Eastern Ontario 2015

So.. We actually collected approx 35 litres of sap from remaining taps today (I've pulled 4).. Still hanging in there,
Boiled down to 1100 ml... Sugar content 2.7%..
Lesley

Pulled some dry taps today from both bushes. #7, my only red, is the lowest producer anyway and always dries first. Over at the virgin bush, pulled 2 buckets on blue plastic spiles - didn't need to work hard to get em out!!

Both bushes are still going, not much, but still enough - like yesterday, got 6.5l from home trees - to make sure that I'll have to go collect this evening. The evenings are cool and I am keeping storage containers on the north side of the house, under a tarp with the silver side facing out to stop containers from getting warm.

And for the number-obsessed here *hi Karen!;-)*...from the homebush, to date, not counting the last big batch still on the boil, I have 15.25l syrup from the homebush of 18 taps. And the virgin bush, again only so far cause it's still going, has given me a very respectable 7l syrup from 6 taps.

And a shout-out to the jocks at my favourite station, Live 88.5...they've been fielding my song requests like troopers, think I'll drop off some syrup to them once done as a thank you :-)

Back to supervising boiling pots again.

Well, I went and bought a hydrometer, after boiling the first 45litres of sap I got and getting 2 litres of syrup using thermometer, I figured I needed a hydrometer to see where I really was at! I opened a jar from that first batch and checked it, it is at 71 brix. Now what? lol... should I heat it up again and add some sap? Or, what will happen to it if I leave it alone, there isn't any crystals in it yet?
It will probably get used up fairly quickly.

Hey maple75. It will develop crystals fairly quickly, unless the syrup is in your belly. :lol: If you are going to eat it within the next month or two then don't bother fiddling with it if you don't feel like it. Should you want to thin it somewhat then you can either add sap, or some distilled water and heat it up again. Either is fine. Know that if you heat it past around 190/200+F you will create new niter. If you do, then don't bother filtering that syrup, just let the niter settle to the bottom of your jars and toss that bit when you get down to that level.

Hope you had fun this year. :D

Really enjoying sugaring for the first time! I am boiling again today, still not done this season and already looking forward to next year!! Just picked up 25 more spiles for next season (it's all that was left at the local hardware store!), and evaporator improvements are coming as soon as I am done for this year!
I have also just reclassified all the trees on my property into two categories: 1- Maple trees, 2- fuel for boiling sap!!

Maple75, Galena's got more blue spiles for sale, I believe. :)

It's a fun little hobby, isn't it - this sugaring business?! Welcome on board the crazy train!

boiled on Sunday, and again surprised at the amount of syrup I got out of my sap. Started with 130litres of sap, finished 6.2 litres of syrup. Finished syrup tested 67.5brix at 60 degree Fahrenheit with my new hydrometer! I got in trouble last weekend for taking the roasting pan from the kitchen so I picked up a couple full steam table pans, 4 inches deep, worked much better.
Sap is still dripping here sunday, picked up 15litres from my 13 taps.

I'm done. We were planning to pull the taps on Saturday morning, but they were all dripping away so we left them until Sunday. They were still dripping Sunday too, but we pulled them anyway as the forecast doesn't show freezing temperatures again. Spent a nice afternoon in the sun washing buckets and jugs while the last 20 gallons of sap boiled off, then drained the flue pan into pails and finished everything off in the syrup pan while boiling water in the back. Probably another 30 litres of syrup when it was all done. I'll know better once I have it filtered and bottled.

Now the evaporator will sit with vinegar in it for a week or two before final cleaning, and preparation for storage.

Overall it was a good season for us. 156 trees, >100l of syrup, mostly medium, all delicious. Because it stayed cold a long time, then went to warm quickly, we didn't seem to have as many "bugs in sap" days, and moths seemed light this year. The evaporator ran well, averaging about 20 gals/hr evaporation for most of the season - about 4gph more than last year - due to drier wood and some tweaks to the bricking.

I'll work out my final stats once I catch my breath.

Made almost 3 full litres of gorgeous red syrup yesterday from the home batch so now I'm at 18.5l, meaning I've met the 1l/tap thingy...yay! And the virgins still producing happily even though only on 4 taps there now.

One change I will make starting next year, though, is to stop tapping #7, the only red. It's never been a strong producer. Even on Sap Tsunami day, April 6, when all the sugars were kicking it between 4-12l each, it gave just over 2.5l. Even the next slowest tree, #1, is quite capable of producing much higher numbers than that!

Collected and boiled 48litres yesterday for a 1.3 litre yield. Sugar content 2.3%, no sap dripping yet this morning.. We'll see how the day goes.
Lesley