Northern Ontario 2024

I had a big boil two days ago and I am having another today. I am boiling 52 gallons I collected yesterday and I still have to collect today’s sap. I likely will be between 70 and 80 gallons to boil. Looks like another long day. I always like to finish and bottle on the same day as the boil. I know others do not do that. The sap is almost syrup when I pull it off the pan, so the finishing does not take that long.

The funny thing is with my two fire bowls, I actually boil faster than I was two years ago, but not anywhere near as fast as last year’s beast evaporator, which could boil at 13 gallons per hour. I call it a beast because it got very hot and consumed wood at a incredible rate.

Edit: As I was collecting, I reminded myself that this is a hobby and I do not need to have a long day. The 25 gallons I collected today, I can do tomorrow or it a few days.

I should have today’s boil, bottled by supper time.

Sap has been flowing fairly well. In the past week I have collected 625 litres from 77 taps on drop tubes to buckets. Boiled down to 18 Litres but got a little carried away trying to finish in my flat pan just simmering while waiting for the coals to reduce and now I have to dilute with sap. I'm at 85 brix at 80 degrees.
If this keeps up it could be my best season.

That's awesome. Don't jinx us northerners. Seems like everyone down south is pulling taps and I feel like we are just getting started. I've packed away 30 gallons so far. I missed the early early run. Only tapped after the last cold snap in Feb. This is my 23rd year making syrup here. Normally pulling taps late April. Latest I pulled was 6 May. The sap was still running but I was exhausted from the extended season. Looks like a few more days of good runs then a bit of a needed break. Time to clean tanks and pan to get ready for the next big push. I am anxiously hopeful that this could be a record year. Looking good so far. The only downside is I may have to fork out for another half pallet of bottles. Tough problem to have.

For reference and because I don't know how to have the fancy stats at the bottom of the post. I have 565 taps on gravity vacuum. 4x40 RO with a SS procon pump head. 2x8 70's vintage D&G arch with 2007 D&G SS flat bottom continuous flow pans. The whole beast is fired with pure filtered used veggie oil and runs really really hot. Saves me a cord of wood a day. Filtered through my open source SS 8 gallon vacuum filter rig. It is a 1 man operation.

Wow that sounds sounds like a great setup you have there. Where do you purchase your bottles from?

4Walls that does look like a great setup. Is the burner similar or the same as an oil furnace burner?
I may have to look into something similar if that's the case as I have a riello oil furnace burner sitting around. I'm using approximately 1/3 face cord of mixed ash, maple, oak, birch, and poplar per 300L and run about 60L/hr if I fire hard and steady. I keep all the end cuts, 2" and up branches, and other non house firewood scraps for the evaporator when I'm cutting firewood so not much waste in that respect
Your neighbors must get hungry if they're outside when your evaporating. I remember following a bus that was a test pilot many years ago in Southern Ontario which ran on used vegetable oil and it made me want to stop and get some fries. Not sure if that's still the case with burning used vegetable oil but the smell of fries and maple syrup would certainly be something that would drive me to the nearest chip stand
Also my first year I haven't thrown money into the operation except for bottles and sap collection fuel

That's about right. I was burning a cord per 1000+ litres a day and finishing about 25L of syrup in this rig. Im sure the oil system is similar to an oil burner. I dont use the high pressure oil pump and made my own spray nozzles out of crimped 1/8 copper flex tubing. I use a 18L Pepsi soda keg as a pressure vessel and have warm filtered veggie oil in that at 70psi air pressure. The oil exits the keg and then is piped into the arch. It is mixed with the same 70 psi air just before it enters. Creates a fine mist that continues burning all day. I use a tiny needle valve to control each the oil and the air mixture. I am the FCU. Each keg lasts about 3 hours of really really hot burn time. No smell of French fries. It burns too hot and clean. I would highly recommend building a little RO system first if you have access to power by your steam pans. I wish I had done that 20 years ago when I had 20 taps. Would have saved me thousands in fuel over the years. I built a 3 chamber 75GPD RO about 9 years ago and it was a game changer. Added more taps and then built a 4x40 RO 5 years ago and haven't looked back. I only bring my sugar up to about 10% but that is an 80% savings on fuel and TIME!!! You should head over some time and check the oil system out. It is portable and I have used it as a demo in a few of my buddies hobby arches. Easy to turn the burn rate up or down depending on the application and the desired heat output.

4Walls, thanks for the info, Im going to do some research/testing with my riello burner and see what I can come up with. I have some friends that I can get used vegetable oil from during the summer months so I can get a good stock of it. If I'm in your area I would certainly appreciate the tour of your rig, thanks
I also agree with you on the RO, maybe I will purchase that piece by piece this summer.
The past three days have been some slow sap flows here but it's still adding up, and now another big freeze to replenish the trees for next week.
I used the search bar and saw your YouTube video about the oil burner, seems pretty straight forward with a lot of tweaking

Hey all, i've been tapping for 11 years now and seem to have a high ration of sap to syrup. Im using an RO and boiling at 4-5% but getting a ration of about 52:1. I feel it's very high but not sure. Any ideas?

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Originally Posted by sergeaubin

Hey all, i've been tapping for 11 years now and seem to have a high ration of sap to syrup. Im using an RO and boiling at 4-5% but getting a ration of about 52:1. I feel it's very high but not sure. Any ideas?

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Not sure if I understand you correctly but you should be using less sap to make 1L of syrup after going through RO.
Should be going from say 40:1 down to say 30:1 or lower not up to 52:1
40L sap not ROd=1L syrup
40L sap ROd would give you less sap with higher sugar content so say 30L RO sap=1L syrup
If I have mistaken what you mean then disregard response

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Originally Posted by 4Walls

..warm filtered veggie oil ...

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The WARM part is key if you're thinking of using many types of biofuels. They tend to have higher freezing points.

Exactly Dr Perkins!! The oil gets pre warmed up to about 250f-300f for 3 reasons. First, this is above the boiling point of water. Sometimes, depending on how careful the restaurants are, there can be a little bit of water and cleaning solution left in the oil cubie. It is very obvious if there is water in the oil and it cooks off quickly. Secondly, it is much easier to filter out the French fry bits and passes quickly through the restaurant style 10" cone filters without getting clogged. Finally, it is much closer to the flash point of the oil when burning in the chamber. Most veggie oils flash at 450f +- so the spray into the flame ball ignites instantly and is self sustaining. There is no smell in the exhaust if it is burning right. It can be a bit tricky to get a proper balance between the fuel and the air passing through the needle valves and all of the different veggie oils burn slightly differently so there is no standard setting. Once it is set and burning properly, I rarely have to adjust the flame and one 18L cornellious keg tank will burn for about 2.5 hours.

Ninja edit- 2.5 hours in my 2x8 flat D&G pans. It can be turned down and burn slower if I want. I have also popped the spray nozzle out of my rig and quickly set it up at my buddies. He has a small CDL 18x48 Hobby. We got the tank and burner set up there in minutes and got the flame roaring. Of course the fuel was turned down for the smaller rig. It lasted over 5 hours of continuous burn.

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Originally Posted by sergeaubin

Hey all, i've been tapping for 11 years now and seem to have a high ration of sap to syrup. Im using an RO and boiling at 4-5% but getting a ration of about 52:1. I feel it's very high but not sure. Any ideas?

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Sugar content been down this year. We often get multiple days over 3.0 Brix raw sap but never got higher than 2.7 this season.

Looks like it might be a busy next couple of weeks. Zero signs of trees ready to even begin to bud. Weather forecast looks very promising. I'm gonna take the weekend to clean out the tanks and wash the pans to get ready for the next run. Got a great deal on a 40 inch, 12 gpm UV light to help extend the shelf life of the sap. Get that all plumbed into the RO system and then I think I can focus on just syrup. I even successfully cut out the air springs from my old truck and got them installed into the new truck. Take some pressure off the leaf springs when I cart 1000L cubies full of sap. That gets a bit heavy for a Taco.

This has been a quiet week for sure. I cleaned my storage tank and collection buckets last Sunday. The little bit of snow we got this week gave me the chance to repack snow in my 'ice box' that keeps my collection barrel cold. I have 117L to boil on Saturday, a quick 3 hours on my evaporator.

It should be a big sap flow day tomorrow afternoon and through the evening. More sap flow days ahead. I will only do two, maybe three more boils and call it quits.

550 gallons of sap in the tanks yesterday and overnight. The trees had a lot of pent up energy after the -19c temps. Sap didn't start flowing til almost 1 pm even though it was +1 with sun at 9. Forecast for my area is looking ideal for this week. Super excited to see the results with this UV light plumbed in line. Hope it doesn't change the flavour by reducing the natural bacteria in the sap. It will certainly keep it fresh longer.

I was out collecting at 6:30 last night and the trees were still dripping. Wondering how much sap I will have when I go out back tonight.

Sap ran for me as well. My lines that I tapped in December have slowed down considerably, but are still producing. The few extended warm periods, I think increased the bacteria growth around the holes, that I never really noticed last year.

The holes lasted 13 weeks, before noticeably slowing down. I made Syrup in December, January, February and March snd collected it at a rate I could keep up with, without having too many long days.

I boil tomorrow. I will decide afterwards if it is my last one, or if I do one more. Sap will run enough to do 2 or 3 more, but I don’t want to push the season to the point it feels like a chore.

This week and next were supposed to be good weeks for sap flows. Well the forecast hasn't even been close to what was predicted, there's only been one day of sap flow here this week "\_(°~°)_/" and so we wait. I was hoping to be boiling at Easter with my family coming from across the province. Hope is still there

I collected 96L from 54 active taps yesterday which was up from Monday. The lack of freezing last night will likely hamper the flow today. I can see the flows slowing down since my taps are a month old now. This weekend may by my last boil.

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Originally Posted by 4Walls

That's awesome. Don't jinx us northerners.

For reference and because I don't know how to have the fancy stats at the bottom of the post. I have 565 taps on gravity vacuum. 4x40 RO with a SS procon pump head. 2x8 70's vintage D&G arch with 2007 D&G SS flat bottom continuous flow pans. The whole beast is fired with pure filtered used veggie oil and runs really really hot. Saves me a cord of wood a day. Filtered through my open source SS 8 gallon vacuum filter rig. It is a 1 man operation.

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Well I guess I got lucky and didn't jinx us. Even though the weather was not as expected this week I've had a good run on the days I thought were going to be dry days. I will have a good boil for Easter after all

If you want the fancy stats at the bottom of your post here's how. Go to settings in the upper right corner of the page beside the log out tab click the settings tab there will be an edit signature tab on the left side column of the page. There is were you can add fancy stats to your posts.

Just got back from the bush and collected 400L, what a surprise. Haven't been there in 4 days . It's full flow today +3* and snow flurries, go figure.

Good flow today.
500 gallons but the sugar content is 1.2 %
2024 is officially over for us.

I pulled my taps on the lines today, as yesterday was my last boil and I had met all of my goals. It pained me to do it as the sap was running well as I was doing it. These are the lines that I tapped mid December.

Still some more cleanup to do.

My Buddy a little south of me has been overwhelmed with sap. This has been a good season.

Not sure what is happening. My syrup is getting lighter as the season goes on. Might be because we had a really cold spell down to the minus teens for a few days and it tricked the trees to thinking its the start of the season again. Might be from the UV light killing off any bacteria and yeast. Either way. Still very vanilla and marshmallow flavours coming out the end.
Yesterday I only collected 140 gallons which surprised me. Was expecting more from a -5 night to a +4 day. It was quite windy here and I know the trees dont like that too much for sap production. Currently -5 this morning and shaping up to be a bluebird day at +5 with no wind. Fingers crossed. The spring songbirds are out in full force and greeted me with my coffee to a lovely soundscape.

My syrup last week was lighter than the previous 2 batches. Today's batch was dark like my first two. Sugar content is down on the last 2 at 50:1.

The last three days would have been flow days and it looks like there might be five more before one would call the season over.

I am still cleaning stuff and putting stuff away. I should be all done today. I am glad I stopped when I did, because I was done. I think to do sugaring for many years, it is much easier to keep doing it when you have family and friends helping and being part of the process. I started the hobby too late in life to make it a family tradition, and I had zero tradition myself, before starting.

I made 4.5L of syrup on Friday. Back in the shack today boiling down what I collected so I have storage space. I will probably take Wednesday off and do a final boil.

Boiled my 400L from my collection on the 28th + another 50L from my yard trees from the past couple days. Family had a great time helping, loved the syrup and were able to take some home. Will bottle the remainder tomorrow and back to the bush for another big collection on tuesday. Then it will be day by day after that.

Collected another 400 litres today from the past 4 days, still flowing good and still clear. Sugar content must be decent as I got 14 litres bottled from my last 450 litres I boiled on Sunday.

I collect daily and the flows have slowed down from a peak on Saturday. It's starting to lose its clarity a bit. I'm doing my last boil tomorrow.

Same. Trees slowed way down. Didn't really get cold last night. -2 here. I know that they dont like to flow in windy conditions. I always thought it was a preventative measure in case they lose a limb. Maybe they could feel the big winds coming on. Ice just coming off the lake out front. No buds yet. No peepers either. Think we still have some time left. My neighbour is done with syrup this year. He offered to keep his 75 pails up for me and collect. I am happy to have the extra sap.

Boiled my 400L from Tuesday plus another 80L for 14L of syrup and I made it a bit thick 69 brix
Sunday will be my final collection and tap pulling day. Final boil on Monday and then the fun part, cleanup

Looks like an early end to the season this year. Managed to pull 600L sap yesterday. It's currently sitting at -3c, dead calm and not a cloud in the sky. Should have a good little run this morning before it gets too warm. Forecast is warm all week and nothing dropping below freezing. I think its time to pull taps and get things packed up. Weird tho. No buds on the trees. Sap is still light and fresh. No peepers in the bay.
Finished 11 gallons yesterday that will need to be filtered and bottled up today. On a positive note, was out to Magnetewan the other night and got a pail of smelts. Had a couple of good feeds and the rest went into the pressure canner. I love those little buggers.

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

The last three days would have been flow days and it looks like there might be five more before one would call the season over.

I am still cleaning stuff and putting stuff away. I should be all done today. I am glad I stopped when I did, because I was done. I think to do sugaring for many years, it is much easier to keep doing it when you have family and friends helping and being part of the process. I started the hobby too late in life to make it a family tradition, and I had zero tradition myself, before starting.

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Gary, I've still enjoyed watching your journey. I think your next frontier is to keep the season to about 5 weeks. One of the sweet aspects of the tradition is that the season is short, leaving us eager for the next one.

I pulled all my taps last weekend April 1st and gave my friend the rest of my sap. Around 500 litres. I did 4 batch boils on my 2x3 flat pan and ended up with 43litres of Syrup. I could of kept going but I figured I had enough syrup. It was the easiest year for me this year. My homemade float box with head tank worked great. And the modifications I made to the woodstove to make the firebox smaller and adding a blower were well worth it. I ended up burning 3 face cords of wood. Not sure if that's good or bad, but it was definitely less wood per hour than last year.

The other reason it was a great season was I was able to drive my truck in the whole time, and I got an old atv last year as well and used it to collect the sap. Then to top it off my friend said he we would wash all my buckets and barrel since I gave him the sap! Pretty good win for me.

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Originally Posted by 4Walls

Looks like an early end to the season this year. Managed to pull 600L sap yesterday. It's currently sitting at -3c, dead calm and not a cloud in the sky. Should have a good little run this morning before it gets too warm. Forecast is warm all week and nothing dropping below freezing. I think its time to pull taps and get things packed up. Weird tho. No buds on the trees. Sap is still light and fresh. No peepers in the bay.
Finished 11 gallons yesterday that will need to be filtered and bottled up today. On a positive note, was out to Magnetewan the other night and got a pail of smelts. Had a couple of good feeds and the rest went into the pressure canner. I love those little buggers.

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Early finish to the season for sure but my best season with less taps and strange weather.
I was wondering if and when the smelt were running, thanks for the info.

I have to admit that I am a little sad. I just bottled up 11 gallons of the most amazing, clear, amber grade syrup. Intense maple flavour. Almost too good to sell. I am shocked at how light (relative to mid/late season) syrup. The sap just stopped. No buds. Still no peepers on the lake out front. First few mosquitoes are out. I tapped late and didn't try to catch the freak very early season run in Jan/Feb. I should be humming along for the next few weeks. Normally pull taps last few days of April. I have pulled taps in the past early May. It was pulling dark syrup. I didn't even get close to dark this year. I did well. Managed to bottle up almost 550 litres of syrup from 575 taps. I have to admit, I was expecting more.
I think all the trees are done. I collected only 125 litres of sap today from all the trees. Still light and clear. No buddy flavour. Just not running and almost not worth firing up. I will, but will have to be very careful to not scorch or warp the pans.
The trees still have a lot of potential for good syrup but the weather just isn't there.
Good luck out there for anyone further north. I know the majority of the the maple guys are way south of me and have pulled taps weeks if not months ago.

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Originally Posted by 4Walls

I am shocked at how light (relative to mid/late season) syrup.

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This sometimes happens right at the end of the season. Our sap was VERY cloudy and was leaving a milky residue in the tanks. The LT came back almost 40 points over the course of a 2 hour boil - but definitely did not have an Amber Rich flavour. I recall Dr Perkins explaining why this happens with end of season sap. Any time we've seen it happen the syrup has a "bite" so it's one of our signs that the season is over.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Carlton University works out for their buddy sap research project. I believe it's supposed to be a test strip you can dip into your sap to tell you if the sap has gone buddy before you boil it.

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Originally Posted by ennismaple

This sometimes happens right at the end of the season. Our sap was VERY cloudy and was leaving a milky residue in the tanks. The LT came back almost 40 points over the course of a 2 hour boil - but definitely did not have an Amber Rich flavour. I recall Dr Perkins explaining why this happens with end of season sap. Any time we've seen it happen the syrup has a "bite" so it's one of our signs that the season is over.

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That is correct. The sap spoils in the lines or in storage so much that it gets very acidic and during boiling never (or only for a brief time) gets above neutral (ph 7.0). Above neutral, boiling sap undergoes what is called "alkaline degradation" of sugar molecules, causing darkening and flavor formation. Below neutral this doesn't happen, so the syrup remains quite light-color, but with a "sour sap" or "fermentation" off-flavor...or the "bite" that is noted.

IF this happens, but you get a solid freeze afterward so that you get solid sap flows afterward, the lines can get flushed out and you'll make good syrup again. You may need to let some of the spoiled sap run on the ground and flush/clean the evaporator to get there, but depending on where you are in the season and what the forecast is...it is sometimes worth doing.

Once it turns buddy, there is little chance of a return to good flavored syrup.