2018

[TooManyIrons...]

Got the gear all ready to go. Still splitting and stacking wood, been working on that off and on when weather conditions are pleasant for me to be working outside. The chimney plenum rotted out on the arch, need to repair that, a one day project.

I am cutting back on production this year. In fact, for some reason a bunch of people I know are cutting back this year. My main reason is that I have a bunch of syrup still in stock from last year's large production run.

Hard to prognosticate with this goofy up and down weather we have been having here, but my guess is a late February run in my area. Who knows...

[SDdave]

Hey look who made it through the winter! :) Yes it is coming fast isn't it. I'm dealing with a total gut job on my basement. It's amazing how a simple project leads into more and more surprises to me and my bank account. Been so busy with that that I haven't even looked at the supplies. My wife tells me that I'm good on bottles though, but I doubt it.

Syrup season is right around the corner, got to get to painting!

SDdave

[TooManyIrons...]

Hi Dave, good to hear from you.

This morning I woke up to 36F degrees outside, warmed up overnight which is unusual for January. It is 42F as I write this. Just a typical January thaw I think but warm enough to get that itch to want to do a test tap. Forecast ain't right for it, though, thank goodness.

[Keitha333]

Hello Gentlemen! I suppose it is time to start looking at equipment and justifying adding a few more taps! Coming upon one of my favorite times of the year!

[TooManyIrons...]

Hi Keitha333, nice to hear from you. Been pretty quiet winter here last 6-7 weeks, very stable cold temps in the low to mid teens for highs and single digits plus or minus around zero for lows. Very good for the coming maple season I think. Temps now seem to be trending upward. Will have a more normal March run here for a change, something I am looking forward to. Not much snow this winter, I have not even had the snowblower out yet. Very little snow on the ground. Much of the three inches of snow cover went yesterday - a beautiful sunny day that reached 40 degrees. Next week supposed to be consistent highs of mid to upper 20s to low 30s. That will be enough to start getting me fired up. A more typical gradual March warmup like we used to have would really be nice.

Starting my superhot peppers, leek, shallot, onion seeds this weekend, the rest of the veggies get started in March. That is always my conflict, germinating seeds and caring for seedlings while in the middle of the syrup season. Gets to be a lot of work juggling the two some days but it makes the weeks go by fast.

[Keitha333]

I hear you about clearing the schedule. Wrestling is wrapping up for me at the end of the month and then weekends become more free. A question for you Too ManyIrons and your peppers. Have you ever tried putting a few in a small jar of syrup? My brother did this with Jalapeños and then used it as a glaze on BBQ pork chops. Needless to say I will be doing this!

[TooManyIrons...]

I hear you about clearing the schedule. Wrestling is wrapping up for me at the end of the month and then weekends become more free. A question for you Too ManyIrons and your peppers. Have you ever tried putting a few in a small jar of syrup? My brother did this with Jalapeños and then used it as a glaze on BBQ pork chops. Needless to say I will be doing this!

Have not tried that, will do it this year. Could make good gifts for a few people I know. Sweet and hot is a classic combination...

So your brother put the jalapenos in whole or destemmed/deseeded whole or d/d halves or something?

I get lots of requests for my granulated maple sugar from family and friends who get into smoking meats and sausage making. They use it in their rubs but they also like that they can sprinkle it on their meats during the smoking process without making a sticky mess of things. Maple flavored smoked pork of any cut or casing sure is some good stuff. Maple flavored spicy venison brats ain't bad either. Darn, now I am hungry.

[Keitha333]

He had a few jars that were kind of experimental. The one we used had three circle slices of Jalapenos with seeds in a pint jar. It had a tiny amount of heat but not over bearing by any means with good flavor. We talked about adding more slices without the seeds for a little more pepper flavor without adding heat. It was still pretty awesome.

[SDdave]

Carpet is installed! Now all my attention will be on maple. By the looks of it, it may be a normal year. Tapping last week in February or first week of March might be in order. I'll have to run a couple more unscientific temperature models to decide.

SDdave

[Lano75]

Hey Guys,

Hello from Buffalo, MN. Put my lines back up on Valentines day and getting things ready. Looking like weather will hold until March for tapping this year. Looking at long range temps I am guessing around March 10th tapping this year.

Lano

[SilverLeaf]

Hi everyone!

I concur with the prediction of fairly "normal" tapping times. There's plenty of frost in the ground in my neck of the woods. I was hoping this year snowboots would be optional but alas this next week is looking to upset those plans.

I'm throwing my hat in the ring this year on an RO build, and am nowhere near done, so I'm grateful its not an early season! We'll see how this experiment goes. :o

Happy prepping, everyone!

[flyzone13]

I have made the decision to tap this weekend. Should be a good time with the snow and all, but it is really the only free weekend I have for a awhile now. I was looking back at last year and I had already boiled a couple hundred gallons of sap by this time last year. Trying to guess the runtime is almost as hard as trying to predict the weather. Anyone else headed out soon to tap?

[maplenutter butter]

I set 900 taps last weekend and plan to set as many as possible Tomorow and have everything tapped by next Wednesday. I know its a little early but im a one man crew who works full time. Everthing i have will be on new taps and vaccum. If i was doing buckets or bags i would wait a while yet. Good luck everyone!!

[Fravy]

I just tapped my 5 30" Silver Maples. This is my 3rd year. First year was my beer set up boiling 1 hour per gallon. That was an experience. I got about 3/4 of a gallon that year. I just pulled the taps after two weeks because I got sick of it. Last year was a cinderblock arch and again I pulled the taps after 2 weeks because I just couldn't keep up the storage space. I had 5 5-gallon buckets on the trees and then another 5 5-gallon buckets full of sap and several 3-gallons as well. I just didn't have enough snow or containers. That was about 5-6 gallons per hour and I could keep up.

This year I have 2 55-gallon drums for storage in addition to the 25 gallons I can keep on the trees. I added a 3rd steamer pan and hooked up a blower to the arch. This should be my best year. I am hoping to gather enough this week for a test run next weekend. Then, I leave for Spring break right about the time the weather gets best. I have the two 55 gallon drums under my best producing trees. Those two trees were easily producing 5 gallons per day on the good days last year. I hope that over my 5 days in San Diego, they shouldn't overflow. I should be able to come back from my trip to roughly 100 gallons of sap to boil over two days before I have to go back to work. I am really looking forward to a good year. This will be the first year I am actually collecting and boiling into March.

I'm a bit excited to put my new equipment to the test! Good luck all!

[tpathoulas]

Set 100 taps with bags today. Wood seemed wet and 3-4 actually had infrequent drips. Very surprised to see this as the frost is deep and there was about 10-12 inches of snow on the ground.

[TooManyIrons...]

Temps and outlook still not quite right here but showing a good trend. I might install my usual three test taps this week sometime, may just wait until the forecast starts showing better daily highs. I am all ready to go, just waiting and watching.

[Bombadil]

Still a lot of snow on the ground. My early tree has a little drip of sap from branches, so I put in a test tap. Will they run if we still have lots of snow cover and frozen ground?

[flyzone13]

I skipped out on the tapping like I thought I would do last weekend the snow slowed me down, so just for S&G's I am putting out a few tonight. Not really expecting much, but you never know.

[Keitha333]

I think I am going to see what the forecast looks like after this next system that is supposed to bring rain or snow Sunday looks like before I tap. I see 40s today. Tempting and itching at the bit!!

[Mike1ranger]

A few days of tempting weather then several of less than ideal weather has me looking at 3/10. A bit early in my opinion considering how cold it has been this year. Getting close but a bit too soon to get the holes drilled yet. Gotta change out a water heater this weekend anyway...always something

[Islander]

I found this tap app in one of the other threads...kinda fun

https://www.saptapapps.com/

[Fravy]

I tapped mine Sunday night. Been high 30's and into 40's during the day. Not a drop of sap. There is at least 4 inches of snow pack. I'm hoping tomorrow will show some flow.

[JimSeyMN]

I am 20 miles south of St. Cloud and have one tap in. Nothing in the bucket yet. Very different from last year.

[warners point]

I think we will be able to wait until at least March 10th to start tapping.

[Joeyhowe]

I live an hour north of the twin city’s. Had my 2 test taps dripping sap yesterday. I still think I’m gonna hold off till next weekend to tap. I’m switching all my drop lines and buckets over to bags this year. It’s gonna cost a little bit more money but the end of the season clean up will be so much easier

[SDdave]

Buddy taoped trees yesterday in Sioux Falls and they were flowing. I'm going this weekend.

SDdave

[Bombadil]

Well, Test tap one is running, Test tap two is dripping, and Test tap three was gushing! I am tapping later today. I am located 1 hour north of the Metro.

[MNMike]

I'm about 15 miles south of St Cloud and tapped last weekend not expecting anything but just because I didn't think I'd have time this week. I didn't even put buckets under the taps, but when I got home on Tuesday the sugar maples were dripping. I put buckets out on the sugars and had about a gallon of sap on one tree. The silvers started dripping today so I put buckets out for them this evening, we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Probably won't have enough to do anything with until next week, bit it's exciting to see it starting up!

[Johnny t]

I'm an hour southwest of the twin cities and I have a foot of snow in the woods yet. I have 150 taps in so far and everything is dry as of 3/1/18 PM. We are on mostly north facing hills and the micro climate in the woods is quite different than the surrounding areas. I hope we get a start this weekend with sap flow.

[lindnova]

I am an hour SE of the twin cities. Put in 14 taps in the east woods last night and one was dripping. I tried to hold off as long as I could and not get too far ahead. If those are dripping today I will tap the south trees.

I hope the week of March 12-16 won't be the high flows since I am out of town for the week.

[Fravy]

Well my best producing trees were dripping slowly today when I got home out of one of the two taps on each tree. My other three were very minimal drip. At least I am starting to see flow. I'm hoping another day of 40's and maybe if I get some of the snow melted or cleared away, they will start to really run. I was hoping to get a test boil in on my new equipment this weekend of next as I am out of town for about a week at what looks like the peak of the season. I know when I get back, I'm going to have several batches to boil. Oh well, hopefully this week is warmer than predicted.

[Keitha333]

Just put 35 taps in And half were dripping. I couldn’t take it any more and I am about and hour North of Rogers. Here we go!

[sweet acer]

Snow is knee deep and forecast is for rain and snow and more cold weather. Think I will wait it out another week or two. 70 miles south of International Falls.

[Troutlakemaple]

Waiting here till the 10th. NE of Grand Rapids.

[4010]

Went out this morning to put in some test taps and a few were dripping so since it was a nice day and not being sure if I will be gone next weekend I tapped most of my trees a little over 100 taps.
Mike

[tonka]

Was out installing the last of my drop lines today and seen one tree leaking a little sap, otherwise any broken limbs and branches I've noticed are all dry yet. Planning on getting everything tapped by next weekend. I'm located in NE corner of Ottertail and SE corner of Becker county line.

[Wannabe!apleMan]

Upgraded system this year to 3/16 nat vacuum.
Lines are run and hoping to tap end of week.
Small backyard operation in Excelsior about 30 taps.
I can’t stop reading forums on this web site!
Only have a barrel stove so ended up doing small RO system for sap.
Found a great evaporator in Wisconsin and told the wife about it and she said I have issues!
This has been a great learning experience!

[Lano75]

82 taps done this weekend on 3/16 natural gravity. Will do the 30 buckets with drops next week when things start flowing.

[flyzone13]

Have 150 taps in as of Sunday, about 3/4 were running, some with a small drip and others were dripping pretty fast.. Now after the storm I will need to go check and make sure I have not lost some of my buckets.

[SYRUP FREAK]

Another 11 inches of snow in Motley area will make it tough on my old body to tap and sap.

[craig101]

I put in 4 taps last Thursday in a couple silver maples. 8 gallons in 2.5 days. haven't checked since sunday, but it's been cold. still have to tap 3 sugar maples, but they start running later than my silvers.

[flyzone13]

Still waiting for my lines and buckets to unthaw. I hope the warmup coming gets things really going.

[TooManyIrons...]

Been sick as a dog last two weeks with pneumonia. Horrible timing, but I guess there really is no good time for such a thing. Bummer because I have not been sick with anything in over a decade and this winter I finally got slammed. I struggled to get in half my taps a while ago, paid for it by spending the entire miserable next day in bed thinking I was toast. Feeling around 60 percent now, slowly gaining but still no energy or ambition. There is around a half gallon to a gallon of frozen sap in each bucket, not much going on right now with cloudy, windy weather and daily highs reaching 32 to 34 degrees, nightly lows in the upper teens to lower 20s. I got pooped out just walking around and checking the buckets today, will wait as long as I can to install the rest of the taps. My heart just isn't in it this year anymore but will see what happens.

[EBG18T]

Toomanyirons - get rested and recovered. Dont make it any worse. Pneumonia is no joke!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[Pokegama Pointe]

Grand Rapids area - put 75 taps in today. Bout 1/2 flowed instantly and the other half dry. not sure what to infer.....

[BigPine]

TooManyIrons - take it easy! Sounds exactly like what happened to me last year. Struggled to get all my taps in and then whamo. The neighbor took my sap, and with it being a crappy year he was happy to get it.
It took me several weeks to recover - I guess I had the 'flu' for the first time ever - and I had the vaccination.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF -

[rolosrevenge]

Tapped my first 5 taps ever on 3/3 in a large silver maple and a sugar maple. Sap didn't really start running on the silver until 3/9, still just barely dripping out of the sugar maple.

[wbreitbarth]

10 day forecast for southern MN looks good. This is the 1st year I have done sap where the temps are "normal" The last 3 years it gets warm and stays warm and its a race. 32 taps out of 40 running today. Cooked off 45 gallons this last Monday, and collected another 20 gallons yesterday.

[212Maple]

Appears that I will have my first boil tonight! Weather looks good and plenty of moisture for the trees, unfortunately many of my silver maples have huge buds on already! Good luck everyone for a great 2018 syrup season!

[flyzone13]

I waited until yesterday to check my buckets as I was not expecting much yet, to my surprise I had a lot more than what I was prepared to gather. I left my pump and generator at home because I figured at most I would only have 50 gallons or so, nope, I gathered 150 gallons and left all of the buckets that were half full, so today will be busy and tonight will be time to start to sweeten the pans. Good luck to everyone and hope you all have a good run this year.

[SilverLeaf]

212maple - dont worry about those buds, you've got plenty of time yet! (side note: are you just off hwy 212? couple places I've been seeing sap sacks just off the road - might one of those be you?)
toomanyirons - hope you are feeling better!

I'm surprised how many of you have sap to boil already. Got all my taps in now, and as of yesterday about 50% were dripping. Not enough to do anything with yet, though I'm sure that will change by the weekend.

[Bombadil]

All of mine are running, getting about 7-12 gallons of sap a day right now. Will be boiling this weekend, have about 55 gallons of sap to cook, will have more by the end of the day.

[TooManyIrons...]

Thanks to all for the kind words. Feeling better but not 100 percent. My ambition is back but still have no stamina. Will try to do half a processing run tomorrow (Saturday), to dial in the system and just to see how far I can go before I run out of energy. As of last night I have 30 gallons of sap in inventory. 14 trees were running at various degrees. I have 44 taps installed, 20 trees tapped.

I get completely winded when carrying a 5 gallon carboy full of sap. Reminds me of the bad old days when I used to smoke tobacco. LOL

Another long time maple sugarer in my area passed away two nights ago. He was a crusty old dude, I had some very interesting conversations with him. Knowledgeable guy, intolerant of stupidity. Sad to see that generation leaving us.

[SDdave]

Sap has been steady at 1 to 1.5 gallons per tap. Really surprised so far on sugar content of 3% so far. Collected close to 200 gal so far on 40 taps.

SDdave

[Solarsapper]

Great run going here just east of St. Paul MN, with daily freeze thaw predicted for the next 10 days. Just 2 trees and a total of 3 taps here in my suburban yard. So far, almost 22 gallons of sap harvested, and almost a gallon of syrup made. Was reading on another thread that some folks have squirrel issues. I have plenty of squirrels here, but in the 5 years I've been doing this, they never bother my bags...so far.

[4010]

Slow going here 100 gallons total sap collected from about 110 taps. Made 1.25 gallons of syrup on Saturday and will be processing the rest of the sap tonight.

[212Maple]

@ Silver Maple - thanks for your advice. I put another 100+ taps out on Sunday and collected 215 gallons last night from my 325 taps. Once the snow melts some I think I will try to put another 50-100 in. (I don't have any taps along Hwy 212)

[Lano75]

We cooked 22 gallons last night, 66 for the year so far. Pans are getting sweet though. Next few days I think things will crank up.

[SDdave]

Need a good freeze I think. The last 3 days collection on 40 taps is 50, 12, and a whopping 2 today. Cleaned my pan and RO though. I'll take a little break, I know the wife would like me in the house before midnight for a change.

SDdave

[Islander]

My trees on the island of Minnetonka are still locked up. The silver gave a little more than 1/2 gallon a day since tapping on Sunday 3/18 but the other varieties really aren’t measurable yet. This is a bit surprising as the last several years were running as early as mid to late February. Now I think I should have waited another week.

[TooManyIrons...]

I did my first processing run here on Monday, boiled off 50 gallons and got everything dialed in. Simple repetition from now on. I have just 30 gallons sap in inventory, will process that plus any that can be collected today. No trees dripped yesterday, a poor weather day lower 30s, cloudy and breezy with light snow all day. Ready to go out and fire up the arch after I finish this.

It has been a slow, sporadic run this year so far and I am fine with it. No pressure. Sap run will continue to be off and on as long as days are cloudy and temps only reach mid 30s. I have had only two days reach lower 40s in the last 9 days when several were forecasted for lower 40s and two were supposed to reach upper 40s. Actual daytime highs have consistently been around 5 degrees lower than forecast every day. Weather forecasting seems to be getting less and less accurate.

Every tree is running but the few taps on north sides of trunks have not given a drop. Only the top inch of soil is thawed for the most part, deeper frost pull-out in lawn areas, though. Ground in woods is still froze up solid but trees are running. Deep frost depth this year from the very cold snaps we had back in December/January when there was not much snow on the ground...

[4010]

Had a surprise yesterday kids went and collected 90 gallons of sap a lot more trees must have started flowing was only expecting about 30 to 40 gallons.

[212Maple]

4010 That is a good surprise! I had a different one today, my dad went to collect this noon and my 20+ bags at the local church were slashed!

[RileySugarbush]

Starting to let loose around here too!

[TooManyIrons...]

4010 That is a good surprise! I had a different one today, my dad went to collect this noon and my 20+ bags at the local church were slashed!

Sorry to hear about that. Probably some ignorant basement dwelling enviroweenie thinking he was saving those trees. Or perhaps your local chapter of antifa (all two members) ran out of other things to vandalize.

Set up a trail cam...

[4010]

4010 That is a good surprise! I had a different one today, my dad went to collect this noon and my 20+ bags at the local church were slashed

212maple sorry to here about that, otherwise how do you like using bags?

[212Maple]

4010 all in all the bags work very well, I have had some issues with furry tailed tree rats (squirrels) in the past but they seem to be leaving the bags alone this year for the most part. I make sure to leave a couple inches in the bags so that if we get a strong wind the bags don't fly off the trees. Even with the vandalism I was able to collect and process 330 gallons last night.

[TooManyIrons...]

Finished off the first batch, ended up with 3 gallons of dark amber. Not the best syrup I have ever made but it tastes decent enough. I am expecting better with the second batch as the steam smelled wonderful while boiling yesterday. Still got a day of processing before I finish off the second batch, I do two days processing for each batch then I start fresh.

First production run ended up being approximately a 27:1 ratio, right in the middle of the range I usually get of between 25:1 and 30:1.

[Wannabe!apleMan]

Have collected 40 gallons from 23 taps on 3/16th in 6 days.
Just tapped 8 more trees yesterday and have 2 gallons from those.
It’s been a slow start.
I saw a first steady flow of sap today of that line but only lasted an hour or so.
Other than that, it’s been drip, drip, drip.
I have some black walnuts and may tap those for fun.
Planing on boiling down second batch Sunday and hoping I can get up to 50 gallons of sap for that.

[RileySugarbush]

Drew off 4 gallons for our second boil of the season. Nice tasting medium amber. Flow here continues to improve, with the tubing running late into the night. Will have plenty for another boil on Sunday.

[supersapper]

I tapped on the 10 th of March. Really no flow the first 6 days. They have been getting better each day but only 1-2 full bags. The rest only 3-4” in them. I finally got my 80 gallon tank filled and I boiled on the 21st. 50 gallons the next day so I boiled again and got 2 gallons of syrup. Very light amber. A lot of sediment this year.

[Bombadil]

Already made 2.5 gallons of Syrup, boiling again today. Since I don't have a modern evap with drawoff I am doing them in batches. Will start my third boil late tonight or tomorrow. Yesterday I collected 27 gallons of sap from 31 taps.

Now I am up to a total of 4.9 gallons of Syrup and still boiling.

[SYRUP FREAK]

Boiled 50 gals today First process of the year. Temps don't get good until about 2 pm. then quit about 5 pm. Need a day with temps above freezing early in the morning. Collected 15 gals. today on 65 taps. Not good. Motley, Mn.

[Gissert]

Pretty much what we have been seeing, 50 gallons off 200 taps between Thursday afternoon and Saturday afternoon. We get good flow, but it starts about 1pm and shuts off about 4 or 5.

Upshot is we are keeping up, the sap stays nice and cool, and it lovely crystal clear stuff.

[warners point]

We cooked down 100 gallons yesterday so the pans are sweetened . There's still a ton of snow in the woods with more on the way tomorrow. The extended forcast keeps trending colder so it maybe 2 weeks before we really start cranking. I sure hope its wrong. I'm not a fan of a long drawn out season.

[SDdave]

The sap slowed down a little last week, but now picking back up. It's still at around 3% so no complaints here! I have 7.5 gallons of syrup made so fAR (40 taps), and by the way the weather looks I'll be in for the long haul. Hopefully the body is stronger than the will.

SDdave

[212Maple]

To date I have boiled down just over 1,000 gallons of sap, with 26 gallons of syrup, plus what is left in the 2x6 Smoky Lake Evaporator. About half of my 325 taps have not run yet, weather looks to be setting up for a nice long season here. The 200H Memprotec R.O has been a great upgrade; saving lots of time and firewood!

[TooManyIrons...]

Sap quit running early on Sunday, only collected 15 gallons that day. Nothing ran at all yesterday which was a cloudy, windy, rain/sleet/snow day. Have no sap in inventory which is nice. Equipment is rinsed and ready to go, will be starting fresh when sap starts running again. Still have plenty of firewood for a couple more processing days. Have around 8 gallons of finished syrup, almost 3/4 of the way towards my goal of 12 gallons. Second and third batches of syrup taste wonderful, better than the first batch. First batch is good, just not as good as I would like. Guess I am getting a bit fussy. I will turn the first batch into granulated sugar.

Most of the trees nowhere near bud break yet, a few are close but keep putting out good tasting sap. The way things are looking I will hopefully be collecting enough today for a processing run tomorrow.

I already consider this one of the best seasons I have ever had regarding consistency of the weather and temps and not getting overloaded with sap all at once. It has been easy to handle the collecting and processing for a one person operation this year. I really do not like those days in past seasons that spike into the 50s and 60s, they really ruin the fun for me.

Update: Sap is running again as of 9:00am. :-)

[lindnova]

Southeast MN has been very steady this year. 2 weeks of 20/40 with little variation. I have some fast runners and a few that haven't really ran at all yet. 33 taps on bags.

First boil was great
Second was an absolute fail

After the great 15-20 gallon days all last week I boiled Saturday and had 5 gallons of concentrate at the end of the day. I lit up a small fire on Sunday, added the 5 gallons of concentrate and 2 gallons I got from the yard trees and emptied what I could from the rest - took me 15 minutes. Came back to a burning mess! Instead of bottling 2-3 gallons I scraped and ground soot in my pan for 2 hours. I vow to never leave a pan near the end again. To make matters worse I bumped my wifes brand new car and put a ding in the door with the pan when cleaning.

Hoping to have some full bags later today and salvage the season with boiling Wednesday night and finish the rest Saturday. No sign of buds yet, but my wife wants me done.

[TooManyIrons...]

Losing 2-3 gallons, that is a real bummer. Seems like every year I have a little mishap where I lose a pint or so and that makes me angry, I do not know how I would react to your kind of loss. Pick up the pieces and move on, huh?

Sure seems like my sap run is finished. Last Sunday I only harvested 50% of what I was expecting to harvest that day. Monday nothing but was a cold, stormy day, Tuesday a little, Wednesday reached mid 40s and nothing, and nothing so far today. Trees have not opened their blossom buds yet so it seems odd but every year is different. Two trees the sap went yellowish and sour. One tree only produced 1/2 gallon total for the season from two taps, I will be abandoning this tree along with two others for consistently low sap yield. My taps can be more useful elsewhere. I only collected 229 gallons of sap so far so I am well behind on my season goal of 350. I still have enough firewood and ambition to do a couple more full day runs but looks like it is not going to happen.

I am finishing off the last batch as I write this. The lightest grade so far, very nice buttery smelling medium amber. Someone else mentioned low amount of sugar sand this year, same is happening here but could be because I have changed my final finishing methods a little bit. I wish I could get a couple more gallons of this kind of syrup out of this season...

[Bombadil]

Well up to a total of 7.9 gallons of syrup this year, its the most we have every done. Weather was cold last night and only picked up 15 gallons of sap yesterday. We have a cold snap coming this weekend and I expect it to slow. Then warm up again should get the sap flowing.

[billschi]

I have 100 taps out there and have collected a total of 7 gallons of sap this year. I'm holding out putting my additional 150 taps until I'm certain I can get some type of flow. I have since emptied the bags into my buckets and am evaporating the sap on the wood stove that keeps our house warm. Yeah, it'll take a few days but will hopefully put some humidity in the house at the same time.
My fear is we're just going to skip Spring and jump into Summer.

[Birddog]

I’m just west of Barnum and got about 20 gallons of sap on about 60 trees there so far. The trees were just waking up before this cold snap. I’ve been able get about 80 gallons of sap on 10 trees in my yard in Ham Lake so that’s keeping me entertained for now. Hopefully we’ll get a few good runs in a week or so....

[4010]

Had best sap run yesterday collected 90 gallons this should get my syrup total up to 12 gallons. Looks like I will have plenty of time to process with this cold weather.

[flyzone13]

Kind of looks like the sap is going to stop for a while and let me get caught up. I am hoping that I get another good run once this cold snap ends. Looks like it could be almost the second week of April before things start to really warm back up. I would like to be done with everything before turkey seasons comes around, but looks like I could be cutting it close this year.

[RileySugarbush]

A nice crisp day! With everything freezing up we boiled every drop on hand and emptied the pipes and pumps. 400 gallons down to 13 with lot's of friends around. It will be interesting to see how the next week turns out.

[Lano75]

We cooked another 49 gallons yesterday and bottled 19 pints and 24 half pint. Collected about 30 more gallons before it froze solid in the morning and saving it for Monday night girl scout tour. Then it looks like a week before we will get sap again. 2nd week of April looks like our big runs will hit I hope!

[Lano75]

RileySugarbush it is amazing how much more sap you have already cooked just 40 minutes south!

[RileySugarbush]

Lano, you will probably be cooking when we are sitting here with buddy sap! It’s been an interesting year. Our soil just thawed out a couple of days ago and the sap started coming fast!

[Lano75]

If you are ever up near Buffalo stop by! I always like meeting the local syrup producers.

[RileySugarbush]

I’ll do that! We welcome everyone here too.

John

[lindnova]

I was up to Roseville today and surprised by how much snow is still there. I knew there was snow further north. Some difference in weather.

I am just a hobbyist and not trying to sell any, so I pulled all my equipment Saturday since the buds are getting big and looks cold for this next week. I'm done and my wife is pressing me to stop and spend time with the family. No one is really interested in sugaring with me.

4 gallons of syrup on 40 taps was great for me this year compared to the last 2, even with a mishap on the second boil - should have had 7 gallons. I can only eat or give away so much at Chrismas; have enough for 2 years of my usage.

Every time it would get warm enough for the trees to start opening up big time it would get cooler again, but a lot of 20/40 temp days for the last 3 weeks. Slow and steady here. I have a few trees that were just starting to run this week and others that have been running hard for 2 weeks depending on the location(frost on north facing slopes I figure).

[Islander]

So far on 10 taps we boiled 20 gallons to nearup and have maybe another 20 out on the trees. It was my intention to boil yesterday but everything was froze solid. This is only my 5th year syruping and this is the first year I have had taps in past the first weekend in April. In the recent past I tapped as early as February but this year it seems I should have waited until the second week in April. I am hopeful the tap holes do not dry up before my back yard really starts running this year.

[Keitha333]

I also believe I am going to pull my taps today. I finish with 7 gallons of syrup on 38 taps. It was a good year for me even though I know it could go much longer looking at the weather. It was about perfect for me this year is I didn’t get inundated with sap all at once and run out of storage. One other positive is with the cold I was able to pull ice in my jugs and storage barrels which really seemed to help with cutting down boiling time. What I did have left to boil seemed very concentrated as was getting two gallons on about 55 gallons of sap. Usually I run about 35:1. I also want to thank you others as I enjoy reading your posts!

[P7aler]

SO, I am just doing this as a small hobby about 25 miles East of Hinckley and this is my 3rd year. I am still trying to get everything figured out. I tapped about 80 trees 3 weeks ago and have about 100 gallons of sap boiled down. These trees have not ever been great producers by volume, but the syrup is fantastic. My question is that will the latest snow and now temperatures approaching 0 overnights and staying a freezing or below for the next 7-10 days can I just leave my taps and will they start flowing again after the cold spell?

[Keitha333]

Yes they should. It make take a few days to get them going again but in my experience they should without a problem.

[billschi]

I received a 2'x6' Stainless Steel pan in trade for a couple of quarts of syrup. I also acquired a 265 gallon heating oil tank and a few food grade closed top 55 gallon drums. I think I will take this time with this cold snap to build another cooker. I should be able to finish it this week and tap another 150 trees before next week when the weather is scheduled to warm up. This will give me a total of 250 this year.
So far, 7 gallons of sap collected. I'm getting a little worried we will just jump into summer. I put the 7 gallons on the wood stove in the house so I didn't waste it and has taken 3 days to evaporate. Hahaha
This year I want to try a rocket stove to finish a batch to see how well it works. This will bring my overhead cost down to almost nothing if it works well.

[SDdave]

Pulling the plug on Friday or earlier. It's been a great season so far, with close to 14 gallons so far on 39 taps. Never have had sap be in the 3's all year long. Noticed some trees starting the flowering stage, so the end is near if not done, all depends on Mother Nature.

SDdave

[MNMike]

I've got 27 taps in and have gotten very little out of my trees. Fortunately I work with a small school about 20 miles north that taps trees and only uses a little bit to give the kids an idea of how it works, so I've gotten a lot of sap from them. Finishing my second run on the stove top tonight and should end up with close to two gallons of syrup on about 70 gallons of sap, so not too bad. I'm going to take a risk on my ten years of marriage and try for one more run on the weekend of the 14th and then pull the plug. Hopefully my wife doesn't pull the plug on the whole thing before then.

[flyzone13]

I am still expecting/hoping for another run yet second weekend of April. Anybody think otherwise?

[motowbrowne]

I am still expecting/hoping for another run yet second weekend of April. Anybody think otherwise?

We should get a couple good days at least coming out of this stretch of poor weather. It's quite possible that we could get a week or more. I've made syrup until the 28th of April before, but the longer this drags on, the more likely it'll get warm and stay there, which will end things in a hurry. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a week at least of nice sap weather.

[Lano75]

I think we will get at least two weeks starting next Tuesday or Wednesday. After that all bets are off. My neighbor cooked the first week of May in 2014 so we will see.

[GoldyCon]

It looks like I have another week of cold temps before the sap starts flowing again. I doubled my taps this year and was hoping for 500gal sap but so far i’m only up to 100g. No issue keeping up so far. Some of my forest trees haven’t even started running yet so maybe i’ll get slammed once spring 2.0 arrives.

[Islander]

This year might be a bust for me. I got a drip the week after St Patricks day but then everything froze solid again. Snow cover still deep. My concern is by the time things let loose my tap holes will be 4 or more weeks old and drying up.

This is my 5th year, confident enough to think I know what I am doing but novice enough to blow the season by tapping to early (again).


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[BigPine]

I have been using the 'Check Valve' taps for about 5 years. Here on the NW corner of Mille Lacs, we have collected about 20% of our average so far. I tapped around 3/15. This could be the year we see if these 'Check Valve' taps make a difference. I guess I will have to compare the upcoming output (?) to the neighbor's with the standard taps.

This year might be a bust for me. I got a drip the week after St Patricks day but then everything froze solid again. Snow cover still deep. My concern is by the time things let loose my tap holes will be 4 or more weeks old and drying up.

This is my 5th year, confident enough to think I know what I am doing but novice enough to blow the season by tapping to early (again).


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[motowbrowne]

This year might be a bust for me. I got a drip the week after St Patricks day but then everything froze solid again. Snow cover still deep. My concern is by the time things let loose my tap holes will be 4 or more weeks old and drying up.

This is my 5th year, confident enough to think I know what I am doing but novice enough to blow the season by tapping to early (again).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Don't lose hope yet. They might be 4 weeks old, but not much bacterial growth goes on in these temps. But if you don't get any more sap, you're only an hour away. Drop by and smell some steam if you need a fix once we (hopefully) get rolling again.

[TooManyIrons...]

This year might be a bust for me. I got a drip the week after St Patricks day but then everything froze solid again. Snow cover still deep. My concern is by the time things let loose my tap holes will be 4 or more weeks old and drying up.

This is my 5th year, confident enough to think I know what I am doing but novice enough to blow the season by tapping to early (again).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I consistently guess wrong every year regarding whether season is over, guessed wrong once again on my last post in this thread regarding the season this year. That is why I leave my taps in until the season is obviously over, and I do not mess with them. At this point to me the season is obviously not over. No sap running here for 8 days now due to cold weather so I expect a nice full sap run 2.0 this next week (or whenever it finally warms up above freezing again). I use the same tapped holes for the entire season, I never change them out or drill new ones. I am at 13 gallons of finished syrup so far. Consistent color, flavor, and low nitre between batches this year.

Hey Islander how did your syrup entry at the state fair do last year? Win a ribbon? Is it a popular category with lots of participants? I hope so... Last time I went to the state fair was 1986. The state fair is the "big leagues" of entering stuff, I used to enter lots of stuff at my county fair but never thought of entering maple syrup. Maybe I will do a maple syrup entry in my county fair this year. :)

[Islander]

I have been using the 'Check Valve' taps for about 5 years. Here on the NW corner of Mille Lacs, we have collected about 20% of our average so far. I tapped around 3/15. This could be the year we see if these 'Check Valve' taps make a difference. I guess I will have to compare the upcoming output (?) to the neighbor's with the standard taps.

I will be interested to know if I should switch over next year, keep us updated


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Islander]

Don't lose hope yet. They might be 4 weeks old, but not much bacterial growth goes on in these temps. But if you don't get any more sap, you're only an hour away. Drop by and smell some steam if you need a fix once we (hopefully) get rolling again.

Thanks motowbrowne! I will leave them tapped until I get a whiff of THAT smell or until buds cannot be missed if there is nothing to smell test


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[Islander]

I consistently guess wrong every year regarding whether season is over, guessed wrong once again on my last post in this thread regarding the season this year. That is why I leave my taps in until the season is obviously over, and I do not mess with them. At this point to me the season is obviously not over. No sap running here for 8 days now due to cold weather so I expect a nice full sap run 2.0 this next week (or whenever it finally warms up above freezing again). I use the same tapped holes for the entire season, I never change them out or drill new ones. I am at 13 gallons of finished syrup so far. Consistent color, flavor, and low nitre between batches this year.

Hey Islander how did your syrup entry at the state fair do last year? Win a ribbon? Is it a popular category with lots of participants? I hope so... Last time I went to the state fair was 1986. The state fair is the "big leagues" of entering stuff, I used to enter lots of stuff at my county fair but never thought of entering maple syrup. Maybe I will do a maple syrup entry in my county fair this year. :)

I entered into the 2 lightest grades (of 4). There were about 20 or so entries per grade. I got full points for grade, clarity, and density but lost points on flavor (which is where it counts) so i didn't even place. I am experimenting this year for better results. I have always used canola oil from my kitchen as a defoamer, this year I got a little bottle of leader brand defoamer so we'll see how that goes. If i still loose flavor points i might try the powdered non-dairy creamer trick next time and hope not to be disqualified for 'additive'.

[SDdave]

Don't judge me, but I have pulled the last tap tonight. The mind and soul wants to continue, but the body says I don't think so. Did some cleanup today to ease "washing bucket day". Going to do the final boil tonight, perhaps a celebratory beverage or two is in order!:cool:

Keep the reports coming!

SDdave

[TooManyIrons...]

Don't judge me, but I have pulled the last tap tonight. The mind and soul wants to continue, but the body says I don't think so. Did some cleanup today to ease "washing bucket day". Going to do the final boil tonight, perhaps a celebratory beverage or two is in order!:cool:

Keep the reports coming!

SDdave

At this time I have no sap in inventory, nothing to boil. Obviously you had quite a different season than I did this year if you are boiling today/tonight.

Everyone is done when they are done, in my case firewood is still dictating how much more I can process. I figure I have enough firewood I can scrape up for two more days' processing and I think I will end it at that point even if I still have sap. Time for me to focus on gardening stuff.

[Lano75]

Hello to everyone! I think we can start getting ready for a 8-10 day barrage. We have cooked 311 gallons so far and only bottled 19 pints and 24 half pints. My gravity lines ran last Thursday but not enough to justify cooking. My guess is they will start running tomorrow and we will cook Tuesday night and every night after for at least a week. Hopefully we will get some 2 gallons of sap/tap days this coming week. Our record last year with 99 taps was 160 gallons one day. I would love to have a 200 gallon plus day this year.

[SYRUP FREAK]

I know everyone has their own idea on ice in the bags, however when the total bag is frozen with no liquid on the bottom, is the sugar in the ice and should I melt it? Hopefully will finish my season this week.

[warners point]

We have only fired the evaporator one time this season on March 24th to cook down a measly 100 gallons. This week it might run a few days but it's looking like another big snow for the weekend. Normally we would be wrapping things up soon. What a crazy year.

[RileySugarbush]

I know everyone has their own idea on ice in the bags, however when the total bag is frozen with no liquid on the bottom, is the sugar in the ice and should I melt it? Hopefully will finish my season this week.

Once the entire volume of sap is frozen then all the sugar is still in there. It is only when partially frozen that you can toss the ice without losing much sugar. At this point, just melt and boil it all.

[TooManyIrons...]

After nine days of cold weather and no sap running some trees are finally dripping again today. Last week several nights got down into the lower single digits Fahrenheit and many days never got above the lower 20s. Big warmup in the forecast for this week (into the 50s), this should be the final week for me but should be a good one being all the trees basically reset their sap flow due to the cold weather. The sap will run heavy and fast in that warmer weather. I am expecting to be collecting sap tomorrow for boiling sap all day Wednesday. Will also be collecting Wednesday as I am processing, I expect those two days will give me enough inventory to process for two full days. I plan on doing two full processing days this week and calling it quits for my 2018 maple season even if I still have sap in inventory. Time to move on to other things.

Got three inches of snow yesterday (Sunday). Mid week it is supposed to rain with thunderstorms. Snow is in the forecast for next weekend. Welcome to April in Minnesota.

[flyzone13]

Checked on my gear last night after work and noticed the trees are starting to wake up again. I just need to get the ice out of my tanks now so I can start dumping again. Not sure yet if what I have in the tanks will be any good yet since its been sitting in there now for about 10 days, once it warms enough to start un-thawing it I should know if I can even attempt to boil it down.

[680Apple]

I usually remove the ice chunks from the buckets as long as there is significant liquid sap in there. Over the weekend, everything was frozen solid. I collected about five gallons of sap, took it downstairs by the furnace and let melt. Took the hydrometer reading last night to the melted sap and read a 2.5% sugar content.

[billschi]

I usually remove the ice chunks from the buckets as long as there is significant liquid sap in there. Over the weekend, everything was frozen solid. I collected about five gallons of sap, took it downstairs by the furnace and let melt. Took the hydrometer reading last night to the melted sap and read a 2.5% sugar content.
I wonder, has anyone removed the little bit of ice and then checked the sugar content and compare it to one with the ice melted to see if there is a difference?

[Austin351]

The higher the sugar %, the longer it takes to freeze. Obviously, if your bag / bucket is completely frozen, nothing changes. However, if half of the bag / bucket is frozen and the other half is still liquid, the ice will have a small % of sugar in it (like 0.5%) while the liquid will be high, like 3%+. That is why many people throw the ice on the ground and just keep the liquid.

[Keitha333]

I know everyone has their own idea on ice in the bags, however when the total bag is frozen with no liquid on the bottom, is the sugar in the ice and should I melt it? Hopefully will finish my season this week.

I have my 40 jugs sitting in my garage with most half full and were completely frozen when I took them in. Last night I noticed a little melt in them (about a tablespoon) in one and tasted it just out of wonder. It was incredibly sweet and makes me wonder if the concentrated sugar is last to freeze but also first to melt? My buddy is taking the sap and going to let it melt a little more but not fully. Take as is....

[Austin351]

I have my 40 jugs sitting in my garage with most half full and were completely frozen when I took them in. Last night I noticed a little melt in them (about a tablespoon) in one and tasted it just out of wonder. It was incredibly sweet and makes me wonder if the concentrated sugar is last to freeze but also first to melt? My buddy is taking the sap and going to let it melt a little more but not fully. Take as is....

Ice is "natures R.O." I know it is tough to throw out ice because it is sap but, it really has no value unless you are looking to boil 160 +/-gallons to 1 gallon of syrup... That is even worse than birch..

Granted, if the whole thing is frozen, just wait for it to unfreeze and you will be no worse off than out of the tap. if it is 50% frozen and 50% liquid, throw out the ice.

[Joeyhowe]

So I went out on a limb tonight and trying somthing new. My tap holes are about 1-1/2” deep and about 5 weeks old. I only have 35 taps on yard trees. Tonight I pulled the taps and sanitized then and punched my tap holes out to 2” deep. I noticed more flow instantly. So can anyone give me knowledge as to dos or donts as far as doing this? I realize guys with 100+ taps don’t wanna take the time to re tap. Most of my taps have gone to weeping instead of dripping so I thought I’d give it a shot. I’m guessing I still got about 2 weeks or so before the buds pop here in centeral mn. Slow season so far only 3.5 gallons of light Amber so far. I’m shooting for 6 gallons. Still have a lot of frozen sweet in the pans hoping to have enough sap to fire it back up tomorrow.

[SilverLeaf]

Joeyhowe - do a search on mapletrader on reaming holes, lots of info & experince from others about it. General theory seems to be "don't make a habit of it, but once in a while if the circumstances are right you can save a season by doing it"

Never done it myself, but to be honest I'm tempted to try it on some trees this year - I did notice yesterday that taps, though dripping, were not running like they should have been, given the weather, leading me to suspect the holes are past their prime. As of yesterday I do have some buds starting to open so normally I would be wrapping things up soon, but with the blizzard and another quick cold snap coming I would like to see at least one more good run yet. (I've made some excellent syrup before off of flowered trees; if it gets cold enough they can still give good sap.)

Good luck! and post your experience if you ream some more.

[TooManyIrons...]

After a nine day break, yesterday April 12 I collected 80 gallons sap and boiled off 50. Biggest production day for me so far this season. Some of my taps have stopped producing but others took up the slack. End of the season is now in sight for me. I plan on doing one more full day run, I think I have enough decent firewood and woodworking scraps to do it and should have more sap than I can process.

[Austin351]

Ice is "natures R.O." I know it is tough to throw out ice because it is sap but, it really has no value unless you are looking to boil 160 +/-gallons to 1 gallon of syrup... That is even worse than birch..

Granted, if the whole thing is frozen, just wait for it to unfreeze and you will be no worse off than out of the tap. if it is 50% frozen and 50% liquid, throw out the ice.

Here is what I am talking about (assuming pics will upload). This was a gallon of sap, 3/4 was frozen and a 1/4 was not. Over 9% sugar on the liquid, .06% when I thawed the ice block.

Edited to add some crappy pics (hard to get a good pic being so close...)1853218533

[RileySugarbush]

We’ve had some good flow the last couple of days. 260 gallons in the tank and we are going to tackle it tonight during the early part of the storm.

[TooManyIrons...]

Here is what I am talking about (assuming pics will upload). This was a gallon of sap, 3/4 was frozen and a 1/4 was not. Over 9% sugar on the liquid, .06% when I thawed the ice block.



That is good information, good science. Thanks for posting your measurements. To me the most important question was asked previously and does not appear to have been answered: If more pure water freezes out of the sap first followed eventually by the more concentrated sugar sap freezing, if allowed to do so, then does the reverse happen when melt occurs? I suspect it does because the water ice seems to be clear and dense/hard while the concentrate ice looks more like the soft ice one sees on lakes as they near ice-out, and I assume the soft ice melts before the hard ice (this has been my experience, anyway). So by letting the contents of a solidly frozen bucket thaw one can still get concentrated sap by pouring the liquid out when the ice is say 50% melted and discarding the remaining hard block of low-sugar ice. (this has also been my experience).

I have also noticed that when I let completely frozen buckets thaw the remaining block of hard ice that is floating in the melted concentrate ends up being concave/dome shaped underneath. Something to do with how the more pure water freezes out of the more concentrated sugar sap I assume? Doesn't matter, but I find it interesting...

[SDdave]

OK so I'm back in again, we'll kinda. A friend of mine has a barrel evaporator and boils outside. The past couple of days he has been trying to boil but just can't due to the weather. So he dropped off his sap, and I'm boiling once again. Kinda nice to be boiling in a nice warm shed while this April blizzard is going on.

SDdave

[TooManyIrons...]

I am shut down outside too, with a sap inventory of 85 gallons and I expect the trees to keep running once we get back to above freezing temps. Hoping to have a full day processing tomorrow. This latest round sap run here is making some wonderful syrup that has a strong hint of vanilla.

[Sapsucker1]

I'm a complete newbie to tapping silver maples, but my first batch this year was very bizarre. The syrup had the same look, consistency, and even flavor as honey - almost zero maple taste. I've heard a few others (in-person or on these threads) have had that happen with their first batches, but then it got more maple-tasting as the season progressed. I'm still collecting with this bizarre weather pattern, and hope the second batch will be more like maple syrup, but has anyone else had this happen? Is it a silver maple thing? Thanks for your collective wisdom!

[SilverLeaf]

Sapsucker1 - Definitely not a Silver Maple thing!

Its pretty normal for the syrup to start light and get darker as the season progresses. The darker it is, the stronger the maple flavor. The light stuff is considered the "fanciest" though in my experience it seems most people (at least in this part of the country) prefer it darker!

[SDdave]

Not sure if this is just a purely silver maple thing or not. But not uncommon with silvers. I've had the golden syrup come in all different times of the year, but each year is different. It maybe the first run, middle or the tail end.

IF you do not like this syrup then the appropriate way for disposal is to mail me the bottles. I'm quite experienced in this disposal process. :lol:

SDdave

[4010]

My last batch I made on April 12 was the lightest of the year, almost burned it because it looked so light in the pan.Have only been sugaring for a few years for me it usually gets light after cold temps.

[Sapsucker1]

Sapsucker1 - Definitely not a Silver Maple thing!

Its pretty normal for the syrup to start light and get darker as the season progresses. The darker it is, the stronger the maple flavor. The light stuff is considered the "fanciest" though in my experience it seems most people (at least in this part of the country) prefer it darker!

Thanks, that makes sense. The light stuff is certainly good - I go through a lot of honey anyway, which should help supplement that obsession. But I was hoping for maple syrup that tastes like...maple. :lol:

[Sapsucker1]

Not sure if this is just a purely silver maple thing or not. But not uncommon with silvers. I've had the golden syrup come in all different times of the year, but each year is different. It maybe the first run, middle or the tail end.

IF you do not like this syrup then the appropriate way for disposal is to mail me the bottles. I'm quite experienced in this disposal process. :lol:

SDdave

Ha, I bet. It's honestly great stuff, but it's just not what I was expecting. The few sugar maples I've done have produced a consistently darker maple flavor, so it threw me for a loop. Still learning! Thanks.

[highlandcattle]

Our farm was mostly sugar maples so always produced a dark rich color and flavor. These village trees are insisting on making light. No maple taste to me. Yuck. Ron worked hard to make it though. All bottled and in the pantry. It will help stretch our hoard from the farm. 1 sugar and 3 silvers here.

[Gkecon]

Tapping silver maples was at 14 now down to 5 taps probably one more day of sap. All my batches (starting in early March) have been running clear, boiling my last batches now trying to get a darker run. I think the cold cycle plus snow plus sub freezing seems to restart the sap cycle. Same thing happened last year. But in prior years with a normal cycle (gradual warming, lows in the teens highs in the 30-40s) until they bud, I would get darker runs especially towards the end. We'll see how this run turns out. I expect it to darken but who knows in this weather!

[RileySugarbush]

Our trees have been very generous for the last couple of days. We boiled 375 gallons down to 13 gallons of medium syrup between 1:00 and and 7:30 today. Looks like a couple more days to the season here.

[ssb]

Sapsucker 1 we have all silver maples and our syrup almost always tends towards the vanilla side of things. I too thought it was weird or not right when we first started but we have people that will only use our syrup because of this lighter/vanilla type taste. It’s almost always very light in color, even the late season batches. 3 years ago we put about 100 taps on some of my friends sugar maples and the syrup was definitely darker and more maple flavor. This kind of convinced us it was our trees and not our process. Don’t fret over it, enjoy the fact you have something a little different than most. If you really really want to make some darker stronger syrup try pushing the envelope at the very end. What I mean is make some very late season syrup right before the green shows up or even just the first day it does (if your taps will still run), we have made Some darker more maple tasting syrup under these conditions. We have also made some bud syrup we had to dump under these conditions. As others have said, do a small test boil and keep nose open for smells such as boiling potatoes or dirty socks or something like that. It will be obvious.

[Lano75]

Fellow Sappers! Little update from Kaiser Farms. We collected 155 gallons two days ago and 148 yesterday. Was able to boil it down from start to finish in 3 hours both nights. Bottled yesterday before we collected cause the finisher/bottler was full. 56 pints and 40 half pints. We will bottle again tonight before we collect. I hope we get sap through Sunday at least!

[SilverLeaf]

For those who are genuinely concerned with "too light" syrup, there is a tried and true way of darkening it - let the sap sit and spoil a tad before you boil it. I'm not actually recommending this approach! (its risky - let it sit too long and it will be unusable), but it would work. You can always darken syrup, though you can never lighten it. I have typically not made much light, simply because I usually can't quite keep up when the sap is really running! And all it takes is sitting out in a couple 50 degree days and the sap is starting to go. (No issues with that this year - mother nature has done an excellent job of keeping sap fresh!)

We have a good drip going today. One more freeze tonight, and then I expect it to peter out by this weekend, and so I'll probably be pulling my taps then. I'm ready to be done. Finally got my new RO up and running, almost (but not quite) too late. Missed the big run this year but at least I'm getting some good out of it now...!

[ssb]

Silver leaf, Curious about that as it is certainly out of the box thinking. We keep our sap at 38 degrees or less until we process. By spoiling it do you mean letting it sit at a warmer temp, say 50 degrees for a couple days? We let 250 gallons sit like that once for, off of memory here not looking at my notes, about 1 1/2 days when it was 60 degrees during the day and like 45 degrees night before and when we cooked it it had that buddy smell so we aborted. I think maybe it was what I’ve heard as microbial? I know it wasn’t buddy cause we had another 250 gallons in a snow bank at 35 degrees from same run that we processed separate and it was the super light vanilla type syrup we normally get.

[Sapsucker1]

Sapsucker 1 we have all silver maples and our syrup almost always tends towards the vanilla side of things. I too thought it was weird or not right when we first started but we have people that will only use our syrup because of this lighter/vanilla type taste. It’s almost always very light in color, even the late season batches. 3 years ago we put about 100 taps on some of my friends sugar maples and the syrup was definitely darker and more maple flavor. This kind of convinced us it was our trees and not our process. Don’t fret over it, enjoy the fact you have something a little different than most. If you really really want to make some darker stronger syrup try pushing the envelope at the very end. What I mean is make some very late season syrup right before the green shows up or even just the first day it does (if your taps will still run), we have made Some darker more maple tasting syrup under these conditions. We have also made some bud syrup we had to dump under these conditions. As others have said, do a small test boil and keep nose open for smells such as boiling potatoes or dirty socks or something like that. It will be obvious.

Alright, good to know. I did do a test boil today and it turned out the same - maybe even lighter - and tastes like strange honey again. I've got another 15 gallons of sap sitting around, and will finish my season with that. But the trees have been pouring sap out the last couple days! Thanks again.

[SilverLeaf]

ssb - its risky! as I say, I dont recommend it as an "intentional" strategy. But my experience (take it or leave it) has been: I usually can't quite keep up with my sap (with my new RO hopefully that will be a distant memory!). My typical method of keeping the sap cool is to freeze a 5-gal pail of sap (a "sap-sicle") and put one per 55-gal drum (I usually don't have enough snow to work with). Usually thats fine, but when the temps push 50-60 during the day those sapsicles only last a couple days, which isn't long enough for new ones to form in my chest freezer. So most years I have a period of time where I'm struggling to keep up with the boiling, and also can't quite keep the sap at the optimal temp. And usually my result is that I start out with medium syrup which gets darker toward the end. Still good tasting, but darker. Only one year have I had a big problem - I made 10+ gallons of super ropey syrup that I had to dump - I don't know if it was actually "microbial" or not but I do know there were some extended warm periods that year and I was definitely losing the "keep it cool" game. A fair amount of cloudiness went into the evaporator that year.

There is some useful info on the 'trader (seems to me Dr. Tim from UVM has chimed in a bit in the past on this) about the relationship between sap quality and the color of the syrup. Worth searching around a bit for it.

[ssb]

Silverleaf, Thanks for the awesome explanation, it’s interesting to hear you talk about a “darker” syrup off silvers. Did the darker syrup have a “stronger” or more maple taste? I will find and check out those other threads.

[Lano75]

Another 124 last night. Hoping for 2-3 more days.

[RileySugarbush]

We made another 7 gallons yesterday. With the big flow the syrup has become light for the first time this year. It did freeze here last night so we should have a good run today but I fear the taps are getting a little old.

[SilverLeaf]

ssb - yep, darker = more flavor

Here are a couple threads that talk about the relationship between older sap and darker syrup:
http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?9147-of-sugars-silvers-and-dark-syrup
http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?20711-What-factors-makes-syrup-darken-as-the-season-progresses

[TooManyIrons...]

Today will be my last day boiling sap, I have had enough of it for this year. Sap is still running but I pulled the taps yesterday, have more sap than I can use and will be dumping the extra after today's processing. Managed to scrounge up enough firewood to last out the extended season which really surprised me. I have no idea how much sap I have processed so far as I have not added up the numbers. Don't know how much syrup I have at this point but I think it will be around 18 gallons, which is quite a bit more than my 12 gallon goal. All things considered it has been a good year...

[212Maple]

I too will be pulling my taps tonight/tomorrow. I will update with final numbers after processing this weekend, but so far over 3,500 gallons of sap and about 102 gallons of syrup. I am ready for tractor driving season!

[Islander]

Things are looking sweeter on the Island today. Sap let loose this week and the weather is fine with a 3 day weekend ahead. I will boil either through the weekend or until the wood runs out and call it a rescued season on Sunday to move on to other spring activities.


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[warners point]

After collecting 180 gallons over the last few days, today was horrible, even with a prime freeze/thaw. I think there's still to much frost in the ground. The metro trees are letting loose but being 2.5 hours north we are normally 2 weeks behind our metro friends. I fear with the extended forcast our season is going to be lost.

[GoldyCon]

After collecting 180 gallons over the last few days, today was horrible, even with a prime freeze/thaw. I think there's still to much frost in the ground. The metro trees are letting loose but being 2.5 hours north we are normally 2 weeks behind our metro friends. I fear with the extended forcast our season is going to be lost.

Same in Cromwell. My yard trees did well but the forest trees are still locked up and the ground is still very frozen.

[chad]

After collecting 180 gallons over the last few days, today was horrible, even with a prime freeze/thaw. I think there's still to much frost in the ground. The metro trees are letting loose but being 2.5 hours north we are normally 2 weeks behind our metro friends. I fear with the extended forcast our season is going to be lost.

Same thing in my woods south of Mille Lacs lake. I to fear our season is going to be a bust, gathered 3 gallons off of 50 taps

[BigPine]

NW Corner of Mille Lacs - 81 taps - about 350 gallons of sap. Cooked yesterday, still need to reduce concentrate. Guessing about 9 gallons of syrup. I will leave my taps in, but I wonder if it is about done.

[billschi]

I have both Accuweather and weather.com tabs always up on my computer. According to weather.com, the season is almost over. The accuweather forecast gives me looks promising. Being an optimist, I am wanting to believe accuweather.

[TooManyIrons...]

The silver maples started blooming here today. All the taps holes have ceased weeping sap, taps were removed Thursday and Friday. Temperature reached 59 degrees by my most accurate thermometer which means we have still not reached 60 degrees here yet this year.

I finished my last batch of concentrate today, will be blending and bottling tomorrow. The last two days of processing sap did not produce very good syrup, but it is usable. Had I known this would occur I would have skipped those last two batches. I do not plan on blending this syrup into my main syrup inventory. I now have no regrets that I dumped my remaining 35 gallons of sap rather than processing it.

[Wannabe!apleMan]

Crazy spring it has been!
After the big storm meltdown I collected over 60 gallons in one day on natural vacuum.
Boiled down 200 gallons over the weekend on my barrel stove with auf at 240 cfm.
18590
Going bigger on the evaporator next season.
I was able to process more than anticipated on the barrel stove. Used ceramic insulation and firebrick on it.18591
Also did small scale RO and that was definitely a true time saver.
Tapped 6 big black walnut trees for fun and boiled down to approx 1/2 gallon of syrup.
Really good syrup with a walnut finish to it. They produced way less sap then the maples but will tap more next year.
Ended up with 18 gallons of maple syrup this season.
Learned a lot this season and look forward to next
Now time to clean it all up!

[RileySugarbush]

All finished here in Eden Prairie as well. We put out the word to friends and neighbors around the lake and had kids running through the woods collecting sacks and just having fun while we finished our last 300 gallons on a beautiful sunny Saturday The last bit of sap was less than perfect with a weak flavor. We ended the year with a record 68 gallons of syrup. Like was just mentioned, it was a strange season around here, but we had a great time.

[Joeyhowe]

Finished up the season and pull my taps Saturday morning. I think reaming my holes saved my season. Didn’t keep track of my sap but ended up with 7.25 gallons of sap on 25 taps. I tapped a little earlier then I should have hince the reason I reamed my holes half way through the season. Over all even with he weird season I beat my last years syrup numbers by a gallon and a half. Upgraded from a block arch to a barrel stove type evaporator this year and wasn’t too pleased with it. I’m gonna have to bite the bullet and build an arch this summer and upgrade to a continuous flow pan. Have lots of trees that I haven’t tapped yet but with the time it takes to keep up with 25 taps and a full time job I don’t know how much more I want to take on by myself with no help. Can’t wait to hear how everyone else’s season went.

[212Maple]

I pulled the last of my taps Saturday afternoon. Overall a great season! Just over 4,000 gallons of sap collected and 125 gallons of syrup on 340 taps. My best season ever! My Memprotec 200 was a great investment; used about 2 cord of oak firewood through the 2x6 Smoky Lake. Now it is time to rest and recover before Deere season (farming).

[SilverLeaf]

Pulled all my taps yesterday too. Haven't finished everything off yet but it does look like a strong (though not record-breaking) season for me. Sugar content was on the high side right up until the end.
A wierd year though! (I seem to say that every year...!) Had no trouble keeping sap cold this year. :lol: Another odd feature was a full two-week gap between when the buds started to open and when the flowers decided to peek out... seems like that is usually just a few days.

Definitely glad I upgraded to an RO this year, even though it missed half the season. Quite the learning curve on that thing, but once I get the hang of it I can tell it will be a critical part of my operation.

Here's hoping the weather cools off a bit for our (patient) friends way up north still waiting for a run...! (Though keep it up there! I'm rather loving this 65 degree stuff.)

[Shorty]

We're done. Mark pulled the taps the other day. I cooked down 130 gallons of sap in 9 hours today. This was my first and last cooking of the season; I hurt my foot last Fall and have been forced to take it a little easy. Mark and his family made 30 gallons and will finish another 3 or 4 gallons that's left in the cooker.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Talked to the other producers in my little neck of the woods and all 5 of us made more syrup this year than ever before. Now yes some of us added some taps but the weather did drag on but there were nice stretches of big sap days.

[Trapper2]

4-25-18 Final cook down last night, I ended the season with 18.5 Gallons off of 70 taps and buckets. Just over a quart per tap. Is that about normal for buckets and bags? I was tapped in for 5.5 weeks. I probably could have left the taps in for another 3 days and cracked the 20 gallon mark.

[MN Jake]

Sunday was the last day for us. Drained flue pan and filled with permeate and finished it all in the front. Got 12 gallons out of that. Record year for us at 140 gallons and happy about it but never pulled in more than 250 gallons of sap a day out of 500 taps. Good year though, can't complain.

[billschi]

The trees finally started to run today. About 20% had nothing in the bags, so I pulled them and tapped different trees. I was amazed at the pressure of the sap running out of the new trees. I also added an additional 35 taps, so I am at 235 trees. We may only have 3 days of running. I will be very lucky to get 10 gallons of finished product this year.
18606

[TooManyIrons...]

My 2018 maple season is finished other than processing 4 gallons of syrup into sugar which I will be starting on today. All the equipment is cleaned up and stowed.

Installed first taps 03.05.18
Pulled last taps 04.19.18

First Processing Day: 03.19.18
Last Processing Day: 04.20.18

Total Sap Collected = 581 Gallons
Total Finished Syrup = 22 Gallons

Number of Taps = 44
Number of Trees Tapped = 20
Tree Type = Silver Maple

Average Sap/Syrup Ratio = 26.5:1
Average Sap/Tap = 13.2 Gallons
Average Sap/Tree = 29 Gallons

I enjoyed reading all the posts in this Minnesota forum and I thank people for participating here. It is fun reading about other people's adventures.

[billschi]

Yesterday was my biggest boil so far, 106 gallons. At the beginning of the season, I thought this would be my smallest batch. What I do know is both of the evaporators I built work very well and are ready for when we do get a good season. I've had a total of about 250 gallons of sap from 235 trees. Some trees are starting to bud now. I think I'll take those taps and put them on the Birch trees and see if I can salvage the season.
Here's a video of the evaporator I made.

https://youtu.be/-FrrOZM5nvU

[BigPine]

Wow! Very nice - how deep is your pan? and how deep do you run the sap in it?
For me, and being a hobby, I enjoy the physics.

[billschi]

I got the pan and heating oil barrel for free last fall. It's only 4" tall. I run it about 1" deep.
I paid about $350for everything. $300 for firebrick and then just stove pipe.

[RileySugarbush]

If you guys have never been, you should consider joining us at the Minnesota Maple Syrup Producers meeting on the 19th. It's in your home town, Big Pine! There will be big and small producers there, old hands and newbies. I always learn something new and meet some great people.

[BigPine]

Thanks for the tip! Only a few miles away and I was unaware. Have been to the Woodrow's Retail Store - great resource to have in our backyard!