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I'm north of Brighton in Codrington, some of the tree's in this area are starting bud, but they are the one's out in the open, in the forest I tap, they are not showing any signs of buds yet. But I am sure that will change soon, as soon as I enter the forest I can feel the temp difference in the air.
Buds are all still tight in Campbellford. I tap one red and its buds burst last week so I pulled it. I think my sugars will be good for a couple more weeks unless we get a big warm up and they are not calling for that.
Hey Bruce, I tried to email you a response re my glass jugs and your inbox is full! Anyway I see where I made mistakes (leaving headroom was probably the main one, as the syrup was reheated to 180-185) And maybe you've already tried this, but if you know where the clog is in your line, perhaps something like HotPockets would help thaw it?
Otherwise, made 3.2l last night...would have been more like 3.5l if one of my somewhat precarious filtering setups hadn't taken a little tumble :-( But the remaining syrup looks and tastes great, though still has that light marshmallowy/vanilla flavour profile. Batch #4 should start to taste more like maple.
Now just sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting for the trees to get going again, though I bet I won't have that problem this weekend!!
ETA: Famous last words!! I just saw that one of my burly reds, which I don't tap, lost a sizable trunk during the course of the night - so THAT's what that thunky noise was! - so have been lucky enough to round up help and get it bucked up this afternoon, esp as the canopy fell on the neighbour's property. Sad to see half a tree down, but not surprised that it was that tree. The canopy has been producing punky little leaves the last couple years and there's been raccoons living in a hollow in one of the trunks (the one still standing I think). Didn't cause any damage to the neighbour's property, which was my main concern. So grabbing some lunch, then getting on my buckin' stuff and the bucksaw and heading to work. There goes a nice relaxing day of thumb-twiddling!
Clamer,we are 45 minutes north of Kingston on highway 15,lots of freezing rain here,line not thawed out yet to boil,hopefully this afternoon.Buds are quite noticeable in the tops of the trees,figure next hot spell will alter the flavour and be done.
Ok...after about 2 1/2 hrs solid work with a couple of good buddies and myself, definitely getting a good night's sleep tonight! Got about 2 cord wood out of that trunk, and plenty of branches to let dry and process for kindling later for next winter. The chainsawer said there wasn't a single straight grain in that tree so he sure had his work cut out for him. Wonder if it was a hybrid, a red/sugar cross as it sure as hell was as dense as a sugar. It always leaves out as a red though.
Now I have some time to relax before I go and refinish batch #1, bottle #2 (cause I'm pretty sure it's as close to perfect as I've ever gotten) and do a cold filter on #3 cause there's still some nitre floating around. Too lazy and tired to go reheat it.
Sick of propane.. here's the new make shift arch
Attachment 13990
Less expensive, and more convenient (no trips into Costco)
Finally got the sap transfer line to thaw out this afternoon,tied up low spots in it and tightened it,pumped up roughly 400-450 gallons,less than a 2 hour boil,tried bringing the sap over from the other bush but that line stayed frozen.Syrup back dangerously close to extra light.
Very cool Les .That's the first step in " BIGGER FASTER HOTTER " upgrades lol
Boiled 120 gallons in 6 hours .Nothing finished yet weather looks good for today to boil off another 140 today..
Still slow here, I boiled two weekends ago, had 130l sap and finished 3.5l syrup. Over the last two weeks I only gathered 100l of sap. Second boil today, but first I had to thaw the blocks since I have been storing it in the freezer.
I sure expected more sap so far from my 40 taps, fortunately the weather this week looks promising. Still 2 feet of snow in the bush.