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Boiling 210L/55.5 Gal. Collected this morniing. Boiling outdoors +6*c light SSE wind to blow the smoke away
Boil rate ranging 45L/12gal.per hr plus. Firing every 8 minutes with wrist size and smaller maple firewood, sap preheated to between 90-105*F, stack temps. 400-600*F.
Today I finished, filtered and bottled the 77 gallons I boiled yesterday. That should produce less than 8 L of syrup. I made exactly 11.5 L. I am not sure how to calculate what the sugar content would be, to produce that, but it is better than 2%.
Had friends up and I had them do some little things yesterday and today, all part of the maple syrup making process. Yesterday they helped me collect and ladle the sap from one pan to the other. Today they helped with the bottling process and got to ladle the syrup into the jar of syrup they are taking home. They were thrilled.
I would sit the ladle on a pan lid and a little syrup would inevitably spill out of the ladle. It did not take them long with their fingers to get some syrup. They loved it.
The colour is still pretty consistent.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0fce...7e6DtCpC0m7Mgg
https://share.icloud.com/photos/00bX...6G0jVFeaEx2bMg
Batch 8 on the right is darker than 1, but not darker as in the picture as 1 was in the sunlight and 8 was in the shadows.
Doing some cleanup today and getting the evaporator ready for tomorrow’s boil. I will collect later today. The lines are running well. I am starting off with 21 gallons collected late yesterday.
This was my best sap collection day by far of the season. I collected 105 gallons. Combined with my 21 from late yesterday, I have 126 gallons to boil. I will boil 80 gallons tomorrow. This is when I miss not having the RO working.
I am now at 57% expected sap collected.
I got to use my pump and my ATV trailer today to help me with the sap in the barrels.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0c4X...lpmQtMq2VrTXEw
Just logging on for the first time this year. I tapped March 13th this year, earliest in 10 years. I put in 65 taps and so far have made around 3 gallons of syrup. It ran great this morning and then slowly tapered off through the afternoon. I'm guessing there will be 75 gallons waiting in the buckets for me tomorrow. All indications are pointing to a great season.
If I did the math correct in U.S.gal. Your sugar concentrate would have been very close to 3.4.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong in case I'm doing all my calculations wrong
Rule of 86 divided by sugar concentrate of sap to make 1 gal.
77gal. Sap ÷ 3.04 gal. Syrup = 25.3gal sap/1 gal syrup
Rule of 86 ÷ 3.4 sugar sap concentrate = 25.30gal sap per 1 gal. syrup
Thank you, and that makes sense to me, some sap (likely most) was 3%, and some other sap measured 4%. I am grateful for my good fortune.Quote:
Originally Posted by Someclown
I also am strangely grateful, it has been a slow flowing year. Without my RO working, I never would have kept up if it was a normal year.
I am now in the middle of boils 80 gallons, maybe more.
The sap will stop flowing for a few days, then start again for a few more. That might repeat itself one more time. Next lesson to learn is to stop before it gets buddy.
Your math would be wrong if you are not bottling at exactly 66.9% sugar in the syrup. Even a few percentage off the "syrup" stage would have a huge effect on the calculated numbers. What method are you using to determine finished syrup? Temperature? Hydrometer? refractometer? All of them need to be corrected for either temperature of atmospheric pressure at the time of bottling. By far the most accurate is the dual hydrometer from CDL (maybe others) that has the thermometer inside the hydrometer. Once it floats at the temperature line then its syrup. Next is a proper syrup thermometer that gets calibrated in boiling water before bottling. I have the one with the 7" face so I can read percentages of degrees f. Still check with the hydrometer to make sure.
I would be surprised if your average sap sugar content from all your trees was 3.5%. That would mean that some trees are pushing 5% while others are at a normal low range of 1.5.
One thing I am surprise at is how little wood I have used. Estimated at the end of this boil, I will have used 3 face cords of wood, 9 batches, approximately 580 gallons of sap boiled. That is much better than expected.
Thanks 4walls, I figured it couldn't be that easy to figure out. HahaaQuote:
Originally Posted by 4Walls
I am using thermometer, refractometer and hydrotherm. I do my best to be at 66.9 brix.
Edit: would that formulae be for 66 brix syrup and making 66.9 brix syrup would result in less quantity?