Wouldn't that be Queen Lesley of Inverary? Sorry tired.....*surprise!*.....
And maybe the resident Court Jester has something to do with the wonderful syrup flowing from yonder maple bush ;-)
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Wouldn't that be Queen Lesley of Inverary? Sorry tired.....*surprise!*.....
And maybe the resident Court Jester has something to do with the wonderful syrup flowing from yonder maple bush ;-)
I've now bottled the syrup made from Easter Monday's sap tsunami. I got 1.35L of box elder and 6.5L of soft/sugar blend. The niter is settling to the bottom of the bottles and a final bottling will follow.
Update on the box elder. In previous years the syrup is always very 'butterscotchy' in flavour. This year it's different. If you closed your eyes you'd have a difficult time distinguishing it from liquid honey. It's very good, and certainly not what I expected compared to other years.
I updated my signature tonight am thrilled to be over the 20L mark. My best season yet!
Your not doing too badly yourself Karen, that's great!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
It's a good current total for the year. It's not "Lesley good", but it's definitely good. ;) Thanks!
So the temperature has risen steadily since yesterday morning, and all through last night to the point it is now 48.9F.
Meanwhile, the sap has continued to flow also, up to this minute it continues...and I've collected slightly more than 140 gallons since yesterday morning...sheesh!
Checked my buckets this morning and found a small quantity of dark yellow liquid in most of them. Either the squirrels have decided to use them as outhouses, or the sap has really changed.
67Heaven, that's just stained water than ran down the bark and into your buckets during yesterday's storms. Dump it - pronto! Things have started to drip convincingly here this morning. I think the falling barometric pressure is giving us a little gift.
MSM - dump that tree pee A'SAP'. We're getting fresh sap right now!
Surprised to see some buckets half full to almost full this morning. I really thought we were done. But I'm tossing some of the really yellow stuff. Keeping the clear and slightly tinted ones. Will be putting some iced bottles into the buckets to keep the sap cool today. Don't want to fight the wind outside. My block chimney has been giving me heart palpitations every time the west winds take a swipe at it. Really afraid they'll come crashing down into my steam pans. I'll wait to boil tomorrow.
In the meantime, I'll be finishing what I have inside.
Karen - a big thank you for taking the time to explain your finishing process. I tried it with my last batch. Got it to syrup, let it sit overnite to let the nitre settle, next day checked/adjusted density, heated it back up, and bottled it. Letting the nitre to settle overnite was a huge factor in getting all my syrup go through the prefilters and felt filter go through so much easier.
Also Big_Eddy, your tip on pushing aside the prefilters as they clogged up also helped tremendously, as well as washing the prefilters in between pouring. I did a slight variation, put 2 (sap-wetted) prefilters in the felt filter. When the prefilters started to clog, I pushed it aside, put in another set of 2 prefilters and poured.
Using these processes, I was, for the first time, able to send through my entire batch of 8.5L into bottles, without lots of stress and muttering.
Man, if I could go visit all you guys to give you big hugs, I would. :D
Thanks for the information, Karen. I dumped the tree pee.Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
Now, I'm (sort of) patiently waiting to see if we're blessed with more sap. http://i50.tinypic.com/30hlllj.jpg
Collected another 75L of sap at 11 this morning. Taps were dripping slightly, but the wind has kicked up several notches since. My blue buckets and lids are flapping in the wind. White buckets are flying around. Taps have stopped. Karen, you still getting sap right now?