Viscous Sap

[argohauler]

Ever had thick sap? It was relatively clear and you could see it wasn't quite right when I'd stick a pail in to empty the tank. I noticed it yesterday coming out of one of the lines. I've had it other years as well.

Maybe it was super concentrated sap coming out of the lines! ;)

[Jeff E]

never seen that...can you test it for sugar content?

[maplecrest]

you are done that is rope sap. ker blop is the sound it makes comming out of the tank. you will find that tank hard to wash. it will set up like jello

[Jeff E]

Well Put!!! ker plop=you are done

[argohauler]

It's come at the end of the year. It makes black syrup, but that gets wholesaled.

2 years ago it was so hot, it was around the 20th of April when we finished the syrup in the pans, I made syrup I've never seen before. It was stringy! Gave me the eeby jeebies. It went into the barrel. Took it to the wholesaler and the son started talking about stringy syrup. He just hated the stuff. It made a real mess of the filter press. I didn't say a word.

I've never let the sap set that long, it cleaned up fine.

Had the same stuff eh maplecrest?

[maple sapper]

I belive thats the sap of budding trees. correct me if I'm wrong.

[3rdgen.maple]

boiled down some of the nastiest smelling sap. It looked clear in the buckets but had a bad smell. Man I hate boiling this stuff. You can smell it in your sleep. But gotta get that mersh made cause it is money in the pocket. Funny thing is it came out a medium color but man does it taste bad.

[Russell Lampron]

That's ropey syrup. Some packers won't buy it. It's caused by bacteria and buddy sap. When you see it it's time to call it a season.

[argohauler]

I noticed it trickling out of one of my lines yesterday. It goes across a big swamp to a line fence. Most of the trees are soft maples and their buds are blown wide open for the most part. The hard's are swelled a bit, but not too bad.

[KenWP]

Another term to learn rope sap. You guys got any other names a guy has to learn.

[lew]

i've seen years when we ran into that stuff and if you jiggled a full bucket while it was hanging on the tree, the little bit that flowed over the edge would end up "siphoning" the rest of the sap out of the bucket. Also, one year we didn't get done until somewhere around April 20, and I decided not to clean out the pans until May1, just so I could say that we boiled in May. Not a wise choice. We run two rigs, an all Flue 5x10 and a 3x7 finish rig. The sap in the finisher boiled off fine, but when the sap from the flue pan came into the flat pan, it was so ropey that it wouldn't cool the pan enough and started to burn. Almost lost my finish rig. Won't do that again.

[woodbit]

I'm like you Ken I gotta start taken notes here on all the termonology.. hmmm
Stove=arch
Chimney=stack
Rope = stinky syrup
steam = money

Am I gettin there?

[3rdgen.maple]

Woodbit you are close very close but syrup=money lol

[KenWP]

I thought mersh=money.

[ennismaple]

I agree with the comments already made. Our sap yesterday was slimy (rope sap) but almost came back to medium with a good flavour. The sugar sand was really heavy. I've seen similar sap make coal black, foul smelling syrup so it was nice to end the year making some decent stuff.