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Thanks I did not think of that.Quote:
Originally Posted by berkshires
There are a few 12° F nights ahead, if I boil Sunday can it last until Thursday, or will it need a boil like Tuesday.
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If that forecast holds true, absolutely. Only reason I would think otherwise is if your pan is not covered, or if it gets sun on it. Otherwise it's never going to even defrost from slush between Sun and Thurs. Just make sure everything (including any sap in preheaters or whatever) has come to and remained at a boil for a few minutes. If there's anywhere (preheaters, transfer boxes, etc.) that doesn't boil, either pull it out and add it to the pan while the pan is still boiling (you can replace with water to keep from scorching if it's exposed to heat) or take some boiling sap and flush that area out with that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
GO
I need to find time to get threw your thread, so far I'm on page 2 but its been a fun follow so far.
Hope your having a great season this year!
I will have my second boil tomorrow. I have taken the advice offered and I have placed ceramic blanket material between the back of the pan and the basestack. It is touching both, but it is rated for 2300 F continuous use.
I have also placed a sheet of sheet rock behind the basestack to protect the tarp and wood that are behind the basestack. The tarp partially melted last time.
I have already removed the 5 gallon plastic pail that I put over the stack. My fear is one time I will forget to remove it and that will be a mess. Thank goodness I have a long roof rake to put the pail on and off the stack.
The forecast is slightly improved and I should be boiling every second day of in some cases everyday, although with relatively minimal new volumes. Hopefully as the days get longer the volumes will increase so that I can have a draw off or two, some of the times.
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Instead of using a plastic bucket on your stack you could use a steel ash bucket. If you forget it worse thing that would happen is smoke in your shelter.
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Originally Posted by aamyotte
I consider that but the ash bucket does not have the diameter or depth to put it on and take it off easily with the roof rake. J will keep my eye open for a light metal 5 gallon pail.
The boil today is going well and uneventful. Nothing to fix or improve.
Today I purposefully have a 3” sap level, which is likely why I will not make syrup today, but I am getting close.
I have 3” of sap depth because on Tuesday I will bring it to a quick boil so that it does not freeze solid on me and I have no fresh sap to add. I will boil again later on Thursday and I will have sap to add.
I was able to control the rocket effect without losing my efficiency, by simply not overloading the firebox. I think I used less wood in doing so.
Less than an hour left to add wood.
Edit: I decided to save 5 gallons, plus have the extra depth for Tuesday’s quick boil.
Should I remove the float for the two days? It will drop to -10 C / 14°F one night.
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The float box will be okay, but I would remove the hose from the head tank so it does not freeze. Even if it does freeze it will thaw quickly once you light a fire.
Thanks. I had removed the hose. I also drained the head tank. I just got the pan covered up as the snow arrived. I actually had about 10 gallons of sap left. I may boil that down to 5 gallons tomorrow on the turkey fryer and induction stoves, just to put a boil on it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdiamond
If I do the quick boil on Tuesday, I should have a real boil on Thursday, Friday Saturday and maybe make syrup each of those days.
Edit: I checked the sap temperature at 10:30 pm and it is still holding its own at 90°F. It is currently -5° C / 23° F.
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Do you have to bring it to a boil or could you say bring it to 150°? I put my pan cover on last evening once sap had stopped evaporating off, (the float box stopped adding sap). I would say when the sap had dropped down to 120° or so when that happened. I can’t remember exactly. It was 90° last night and 43° this morning. I can see tomorrow when I heat it up again, it will likely be slushy with the -9 C / 16 F temps overnight.Quote:
Originally Posted by berkshires
Is the purpose solely to heat it up to prevent it from freezing, or is it also bacteria prevention of the “sweet” and that is why you need to bring it to a boil?
Gary, I don't think you have to worry about freezing if that's your concern. I allow mine to freeze solid between runs and in 20 years have never had a problem. If a 14,000 gallon pool can freeze solid every winter and not damage the pool, your 10 gallons of frozen sweet in your pan will do no harm.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
Bringing your pan to a boil every few days is to prevent bacteria growth. However, if your pan is frozen that's not going to happen anyway. I only bring my pan to a boil every 3rd day or so when the pan DOESN'T freeze between runs.
Exactly this ^^^
Gabe
Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by bigschuss
I boiled the 10 gallons of emergency sap today so it would not spoil. I got carried a little away and boiled it down to 3 gallons. I used a turkey fryer for the first time and it work well. Many magnitudes better than the induction stove. I used both, to try and get through the sap as fast as I could.
Sap should flow this Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, but the season looks to truly start March 21 with flow days everyday after that, for awhile.
I will likely have my warmup/bacteria prevention boil on Wednesday. I have a bunch of people coming that day to skate on our lake and they want to see the maple syrup stuff as well. Although I will not have any real fresh sap to add, they will at least see the sap boiling in the channels for a very short while. In the afternoon they will see some sap flowing in the lines.
Wednesday I should collect enough sap to have a boil Thursday and will have a longer boil on Friday, where I will make syrup for sure. There is a chance I could make my first syrup on a divided pan Thursday, depending on how much I collect Wednesday.
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Sounds great!Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
I still haven't even tapped yet. About 1.5' of snow on the ground and as I sit here having my morning coffee we are in the middle of a massive Nor'easter. Expecting 2 more feet. Four weeks ago it was 55 F and we had grass in the front yard.
It's going to be a short season here. But at least I have the snow now. Without any snowpack my trails are too muddy to gather sap. So, I'd rather have a short season than no season.
Good luck when your season does get underway and I hope it flows hard for you when it does. Strange Winter and I have to admit, today for the first day, this winter, I am ready for it to end.Quote:
Originally Posted by bigschuss
We had a cold night and day and the sap in the pan finally froze. I will bring it to a boil tomorrow, then hopefully do a real boil Thursday or Friday. It looks like our season will start March 21, but I should get some minimal flows this Wed to Fri and make syrup Friday or Saturday.
Yes, you got exactly the Noreaster you requested! Boston got an inch or two, Maine where my in-laws are got six inches, and little old western mass will get like two feet!Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
You must have a direct line to someone upstairs! LOL
GO
Thanks Gary. Strange winter indeed. As a downhill skier I skied the entire season on lousy snow...in the rain....ice...slush. Now that I am ready for spring to be here...we get snow. Four weeks ago it was 50 and we had grass in the backyard and I almost tapped. Crazy indeed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
LOL!!!! You remember about a month ago when I was hoping for a March Nor-easter. My trails were all bare mud and I wouldn't have been able to collect sap without snow. I've got so much now it will be a week before I can even get out with my snowmobile to pack the trails to tap.Quote:
Originally Posted by berkshires
As of yesterday around 2 PM I had about 34" on the ground. Each beer can is 5" and I have 7 stacked in the pic. It snowed all afternoon and I just woke up and looked out the window...looks like we easily picked up another 12 to 14" overnight. Thankfully none of it has been heavy or wet. Never lost power. Because it's always colder here the snow was light and dry.
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Holy Smokes, that is a lot of snow! That would bury me! I would have to plow continuously during the storm, as there is no way my ATV and plow could handle that. Hopefully it melts quickly.Quote:
Originally Posted by bigschuss
We have snow and rain coming, with a tiny bit of sap flow today expected, it should flow well tomorrow and should continue to flow throughout the night. I should make syrup Friday unless the rain is driving in from the north and washes out the boil.
Had 8 extended family up today from young to old. Although they were here to skate and enjoy winter, they were also keenly interested in the maple syrup operation. I did not have any fresh sap, but I still put the frozen sap in the pan to a boil and they got to see the steam come off the pan and the sap in the channels. Today it only got above freezing for a short while, so some sap flowed, but not a ton. They did get to se the lines at least drip.
Tomorrow is supposed to a big flow day, so I might collect mid afternoon and start a boil. There should be a lot more to collect on Friday.
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Soooooo disappointing. Last night the temperature was supposed to drop below freezing and today was one of two days where the temperature was supposed to rise well over freezing. It was supposed to be the best flow day of the season so far.
Last night the temperature did not drop as cold as forecasted and only barely dropped below freezing and only for a short while. The sap barely ran. Tonight is also expected to stay above freezing, so after waiting for it to warm up, two +5 days will be for not.
I did collect 15 gallons which I am grateful for and maybe I will collect another 5 in the morning. The hope is to have a little boil tomorrow, but I will have to wait until sometime next week for my first syrup.
Rats.
Gary, one thing you are going to learn is the weather is never going to be exactly what they predict. When I see a perfect week of sap weather coming up, I am "certain" that it will NOT be just what is predicted. It is not unusual to see 6-7 perfect days predicted, and we get 2 or 3. Watch the forecast but don't bet your life on it.
Ain't that the truth. In my area we were expecting to get 12" of snow and now it's just rain. I held off tapping till tomorrow because of that forecast and tilting my solar panels to summer angle so they would have shed the snow easier.Quote:
Originally Posted by Z/MAN
That’s the rub, you can understand them being wrong 14 or 7 days away, but when they are wrong a half a day away or less, it is a little frustrating. But it is what it is.Quote:
Originally Posted by aamyotte
I collected 15 gallons yesterday and 5.5 gallons early this morning during a pause in the rain. I will have a brief boil after lunch, when the rain is supposed to slow.
I will at least get the fresh sap to a boil and get the entire sap in the pan closer to syrup. The sap in the pan will freeze this weekend with cold weather returning for two days. I will boil again sometime early this coming week, but that forecast is changing each day as well.
Although I was disappointed with yesterday’s flow, I was grateful for the 15 gallons I collected. I collected another 5.5 gallons in the morning, I had about 2 gallons worth in ice form, I was lowering my sap level in the pan from 3” to 2”, and later on I collected a valuable 1.5 gallons.
This sap was added to the boiled down 150 gallons in the pan. I knew I was close to making my first syrup from the new pan. Later I collected another 1.5 gallons which proved to be key.
Just as I was getting to the point where I had stopped adding wood, I could see the temperature rising in the pan and the trademark large bubbles, indicating that the sap was becoming syrup. I tested it on my refractometer and it was at 63 Brix. I decided I had to draw it off the pan now, as I was afraid if I waited any longer my sap levels in the pan would get dangerously low.
I drew it off and you look for the temperature to drop before closing the valve. The temperature had not dropped when I decided to close the valve, because once again I was concerned with the sap levels in the pan as it cooled off. The last 1.5 gallons I collected gave me the confidence I would have enough sap in the pan for the cooling off period.
I was able to make 8.5 L of syrup. Now each time I boil, I will be able to make syrup.
Colour me amber happy!
My wife tasted it and she went Mmmmm very good, very good!
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Just had the new syrup and it is best described by me as maple smooth. It was excellent and likely fair better if submitted to a syrup tasting contest than my last year’s syrup.
My next boil will be Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning and then most days after that.
On yesterday’s boil I think I nailed down my firing interval. 8 minutes seemed to work well to maintain a good boil, but avoid the jet affect. I did not have enough sap to see if it affected my rate of boil. I hopefully will be able to measure that on Tuesday afternoon.
I placed a trouble light in the evaporator under the pan. I only had a 60 watt bulb, so it may not be enough to preventing the sap from freezing. We will see. Starting Tuesday, I should be boiling every day or every second day, so it will not be an issue after the next two nights.
I will clean the pan on Monday and will start with a clean pan, for what might be many days of boiling. It I’ll be interesting if the large dark floating areas of nitre will return with steady boiling and draw offs.
The only thing that did not go perfect last boil was when I drew off I had a filter in a filter basket on my pot collecting the syrup just to catch the easy nitre. It quickly got washed away. I remembered then, when I saw the you tube video of someone doing it similar, he had clamps holding the filter in place. I now have the clamps at the ready and will try them next time. I think it might take a trial or two to nail it down.
I use a kitchen wire mesh strainer with clothes pins for clamps if needed holding filter .Then filter as i draw off rinse filter as needed or swap with clean one.really helps with filtering after finishing .
Thanks, the clothes pins might be a good back up choice for me. I am going to try these spring clamps, holding the filter in a filter basket.Quote:
Originally Posted by richwilly
This is just for a quick filter to get the big stuff when I draw off the syrup.
We will see how this works either this Tuesday or Wednesday depending on Monday flows. I want 50+ gallons to start a boil now, so I suspect I will be boiling Wednesday instead of Tuesday. I still plan on cleaning my pan Monday, but that could slide to Tuesday.
I had a good chat with some neighbour’s who have been tapping for generations. They just use the syrup for family and friends and determine if it is syrup by temperature or how it looks dripping from a spoon, which has met their needs for generations. When I talk Brix, they just politely smile at me. They will start tapping Tuesday or Wednesday and they use buckets.
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yup used a thermometer for years no problem only make syrup for my personnel use and friends it all tastes good on pancakes.
I like the wooden clamp on clothes pins. I have used them since I have been making syrup.
Drained the pan today of the sweet and cleaned the pan. When I drained it, I ran it through the filter I showed on an earlier post. The spring clamps worked well and I removed a ton of nitre. I will use a similar filter when I do my draw offs. I put the sweet back into the pan.
The 60 watt bulb kept the sap to 40° allowing me to draw it off. I did get a 100 watt bulb today. I also got from Amazon an eye dropper in an amber coloured jar and I will use that for dropping in the canola oil. I had a cheap plastic bottle to do that, but it broke the first time I used it.
Sap flow was almost non existent today, hopefully tomorrow enough will flow to allow me to have a boil on Wednesday. Only one line of eleven had any kind of steady drip.
I did check the drips of three of the lines. One had 2.5% sugar content, the other 3% and the other 3.5%. I checked them again in reverse order and I got the same readings. Last year I had really good sugar content as well, so that should be helpful. Now for the sap to flow well.
I do believe you are going to have another good year. The make up of the soil and trees must create that good sugar content, at least in the beginning of the year.
The soils are interesting here as it is all Canadian Shield where you have relatively shallow soils on granite. The trees right beside my house are in very sandy soil and do not do well, but 98% of the trees are on shield rock.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdiamond
This morning started off cloudy and colder than expected and all of a sudden the sun came out and the sap started flowing in the afternoon. At times it was streaming out of the lines. I ended up with 33 gallons after running for a little more than 4 hours. I am grateful for the 33 gallons. The sap is still running two hours after I collected.
I will boil tomorrow afternoon. I will also collect more sap before I do. I got a surprise Dr’s appointment in the evening, so I have to time when I collect, with my expected boil and cool down time, with the time I have to leave for the appointment. I should have time for one and maybe two draw offs.
For the draw offs I was told to draw off until the temperature drops on the temperature gauge. I only have had one draw off, the temperature did not drop, I stopped because I was afraid of not having enough sap for the backfill and cool down period. Is this correct to draw off until you see the temperature drop?
The next boil after that will be Friday.
The sap is still running almost four hours after collecting, but it should stop soon as the temps are now at zero/32° F.
The point of this post isn’t that though, it is about the line I tapped on December 27, 2022. It is still running and it is still running as good or better than lines I tapped in February and March.
I am currently at 26% of total sap I collected last year and 23% of the sap I boiled. (I was given 110 gallons last year)
Yes that is correct. On my rig i actually start drawing off just before i hit the 7 degree mark and it will usually climb to 1 or 2 degrees over while its drawing off. I actually dont stop my draw until i get back down to 6 degrees to help dilute the syrup back down to closer to where its supposed to be. I end up with heavy syrup that i then correct when bottling it which is preferable to me than having light syrup.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
Originally when making my rig i was going to have the front pan draw off at the back where it meets the back pan but the supplier convinced me to keep it in the front to make the piping connection easier between pans. I do regret making that change as the hottest part of my arch is right where the two pans meet. So thats why i end up with a spike in temp as the syrup is a little heavier back there and gets drawn forward as i am drawing off. It still works really well overall but its definitely something i would change if i ever got new pans.
Thank you!Quote:
Originally Posted by The Heldeberg Sapper
I will start my boil today at noon. I have 43 gallons to start, I will do a quick collection around 3 pm with my wife watching the pan while I do it. Expect another 15+ gallons. The sap slowly started to flow around 10 am. It has clouded over and we expect rain around 4 PM
It will not drop below freezing all day and overnight. I expect the sap to run well into the night before it stops because the trees have not recharged. The rain should stop tomorrow around noon and I will collect again and if there is enough, I will boil again tomorrow.
I should have at least one more draw off today.
11 hours of effort, and 60 gallons boiled, one draw and almost 9.5 L of amazing tasting syrup made.
This time on the draw off, the temp did go up, settled back down and then dropped.
I played with my boil rate. I at first avoid the jet affect and my boil rate drop to 10 GPH or slightly below. When I went with the full jet affect I was up to 13 GPH, I settled on a mix of the two, and averaged 11 GPH.
The temps will stay above freezing all night. Last I looked the sap was still slowly running. We will see in the morning if I have collected enough to boil tomorrow afternoon again, or if not, will boil on Saturday.
So far I have collected 30% of the sap I did last year.
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I collected 57 gallons today and will boil tomorrow and will collect more tomorrow after mid boil and I will have my wife watch the pan.
Last year I used wooden handles for my concrete door. The edge of the wood against the concrete burnt a little, but not bad. The wood was simply a fair size branch cut to size. I did the same thing this year with new branch wood. This year I don’t know if my evaporator is that much hotter or I used different wood, but this time, especially yesterday, the wood burnt and almost was like a stub by the end of the boil.
I put new branch handles on today. The small tree was actually cut down in the middle of this winter and I was not sure what kind of tree it was, but after drilling the hole for the bolt, I am pretty sure it is a softwood. We will see how this green softwood holds up. If not I will experiment with ironwood next time, if I can find a large enough diameter piece.
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Boiled 70 gallons of sap today and had one draw off and made 8.5 L of very tasty syrup.
All went well. One lesson learned is the hose that goes from the feeder tank to the float box. I drained it the other night, but I guess there was still some sap in it that froze. I found that out when the sap was not flowing to the float box as the pan started to boil. It was an easy fix, but the hose will stay in my heated garage overnight from now on.
So far I have had three boils and three draws. The three draws made almost identical volumes of sap. Not knowing what to expect from a divided pan, I had expected more frequent drawoffs, but I guess not.