Well get on out here, feel free to bring wifey too:-)
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Well get on out here, feel free to bring wifey too:-)
Well.. this is the weekend for me. Stringing lines on Saturday and tapping on Sunday.
Might tap tomorrow but think I have to dig out my snowshoes so I can get to the trees lol. Paulslund, the groomers were out today btw ;-)
I think they were out over hear today as well.. went out with the kids after school and the trails were really good.. the base is thin though, so even with tomorrow's snow if the weather warms up beyond the forecast it might be short lived.. Fingers crossed we're sledding in March break!Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
I'm almost second guessing getting the taps in based on the long term forecast.. but if i wait I worry i'll get caught with my pants down...
Got my 100+ taps in yesterday. Started at 11am, by 6pm some half buckets... All holes were instantly wet. Will collect and boil tonight!
Oh you big tease...lol! About to strap on the snowshoes and blaze trail out to my sweet lil bush ;-) Then get some tapping done....cold shower time!Quote:
Originally Posted by paulslund
LOL.. I put up my six buckets and strung the tubing yesterday, I may have about 1-2 L per tap (although one buckets was empty) so not a huge flow.. pretty windy today so not sure if they will flow much. I'll be tapping my lines by the weekend.. I don't anticipate I'll have much to boil from the buckets...Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
@ennismaple: Martin I think you tapped a few weeks ago.. anything major coming out of the Perth area?
OMG think I just had a mini heart attack - bring stuff downstairs from storage, dropped both the Murphy Cup and its specialized $$$$$ hydrotherm, which at least I had been smart enough to keep in its storage tube....thankfully both survived intact. Whew. Just to make sure I tested it with one of my batches whose density is known. Just to make double sure I am using my backup hydrotherm to verify it. Dang but I love the Smoky Lake gear!!
Exactly as I learned last fall, I'm 2.5 over Brix, as opposed to being 2 under as I was told by a certain syrup-producer who sponsors a certain fall fair in my area...right, Paul? ;-)
Back in action here in South Frontenac.
Good run yesterday and excellent run today. The nitre we had from the “valentines “ run is gone which is nice. Have now bottled 14% of expected yield. Last year we didn’t have good run until March break so there lots of time left.
WOW. all but 5 of my buckets were overflowing.. Super run yesterday and today. Was not expecting that. I will need a few days to boil all that....
Set my spiles somewhat after work yesterday. All but one of the spiles was hot. As anticipated, my three little Surprise trees in the back 40 were the ones really pumping it out! Even #6, now down to only 2 spiles, was keen to get going. And now that #2, my biggest and often best tree, is back on the line, it also wasted no time showing me that there still plenty of life in the old tree yet :-) As they should be frozen this morning, have to hammer a few spiles in a little bit deeper. Didn't have the chance last night!
Wow...that's great! Only one of the test taps i put in ran on the weekend. My area weather shows a 1 and 2 degree day trend so
I may be tapping on the 20th?
The overflowing buckets and hot spiles have me jealous. Do you have much snow in your area? I know your days would be warmer, and warmer longer than mine up here, but my taps although flowing, have never raced.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
I am averaging maybe .7 of a litre per tap. It is still total winter here with a couple of feet of snow in the forest. All my taps are on slopes that face east.
1ft+ snow. recently fallen, was bare ground 3 weeks ago. Been a warm winter, only 1 day of -30. The Canal didn't even open in Ottawa!
Oh yes there is a lot of snow in my area atm. Let's put it this way, it's a 3-ft drop for me to get in and out of my old woodshed lol. Where the snow has come off the roof esp north side, I probably have about 5ft.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
No need to be jealous, your time will come! The spiles certainly are doing nothing at all today, very windy though not all that cold otherwise.
Well it's go time in the Ottawa area! Going to get the rest of my taps in on Saturday and get the pump set up etc.. Should be boiling next weekend!
Attachment 23011
Annoying season so far. Stop and go.
All my trees should be running good by Friday
Mon. 20th looks like a good day to start the season...we'll see
Checked and all the test taps are running good today by 15:30 (tues.) The sugar in the small trees (14")
is barely above 1% after filling the pails 5 times since Feb. 8th. I found this last year too but the big trees all
stayed above 2% right 'til the end. I may tap tomorrow now,
Yes.. today looked promising with the sunshine, but it's still below zero with a strong wind out here at 1PM.. probably only get a few hours of run I think..Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Excellent run here +6 by late afternoon. Started dripping at 11:30 and was full bore by 1.
Anybody else having problems with sand/nitre this year? Been a pain since day 1 this season. Don’t have a reversible pan or a 2nd syrup pan so need to shut down and clean about every 100 gal. Tried to go further the other day and baked it on pretty good. Lucky I didn’t scorch them! Had a thick sludge that looked like chocolate pudding in the pre filters that day. Wondering why so much worse this year? Because it’s been such a dry winter?
Only my second year doing this, but I also have a lot more nitre than last year and it blocked my filters on my vacuum filter for the first time. I could see having to drain and clean my pan sometime next week.Quote:
Originally Posted by jungmaria
I'm also having trouble with sugar sand this year, I'll have to filter my syrup a second time or let it settle, pour off then filter the remainder.
Also had the chocolate pudding nitre the other day,usually can filter 25 gallons through the filters,now it’s pushing it for 15Quote:
Originally Posted by jungmaria
Other than the short run in mid February we haven’t had sand issues here Jungmaria and we’re not that far away from you around Tamworth as the crow flies. Now that I’ve said that I’m sure the next boil it’ll show up.
The second syrup pan is a good way to go if you’re able. We have one and switch out after every boiling day. We don’t use an RO and don’t have permeate water to clean the pan. We reuse the same batch of water and Parlor Brite dairy cleaner to soak in the pan for the day. Scale rinses right out after that.
Interesting I've done three batches and mine also very sugary this year I don't mind though just extra filtering work syrup is tasty
Hmmm I don't seem to have the nitre problem everyone else is having. At least not yet, season's still young. Have about 12l of nearup, plan to finish batch #1 tonight.
ETA limestone....is Parlor Brite inert? Like it def is ok to use to clean sugaring pans? Bruce?
My first batch was OK. 2nd one I finished last night was terrible....
Oh no. What was wrong with 2nd batch?Quote:
Originally Posted by Vandy
Oh, just the nitre... 20L of syrup absolutely clogged all the my pre-filters and filter. Was even sand left in bottom of finishing pan... Never seen that.
Ok finally got batvh #1 done...94l of sap just over 3 l light amber syrup...31:1 ratio! Happy!
Yep finding the same. Can only get 14-15 L through the filters before they clog. So need a 2nd pan and more filters. And lots of vinegar!
Huh...I'm getting fairly little nitre but lots of scale.
ETA: now that I've corrected the density, that 94.4l sap became 3.4 l syrup. 27.7:1 ratio, even better than 31:1! Wow this is gonna be a great season!
Galena
Milk-stone remover is the generic name for the cleaner used in the wash cycle of milking systems. It should only be used on stainless pans. Parlor brite is the brand name of the product my local supplier sells. A cup of it with 20L of water and I just recycle it all season in our 2x2 syrup pans. Any dairy supplies dealers will have their brand.
Cheers
Thanks, I get that it's food safe, it would have to be! I'm just concerned about it being ok to use with stainless steel pans used for sugaring. Don't want any kind of leaching of any kind of tastes into the syrup.Quote:
Originally Posted by limestone
Good morning Galena,have used it many many times. I always boil water in the pan after to make sure there’s no trace left in any corners etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
The pan acid you buy at maple dealers at a premium price is the same as milk stone remover.
Phosphoric acid as the main ingredient. I can almost guarantee it’s just Dairy milkstone remover relabeled as Maple Pan Acid.
It works great. We bought a 5 gallon jug last year instead of doing the rotten sap pan cleaning. Filled the pans with permeate brought to a boil and mixed in the milkstone remover. Let it sit for a week and all the pans were the cleanest they have ever been since we bought them. We don’t use it during the season. Only at the end of season clean up. We then pressure wash it all out when done. So no residue.
The pan acid you buy at maple dealers at a premium price is the same as milk stone remover.
Phosphoric acid as the main ingredient. I can almost guarantee it’s just Dairy milkstone remover relabeled as Maple Pan Acid.
It works great. We bought a 5 gallon jug last year instead of doing the rotten sap pan cleaning. Filled the pans with permeate brought to a boil and mixed in the milkstone remover. Let it sit for a week and all the pans were the cleanest they have ever been since we bought them. We don’t use it during the season. Only at the end of season clean up. We then pressure wash it all out when done. So no residue.
Thanks Bruce, Yeah that was my main concern, even though the corners of my pans are rounded. BTW you still have yet to taste all my award-winning syrup!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce L
Bricklayer, yeah I guessed that anything CDL sells is just rebranded Parlour Brite. Do you get yours from the Co-op in Spencerville? Down near the HH? Do they sell it only in 5g containers?