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Thawing
The last couple days have allowed some thawing. Still some ice, but I was able to start collecting last night. After today I should be mostly thawed out. Most of the trees I got to were running last night. I will be boiling this weekend after all. The sap won't go bad as long as there is ice. Next week is looking to get much warmer, so I'm glad I'll be able to collect it all this week. I too am limited to the weekends for boiling. The fire will be lit tonight.
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So you boil at night? What are you boiling on and how long does it take you? Last week we boiled down about 80 gallons on our outdoor fire pit, which I expanded so we could put more pots. We ended up with about a gallon and a half of syrup. Trying to figure out a better set up for next year. A lot going on this year with getting bees in a couple weeks and our second flock of chickens
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Yes, I boil at night until I need to sleep. I just let the fire go out and start it back up early in the morning. I have a home made wood fired 2x6 arch with two connected pans. I boiled all weekend, shutting down at night. I ended up collecting a total of 280 gallons and ended up with about 5.5 gallons of syrup. Season total was over 600 gallons and about 12 gallons of syrup. A new record for me. I'm glad it's over now though. It's exhausting. Time to pull the taps for me.