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my first boil was 55 gallons and and yielded 154 oz's of syrup.Saturday I boiled what sap that I could collect that was not frozen and had 25 gallons and yielded 112 oz's of syrup and boiled it in half the time.As a small back yarder I will not boil the ice.However if it gets warm then the ice is welcome to keep the sap cold.Just my 2 cents.
Were are you in middlesex? I am at the end of Notch road on the left just after the fish and wildlife parking lot. The roads have not been to bad yet but center road is interesting and by end of week I suspect its going to be down right nasty
WOW!!! 112oz out of 25 gallons? I consider 48oz from 25 gallons to be real good after filtering and all! What's your secret?Quote:
Originally Posted by seclark
John c.
The secret is throwing out the ice!
I guess the poor mans ro with the ice helped but I was surprised to get that much myself.Maybe I got super maples this year.:lol: but last year wasn't this good.Maybe the next boil will bring me down to earth.
I use to throw my ice out on the ground until a fellow Sapper saw me do it and corrected my evil ways by testing it and it turned out to be 2%!Quote:
Originally Posted by seclark
If it's a little ice on top I'd dump it. If its more than just a coating I would let it melt and use it. Sap will freeze so if it's a couple of inches thick you will lose some sugar if you toss it. Collect some of the ice and let it melt in a bucket inside then check it with a sap hydrometer to see what percent sugar is in it.
I have a digital maple sap refractometer. I tested a small piece of 1/4" thick sap ice this morning. It came in at 0.4%. At this point in the season, normal sap from this particular sugar maple is around 2.6% and that's what I got several hours later. That's six and one half times better than sap ice. I see no point in keeping thin ice. It can't even absorb alot of heat.
So consensus is thin ice out, frozen solid keep ? I can go with that. Shortening boiling times is always a good thing
More sap coming this week, so time to get my storage tanks empty !
at the beginning of Notch... waiting for Center road to grow some Volkswagens out of the mud...
Oh I think I have seen your buckets they sit on the steep of the bank . Your house is down near the pond? I am the log cabin at the end of the road just pass the fish and wildlife area