Making Syrup!

[michigansugarman]

Put in 52 taps on Sunday, February 28. As of Sunday, March 7 we have made 6 1/2 gallons of light syrup. A good year so far, but looks like the weather is going to get a little too warm later this week.

Only downside to the season so far is that on Friday some asshole or assholes broke into my house while I was in the sugarhouse and stole my wallet and my wife's jewelry. What a pain. :mad:

[BoarsNest]

Jeff, sorry to hear about the theft. Glad the syrup part is going good. We boiled this weekend too and were pretty cautious. Made some mighty fine maple water, but had a good time.

Do you think this warm weather is going to really going to goof things up for us?

[michigansugarman]

Hi Bob, sounds like your first season is going well! I have found that if the temps don't go below freezing at night for a few days in a row that the sap flow slows way down. Looks like that may be the case later this week. Once you get a night below freezing, the sap starts to flow well again. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Jeff

[BoarsNest]

I was worried that the trees would bud and my first year would only be two weeks long.

[Ausable]

Glad to here hear You Guys are having good sap flows on the West side of the State - For some reason it has been mighty slow on the North East side. Had only one day - so far - with a decent sap flow and that was Sunday - My Son bailed me out and brought up about 50 gallons - So - between us we had enough to finally start a boil and sweeten the pans - thought I would get at least another 50 gals of sap - Mon and Tue - but old Ma Nature rules and we ended up with about ten. But - It will get better -- We hope --- Mike

[lefty]

we have had a bad year,it started we were freezing to hard at night and about the time it started to drip the sun was going down.now were not freezing at all.

[LawnMowerMan]

This is my first year and man I cannot keep up. I set out to do 2 gallons for my own use but figured whet the heck lets keep going.(have 2.5 gallons so far canned in the basemant) I tapped really early and got a batch in Feb, now its non stop, I am getting 12 gallons per day from my 6 taps I put in, A friend put in 10 taps and he is getting about 15 gallons per day. (Then he went and scorched his pan yesterday.....lol) I told him not to walk away for long........;)

The syrup I got on the really early batch had alot more flavor than the current syrup.. I am waiting for the end of the year run, I was brought up on the dark amber bold tasting syrup, this really for me has too little taste........makes great candy though:)

[michigansugarman]

We've had a great start to the season here in the GR area. Took yesterday (Weds) off to boil and made 3 1/2 gals. Have put up 10 gallons of nice light syrup so far on our 52 taps in three days of boiling. Things pretty much ground to a halt yesterday, though due to the warm temps. Trees were either not dripping or dripping very, very slowly. Here's hoping for a nice hard freeze soon to get things going again!

[Ausable]

we have had a bad year,it started we were freezing to hard at night and about the time it started to drip the sun was going down.now were not freezing at all.

Same here Lefty - Have been making maple syrup for 15 years now as a backyarder (55 taps) and so far - this has been the worst year for sap. The Guys and Gals in the South and Wast side of the State seem to be getting decent flows --- hope we get a good flow before the trees bud -- Mike

[BoarsNest]

Well, we had a good day yesterday. The arch and pans worked great and we ended up with 3-1/2 gallons of a nice amber colored syrup. Nothing like fresh syrup on our pancakes yesterday morning. So far we've made about 4-1/2 gallons of syrup out of 215 gallons of sap. It sure helps to have the pan sweet when you start out. I drained it all because of the warm weather this coming week and have about 5-6 gallons of sweet to finish at home. I hope this isn't the end, but if it is at least we figured out a lot of the process and had fun.

[Sue @ Battel's Sugar Bush]

We canned a decent amount last Wednesday and Thursday, but that has been it for the year.

I got anxious early last week and boiled some down in the house from a couple yard trees before the woods was tapped. I may have to hoard that whopping pint and a half if we don't get a freeze!