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We had a huge run yesterday as well. Lost a few gallons as my transfer pump fuse blew but still managed to collect over 300 gallons in the past 2 days. RO is running and I'll be boiling in a couple hours...
Thanks for the help.
I picked up a record for me 225 gal/sap today. Several of my 3 gal. buckets were overflowing in 24 hours. My back feels it too. Lots of steam tomorrow -
Record for us also. 200 last night and didn’t get to barrels next door. At least another 100
Well over 500 gallons in 3 days.
Boiled yesterday.
Boiling today.
Getting tired!
This morning I started boiling about 5 AM, by 6 I had to shut down as I couldn't stop the foaming in the front pans. Lost an hour as I had to shovel out the fire, get the front pans cool enough to drain & add some vinegar. About 15 minutes of scrubbing had them shining like new, reloaded, refired. Later went and picked up another 175 gal/sap for tomorrow - that put me over 2000 for the year. Weather needs to cool a little.
My sap has very low sugar content not sure the exact percentage because I don’t have a hydrometer or refractometer for sap I just boiled 80 gallons and only made about 3/4 of a gallon syrup
Tobey - if you get over my way bring a sample of sap & syrup, we'll test it -
Got another 140 last night. Sap was 1.5 percent. Recycled through RO to boil today. Trees ready to bud.
Mike - I may stop down later this afternoon if your around.
Broke my sap hydrometer but bottled a few gallons today at 46:1
Weather is very iffy starting next week. Reds have buds that are starting to swell.
I’m thinking the next couple days may be it for me....
Record sap flow for me last week. One 11 tap run on 5/16 was on a steady stream into the barrel. Probably had some vacuum on it. Managed to keep the 55 gallon barrel from overflowing but just barely. Other 5 gallon buckets were unfortunately putting a little bit of sap into the ground.
My trees have been running quite a bit one and two days or even three days after it has not fallen below freezing the night before. Has anybody noticed this also this year??
I tapped Feb 16 which is 19 days ago and it seems like sap has run at least some on 17 of those days.
Yeah, I'm still getting good sap flows. I have trees in cold hollows and up around 1K feet so I tend to collect later than most. I have about 600 gallons to boil this weekend and we'll see how the sap flows into next week. I just wish we had the snow to keep things cold.
Floated a sleeve of ice in my 600 gallon tank last night.Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveB
This could be the most "Snowless Winter" in my 55 years.
4 sure!
In spite of a near perfect frost of 26 Thursday night, 16 of my trees up & quit - After 60 degree weather coming Mon & Tue, the end of a great year is just about here.
At least some of my trees started going buddy. The sap I was getting at the beginning of the week tasted bitter and off coming directly out of the tubing. I've already started cleaning and pack up for the year as the weather doesn't predict any temps below freezing for at least another week or more. Still ended up with 12.5 gallons of syrup in the end which for me is a great season.
I have never seen as many moths as this year - Started early Feb, now I get 6 or 8 in a bucket, what a pain. No sapsucker damage this year though - maybe the moths ate the birds? 8 more taps didn't run today.
Trees ran well today. Boiled for a while this morning and finished 9 gallons between Friday night and today. Left a pretty thick pan and 50 gallons of 6% sap in the head tank will get finished tomorrow. With whatever runs tomorrow I'll flood the pan and let it set for a few weeks. Seemed to help with clean-up last year.
Should end the season with 40 gallons. More than I need and better than last year.
My buckets have been collecting from the past 2 weeks. I think I really pushed it since I wasn't able to boil last weekend. I know there was ice in the buckets last weekend, so it was good up to that point. The past week had some warm days that were questionable. The sap is pretty cloudy, has a very slight smell. It wasn't ropey and tasted fine. So we'll see how this batch comes out. Boiled about 100 gallons today which is my limit.
Had decent flow this week, but last two days were virtually dry on the majority of my trees. I’m boiling today, but it’s not as much as I was hoping to boil.
With temps not getting below freezing for the next 15 days, I can’t see this season lasting much longer. I’d assume I’m about done for the year. Whatta shame. Was hoping to run towards the end of March, but winter was just too warm.
Amen, brother.
This season has got to be the worst ever in CT. Too many consecutive days that did not go below freezing at night.
Already pulled my taps as everything is virtually dried up.
Now I'm going to have to dry out as this season has driven me to the drink!
2020: 50 taps, Leader Half-pint.
I'm still flowing today, and picked up about 200 gallons in the past 3 days on my 70 taps.
That said, its looking pretty **** close to over...
I'll keep the taps in for another week or so but not expecting much.
Next weekend may get close to freezing here, but the forecast as of now is just flirting with 32.
Time will tell, but as the grass is starting to green up it may be time to start getting all the yard gear out and ready...
Just as well I guess. Sunny trees look like they're starting to bud and syrup was getting dark anyway. With the weather coming at us I'm not in the mood to struggle keeping sap cold.
Boiled everything I had left and ended up with close to 13 gallons for the weekend. Dark. Sap ran pretty good today but the richest I measured was 1%. Some was 3/4% maybe. I used it to push out what I had ROed yesterday and left the pan rich to sit and ferment for a few weeks.
Gives me 40 gallons for the year. More than last year so I can't complain.
Now comes the pulling of the taps, the washing of the tanks!
Woodsrover,
What happens when the pan sits and ferments? Is there any advantage to this, versus dumping and rinsing with some permeate?
Thanks,
Bryan
I read about it here a year or two ago....When it gets all ropey and goopy it seems to help get the scale off the pan. I think I let mine set for close to a month last year and it took a lot of the gunk off the pans.Quote:
Originally Posted by bryankloos
I heard the peepers Saturday night and got more moths in the bucket so yesterday I pulled my taps and finishing off the rest of sap having made several gallons gallons for family and friends. Started cleaning and storage last night. my plan is to be more proactive in making the upgrades to my syruping process since things are still fresh in my mind and on the tip on my tongue now versus the start of 2021 .... but the honey due list in now starting to get in my attention.... yes dear I heard you the 1st time!
I'm done too - The last of my buckets will be down tomorrow morning, many are done anyway, the hot day yesterday took all the joy out of it. Buckets full of flies, cloudy sap, etc. It was a record year for me, boiled off just over 2400 gal/sap.
Pulled taps today. Might be able to catch a small run next weekend but it is just too warm.
I liked this year better then last year with the exception of the 1/2 gallon of syrup that jumped out of the finish pan on me. I am also glad I resisted temptation to tap early.
Here are my numbers for last year and this year.
2019 Totals: 508 gallons of sap, 7 boils, 11.4 gallons of syrup. Spouts in on Feb 1 - Spouts out on March 25
2020 Totals: 448 gallons of sap, 4 boils, 10.5 gallons of syrup. Spouts in on Feb 16 - Spouts out on March 10
Also found the following in my trees.
Big trees peaked at 3.25% in late Feb
Small trees peaked at 2.25% in late Feb
Big trees dropped down to 2.25% in March
Small trees dropped down to 1.25% in March
My 1 Red Maple never seemed to get above 1%. While they make good syrup, I will never go near them again with a tap unless I have RO.
I can understand why you and others are pulling taps. I did too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sugar Bear
My question is, why do you say you're glad you resisted temptation to tap early?
I didn't resist, more out of being small time and still learning and experimenting. The taps I put in early were some of the best taps I had all season, and kept up with, and surpassed most of the taps I put in later in February.
My taps are still in. I'm collecting today and this weekend looks like several days with good temps. I think next week might be the last one but if the sap is running, I'm collecting it and I'll boil as log as I have enough. If I finish next week, that would be 1-2 weeks earlier than normal. From where I am in the season it's been a pretty good season. I've already made more this season than I did all last season.
I tapped on Feb 16 and I had 4 boils that ended on the following dates with the given amount of sap boiled.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gord
2/20 75 gallons
2/27 152 gallons ( Second place for amount into my barrels for a boil )
3/5 166 gallons ( Record amount into my barrels for a boil )
3/9 55 gallons
So I feel in my region the best two weeks of the season were the last week of February and the first week of March.
I would suggest to anyone that the ideal time to tap with gravity is 1 week before the best two weeks of the season. Not certain how to suggest finding them other then "resisting temptation" BUT as Dorthy once said their is no place like home. As a southern New England small time sugar maker I would say their is no place like a sap run in the last week of February and the first week of March. While we all think the seasons are going away they are not. Not that I know anything about it scientifically, but they will still be here for thousands of years. The odds that I am correct about that are heavily in my favor. Two years from now we may have our record cold or record snow. While the climate is clearly trending warmer without a doubt, I believe the trees are "STILL" programed by the ages to do what they do best at a "REASONABLY" tight and fixed point in time. 9 years out of 10 easily. And even pretty much so on the 10th year like this one, and my numbers above and below support that.
Last year I boiled 508 gallons in 8 weeks of season. On 7 different boils. Made 11.4 gallons of syrup. A great season but a lot of work.
This year I boiled 448 gallons in 4 weeks of season. on 4 different boils. Made 10.5 gallons of syrup. ( lost 1/2 gallon due to brain cramp ) A better season then last year because it was half the work.
So for the first two weeks of February I was able to tie salmon flies for my salmon fishing in Maritimes this summer and now for the back half of March I to tie more salmon flies. And I have nearly the same amount of syrup as last year to bring with me on my salmon fishing trip.
I hope that explains why I am glad I resisted my temptation to tap early.
This year was by far the most educational to me. And while Bernie Sanders may have a different opinion, education is already free! It always has been. Ever since the first brain cell was conceived.
Cheers to tapping on time.
Cheers to tapping on time.
Started cleaning up the sugar shack this week. Despite the strange weather we think we did pretty good. 38.5 gallons of syrup bottled. Adding more 3/16 lines next year and doing half in cv taps. Tapping those early next year.
I pulled my taps last weekend, but for the last week before I pulled them, there were a few days when I expected a good run, due to appropriate temperature swings, and didn’t get diddly, or didn’t expect much of a run, and came home to buckets overflowing. Weird! I know everyone has their own micro climate, but it was not what I expected!Quote:
Originally Posted by Sugar Bear
On another note, I may try soaking the pan before cleaning. But I don’t have anymore sap, so I’m just going to fill it with water and see what happens, unless that’s a bad idea?
Good to know it was not just me with that same kind of season.Quote:
Originally Posted by therealtreehugger
On another note, I may try soaking the pan before cleaning. But I don’t have anymore sap, so I’m just going to fill it with water and see what happens, unless that’s a bad idea?[/QUOTE] The water won't do anything to loosen up the crud - better to put a few gallons of vinegar in the pans, swish it around a few times a day.
Ahh - okay. I was thinking would adding some sugar to simulate sap (and then bacteria) work?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Van
At the end of the season I do a 50/50 vinegar/permeate water mix in my evaporator. Bring to a rolling boil. Walk away. Come back a few days later and the thing shines like it is brand new with minimal scrubbing. If possible, cover the pan after it is boiling and the evaporation condensate will coat everything and make it even easier to clean.