Been collecting sap for nearly a month now, but only on my second boil this Easter weekend. Some of my 28 taps are dripping today approaching 60 degrees outside. Most of the snow is now melted in the yard. Anybody pulling taps soon?
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Been collecting sap for nearly a month now, but only on my second boil this Easter weekend. Some of my 28 taps are dripping today approaching 60 degrees outside. Most of the snow is now melted in the yard. Anybody pulling taps soon?
I'm still in through next weekend. Sap is still running well here and it looks like OK after today. Woods are still snow covered here but it's getting spotty.
On April 3, 2014 I was doing my first boil of the season. Unless you keep notes you quickly forget what happens year-to-year.
I have 50+ gallons of sap to boil tomorrow. Snow is gone by me and ground has thawed. Looks like one more frost night Saturday night, then will stay above freezing all next week, with day time temps in 50's and some days low 60's. I'll most probably pull the taps on Sunday after the Easter Feast.:cry:
Why not just collect and see what happens? If it doesn't work out, you can pull the taps next week and if it does, you'll have some sap to boil. Either way, I hope you enjoyed your first season!Quote:
Originally Posted by MichtonTree
Wondering myself.... Boiling down 20 gallons today/ tonight, collected from 20 taps this week.. Not much collected today with last night being warm. I chose to leave buckets out because of predicted cold night Saturday. I am thinking this may be it though. I suppose it is a race between us and the buds. I did find ants got to one bucket. They don't get past the filter though!!
I was thinking the same thing. Anyone know at what % it's considered buddy sap?
More of the taste and color than %.
Mike
pulled my taps today..the lovely Mrs. and I bottled up the last batch...not a ton of sap, but enough to give to some friends.. Thanks to the helpful and knowledgeable folks on this forum--I had a lot of fun!
I pulled all my taps yesterday, finished and bottled all the syrup I drew off wed and Thursday. Ended up with 40 gal syrup, all A light to A dark. I went to finish off the sweet in the pan this morning, and the sweet had gone ropey on me; gross looking stuff, that sweet last year was about 6 gal syrup, which this year got tossed.
Shorter season for me than last year, but I did a little better on sap and syrup count; much lighter syrup this season too. The color of my last batch (8) this season was the same color as my third batch last year. How about you guys?
Finished boiling up and bottling everything I had up to date (17.25 off 66 taps). All syrup was much lighter than last year and the final batch was the same color as the first. Did not pull the taps, collected 12 gallons of clear stuff and dumped the rest. Hoping the temps are few degrees colder than forecasted to get one more run and pull everything on Monday. If not it was a little better than last year and no complaints.
Boiled yesterday 45 gallons, thought it would be 50+ but some was spoiled. Anyway 1.56 gallons of syrup and it was dark amber. I just checked the buckets and although the taps are dripping, some buckets were yellow and others were cloudy. So, I pulled the taps, ending my first season.:cry: Totals equaled 5 boils, 135 gallons of sap produced 4.56 gallons of syrup. Sugar content on my trees obviously pretty high and produced the spectrum of grade color and taste. Tomorrow starts the cleanup and storage of equipment and of course ideas and plans for next year.It was a great experience and had a lots of fun.:)
Last batch...ran out of syrup bottles...so canning jars. Dark amber
http://mapletrader.com/maplegallery/...p_jam_jars.jpg
Congrats MichtonTree on your first season. You made an impressive amount of syrup. Now you can start counting down the days until next season. I know we'll see you here again next year.
Thanks Karen, Really enjoyed the whole process. I learned a lot from this website and from my own mistakes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
You may see me around the equipment forum, I have a few ideas i'll be wanting to flush out for next year.:rolleyes:
Some said more may run this week - but I am done. Pulled taps and buckets, ready for spring.
Final tally 4.25 gallons on 20 taps.
Now I have to figure out how to re-process my bottles to remove the niter.
I had some of my trees run yesterday. A few have buds on a few trees but most still do not. I think I am going to keep what ran over the last few days separate and then process it alone.
Picked up about 1000 gal today its def slowing down but not over yet! Thought i would get sleep this week but not yet!
Pulled the taps yesterday and wrapped everything up today. 18.5 gallons off 66 taps - can't complain when you get above a quart per tap especially after the late and slow start. All syrup was on the light side but very clean (the pic below is from the last batch) not a lot of niter this year. Sugar content was average for us right around 1.5%. Mark good luck and hope the temps dip the next two nights and you get another run or two.
Attachment 11619
I was just thinkin it was surprising to see your taps gone already. Took a truck we fixed for a test drive and went by your state land an hour ago. Mine are just weeping too gona boil tonight then sat or sun start chasing it out with water. Was a great season tho i will be over 350 gal syrup tonight
Yesterday was our last boil. 785 gallons of sap at 0.6%; thank goodness for the RO which gave me 7.6% concentrate.