My plan 2023 - 2024

[Swingpure]

In looking at improvements for next season, one thing I will have is a new grill design as suggested to me on another post and as per the attached picture.

Looking at the picture it struck how different the size of the firebox is, as compared to mine. My firebox is 28” deep. Almost the depth of two logs. I stuffed my firebox full, front to back and to the top of the pan, and I got it super hot, but it struck me, that perhaps the reason I went through so much wood, is I lost a lot of heat out the stack. If my firebox had less depth, only like a log or so deep, that I could take greater advantage of the gasses passing under the pan and use maybe half of the firewood I used last year.

Just wondering what the depth of your firebox is, in your professional evaporators? This would be a relatively easy adjustment for me to make in the off season. I am thinking of reducing the 28” depth to 16 or 18”.

This would also reduce the size, and the cost to make, of the new grate.

Do you think this is a good idea?

Thanks

Gary

PS - I am no longer pooped and I am enthusiastic about the next sugaring season. Cutting and hauling logs today was therapeutic.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/06d2DsIj0Tt8eA0DsXoeDpjcw

[Pdiamond]

I will take a measurement of my firebox and send it to you.

[darkmachine]

I have a home built 2x6, and we made the firebox just under the syrup pan, so exterior dimensions are 24x24, but after bricking, we had full sized fire brick on hand so we used that, it's 20 x 20 inside. i cut all my wood 18" and crisscross it when i feed. I have grates like the ones your pictured. Grates were made out of 1/4" thick 2x2 angle iron spaced 1/4" apart. We run forced air, this is the second season and they show no signs of warping, and I have very little ash buildup under the grates. Feeding every 5 min by the clock i can put a boil in all 3 sections of the flue pan even when the sap is close to freezing.

[Swingpure]

I have a home built 2x6, and we made the firebox just under the syrup pan, so exterior dimensions are 24x24, but after bricking, we had full sized fire brick on hand so we used that, it's 20 x 20 inside. i cut all my wood 18" and crisscross it when i feed. I have grates like the ones your pictured. Grates were made out of 1/4" thick 2x2 angle iron spaced 1/4" apart. We run forced air, this is the second season and they show no signs of warping, and I have very little ash buildup under the grates. Feeding every 5 min by the clock i can put a boil in all 3 sections of the flue pan even when the sap is close to freezing.

Thanks. My firebox interior width is 23” and I can’t really change that. It would be an easy fix to reduce my depth to 20.5”. After that my options are 19” or 18.5”.

Edit: I went outside and checked several wood piles. It appears I cut my wood to 16”. Sometimes a little smaller or bigger, but ä firebox 18.5” deep maybe the right choice. I still would like to compare it to a few others. This alone may save me a ton of wood.

[Swingpure]

I will take a measurement of my firebox and send it to you.

Thank you!

[Bgreisch]

So I have the Dauntless from smokey lake maple and the fire box is about 20" after fire bricked. I would think you could reduce your size, but you might find that 18" might be to tight, but since you are wider you can criss cross your longs easier.

Bryan

[berkshires]

I have a Mason evaporator and the firebox is roughly 20" x 20" after being fire bricked.

GO

[Swingpure]

Thanks, that is very helpful. It seems that the 20” depth is a commonly used depth in professionally built evaporators. That is an easy size (20.5”) for me to make changes to.

I truly think this will be a big wood saver for me. I might lose some of my boil rate, but that will be okay.

[aamyotte]

It may not reduce your boil rate that much because the area that is reduced in firebox depth will be raised and push the hot gasses against the bottom of the pan.

[Swingpure]

I received confirmation that I will be able to tap again on the steep hill where I had 72 taps. So I will be all in again this coming season. With permission, I will add a fourth line of 25/30 taps, on the steep hill.

I will not have any buckets next season and I am still deciding if I will add another line to pick some of those trees or not. Two years ago I had a long line there, then last year I had three smaller lines feeding buckets. So I will either go back to a long line and catch most of those trees, or just pass on them. The line would join 5 others feeding one collection point.

[Swingpure]

I had a stroke 11 days ago, I am fine, mostly back to normal, but it does make me pause and look at the activities I do that require a lot of physical effort. I am new to strokes, never had one, I only knew one person who had one, so maybe in three months time I will have a different perspective on things.

I am thinking of drastically downsizing my sugar operation, just tapping the trees on my own property, selling my divided pan and float box and base stack and replacing the cinder block evaporator with a barrel evaporator. Besides reducing the workload, I still cannot get out of my mind, how low key my neighbour’s operation was and what their finite goals were.

I would just make syrup for my home use, and my kids and grandkids can enjoy it while they visit.

I will give it a few more weeks before I decide, but I am definitely on the page of just making it a small hobby.

My other major physical activity is all of the cutting down, hauling, splitting and stacking of firewood for home heating purposes. I am considering buying a heat pump, good to -30°C, that should reduce my home wood requirements by 80%.

[Pdiamond]

Gary, I certainly pray that you are on the mend from this. Did the Dr. say you needed to cut back on your physical activities like doing the syrup. I would think being active as being a good thing. Please let me know.

[maple flats]

On my 3x8 evaporator the firebox was 32" front to back and 25" wide inside the bricks at the grates. I cut my wood at 21" long, piled it in one criss crossed stack starting at about 6" in from the door. It boiled very well. After adding AOF/AUF I fueled it every 9 minutes, before the AOF/AUF I fueled every 7 minutes.

[Swingpure]

Gary, I certainly pray that you are on the mend from this. Did the Dr. say you needed to cut back on your physical activities like doing the syrup. I would think being active as being a good thing. Please let me know.

For the first month, I cannot cut my grass, for the next two months I can cut grass and do other things, but no prolonged really heavy work, after that I can do what ever I want. So from the Doctors perspective no issue doing the maple syrup.

This year I went from the 6 weeks of maple syrup where I carried and lifted every gallon over my head, to splitting and stacking over 400 cut logs, cutting down and hauling three other trees, to help building a 1000 sq ft deck, then I had the stroke. I do not know it as a fact, but I think overdoing it, combined with some risk factors, played a role in having the stroke.

It may be I have not fully recovered yet and I am still tired, and that up is why thinking of doing all of the work again is not appealing, or it just seems logical not to push myself too far. I will still make syrup and I will still cut down trees and haul and split them, but maybe not as much.

[Trends]

Wishing a full & speedy recovery for you Gary

[Z/MAN]

Prayers for a quick and speedy recovery Gary. Take it easy for a while and sort things out. I, for one have certainty missed your almost daily posts for the last 2 years or so. I was wondering where you were? You have an RO that you didn't get to try yet. Keep in mind that RO will cut your boiling time AND your wood needs in half at the least. You can keep the same setup but by tapping less trees and using the RO you can make it fun again. (In way less time than this past season.)

[aamyotte]

Hello Gary,
Sorry to hear of your setback. I hope you have a full recovery.
Form reading your posts I know you think everything through really well before making a decision so what you do in the future with your maple syrup operation will not be a knee-jerk move.
As far as the heat pump I have one at my house and it's been great on reducing my dependence on propane. The government has grants right now where you can get money back on the upgrade.

[berkshires]

I had a stroke 11 days ago, I am fine, mostly back to normal, but it does make me pause and look at the activities I do that require a lot of physical effort. I am new to strokes, never had one, I only knew one person who had one, so maybe in three months time I will have a different perspective on things.

I am thinking of drastically downsizing my sugar operation, just tapping the trees on my own property, selling my divided pan and float box and base stack and replacing the cinder block evaporator with a barrel evaporator. Besides reducing the workload, I still cannot get out of my mind, how low key my neighbour’s operation was and what their finite goals were.

I would just make syrup for my home use, and my kids and grandkids can enjoy it while they visit.

I will give it a few more weeks before I decide, but I am definitely on the page of just making it a small hobby.

My other major physical activity is all of the cutting down, hauling, splitting and stacking of firewood for home heating purposes. I am considering buying a heat pump, good to -30°C, that should reduce my home wood requirements by 80%.

Very sorry to hear of your stroke. Hope you have a full and a speedy recovery.

Gabe

[Swingpure]

Prayers for a quick and speedy recovery Gary. Take it easy for a while and sort things out. I, for one have certainty missed your almost daily posts for the last 2 years or so. I was wondering where you were? You have an RO that you didn't get to try yet. Keep in mind that RO will cut your boiling time AND your wood needs in half at the least. You can keep the same setup but by tapping less trees and using the RO you can make it fun again. (In way less time than this past season.)

Thanks, I haven’t been posting, because I was so busy doing all of my chores, I never had a chance to get back to my evaporator and start making the changes to reduce the firebox size. I was going to start posting once I started to make the changes.

[Swingpure]

Hello Gary,
Sorry to hear of your setback. I hope you have a full recovery.
Form reading your posts I know you think everything through really well before making a decision so what you do in the future with your maple syrup operation will not be a knee-jerk move.
As far as the heat pump I have one at my house and it's been great on reducing my dependence on propane. The government has grants right now where you can get money back on the upgrade.

If someone who knew me saw me now, they would not know anything happened. My legs are still weak, but it does not affect my walking gait.

I wanted to ask you how your new pan worked out and did you like it better than your old setup?

[aamyotte]

If someone who knew me saw me now, they would not know anything happened. My legs are still weak, but it does not affect my walking gait.

I wanted to ask you how your new pan worked out and did you like it better than your old setup?
Good to hear that your mobility is there.
My pan worked great this year, it was much better than with the steam pans. I will be building a bigger evaporator this summer since my old barrel evaporator is getting tired. That the thing with this hobby, continually upgrading.

[Bgreisch]

So sorry to hear that. That is scary. My wife had a stroke at age 34, for the most part she has not had issues from it but she gets tired earlier at night ever since that. I would give it time and see how everything goes. My pan is a 20"X48" pan on the SL Dauntless and I only run 30 taps so you could just down size and still use your setup. I boil once a week.

Bryan

[Andy VT]

I was sorry to hear of your stroke Gary; are you doing well now?
If you downsize, I wonder if it would make sense to keep the evaporator and pan you've got, now that you've got them; could always "batch it" even though the pan is divided and keep things very finite and relaxed. Might be true of much of the rest of what you have as well, such as collection tanks. I suspect you could bring things to a very relaxed pace without starting over setup-wise.

[Swingpure]

Thanks for all of the good wishes. I am 98% back, I would look normal if you saw me. My legs still get tired and I take the odd afternoon nap that I never did before, but all in all, I am very good.

I am still taking it pretty easy and will not start splitting wood again until September. I will be helping some friends with some projects in August, but will be mindful of how much I do.

Shocking as it sounds, I did decide to really downsize, and sold a lot of my stuff. I will make some syrup, how much will depend on if my grandsons are around during sugaring time, but my evaporator will be a turkey fryer and induction stoves.

The decision hit me a little bit when I was discussing making maple syrup the other day with acquaintances and they were asking my advice on a number of issues and I had good answers for them, but started to feel how I will miss it. I sure learned a lot in the two years, and think I was reasonably successful.

If I get back into it, I would either get a different divided pan which would be easier to reverse the flow, or simply get a flat pan for batch boiling. The divided pan I had was quite difficult to reverse the flow with my set up. The niter buildup was getting to be a problem the last five batches and draining everything and cleaning the hard to remove nitre, was not ideal.

In a year or two, if I feel confident that another stroke is not on the horizon, I think I would try and get a used real evaporator. It would not be a big one, something for about 50 taps. I keep remembering my neighbour’s, the generational sugar makers, and how laid back and pedestrian their process was.

[maple flats]

Glad you are doing as well as you are. Good luch in whichever roure you decide to take.
My situation is somewhat similar except my issue is the result of 3 major surgeries last year. This year is much better, but I find I tire far sooner than ever before.
I'm really looking for a welded, used 2x6, prefer raised flue but would go drop if that's all I find. If I don't find a 2x6 I plan to use my propane fired 2x6 finisher, I could get by using that. I really need an RO more than the evaporator. Hope to do 2-300 taps, mostly on sugars, but about 75 would be on reds. I now wish I hadn't sold a great BB4 vacuum pump, now I need to find one. Looking to set the tubing up in mid fall, to be ready before Jan 1. If I get a wood fired, I now only have about 2/3 of the wood needed, split and dried but I have several standing, no bark, dead ash that could easily be processed in time.

[Andy VT]

Sounds good Gary, yep, you were very successful! Even if you never make another drop, no one can take that from you! Nice work! My journey has been on a similar timeline as yours with similar excitement but with a young family and suburban location I've kept it to 2 taps, then 9, then this year 30. 30 nearly broke us so it'll be 30 again for 2024 but with process improvements.

Dave, that's true on the RO! I've only done 3 seasons so far, all on fossil fuels, but wow. I've learned a lot but the biggest thing I've learned to appreciate is the energy needed to boil off water! Its not even about boiling time. People always say "RO saves so much boiling time" but if it was about that a bigger evaporator would do it. Its the energy. I haven't used RO yet, but I spent about as much on propane as the value of the syrup I made. Which is totally fine... the point so far has been learning the process. Sustainability is next (ish). Wood is "free", but only if my time is worthless. So this year I'll be doing RO in some way or another. I might start collecting firewood but if I do it would be for 2025. And I'll still use RO to keep the wood quantity somewhat sane.

[maple flats]

Absolutely, it saves fuel. Back as I had 1200 taps and then 1300+ the next year, I got my 250/hr RO. When I got it I had enough firewood split and stacked for 2 years without an RO, that supply ahead lasted me 5 years and after that I still had some left for the next year. I then resumed processing more wood. From that point until I decided to quit, I kept a 2 year supply ahead. The decision to quit has now been changed, I'm getting back into it, but smaller.

[4Walls]

Gary. Happy for your recovery. Scary experience for sure. I'm at the age now where these things are happening to friends. Certainly a bit of self reflection here on my part.
I can't say enough about the RO. I went 20 years without one. Then built a little RO bucket style one. Worked ok but not enough capacity for the 340 taps I had. I then built a 4x40 Ro with a procon pump. WOW. That thing pulls 100-120 litres of water out of my sap an hour if I push it. Easy flush outs mid season and easy clean and store for the season.
I also highly recommend the heat pump for your house. I just installed one that works down to -30 and the air conditioning is a nice bonus. Mine was the 3 head Senville Aura series. Pre charged with refrigerant. It is a semi DIY system that wasn't too hard to figure out with some help from YouTube. I cut and flared my runs to length to avoid the unsightly extra coils. I used CO2 to pressure test to 350 pounds to see that my fittings were tight. I managed to convert my 5 HP Husky compressor to work as a vacuum pump. I have used it on the cars to do the ac on them. Pulled a good vacuum down to 30 in and held it for the recommended time.
This heat pump has been life changing with the dry cool comfort in the house now.
Justin

[Swingpure]

I am getting the maple syrup itch.

I am doing well, walking about 10 kms (6 miles) a day on average. I am getting a heat pump in a couple weeks which will reduce future work cutting, hauling, splitting, stacking wood. Turns out I have a little bit of A-fib which likely caused the stroke. I am now back doing physical work again, but I am a little smarter and just do it for a few hours a day, as opposed to all day.

I sold basically all of my stuff, but I still have some left. I also have three lines still up with 74 taps. I checked on the lines today, they looked good. I have to replace one drop.

My goal is at the end of the ice fishing period, near the end of March, to tap the trees for 7 to 10 days, to gather about 120 gallons of sap, to make 3 gallons of syrup or so.

My evaporator and divided pan is gone, but I will boil the sap in steam pans over a fire pit, boil over 1 or 2 turkey fryers and boil on an induction stove. Combined that may boil at 4 gallons per hour.


The idea is just to make syrup low key, for a limited period of time. And not spend too much new money.

I sold my one handed tool for the tubes and there will be a couple of joints I will have to make with fittings and the tubing. It will be interesting to see how I can push them on by hand.

I will also miss my vacuum filter and will have to come up with a different filter system.

[aamyotte]

That's a good hike you're getting in. You will love the heat pump. I've been using mine for the last week.
Sounds like a low stress season you're getting setup for.

[Andy VT]

So great to hear from you Gary!
For filtering, I think the cone filters with pre-filters are way underrated. Love mine. I can't remember if you used that prior to the vacuum.
I haven't been able to figure out why there is so much hatred toward the cone filter. Too slow? Use two in parallel. I'd probably be up to 4 before I personally would start thinking about something fancier.

For my 30 taps, which came to ~10 gallons syrup this year, one cone filter is way over capacity. I've heard that this overcapacity can cause problems with the syrup not having enough weight to get through. I have not experienced this. I've been using 2 pre-filters. I think one would do the trick for your goal of 3 gallons of syrup.

Andy

[Swingpure]

Thanks, I will be visiting CDL before the season starts.

I actually had a bucket filter, which I never ended up using, because I made the vacuum filter before my first syrup. I actually simply gave it away to a neighbour in my first year. Similar concept to the cone filter and he liked it.

[30AcreWoods]

Welcome back to health and a low key season!

I use a natural cone filter with 2 pre filters. Did 60+ gallons on it last year, and won some awards for our syrup. I agree that they are way under-rated. Super simple, never fails (no mechanical systems), relatively inexpensive and thus you can always have a back-up on hand.

[Andy VT]

I guess the one caveat that just occurred to me after pondering this since March... I've only ever used my cone filter in my warm kitchen. Maybe that's part of the reason it has worked so well, and maybe the people who have had trouble have used it in the cold outdoors or a cold sugarhouse. Not sure, but trouble-free for me so far!

[30AcreWoods]

I alway pour hot sap through first, so I think that mitigates any cold sugarhouse issues...but after boiling, the sugar house is pretty darn warm. I'm sure indoors also helps since everything is warm to start.

[Z/MAN]

I also find no problem with my wet cone filters. I finish my syrup on the stove [219 degrees] and then immediately pour the syrup thru my cone filters. I think the people that have problems are trying to use the filters with 180-190 degree syrup.

[Swingpure]

Thanks, I will go with the cone filter. I always finished and filtered in my relatively warm garage, and my syrup was always very hot whenni filtered as I did it as soon as I got to the correct Brix.

This may be heresy, but I sold all of my Brix testing equipment, so I will be judging if it is syrup, by temperature, the spoon drop test and also the appearance of the syrup (bubbles). It won’t be perfect syrup, but perfectly good enough for my grandkids pancakes.

I had mentioned I would be boiling over a turkey fryer, an induction stove and over a metal fire bowl which is 30” in diameter. I will surround the bowl on three sides with cinder blocks. I will have two large, 1/2” thick angle iron, spanning two sides of the cinder blocks over the fire bowl. At the ends of the angle iron, I will weld on plates. All the metal is left over from the various stages of my old evaporator. The goal is to spend as little new money as possible. 2 steam pans from my first year of boiling will sit right over the fire and two others either side of those getting some radiant heat and some heat from the plates they sit on. These will be sap preheat pans. Not efficient like my old evaporator, but it will boil. I have lids for all of the pans, that I will put on when I add wood, to keep any ash out.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/08f33EZaY1D0oTvtu7S7yv0vw

[Swingpure]

Today I replaced the drop on line 1 and then went to check line 3 for the first time. There was a four inch diameter tree on the line in one location. The line bent, but did not break. I removed the tree and the line bounced back and the rest of the line was fine, somI will have three lines. If I have to make any repairs, I will have to borrow a one handed tool as I did not push the new drop on as far as I would like on the fitting.

Lots of time to work on the frame to hold the steam pans over the fire bowl.

[30AcreWoods]

You sure are getting after it! So, if you fill an insulated water bottle or thermos with near boiling hot water, it is super easy to push those drops on without a tool. I mean, I wouldn't do hundreds that way, but if you only have a few, it saves money.

[Andy VT]

If the $50 for a hydrometer plus test cup is not in the budget, you could, maybe, also consider not shelling out the $30 to $40 bucks the cone filter plus pre-filters will cost. Some folks allow the impurities to settle over time, and pour off clear syrup. Or maybe just one prefilter (2 bucks?) and call it done. It's an option if going very "backyard". It's mostly just a question of clarity, which the grandkids probably won't fuss too much about either. Now, if the syrup tastes like garlic or pickles, they might fuss about that. :-) So, no garlic or pickle sap buckets. Or peanut butter jars as syrup hot packing jars. :-)
(all guesstimates in USD)
Andy

[Swingpure]

You sure are getting after it! So, if you fill an insulated water bottle or thermos with near boiling hot water, it is super easy to push those drops on without a tool. I mean, I wouldn't do hundreds that way, but if you only have a few, it saves money.

Thanks, I will give that a try. I have three more to do, tubing to be added at the end of the lines, to go into the buckets.

[Swingpure]

Thanks, I will avoid garlic or pickle buckets, lol.

The settling actually works.

I think in the 29 batches I made over the two years, in the second year, batch 11, which was a large batch, while lifting a clogged pre filter, in error all of the filters briefly lifted, allowing sugar sand to go past all of the filters.

In hindsight I should have filtered the batch again, but I didn’t. I bottled the batch and each bottle and jar had some sugar sand in it. But I just carefully poured off the pure syrup out of the bottle. I think once you get close to the sediment, using your idea of using one pre filter could help eliminate any wayward pieces of sugar sand.

I will be going by CDL tomorrow and may price a few things out. Ultimately I will spend some new money, but will try and use what I have and simplify things.

I keep thinking back to my neighbour’s who have been making maple syrup for generations and they have never used a hydrometer, don’t measure gph of their evaporator, never time when they add wood and every once in a while they will stand up and add a piece. They make good tasting syrup, just for the needs of their family.

I am sure I will still find a way to make it more hectic, I am sure I will make more syrup than planned, but I will try to become more low key.

[Swingpure]

Last year I tapped some trees at Christmas when had a warm spell, just to share the experience with the Grandkids. Not the most productive time to tap, but was priceless time with the Grandkids. My Grandson still has the bottle of syrup that I gave him, that we made, still unopened on his shelf.

This season is not going to be a real sugar season for me, but I plan on making some syrup. Ideally between 25 and 30 L. My boiling capacity is limited and if I go into full production, I might be able to boil close to 4 gallons an hour. I will be using two turkey fryers, an open fire with two steam pans above it, and an induction stove.

Last year, defying all logic, the trees I tapped at Christmas were still flowing when I shut down in April.

Seeing how this is just a wild card season, I thought I would have some early fun again and I might tap some trees this Thursday. If I end up making up one litre of syrup, making more, it will be a success.

This is a strong super El Niño year, and I think there will be several warm spells and who knows the early season tapping may add up.

[Swingpure]

I used the tip today, where I had a thermos of hot water, which I dipped the tubing into it, to soften it up, and I added the tubing ends to the three lines to go from the end connector fitting to the three five gallon pails. Last year I had two 45 gallon drums there, so I will have to collect more often if need be.

I will tap tomorrow with a five day warm spell starting. I will need the night time temperatures to drop a hair more to keep the sap flowing over the five days.

This will be a back to basics endeavour with a combination of cheesecloth and settling to remove most of the sugar sand and a thermometer, spoon drip, and appearance to nail down, when it turns to syrup. It will not be the class of syrup I made in the past, but it will be syrup, and I will have fun making it.

For this early in the season I will just use a turkey fryer and an induction stove for boiling, finishing and bottling.

It is crazy, but should be fun.

[Swingpure]

Tapped today, we will see tomorrow how it runs.

A month or so ago, checking the lines, one line was down and an animal had cut the line in several places and while on the ground in several other places. I never had any animal problems before. I had expected squirrel gnawing, but did not expect them to cut right through and drop the line.

Having sold all of my tools, I no longer have the tools to repair the line. For that line, I just tied the line to a tree and lost about 7 taps above where I tied it off.

Today I discovered another line down because of an animal chew. Not positive it is a squirrel, but it makes sense.

Next year, if I tap, I may just put drops into buckets, as I will not need any special tools to do that.

The last two years, I was all in, this year just making do, does not feel totally right. I will reaccess at the end of the season.

[Swingpure]

I am boiling today, not sexy using two inductions stoves and a turkey fryer, but it is working. There are no high volumes, but I should be able to make 2-3 bottles of syrup during this warm spell.

I will need the night time temps to drop a little, right now the forecast has changed and they are a little above freezing. Today will likely be my biggest collection day.

My turkey fryer arrived just in time from Fed Ex, just as I was starting to boil with the two induction stoves.

Still some unknowns ahead with nailing down when the sap is exactly syrup with the use of a thermometer, spoon drip test and experience from last year, and the filtering using cheesecloth and the settling technique.

December 15 and I am boiling, much better than sitting around doing nothing. This time of year all of the outdoor chores are done and the lake has not frozen yet to go ice fishing.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0fehFAD1GeCGHUyQDINH-GLMQ

[Swingpure]

Collected 13 gallons today and have it close to be boiled down.

The ironic thing is I will likely will have used electricity and propane worth as much or more, than if I simply bought the syrup in the store. Fortunately I do not have to pay myself for the ten hours today gathering and boiling it. That doesn’t count the capital costs of buying the turkey fryer, a new pot and thermometer and other things.

Yeesh

[Swingpure]

I ended up making 1.5 L of syrup today. I have zero idea of the Brix. I made it the best I could and it tastes great. My wife loved it and seeing how what I make stays in our household, that is all that counts.

I need the temperature tonight to drop below freezing. The Forecast is 0° /32°.

[Swingpure]

I am boiling again today.

While on my morning walk it occurred to me, that if I had my old divided pan, I would not have boiled at all with such a low volume of sap.

If I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, and being a hobbyist, and realizing that sometimes less is more, I would have purchased a barrel evaporator with either a large single pan or more likely two steam pans. It makes boiling of smaller batches much more feasible.

Just making it for home use, yesterday’s use of a cheesecloth for a filter and a thermometer, spoon drip test and appearance is good enough to make a tasty syrup to go on pancakes on the home. I actually use most of my syrup with my morning oatmeal. I just use a splash of syrup with blueberries to make it tasty.

[Swingpure]

Looking at the Saptapapp heat flow map. I might be the only crazy one tapping and making syrup.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/034zblSGHmEgMU3iEQJesrbTA

[Swingpure]

Collected just under 9 gallons and made just under a L of syrup.

I realize the cheesecloth gets the bigger pieces of nitre, but last Spring my DYI vacuum filter left it crystal clear when I bottled it, now I can see it is cloudy, but settles clear the next morning.

Night time temps will be above zero, so I am not expecting any new flow until Wednesday, but then I might have five days of flows.

[Swingpure]

I went for my morning walk and checked the pails when I went by and was surprised to see a little sap flowing, as temperatures were above zero for over a day and the previous night, the temperatures went barely below zero.

No sap flow expected until Wednesday, but there should be some good days right to Boxing Day. It will shut down after that. For how long we will see.

I might end up with 7 L before New Years, which is a 1/4 of what I hope to get by the end of the season. Who knows if the taps staymopend like last year and there are a few warm spells during winter, I might end up with considerably more.

I might try and set up my fire pit boil this week as well.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/01bZIlYe6lVXd13__snhHR_5Q

[aamyotte]

I am boiling again today.

While on my morning walk it occurred to me, that if I had my old divided pan, I would not have boiled at all with such a low volume of sap.

If I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, and being a hobbyist, and realizing that sometimes less is more, I would have purchased a barrel evaporator with either a large single pan or more likely two steam pans. It makes boiling of smaller batches much more feasible.

Just making it for home use, yesterday’s use of a cheesecloth for a filter and a thermometer, spoon drip test and appearance is good enough to make a tasty syrup to go on pancakes on the home. I actually use most of my syrup with my morning oatmeal. I just use a splash of syrup with blueberries to make it tasty.
I was thinking the same thing last year when I upgraded from my steam pans to a built pan. Deciding to have my nee pan the same size as 2 steam pans worked well for small batches. With the new evaporator I built this fall I will have the pan and one steam pan. I can put water in the steam pan instead of sap if I'm doing a small batch.

[Swingpure]

I agree. Steam pans and smaller flat pans can really give the hobbyist flexibility. Obviously if volume is your target, you need larger pans and evaporators, but if you have fewer taps, I think hobbyist should be very happy that they have the right tool for the job with the smaller pans and evaporators.

I will check the pails later tonight in the rain just to see what flowed. Next boil will be in the afternoon Wednesday.

[Swingpure]

I expected the sap to flow today but it did not. Next sap flow day will be Saturday, with 6 possible sap flow days, but the forecasted overnight temps have to drop a little.

So far I had been boiling with my two induction stoves and a turkey fryer. If flows ever get strong, I have access to a second turkey fryer, but the plan was also to boil over my fire bowl, with my old steam pans. I thought I would give it a try today with the 2.5 gallons of sap I had collected the other day.

It actually worked quite well. In the attached pictures you will see one with two pans and one with four. The two center pans had sap and the other two, meant to be warm up pans had water.

The two sap pans boiled pretty good and the two warm up pans did warm up and one was giving off steam. That will add 2 gph to my boiling capacity when I need it.

It used much, much less wood than my monster evaporator did last year, but for obvious reasons.

The one lesson learnt is to spend a little time leveling out the support rods.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/062cMP7DczBHSv9pjil35msxw

https://share.icloud.com/photos/071kbmlT2Ai5diSW7wUx0_Omw

[Swingpure]

I wasn’t happy with the sugar sand in my finished product. Although I could simply pour off the syrup into another container when I planned to consume it and just leave the nitre behind, it just wasn’t something I liked, especially because the high standards I had last year.

I was in the neighbourhood of CDL, which is an hour and a half drive away, and picked up a cone filter with a number of cone prefilters. Tomorrow I will rig something up to hold it in place. My next boil will be Saturday or Sunday. The forecast keeps changes this coming Christmas weekend, but sap will run.

[aamyotte]

I use cone filters for my filtering. The stand I made is with a piece of plywood with a hole in the middle to slip the filter through. I put 4 finishing nails partially set to hook the filter ribs from. The plywood has 4 legs long enough that my pot fits under the stand to collect the filtered syrup.

[Swingpure]

Thanks. I will work on it tomorrow.

My primary cone filter has four loops at the top, so I can see how you supported it.

Edit: I did make a stand for it as you described using plywood. Mine is a little fugly, but is functional.

We will have six days with temperatures above freezing, but night time lows may be above freezing, I am not sure how much sap will actually run in that time.

My lines run and face east, but are also on the north side of a slope, so they do not get a lot of sun, especially this time of year with the sun not high in the sky and daylight hours close to the lowest of the season. I will get some sap and will boil whatever I get and will make syrup, one bottle at a time.

[Swingpure]

Boiling again today. I am not getting a lot of sap as the nighttime temps are above zero. A 7 day warm spell, but too warm, producing a very rare green Christmas.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/04aYu3LTRE9IUgCX66PyG2HNA

[Swingpure]

Made 1.25 L today. Not all shown in the picture. It was Golden syrup.

The new cone filter worked really well and the syrup was very clear.

Earlier in the day we had pancakes with my Grandkids and we had the syrup I made earlier in December. Everyone loved it.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/036-_Mxm7EsOgxTAiQ8qBq7cA

That might be it until we get another warm spell, which may come in the second half of January.

I am not making a lot of syrup, but I am making syrup. We will see how long the taps flow for. If like last year they stay open into April that will be bonus, if they shut down, I have many other trees I can tap on my property and have drops into buckets.

[Swingpure]

I had a hair over 3 gallons of sap that I had collected since my last boil. I did not know when my next one was going to be, so I decided I would reduce it down to nearup, but in the end made syrup with it. About 300 ml. What Brix it is, I have no idea.

My daughter and Grandkids are up, so I brought them the hot syrup, and they at first tasted it by the spoonful, then by the shot glass. They all loved it, thought it tasted amazing, and felt it was a nice treat. My wife loved it too.

Boiling small scale has it’s advantages. 😜

[Andy VT]

That's really cool!
3 gallons of sap is plenty to finish on a tiny scale if one is in the mood. The smallest I ever finished was 1 gallon of sap into 4 oz of syrup... just enough to fill my smaller hydrometer cup (from tapmytrees) although I didn't have a hydrometer or cup at the time.
How is the cone filter working out? I still can't figure out why people have trouble with them, to the point where I wonder if I'm missing something...
Just used mine yesterday because I took the last of my "nearup" from April 2023 from the freezer and made a couple gallons syrup in the kitchen, which went through the filter in one pass with two prefilters. I did end up pouring the remaining syrup from the first prefilter into the second, and later from that into the orlon, but ultimately the syrup all went through and the niter did not.

[Swingpure]

I have not used the cone filter a lot, but when I have used it, it was easy to use, not too slow and made very clear syrup. Did my old DYI vacuum filter work faster, yes, but for the volumes I am doing, the cone filter works just fine and the final product is just as clear.

I might get a little sap flow on Tuesday. Another degree or two warmer would help. Maybe some on Wednesday.

We are having a green New Year here which is not something I have seen since moving here. The lake was wide open today, but should freeze over sometime this week.

I might try ice fishing and boiling sap next to the tip ups, in March in my fire bowl, just for the fun of it. We will see what the ice is like then.

[Swingpure]

Today was above freezing and so will tomorrow be above freezing, but not enough for my east facing slope with a north facing slant to it, to thaw and start running.

We have no snow here at all, very strange for January 2nd, but that will change tomorrow and it will start to get cold tomorrow night. I am not sure when the next warm spell will be. Could be as late as March, but I think ther should be some El Nina thaws during the next two months.

It has been fun so far making some syrup and I have been able to experiment with my new small scale operation. The Fire Bowl evaporator with two boiling pans and two warm up pans worked better than I expected and did not use a lot of wood compared to the “beast” last year.

I know what I will get from the two turkey fryers and the two induction stoves. I will try and use the fire bowl as much as possible instead of the turkey fryers to save on propane costs. I have lots of wood.

The cone filter was a nice addition and I can make a good clear product.

So far I have been winging the finishing, using just a thermometer and gut feel. I have no idea what my Brix are, but it is sure tasty. My family loves it. It is a little liberating.

I have no idea if my existing taps will still flow in March and April, like last year, but I have lots of other trees I can tap, if need be.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0c3wYZQKdsOGa9IoOTGNUk6VQ

[Swingpure]

We received 60” (150 cms) of snow this week in three days. This coming week, we may have a few days of sap flow. Our ice hut did not make it onto the ice yet because the ice just recently froze over, so it got snow covered, while waiting on land.

I snowshoed up my lines today. It was tough in the deep snow on a steep incline. There were several places where my lines were down in the snow. In almost all of the cases it is because a near by sapling had bent over because of the weight of the snow. I was able to get all of the lines back in place.

I hope the sap does run. I don’t expect a lot, but that suits my smaller operation. I tapped the trees on December 14th.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/01a12Rgu-iAGV5-81-Q4RcWdQ

https://share.icloud.com/photos/060c_4zczXo03B0OrwMlsfY_Q

[berkshires]

I'm curious why you don't want to use a hydrometer to check for the right density. If it's for your own consumption, of course you can do as you please. But if it's just the volume of syrup that is your concern, you only need a tiny amount, maybe a quarter to a half a cup of syrup, to check the density.

GO

[aamyotte]

I'm curious why you don't want to use a hydrometer to check for the right density. If it's for your own consumption, of course you can do as you please. But if it's just the volume of syrup that is your concern, you only need a tiny amount, maybe a quarter to a half a cup of syrup, to check the density.

GO
I use a hydrometer to check my density. After checking I pour it back in the pot so I have no loss there.

[4Walls]

Hey. Ive got a question about your Christmas miracle syrup. Did it taste like first run stuff? Butter and marshmallow? Or was there a different flavour all together.

[Swingpure]

I'm curious why you don't want to use a hydrometer to check for the right density. If it's for your own consumption, of course you can do as you please. But if it's just the volume of syrup that is your concern, you only need a tiny amount, maybe a quarter to a half a cup of syrup, to check the density.

GO

I have to admit, I only tried my hydrotherm once when I had it, and I found it very messy and went with my refractometer for all of the rest of my syrup. I have ordered another refractometer which should arrive tomorrow.

No one else around me was using a hydrometer, so I never got to see anyone use it first hand. Perhaps if I saw how to do it properly, I might have tried it again. The refractometer just worked for me really well. I learnt to have a few tests to truly nail down an “accurate” reading. All I know is the syrup tasted great and when I would test it after the fact it would give me my 66.9 Brix reading. I tested other people’s syrup that they shared with me and often their Brix was much lower.

[Swingpure]

Hey. Ive got a question about your Christmas miracle syrup. Did it taste like first run stuff? Butter and marshmallow? Or was there a different flavour all together.

It is hard to describe the taste, but my wife and daughter both said it tasted amazing. The last batch I made was golden and lighter, but still had a very sweet, smooth maple taste to it. We have actually consumed the first batch I made before Christmas, but still have not opened the last batch. We consumed the first batch as I did not have my new bottle caps yet, but I got them in time for the second batch.

Hopefully over the next two weeks I will have a lot more.

[Swingpure]

12 of the next 14 days will have temperatures above freezing and I can see some sap flow happening on 8 of the 12 days.

This Thursday should be a good flow, we will see.

[GWebb]

I can't figure her out but I guess the ground has finally thawed. This morning (50 deg) I was getting almost nothing, even though the night was warm. This afternoon, it finally let loose with good flow. Hope to have 40 or 50 gal sap out of 55 trees by morning - flowing about 2 to 3 gal/hr. Hope it keeps going. Tapped trees on 12/29 with a whopping total of 65 gal sap to date....All are on either high natural gravity or pump.

[Swingpure]

12 of the next 14 days will have temperatures above freezing and I can see some sap flow happening on 8 of the 12 days.

This Thursday should be a good flow, we will see.

Well a kick in the groin for sap flow. The afternoon before the sap should have been flowing, the forecast changed. Although temperatures will be warmer than normal, they now will just be a hair above freezing and I see zero days for sap flow in the extended forecast. When will I learn.

[Swingpure]

It warmed enough to collect 3 gallons of sap yesterday. Today the sap started running (not fast) before 11. If the temps could rise a degree or so more than forecasted and if the sun would appear, maybe I would have enough for a small boil.

In the meantime, I am ice fishing.

[Swingpure]

Collected 10 gallons this weekend, with temperatures not consistent with good flows. I will boil it tomorrow and make a litre of syrup. Might get more sap later this week.

[Swingpure]

Turned out I only had 8 gallons, but I boiled it this morning anyways. As I was getting close to finishing what I boiled down, I realized it felt warmer than they forecasted and sure enough I collected another 2 gallons. The first 8 gallons I boiled over my fire bowl. These last two I am currently boiling on my induction stove. I will finish and filter it tonight and hopefully fill two 500 ml bottles.

This afternoon while waiting for the sap to run, I was ice fishing. When I finished ice fishing, I collected the sap.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/033rpIXw9dQ0-lTXMRRnVcSGA

[Pdiamond]

Gary, how much ice have you got now. It sure seems like we have been up and down with temps to make ice around here.

[Swingpure]

Yesterday’s syrup I made was more amber than the last boil’s golden batch. I made just shy of a litre. What I am making is keeping up with my home use, with the Grandkids not around.

It looks like there will be more sap collection days over the next couple of weeks.

While making the syrup yesterday, I wondered why most hobbyist make maple syrup? Unless you are in it for the long haul, I doubt you make money or break even. So far in my three years, it would have been cheaper to go buy it, but I guess giving away more than 75% of what I make has something to do with that. Now that I am making less syrup, 90%+ will stay at home.

If you paid yourself for all of the hours you put in, you would be far in the hole, so there must be something else driving people to make syrup.

There is a certain satisfaction of making your own syrup, the accomplishment of making it and knowing the quality of the product you make. There is a satisfaction of doing work outside with the result of a finished product. This is similar to the satisfaction you get doing a hard days work doing a multitude of tasks.

I am still looking forward to the next sap flow. I am enjoying this slower pace and enjoying not be driven by any end goal, just being happy to make syrup until I do not want to make any more.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0d1aq6QdjQaMimEvT6qrfYcsA

[Swingpure]

Gary, how much ice have you got now. It sure seems like we have been up and down with temps to make ice around here.

Our ice is very poor ice, but there is enough poor ice to make it safe in the spots that I have checked. We have an upper hard crust, then a gap before you hit the lower ice. In between is a slushy, almost air filled area, but the hard crust protects you from it. It is 80% white ice.

Our lake was the latest that I have ever seen, to freeze over. It did not freeze over until January 5th. Before it had a chance to become safe ice, we received the 150 cms (60”j of snow in three days. That created a large slushy area, but then we had three days of pretty cold weather and that froze the upper crust.

I have been on the ice in my ATV in the areas I have checked, but I am not running on any areas I have not.

[berkshires]

While making the syrup yesterday, I wondered why most hobbyist make maple syrup? Unless you are in it for the long haul, I doubt you make money or break even.

I won't speak for everyone, but I make syrup because I like making syrup! I've only been doing it nine years, so I guess I'm not in it for "long haul". I've never sold an ounce of syrup. If I want to keep doing it for the long haul, is that a requirement? LOL.

I thought that was the point of a hobby - to do something you love!

GO

[bigschuss]

I won't speak for everyone, but I make syrup because I like making syrup! I've only been doing it nine years, so I guess I'm not in it for "long haul". I've never sold an ounce of syrup. If I want to keep doing it for the long haul, is that a requirement? LOL.

I thought that was the point of a hobby - to do something you love!

GO

Same here. I've never sold a drop. I do it because I enjoy the tradition. I enjoy the memories we make with friends and family in the sugar house. It's a great harbinger of spring and gives me something to do in March when there's not much else going on. Breaking even is not something I consider. It's a hobby. It brings me enjoyment. Therein lies the value.

[ProBoot]

I've never made syrup but I'm in it to make a million dollars. I figure if I tap 150 trees and buy all new equipment and work really hard at it in about 250 years I'll have made my money back.

We use a lot of syrup and yes it's easier to just go to the store and buy it but we are teaching our kids where food comes from, farming, animals, etc.

This is another step in the hobby farming quiver.

[Swingpure]

I like all the answers why. I also enjoy sharing the experience with my family, especially my grand kids and visiting kids.

Sap is flowing again today and may flow a few more times this week.

I especially love the sap is flowing while I am out ice fishing. Now for a flag to pop with a Lake Trout at the other end.

[bigschuss]

I've never made syrup but I'm in it to make a million dollars. I figure if I tap 150 trees and buy all new equipment and work really hard at it in about 250 years I'll have made my money back.

We use a lot of syrup and yes it's easier to just go to the store and buy it but we are teaching our kids where food comes from, farming, animals, etc.

This is another step in the hobby farming quiver.

I doubt you've worked hard a day in your life if you have nothing better to do than troll.

[Swingpure]

Well, so far the temperature has not dropped below freezing and sap continues to slowly run. I think wobbletop got more in his bag from one tree than I did from 50 taps, but I am up to 4 gallons. Temps will be above freezing all night and are expected to rise to 3° (37° F) tomorrow. I am not sure if there was enough built up pressure in the trees to keep running tomorrow as well.

[Swingpure]

If the temperatures had dropped below freezing last night, today could have been a special day. I ended up with 9 gallons. This Sunday is looking special if the forecast holds and some sap may flow on Saturday and Monday. It is also looking great a week from now on Thursday and Friday, but I will believe it when I see it.

I may do my next boil Monday or Tuesday.

[LMP Maple]

As Hobbies go cheaper than a new snowmobile, cheaper than a Camaro and safer than a motorcycle. I sell a little maybe enough to pay for the bottles and maybe the taps every year. For me its nice to do something on a small scale I did as a kid and its nice to know even in S. NH I can still go into the woods and feel like I'm 15 again and back in VT.

Love reading your posts Gary.

[bigschuss]

I've never made syrup but I'm in it to make a million dollars. I figure if I tap 150 trees and buy all new equipment and work really hard at it in about 250 years I'll have made my money back.

r.

Hey ProBoot....sorry for my earlier comment calling you a troll. When you said you never made syrup but were "in it to make a million dollars" and were going to work 250 years to break even that just made no sense. As a new member with 9 posts it all sounded very trollish. I just saw and read your thread and I now see that indeed you're not a troll but that you were just trying to be funny.

Good luck in your new project. Hope you have a good first year.

[Swingpure]

Today’s high temps were just supposed to be around the freezing mark, but with all of the sun it rose above freezing and some sap flowed. I visited my friend across the lake, whose family has been making maple syrup for generations and his slope was facing the sun and the trees were basking in the sunlight. Shortly thereafter I walked to my lines and the slope faced away from the sun. No wonder his trees flow so much better than mine. (Picture is of my slope) The snow depth is mostly knee deep.

I may get some sap every day this week, especially at the end of the week. Mid month the polar vortex is supposed to move in and that will be the end of the sap flow for a few weeks.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0adhf-xWJrH-xLhcZL4UwBqbQ

[Swingpure]

A question about cone filters.

The previous two years I had my DYI vacuum filter. When the top prefilter got clogged, I simply lifted it off and the syrup above it slid down to the next filter.

With the cone filter, when the top prefilter gets plugged, you can’t simply lift it off the other, because it has syrup in it.

What do you do?

[Swingpure]

Thinking about it, I guess you just dump the syrup into the other filters as you remove it.

[aamyotte]

Thinking about it, I guess you just dump the syrup into the other filters as you remove it.
That's what I do. Dump it in and try to keep the worst nitre and sludge in the old prefilter so it doesn't clog up the other prifilters. As I get near the end I push up on the bottom of the cone with a stick or ladle to have the syrup filter through the upper portion of the filter where it's not clogged. I have seen people here use a bracket that makes the bottom of the cone into a sailor hat shape to increase the filtering area. It's like this. https://bascommaple.com/products/cone-filter-optomizer-wire-rack-round

[Swingpure]

That's what I do. Dump it in and try to keep the worst nitre and sludge in the old prefilter so it doesn't clog up the other prifilters. As I get near the end I push up on the bottom of the cone with a stick or ladle to have the syrup filter through the upper portion of the filter where it's not clogged. I have seen people here use a bracket that makes the bottom of the cone into a sailor hat shape to increase the filtering area. It's like this. https://bascommaple.com/products/cone-filter-optomizer-wire-rack-round

Thanks good tips.

[Swingpure]

The sap ran well today, relatively speaking, for February, on the shady side of a hill, with almost 2 feet of snow on the roots. It should be close to 6 gallons, which may not sound like a lot, but seeing how I have been mostly getting two gallons a day, it is a good day. Tomorrow might be a similar day and some real good days are shaping up for the end of the week.

I will boil tomorrow and maybe again Friday or Saturday.

[Swingpure]

Boiling today. I basically sold my evaporator from last year that boiled at 13 gallons per hour. Now I boil with steam pans over a fire bowl, two for boiling and two as sap pre heaters, a turkey fryer and two pots over induction stoves. It works.

I did singed my eyebrows when a gust came up as I was adding wood. Saves me from trimming them.


https://share.icloud.com/photos/076xmdncC576YiKFmj6b2mmug

https://share.icloud.com/photos/08dmdcFI-bTtcKoroFzSYq2Ew


I made one and half litres of syrup.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/052YxC53Xei-jJmGB2JwQzitA

[Swingpure]

I debated doing the sailor hat thing with the cone filter without the optimizer. It seemed to hold its shape on its own. At the last moment I abandoned trying that and just poured the syrup dead center. I try to have as little syrup getting sucked into the filter. I did remove 2 of the 3 pre filters and dumped that syrup in. At the end I used a wooden spoon to push up on the bottom to get the last of it.

The one thing I did last year with the flat filters and again this year with the cone, is I immediately dunk them in a 5 gallon pail of water and leave them there over night, then rinse them under hot water in the morning and they come totally clean.

[Swingpure]

The sap ran yesterday and ran again today and should really run well tomorrow into tomorrow night. I will have my fifth boil Friday depending on the rain.

Just small amounts of sap and syrup made, but it is fun.

If I had all of the taps from last years, which were better producers the volumes would be substantially greater, but thatnis not what this season is about.

[Swingpure]

The sap ran well today, I was tempted to tap some trees I have held in reserve for the more traditional tapping season, but I didn’t. The sap may run all night as the temperatures should remain above freezing.

Depending on the timing of the rain tomorrow, I may boil.

[Swingpure]

The temperatures did not go below freezing the last two nights, so not much was collected today. I boiled 19 gallons and made 2.2L of syrup. It was all boiled, finished filtered and bottled by 4 pm and all cleaned up before 5 pm.

This is what I was hoping for this year, a much lower key day. The syrup tastes great!

That should be it now for a few weeks, then we will back to the more traditional March sap flow.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/092eIgzEdGS7iMBxtBC1Ex2vw

https://share.icloud.com/photos/07eNl9a1Efr7KXIAqfhmWTdnA

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0beydnimdqNwtrHhlJ5WqInRg

[Swingpure]

Well today was a surprise. Temps today on some sites had it going just over freezing, some had it going to +2° C (35.5 F). Overnight it never reached -3° (26.6 F). I thought some sap might flow as it got close to +2. The sun came out at times. For whatever reason the sap flowed.

It just felt so good, I actually tapped some trees in my yard that were exposed to sun and in less than a half a day they produced a gallon of sap.

I went to the lines, one 5 gallon pail was filled to the brim. I think I just got there in the nic of time. Another pail had 4 gallons and the third pail over two gallons. I ended up with 15 gallons. Thatnis not a huge amount, but compared to other days so far this spring, it was a good day.

As I was collecting the pail taps were still dripping, and the lines still streaming and the temperatures were close to the freezing mark. Imam headed out now to collect again as I may get another gallon or more.

Edit: I collected another two gallons and it was still dripping even though the temperatures are below freezing.

I had no expectations for today, but I will be boiling tomorrow. Tomorrow night it turns cold for at least two weeks.

[Swingpure]

Boiled today. The cold front was coming in, with strong winds. It was -11° C (12.2 F) with the wind chill. I made 1.75 L of golden syrup.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/099DOZPTFgZ64vMjfqbNANNxQ

I tucked my cone filter into a sailor hat shape and it’s held it’s shape for the most part and it did work better.

[Swingpure]

Sap should run today and tomorrow. I added a second fire bowl for the expected sap flow next week.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/099OJo41B2n_b09MWEzIEQUbQ

The sap is not running quite as fast as I expected today, but that might change. It might be the foot (31 cms) of snow that fell the other day.

If the long range forecast holds, in ten days we should see a big reduction in the snow on the ground. There is lots to melt though.

[Brien]

Didn’t you have a pavilion you boiled under last year.? I know you did a major downsizing this year, did you also move the location of where you are boiling.?


[QUOTE=Swingpure;413819]Sap should run today and tomorrow. I added a second fire bowl for the expected sap flow next week.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/099OJo41B2n_b09MWEzIEQUbQ

The sap is not running quite as fast as I expected today, but that might change. It might be the foot (31 cms) of snow that fell the other day.

If the long range forecast holds, in ten days we should see a big reduction in the snow on the ground. There is lots to melt though.[/QUOTE

[Swingpure]

The sap ran well today, better than expected. My buddy who has a larger setup, collected 900 L of sap. That almost fills his new 1100 L storage tank.

I collected 45 gallons of sap, and it took me 12 hours to boil, finish, filter and bottle 5.25 L of fabulous tasting syrup. I finished boiling in the moonlight of the snow moon.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/04eBB086DSGK-ej-ncASvv2eA

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0b4c5C99ypphXxIQ_DNP3Hdpg

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0cdu2unVn6RJkSPtPQ2sdk01Q

[Swingpure]

Didn’t you have a pavilion you boiled under last year.? I know you did a major downsizing this year, did you also move the location of where you are boiling.?


[QUOTE=Swingpure;413819]Sap should run today and tomorrow. I added a second fire bowl for the expected sap flow next week.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/099OJo41B2n_b09MWEzIEQUbQ

The sap is not running quite as fast as I expected today, but that might change. It might be the foot (31 cms) of snow that fell the other day.

If the long range forecast holds, in ten days we should see a big reduction in the snow on the ground. There is lots to melt though.[/QUOTE


I still have the pavilion. I wasn’t sure with an open fire if it would be safe to boil there. I think it would be okay, but one spark, in the wrong place, on the wood frame, could give me a greater boil than planned.

I am thinking about moving there next year. I will see what lessons I have learnt this year and maybe do something’s different. Whatever I do, I have to remember it is a hobby and don’t let my personality to do more, prevail.

[Swingpure]

These are some of the colours of the syrup I have made this year.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/055pQWjI6eOUIkuNHhFiDln-w

[aamyotte]

Nice colour on your syrup.

[Swingpure]

Just two thoughts from my last boil and filtering.

I had mentioned that as soon as I remove a filter, I put it into a bucket of clean water. I let the filters sit overnight in the bucket and the next day they easily and quickly get clean under hot water.

I did my upside down sailor hat without the optimizer for the filtering. This time with the increase amount of syrup, they lost their shape. Last year I would just order the optimizer, this year trying to go on the cheap, I will have to find a redneck way to help keep the sailor hat shape.

[aamyotte]

Maybe use 3 wooden spoons tied at the top to create a tripod sitting in the bucket would work. Get new cheap ones at Dollarama.

[Swingpure]

Thanks, I will give that a try. Tomorrow I am going to town and see if I’d an McQuiver some stainless steel items as well.

I did have a cone filter holder that I could have reversed and used, but sold it with all of my other stuff. I might buy one again, if I cannot get something to work that I like. https://youtu.be/Krq8hdv_lWQ?si=Z8dTh6rtuCKev4NN

I was impressed with the sailor hat idea.

[Maplesapper]

UVM has some interesting reading about how many taps per line to maximize vacuum.
Place a pressure gauge at the start of the line- we are able to get 28" of vacuum- crazy

[Swingpure]

I boiled 32 gallons today and made 4.2 L, which was a little more than I expected.

I made the sailor hat again in the cone filter. I had a 16” long stainless steel pipe, that I stood up in the pot and it supported the top of the sailor hat. I had the pipe because I bought it to go through the garage wall to pump sap from a barrel to a proposed RO. I did make the hole in the garage and I did have the pipe through the whole, but ultimately no RO last year. I still have to fix up the hole better.

It actually worked really well.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/02d6AWnCgIz3bQBdmcxWJGQpw

More sap to come over the next two weeks. Our ice will be out a month early this year.

[Swingpure]

I guess I did not stick with my original goal: “My goal is at the end of the ice fishing period, near the end of March, to tap the trees for 7 to 10 days, to gather about 120 gallons of sap, to make 3 gallons of syrup or so.”

I started in December and I have already doubled the planned syrup.

Boiling a small batch today, 17.5 L. Should make 1.5+ L based on past performance. I am close to taking it off the fire and finishing it. Last time I made syrup in the pan.

Edit: I made 2.4 L today from 17.5 gallons of sap. Not all syrup shown in the picture.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/027vhqL4TWLR674d2oOaI7dtA

My experience from the last two years allows me to let the pan get shallower as I finish my boil and get the sap, real close to the finished product.

[berkshires]

Edit: I made 2.4 L today from 17.5 gallons of sap. Not all syrup shown in the picture.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. You are very lucky to have such sweet sap. That's great for you!

GO

[Swingpure]

Boiled again today, boiled 32 gallons and made 4L of syrup.

The cone filter in the sailor hat shape, supported by the 16” stainless steel pipe, is still working great.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0d1LONvISZIk61YC2bhuHy_Eg

[Swingpure]

I boiled 37 gallons yesterday ander finished, filtered and bottled 4.5 L of syrup.

FFor the first time I had a real problem with the cone filter, especially after using a sailor hat configuration of the filters. I used three brand new prefilters and the same orlon filter. It took a long time to filter this relatively small amount. After pulling individually each of the prefilters, there was still a fair amount of syrup to go through the orlon filter, and I really had to manipulate it to allow syrup to go through.

I always clean it before using, but perhaps I need to do a better jobs of cleaning it or maybe they have a life span.

Edit: When I cleaned them today, I realized yesterday I was rushed in cleaning them before using them and did not clean one side of it well and that is why I had the problem yesterday. I am super cleaning it today.

I will also move from 3 pre-filters to five.

Of all of the things I sold, that I wish I could get back, was my DYI vacuum filter. It worked fast, filtered well and I would lose very little syrup in the process.

My original goal was to make 12 L of syrup, then 30 L of syrup. I am over 35 L now. We have about a week’s long cold spell then we will have flow again. I am not sure how many more boils I will do. Essentially whatever I make now will be for giving away to family and friends.

[Swingpure]

I rebuilt my cone filter stand, to better suit the sailor hat style. Made out of scraps, it is not pretty, but should work. Although having the optimizer would be ideal, so far I am finding the stainless steel pipe support, adequate. Perhaps next year I will get the optimizer. We will see what my maple fever will be like, next fall or spring.

In the second picture, you can see part of the metal pipe in the pot. All simple no cost things.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/094wnHaLh8j3Kc07LroXIbKhg

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0adUG9UxEx2NCsSzjTL_3Lxaw

Have I said I miss my DYI vacuum filter.

[4Walls]

I am designing and building a vacuum filter attachment for my buddy. He has the CDL 5 gallon SS filter and bottling rig. Looks like the one that you are filtering into. The one where the cone filter fits perfectly into it and has the spigot on the bottom to bottle. Will try to post pics once done. Found a perfect ss veggie steamer pot with all the holes in it at a thrift store. Fits like a glove. Design is such that no holes are cut into the CDL rig.

[Swingpure]

I am designing and building a vacuum filter attachment for my buddy. He has the CDL 5 gallon SS filter and bottling rig. Looks like the one that you are filtering into. The one where the cone filter fits perfectly into it and has the spigot on the bottom to bottle. Will try to post pics once done. Found a perfect ss veggie steamer pot with all the holes in it at a thrift store. Fits like a glove. Design is such that no holes are cut into the CDL rig.

Thanks, I look forward to your pics.

[Swingpure]

Today I am boiling, 73 gallons of sap. It is my final boil. As I collected today’s sap, I pulled the taps and brought the pails in.

Sap will still flow well here for a week or more, but today is a good day to wrap this season up, while I am still enthusiastic.

I certainly made more syrup than originally planned. It was a good season from mid December to near the end of March. For the most, part I collected at a rate I could handle and boil and bottle before supper. I had two long days and today will be a third.

Edit: Made 7.75 L of syrup for a total of 48 L of syrup.

I will have changes for next year. I want to think about them before I finally decide. I will be pulling the lines on a neighbour’s property and mostly focus on trees on my property. Whether I will put up lines again on my property or have drops to pails, is to be determined. Whether I continue with my fire bowl method of boiling or make a different evaporator with a larger pan, is to be determined.

Edit: The cone filter still gave me troubles today. I had to throw out 1/4 L of syrup that would not make it through the filter, with 5 prefilters, and the filter in the sailor hat configuration. It worked great at first. I definitely will have to do something different next year.

After having my stroke last Spring and initially giving up on making maple syrup, every drop of syrup I make is bonus.