Great!Quote:
Originally Posted by mainebackswoodssyrup
How does your sugar content look?
It does look like a busy week. 😃
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Great!Quote:
Originally Posted by mainebackswoodssyrup
How does your sugar content look?
It does look like a busy week. 😃
I didn’t gather this round and record it, my buddy did and I haven’t seen him yet to ask but we always seem to be within a couple tenths of 2%. Usually start out at 2 or higher. 3 gallons were drawn off from that first boil and looks to be very light, possibly some Golden.
I have a newbie question. I understand that nights below freezing and days above freezing causes the sap to flow. If you look at the attached picture you will see that Wednesday morning will be below zero and Wednesday’s day will be warm and the sap should really flow well.
Wednesday will be the first day that the sap will really flow well in the season, and there is about 2 feet of snow on most of the roots. Overnight Wednesday, it will stay above freezing, then a warm day Thursday, before dropping back to nights which will be below freezing.
My question is on Thursday, will the sap still run because it is early in the sap flow season and there is still lots of snow on the roots, or simply because it did not drop below freezing overnight, there will be zero or almost zero, sap flow?
Just trying to understand the sap flow mechanism a little better.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0b3D...WUJwmDG2M_ZP0w
Thanks
Yes, the trees will tend to run longer before stopping in the early season due to a combination of the initial thaw just kicking in and fresh tap holes. My experience has been that gravity lines will run for a couple days before slowing down and stopping. I’ve seen operations on mechanical vacuum and even 3/16” pull hard for 3-4 days straight early season.
Forecast not looking great for me on the midcoast. Might just get one run this week and no freezes until a 29 next Monday.
Under gravity sap flow conditions (buckets, bags, gravity tubing), you can think of the tree like a pipe stuck in the ground full of water with a tiny hole in the side.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
When it is frozen, obviously no sap will flow.
When the temperature of the water in the pipe (not the air) rises above freezing, the water will trickle out. It will keep running out until:
1) the temperature falls below freezing again, or:
2) the pressure inside the pipe equals the pressure outside the pipe (in other words, the liquid has fallen to the level of the hole). This will probably take several days, but the flow RATE will drop off over that time (fast at first, then more slowly as time goes on).
Now a tree is a little different...the taphole is larger, but the pipes (vessels) inside the pipes are very small, so water (sap) can only drip out slowly, and the water/sap in the tree doesn't all thaw out at the same time. The rate will be slow and drop off over time, but if it gets warmer on the second day, the expansion of the water and gases in the stem may bump up the flow a bit (weeping flows). This can only happen until the pressure inside the tree equalizes with the outside air pressure.
In addition, since there is some resistance to horizontal water flow (side-to-side) because of the orientation of vessels is mostly vertical, the water level in the tree may not be fully exhausted down to the level of the taphole on the opposite side of the tree. It is all about the pressure gradient. So if it takes more pressure to push the water across the tree than there is resistance, than the water level on one side (or across the stem actually) isn't entirely level, but more of on a slant.
A freeze is needed to recharge the system.
Thank you for the detailed but perfectly clear explanation of the freeze/thaw mechanism, Dr Tim :-)
I was very surprised to be staring at 240 gallons of sap to boil this past weekend. 2.5% sugar, which isn't terrible for me because I have red maples mixed in. This week is likely no different, except for the potential 60 degree day that may confuse some trees. Seems this season is already better than the last, but remains to be seen. I put into service my new 3.5x4 ft sap hauling trailer. Bought it for $200 bucks and saves me a lifetime of lifting buckets in and out of the SUV and everywhere else. I ran my RO for the first time. I was disappointed in my choice of pump in my build. The Aquatech 8852 can only output 16 gallons of water per hour so my RO was grossly underpowered to serve my evap rate. I asked the question a while back on another thread and Carl responded and I should have delved deeper into his wording, so will have to buy a bigger pump for next year, he seems to sell the only one large enough. It helps but not at the rate I would like it to. Will be trying the overnight RO game, and reconcentrating up higher by recirculating.
Seeing positive numbers yesterday and overnight on the trees. Should be a good week!
-Tucker
Thank you Dr Perkins for the explanation.
If the temperature does not drop below freezing, but you still have two feet of snow on the roots, does that factor into the equation at all?
Thank you.
(Real sap flow starts here for the season tomorrow.)
This is what concerns me this week. Not only are 3 days 50 to 60,but nights are either at freezing or above. It feels like the trees will shut off till next week when there are freezing temps again. Hopefully the trees are not so confused as to call it good for the season.Quote:
Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins
Yesterdays boil was again at 2.5% sugar, so we bottled near!y 2 galllons. I collected 35 gallons this morning and by supper I could have repeated the same. Planning on boiling tomorrow to keep the storage down, which if all goes as planned, will put me at 8 gallons for the season so far.
Sap ran decent yesterday. Have 17" of vac on one Shurflo but a pump malfunctioning on the other line. Replaced the diaphragm but still not pulling more than a couple inches and it doesn't sound right. Walked the lines twice and they look good. New pump will be here tomorrow. Got a small freeze last night and 2" of fresh snow. Should run good for a couple days with no freeze. Looks like it is going to get cool again early next week. Boiling again tomorrow afternoon!
I was a little surprised there was not a bigger run yesterday. However, I still managed to collect 120 gallons with a Brix of 3%. Not bad, and we are still ahead of how it was last year. I only hope it doesn’t warm up too fast. Had a 4.5 hour boil last night and so far I’ve produced 6 gallons of near syrup.
Sorry, I cannot offer any advice on your Shurflow, lines and a vacuum system are only a day dream in my operation.
While I wasn't expecting it, this week has been a fairly good one. Big run yesterday collecting 150 gallons on 113 taps in Lewiston. Shurflo pulled 27" all day. Another small run today puts me at about 250 gallons for the week so far. Gonna truck it up to the sugarhouse in Sumner tomorrow. Ill go check the tanks while I am there. Maintaining 2 sugarbushes almost an hour apart can be challenging but it does give us an extended season. We put 10 gallons in the bottle last weekend and should do at least that this weekend. Long range forecast it looking good too.
Typically if the pump isnt pulling good vacuum and gurgles or sounds weird there is a leak somewhere. Its doesn't take much.
Today's run (yesterday noon to this afternoon) was 95 gallons, so I'm pleased as punch. I had several 3.5 gallon buckets overflowing. Collecting while boiling is a challenge. I stoke the fire and add new sap every 15 minutes, so that's my window to run around the yard and collect. It's nice to hear folks are getting good runs!
Today's boil was the biggest I've done to date at 81.5 gallons. I love this double arch system. For me it's a game changer. The sugar was slightly less at near 2.4. Looks like Friday wil be the hat trick for the week as I've got 80 gallons in the snowbank and Saturday/Sunday are rainy.
We have around 375 gallons now and still running so we’ll be busy the next couple days. This weekend I am going to have spend more time looking for a leak that has eluded us. Isolating laterals one by one is the next step I guess.
I am simultaneously saddened/worried about the warm temps for the next week, but also relieved to not have to worry about sap for a while, haha! I've collected just over 400 gallons of ~2% brix on 70 taps, and made just shy of 10 gallons of syrup. Last year I did 400 gallons at 1.6% brix and made only 8, with April 5th my last day. Crazy the differences year to year, and I know 2021 was "terrible" for everyone. I'm hoping to rest for a week and get a boil on Maple Sunday and invite the neighbors over :)
Running out of bottles, will need to plan better next year! Great to hear everyone's doing pretty well, all things considered.
If the trees don't go wonky now till Monday there appears to be a freezing pattern governing most of the week😁 . Our work is, hopefully, not done yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by CanterburyMaple
I stashed another 45 gallons today so I've got 125 in the snowbank. If I added right I'm at 468 gallons to date with the 125 yet to boil. Sounds like we have very similar operations and tap numbers.
I think I'll break that into two boils, Friday and Monday. That should get me cleaned out and ready for a new run (fingers crossed).
Wil it keep going? I'm optimistic. Though the flow has pretty much stopped, I've collected another 35 gallons yesterday and today for a total of 105 gallons in the snowbank. Even with the warm weather the flow just kept on giving, just like the jelly of the month club. Conditions look favorable for a couple of freezes this week, so I'm looking forward to more sap.
My smaller boil of 60 gallons yesterday netted almost 1.5 gallons of syrup at 2.4%, so that puts me just under 10 for the season. If the 105 in the snowbank is at 2.25 % that will put me at 12 gallons. All of a sudden the 15 gallon goal appears attainable, as long as the week's weather goes as expected. That will require 150 gallons of sap at 2%, which should be doable.
I think my arms have lengthened an inch from hauling duty.😊
Boiling off 100 gallons we have gotten through this warmup on the vac lines right now. Found and fixed vac leak today, so that Shurflo is back online which is good seeing how it is our best producing bush. Looks like a decent week for sap after tomorrow. Good luck everyone, hopefully have some sap for Maple Sunday for the first time in years!
Hopefully we get a good freeze tonight to get things back moving. Its nice to have a day to catch up on cleaning and whatnot but no sap flowing makes you worry. We had a good weekend despite the weather. Can we get a nice weekend for once? We polished off just about 1000 gallons of sap and bottled up another 22 gallons. We are sitting just over half of a good years production right now. If we can get a few more weeks like we have been having this will be a great year for us and hopefully everyone else.
I am with you all, I hope the sap season extends itself, and like West Sumner, 2 different areas helps immensely in lengthening the season. I bottled 10 gallons Sunday, with another 1.5 settling out, I am really hoping for 20 gallons but I am afraid it might not come this year. My largest problem is just not being able to address the lower vac on my shurflo. It is pulling about 12" and every time I go up to Norway I get too busy with other items to walk the lines thoroughly. Anyone care to take a picture of their setup and show me how they do it? Will try to walk the lines this weekend, before we have friends over for Maple Sunday, to see if I can solve any mysteries.
Nice run today. 440 gallons collected at 3 PM and still running. We might actually have sap for Maple weekend!! First draw off is borderline medium/dark. Next week looks great, I like it.
Are you just not seeing good vac numbers? Do you have a recirculation line? These pumps rely heavily on being wet at all times. When you walk your lines check for fast moving sap or sap "jumping" in the line. This will indicate a leak. Vacuum is a game of babysitting. Our Lewiston lines make crazy vac all the time. 27" all day today, while the stuff in Sumner is only making 10-15". I feel your pain, seems to be running good at your remote site, till you show up to collect and get disappointed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tuckeradams2012
I had to dump ~30 gallons of sap i couldn't get to processing last weekend (19-20th), which is always sad. But, good opportunity to clean out my storage barrel, rinse out some buckets, and get ready for the upcoming runs (hoping!). I've bottled/stored 10 gallons of syrup so far, and hoping for a 2-3 more which looks like its in reach. I got about 40 gallons yesterday, so will RO and boil that tomorrow and make a gallon I hope. Maple weekend looks like great weather on Saturday; looking forward to taking the kids to a "real" sugar shack, not my po-dunk cinder block operation haha. Then next week should be a couple days of runs down here in southern maine, and then probably cleaning up for the year based on the long-range forecast.
Question: anyone ever made something like "maple fluff"? I was trying to make a small batch of maple sugar yesterday (1-2 cups), and my pot boiled over a little after I had last measured it at 235 degrees, and I said "I'm done waiting, time to blend it to sugar." So got out the hand blender, and after 10 minutes it became apparent there wasn't enough moisture out of it to make sugar. I thought it would be maple cream/butter, but it was much fluffier due to all the air I whipped into it I guess. So I inadvertently made what I can best describe as "maple fluff" consistency like you would have on a peanut butter & fluff (fluffernutter) sandwich. VERY strong maple flavor. Anyone else done this by accident or on purpose?
Well how things do change.
I've been running around collecting sap for two days (which is flowing super clear) and have enough in the snowbank to reach my goal of 15 gallons. As the sap keeps coming, I see no reason to think I can't get 17 to 18. Super cold Monday so I expect another big surge before it starts to fizzle. My recent boil yesterday used up some older sap and put me at 13 gallons, and was surprisingly at 2.5% sugar.
I'm glad to see forum members enjoying this late season surge! I hope everyone's goals can be met and maple Sunday is once again enjoyable!
Canterbury Maple--your fluff sounds delicious.
Sounds like you were somewhere between cream and sugar, but skipped the cooling step and went right to stirring? Maybe a touch too high of invert? Hard to say without all the parameters (invert level, temperature elevation, cooling, agitation) being described.Quote:
Originally Posted by CanterburyMaple
Good week for syrup this past week. All caught up on bottling and we are a little over 30 gallons. 20 gallons of Amber and the Dark we bottled is at LT 43. Sap was a little cloudy but sugar still holding at 1.9%. Everything this year had been 2% so not much change. We are cleaned up and looking forward to the freeze.
Same story for us as well. Another good weekend and the week/weeks coming still look good. We are on tap for our biggest season to date. Currently sitting at 52 gallons.
Isn't it interesting to have a freeze of this magnitude this late in the month. It was quite cold today, but some sap still flowed. After boiling Sunday I still have 105 gallons in the snowbank from the past few days collecting effort. The cold nights will create some icing which will help with preservation. The boil ended up with almost 1.75 gallons from 75 for a sugar of 2.25%. I went around the yard removing taps from trees with less than 2% sugar (sort of a sap tree-age), which actually left most of my taps and I was surprised to find several big producers over 3%. So this next (and final?) run should be exceptionally sweet. Still planning on a bumper harvest.
Good luck to all in the final stretch!
Cooking off 140g right now we had in the totes from Sunday before the freeze. Thawed out enough by 4 PM to get it out of the totes to make room for fresh sap. About the same time the flow started good today. 13” and 17” on the shurflos so should run hard now. Be another busy weekend. Keep boiling!
I emptied some buckets yesterday, then woke up to very full ones today! Will RO and boil tomorrow. Probably the last big run here in Southern Maine, maybe some trickles over the weekend. I just successfully made maple sugar this week for the first time (after my "fluff fail" which is not so much of a fail as my wife is really enjoying the product!), and I think I may turn everything I make from this run into sugar for storage purposes as I'm nearly out of bottles.
But to the title of my post: Looking for ideas and reactions on hosting a small maple event. We're hosting a maple Sunday on our street and having neighbors over from the other 11 houses on the street to enjoy maple goods and pancakes. Here's what I have so far:
- I'm planning of having pump bottles for 3 grades of syrup for tasting: Golden delicate, light amber, dark amber.
- I also plan on having bottles of sap and concentrate from the RO for tasting comparisons.
- I'm going to try to make maple taffy on some blocks of ice (or does it have to be snow/shaved ice. Inexperienced doing anything but snow).
- I'll have the maple syrup and maple sugar bottles out for giving away as well.
- I thought about having a donation basket and giving the proceeds to a cause (Ukraine relief, food pantries, etc.).
- Have the evaporator going if I have sap to boil
- Have a fire pit going (forecast is for 45 and cloudy with light winds)
Thanks all! Hope everyone has a great week of boiling!
Sounds like you have quite the event planned. I think the raw sap and RO concentrate tasting is a great idea for comparison. I saw someone who set up a decent size maple log outside the sugarhouse upright and let people drill holes and put a tap in(A great use for old used taps)Sounds like a good addition for all ages.
Where about in southern Maine are you located?
I hope your event goes well! Great way to introduce the neighbors to maple, though you might loose access to trees if the neighbors take up maple!
I'm stashing clear sap from this current run, and quite the last hoorah it is. Twenty more gallons will give me two more boils of 80 gallons each, which should put me at 20 for the season. Looks like Sunday and Tuesday. Happy boiling!
Sap was running hard last night at 9 PM. The big run near the end is upon us. Expecting full totes today.
Glad to hear it was running good. Hopefully the same in nearby Sumner. Hopefully our game cam sends us some pictures of our tank. Ran decent in Lewiston yesterday. 125 gallons or so. About a gallon per tap. Its still pulling in this morning but slowing down.
I'm in Gorham. Great idea about the maple log and having tapping opportunities!Quote:
Originally Posted by NhShaun
I imagine it did, we emptied the tanks Wednesday night and we had 485g this morning at 6 AM when I went to work so it ran hard all night and was still running pretty good.Quote:
Originally Posted by West Sumner Sugar
Update: 655g collected and still running. Sap still at 2%, been 2% all year for us. Boiling!
This looks to be the end. Cleaned up in Lewiston today, taps pulled, lines washed, tanks, vacuum pump cleaned. It was a good day for it. Tanks in Sumner have been filling all week but this will probably be it for us. Either way it's been a great year. Sugar content has been kinda low but sap gallons has been up. We have already surpassed our best year by quite a bit. Hoping to pull another 10 gallons this weekend, finish up bottling...and fill 2 barrels for barrel aged syrup.
It's a wrap here as well. I finished boiling yesterday with 80 gallons of average 2.7% sap to give me over 2 gallons of syrup and 20.7 gallons for the year! Very excited! If I use that up before next season I'll look into counseling. My ssc was up because I cut out several trees that were <2, and there were a couple of big sugars running like crazy (albeit late) that were near 3%. I passed up low 2% sap I had saved to add in the higher ssc sap upping my return. In end I left 50 gallons in what's left of the snowbank.
Great year, lots of sap. I hauled over 850 gallons one 5 gallon bucket at a time. This is a week point looking ahead. I'm not as limber as I used to be. I did use the van to go up and down the road, but a lot of lugging off road. Something to consider for next year.
Big success was the second arch---a real efficiency boost. I also experimented with a small run of tube hooking three trees_into one bucket. This also proved efficient and I'll consider where I can expand on this. I think next year I'll also keep a closer tab on what trees are producing what ssc level to remove those under producers earlier in the game. If sap is abubdant, why mix in low ssc stuff which waters down the total and increases boiling time. I also need to expand the sap and carp woodshed to hold 2 cords (it's 1 now) which will put more wood where it needs to be--less tractor hauling mid season.
Time to move onto a new hen flock, a couple of porkys, meat birds, and bees again, and the venerable garden. I hope everyone has a great maple off season! See you in 2023.
We also called it today. Been boiling every night this week to keep the fresh sap coming. Some of the sap today tasted a little funky so we dumped 75 gallons and left the valves open. Also our best year yet. Around 60 gallons. A lot to bottle to get final numbers and we bought a 15 gallon barrel for some bulk storage. Haven’t graded the last run but it’s a light dark, I’m guessing low 40’s LT and that’s as low as it got. Great year for sure, nice to have a 5 week season for a change!