To really make things interesting for ya only about 50 of my 160 are on the vac lines. You can bet that’s changing for next year. Also 15-20 of my last taps were only out for the last little bit of I guess our run this year.
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To really make things interesting for ya only about 50 of my 160 are on the vac lines. You can bet that’s changing for next year. Also 15-20 of my last taps were only out for the last little bit of I guess our run this year.
Ended the season with 63 litres of Syrup off of my 90 buckets. It was a strange season but all in all I’m happy considering I harvested 65% of my sap in 3 days.
Attachment 22300
Still collecting some sap here..... No buds on my trees yet, and I really want to boil some more... Big Flow yesterday afternoon, but the Sugar is way down at 1.4% though... Glad I'm not in the "business"....
Couple more freezes this week... Going to stick it out to the end and see what we get.
We were very similar, got total of 54l off our 84 buckets. We normally average about 1.2l/ bucket!
Finished bottling today - ended up with 110L from 137 taps = 0.8L/tap. Normally over 1.0
Glad I left my buckets up after the heat wave, as we got a couple more runs.
My very last batch wasn't "bad", the sap was still sweet although it had a tiny bit of cloudiness, hadn't turned sour, but the last batch has very little maple flavour - its sweet but tastes more like toffee or caramel than maple. My kids say its "not maple syrup".
Two new things this year that really worked out well - first my firewood - I switched to using tote cages to store and move wood I split through the year with the tractor forks - this is a real time and back saver!
I also jumped into a homemade RO similar to what others have built on this site, and I have to say that it was a complete game changer. I didn't run it real hard, around 50% recovery at 120 psig = HALF the wood & HALF the boiling time vs a bit of membrane system flushing and the occasional caustic clean. I normally run out of wood before I am done, and find myself looking for standing dead or scrounging pallets, and with this year's short season + the RO, I have enough wood for next year already (I cut wood this winter before going down the RO path....).
Nothing left to do now except label the bottles! Hope you all have a great spring!
Next year check the sap sugar of your trees half way through the season. Sometimes the small trees' sugar is low
by then and they bring your total sugar down...and you end up with lengthy boils and dark syrup.
My large trees had good sugar right 'til the end. I never collected the sap from the small trees the last few boils and
continued to make amber syrup in short boils.
Well I hope everybody is doing well. Wondering thoughts about this upcoming season. Was a cold start to the winter but temps look to be on the warmer side of things for the mid to end of February in my area. I’m getting the itch
Yes, plan to put in taps on Feb 20, hope I'm not jumping the gun!
This 10 day forecast didn't look that great for Milton.
https://www.wunderground.com/forecas...on/IONTARIO200
https://i.ibb.co/FBFBhnh/Screenshot-...-11-165541.png
Yes, but starting on 21st they're showing swings from plus daytime highs to nighttime lows so I suspect (hope!) the sap will start running!
I think if going to start running my lines this week/weekend. Might not drill but would be nice to get the lines up. With last year being short and crummy one for me I don’t want to be missing the first good runs of the season. Jumping up atleast another 100 taps
Started tapping today and plan to have done by Thursday - 300 taps. On the taps done today there was a bit of sap dripping from the drilled holes despite temps around -5 C in the bush.
Tapped 20 trees this morning. Nothing flowing.
300 taps completed today. Off grid vacuum in place and running. Vacuum is set to turn off at 34 degrees and figure pump will be running well into the night with plus temps. Sap was flowing but plan to dump the first batch as it is flushing the lines. Today was a good day to work out the kinks.
Question - why set it to turn off when the sap will still be running? Ours are set to turn off at 31 F, on at 34 F.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sugarmaker Dave
Good question. I initially followed the quick setup instructions which was the basic one temp to turn on and off. Once I get a chance to look closely at the instructions I will reprogram my controller to turn off and on as your’s currently does.
Thanks for your question.
Anyone get any freezing rain damage yesterday? Doesn't seem to be much accumulation here. Stupid weather we're getting. Just thaws, not freezing at night. Another thaw here Sunday thru Tuesday.
It changed from rain to ice pellets to snow pretty quickly here so not much damage.
I did get 33l of weak sap (1.4brix) from my 16 bags (4 had blown off the trees) for the day it was warm.
It always amazes me how different the weather is 170 miles away. It is total winter here and will be for several more weeks.Quote:
Originally Posted by wobbletop
Happy to here you were able to get some sap. Collecting sap was never a thought when I lived in Milton.
Finally looks like temps are warming for a couple of days this weekend. Hopefully enough to get things flowing.
put in about 150 on gravity yesterday and 75 buckets. That's about 1/2 done.
I’m tapping on Saturday, hopefully just in time this year!
Sunday for you looks like it could be a big day!Quote:
Originally Posted by Willen
Was in the bush today and my solar vacuum was pulling some sap. Looking forward to tomorrow and Sunday!
I’ve got around 2/3rds of my taps in but still some work to do looks like a good weekend and upcoming forecast. Kids hockey is slowing me down a bit but should be all good to go but the boil by Sunday or mon.
Pulled alot of tubing out of the snow.
Still cannot figure how high to leave the tubing at the end of the season so the deers stop snapping it
Hoping to get tapping tomorrow and finish Monday if weather helps......
Looks like our first run in PS may be Wed or Thurs
Spent the day in the bush tweaking things. Still trying to dial in my solar vacuum setups and having trouble getting a good vacuum. On my one setup i am showing 10 inches of mercury with the gauge close to my shurflo 4008. On my second setup i can only get to 2-3 inches of mercury with gauge close to pump. Checked taps and found i had to re-seat with a couple of hammer taps but unable to find any obvious leaks. Could the low reading on my gauges be the result of the sap not flowing all that well?
Hung 153 buckets yesterday.
Gathered 450L today, good start to 2022, not a crazy flow but steady all day.
Tapped from the snowmobile, first gathering was by snowmobile and sleigh, second gathering by ATV and trailer, never lost all the snow in 1 day before!!
Dave Even if the sap lines freeze up on mine they will still put-20/-25 inches at the pumps. Do you run a recirculating line? if not that could be your prob at the one pump. Your getting air locked. Even the pump running at -10 I think is either air locked or getting to much air/gas from leaks. This year I actually had a leak I just couldn’t find until I was right at ear level with the tap. I do most my lines from a short ladder to gain height. Turned out it was the tree itself having a hollow centre. The recirculating line from the holding tank on a needle valve is the key to controlling the vacuum.
Thanks Harold. Will plumb in a recirc line with needle valve this weekend. I will keep you posted on the results
Ran great today, I had many overflowing buckets, and averaged 4L per tap in 24 hrs.
Running the RO now to make room for more sap tomorrow, time to fire up the evaporator tomorrow!
Boiled 600 L today that was collected a few days ago. Will do a final boil tomorrow. Had a challenge with it being so cold that the sap tank line into the evaporator was freezing. Nothing an electric blanket couldn’t sort out. Next week is looking good for some sap running.
I needed this cold pause to regroup, fix a couple of things in my setup, and get ready for the flood. I have a couple frozen inches in all my buckets waiting for next weeks thaw, have RO’d most of what I collected this week, will sweeten the pan and boil down what I have tomorrow, and consider putting up a few more buckets....just a couple, or ten, or......
Good run yesterday and even better today, averaged 5.1L per tap.
Still running now, and no freezing temps overnight in the forecast until Sunday or Monday night, so we may be done for a few days,after gathering tomorrow?
Gathered 550 L yesterday and another 280 L today. Been doing a slow boil today and will bottle tomorrow
Collected close to 500l yesterday and another 300l today. Vac lines ran 24/7 since last freeze but slowing now. Puddles are ice if over so maybe cold enough for another decent run tomorrow. Still out boiling snd I’ll be back at it tomorrow. After a couple alterations to my boiling method I’ve managed to stay at around 13-15gph.
How did the recirculating line work for ya Dave?
Hey Harold - the recirc lines worked great which allowed me to identify a couple of leaks easier on both my mainlines and improve the vacuum close to 20”. Thanks for the tip!
That’s wicked always glad to help others.
So how’s everyone’s collection going so far? Can’t say I have been run off my feet. My gravity is not doing much of anything and wonder if the those trees still need to thaw. My vacuum - which I have 2 setups has produced the majority of the sap but that said I am not doing back flips over the amounts. I know things are a little late this year so I will wait patiently.
Yup that sounds like my season so far also. Not much from gravity but vac lines seem to be just ok so far. This week looks like a good one in the area for us.