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That hard freeze last week really slowed things down here this week and I had to do some strategic thawing with the help of a neighbor's Buddy heater but made another two gallons this week of some nice amber. Tubing lines were barely running today but buckets in the sun - should be the name of a maple-based cover band - were going pretty steady.
This storm coming up may stall things further but should be good for the season long term.
Yeah im lucky in the fact that half of my maple trees are running along an old stone wall fence with southern exposure to a hay field so they produce really well. I always figure .33GPT per year but have exceeded that the past few years. I should get a sap hydrometer one of these days but i tend to be around that 40:1 ratio for the most part.Quote:
Originally Posted by ADK_XJ
I was surprised to come home to about 25 gallons of sap yesterday, unfortunately i am away this weekend and wont be able to boil until Monday night or Tuesday. Hopefully the sap stays as its supposed to remain fairly cold. its looking like Monday might be a good day for more sap as well. If the sap looks questionable i might end up dumping it as im pretty far ahead this year. I have to resweeten my pans anyways and then its looking cold for the next week or two. Will wait and see how things pan out.
Wasn't expecting to collect 120 gallons of sap after work today, but we did! Going to be a nice couple of days boiling on the weekend finally and not after work until late at night.
Pic of the bottle options we have this year
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Holy smokes this has been insane. Got the "Gordie Howe hat trick" of sugaring today. Boiled 100 gallons this morning into early afternoon. Had to make room in the finishing tank so we bottled, then of course had to collect 100 gallons of sap after that. Already at 18 gallons for the season which matches last year's total.
Huge day here...filled an entire IBC tote with sap by early afternoon and it was ripping down the lines when we did!
Big weekend for me. I was out of town Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and came home to a bunch of fairly full buckets with one overflowing this morning (~14+ gallons). Looks like we were running through the snowstorm. Sap was flowing today pretty well too, I had 4 more gallons of sap after just a few hours. Spent this evening concentrating it with the RO to go I to the freezer until I can get a boil.
Got home yesterday afternoon after being away Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning and my two 55 gallon collection barrels were overflowing (but only a couple hours im thinking based on the amount of melted of snow underneath the barrels. Seems like everyone had a really good weekend. Was able to re-sweeten my pans but had a scorching incident on my syrup pan and had to shut down the rig and clean, luckily it wasn't catastrophic.
Anyone else have a huge day today? Even the buckets on my low producers were pretty full, and my high producers were overflowing.
Oh yeah! Collected 180 gallons last night. Quite a few overflowing as well. I'm currently out of storage space until I can get some boiling done tonight. Today should be a good run too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aslowrie
Ya, much of this week looks like it could be ideal. I think this weekend may be my biggest boil of the year so far, but need to get through my RO backlog today first.Quote:
Originally Posted by MRFNY
I only picked up 10 gallons yesterday from my 47 taps (technically only from my one line that has 23 taps). It never got above 35 degrees and the only trees that ran were in direct sunlight in the evening hours. I am at 1500' elevation so that tends to keep things a bit cool, long term forecast for me is a lot of high 30s for next week and the following week looks like some 40s. Should be slow overall next 7 days unless things warm up a tad but should have enough for a quick boil or two. Lots of snow still, about 16" of base in the woods and supposed to pick up another 2-4 tonight. Then possible big storm early next week.
Side note after my scorching incident on Monday i ended up boiling the remaining sap on Wednesday and ended up making my first batch of Golden Delicate ever (well since i went wood fired anyways i might have made a micro batch back in the day on propane).
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Every day this week my storage bin at the end of my line has been overflowing. After today I should have 130 gallons waiting to be boiled, plus what is sweetened in the pan from a short 30 gallon boil on Wednesday. I have no idea how much pours out on the ground from overflow while I am at work, I guess it is time to upgrade my storage container size.
Its been a great season so far. I've made 8 gallons and have maxed out my storage bins for the next boil already. Last year I only made 8.5. Should pass that next session. These crazy days have got me really wanting to get into reverse osmosis. 50 trees is just maxing out my wood supply and my time.
Pete
Decided to break the property record of 34 gallons set in 2013 by the previous owners, should end up with 36 or so gallons on 100 taps. Went through a lot of wood but have a lot of poplar that I can split and have dried out before next season. Unbelievable season so far!
That's awesome MRFNY! Since I am exactly half as many trees tapped as you and am just a few miles away, I would make 18 gallons at that rate, I can't even imagine! I passed 10 gallons tonight with a boil yesterday and today. Still have sap on hand needing to be cooked. I'm scrounging for wood. Went through my pile of wrist sized splits and have burned at least 25 pallets. Cleaned my shop of all my scraps too. My cabinetmaker friend brings me a bin every year, still need to hit him up!
Epic season! Definitely going to be making more.
Pete
Thank you! You're having a great season as well, hoping I can get up to see your operation before you close up shop. As soon as we break the record I'm pulling the taps so if you keep going I'll definitely plan on stopping by if that works for you!Quote:
Originally Posted by crzypete
Just made 2.25 gallons of really tasty golden delicate syrup yesterday from sap that accumulated Thursday to Sunday. Its gotta be some of the best syrup i have ever made, the trees are really liking the moisture from all the snow and the really large temp swings ive been having (11F Sunday morning and 41F during the afternoon). Like others have mentioned this has been a bumper crop this year, i typically am just getting things going this time of year and ive already made about 70% of my expected crop. The long term weather is looking awesome for the next couple week or two as well. I am afraid this year will be cut short by wood supply rather than sap supply.
Would love to have you by! I'll boil for as long as I can scrounge wood and as long as I'm having fun and making good syrup! (Lotta factors there I guess)Quote:
Originally Posted by MRFNY
Pete
How did everyone make out from the big storm? I got 35" of snow at my house on top of the 12-20" base i already had. I will be doing a boil this afternoon from sap collected since my last boil on Sunday. I still have to get a path to my wood pile, which will be a chore. I typically use the side by side or little hand wagon to get wood but its looking like many trips with the jet sled will be required instead. Ill take all this snow over mud though at least for now, we shall see how long it lasts. The 10 day forecast is looking prime for sap flow.
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Weird storm. I got maybe 6-8", but my moms house- 8 minutes away got over 12" and others got absolutely bombed like you. I'm in East Galway and my mom is in Middle Grove. So glad we didn't get 35"!!!!!
Pete
Last boil of the season for Maple Ridge Farm. Finished with 35 gallons, a new property record! Niter was getting really bad the last few boils, anyone else experience the same? Now the dreaded clean up then on to splitting wood!
Congrats! That is an epic season!Quote:
Originally Posted by MRFNY
We boiled today, another 6.5 quarts in the bank. 12.75 gallons on the year so far. Lots of niter today, but it was being caught by the pre filters and going through the felt filter just fine, so wasn't a big deal when bottling.
I am planning at least one more boil next weekend. Might do another this week just to reduce the sap before the warm weather.
I added a more powerful blower to my rig and really experienced the difference today. Achieved 16GPH evaporation rate and it was boiling with a fury I have not experienced before. I knew my old blower was not powerful enough, but not sure I expected this much improvement.
Pete
I've been having a lot of sugar sand this year as well. In fact i will be draining and cleaning the syrup pan tonight as there was a caked on crust on the bottom of the pan that i noticed during my last boil which was causing a lot of foaming. Filtering has been a pain as always but not horrible. I have two Orlon cones that i swap between once one clogs and filter directly off of the evaporator with them. On Saturday i finally tried the trick where you invert the center of the cone inside itself to get more surface area and it actually made a big difference in how long the prefilters and cone was lasting.
So I had boiled on Thursday night last week and on Saturday I ended up boiling 120 gallons of sap that was collected from after boiling Thursday till Saturday afternoon. The sap was flowing like crazy on Friday, definitely the biggest single run I've ever had, plus i ended up making just shy of 3.5 gallons of syrup from that run so the sap was nice and sweet.
Currently i am at around 14 gallons of syrup to date on my 47 taps on 5/16 gravity tubing and the weather is looking great for the 10 day forecast. its looking like Ill be running out of wood before i run out sap, i was worried about this year but its turned out to have been a great year so far.
Thanks Pete! Congrats to you on a nice season as well! I'm definitely not going to attempt 35 gallons again, lolQuote:
Originally Posted by crzypete
I had the same issue in my pan which started just a few boils ago. Cleaned the pan, next boil went great until the first draw off then immediately noticed a decrease in boil rate and more foam in the syrup side of the pan.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Heldeberg Sapper
Yeah on Saturday for my 120gallon boil i was only averaging 15gph while i usually get 20gph easily. In hind sight if i had known i woulda cleaned the pan before the boil and woulda saved time overall. Oh well live an learn, i didnt notice the nitre cake until the fire was already going.Quote:
Originally Posted by MRFNY
So i ended up cleaning the pans partially on Monday and finished cleaning yesterday after a nice soak in vinegar. The syrup channel of my syrup pan had such a thick layer of niter cake build up on it, it was a nightmare to clean. Ive never had that happen before, the pan has been previously scorched there so i think that is part of the problem along with tons of sugar sand this year. Its looking like i will have to monitor this better and clean it before it gets that bad again. In the off season i am going to see if i can polish the bottom of the channel to get the surface a little better. I also will rotate the pan and put that channel on the intake side from the back pan. I also cleaned the soot off the bottom of both pans and the rig is running much better now. I am back to my 20gph and no foaming in the syrup pan.
Sap is still flowing really well, i collected 90 gallons yesterday and boiled down 60 of them. The rest of the sap is sitting in a snowbank to be boiled today. This morning it was 29 degrees so will see if i get any sap today. Its been a great season so far but i am getting tired. Might throw in the towel this weekend, we shall see. Once the snow is gone and the mud comes that might be my reason to end.
Sap is still flowing in Porter Corners, but I am out of firewood, the last boil I did I had to push down dead dried trees and drag them up to the evaporator and cut them up with the chainsaw and split what was too big for a fast burn. Too much work through in the towel after a weekend of that. Giving any more collected sap away to a buddy.
37 taps on 5/16 tubing
just over 6 gallons of syrup on the year, easily could have been 10 gallons if I started earlier when the sap first started to flow, probably missed 2 weeks maybe more, and if I continued to boil what I am collecting.
That was me last year, i ran out of wood and had to start cutting up standing dead trees on the property. Luckily still had snow so was able to use snowmobile to haul the wood out (this was prior to getting my side by side). I tapped on 2/9 this year which was a solid 2 weeks earlier than usual. A few years back i had my last boil on 4/20.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor5
I had snow, but only manpower and a 12 yr old daughter power to drag wood, she even helped split some wood! One weekend of trudging through the snow was enough for me. I tapped 2/11 which was only one week early, but I think the season really started in my area a few weeks prior to that. My last boil is normally around the first weekend of April. With how much snow I still have I would have been able to keep my storage cans cold for a few more weeks easily.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Heldeberg Sapper
I threw in the towel Friday night, was a great season overall for me considering how early I was able to tap. Ended up with 19.5 gallons of syrup on 47 gravity tubing taps. I only expect to make 15-16 gallons or so. The weather is still looking great for the next week or so and trees havent budded yet. I didnt pull taps but stopped collecting in my barrels and all day yesterday and Saturday they were still flowing like crazy, just didnt have it in me to keep going. I still have syrup left over from last year so no real incentive to kill myself and keep going.
I hope everyone else ended on a high note as well!
So i havent physically pulled the taps yet, just my collection barrels and the sap has been flowing like crazy all of last week. If i hadnt given up last week i am thinking today would be the last real day of the season for me. I probably gave up a few hundred gallons of sap over the past week. This is just a hobby for me so while i am sad i dont feel too bad as i still have syrup left over from last year and the year before haha. I do sell some by word of mouth, but need to put more effort into that this year.
The buds on the trees are starting to swell quite a bit and im curious if they will pop this week with the project warm days and no more freezing nights till the weekend.
Good for you sapper
Hello All,
Surprised there hasn't been any posting activity this year so far! Weather has been interesting, curious what it will mean for the 2024 season.
I purchased an RB15 RO system from RO Bucket this year. After last season I didn't want to go through the time and wood it took to make 35 gallons. Hopefully with an RO I'll WANT to make 35 gallons again, but without one there is now way I am interested in making that much!
For those using an RO, I'm curious how it impacts the boiling and the shut down of daily boils, if any? For example, without the RO i was comfortable doing a draw off from my 2X4 evaporator as long as I had at least 8-10 gallons of unconcentrated sap left. Will that change at all with a more concentrated sap?
On my 2x6 hybrid pan, I start to shut down when I have about 20 gallons left. My rig runs at about 35 gallons an hour. This usually works out well, with the head tank empty and a lower pan level than I normally run at. Next run will bring the pan back up to my operating level. This is not an exact science though, and takes some practice to zero in. You really have to know your rig and its boiling rate, cool down time, etc. I have doubled my RO capacity this year, so there may be some variation.
Thank you for the info! I think I know my rig pretty well without the RO but I think I will need to plan on shutting down with a little more concentrated sap than I am used to. I always have 5 gallon buckets of water handy as well just in case I dont time it right. Thankfully I haven't had to do that! Knock on wood...Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghs57
Hi all, we're approaching the start of another season one way or another...what are other folks thinking in terms of long-range forecast and tapping timeline? I've yet to have a year when I tap before Presidents' Day but it's late this year and of course this winter has been anything but winter'y.
The reality is I probably won't have my act together before Presidents' Day and all our "volunteers" in the neighborhood know that's when we usually go out, so that will likely still be the date...
Probably holding off for a bit here in Charlton. It's tempting but I think the long range forecast gets cold and stays cold for a while. February 2023 was probably a fluke, at least I think it was!Quote:
Originally Posted by ADK_XJ
Hi all, checking in. Getting excited for another season. Days are getting longer. Currently Eying next Thursday as being a potential start, but will wait until we are closer and see the extended forecast from there. won't tap if it is just a couple of days of potential. I'm looking to do the same 50 taps as last year.
Pete