Karen seems to be AWOL, but I do think the answer to your question is definitely yes. Will it be more or less than the previous sap tsunami? Impossible to say.Quote:
Originally Posted by c0ps
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Karen seems to be AWOL, but I do think the answer to your question is definitely yes. Will it be more or less than the previous sap tsunami? Impossible to say.Quote:
Originally Posted by c0ps
I sure do c0ps! In fact, I hate to tell you this but, some of the holes that I drilled in my downed trees were dripping today... You'd better check your fallen soldiers in case they are too.Quote:
Originally Posted by c0ps
Lol, to late. I chopped them all up
Wow, you sure don't let the grass grow under your feet do you? I'm impressed. I'm pretty positive you are going to see lots more sap in a day or two - from the other trees of course, not the ones you chopped up. lol
Its worth remembering that syrup with a brix lower than 66 can possibly spoil if not kept refrigerated.Quote:
Originally Posted by BrutemanAl
I totally agree Karen, a very welcome respite.Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
I think I got enough rest for another run to happen now.
Finished 7 litres last night. Darker than the rest of my syrup, but sooo tasty!
That's 32L finished so far. 1270L of sap, 630 of which came in 4 days. My best year yet, but I added 20 more taps this year, up to 46.
I'm all cleaned up and ready for another run now. Bring it on!
S.
It doesn't get any better than 'dipping from the well of frozen goodness'. The stuff on top was over 4%, the stuff on the bottom was 5%. It's really interesting how the sugar falls to the bottom of the container so that the sweetest sap is always the last stuff. Today's boil should go really well with this super sweet sap. I hope to see some fresh sap tomorrow when the temperature rises well above freezing. I should be all ready for it!
Attachment 14167
Just think for a second...the more sugar, the thicker it is, the more it migrates towards the draw-off spigot on a level arch...whether that's 67 brix or 4...;-]Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
5%! I would probably do something illegal to get near that percentage. I never even saw 2%. No wonder your syrup is so light. Here's hoping you get another big run, or two.Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
Thanks Gary!Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghs57
Wowo Karen, I bet you're not dumping any of that ice!!! And you know all about making stuff...well...last night I brought home a KitchenAid stand mixer, dumped in a cup of light syrup and put it to work...I saw in the manual that the paddle shouldn't contact sides of bowl so I fiddled with the setting of it...anyway...I got maple sugar all right, but it's powdered! It's like icing sugar, and all I wanted was granulated! So now I've adjusted the thingy up a little so I can try to make granulated tonight :-)
For sure I'll be testing the melting sap from that all that ice for sugar content before I start to dump any of it. It sure didn't take long yesterday to boil down that sugary sap. It's finishing on the stove right now.
Galena, I'd bet that powdered maple sugar would be fabulous sprinkled over fresh berries or dusted over waffles for garnish.
When I get crystals at the bottom of a jar, my wife sometimes uses them for her tea. So, the powder could work for that too!Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
My sugar has been turning out the same way. I think I read that you need to let it cool more before mixing and you will get more of a granulated sugar. I will try that next time I make sugar.
OK, supersapper, and feel free to share your results with me either here via pm, please! I'll visit the candymaking thread and see what I can find there too.
Got 60L from 15 sugar maple taps that had started to thaw this afternoon. They are all dripping aggressively! Looks like boiling is in my future. :D
I made 17.3L today with a brix of 68.5...one of these days I have to actually learn how to turn that into 67 brix. Out of today's batch I made a customer's wedding gifts for the people coming to their wedding...120 x 50mL maple leaf bottles...cute. I usually sold those for $5 ea, but I made a deal with the couple to sell them for $2.57, which makes me as much profit on the syrup as if I'd sold them in 1L bottles but doesn't make me a dime on the bottles themselves. All I know is at least 60 (and possibly a lot more) people who have never had my syrup may taste it.
No sap today, the variation in temperature was just too small.
I also got 60 surprising litres this morning and it's boiled but way lighter like the season has reset...this my first year and I love it!
So my syrup that is frozen in my freezer, should I thaw it out and reboil it? I have about 15 L of "nearup" that I am going to finish today, should I add the frozen stuff to the "nearup" ?
May as well, esp if you're wrapping up for the season.
Hey Al. I'm curious as to why you'd want to reboil your finished syrup? If it's already proper brix, why make more niter and have to refilter all over again? I'd just boil your nearup to syrup and call it a day. Maybe Susan knows the inside scoop, or perhaps she wants to follow the cloud of steam to your place for pancakes? ;)
Because I put it in the freezer and it froze solid
Ahhhh. Got it.Quote:
Originally Posted by BrutemanAl
Hehe, I just kinda guessed that there was a reason that Al, a former chef, would consider messing around with syrup that wasn't perfect...and of course I want someone else to make me pancakes! :-)
So glad that we are having another freezing rain storm tonight. There are still a few more trees around here that need to get pulled out of the ground or have limbs broken from. :mad:
I reheated it and got it to the right brix this time, not sure how well everything filtered though, it's so dark and hard to see threw the bottle's. I will wait till I get home tonight to have a look when its brighter outside. One I did notice what looked to be blobs hanging in suspension, so hopefully they are not all like that, can't remember what I need to do to correct this, I know someone had posted about this in one of the threads.
Let it sit overnight and check again in the morning for Mount Nitre in the bottom :-)
The temperatures were ideal between yesterday and today, yet I only got ~10 gallons of sap. Temperatures are going to be ideal again overnight, so hopefully tomorrow will be an even better day. Meanwhile, in just a few hours of boiling I managed to make 12L of syrup. I'm still only half way to my last year's total.
Just 20 minutes south of Bobcaygeon ran like crazy again. Since yesterday evening to 5 pm today - approx 800 litres on 110 taps with 3/16" tubingQuote:
Originally Posted by NTBugtraq
Out of control here today too. The soft maples are dwindling, but got 100L from 15 sugar maple taps (all had overflowed and were running hard) and another 20L from 4 soft taps. The freeze overnight should yield some nice 'chuckable' ice!
Just logged in first time in a while and can't believe the seasons still on! That's great fir everyone!! I tapped out over 2 weeks ago.. the weather has cetainly been amazing for maple syrup making!
It's going to be a drippy day here in Caledon. I can't believe that you needed to pull your taps two weeks ago Lesley. I wouldn't have thought that our two locations would be that different.
I honestly think I pulled them prematurely as I had already made plenty and was tired!Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
But glad to see central ontario is still producing ! Do you think a record year?
It's almost certain that I'll equal last year if not exceed it. Since I have been giving away sap to my nephew and had also let several hundred liters of sap hit the ground during the big tsunami I would have already surpassed last year's total if I'd been able to keep up at that time. I will agree, however, that it has definitely been an exhausting season for me as well. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm getting really nice darker syrup at the moment I would have seriously considered pulling the plug earlier but I just couldn't do it and watch the sap run down the trunks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lespetras
Just think how my boys were complaining last weekend pulling our buckets. More than half were overflowing with crystal clear sap. :( but the syrup cupboard is full and the syrup wood pile was empty.
Between yesterday and today I collected 40 gallons of sap. Not much for a small timer with just a few taps but i like it.
That's such great news c0ps. Looks like you are likely going to be able to continue making syrup next year after all. Way to go!
Hey Karen, I ventured into my forest to identify more trees. Hard to tell what they are with no leaves. But I did end up finding a few more trees I can tap. Made up for the ones I lost. When summer is here I'll start marking the maples so I know what's what.Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
C0ps, look up along the branches and at the branch tips. If you find opposing twigs that's an excellent sign that you could very likely have a maple. When you see opposing branches around here where you and I live, it's likely a maple or an ash, and the maples seem to be more plentiful than ash trees. At the very least, I'm betting you've got quite a few Manitoba maples in your forest. They are everywhere, and delicious.
It's a gusher today. The sugars are two drops per second.