I made another 5 quarts today, brings me to 4.75 for the season. i'll be satisfied if we get one last run and I can bank just a bit more. Definitely a down season for me.
MRFNY, how many taps do you have?
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I made another 5 quarts today, brings me to 4.75 for the season. i'll be satisfied if we get one last run and I can bank just a bit more. Definitely a down season for me.
MRFNY, how many taps do you have?
I have 95 taps out
I pulled my taps Sunday but now it looks like a perfect stretch temp wise after some rain...I would have pulled the reds anyway because they were slowing and budding out. Maybe the sugars have another run in them?
Won't matter for me, though, I'm not retapping or placing anything new after spending half a day scrubbing and sanitizing buckets. Plus, we have plenty for our purposes...
Anybody else?
I collected about 40 gallons of sap last night. I started pulling some taps yesterday, about 20 out of the 95 I have. I'm pulling the rest this week. I'll do one more boil with the 40 gallons I have and get one more draw off, then I'll have about another 8 gallons to bottle putting me at 15-16 gallons for the season.
How does everyone clean their pan? I have been doing a mix of apple cider vinegar and lemon juice, get it boiling and scrub the pan but it doesn't take off any buildup on the sides of the pan. would a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water do the trick?
If I have sap left that I did not get to boil I fill the pans to the top with the sap. I let it sit for a month or so and then dump it out and they are shiny new!
The sap basically turns to vinegar after sitting so long.
It's not looking like I'll have any extra sap this year so I'll put a couple of gallons on white vinegar in the pans and then fill to the top with water an let sit for a month or so.
thanks for that info, that is great!
Well, I thought my season was over but the trees ran the other night and will most likely run today. I'm not going any further though even though it looks like they could potentially run during the weekend. Sap is still nice and clear.
Last boil of 2020 last night with some Lawson's Sugarhouse IPAs!Attachment 21267
i thought I was pretty much done, but the sap keeps flowing on a handful of trees. I tapped a bit early on half of my 27 taps. The later ones are still producing. I made 3 more quarts today. Last boil of the season- probably, but some of those taps were still going at a good pace. One note, This batch had the least niter I've ever encountered. I was able to do all of my filtering with a single pre filter. Normally it is really clogged after each quart. up to 5.5 gallons for the year, feeling pretty good about that.
Nice job crzypete! I was ready to be done, once the snow melted I went into yard work mode. Finished the season with 16 gallons
I use a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water. Build a fire and let it boil hard for about an hour then let it cool.
When I can put my hand in it comfortably I wipe the pans with a sponge or lightly with a scotch brite.
Did this today. Now to drain and pressure wash both pans and I’m done for the season!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MRFNY
we've always used the last raw sap to fill the pans and let it sit until August. Pressure wash then the pans come out like brand new.
I do the same, works great.
I closed things out this past week. Pulled the rest of my buckets and made one last quart for giggles. A good distraction to get rid of the last little bit of sap. It was not a nice quart. lots of sediment. still settling out, for some reason my filter wouldn't catch it. I'm still counting it and bringing my season to 5.75 quarts, which is down from the last two years, but will be plenty to get us through and pass some along.
Pete
The only solution seems to be more buckets Pete.
Many years ago Sean Lawson did some research with me when he was an undergraduate at UVM. He brewed beer even back then for fun...made some great maple stout, won a few local contests...and the rest is history.Quote:
Originally Posted by MRFNY
That is awesome Dr. Tim! Back when I first got into IPAs, Sip of Sunshine was impossible to get in NY, so I would make the 3 hour drive to Burlington and stand in line to get my limit. Thankfully it is now fairly readily available in New York!
That was WAY back in the pre-maple days. I used to study red spruce, specifically winter injury due to acid rain/nutrition imbalances, before becoming Director at UVM PMRC, although I knew maple from working at my grandfather's sugarbush from WAY WAY back.Quote:
Originally Posted by MRFNY
https://academic.oup.com/treephys/ar...rectedFrom=PDF
Very cool!Quote:
Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins
While I have your ear, can you take a look at a photo below of the inside of my pan after this season? I posted this in the the evaporator thread, and mentioned that my pan is a 2004 Leader pan which has always had a little bit of scaling on the sides. This year seems a little worse though. I could chip the scaling away but that would take forever. This year I tried a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water, the previous two seasons i did apple cider vinegar with lemon juice and heated it up. The bottom of the pan it nice and shiny like new, it's just the sides that look terrible. Not sure it matters when making syrup but would appreciate any insight. Thanks! Attachment 21387
Hahaha, yeah, I could tap more trees. And I did still have a stack of buckets in reserve from the ones you sold me. Unfortunately sugar season coincides with my major show of the year. i try to set modest goals. Show got canceled this year. I should have tapped more trees when that happened. Wasn't thinking clearly. Are you closed out for the season?Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Greer
Pete
It isn't terrible and you could probably just leave it without any real problem in my opinion. The heating surface is clean and shiny, which is the most important part. If you're still getting sap and want to try to clear it a bit more you might try the sour sap method (fill with sap, let it sit for 3-4 months..beware the smell) -- this is essentially the same as the vinegar method, but longer. Or try a mild pan acid (phosphoric or citric) soak...just don't let it sit more than a few days and rinse it extremely well since it's a soldered pan.Quote:
Originally Posted by MRFNY
Thanks so much for the advice. Since we are done with sap in our area, I'll have to try the other alternatives. I kinda want to get the side cleaned up but if it isn't all that bad maybe I wont put a lot of time into it. Like you said, the bottom of the pan is clean and shiny. Thanks again!Quote:
Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins
Anybody starting to tap in Saratoga county? I've heard a few folks locally have started this weekend...I'm planning to put up 50 buckets and my first run of tubing next weekend.
I'm going to put in around 20-30 taps today on some of my bigger producers and early runners. Will try to catch some during the warm up midweek, but not all that confident.Quote:
Originally Posted by ADK_XJ
I tapped 15 trees today with my kids, Planning on doing more maybe Tuesday. A few were already dripping, which was a bit surprising because it doesn't look ideal until Tuesday.
I still haven't figured out how many I will tap this year. I'm thinking 40-50. I need a good distraction this year!
Pete
I decided to hold off. I don't think the one day in the low 40's would yield much if anything so I am just going to put all taps in this upcoming weekend. If I miss a little sap, I miss a little!
Gotta get trees thawed out,gonna start this week,snowshoes are needed,snow to kness with about 1/2 in of grust,gonna be slow going
Ok, looks like the fix is in - Sunday is tap day for us. We'll do 50 buckets with the kids (slow going) and then I may run a set of 3/16 lines with 25 on each later on next week.
Weather looks great over here near the Hudson River.
Tapping Saturday. Will do the usual 75-90 taps. I have a fairly steep ridge that I tap roughly 20 trees on, so that'll be interesting walking down and back up!
My 15 taps ran a bit today, but I definitely jumped the gun with them. Will put more in this weekend, feeling good about the season!
Pete
Hi crzypete,
I have pretty much the same experience on 2/24/2021 as you described, though I only have 10 taps in ( which will be my max this season ). I'm in Dutchess County , south of you. I tapped on the 21rst and was nervous since last 2 seasons I had sap flowing nicely , but this year there was a lag. Yesterday seeing tap running calmed me down. Goog luck to you with this season's output!
--Peter
Put 70 out on Tuesday afternoon then 80 on Wed. Will ad another 50 when it warms up again.
Got home from work tonight and for the heck of it put in 4 taps. All 4 were dripping at a decent rate, hoping it's good sign. Will put in the other 80 or so taps Saturday morning. Temps look good!
Im going to tap them all today. Hopefully the snow will be easier to walk in than last weekend.
30 taps in, 40 gallons collected - ready for first boil tomorrow!!
Put 50 buckets up today with the kids and the neighbor's kids - had a great time even if it took twice as long as it should have.
Every tree was running full blast by mid-day, I bet the buckets are already overflowing.
Collected 80 gallons this morning and boiled it, trees were dripping pretty early but slow. Hopefully we get a freeze tonight
Frigid temps and crazy winds overnight here in the Saratoga region, gusts over 60 mph. As soon as it's in the double digits again, I will head into the bush to make sure I still have buckets on the trees.
They were all full last night when I checked them but decided to leave the sap to help weigh them down.
Did some bucket collection tonight and had some taps come out of the trees, but no nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Low 40's tomorrow but not sure how much it will run, hoping for the best though as the temps into the weekend after Wednesday don't look ideal.