Thinking about it, I guess you just dump the syrup into the other filters as you remove it.
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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/con...ire-rack-roundQuote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
Thanks good tips.Quote:
Originally Posted by aamyotte
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.
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.
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I made one and half litres of syrup.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.