2021 Season

[ChaskaSap]

As my bones feel the season creeping closer I gazed at the extended forecast in the Twin Cities. I was hoping for an extra early start this year, but doesn't appear to be so, 1st week in March perhaps.

[Keitha333]

I am guessing it will most likely be when we are all at our busiest! I just looked an I had my first boil about a month from now last year... March 15th. That was enough for me to order filters, get equipment ready, buried the barrels, and catch up on here!

[ndtempel]

Gonna tap a few test holes this weekend in SE MN.

[RileySugarbush]

We will be running our 3/16 tubing during this upcoming warm spell, but I don't see tapping until a more sustained warm forecast.

[beau4979]

Debating on tapping my trees for the upcoming warm up, even though it is going to be short lived. Is it worth it/should I wait?

[ChaskaSap]

I'm debating the same thing looks like a 3 or so day warm up and then out a week for the next.

[beau4979]

I mean, it won't hurt anything. Plus they will be in when the main flow starts. Think I'll go ahead and put them in. I don't do that many, maybe a dozen trees.

[maple flats]

For those using 3/16 laterals you don't need to be concerned about a few days flow followed by a long freeze. As long as you had a flow before the freeze you had sap in the tubing, thus vacuum on the tap. That will keep the tap hole viable. The big operations, with several thousand taps, often start tapping in mid December and once the sap flows the vacuum pumps go online and run 24/7 until the season ends, they end up getting over 4 months, sometimes even 5 months and the tap holes do not dry up. The secret is full time vacuum, which 3/16 gives you as long as you have the required fall in elevation.

[ChaskaSap]

I think I'll pop mine in as well. I'll be nice to have them in place.

[Keitha333]

I am going to wait up here...

[SDdave]

I've decided to hold off 'til the first weekend in March. The temps look good in this upcoming week, but I am going to hold off a week. Talked with my farmers this weekend, the general consensus is I should have been tapping weeks ago since when I show up spring comes fast! Now it's the busy scurry of getting everything set up and sanitized.

SDdave

[ChaskaSap]

Just walked around the patch and about half the taps are just starting up. I have a couple that are going a fairly nicely.

[Greenfin]

Here in Rochester I will be tapping 100ish suburban trees. I will be waiting till the next week or so to tap as my early taps last year were out performed by my late taps.

But to be honest its really hard to wait thinking I could be missing out. However I remember a story from my youth about a rabbit and a turtle and the turtle always won.

[Keitha333]

For those who have taps out have you had any luck?

[ndtempel]

I tapped a silver maple in my front yard as an indicator tree on Monday evening. It just started running late yesterday afternoon. Putting in all 200 taps tomorrow. This is a good article explaining the pros and cons of when to tap.

https://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/when-is-the-best-time-for-sugarmakers-to-tap-their-maple-trees

[Marj]

I've been tapping my black walnut trees for a couple of years and after looking closely at the upcoming daytime/nighttime temps decided to put in my taps today. I was a bit late last year so didn't want that to happen again, especially since black walnuts yield less sap than maples. I tap 15 trees using buckets and stainless steel spiles and all of the taps began dripping right away. It looks like it will be a little cool here for the weekend but then warming up again. Fingers crossed for a good season!

[ChaskaSap]

Update in Chaska. I had about 1/2 my taps dripping on Monday and Tuesday then stopped until late yesterday. Didn't get too much. Today however is a good day, almost all are dripping in some manner with many running very nicely.

[Keitha333]

With the change in the forecast for next week and it looking more ideal I went for it this afternoon here in MIlaca. To my suprise about 3/4 of my 50 taps were running and running quite well. IF next weeks forecasts holds it may be game on!

[RileySugarbush]

We will be fully tapped by tomorrow afternoon in Eden Prairie. It is starting to flow and the forecast looks good.

[DocsMapleSyrup]

Planning to sink taps this morning when I get off work in Esko. This year has snuck up on me. Thought I was going to get another week or two to get tanks cleaned out, RO build finished, and vacuum releaser build finished, but the ten day forecast is looking pretty good. Will probably have to start without vacuum for a week or so but hope to have everything up and running in a week or two. Hope you all have a good year.

[Keitha333]

About 5 gallons on 50 taps. Most are "awake" and getting started, all Silvers Milaca

[tpathoulas]

Tapping tomorrow. Tubing is up, hoping to get 100-125 taps in. The forecast looks good for the next couple of weeks.

[Bombadil]

40 taps in on Sunday, about half were wet or running. All Silvers in the Princeton area.

[ChaskaSap]

The Saturday run was a fairly good, my 70 taps pulled in just shy of 45 gallons. Most were dripping, some had about a gallon, others trickled. Of course there are several waiting for warmer days ahead Boiled it down yesterday and ended February with over a gallon of darkish amber.

Christopher

[Chris St]

Put in 44 5/16 drop to buckets today near Wrenshall and 1/3 were starting to drip.

[buck3m]

Tapped and hung 150 buckets today in east central. Enough snow to make it tiring! Most trees were dripping slowly. Looks like a nice early start to the season.

[Corn Cribe]

Put in 19 taps yesterday north of Willmar, all Silvers. 2/3 were running today.

[ChaskaSap]

I had some production yesterday but this morning they all woke up at 9ish.

[Jeeves]

The Black Walnuts I tapped last week came to life yesterday. I've had some flow but not a lot until yesterday. Today I tapped 8 more around 11:00 am and each of them just gushed. Starting to look good. Fingers crossed.
Here's to a great season for all of us.
Best to everyone,
Johnny

[ThiefCatcher]

I put in 64 taps in 26 silver maples SW of Hutchinson yesterday. Nearly all were dripping slowly. After about 5 hours, a few of the first trees to be tapped had about an inch of sap in the 5 gallon buckets.

[Islander]

Set taps Tuesday, test boil to adjust the float complete, now just waiting for the tote to fill up.

[ddociam]

I finished getting my 700 taps in by Tuesday. Some of my mainline is still under a snow drift. My wire was down and I fixed numerous squirrel chews. All my Shurflo pumps are up and running. Some of my lines are flowing well some are slow. I gathered about two hundred gallons today. My main RO pump broke so I’m using my single post to concentrate.
I finally got my new Smokylake 3 x 8 evaporator set up and tested. So tomorrow I will have my first boil And hope to have my first batch in bottles this weekend. It looked like we have 3 or 4 above freezing days in a row so things will go fast then will probably slow way down until the trees recharge. It should give us a chance to wash everything up before it picks up again.
happily sugaring in Minnesota.

[Steelesteed]

Tapped 12 today, all sugers. Eight flowing. going to be early first boil. 20 miles north of Bemidji.

[Keitha333]

Got another 20 today and boiled most of what I had stored. Now running the last 30 gallons or so in the RO and will boil that tomorrow afternoon. Early first batch!

[Keitha333]

I thought I would get a better run today than I did. I had been getting 20 gallons the past few days in Milaca and only 18 gallons today. Must not have got cold enough last night?

[Schnep's]

Put in 80 taps Friday and Saturday, all running good so put the last 30 in Sunday.
Collected 75 gallons yesterday. We were going to wait for cold weather which might be here next week. But we couldn't miss this good run. Just at the South end of Mille Lacs lake

[Bombadil]

Sap slowed on Sunday in Princeton MN. Must not have gotten cold enough over night.

[DocsMapleSyrup]

Sap flow was really low here in Esko today, even with vacuum. I'm strongly considering shutting off the vacuum until the weather cools down and the trees recharge.

[TooManyIrons...]

Monday March 08 was my first and so far only processing day for 2021. Boiled off 85 gallons in a twelve hour day, my personal best after making some slight modifications last season on my little scratchbuilt wood fueled arch. Sap run has been slow, spotty, and inconsistent so far which is much different than last year, which might be due to generally dry weather last fall, below average snowfall this winter, and resulting deep frost depth. Boiled off the concentrate yesterday, ratio ended up approximately 26:1 on all silvers. Decent quality and flavor, have had better. I expect the sap harvest to improve, plenty of season remaining as long as we do not have any ridiculous 60-70 degree temps in the remaining days of March into early April.

I am cutting back on this hobby, tapped fewer trees this year and will continue to reduce in the future if I decide to continue at it. I dropped my goal back down to 8 gallons of finished product and would be happy with 6 gallons, which was my general production goal back 5-6 years ago. Getting too hard for me to do from a physical standpoint. Considering selling off my setup, might be time to move on to other things.

Based on what I have been collecting I should be able to do my next production run tomorrow/Friday.

Finally got around to acquiring a digital thermometer, definitely a helpful equipment upgrade for me. Also finally got a decent long handled stainless commercial dipper which I have wanted for a couple years. It is the little things in life that make a person happy. :-)

Last year 2020 was my best year ever, ended up with 14 gallons of the best syrup I have ever made, consuming only one full cord of firewood for the entire season. Averaged 28:1 for the entire season on all silvers. The syrup processed into the nicest, most consistent granulated sugar I have ever made. Turned 12 of the 14 gallons of syrup into granulated sugar, which is in much more demand around here than maple syrup.

Wishing everyone a safe, rewarding maple sugaring season.

[ChaskaSap]

I passed 300 gallons on Tuesday. Caught up boiling last night which got me just shy of 7 gallons. I see several trees have turned back on this morning (the bonus of working from home, living in the woods is I have constant eye on things). Spring is wonderful!

[SDdave]

Collected this morning, nice and brisk out. Had a dang squirrel drop an ear of corn by me and scared me half to death. Looked up at him and saw that half of the tree had big red buds, the other half of the tree had green antennae sticking out. Ugh. Makes sense with the super nice weather this last week. Not getting too worried as its supposed to get back to the normal high 30's/low 20's. Time will tell

SDdave

[Keitha333]

Coming out of the trees pretty good today in Milaca....a number of trees gave a couple gallons which was fun

[TooManyIrons...]

Last Thursday had a heavy sap run, Friday here was the heaviest sap run of the season so far, Saturday slowed down quite a bit and Sunday very little if any. As it stands right now all collecting buckets are empty.

Sunday March 14 I was able to use up all my sap inventory and do a complete finish to the bulk processing on the arch before the storm hit. Nothing remains on the arch and it is cleaned up and ready to start fresh when the sap run starts up again. Monday during the storm I processed all the concentrate and ended up with 11 gallons of syrup.

Total sap harvest to date is 280 gallons on 18 trees. Sap to syrup ratio approximately 26:1. Syrup is decent, average, dark.

Next I will do a test batch to see how well the syrup turns into granulated sugar. My intention is to turn most of my syrup into sugar. If the test goes well I will continue to harvest sap and process, if it does not go well I am done making syrup for the year as I have no need for a lot of syrup. 11 gallons of syrup is already well past my goal, but if it makes decent sugar I will collect sap and process through to the end of the season as I still have a fair amount of ambition and plenty of firewood. At the end of the season after removal of taps, equipment cleanup, and blending and bottling, I will then do all the syrup-to-granulated sugar processing and packaging. This last step usually adds a week to my season length.

[SilverLeaf]

Hello all! Last week was an excellent week for me. I expect a good run this week too.

I've got open buds here by Marshall though, it looks like it may be time to start pulling taps this weekend. If so, it looks like we still got a lock on a "decent" year, though its funny how it almost feels disappointing after last year's bumper crop. :lol:

This year I experimented with a group of taps on 3/15 tubing setup on a Shurflo pump. I think I'm liking it! Not only does it flow a little more reliably, but I'm really jiving the "not carrying heavy buckets through the woods" thing....

[Schnep's]

Running good now just don't know how long it will last. Collected 120gallons yesterday and 130 day before. We have made 10gallons of nice syrup so far with about 4 more ready to finish. The new bucket RO has been working great.

[dew042]

Running good now just don't know how long it will last. Collected 120gallons yesterday and 130 day before. We have made 10gallons of nice syrup so far with about 4 more ready to finish. The new bucket RO has been working great.

Yes, ran great the last few days near Milaca too. 57 gallons on 16 taps over a three day soak, with some lost to overflowing buckets. Surprised me, it was a late night boiling last night.

[BigPine]

Great to hear - did you get the 3 membrane r/o?
My sap started out at 1.25 brix so the r/o really helped. Running good here - collected about 4 g per tap so far with another 1-2 gallons per tap still in buckets to be collected. I have about 120 taps. Approaching my 30 year average of 6.7 g per tap. I was worried about getting to my average with so little snow cover.
NW Corner of Mille Lacs Lake.

Running good now just don't know how long it will last. Collected 120gallons yesterday and 130 day before. We have made 10gallons of nice syrup so far with about 4 more ready to finish. The new bucket RO has been working great.

[TooManyIrons...]

The sugaring arch is shut down for another season here. Pulled taps Friday morning, did final processing yesterday Saturday which ended my final four 12 hour day processing run. Got five gallons of 50% concentrate remaining to finish off today. By chance I collected and processed exactly 500 gallons of sap from 18 trees this year, a new personal best. So much for my reduced season, I guess I can cut back to 8-10 trees from now on. Could have quit any time but had the sap, plenty of firewood, and time available so I just kept at it. Still have a lot of firewood remaining, guess I overshot that aspect.

I expect better than 30:1 which will put me at minumum 16-17 gallons of finished syrup, which is another personal best that I do not expect to ever meet or beat in future.

Lots of work to do yet before my season is over, but glad things are in the final stages.

[BigPine]

I purchased used quad tanks (260 g) from a commercial syrup producer. They had been used for transporting bulk syrup and had different weights marked on the side - and crossed off ….. I think syrup is 11 #/g versus 8 for water ….. ?

[Keitha333]

I pulled the taps Friday afternoon and processes the weeks haul (210g) after a late Friday night, early and late Saturday, then finished in a couple hours today. I am fairly sure the trees will make it through this warm up but I am tired. Got most of my stuff washed and is now air drying good in the shed. Ended the year with 11.25g of sap. I was nervous after the first boil as I had about a 46:1 ratio. That proved to be short lived as for the remaining boils it was around 35:1 which is about my usual. Nothing really new this year just thankful for building the RO last year as this year time availability was tough with the extended wrestling season. Nonetheless I hope those of you that are still going have full buckets!

[Bombadil]

My trees are not producing much in the last 2 days.... the trees are looking ready to bud soon. I am thinking this season may be done in the Princeton area.

[buck3m]

I purchased used quad tanks (260 g) from a commercial syrup producer. They had been used for transporting bulk syrup and had different weights marked on the side - and crossed off ….. I think syrup is 11 #/g versus 8 for water ….. ?

Yup, a gallon of maple syrup weighs between about 11.02 and 11.20 pounds per gallon depending on Brix. http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?12487-Fill-lines-for-jars-and-bottles&p=145366#post145366

[Schnep's]

I big Pine yes I did get the 3 membrane and is is working great. We have about 22 gallons of syrup so far. Hoping to get a couple more days at the end of this week. Trees here are not budding yet and there is still frost in the woods.

[Schnep's]

I meant to say Hi not I, sorry

[Islander]

Last collection Friday 3/19 and pulled the remaining taps. Taps in certain areas were pulled the week prior due to buddy sap. One of our shortest seasons. Finished with 10 gallons of syrup from 43 taps, mostly dark some amber. Less than last year but more than I thought with how the season had been going. The arch we built last year produces much darker syrup than we’re used to getting on the barrel evaporator. Now working on getting it all cleaned up and put away.

[Bombadil]

In the Princeton area, some of my silver maples have buddy sap, others not too bad. Production is not happening, may be my lowest season ever for syrup produced.

[dew042]

In the Princeton area, some of my silver maples have buddy sap, others not too bad. Production is not happening, may be my lowest season ever for syrup produced.

Pulled my taps last weekend, just up in that area today and my black maples are still flowing. The weather just looked to too inconsistent to dedicate the time managing buckets given the travel time. Last year was a very long season and forgiving for this first timer.

[Tapping Gold]

I have bags in the Wealthwood area. After some non flow days trees were in full flow yesterday. I would anticipate good flow until the end of the week.

[buck3m]

We are doing this for fun, and decided to call it a season in east-central when we saw the buds swelling, looked at the forecast and heard the frogs calling. A good season. Possibly the least muddy (despite several significant rains) and the most windy days.

[BigPine]

NW Corner of Mille Lacs - collected 200 g yesterday (about 110 taps). Some going well, some seem to be done. Up to 800+ gallons and there may be more. Now ahead of my 20 year average.

[Schnep's]

We collected 160 gallons yesterday(2 days running). Still looks good and can't see any buds and no frogs.
We are going to cook this and be done. Should end up with about 33 to 34 gallons of syrup. Really good year for us.

[BigPine]

Just about done washing up here (a 2-3 week process for me!).
Very good year. I was expecting less than average due to it being so dry and little snow cover.
2nd best year ever. 110 taps
1100 collected
900 cooked
19 1/2 Syrup
Ran out of jars and low on wood. I dumped the last couple hundred, about half still in buckets.
I use the r/o bucket kit with 3 membranes in "Parallel" - one pass doubles the brix and it does about 15-20 gph. This has changed the ball game for me! Cut my cooking in half!!!
Bought the last case of qt jars with caps and lids from Amazon - they were $ 3 each!!!! None to be had locally.
I lose a lot of product in cooking/finishing/filtering - guessing at least 10%
Anyway, 2021 expectations greatly exceeded. SAP On!