I believe it's the rule of 88.1 (or something like that). Dr Tim has posted about this revised "rule" in recent years.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
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I believe it's the rule of 88.1 (or something like that). Dr Tim has posted about this revised "rule" in recent years.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
Yes, I stand totally corrected it's the new rule of 88.2
Thanks for getting me into to the new times
Hey. We've all been there. Especially with the excitement of new and improved or expanded operation. I find that I am burning much less wood than before for the amount of syrup that I make. I think my sap is coming out of the trees at 65% compared to the wood I use. Would be nice. Wood be not nice when I have to cut and split it all. Here is a little video that I just uploaded. I had a few doubters about my claim of 40 gallons an hour with no wood :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6Vjrtk9DXA
Wow, great video, amazing how that all works off of vegetable oil. I am very envious of your boil rate.Quote:
Originally Posted by 4Walls
Boiled 89 gallons yesterday and bottled 11.5 L this morning. It was almost as light as the first batch. I am real pleased with the colour over the nine batches so far.
I am boiling batch 10 today. Just 37 gallons so I can finish before the rain storm hits.
I have buried 48 gallons under snow. I will boil that, plus whatever I collect this afternoon, tomorrow. Then there will a pause for a couple of days because of warm weather.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0718...ccykGu8rsDRJaQ
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0c5o...CNf1Ld2HMY8b1Q
Edit: I finished the 37 gallons and made 5.75 L
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0a2W...VkDscK9geap3uA
Not exactly sure what happened yesterday. Wasn't expecting much sap. My 1200L cubie was overflowing at the end of the day and the other one had 850L. Beautiful clear sap. Will be a long day in the sugar shack today.
Just 53 gallons yesterday and four today. I am boiling the 72 gallons I have left on hand.
Should be more flow in the weekend. Tuesday might be my last boil. Not sure how good the sap will be after that.
I am at almost 64% expected sap. That calculation is based on the number of taps I have. I have many double tapped trees. If the new recommendations come out that double taps offer little extra value, I could reduce my tap count by close to 20 and that would change my expected sap calculation.
In our immediate area, the local sugar makers have said it has been a very slow year and one group has already called it a year.
I finished the 72 gallons I boiled today and made 9.375 L.
The colour is lighter than it looks in the picture. The colour has been pretty consistent throughout the 11 batches.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0a8E...tUZ1WFsBblgLlQ
I collected what little sap that was in my barrels and pails (13 gallons) and buried the sap (in pails) in a big snow bank.
There should be some flow this weekend and next, but I am not sure how good the sap will be next weekend. Next boil will be Sunday.
So far I have had 11 batches. I am now out of the bottles that I take group pictures with.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/059P...InZpXM_aQGsAXw
My labels for my syrup bottles arrived today. They might look familiar. As I am not selling my syrup, they are just to identify that the syrup came from me.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/06cy...f9YamrfcmpyW_Q
My wife will be putting them on the bottles and jars, apparently I have difficulty putting things on straight.
Zero sap flow today, I was expecting something. I will boil whatever I have Sunday morning, even’t if it is a short boil. Some of the sap I collected a couple days ago is going a little cloudy, even though I kept the pails buried in the snow.
This is where I lack experience. Should I toss the sap if it is a little cloudy, or is it okay and will just produce darker syrup?
Thanks
If it's yellow and it stinks, toss it. But cloudy sap that has not gone too far makes fine dark syrup.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
Gabe
Thanks, no sap ran today and I only have 24 gallons to boil, but I will boil that tomorrow, and maybe leave it in the final pan for Mondays boil. There is not enough volume to get it too close to syrup tomorrow.Quote:
Originally Posted by berkshires
Hopefully the sap will run really well Sunday and Monday.
It is also looking good next weekend, if it is still good sap.
Looks like it will slow down this week and then come roaring back with a vengeance. Managed to pull 500L of sap yesterday. Nothing crazy. Just enough to create some steam to pre warm all the bottles I need to fill. I went over to a friends place yesterday. He was having a maple emergency. Had amassed too much syrup over the past week while he was out sick. His neighbours came and boiled down all the sap. So he had 70L of syrup to filter and only a cone filter. it took him over an hour to get the first 5 litres through because of all the nitre. I brought over the vacuum filter contraption that I made. It worked perfectly for all of it. Done. Bottled and a very relieved friend. Couldn't believe how clear the syrup was compared to the cone filter.
Anyway. This week was crazy. At one point I had 2800L of sap. I got lucky and all my parts and pump arrived for the 4x40 RO that I built. It is pulling 80-100 litres of water out of the sap per hour. Im amazed at how well it works. Basically the same as the CDL hobby RO but I source all the parts and pumps myself. I splurged and got a proton 3 SS pump and a new direct fit 1/2 hrs electric motor. Total cost was 1480$ all in.
I figured out how to make a video. Woohoo. Here is the vacuum filter build and in action. Best 200$ I've ever spent for my "hobby". Enjoy. PM for any tips or suggestions to build your own. Or buy the exact same thing from CDL for 2800$. I have used the CDL one. I think this one works better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8nbZd8EOT0
Great video, thanks for posting. Your vacuum filter design was a game changer for me. I used it right from the start. Filtering was quick and easy and it did a super job of filtering as well. I will have to use some of the other tips in your video next year.Quote:
Originally Posted by 4Walls
Boiled the 23 gallons of sap I had so it did not go bad. It was clear in the pan, when I poured it in.
No sap ran yesterday. It is just now getting above freezing and I am hoping today and tomorrow will be good runs and I will boil tomorrow if I get any sort of run today.
As 4walls said next weekend is looking good. If the sap is still good that will be bonus. The end of next weekend will be 6 weeks that my spiles are in the trees. I definitely will pull the taps after next weekend.
Edit: At noon the sap is just streaming out of the lines, it will be a good day.
That was a surprise. I went to the shack to bring my pans home to clean them. I checked on my buckets and they had a good volume in them. I put some in the freezer to make sap cubes since I have no snow left to pack around the barrel.
Summer project is to build a small enclosure to insulate and pack the barrel with snow. The insulation should keep the snow from melting.
Boiled yesterday and got 37:1 ratio. Alot better than the first batch of 52.3:1.
I collected 42 gallons today to go along with the 23 gallons I brought to a boil this morning, so I will have a 65 gallon boil tomorrow. That brings me to 68.8% expected sap and when that is finished, it will get me over 90 L of syrup. My sap sugar concentrations is still high.
Tonight is forecasted to drop to -4° and +10 tomorrow, so there should be sap flow tomorrow and another boil on Tuesday.
The forecast for next weekend is changing and warming up a tad overnight, so Tuesday’s boil could be the last, I will keep an eye on the forecast.
I am lucky, I boil in my yard, where I have large piles of plowed snow, so I always have lots of snow available to bury my pails. Glad to hear that your sugar content in your sap went up.Quote:
Originally Posted by aamyotte
Before yesterday's boil I was a little discouraged about the sugar content.
My friend called me and he was all done, but his sap was still flowing and had some that was still good and wondered if I wanted it. I gratefully took 110 gallons of sap.
Today I am boiling my original 65 gallons and will at least bring to a boil 55 gallons of his. Tomorrow I will boil whatever I collect of mine and the remaining 55 gallons from my friend.
Then I will be done for the season. As I collect from from the pails, I will pull the taps.
After that is all boiled, finished, filtered and bottled, I will worry about cleaning the lines.
Not counting, the sap given me, I will have made between 95 and 100 L of syrup. Considering I only have really 109 taps and about 20 of them are double taps, I did get a L or more of syrup per tree, so that is more than enough to be thankful for.
Now first is to boil for two long days.
Yep, for us backyarders, a liter per tap is considered a good year. You'll note from many people's signatures that they haven't even hit that level in half a dozen years of sugaring. So nice work!
Gabe
I pulled all of my taps today. Surprisingly, it dropped below freezing and the sap likely would have run well today. I have enough sap to keep me busy. I had a tool to help me pull the taps, I bought it months ago and put it away in a safe place. If I ever find that place, I will find a number of things. Turns out the taps were easy to pull out by hand. I definately tapped too high as I had to stand on my tippy toes to reach some of them.
Yesterday I boiled 65 gallons and pulled that off the evaporator. I also brought to boil another 55 gallons. I will likely pull that off in an hours time. I have also started to boil my remaining 117 gallons, which I will do in two batches. Tomorrow will be a rainy day, so I will try and stay until early morning if need be to finish boiling.
Ended up,with 76% of expected sap per tap, 88% realistic expected sap and when I add in the 110 gallons given to me yesterday, I reached 100% realistic expected sap.
I won’t know how much syrup I made until after tomorrow, but I expect it to be over 110 L.
My average over 20 years is 1 litre per tap on buckets. 1.1-1.2 L/tap on lines. This is looking like a bumper crop year in the north. I pulled 210 gallons of sap yesterday and it is flowing again this morning. I think the end of this week into early next week will be prime. Sap is still light and clear. Not even close to buds on my trees. Syrup tastes amazingly mid season still. Just put away 2 x 4 gallon pails of filtered hot packed syrup. Im running out of bottles. Those will store well and be bottled later.
I want to do a big batch of birch syrup this year. Want to do it as a bit of a collective in the North Bay, Astorville Callander triangle. I want to finish about 5 gallons and share it with those involved collecting the sap. That will take some effort by more than one person because the birch sap spoils quickly with the warmer weather. Will need about 600-800 gallons of sap for a batch that size. I have made it before and it takes forever to boil down at 100-160/1 ratio. I want to run it through my new big RO and concentrate to 10-15%. Let me know if anyone wants to get involved.
It’s funny, there are a lot of areas around us where the sap flow has been great, but not so for our immediate area. My friend a half hour away was filling barrel fulls, where I never even filled a quarter of a barrel on any given day.
I will be boiling well past midnight to finish the last boil of the season. Today would have been a good day for the RO to be working.
I will have boiled 930 gallons using just less than 5 face cords of wood.
Tomorrow will be finish, filter and bottle the nearup from 237 gallons of sap. 110 gallons at 2% concentration and 127 gallons at 3+% sugar concentration.
I finished boiling my last sap at 2 am this morning.
Today I have four batches to finish, filter and bottle. One down and I am working on the second right now.
As mention in other posts I use the DYI vacuum filter that 4walls has. Unlike 4walls I have not installed the four overcenter clamps required to hold the top pot down, as I was having trouble drilling through the stainless steel and decided I would do that in the off season for next season.
I had been up using bungee cords to help hold down the top pot with mixed results, mostly poor, but I was always able to somehow keep the vacuum seal and it has worked very well for me.
The last filter this morning I lost the seal and never really got it back. I decided to do something different and I have rigged up two clamps, which seem to hold the pot pretty tight. We will see sometime in the next hour how it works.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/015O...nJTE_ucjDLArvg
I have to admit I am pretty pooped, and I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.
Next year hopefully the RO will be working and a new pan will also help to reduce the workload. The induction elements worked well for pre heating the sap, but they kept you busy filling them up, taking them off, sometimes with all three coming to a boil at the same time. They did exactly what I hoped, adding boiling sap to the evaporator, but I will be doing something different next year.
If I go with the divided pan, with a float box and feed tank, my thoughts of having a coil around the stovepipe will not work.
I am all done boiling, finishing, filtering and bottling after three long nights.
I boiled 930 gallons of sap and made 106.5 L of syrup my inaugural season. I have to say it was a lot of work. It was also quite an adventure and a learning experience. I still have a lot of cleanup to do.
I think next year I will down size a little, not have the drops to the pails and just strictly have the lines and perhaps add a few more trees to the lines.
I will make less syrup, but I will not feel like I have to supply all of my neighbour’s and just make enough for family, a few close friends and myself. I still should make 75+ L.
The goal this off season is to make improvements to the evaporator, get a better pan (likely a 2x5 divided pan with a float box), fix or replace the RO pump, make a new shelter, and split the wood to more wrist sized pieces. Hopefully with the RO and a better pan, my boiling hours will drop.
I am also going to buy this sump pump for getting the sap out of my barrels quicker and easier. A friend has one and it works well. https://www.amazon.ca/Amarine-made-R.../dp/B07B26QP4Y
I will look for anything to make it easier and faster.
While everyone is cleaning up there supplies and having Easter dinner, I'm having to go and empty my buckets as some of the best runs this season are happening. Looks like I will be going until late this week by the forecast and then cleanup
Silvers are starting to form flowers so timing is good.
Great for you getting the last run. I thought it might be a good run, I chose not to try it, as everyone around me was pulling their taps. Good luck with the last run!Quote:
Originally Posted by Someclown
I have been splitting my time with still cleaning up, starting to get my wood for winter 23/24 and thinking about the changes for next year.
I had a good run today as well. 4 of my trees have dried up but the others are making up for it. Looks like I should have another good boil on Saturday. Good thing I can get the tractor to the shack to replenish the firewood since yesterday's boil used up the last of the wood I had out there.
I use a Amarine 1100 GPH bilge pump found everywhere on E-BAY for 11.00 to 16.00 American dollars. They are small, light weight and work great. With a 1 1/8 inch hose it can empty a 55 gallon barrel in less than 10 minutes. Uses very little power from your collection Atv. I don't even keep mine running.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
-5° here this morning and +7 during the day, for those with taps in, I bet today was a stellar day.
I flushed all of my lines and drops today and finished cleaning the five barrels.
I just flushed the lines with water. I took down 6 of my 8 lines. With the drops, there was no way I would have been able to unwind them in the bush, to put them back up, so I cut some of them into 5 segments and will rejoin them with fresh T’s and drops at the cut locations in the fall.
The ones I took down were on neighbour’s properties or were short and easy to remove. My wife surprised me when she okayed two of the lines to remain up. I was able to flush them with 154’ of garden hose connected to the outside tap. I was surprised that my lake water pump, pushed the water up to the top.
I was ready to pack it in this Easter weekend when I boiled a 60 gallon batch on Saturday. Came home this evening after being away most of the day to find 40 of my 60 buckets full to the rim. I'll get the fire going in the morning and get this tsunami boiled up. This is a new daily record for me. Going to be a bumper year for sure.
I regret shutting down early. I pulled the taps and started cleaning two days before Easter because several people had said they are usually done by Easter. Big mistake. Next year I am leaving the taps in place until the sap is cloudy and stinks.
So who's going to be the last producer standing in Ontario? I know Ray Bonenberg who is near Pembroke is still going. All the producers I know north of Hwy 7 in the Lanark area are done. We actually got 1.5 GPT of sap from Thursday to Saturday in our coldest woods but it went ropey very fast so no way we could have continued.
Im still going strong. Pulled 200 gallons of sap the last 2 days and it is still sweet and clear. Did a small test boil in a pot and flavour is still very mid season. No signs of buds. No peepers in the pond yet. I have it all concentrated down to about 40 gallons at 9 or so brix and held at 3 degrees C. I will boil it down today. I am just getting ready to tap 50 or so birches and do a small early run of only the good stuff. I have a plan to experiment with the birch to make it syrup without burning the sugars. 2 years of experimenting with dismal results. This year I think I have it figured out.
I'm out, Pulled all taps and boiled 420 litres today. Final run was clear and sugar was still high and made a nice dark amber.
Tomorrow I'll bottle and do cleanup.
Congrats, a lesson for next year to stick it out, but to be honest I was done after two consecutive 19 hour days and the experienced locals were pulling their taps.Quote:
Originally Posted by Someclown
It has been a slow start to winter, with only a skiff of snow so far and milder than normal temperatures. I find talking about Northern Ontario’s winter forecast can be hard, because being 50 miles north or south, or how close you are to the large bodies of water, can make a huge difference.
December is supposed to turn cold, but almost every long range forecast I see for January and February, calls for some periods of real cold, but also extended periods of mild temperatures. They forecasted something similar last winter and the extended mild periods did not happen. I think we will be on the dividing line of some temperature swings.
All of the forecasts calls for above average precipitation and snow. If we do get the mild periods, it could help keep ground cover snow totals lower.
They also mentioned March could be a mild month so we could get a good start to the maple season.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0b6d...JI_3Z3lv2FwrXA