

It looks like a freeze is coming next Monday and Tuesday night, so maybe I will drive back up to put my buckets back on the those two trees and hope to get another 7-10 gallons next week, who knows. I just feel like the weather was tough for a rookie year on this stuff. So many things to try to figure out and a longer period of good weather would have given more time to figure some things out. All in all though, the girls liked it and that was the most important thing to me. AND, it appears as if we are going to end up with at least a gallon or more of syrup from about 30 gallons of sap. Change a couple things, add a couple things and next year we will hopefully be more efficient and have a longer more successful season doing this. Thanks everybody for the information along the way!

[Dennis H.]

Sticknstring, it has been a tough week. My trees have been slowly winding down due to the no freeze. Our daughter put a few buckets this season and they have not given up much sap in about 3 days.

As for finishing the syrup without a hydrometer, Use temp. 7 degrees about boiling point of water.
For me that usually will be about 217-218. So put some water in a small pot and bring up to boiling a measure. Then bring the syrup up to a boil and measure with the thermometer. That will get you close enough.

Trees can be a tricky beast. You can have two trees that are side by side and about the same size canopy wise and one will give you a overflowing bucket each day and the other will be barely dripping.
Same goes with the sugar content. I have Reds here at the house that will give me 1.5-2% sap all season but the sugar's up at the cabin with the tubing will only give me 1% this season and a good season 1.5%.

[Plutoman15]

Sticknstring

You must have some good sugar content to get that much syrup from 30 gallons of sap.

[sticknstring]

Pluto, it doesn't make sense to me that i got that much syrup from that amount of sap. The 2-1/2 pints from 15-17 gallons kinda made sense, but the amount of stuff i still have from last nights 12ish gallons of sap is what doesnt make sense. Like i said tho, the sap was waaaaay sweeter tasting and smelling, almost weirdly sweet. But who knows, maybe i will have to cook it down yet way more than it im thinking.



Dennis, i dont quite understand the 7 degrees above boiling thing. You just get it to that point and your done? Or you cook it at that temp until you think its done? I bought an ACT 0-90% brix refractometer, supposed to show up saturday. So i can do it that way. What brix should it be when you pull it to finish it on the stove? Dumb rookie questions, im sorry....
S

[Evets]

As the water boils out the sugar concentrates. As the sugar concentrates the temp rises. When you hit about 219, you're done. If you keep cooking the temp will keep rising until your sugar burns.

[sticknstring]

But my sap is boiling most of the time as im evaporating. The temp never gets to 7 degrees over boiling during the evaporating process? You guys will help me understand at some point....

[Plutoman15]

The temp will start around 212-214 when you start to boil sap. As the water evaporates out and the sugar content gets higher, the temperature will rise. The boiling point of pure water is 212F at near sea level, no matter how hot you make the fire, water will never go above 212F as a liquid. The boiling point of syrup (66% sugar in water) is 219F.

It is similar to ice. Ice can never be above 32F and still be ice but it can be colder. Water is the same way, it can never go above 212 as a liquid UNLESS it has impurities in it like sugar. The higher the impurities, the higher temp it can be and still be liquid.

So we can know when syrup is the right sugar percent by taking it to 7.5 degrees above the temp pure water boils.

I am glad I checked my candy thermometer with boiling pure water because I found out mine reads 2.5 degrees too high so I had to take my syrup to 221 degrees. I might get a syrup refractometer to double check it in the future.

I love my sap refractometer.
https://www.amazon.com/Ade-Advanced-Optics-ade0-10-REFRACTOMETER/dp/B00AB68406/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519353255&sr=8-1&keywords=sap+refractometer

Joe

Update: I am so dumb, I just realized I already have a refractometer for syrup. I raise bees and use one to check my honey moisture. So I just checked my syrup. Here it is. Pic gets down graded hard to read. It says 67.5%.
17775

[sticknstring]

Awesome, thank you for the lesson Joe. Much appreciated. I am gonna run to Wally World tomorrow and see if they have any candy thermometers. If they dont, i reckon Johnnies restaurant place should. Got one of my steamer pans there, but it was expensive!

[Plutoman15]

Funny, that is where I got my flats pans as well. The thermometer I got on amazon.

Joe

[Dennis H.]

Plutoman15 explained it well.

Now remember the boiling point of water will change from day to day and from one location and another.
At the house we are at about 800' above sea level and I found that with the thermometer that I use the "normal" boiling point for me is 210 degrees. 212 is at sea level. So I aim for 217 degrees.
Now as low pressure and high pressure weather fronts come thru that will change the boiling point a little, that is why you should check it at the time when you are finishing your syrup. I check and adjust my thermometer on the evap everyday right before I start to boil.

[HowardR]

In post #57 of this thread, I wrote:


I was explaining to my grandson how maple syrup production works. First you tap more trees. Then comes the year when you can't keep up, so you buy more equipment. Then, since you have more equipment, you tap more trees. Then comes the year when you can't keep up, so you buy more equipment.

There's no equipment on my shopping list for next year. I barely managed to process Monday and Tuesday's huge run without any of the sap going bad. There were two nights (Monday night and Tuesday night), that I got little sleep because I kept going out every hour and a half or so to keep my stovetop-evaporator and RO running all night. But it was all worth it. My wife and I just finished bottling it up last night. We made more syrup in two days than the entire rest of the year combined.

[Paddymountain]

I'm working on getting all my collection barrels brought in to be pressure washed.
I have one cage tank that I'll haul water to and flush out. Tomorrow finish filtering and bottling.
We have boiled 2000 gallons of sap, but sure don't have the syrup to show for it.
Looks like the next run early in the week, let's hope we get back into a freeze thaw cycle.
Hopefully there will be a couple of weeks yet of sugaring! Remember to have fun everyone,
work is overrated anyway!

[sbedilion]

In post #57 of this thread, I wrote:



There's no equipment on my shopping list for next year. I barely managed to process Monday and Tuesday's huge run without any of the sap going bad. There were two nights (Monday night and Tuesday night), that I got little sleep because I kept going out every hour and a half or so to keep my stovetop-evaporator and RO running all night. But it was all worth it. My wife and I just finished bottling it up last night. We made more syrup in two days than the entire rest of the year combined.

Nice work HowardR! I pulled a 3hr of sleep night a few nights ago. Came into the house around 4am....wrote a note in BIG letters "DO NOT WAKE ME UP"....Laid it on the table beside the couch and passed out on the couch. 7am my wife wakes me up..."aren't you going to work". :mad:

[sshirk5573]

Awesome, thank you for the lesson Joe. Much appreciated. I am gonna run to Wally World tomorrow and see if they have any candy thermometers. If they dont, i reckon Johnnies restaurant place should. Got one of my steamer pans there, but it was expensive!

Go to Target or Walmart and get a digital thermometer that has a removable probe on a wire. $15-$20. don't ever submerge the probe- but if you just put the tip in (:lol:) you'll get a good reading. Much easier to read than a candy thermometer.

[sticknstring]

I see what you did there sshirk. I stopped at walmart this morning and got both a digital and regular thermometer. So should be good to go! Thanks for the info!

[Dennis H.]

Since there was no sap today to speak of I finished and filtered syrup. The year total is climbing, slowly.

Also took advantage of the down time and took everything out of the evap pans and cleaned them, well at least they are right now pickled. I will give it a good scrub and rinse tomorrow that way I will have nice clean pans for either what I see as the last few runs of the season or an early start to cleaning things up for the end of the season.

Funny thing is that this year, so far, is an exact copy of last season.
2017: tapped 1/21, 1st sap brought in 1/22 and last sap brought in 2/22
2018: tapped 1/20, 1st sap brought in 1/21 and last sap, well I'm hopping there is still more to come.

Sugar content is lower this season, and so far I am about 700 gals short in sap from what I got this same time last season.
Between both those I do not foresee have a total gals of syrup higher than last season.

[Paddymountain]

I have all my filtering and bottling caught up. We filled a 5 gallon drum with the last of the syrup we made.
Everything for collecting sap is rinsed out and ready to go.
Should of done the evaporator also , but if it doesn't give a run here on Tuesday, I might try and just get it all boiled down.
Hoping the season isn't over as I'm at about a third of what I would like to make.
I've been diligent this year at staying on top of things, have everything pretty much streamlined for maximum efficiency
But if the weather doesn't cooperate we'll have to settle for what we get.
I was sold out of syrup last year in July, if my people get wind of how poor a year it is
they will clean me out in no time! I won't buy syrup to resell, too many people ask if I make it all here,
and I'm not changing that.

[Sugarmaker]

Folks,
Resting and visiting other sugarmakers in the area. Last Tuesday was a large run and it spilled over into Wed and thursday. We gathered 1200 gallons of sap and made 25 gallons of syrup.
Couple pictures of the granddaughters gathering.

https://i.imgur.com/N0YWcGq.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/OKAzQKE.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/KSO5OBe.jpg

Temp was near 70 deg F.
We are not getting much sap at this time. Havent had a freeze. Maybe Sunday night???

Regards,
Chris

[HowardR]

Like the others who've posted here, I'm expecting a nice end-of-season run this week and will be ready. Both weather.com and accuweather.com predict lows of 33 Sunday night and 29 Monday night.

[Sugarmaker]

Heading out to gather up the small continued weeping run. Just too warm to leave it out there. May try to sanitize the collection tubs. Will boil in what every I do end up with. Hoping for a freeze tonight. Having tapped early we may only have 2 more weeks that the taps hold up.
Regards,
Chris

[Sugarmaker]

Heading out to gather up the small continued weeping run. Just too warm to leave it out there. May try to sanitize the collection tubs. Will boil in what every I do end up with. Hoping for a freeze tonight. Having tapped early we may only have 2 more weeks that the taps hold up.
Regards,
Chris

[Dennis H.]

Ok, where do I start for today.

We have not had a freeze in 7 days so after collecting what sap I had in the tank Friday, 80 gals, I decided I would wait till today to run back up and check the vac pump and releaser to be sure every thing is good to go.
Over the weekend I filtered and finish syrup, cleaned the evap pans and just kind of took it easy for the most part.

SO I ran up around lunch time and when I pulled in to the tank I had to take a second look, it was overflowing! WTH, It was only a trickle on Friday morning. Emptied the tank checked things and headed home.
Once home started pushing the sap thru the RO and went about other activities and chores. Checked in on the RO from time to time. Then the one time I checked in something was just not right. Everything was running but the high pressure was reading only 50 psi. The high pressure pump was running! Shut things off and the high pressure pump motor just free spun like nothing was attached to the shaft??? What happened, lovejoy? keyway? vanes in the pump?
Peeked thru the little hole in the motor adapter and could see that the lovejoy was ok. loosened the clamp to separate the procon from the motor and right there was my problem. The brass drive coupling that slips into the pump and also the lovejoy sheared off!
At first I thought this was going to be my season ending event, there was going to be no way that I was going to boil 1% sap! then it hit me I had an extra one in my box of RO goodies.
I was back up and running in about 10 mins.

[Paddymountain]

I set all my barrels back out and dumped the water and old sap out of 45 buckets this afternoon. To my surprise,
most of the buckets were dripping and my one 3/16 line was running fairly well. Got home and fired up the vacuum at the house and let it run on the ground until just now.
Sap looked nice and clear and coming in steadily. for sure not full blown, but put the hose in a barrel and we will see what we have
in the morning. No freeze here tonight ,but possibly tomorrow night. If we get a half decent freeze we might make it to Saturday when it is supposed to get colder.

[helptheold]

Ok, where do I start for today.

We have not had a freeze in 7 days so after collecting what sap I had in the tank Friday, 80 gals, I decided I would wait till today to run back up and check the vac pump and releaser to be sure every thing is good to go.
Over the weekend I filtered and finish syrup, cleaned the evap pans and just kind of took it easy for the most part.

SO I ran up around lunch time and when I pulled in to the tank I had to take a second look, it was overflowing! WTH, It was only a trickle on Friday morning. Emptied the tank checked things and headed home.
Once home started pushing the sap thru the RO and went about other activities and chores. Checked in on the RO from time to time. Then the one time I checked in something was just not right. Everything was running but the high pressure was reading only 50 psi. The high pressure pump was running! Shut things off and the high pressure pump motor just free spun like nothing was attached to the shaft??? What happened, lovejoy? keyway? vanes in the pump?
Peeked thru the little hole in the motor adapter and could see that the lovejoy was ok. loosened the clamp to separate the procon from the motor and right there was my problem. The brass drive coupling that slips into the pump and also the lovejoy sheared off!
At first I thought this was going to be my season ending event, there was going to be no way that I was going to boil 1% sap! then it hit me I had an extra one in my box of RO goodies.
I was back up and running in about 10 mins.

Eeks! Glad you had that extra! Now that I'm going to have an RO next year I've got plans for what to do with all the time I'll save boiling :)

[HowardR]

If you are making maple syrup out of today's sap, please give us a report on the quality of the sap and the syrup. I'm anticipating sap flow starting tomorrow.

[HowardR]

At first I thought this was going to be my season ending event, there was going to be no way that I was going to boil 1% sap! then it hit me I had an extra one in my box of RO goodies. I was back up and running in about 10 mins.

I had a similar scare when I first plugged in my RO for the year. The motor could barely turn the pump. I eventually figured out that I just needed to oil the pump. But before I figured that out, I started to get behind with the sap. It is definitely worthwhile to stockpile RO parts!

[YoungFamilyFarm]

Chris, what was your Tap date? We tapped the 12th and have made 42% of our Syrup crop from last year on 47% of the sap (again versus last years #'s). We run everything on maxed out vacuum (28-28.5"/hg) and never shut it off but I'm still thinking the mild weather may limit our tap holes to only a few more weeks. Dipped to 28 degrees at 5:30 am here in Wattsburg, did you get down that low out in the west county?

[Dennis H.]

Here's hoping for a cold night, if we do not see a freeze tonight I think I will be throwing in the towel.
This morning only got 80 gals and it was cloudy. Buds on the trees are still looking ok.
I am thinking that since it has been rainy here and very little sun that is slowing the trees from waking but we still need a freeze to kick start these guys again.

[sticknstring]

Daggum. Pulled my buckets last week cuz of the weather, was gonna be done. Then you guys inspired me to put them back out with the upcoming weather. Hurry up tonight and we get our two buckets back up and tap a third tree in the dark. Come home, get on here and Dennis, you got me bummin....Haha. Hopefully we get a decent freeze the next two nights, then make it through the couple warm rainy days to the cold front again this weekend. Just need one more good run or two small ones. Id be happy with 15 gallons in the next week from my 3 taps to finish the rookie season out. Good luck this week guys n gals!

[Plutoman15]

I am waiting umtil the weekend to put the buckets back out. Forecast shows 3 days in a row of freezing nights.

How can you tell when sap is getting buddy? The silver buds popped this week so they are done for sure.

[HowardR]

About 30 years ago there was perfect syrup weather after a warm middle of the season. The problem was that the holes that I had drilled three weeks earlier were closing up. I tried drilling a new hole in one of my trees, and the sap gushed out. So I actually went through my maple bush, drilled new holes and moved the taps in all of my trees. I ended up with a tremendous end-of-season run. If tomorrow's sap makes good syrup, I'll be tempted to do that again this year.

[Dennis H.]

I believe game is back on, fingers crossed.

Had a chance to check a weather station that is only a few miles from the location of my trees and it says that it went below 32 at 11:45 pm and right now at 2:55 am it is 27 degrees.
I am hoping this will kick start the trees!

Will be running up in the morning to be sure every thing is up and running and no ice or moisture trap problems.

Sticknstring, hoping the best for you also.

[helptheold]

I'm just in experiment mode, curious to see what happens after all that warm weather last week. Didn't get anything yesterday so I'll check again today. Not sure if they are closing up or it's just the weather. I tapped in on Jan 25th.


About 30 years ago there was perfect syrup weather after a warm middle of the season. The problem was that the holes that I had drilled three weeks earlier were closing up. I tried drilling a new hole in one of my trees, and the sap gushed out. So I actually went through my maple bush, drilled new holes and moved the taps in all of my trees. I ended up with a tremendous end-of-season run. If tomorrow's sap makes good syrup, I'll be tempted to do that again this year.

Is it possible to redrill the same hole? Or did you just move the hole up a few inches on the tree?

[HowardR]

Is it possible to redrill the same hole? Or did you just move the hole up a few inches on the tree?

I didn't re-drill the same holes. I drilled new holes. I placed the new hole several inches away from the original hole.

[sbedilion]

You guys might be in luck. Rode my mt bike to work this morning.....all the trails were frozen. Temps were about 27 this morning. I'm done and cleaned up....but hopefully you guys have another week or so.

Good luck.

[helptheold]

I didn't re-drill the same holes. I drilled new holes. I placed the new hole several inches away from the original hole.

I might have to try that if I get some good sap. I also have a few trees I didn't tap that I could tap now, really need a better way to mark them so I don't forget them :)

[sbedilion]

I might have to try that if I get some good sap. I also have a few trees I didn't tap that I could tap now, really need a better way to mark them so I don't forget them :)

If you want some more sap...I have some decent trees in my yard i didn't tap. I could bump your sap total up 30-50 gallons. I have taps and buckets....and can deliver :). I also still have my 3/16 lines going...just emptying onto the ground. I could easily get you 100 gallons but the sugar is so low it wouldnt be worth your time.

[Dennis H.]

Everything is checked and ready for today, temps last night got down to 24 degrees.
Sun is out almost not a single cloud in the sky.

Daughters buckets here at the house are dripping again also.

Bring on the sap.

[helptheold]

If you want some more sap...I have some decent trees in my yard i didn't tap. I could bump your sap total up 30-50 gallons. I have taps and buckets....and can deliver :). I also still have my 3/16 lines going...just emptying onto the ground. I could easily get you 100 gallons but the sugar is so low it wouldnt be worth your time.

Naw, without having a RO it's not worth it :) My taps were dripping this morning and tasted fine so I'll go out later and get enough to boil down to test.

[HowardR]

Lots of sap. 1% sugar. Cloudy which means the syrup will be dark. I'm boiling a bit up on my stove now to see if the syrup flavor is good.

[HowardR]

The sap that I boiled down tastes fine. There may be just a hint of a buddy flavor.

[helptheold]

Only got about 1/2 gallon but it tastes fine after boiling. The buds on the one tree I can actually reach the branches on are nice and tight so I've got my fingers crossed for this weekend!

[sticknstring]

Did some rabbit hunting this afternoon up at the ground, collected from the 3 buckets, got a little over a gallon of nice clear sap. Couple warm days coming up, but temps look great for quite a few days starting this weekend, eh? Thanks for the well wishes Dennis! Good luck everybody!

17866

[Paddymountain]

Managed to gather about 150 gallons of 2 percent today, got it boiled and made a little syrup.
Weather starting to look promising after Saturday. Hopefully it will extend the season a week more!

[HowardR]

This week is perfect maple syrup weather. There's even an unpredicted frost happening right now. Almost every night this week will be below freezing and I'm doing my best to make as much syrup as I can. I'm even moving taps to new holes in some of my trees.

[Dennis H.]

I'll have to let you know how yesterdays cold night has helped when I run up in the morning to collect the sap. I wanted to run up this past evening to check on things but had other things to complete and ran out of time, so in the morning will have to do. Would be nice in a way to see it overflowing but sad to think of what I may loose to the ground.

Right now the temps up there are again below 32 so 2 nights in a row of freezing temps! Things are looking up.

[Paddymountain]

Still hanging in, got about 130 gallons of sap today, kind of surprising.
finished up early tonight, and pretty sure now we will make it to cold weather. I put my buckets out last Tuesday and
I think they will keep on pumping, 3/16 tubing running fairly good considering the temps. wood pile at 50 percent
energy level slipping a little!

[sticknstring]

Just getting ready to leave ground now. It got into the 60s tuesday, i collected a lil over a gallon from 3 taps, 2 old and 1 new tuesday afternoon after less than a day of putting buckets back out. Got below freezing tuesday night, back to 60 yesterday and down to 40 last night. Only got about a half gallon from tuesday afternoon to this morning. Hopin like heck things get back started this weekend and next week with the daily freeze thaw that is forecasted for at least 9 days. I should have tapped a couple more trees monday night, but i didnt want to put holes in trees so late in the season when it seems as if the season may be over. Hope you all found full buckets!

[sbedilion]

the next 4-5 days looks amazing for sap in the pittsburgh area. im tempted to put my barrels back out. i cleaned everything last wkend and the wife was relieved when i told her i was done. soooo friday i will either be pulling my taps on my lines or putting the collection barrels back out for “one more run”.

[sshirk5573]

Noticed this morning, the Reds and Silvers are very red and pretty much in full bloom here.

[HowardR]

Noticed this morning, the Reds and Silvers are very red and pretty much in full bloom here.

Pennsylvania is a big state with a big variation in spring temperatures. SShirk lives in Boiling Springs, PA, which according to this map and table (http://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-pennsylvania-last-frost-date-map.php) has its last spring frost about May 1, same date as HelpTheOld and sbdelion who live in Pittsburgh. Dennis and Sticknstring have average frostfree dates around May 11. Paddymountain has an average frostfree date around May 21. Most of those who are getting enthusiastic about this run in the NE PA thread and I have frostfree dates around June 1. So take our frostfree dates into consideration when you interpret our posts.

[helptheold]

the next 4-5 days looks amazing for sap in the pittsburgh area. im tempted to put my barrels back out. i cleaned everything last wkend and the wife was relieved when i told her i was done. soooo friday i will either be pulling my taps on my lines or putting the collection barrels back out for “one more run”.

LOL planning on taking my boys to see Peter Rabbit tomorrow night instead of Saturday night as I hope I'll be too busy boiling then! Was going to go out and give all my buckets a quick rinse today but the darn rain won't go away. Guess it's on the agenda for tomorrow now.



Pennsylvania is a big state with a big variation in spring temperatures. SShirk lives in Boiling Springs, PA, which according to this map and table (http://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-pennsylvania-last-frost-date-map.php) has its last spring frost about May 1, as do HelpTheHold and sbdelion who live in Pittsburgh. Dennis H. and Sticknstring have average frostfree dates around May 11. Paddymountain has an average frostfree date around May 21. I and most of those who are getting enthusiastic about this run in the NE PA thread have frostfree dates around June 1. So take our frostfree dates into consideration when you interpret our posts.

That's quite an interesting map, thanks for posting! Got a kick out of looking at the Michigan map, I lived in the LP but had friends from the UP and it boggled my mind how different our weather was.

[Dennis H.]

Even though our last frost is on average in May I can tell you that these warm days that we have been having are not helping the trees give up a little sap.
Even running vac my sap volume has been cut in half if not more on most days and the sap has been becoming more cloudy.

I was hoping that those 2 nights that we had on Monday and Tuesday that went below 32 would reboot the trees but I am not seeing that.
I do see that this weekend and the start of next looks like prime sugar'in temps but if the sap quality and volume does not improve I am seriously pondering to switch things off.
I just don't need more late season syrup, I will not sell that so it is normally set aside for myself.

On another note, had a visit from a local tv channel to do a short news clip on sugar'in in PA. I feel that they did a really great job. Our daughter even got a good amount of time on tv!
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fabc27.com%2F2018%2F02%2F28%2F pennsylvanias-maple-syrup-season-drips-to-a-close%2F&h=ATPkQeyb0gPrBQjamFIRU7IMUDce_4MpATtGfyhKLwnE-KPpi-w-sLT3MSxZzu7ZP69Zh1ytbQZ0VjobQ0UXasPo3Z7atETIFMzTWk HyyKJx7cYdUTW9Sw

For the none Facebookers,
abc27.com/2018/02/28/pennsylvanias-maple-syrup-season-drips-to-a-close/

[HowardR]

Even though our last frost is on average in May I can tell you that these warm days that we have been having are not helping the trees give up a little sap. Even running vac my sap volume has been cut in half if not more on most days and the sap has been becoming more cloudy. I was hoping that those 2 nights that we had on Monday and Tuesday that went below 32 would reboot the trees but I am not seeing that.

I think your tap holes are healing over. I redrilled about a hundred sugar maple holes a few inches away from the old holes, and I think that really paid off. I just pressed and bottled 4 gallons of syrup. The syrup is dark and "full flavored" but still very good. I'm not going to be at all hesitant to sell it. Tomorrow I'm going to move my remaining sugar maple taps a few inches over on my trees.

[mellondome]

You would have been further ahead tapping each tree twice to start with.

[HowardR]

You would have been further ahead tapping each tree twice to start with.

No. Then I would have two dry taps now in each tree. Also, I would be bleeding my trees more than would be good for them. In my 35 years of making maple syrup, this is only the second time I've double-tapped. Both times, the tree holes healed before I had taken much sap, and then the season ended with an exceptional run.

[Dennis H.]

I am done, calling it a season. The sap has gotten very cloudy and today while boiling I was starting to get a small hint of off smell.

The weather this coming week is great temp wise for sap flow but I am just not sure if the trees will recover from the past weeks of very warm temps.
Damage is done.

I'll run up in the morning after work and if the sap is clearer and flowing good I'll hang in there for a few more days but I think when I run up I will see more of the same, cloudy sap. If that is the case I'll turn off the pump and start the job of cleaning things up.

[HowardR]

I am done, calling it a season. The sap has gotten very cloudy and today while boiling I was starting to get a small hint of off smell.


My sap is pouring out faster than I can process it, and it is clear as water, and no off smell. And it's so cold outside (lows of 20, highs of 40) that there is no danger of the sap going bad in the holding containers. Only one problem: The sugar content is down to 0.5 percent!

[sticknstring]

Went to ground this morning. Only about a gallon from 3 trees since tuesday. Pretty big bummer. Two buckets were clear, one was a lil yellow. Will go up friday after some good looking temps this week and if i dont have a few gallons at least, thatll be it for this year for us.

[Paddymountain]

suffering from extreme sap deficit disorder here in Union county

[Dennis H.]

HowardR, even with an RO I think .5% sap would do it for me.

Sticknstring, I was really hoping for this week to get us one more good run but I don't think it is meant to be.
Still holding out a little hope that in the morning the sap tank will be holding a nice supply of not so cloudy sap.

Paddymountain, how short are you compared to years past?
I finally got as much sap as last season but with a week more of collecting and don't get me started on the sugar content. I think the highest I got was something like 1.2 or 1.3.

[helptheold]

The gallon I got yesterday seemed ok, clear but a little yellow. Can't say how it did boiled because I forgot it on the stove, oops. Got a pot to scrub clean today.

[HowardR]

HowardR, even with an RO I think .5% sap would do it for me.

How could I stop? The sky is too blue. Not a cloud in sight (low 18 high 41 today). In the words of "Hallelujah I'm a Bum":


Why can't you work
Like other men do?
How can I work
When the sky is so blue?

[Dennis H.]

I just could not do it, I could not turn off the vac yesterday.
I wanted to run up in the morning but just to tired so went up in the afternoon. Sap was flowing nicely and it looked clearer than it has been in over a week.

SO I pumped it over to the truck tank and headed home.

Vac was running a little low so did a leak check and found 2 small leaks, solved that issue but found a tree that had broken off and came down on a mainline. Some how it did not do any damage to the mainline or lat's. Fixed a few side ties that broke and back into business.

This weeks weather is looking better and better. 40's in the day and 20's at night, this looks like the best weather we will have all season. Just hoping that the sap I am getting now is not buddy.

[Plutoman15]

How do you know if your sap is buddy? Some of the buds on the Norways I am tapping aren't as firm as they were but the sap is clear and tastes good. The sugar is also decent at 2%.

Does it get cloudy or is it clear but tastes bad? Does it have a smell?

Joe

[GeneralStark]

How do you know if your sap is buddy? Some of the buds on the Norways I am tapping aren't as firm as they were but the sap is clear and tastes good. The sugar is also decent at 2%.

Does it get cloudy or is it clear but tastes bad? Does it have a smell?

Joe

Yes buddy sap will have a smell when you boil it. Some describe it as the smell of dirty socks....

There is no way to know other than boiling it, though some claim they can taste the off flavor in buddy sap...

[HowardR]

My maple syrup season is traveling backward in time. Usually, as the season goes along, the sap worsens. Now it's improving:

1. Back up to 1% sugar from just 0.5%.
2. RO filters running longer without needing to be changed.
3. No cloudiness -- and the new syrup is getting lighter in color.

I attribute the improvement to cold nights, cool days and, finally, several days without rain.

[sbedilion]

My maple syrup season is traveling backward in time. Usually, as the season goes along, the sap worsens. Now it's improving:

1. Back up to 1% sugar from just 0.5%.
2. RO filters running longer without needing to be changed.
3. No cloudiness -- and the new syrup is getting lighter in color.

I attribute the improvement to cold nights, cool days and, finally, several days without rain.

Nice!!!

I fired up a little bit ago. Only have 60 gallons to boil down tonight. Probably another 50-75 that needs collected but I will do that tmw after work.

Forecast looks good!

[Dennis H.]

The smell I get is a yeasty kinda of off smell. The syrup will taste good that you make from it but if you try to reheat it to a boil at a later time to say make sugar that smell will return.

Sap has improved a little. Boiled off what I got today and yesterday and it was nice to smell that that buddy smell went away after about 20 min of boiling. So these cold nights are helping the trees a little.
Still cloudy and sap volume still well below a normal days flow with these kinds of temps. I'll still stick with it till the weekend and make a decision then if I want to continue.

[Paddymountain]

I'm back in the game too. We collected a little over 225 gallons tonight of 2.1 percent sap. Some was a little cloudy, but overall not bad.
It was a pleasure boiling tonight as I probably pulled off about 4 gallons of syrup. Sugar content is higher because, my 92 reds on vacuum at the house are done.
So everything else is sugars. Sap from 112 taps was running in my one cage tank a fairly good clip. No freeze tonight ,but I believe trees are going to
run all night. The weather for the next two weeks looks like the best it has been all season.
Dennis H: I've boiled 2400 gallons of sap, but don't have near enough syrup to show for it.
Howard R keep at it ! if we keep going back in time we'll be a little younger too!!!!

[HowardR]

How do you know if your sap is buddy? Some of the buds on the Norways I am tapping aren't as firm as they were but the sap is clear and tastes good. The sugar is also decent at 2%. Does it get cloudy or is it clear but tastes bad? Does it have a smell? Joe

Last year, the season ended with a long end-of-February warm spell, during which I did my best to determine if the trees were budding. (They were!) I even posted a thread (http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?29925-How-do-you-tell-when-your-trees-have-budded) with discussion of the pictured stages of leaf bud growth (flower buds don't matter). I concluded:


Before I posted this question to start this thread, I thought that you could look at the buds and tell if the sap would still be good. My conclusion, based upon this thread, is that the only way you can tell is by smelling, tasting, examining, and/or by boiling up the sap.

But there was one common sense tip to follow. Try to keep batches separate so that questionable sap doesn't contaminate good sap. Dr. Perkins wrote:


Bud stage is really only a secondary concern. The main thing is the flavor of the syrup. If you detect buddy off-smell or flavor in the sap or syrup, it is time (or past time) to stop. Typically by the time buds reach the V4 stage the sap has been buddy for some time. We normally detect buddy at the V1-V2 stage and try to catch it before it affects the syrup flavor. That way we can process the sweet still left in the evaporator. If you go too long, you might as well dump the whole thing.

[sticknstring]

Holy Sap!!! Checked the 3 trees at the ground on Sunday morning, only had a gallon and a half total maybe after 5 days. Went up tonight and two of the three buckets were full, one was overflowed. The third tree totally shut down so i pulled the tap and tapped a different tree. With temps looking perfect for 10 straight days, highs upper 30s to mid 40s and lows from low to high 20s, my buckets are staying out. To be honest, i was expecting to pull everything tonight. Sap tasted sweet and it looked very clear to me, maybe just the tiniest tint of off color but not cloudy. Rejuvinated!!!!

[Plutoman15]

Yup, things ran well the last couple days. One line of 2 trees gave me 3 gallons in 24 hours. Should keep running too. Some of my woods trees are even lower sugar than before (.25%) but I tapped some more open trees which are still averaging 1.5-2%. I might quit collecting the woods sap.

Unless things get buddy seems we will get another week of sap. My sap is very clear and tastes good still though some buds have softened.

[Dennis H.]

Sticknstring, way to hang in there. Sounds like you may have some longer boils waiting for you.

It is odd how it was an up and down season when it came to temps then, bang, right at the end when we were going to end we get some of the best sugar'in weather for the longest spell forecasted.

[Sugarmaker]

Folks ,
Looks to be a cold week ahead for trying to make syrup. Sunday will get above freezing but not much. Hoping for some sunshine to get another run then. Have some sap to boil this afternoon. Some trees have started to shut down, other running better than before? Have been visiting others making syrup or getting started.
Regards,
Chris

[TPosey]

I just put 400 taps in on 3/16 natural vacuum Saturday and as of last night had 1500 gallon of sap collected so far. All clear and @ 3%. Will start to boil tomorrow . I have all sugar maple tapped. Was worried that I was going to miss it this year tapping later but I think we might have another good week coming up. Its funny how the sap flow occurs with sugar makers that are not to far from you. This is the first year with 3/16 and so far I am amazed how good it is going and we did not even have really good weather to see it at its best.

[HowardR]

My maple season is divided into three parts, with approximately the same amount of syrup for each:

1. February 9-18 -- Normal run to start the season but raining almost constantly and sugar content is just 1%, much lower than usual beginning-of-season run.

2. February 19-26 -- Huge but short run. Highs up into the 60s and 70s with no frosts at night. I wake up every hour and a half at night to keep my RO and evaporator running 24 hours a day, because, otherwise, the warm weather would ruin the collected sap before I could process it. Sap soon slows to a trickle and silver maples just 60 miles south of me are reportedly budding.

3. February 27 - March 7 -- Perfect maple weather. Highs around 40, lows around 20. My challenge is to run the RO every second that it is possible (as I must wheel it into the house whenever there is a frost). Some days I can only run it for six frost-free hours. But I'm not complaining. This late season run has saved my maple season. I'm so glad I retapped some of my sugar maples. I already have bottled a normal amount of syrup -- enough to satisfy my customers, friends and family. And last week's excellent weather is forecast to continue for another week.

[Dennis H.]

HowardR, I could cut and paste that for my season also.

This Sunday will be the end of week 7 and it looks like I may even get an 8th!

[sticknstring]

Got about a gallon each from 2 of the trees and a half gallon from the newly tapped tree this morning. Was hoping for a little more, but was only about 36 hours since last collection. Will probably wait until tuesday or so to run back up.

[Paddymountain]

Yeah, about the same here in Union county. Sap didn't run too good yesterday.
I don't think it got much above 35 and cloudy in the afternoon. Today looks better, and hoping
to get a little more sap. I have some people from down state that come every year for syrup ,and want to see us boil.
Whatever I gather tonight I'll boil tomorrow so they can come and watch. Strange season isn't it,
who would of thought at the end you could hold off boiling a day or too!
Wood pile is looking good, a little less than half with almost 3000 gallons boiled so far.
Weather still looks promising for the next two weeks!
Have fun everyone!

[Dennis H.]

Hey I am not the only one who did not get much sap from yesterday.
The tank only had about 60 gals in this morning! I am thinking that I will not get much more than that today.

Prefiltering syrup that I made last week and I am glad emptied the drawoff tank before the clearer sap started flowing again. The syrup from last week that was very cloudy and had an off smell while boiling still has an off smell when I reheated it for filtering. I tasted it and there is smoothing going on there that I just can't put my finger on. I am going to wait and sample the filtered syrup to decide if I want to keep it for myself of donate it to the sap gods.

But now that we have these cold temps the sap has cleared up and while boiling I get no hint of any off smell.

[Paddymountain]

We pulled in the mother lode today! I'm sitting on about 325 gallons of sap to boil tomorrow, looks clearer than some we were getting earlier in the year.
110 gallons at 1.6 the rest at 2 and over, should end up with 7 gallons anyway. The last syrup I pulled off on Wednesday night was lighter than anything
we made so far this year. I might be able to fill a 5 gallon jug with some lighter syrup to rebottle later.

[Plutoman15]

I almost didn’t collect because it did not get above 35 thinking it wouldn’t flow. I got twice as much as normal and it was 2.5% sugar. I give up predicting flow.

[Sugarmaker]

In the great white north we are currently shut down with freezing temps and about 12 inches of new snow. Just past the mark of 80 gallons of syrup for the season. Last 4-5 boils have been very dark. Our taps will be 6 weeks old next weekend March 17-18) Not expecting much flow but will keep the taps in place just in case. Would like to be boiling sap for the visitors. Getting ready for the Taste and Tour that weekend and lots of guests.
So we go to plan B today and make maple peanut butter.

https://i.imgur.com/XSBGvGO.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/O8AXahy.jpg

Also a shot plowing the drive at my daughters.

https://i.imgur.com/0R7Iosl.jpg

Regards,
Chris

[sbedilion]

Maple Peanut Butter!!!!!!! That sounds amazing. Do you mix it w already made peanut butter?

[Sugarmaker]

Yes, but I am sure the options are endless.
Regards,
Chris

[Dennis H.]

Maple Peanut Butter! I'm going to have to give that a try.
Do you boil the syrup to a certain temp before mixing it in to the peanut butter?
I like the idea of using the sausage stuffer to fill the jars.

Paddymountain, now you got me worried. I was not planning on running up to collect sap as this morning load was only 60 gals. Seeing that the weather was almost a repeat of yesterdays I was going to hold off till Sunday morning to make the run.
Dang it, what am I going to do??

[sbedilion]

must have recipe!

[Sugarmaker]

The maple industry has a lot of sharing, and not a lot of secrets. I think thats a good thing. We were given this MPB idea by a friend (another sugarmaker). His grandson was having pancakes with both on top.
Our product:
large jar of JIF creamy PB
equal ammout of good flavored, room temp syrup, any grade.

Mix well with electric mixer
fill 1/2 pint glass jars

makes 8 -9 jars per batch.

Note the shelf life is not great, syrup and peanut butter really don't like each other. I tell folks to try to eat it with in a month.

The sausage stuffer with modified turn down spout is the key to fill small batches. Thanks to Gary R on the trader for the suggestion!

"If they try it, they will buy it!"
Regards,
Chris

[weaver]

Doing our last boil of the year here, we have 33 taps on buckets and got a season total of about 130 gallons, boiled to about 2.25 gallons of dark syrup. Bigs plans for next year in the making.

[Dennis H.]

Thanks Sugarmaker, I would have figured that the syrup would have to be boiled a little.
You can not get any simpler than that.

Gary R, I have not heard from him in awhile. Hope he is doing fine.

[Paddymountain]

Spent all day in the sugar shack, boiling and filtering/bottling. Should really be caught up, but didn't boil todays run.
I have 130 gallons, plus whatever is in my cage tank that 112 taps run into . Ill pick that up tomorrow and boil all afternoon.
Not quite where I thought I would be with syrup, but still plugging along! Weather looks like it will hold for this week yet, hopefully
we can scratch up another 20 gallons of syrup.

[Plutoman15]

Made almost half a gallon. It is a lighter grade than what I made a few weeks ago. Though the first batch had some walnut in it plus I didn’t filter it quite as good. Going to collect another 5 days then I think my season is over. Been a good first year of learning. I have better plans for next year.
1808518085

[Dennis H.]

Plutoman15, that is some fine looking syrup. I always love seeing syrup in glass.

After hearing about Paddymountains run yesterday I ran up this morning to check on my tank, only 60 gals! what a let down.
I run back up in the morning to see again, todays temps were higher by 10 degrees and lots of sun, wind also was not as strong.
Hoping to have more than 60 gals!

[Gary R]

Dennis, I'm alive and kicking myself in the ***! I quit too early. My father came up and almost cleaned me out of syrup I have for family and friends. Everything's cleaned up for the season. I do have seven buckets on some sugars for a neighbor. We've been so cold nothings running.

I've made some other nut butters from scratch. Put a pound of your favorite nuts in a food processor with a chopping blade. Start it up and add a little olive oil to make it more fluid. It won't be totally smooth, then add a cup of syrup. It gets real stiff so watch your processor doesn't over heat. I like cashew:)

[HowardR]

Plutoman15, that is some fine looking syrup. I always love seeing syrup in glass.

The problem with glass is that new jars can be expensive. The price from an online maple supplies dealer sounds reasonable until you add in the shipping. But I think I've found a source for inexpensive jars right here in Pennsylvania. (I travel east in my pick-up truck every spring and could stop by to pick up an order at their location in Lancaster County.) They've got 2 cup sauce jars for just 50¢ each with another 13¢ for the lids. Here's the link:

https://www.fillmorecontainer.com/a16-10c-case12ct-12-oz.html

The also have 1 quart sauce bottles (https://www.fillmorecontainer.com/a32-d-case12ct-12-oz.html) for $1.02 plus 13¢ per lid, 1.5 cup maple syrup bottles (https://www.fillmorecontainer.com/g08-06c-case12ct-1-12oz.html) for 80¢ plus 10¢ per lid and 1 cup maple syrup bottles (https://www.fillmorecontainer.com/g12-06c-case12ct-1-12oz.html) for 71¢ plus 10¢ per lid.

Has anybody here bought jars from them?

[Dennis H.]

Gary, good to hear from you. If it still cold for you it sounds like you still may have time to get a little more made up.

HowardR, I have gotten stuff from Fillmore, they have good prices. I get 8oz jars and lids from them for maple mustard. I find that I like the lug style lids. seal up nice. They make the same style in a mason style thread also.

[Dennis H.]

So here is how my season is progressing, well that is the thing, it isn't. I believe I am looking at the season being over with.
Yesterday I only collected 60 gals and today I got just 75. Not any where I wish I would have gotten considered the great temps we have right now.
I know I have said this before, when I run to collect tomorrow and it is about he same as the past 2 days I may turn off the pump. I'm getting tired.

[sbedilion]

Im right there with ya. Last collection was 50 gallons...i expected 100+. Today I expected 120+...I collected 25gal.

[helptheold]

I've gotten next to nothing. Then again, most of my taps are still dripping so I'm not sure what to think. Pulled a few taps that didn't have anything in them.

[sbedilion]

I tapped 2 lines early...those have slowed alot. Probably drying up. My most recent line should still have life in it but its barely moving. O well..its all bonus for me at this point. Boiling now. Will kill the fire soon.

[Paddymountain]

HowardR:: I have bought from Fillmore for about 5 or 6 years. They are the best deal on glass in Pa.
of course you need to pick them up in Lancaster, but if you are going that way it's great. and the are really good people to deal with.

Boiled and bottled everything I had today, the run wasn't great, I think being so cold this morning and then
clouding over til almost dinnertime was the reason why. Temps look to remain fairly cold all week.
Down to the last row of wood, could easily boil another 1000 gallons of sap with it.
I'm right around 3400 gallons so far.

[Plutoman15]

Given what you all are saying I almost feel bad saying this...wow what a day! I was hoping for enough from yesterday until Thursday when the weather turns for another half gallon of syrup. My 2% trees (5 Norways)gave me 13 gallons just today and some from yesterday. Weather looks good right until Saturday when it stops freezing over night. I should easily make half a gallon and maybe more. I had trees dripping today that haven’t dripped much in a month. Most of those trees I am not collectling anymore because the sugar is less than 1% but the stars aligned today in my area. I had one old Open Norway give me 6 gallons in about 30 hours at 2%. Didn’t know that was possible. It has 3 older taps (5-6 weeks old) and 1 newer tap (1 week old). It has a big trunk 30” or more. I know your not suppose to put more than 3 taps in but I risked it.

Hope your trees start running for you. Forecast looks good this week then I think it is over in south central PA.

Joe

[Evets]

Just an FYI if you buy from Fillmore. They stated adding a $5 charge for same day pickup orders. So just call ahead a day before and they should have your order ready and minus the extra charge.
I've been buying their 12oz syrup bottles and also the plastic heat shrink sleeve for over the cap. Last time there I bought 2 cases of 12 and 48 caps. I think I paid $23.

[sbedilion]

Nice Joe! Keep plugging along! I tapped early (which im happy for...i have other dpring hobbies)...i think my holes are drying up.

Good luck...looks like this could be the final wk for most of us.

[HowardR]

Just an FYI if you buy from Fillmore. They stated adding a $5 charge for same day pickup orders. So just call ahead a day before and they should have your order ready and minus the extra charge.
I've been buying their 12oz syrup bottles and also the plastic heat shrink sleeve for over the cap. Last time there I bought 2 cases of 12 and 48 caps. I think I paid $23.

Thank you for the tip on how to buy from them. I'll give them a call the day before I go east.

By the way, I'll be buying some cases of lids from them also. I currently buy twist lug metal caps over the Internet from Nakpunar (https://www.nakpunar.com/twist-lug-metal-caps-lids/) to go with the jars that friends and family save for us, but shipping on the lids can be almost as expensive as the lids themselves.

[HowardR]

Nice Joe! Keep plugging along! I tapped early (which im happy for...i have other dpring hobbies)...i think my holes are drying up.

I'm going to retap some more of my trees this morning. I'm hoping for a huge run this weekend when the temperatures warm a bit.

[helptheold]

Given what you all are saying I almost feel bad saying this...wow what a day! I was hoping for enough from yesterday until Thursday when the weather turns for another half gallon of syrup. My 2% trees (5 Norways)gave me 13 gallons just today and some from yesterday. Weather looks good right until Saturday when it stops freezing over night. I should easily make half a gallon and maybe more. I had trees dripping today that haven’t dripped much in a month. Most of those trees I am not collectling anymore because the sugar is less than 1% but the stars aligned today in my area. I had one old Open Norway give me 6 gallons in about 30 hours at 2%. Didn’t know that was possible. It has 3 older taps (5-6 weeks old) and 1 newer tap (1 week old). It has a big trunk 30” or more. I know your not suppose to put more than 3 taps in but I risked it.

Hope your trees start running for you. Forecast looks good this week then I think it is over in south central PA.

Joe

Awesome! I think part of the problem in our area is that we've had temps in the 20's at night but it just hasn't been getting warm during the day until mid-afternoon and then only for a few hours. My good producers usually have something in the bucket so I think they are just not getting unfrozen enough.

I'm going to leave up the buckets that have had sap in them but if I don't see any sap then I'll pull those taps and wash. That will help spread out the cleaning which is always the annoying part :)

[HowardR]

I'm always going to remember this as the long season. I've already been making maple syrup for 36 days, and the forecast for the next 10 days predicts perfect maple syrup weather. The sap was simply pouring out this afternoon, not just sugar maples but red maples too! Wow! That's all I can say. Wow!

[Dennis H.]

I called it a season this morning. There was only 55 gals in the tank from yesterday. The temps were in the high 40's and sunny but hardly any sap to show.

Turned off the vacuum and emptied the tank and headed for home. Boiled up what sap I had in the evening.

Now it is the hard work of cleaning. Tomorrow I will rinse and wash the RO and wile that is doing it's thing I will push water thru the evap to get out as much sweet as I can.
Aiming for the coming weekend to flush out the tubing and bring back the releaser, vac and sap tank.

[Plutoman15]

So most in PA have been reporting very low sugar sap this year. This is my first year and I have been us seeing 1% that has dropped to .5% for my woods Norways, and have seen a consistent 2% or a little better for the open Norways.

If this year is unusually low, how much higher would a more normal sugar amount be? So if you are seeing 1% this year is your normal 1.5%, 2%, 2.5%? Looking for what I might expect in a normal year for my trees. If my open trees are 2% this year, will they be 2.5% in a normal year? Guesstimates are appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe

[helptheold]

I called it a season this morning. There was only 55 gals in the tank from yesterday. The temps were in the high 40's and sunny but hardly any sap to show.

For me that would be a great haul with my measly 25 taps :) I'm looking out the window right now at a mini snowstorm. This is so weird.

[Dennis H.]

So most in PA have been reporting very low sugar sap this year. This is my first year and I have been us seeing 1% that has dropped to .5% for my woods Norways, and have seen a consistent 2% or a little better for the open Norways.

If this year is unusually low, how much higher would a more normal sugar amount be? So if you are seeing 1% this year is your normal 1.5%, 2%, 2.5%? Looking for what I might expect in a normal year for my trees. If my open trees are 2% this year, will they be 2.5% in a normal year? Guesstimates are appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe

With what I call yard trees, the canopies will be larger and in return the sap volume and sugar content tend to be higher. Now there are always exceptions to the rule.

I have mostly sugar's with a few red's mixed in and they are all woods trees. A good year for my trees will be right at 1.5%, it all goes down from there. This season the 1st 2 or 3 runs I had sap above 1%, just barely. Then they settled in to 1% and stayed there.

[Plutoman15]

Thanks Dennis.

So good year versus bad year of sugar is .5%. I thought maybe there would be more swing than that.

Joe

[Dennis H.]

Thanks Dennis.

So good year versus bad year of sugar is .5%. I thought maybe there would be more swing than that.

Joe

Gentics of the tree has a lot to do also, there are so many factors that go into play on how much and how sweet the sap will flow.
One thing that fascinated me when I was doing buckets was seeing how different the sap flowed from the trees. 2 trees that we next to each other and one bucket would be overflowing and the other would be maybe 1/4 full.
Now that I am on tubing I can not do that.

[sticknstring]

Cooked tonight, got about 20 gallons of sap down to around 3 gallons and next thing i know, im in the middle of a mini blizzard and had to shut it down. Grrrrrrrrr......

[Dennis H.]

Cooked tonight, got about 20 gallons of sap down to around 3 gallons and next thing i know, im in the middle of a mini blizzard and had to shut it down. Grrrrrrrrr......

Sounds like you are getting a good amount of sap. Aren't you glad you put those buckets back out?
This weekend is looking good for you.

[sticknstring]

Yeah, Dennis, doing ok with sap i guess on only 3 taps right now. One tree is pumping it out, the other two are slower going. But for the time and podunk operation i have, 20-30 gallons is a good number to light a fire for. Will definitely be making some changes for next year to be able to boil more sap quicker. Then we can tap more trees and up the haul. Have greatly appreciated the help from you all this year.

[Sugarmaker]

So most in PA have been reporting very low sugar sap this year. This is my first year and I have been us seeing 1% that has dropped to .5% for my woods Norways, and have seen a consistent 2% or a little better for the open Norways.

If this year is unusually low, how much higher would a more normal sugar amount be? So if you are seeing 1% this year is your normal 1.5%, 2%, 2.5%? Looking for what I might expect in a normal year for my trees. If my open trees are 2% this year, will they be 2.5% in a normal year? Guesstimates are appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe

Joe,
Most of the time the sugar maples we tap at at or slightly above 2%.
Dipped to 1.8% twice this year.
Regards,
Chris

[Plutoman15]

I am thinking I will have 30 gallons or so this week as well. No sap running today though, too cold.

Forecast just keeps going on forever for perfect temps.

[JesterV]

Boiled last night. Our tiny little sugar bush produced 130oz. We have 18 taps so I'm disappointed. Been waiting for days for the temps to climb. Everything has been frozen up since Friday. Expected 3 gallons this year. Forecast had me hopeful. But it just hasn't been warming up enough during the days. Leaving the bags hanging until Saturday. Still hope for another run. This has been a very odd year.

[HowardR]

I just got an indication that this long maple season, already 5 weeks old, still has a way to go. I just pressed 5½ gallons of syrup through my filter press and had no problem. At the end of the season, it's a struggle to press through even 4½ gallons, and examination of the filter aid afterwards shows it to be almost uniformly dark with nitre. But the filter aid in today's press was a mixture of tan and dark. I could have pressed 1 or 2 gallons more. This is not end-of-season sap!

[sbedilion]

I hear ya. Not the same scale as you but Im seeing the same. My 3 lines are about done. I tapped early. Yesterday...not wanting to miss this great weather, I tapped a few hard to get to sugars and they are pouring. Clear 20 gallons of sap at slightly more than 2%. Ive been barely 1% all season. I wish these trees were easily accessible. Ive been boiling 120 gallons of 1% all season. Ill settle for some higher % but lower sap totals for this last wk or 2.

[Paddymountain]

Still plugging along here in central Pa. It finally thawed out enough today to gather, first time since Monday.
Boiled about 225 gallons to night ,and looks like we made a little over 5 gallons. the amazing thing is it was only
3 draws! Oh Well we'll take it however it comes. Sap seemed to be running steady this afternoon, although it was very windy
and snow showers. We are getting close to having a pretty good season. Something I would not have said 3 weeks ago.

[HowardR]

I tapped a few hard to get to sugars and they are pouring. Clear 20 gallons of sap at slightly more than 2%. Ive been barely 1% all season. I wish these trees were easily accessible. Ive been boiling 120 gallons of 1% all season. Ill settle for some higher % but lower sap totals for this last wk or 2.

I've also been doing some new tapping during this season. I'm taking advantage of the cold day today (no sap running because below freezing all day) to do some last tapping in a section of mainline that is pretty far from the garage where I boil. Here's a photo which includes some of the new laterals that I put in this month. Also in the photo is my tapping companion:

18149

[helptheold]

I hear ya. Not the same scale as you but Im seeing the same. My 3 lines are about done. I tapped early. Yesterday...not wanting to miss this great weather, I tapped a few hard to get to sugars and they are pouring. Clear 20 gallons of sap at slightly more than 2%. Ive been barely 1% all season. I wish these trees were easily accessible. Ive been boiling 120 gallons of 1% all season. Ill settle for some higher % but lower sap totals for this last wk or 2.

Haden't checked my buckets since last Thursday but to my surprise a few buckets had some sap but I think my current taps are done. Managed to pick up a bad head cold this week and while I'd like to tap some of the trees I didn't get to, it'll all depend on how my head feels this weekend.

I hear you on not accessible trees, I've got a group of trees that I haven't looked through yet but it's down a steep hill. Will have to see how many maples are down there to determine if the exercise of hauling the buckets up the hill is worth it :)

[sbedilion]

Haden't checked my buckets since last Thursday but to my surprise a few buckets had some sap but I think my current taps are done. Managed to pick up a bad head cold this week and while I'd like to tap some of the trees I didn't get to, it'll all depend on how my head feels this weekend.

I hear you on not accessible trees, I've got a group of trees that I haven't looked through yet but it's down a steep hill. Will have to see how many maples are down there to determine if the exercise of hauling the buckets up the hill is worth it :)


Let me know if you need a hand. :)

I tapped a few trees at the old golf course like I did last year. Huge sugars. Once they convert it to a park I need to get permission to tap that place. Massive sugars bordering the fairways. :)

Broke out the old sap collection vehicle :)
18152

Here is my current bounty (excluding what i ser aside for my family and what i’ve given away/sold)
18153

Have a gallon that needs bottled that i finished last night and maybe 2-3 gallons left in the season.

[helptheold]

I've also been doing some new tapping during this season. I'm taking advantage of the cold day today (no sap running because below freezing all day) to do some last tapping in a section of mainline that is pretty far from the garage where I boil. Here's a photo which includes some of the new laterals that I put in this month. Also in the photo is my tapping companion:

18149

He's adorable :) My neighbor's dog sometimes follows me into the woods, loves to see what I'm doing.

[helptheold]

Let me know if you need a hand. :)

I tapped a few trees at the old golf course like I did last year. Huge sugars. Once they convert it to a park I need to get permission to tap that place. Massive sugars bordering the fairways. :)

Broke out the old sap collection vehicle :)
18152

Here is my current bounty (excluding what i ser aside for my family and what i’ve given away/sold)
18153

Have a gallon that needs bottled that i finished last night and maybe 2-3 gallons left in the season.

I think I'd need a vacuum for some of these trees! But with my hip feeling better I think I might be able to manage it, we'll see. I don't foresee you needing to get permission for a while, it'll be a few years until they completely transform it and then I would think having someone tap the trees would be an interesting addition to the park in the winter!

Haven't actually finished any of my syrup yet but I'll be doing that this week, realized I need to defrost the freezer so that's something I can get out of it. Plus as long as I have my camp stove set up, I can make and can some chicken broth that I've been meaning to get to :)

[Dennis H.]

Let me know if you need a hand. :)

I tapped a few trees at the old golf course like I did last year. Huge sugars. Once they convert it to a park I need to get permission to tap that place. Massive sugars bordering the fairways. :)

Broke out the old sap collection vehicle :)
18152

Here is my current bounty (excluding what i ser aside for my family and what i’ve given away/sold)
18153

Have a gallon that needs bottled that i finished last night and maybe 2-3 gallons left in the season.

You need to get one of those e-bikes.
It looks like you got a good amount made this year.

[sbedilion]

ebike is cheating. :)

Im probably done after this wkend. Just wanted one more run :).

[sticknstring]

I think I read somewhere that if your bucket of sap has ice in it, you can pull the ice out and just pitch it because it will either be just pure water or there won't be much sugar at all in the ice. Did I read right, is this correct, what are your thoughts? With the temperatures overnight when I get to my buckets there's a layer of ice on the top and around the outside edge of the bucket that can be pulled out pretty easy. Could I save some boiling time by pulling that out or should I boil all of it?

[Dennis H.]

I think I read somewhere that if your bucket of sap has ice in it, you can pull the ice out and just pitch it because it will either be just pure water or there won't be much sugar at all in the ice. Did I read right, is this correct, what are your thoughts? With the temperatures overnight when I get to my buckets there's a layer of ice on the top and around the outside edge of the bucket that can be pulled out pretty easy. Could I save some boiling time by pulling that out or should I boil all of it?

You are correct, as long as the entire bucket is not frozen! When I did buckets I would pull the ice out and hold it over the bucket and let it drip few a few moments. Then pitch the ice off to the side.

[sticknstring]

Awesome. Thanks Dennis

[Paddymountain]

It's been 55 days since I tapped my tubing on January 22. Wow! still making syrup. If it wasn't for the cold weather
we would be done. I have to save two days of sap to get enough to boil.
3/16 tubing is running fairly good, 5 /16 so so. Bucket are on their way out. We are going to hang in to next weekend for sure.
Have some wood left and a little ambition, don't know how far it will take us.
Syrup is flying off the shelf, have sold almost 20 gallons already!

[HowardR]

I'm expecting a nice run today and tomorrow. It's sunny and going up to 51 after a cold night below 20, and it looks like more of the same the rest of the week.

Judging from the other threads on this website, we're just about the only ones who've been getting this excellent March run. Northeast of us, they've been snowed in and their maple seasons are just now beginning.

[HowardR]

3/16 tubing is running fairly good, 5 /16 so so. Bucket are on their way out.

Paddymountain,

Why do you think the 3/16 are outlasting the 5/16 and the buckets?

[sbedilion]

I'm expecting a nice run today and tomorrow. It's sunny and going up to 51 after a cold night below 20, and it looks like more of the same the rest of the week.

Judging from the other threads on this website, we're just about the only ones who've been getting this excellent March run. Northeast of us, they've been snowed in and their maple seasons are just now beginning.

Its been a good end of season! I yanked my taps this morning. I have just enough wood for 1 more batch. Im sitting on about 80 gallons of 2% sap.

This colder than normal March has killed my wood stash w heating the house...plus I boiled a ton more than last year.

Keep it up Hower!

[helptheold]

Same story with my current buckets, dripping a little but not much. So I drilled in a few trees that I marked but didn't tap yet and it was like a faucet turned on!

[Dennis H.]

Removed the few buckets that the daughter put up and here is what we found.

18187

It was really hard dumping this to the ground.
Went up to the sugarbush this afternoon to do some brush trimming and turned on the vac to see how the trees were doing on this day with the temps right at 50 degrees and can say that they were just not running at all. Glad I turned things off last weekend.

[HowardR]

The sap is 1% today, and it's been pouring out since about 4pm this afternoon.

[HowardR]

I'm not getting any sap out of this tree that I tapped last week:

18188

When I looked at the trunk of this tree and decided to tap it I thought, "What a magnificent tree and right on the main line! How did I miss tapping it before?" Only problem was that I forgot to look upwards!

[Paddymountain]

HowardR:: Basically, I think the vacuum on the 3/16 is ,making the difference. My buckets have been out about 4 weeks, but the
heat wave here put the fix to them. I looked at them around 2:30 this afternoon, out of 45 maybe a half a dozen are running good.
My 5/16 is on the north side of a mountain although not tight up against it. I got 75 gallon from them on Saturday, 150 taps.
If it was warmer I would be done, not being able to collect enough in a day to make a reasonable boil. With my 2.5x8 I almost need 150
gallons, or I'm out of sap before I get a draw. With the colder temps, I'm able to hold for two days before boiling, usually unheard of at the end of the season.
That being said, we'll gather Monday night and boil, then see what happens until Wed or Thur. It's not supposed to get out
of the mid forties all week, so I might pull it off. I think it will be a struggle getting past the weekend, it is what it is.
If I can eek out another 10 gallons or so I'll have a normal season.

[Sugarmaker]

Finished the Taste and Tour this afternoon. Awesome crowd that came through our little sugarhouse maybe 400 folks over the weekend! Met some new sugarmakers too.
We actually made some syrup from miss used sap that was in the rig.
It had been in there frozen since March 8.
We slowly simmered it with water pushing all day Satuurday.
Accidentally flooded the pans with water, so it diluted again,
Boiled it to syrup today with water pushing it and made 3.5 gallons of VERY VERY dark Strong flavor syrup. Folks Loved it!

Regards,
Chris

[HowardR]

That being said, we'll gather Monday night and boil, then see what happens until Wed or Thur. It's not supposed to get out
of the mid forties all week, so I might pull it off. I think it will be a struggle getting past the weekend, it is what it is.
If I can eek out another 10 gallons or so I'll have a normal season.

I'm still going strong. I passed "normal season" last week. Now I'm shooting for "record season" and hoping to keep going until the end of the month.

[Dennis H.]

I'm not getting any sap out of this tree that I tapped last week:

18188

When I looked at the trunk of this tree and decided to tap it I thought, "What a magnificent tree and right on the main line! How did I miss tapping it before?" Only problem was that I forgot to look upwards!

Yup, I can say I have done that also. Funny at some point you put a drop at the tree!
Glad to hear that you are having a great year. We only made 3 more gallons compared to last year and this year we went like 2 weeks longer. The sugar content just sucked and the runs were smaller.

[meadster02]

Congratulations on the great year. We have been froze solid for almost two weeks now and I'm only 2.5 hours north of you guys. currently we are sitting at about half a normal year hoping the weather changes soon and we get back to making some syrup.

[HowardR]

Today's run is huge! I'm glad that it will be cold tomorrow so that I can catch up!

[Paddymountain]

We ended up getting about 150 gallons today. Got it boiled and made 3 gallons of syrup.
We won't gather now until Thursday, high of 37 tomorrow, and only 40's Wednesday and Thursday.
Then one last collection on Sunday. We have boiled 4000 gallons as of Saturday. Still a little wood left.

[sticknstring]

One of my 3 trees, the one i tapped first about 5 weeks ago shut down. Hole healed up, no doubt. Only have two other trees tapped, one was tapped two weeks ago and is filling/overflowing a 5 gallon bucket twice a week, and the other is only giving about 4 gallons or so in a week and was just tapped about 10 days ago. Hindsight being 20/20, i wish i would have tapped a couple more trees up there. I just only have about 6 or so good maple trees there to tap and i didnt think the weather would be perfect for this long since the warm spell 2 weeks ago. Just didnt want to burn a few of my trees up for a week of good run and then have less to tap next year or two. A couple of my trees have big scars at the base on one side where trees rubbed against them when the ground was logged. So im assuming i cant tap above those scars? Reduces my future tapping abilities losing a side. All in all tho, was a good rookie season i think, we've boiled around 45-50 gallons into around 130 oz of syrup. The girls had fun, i had fun and we learned just enough about the process to be dangerous next year!! We still will give the two trees we have tapped until the weather turns and we have about 14 gallons of sap in the fridge now, so will still have another boil down before its over. Appreciate all the help and info from you all this year, its been super fun to ride along with yas. Here are a couple pics of my sappin' crew! Good luck the rest of the season



18213

18214 a full bucket results in some celebration dancing...

18215 my oldest like to taste the sap

18216

[Dennis H.]

One of my 3 trees, the one i tapped first about 5 weeks ago shut down. Hole healed up, no doubt. Only have two other trees tapped, one was tapped two weeks ago and is filling/overflowing a 5 gallon bucket twice a week, and the other is only giving about 4 gallons or so in a week and was just tapped about 10 days ago. Hindsight being 20/20, i wish i would have tapped a couple more trees up there. I just only have about 6 or so good maple trees there to tap and i didnt think the weather would be perfect for this long since the warm spell 2 weeks ago. Just didnt want to burn a few of my trees up for a week of good run and then have less to tap next year or two. A couple of my trees have big scars at the base on one side where trees rubbed against them when the ground was logged. So im assuming i cant tap above those scars? Reduces my future tapping abilities losing a side. All in all tho, was a good rookie season i think, we've boiled around 45-50 gallons into around 130 oz of syrup. The girls had fun, i had fun and we learned just enough about the process to be dangerous next year!! We still will give the two trees we have tapped until the weather turns and we have about 14 gallons of sap in the fridge now, so will still have another boil down before its over. Appreciate all the help and info from you all this year, its been super fun to ride along with yas. Here are a couple pics of my sappin' crew! Good luck the rest of the season



18213

18214 a full bucket results in some celebration dancing...

18215 my oldest like to taste the sap

18216

Looks like you did alright for being your first year, that syrup looks mighty good in the glass bottles.
I always like seeing when kids get involved, makes for a stronger family.

As for the scars on the trees, yeah they could be a problem eventually. I have found that around here loggers treat maples as weeds/trash. I have seen some just cut them down and leave lay on the ground because "maples are good for nothing" and they want to make room for "better" hardwoods like oak's.

[helptheold]

One of my 3 trees, the one i tapped first about 5 weeks ago shut down. Hole healed up, no doubt. Only have two other trees tapped, one was tapped two weeks ago and is filling/overflowing a 5 gallon bucket twice a week, and the other is only giving about 4 gallons or so in a week and was just tapped about 10 days ago. Hindsight being 20/20, i wish i would have tapped a couple more trees up there. I just only have about 6 or so good maple trees there to tap and i didnt think the weather would be perfect for this long since the warm spell 2 weeks ago. Just didnt want to burn a few of my trees up for a week of good run and then have less to tap next year or two. A couple of my trees have big scars at the base on one side where trees rubbed against them when the ground was logged. So im assuming i cant tap above those scars? Reduces my future tapping abilities losing a side. All in all tho, was a good rookie season i think, we've boiled around 45-50 gallons into around 130 oz of syrup. The girls had fun, i had fun and we learned just enough about the process to be dangerous next year!! We still will give the two trees we have tapped until the weather turns and we have about 14 gallons of sap in the fridge now, so will still have another boil down before its over. Appreciate all the help and info from you all this year, its been super fun to ride along with yas. Here are a couple pics of my sappin' crew! Good luck the rest of the season



18213

18214 a full bucket results in some celebration dancing...

18215 my oldest like to taste the sap

18216

Your girls are adorable!

[sticknstring]

Ha, thanks. I tried to replace the picture that ended up as a thumbnail? My oldest fell asleep as my youngest and I finished the syrup and was half sleeping when we took that picture. I wanted to put in the next picture that we took where she looks awake with her beautiful smile, but instead it just moved the original to the thumbnail thing. I can't take any credit for their good looks though, that's all from there beautiful momma.....

[Gary R]

Well you better call me crazy! I decided to boil again. Been getting yelled at for not making enough syrup! The neighbors are done so I'm putting more buckets up tomorrow. I'll only have 20 on sugars that I haven't tapped before. Tonight I cut a stainless plate to replace my flue pan. I also blocked off the ramp in the arch so that the fire will only be under my front pan. I'll use my syrup canning pot to send a steady stream (or drip) into the pan. Hope to boil about 5 gallons per hour and make 1-2 gallons of syrup. If I only would have stayed at it when the vacuum was on:rolleyes:

[helptheold]

Well you better call me crazy! I decided to boil again. Been getting yelled at for not making enough syrup! The neighbors are done so I'm putting more buckets up tomorrow. I'll only have 20 on sugars that I haven't tapped before. Tonight I cut a stainless plate to replace my flue pan. I also blocked off the ramp in the arch so that the fire will only be under my front pan. I'll use my syrup canning pot to send a steady stream (or drip) into the pan. Hope to boil about 5 gallons per hour and make 1-2 gallons of syrup. If I only would have stayed at it when the vacuum was on:rolleyes:

You're not crazy :) I've decided to stick it out through at least the weekend, we're headed out of town for Easter so as long as I have everything I collect boiled before then I'll be good. Only gotten about 12 gallons but I think it's high sugar (no way to test it) so I'm going to keep this bunch separate from the earlier batches to see if my theory is correct.

[HowardR]

Well you better call me crazy! I decided to boil again. Been getting yelled at for not making enough syrup! The neighbors are done so I'm putting more buckets up tomorrow. I'll only have 20 on sugars that I haven't tapped before.

You're not crazy. Monday's run was the biggest one day run of the year so far. I ended up waking up every 90 minutes or so all night last night just to keep my RO and evaporator running constantly. Any newish taps are simply pouring out sap. And the syrup is perfect and not as dark as end-of-season syrup.

Looking ahead, that run may be small compared to what is forecast for next week starting on Monday.

[sbedilion]

I wish I had more firewood/motivation. Looks like the season could drag on for another 2 wks. Crazy. I did my last boil last night....it was by far my fastest boil. I ran out of firewood so I was using heat treated (not chemical) pallet boards from work. It was nuts...my pan looked like a pan that had drop flues would have looked. Concentrated it down to about 8 gallons. Next year Im fab’ing up a 1x3 syrup pan so I can finish on the fire or get it close....limiting the longer stove top finishing time.

Should finish the season w a total around 13-14 gallons. Im pretty happy with that for being a driveway hobbiest! I have sold 1/3 of my stash to friends...covering all expense for the season :). Not sure if i’ll shoot for more next yr or if ill just try and be more efficent (R.O.).

Good luck to everyone still plugging away!

[Sugarmaker]

Well you better call me crazy! I decided to boil again. Been getting yelled at for not making enough syrup! The neighbors are done so I'm putting more buckets up tomorrow. I'll only have 20 on sugars that I haven't tapped before. Tonight I cut a stainless plate to replace my flue pan. I also blocked off the ramp in the arch so that the fire will only be under my front pan. I'll use my syrup canning pot to send a steady stream (or drip) into the pan. Hope to boil about 5 gallons per hour and make 1-2 gallons of syrup. If I only would have stayed at it when the vacuum was on:rolleyes:

Gary,
Yes you have gone completely bonkers. Have the wife rush you to the nut house. Helping all those other folks didn't help. Now look, you have gone back 10 years in technology! And buckets too! Wow!
Have fun! Put some pictures up!:)
Regards,
Chris

[Gary R]

Ha! Sugarmaker knows me and speaks the truth:) All you guys have been hard at it and fueled the desire for more. I've got almost 200 holes dripping on the ground for over a month. The temps have still been a little cold and not running great on the new taps. Here's a picture of what I plan to do. My only concern is the stainless warping real bad and not sealing where the flue pan would be. It's about an 1.5" X 22" area for the smoke to go to reach my stack.

It's been great to read all the small operations working hard and making great syrup!18237

[HowardR]

The 13 gallons of syrup that I made yesterday and today officially puts me into season record territory! Previously, my record season was 2015, a late but intense season that began on March 11 and ended on April 4. And this season is far from over!

[HowardR]

My wife says to me at supper, "Did you see the note from your sister that your cousin from England will be visiting in June?"

Says I, "We'll be able to show her how we make maple syrup, just because... [sung to the tune of "This is the song that never ends"]:


This is the run that never ends,
yes it goes on and on my friend.
Some people started tapping, not knowing what it was,
and they'll continue boiling it forever, just because...

This is the run that never ends,
yes it goes on and on my friend.
Some people started tapping, not knowing what it was,
and they'll continue boiling it forever, just because...

[Sugarmaker]

Had a good pancake meal at Wiggers in Clymer NY today then stopped at several local sugarhouses too!
Gathered 300 gallons of sap tonight. not sure of the sugar content but had lots of ice. Over the last 6 weeks we have been froze up for 4 of those weeks. Resting at 83.5 gallons of syrup.
Will boil in the morning!
Yes the season that doesnt want to start or end. We just keep making syrup off into the sunset!
Regards,
Chris

[Plutoman15]

Had a great 2 week run in south central Pa but froze up on Tuesday. Starting tomorrow suppose to be 40’s/20’s for the next 7-8 days. I accidentally let some boiled down sap run over some burnt sugar on the side of my pan and turned it dark. Hoping it doesn’t effect the flavor. Should start flowing tomorrow again despite the 14 inches of snow we just got.

[Sugarmaker]

Made 5 gallons of B grade syrup with good flavor today.Puts us at 90 gallons of syrup for the year. May have to cut some more flat wood If the sap runs next week. Still cold and my taps aren't preforming well.
Went to friends and almost burnt up his soldered pans. Was watching syrup come off. I wasn't watching for sap input in the float box and ran the head tank dry. Luckily we got sap in the sizzling scorched pans and it did not seem to be leaking! Wow that was close! Yikes! felt pretty foolish! When he shuts down I will help him check and scrub it up.
Moral of the story is to check for sap levels when boiling!
Regards,
Chris

[helptheold]

I wish I had more firewood/motivation. Looks like the season could drag on for another 2 wks. Crazy. I did my last boil last night....it was by far my fastest boil. I ran out of firewood so I was using heat treated (not chemical) pallet boards from work. It was nuts...my pan looked like a pan that had drop flues would have looked. Concentrated it down to about 8 gallons. Next year Im fab’ing up a 1x3 syrup pan so I can finish on the fire or get it close....limiting the longer stove top finishing time.

Should finish the season w a total around 13-14 gallons. Im pretty happy with that for being a driveway hobbiest! I have sold 1/3 of my stash to friends...covering all expense for the season :). Not sure if i’ll shoot for more next yr or if ill just try and be more efficent (R.O.).

Good luck to everyone still plugging away!

Since I plan to get an RO next year I think I might be able to expand to actually sell a little to friends, what'd you charge?

[sbedilion]

Since I plan to get an RO next year I think I might be able to expand to actually sell a little to friends, what'd you charge?


$8 for 8oz bottle. $10 for 12oz. Let me know if you need a pan or something. I work at a metal fab shop
and can hook you up for next to nothing.

I just finished my last batch. 2 gallons of really good tasting syrup. I put it in quart size jars to give to family members. Im officially overloaded :). Its a lot of work but i enjoy being able to give away syrup to close friends and people that i owe favors too...plus breaking even (i made a couple bucks actually).

Still a couple weeks left in the season but Im cleaning up...for the second time tomorrow. Boil on this wkend!!!!!

[Paddymountain]

I pulled the plug last night. Collection from Monday night to last night was only 90 gallons, we cannot
continue with only that much. Boiled it last night, but have to boil out the evaporator yet.
I tallied up the sap collected ; 4240 gallons from 445 taps since Jan 29. It's been a long season
and if we knew the future I would of tapped somewhere around the end of February, that being said
not a terrible season, not near as bad as it looked mid February!
Will post syrup total when everything is bottled.

[HowardR]

I pulled the plug last night. Collection from Monday night to last night was only 90 gallons, we cannot
continue with only that much.

Paddymountain, sorry to hear that you are packing up. I've got the opposite problem. I tapped so many trees midseason that I'm getting huge runs. In fact, I just put 14 gallons of sap into my freezer because the temperature for Wednesday is forecast to be 55 degrees and I'll probably need frozen sap cubes to keep sap cool that I can't process right away.

[helptheold]

$8 for 8oz bottle. $10 for 12oz. Let me know if you need a pan or something. I work at a metal fab shop
and can hook you up for next to nothing.

I just finished my last batch. 2 gallons of really good tasting syrup. I put it in quart size jars to give to family members. Im officially overloaded :). Its a lot of work but i enjoy being able to give away syrup to close friends and people that i owe favors too...plus breaking even (i made a couple bucks actually).

Still a couple weeks left in the season but Im cleaning up...for the second time tomorrow. Boil on this wkend!!!!!

That sounds like a fair price if anyone asks for some :)

I may have to take you up on that offer. I was thinking about getting the Seedling Urban Evaporator pan from the Vermont Evaporator Co (https://www.vtevap.com/store/p32/Seedling_Urban_Evaporator_-_IN_STOCK.html) as it would fit my camp stove but their recent newsletter said they are working on a propane powered evaporator and since we need a new grill anyway, I'm going to wait and see what they come up with. If the propane unit will be able to do that then we'll get one and get rid of of our old grill and my camp stove. But can't do anything until they release it!

[Gary R]

I better watch the friends I keep, I'd hate to burn up a pan:) Sap flow has been slow. Mornings have been in the teens and highs in the 30's. Temps look good coming up. I did my sixth boil of the season yesterday, the first since the end of January. It went better than expected. Boiled about 7 gallons per hour. Sugar content has been around 2%. The stainless over the flue area gets very hot and looks scary. I had to add more cement blocks to keep it from warping too much. The season has been fairly long but back in 2013 my first boil was January 10th with 33 boils all the way to April 7th. I only quit because the last boil was "C" syrup.

Helptheold, I have a coworker that boils on propane. He started with a Camp Chef stove but the 60K Btu burners don't boil hard enough. He went online and replaced them with 160K burners. He now runs three 160K's and a 210K burner. Each burner on their own 20lb. tank because they freeze up. He evaporates about 7 gallons per hour. He has filled a lot of tanks this season!
18300

[helptheold]

Helptheold, I have a coworker that boils on propane. He started with a Camp Chef stove but the 60K Btu burners don't boil hard enough. He went online and replaced them with 160K burners. He now runs three 160K's and a 210K burner. Each burner on their own 20lb. tank because they freeze up. He evaporates about 7 gallons per hour. He has filled a lot of tanks this season!


I actually have a Camp Chef 3 burner stove right now. Would love to use wood but I need to be able to stop on a dime to run the kids around or pick them up from school when they're sick (like I did three times this week!). So propane works good for me plus we've got a Tractor Supply Co near us and filling up the tanks isn't too bad.

[Paddymountain]

HowardR: I bet you are closing in on a 100 gallon season!
I started flushing lines yesterday, easy to see why they quit running. The bacteria on the end of the spouts was pretty
impressive. Also easy to see why you should replace spouts every year. Probably don't cost but a gallon of syrup to pay
for them, but surely increase flow over the season. We averaged about 9.5 gallons per tap for sap. Not great, but across the
spectrum of 3/16 5/16 buckets, and vacuum on some reds, we'll take it. Looked at our best year and it was 11.5
Going to boil out the evaporator today and hopefully finish and bottle everything.

[HowardR]

I started flushing lines yesterday, easy to see why they quit running. The bacteria on the end of the spouts was pretty
impressive. Also easy to see why you should replace spouts every year.

I'll probably be flushing my lines next week, after Monday and Tuesday's big run followed by warm weather for the remainder of this week. When I flush, I'm planning to add Star San, a sanitizer used by brewers, to the water that I pump into my spouts and their connected tubes. I just posted a thread (http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?32715-Has-anybody-used-Star-San-to-sanitize-tubes) asking for feedback about that.

[helptheold]

I'll probably be flushing my lines next week, after Monday and Tuesday's big run followed by warm weather for the remainder of this week. When I flush, I'm planning to add Star San, a sanitizer used by brewers, to the water that I pump into my spouts and their connected tubes. I just posted a thread (http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?32715-Has-anybody-used-Star-San-to-sanitize-tubes) asking for feedback about that.

Interesting product, I have some giant plastic trash cans that are a pain to clean and this might be my solution. Do you think it could be used on aluminum buckets?

[HowardR]

Interesting product, I have some giant plastic trash cans that are a pain to clean and this might be my solution. Do you think it could be used on aluminum buckets?

No, it is an acid wash and acid and aluminum tend to interact. (That's why most people don't cook tomato sauce in aluminum pots.) I just did a Google search for Star San and aluminum and found this furum posting (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/starsan-and-aluminum-pot.297711/):


So, I was done brewing about 2.5 weeks ago and had a new batch of starsan mixed up in my primary sanitizing everything while the boil was going on. I put the starsan into another container while I did my transfer from pot to fermenter. Needed the new container that the starsan was in so transferred it into the pot for a few minutes while I cleaned up so that i could transfer it back into my holding bucket. Well....I completely forgot to transfer it out of my aluminum pot. Fast forward to yesterday, I'm prepping for my next brew and went to get my pot finding the starsan still sitting there. ****IT....there went my oxidized layer. It a beautiful new looking pot again though! It had a metallicy slime on it. I cleaned and rinsed it and needless to say, I spent another hour+ last night re-boiling water to add another oxidized layer to the pot. Hopefully that's all I needed to do. Lesson

[helptheold]

No, it is an acid wash and acid and aluminum tend to interact. (That's why most people don't cook tomato sauce in aluminum pots.) I just did a Google search for Star San and aluminum and found this furum posting (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/starsan-and-aluminum-pot.297711/):

Oops! At least it will be good for my giant plastic trash cans :)

[Sugarmaker]

My season is just about in the books! Taps have been in 8 weeks, 4 of those we were froze up. One run the temps were almost 70 deg F.. Sap has almost stopped flowing in most of my taps. I need to consider changing the tubing, spouts, drop lines or entire system if I am going to stay in the game next year.
Gathered 150 gallons of 2.4% sap last night. Made 2 gallons of Very Dark syrup, which actually was a improvement in grade. 4500 gal of sap, 92 gallons of syrup. Waiting to see if the rain may get it to flow one more time.
Regards,
Chris

[HowardR]

My season is just about in the books! Taps have been in 8 weeks, 4 of those we were froze up. One run the temps were almost 70 deg F.. Sap has almost stopped flowing in most of my taps. I need to consider changing the tubing, spouts, drop lines or entire system if I am going to stay in the game next year. I need to consider changing the tubing, spouts, drop lines or entire system if I am going to stay in the game next year.
Chris, you did well to keep going for 8 weeks with a warm spell in the middle! They say that you can only expect 3 good weeks out of taps under gravity and just 5 good weeks under vacuum. Dr. Tim is in the middle of a study to find out what keeps the taps going the longest, but his results won't be published at all soon. I suspect that he'll find that 3/16 tubing, replacing spouts annually, and using vacuum does the very best by keeping holes free of bacteria.

I'm not going to change from 5/16 gravity because of this unusual season. During the very occasional year when the maple season seems to go on forever, I'll retap just as I did this year. I don't think that occasional retapping hurts trees very much, so long as holes are shallow to avoid drilling into the heartwood. Next year, I'm going to put a short piece of 5/16 tubing over all the drill bits that we use to tap in order to make sure that all of my holes are exactly 1½" deep.

[Paddymountain]

We boiled out the evaporator Sunday afternoon, and filtered and bottled the last of our syrup.
The diaphragm on our hand pump filter press ruptured on the last stroke!! I was thinking the other week, when will it go? It was a white one
and I've been filtering at a little over 200 degrees, so I knew it would happen sooner or later. Actually got 2 seasons out of it. We bought
2 of the new black ones last year, so I'm all set to start out next year. Total syrup for the year: 67 1/2 gallons

[Plutoman15]

I think the sap is done here in south central PA. I boiled the last I had and made the lighest syrup yet. 18352Made 2.1 gallons total. This was my first year and learned a lot. Need to line up more trees for next year. Now it is on to honey season if it ever warms up for my bees. I am thinking of changing our farm name from “out of the woods” to “all things sweet”.

Good luck up north. Hope things thaw out and finish with a big run.

Joe

[HowardR]

I think the sap is done here in south central PA. I boiled the last I had and made the lighest syrup yet.
What a strange season. Usually the first sap of the year is the lightest and the last sap of the year is the darkest!

[Gary R]

Well the weatherman was wrong (imagine that!). Didn't get a freeze Monday night. Collected only 18 gallons yesterday and boiled. 82 gallons so far boiled to 2 1/2. I'll finish that down on a turkey fryer. Borrowing the neighbors cone filters so I don't have to use the press for maybe 1 1/2 gallons syrup. Looks light so far. No freezes for a few days. Sugar dropped to 1.2%. I'll wait for next run to see if I keep going.

[HowardR]

Well, I just bottled up 6 gallons of Grade B dark syrup. No frost Monday night, so no sap today. I'm done for the year, except for clean up. This season had three runs:

1. February 9-18 -- The Flood. Constant rain. Made about 20% of my syrup.

2. February 19-21 -- The Big Short. It got warm fast and stayed warm. A 3 day run, but intense. I made about 20% of my syrup.

3. February 27 - March 27 -- The Run that Never Ends. Perfect maple weather that went on and on and on. I made 60% of my syrup.

[helptheold]

Pulled my last taps yesterday and ended up in the creek :) Man that water was cold!

No time to finish or clean up anything until after Easter so all my boiled-almost syrup is in the freezer while buckets are everywhere over our deck. Gonna be busy next week.

[Sugarmaker]

Gary R,
Soon you will be boiling in wooden troughs with hot rocks!
We had visitors in the sugarhouse last night for boiling. Bob S. and Gary G stopped by and we solved all the maple problems.
My 8 week old taps are not producing much but the 230 gallons of 2.2% was enough to move 9 gallons of very dark syrup through the evaporator and reach the 100 gallon matk for the year.
We will wait till next week and see if the freeze may start things again? (keeping my expectations low)
Haven't heard the peepers yet!
Regards,
Chris

[Gary R]

Sugarmaker, now that you bring it to my attention, I really have been going backwards. I'm not sure about sooty rocks in my syrup! I'll probably be at this for two weeks and not make as much as one good evening with the vacuum and whole evaporator. Hopefully your taps hold out. The weather has changed again and looks promising.

[Sugarmaker]

Gary,
Sap flow has diminished to a drizzle. Gathered yesterday, 2 days worth of sap. Checked today and there would be about 100 gallons of sap. Too warm but not worth gathering today. Will check what happens tomorrow.

On a side note: Maybe you could heat the rocks in the microwave and keep the syrup cleaner?:)
Keep boiling!

Regards,
Chris

[Gary R]

Hang on Chris, good weather is coming!

Check out this syrup. Almost Cranesville Ultralight:cool: Rocks definitely wouldn't have helped. I have not made any Golden syrup for 10 years. Back then I had buckets and a flat pan. I attribute this to a few things. Mostly, because of vacuum I'm usually boiling just over 1% sap. This sap was about 2%. Also, in the tubing the sap sits there for some time before it comes in. I'm sure the bacteria level is up even though my sap is usually clear. 18379