nova scotia 2020

[nhdog]

weather hasn't been to good here where i am but looking to tap next week. has anyone started yet in n.s.?

[Danielb]

I started putting out taps yesterday. Have 18 out so far, and a few of them started to run late this afternoon with a few hours of sun on them.
tomorrow I plan to get another 30 or 40 out across the road.

[ksmeagher]

Got about 400 done today, some holes were running a little. 50 more to do tomorrow and a couple hours of tubing repair, ill hang 50 buckets when it starts coming good. Nice weather for it this weekend. hopefully ill be able to flush the lines out and tighten the vacuum up this week.

[Danielb]

I set another 37 today, sap was running out of the holes before the drops and/or spiles could be driven in. Beautiful day for tapping.
Had to put together a temporary pan setup to boil with until my flue pan is finished. Have 2 steam pans and my new front 16x24 to boil on for the time being. Hopefully I will have the flue pan by Tuesday, then I can get my float boxes all set up.

[nhdog]

today looked so good i couldn't wait. got 40 taps in. those along the edge of the field were running real good. hope this is a good start.

[Syrup By The Sea]

I tapped 50 trees today. It climbed to +6C in Lunenburg and all but a few trees were running....some were running quite well. Looks like lots of above and below 0C forecast for the next two weeks, but we'll see.

[Syrup By The Sea]

My taps have been in for 2 days now. I collected what was there today and my yield was ~40L. None of the trees were running, so I guess it didn't get cold enough for long enough after the thaw on Sunday, or maybe it's still a bit early.

[Danielb]

I collected about 145L yesterday. Boiled down to about 2 gallons in 4 hrs. Trees are still a little slow to get going, but not bad for a first boil

[nhdog]

syurp by the sea, i'm just down the road from you (outside bridgewater) i have 50 taps in now. mostly red maples and got 60 lt. in the last 2 days. those in the woods are dripping but not even worth collecting every day. still early yet.

[Syrup By The Sea]

Yes, slow going it seems but looks like we'll get some good cold evening temps this weekend....just need some nice warm sun on those trees during the day. Being by the coast seems to moderate the predicted temps, and depending on which way the wind blows off of the ocean/land might affect how the trees respond. I'll check the buckets at the end of the week/weekend again. Fingers crossed as I'd LOVE to do a boil this weekend, my last years' stock is nearly gone.

[theonlybull]

tapped monday night here ( was away on the weekend) ran good monday/tuesday. yesterday afternoon i got a little more.
haven't finished my new arch yet, but hope to this week, so i can put in more then 12 taps...

[nhdog]

according to the temperature charts for march at accuweather.com we should start to see the good weather for the runs to start now.

[Syrup By The Sea]

I'm going to check my buckets in a few days. Wasn't much over the weekend. Looks like the temps might be coming around though. Did you get anything close to Bridgewater where you are over the weekend nhdog??

[CBLA]

I tapped 35 trees on the weekend. hopefully get a run this week.

[nhdog]

syrup by the sea
over the weekend was slow but, i had a big run yesterday (wed). i spent all day today boiling to get caught up.

[CBLA]

I collected 160 liters of sap on Wednesday. I froze it for a later boil.

[Syrup By The Sea]

I collected ~100L of sap today (aprox. 2L/bucket), just a few were bone dry and a few had close to 5L. Not bad and hoping tonight and tomorrows' predicted temps and sunshine will hold true so we can get even more flow. Sunday loos nice as well. Certainly will boil this weekend.....oh baby.
I'm tapping all red maples and my brix was 1.5 today.

[amelvin]

I'm up in the Annapolis Valley on the Minas Basin. Tapped 15 trees on the 22nd, and another couple since. Trees are generally on the smaller side of what I'd like and are on a North slope, but I've had 100 litres of sap so far, with 3 or 4 trees producing the bulk of that.

I'm new to this addiction, but boiling over a propane burner and waiting for windless days/evenings to boil have kept me busy enough. Hoping to next year have a barrel arch built and RO system of someone done up, which will give me more tap capacity.

[nhdog]

i boiled again yesterday and then finished off some of my near syrup. got a little more near syrup to finish packed in the snow but am waiting to boil again as i still have some in the pan almost read to take off. i am batch boiling on a home made arch and only getting about 6 to 7 gal/hr. right now but hope to build a small decent sugar house next summer and perhaps move up a constant draw unit. what are you folks using?
21143 21144 21142

[Danielb]

21146
Finally started my continuous flow yesterday, until the wife came in and distracted me long enough to scorch my syrup pan (I put all the blame on her, not on the Bud)
2 x 4 homemade, all from the bottom up. 24x32 raised flue, 16x24 divided syrup pan. About 15gph, in Paradise, NS

[lilskipper]

Hey all new to forum and new to maple syrup, got a the addiction last year. Had 6 buckets on propane burner , up graded to 36 buckets and 20 on tap for this year. Mostly red maples got about 50gal of sap last week. Boiling now on a lapierre Waterloo small 3 by 2 pan going well. Get some good weather be nice to see some more sap flowing here in the northeast

[Syrup By The Sea]

Boiled ~175L today and ended up with a little over 2L of finished. I'm using a WF Mason (2x3) with a blower. I drove all the way down to southern Maine and picked it up at his house. Cool guy!!!

[CBLA]

Syrup by the Sea, what is your evaporation rate like on the Mason?

[nhdog]

syrup by the sea. i am going to call bill and order his 2x3 or the 2x4 but i have been waiting to find out about getting it back across the border. did you have any problems or difficulties other than the tax. what happened when you came back??

[Syrup By The Sea]

CBLA, with the ~175L I had, it took roughly 4.5 hours to reduce it to ~10L....I finished the remainder on the stove. So, 35L/hr maybe?? There were a few factors as well. I used up some softwood I had sitting outside. It was slightly damp but well seasoned. I have only used hardwood in the past which burns longer so you don't have to feed the fire as much. I found I lost my rolling boil a few times due to the wood supply burning down so quickly. I also kept the blower at a bit over medium since I wasn't in a rush to get it done quickly since the day was nice. As a side note: I found the finished syrup was very clear this year (last year it was cloudy after filtering but it settled out over a few month). This run had very little sugar sand to filter out and I had next to no accumulation of the nitre on the rim of the pan. I find keeping the foam off of the sides during the boil with a wooden spoon seemed to help it from sticking on and burning, so easier clean up afterwards.

[Syrup By The Sea]

One more small point to CBLA. All of my storage containers had a mix of ice/slush in them when I was doing the boil, so that hindered the speed of the boiling/evaporation as well.

nhdog, Bill's place is close to the New Hampshire boarder. I started the drive in the morning and stayed there overnight, then met up with Bill the next morning. He and his helper helped me get the evaporator into my vehicle and he provided a receipt with the purchase, which I then presented to the boarder agent on the way back and paid the applicable duty, no probs. It was funny when the officers looked in my car and questioned what I was bringing back. It took quite a bit of explaining to convince them that it was a device for processing maple syrup...they seemed suspicious for sure. Be careful if you get a chance to purchase a second-hand one that already has the firebrick installed, the drive could cause the mortar to crack and break up. On the whole, I am super impressed by its simplicity and efficiency. Mine doesn't have a whole lot of bells and whistle but most certainly gets the job done. Very solid, well made and I highly recommend getting the blower add-on. I even had wheels installed on the front legs and had two removable round stock handle pockets welded to either side so you can wheel it outside and store it inside depending on your setup. Heavy, but doable.

[nhdog]

hope everyone has been having the same runs as i had this pass week . my poor little arch can only do 6 to 7 gal.per hour and i got behind so i'm kind of glad to see a couple days of cold temps. i've only got 3 sugar the rest are red but this year they seem to be doing much better than before. so i spent the last 2 days finishing of my near syrup and have put up a little over 6 gal.from my 70 taps.

[Danielb]

I boiled wednesday, thursday, and sunday in the last week. Boiled about 320 gallons or sap over the 3 days, I made about 6.5 gallons of syrup over the 3 days. Still have my pans sweet, so hopefully today will produce enough sap to fire up again

[nhdog]

i ran across this the other day. i don't know if your other half shares the same enjoyment as those of us who set around watching the fire as the pans bellow up steam or perhaps they just think we are a little off and should find some way more useful to spend our time. In any case have them watch this video with you. Guaranteed to at least make them smile. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqreE_O6mBU&app=desktop

[Pdiamond]

nhdog
Awesome video. When my wife gets home tomorrow I'll have her watch it.

[theonlybull]

thoughts on how much longer things will run? it's been up and down here, we seem to get one good run a week, then the temp stay's up for a few days...

[nhdog]

same thing here on the south shore. the wife talked to a friend over in Barss Corner and things are slow there too. last thursday and friday were half decent runs but the rest left a lot to be desired .

[Syrup By The Sea]

I boiled 2 weekends ago and only made a bit more than 2 litres of finished, from about 175L of red maple sap. The syrup is great but the ratios are not the best. Although red maples have lower sugar content, is anybody else seeing a lower count this year in their area? Might be due to the really dry summer we had last year and some stress on the trees. My sap flow has slowed as well lately.

[nhdog]

i finished off what i had this am and got another 5 gts. my ratio this year is none to good either. i only have 4 sugar maples the rest all red and half of them are in the woods with small tops. i,m running about 65/70 taps and have put up 7&1/2 gal. so far.

[nhdog]

syrup by the sea,
for the heck of it tonight, i checked out my log book and for the year so far i've gotten 1 gal syrup from 47.8 gal. of sap. which is a higher ratio of course than those folks with all sugar trees. i use u.s. because all my collection and storage tanks are in gal. and also when it goes into the pans. (of course in metric it is the same ratio, 47.8 lt. to 1 lt of syrup.)
i seem to think perhaps you may have gotten rain water or snow into your sap. what have your other boils looked like ?
i'm going to pick up a sap hydrometer this summer just for the heck of it and check my sap next year after i collect.

[Syrup By The Sea]

Yeah, my ratios have been much better in previous years from what I remember but I'll have to look at my past records to verify. I now use ice cream buckets with a sealed lid to collect the sap, and the hose is in the side of the bucket, so not much of a chance for any significant water to get in there. All of the sap was very clear as well. I donated ~60L of fresh sap to a friend last weekend so he could do a small boil and he ended up with 550ml of finished, so ~1:100 ratio, almost like tapping birch!!

[CBLA]

my ratios are defiantly worst this year. a lot more dirt/sugar sand as well ( usually attributed to a bad growing season). I have 37 taps out and 30 are sugar maple. 14L of syrup so far this year.

[theonlybull]

we seem to get 1-2 runs per week, the rest of the week is too cold/too warm... didn't expect much this weekend, but the temp is -3 right now, hoping to get one more boil.
i had 15 taps, added 4 more last week, so far we have almost 2 1/2 gallons of syrup, not sure how much sap, but it's 1/2 gallon more then last year

[Danielb]

Bill, hope the new evaporator is working good still.

I'm looking at pulling my taps today or tomorrow. Have been getting some cloudy syrup lately, and a lot of my taps are drying up. Should have between 12 and 14 gallons once I finish off what is in the pans. Wouldnt call it a great season by any means, but it'll have to do.

[nhdog]

i pulled my taps sunday. most of the red the red maple pretty much gave up, plus had a couple already clouding up. left my taps in the sugar maples ,but today they too don't show much promise. i'll give them a day or two and see. i have some sap in the tank so i'l boil off and call it quits for the season, this will be the shortest season in a while. did a little over 8 gallons so that more than takes care of a few christmas presents and a whole lot left over for our self. i had low sugar content and it seems a lot more niter this year too.