I'm not a coffee drinker so my seasonal drink is orange sap. I take a cup of boiling sap and mix in some orange juice concentrate. Yum!
Printable View
I'm not a coffee drinker so my seasonal drink is orange sap. I take a cup of boiling sap and mix in some orange juice concentrate. Yum!
Thanks for the receipt and saving the coffee maker. :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by DrewCP
Batch number 2.. 120 litres of sap made 3425 ml if syrup. Sugar content of 2.45%, sap/syrup ratio is 35:1
Well, here we go...tapped 85 on tubing that are gravity fed, on Sunday. There was not much happening as of noon yesterday. They are on the north slope. So, I hooked up a Shureflo RV pump to the line and wow! All of a sudden, I was getting sap. I though it might just be the lines emptying out, so I waited 10 minutes and it just kept coming. 200L by last night. 200L more by this morning and it's still running!
For those of you on tubing, this is a game changer.
The weather looks bad for the next week or 2, this might be it for a while. I hope it runs for a few days....
When I left for work this morning the sap was running well, not sure how long that is going to last. I need about 150 gallons to fire up my evaporator. I only gathered about 30 gallons last night and I'm guessing there was approx 40 gallons in the buckets this morning when I left. If that's all I'm going to get for the next few days then it doesn't seem like it's going to be worth it. I may end up seeing if the guy up the road wants my sap.
Wow Steve, that sure makes the difference! It certainly sounds like you've got the correct method for coaxing sap out of the trees in our area. Not much has happened here with my buckets on gravity.
I see you are in King-Quote:
Originally Posted by SPM in King
Were you able to source your pump locally ? I am trying to find one in that general area as well.
Collected 140L from 109 taps yesterday eve. Broke in my new home made arch last night down to nearup.
Figure about 7GPH on my new baby with an 1/8 of wood it used to take me. I am super stoked and proceeded to tap all my neighbour's trees this am. lol :) Bring on the tsunami, then plans for bigger evap, repeat. lol
All trees and all spiles are going, #2 and #5 in a horse race already...#1, #7, and #9 crowding in the middle of the pack and #6 sitting chilly in the rear...all as expected! Looks like a 1-2g right now, may wait til 5ish to collect. Or not, see if I can beat my sap-collecting OCD this time round :-)
All mine were running today, not as well as I thought they would, but i still collected another 27 ltrs , probably another 20 ltrs or so still in buckets in the forest. Probably going to run back over around 4 pm and gather that up.
Canadian Water Warehouse Ltd.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maplesapper
17075 Leslie Street Unit 19
Newmarket, Ontario
L3Y 8E1 Canada
Collected 11l at 3pm. Don't think I've ever had such a strong start to the season. Only one leaky spile, and it's my fault cause for some reason I thought it might be good to tap above a burl....anyway should go re-drill in a more promising location :-/
unning into one large bucket, do I need a slope downward between each tree. Do I then have to leave an airlock above the highest tap or it a sealed system to the collection barrel?
94 gallons collected today, so everything is now full as full can get. So the only way I can free some space up is to do a boil in the morning. :)
I figured since I had a couple of large 250 gallon totes everything would be fine, no, suckers are sitting in 5 inches of solid ice behind everything else, one large brain fart forgetting to get them out. Called to buy a tote and I could almost see the guy laughing on the other end of the phone "Don't you know it's maple syrup season?" DAH!
Collected a total of 111 litres of sap today.. Boil #3 in progress..
Wow Lesley, you are killing it! Way to go.
Been a busy couple days. Collected around 250 gallons in the last 2 days. Has been running slow but steady for the last 36 hours. Unfortunately sugar content is a little low.....around 2.4% yesterday and 2.1% today (I'm usually sound 3%). Just came in and it's still running. Got the RO all fired up yesterday, sweetened the evaporator and made about a gallon of syrup so far but stills lots to RO and boil. Will have another busy day tomorrow. I will take it because if weatherman is right this ain't gonna last long and it may be over before it really gets started.
Thx Karen, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for your trees! Have you started collecting much sap yet?Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
I'm a bit confused at the delay in sap flow your way. Like I do remember last year I finished a lot earlier than most..I'm starting to think that my season in the Rideau area is a bit earlier than much of Ontario due to the Great Lake exposure, I could totally be wrong in saying that but then I remember last year boiling buddy sap when many were still getting beautiful maple syrup... Can't be a coincidence that my trees are thawed out and ready sooner.. Right?
Lesley, I collected 61L during those two warm days we had over a week ago. Things froze up and now during this thaw I've collected a total of 20L from Saturday through to today. That's from 19 taps. Usually my trees really give an A+ performance. Looks like summer school's in their future for this year. ;) I'm at the top of a "mountain" here so my spring is always delayed. I'm hoping that's the reason for my late arrival to the fun. Also, I always tap down the street at a friend's place to get access to some sugar maples, but the laneway is still snowed in and I don't want to get stuck part way up. By tomorrow I should be able to consider tapping those trees without spinning my car out.
However, today I boiled what I had and got about 2L of nearup. (There's still a massive ice ball in my storage tank that didn't melt down all the way. It's probably 20L's worth.) I'll finish off the nearup to syrup another day. It was nice to finally be boiling, even if it was a quick one. It was such a beautiful day out today. Looking forward to whatever comes my way.
Heh, Lesley, your trees are a young bush of mostly 1- and 2-spilers, so smaller trees would probably thaw out a lot faster! :-) I don't know Karen's trees but I would think her elevation and proximity to the Great Lakes probably affect each other.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lespetras
At this end, a nice promising start to the season, no overflowing pails. But when I put the trees to bed last night about 10pm, making sure that they got the memo that it was time to quit for the day, #5 and #6 were still plinkin steadily away...while #2 must be a union tree, won't produce too much after 5pm!
ETA: I hear geese....and just brought in 15.5l. Will have to wait til after work to collect again, then time to start foggin up the windows!!
Here's how I do it: If the whole system is sealed, you need a way for the air to escape at the bottom of the run, not at the top. I use an upside down "T" on the main line, before the barrels. Cap the end of the T (that is pointing straight up) and drill a few holes sideways through the cap. This will let the air out of the barrels as they fill. A seasoned pro once told me that you do not let air in or out at the top of the run.Quote:
Originally Posted by Newbie18
Hope that helps. PM me if this is unclear.
That's true Susan, my trees would thaw out quicker, even though seemingly large, they are still young in tree years😆Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Finished batch number three, 111 litres of sap made 3625ml of syrup. Sugar content of 2.8%, sap/syrup ratio of 30:1
Collected another 50 litres this morning, started batch 4. And to my despair, I found a MOTH!!! Yes a moth in one of my buckets.. I was disheartened! From my recollection this signals a nearing end to maple madness, though I do not blame the moth for relishing it's time with maple sap.. A sweet way to perish!
I had a moth two nights ago, and my heart did a little flutter as well, yesterday was a few flies as well. But that's expected as it reached 50f so things are waking up. The SAP was boiling at 7am this morning, so things are going well.
I had 2 moths yesterday, and a few fly's this morning when I collected. I Collected 25 ltrs.... if the sun would just make an appearance it would really help.
You guys are all making me jealous, I'm in a low spot, so seems things are still cold, getting dribs and drabs from my few silvers, but not enough to boil yet. Especially you Les, just up the road and doing so well....:o
I agree with Bruteman, wish the sun would come out to play....:cool:
TurkeyJohn
My trees are slow to get going too TurkeyJohn, I feel your pain :p friends around me have boiled their first batches already. I have probably around 25 gallons or so, I'll have to boil it before it spoils if its going to stay warm for a couple of days. Small batch it is...
Quote:
Originally Posted by TurkeyJohn
We got some sap yesterday (1/3 gallon per tap) but not enough to boil. The pumps ran all night so we'll fire up tomorrow. My cousins boiled down 800 gallons last night but didn't even get a runoff.
My sap hasn't stop flowing in the last 50 hours. Not running really fast but steady. Collect over 350 gallons in that time. The vacume definitely helps but my buckets are flowing reasonably well too. Also saw some moths yesterday. I'm kinda scared though because my trees usually run really well right before they turn buddy so I'm hoping that's not the case.
Seen some moths but not in my sap, I think they're in my firewood which is mixed hardwood...and a little po'd cause I checked my trees when I got home, all looking good, planning to collect again about 5pm. Then not 5 minutes, I'm in the house, heard a pail crash to the ground. I only lifted the lids to peek in, so I know it wasn't my doing. Of course it was a pail off of #6...no sign of any human perp so I'm thinking a fluffy-tailed tree rat is to blame. Bad squirrel!
Panic button is pushed.
Collected 150 liters on Monday in a 24 hour period. I just went and collected after being away for work Tuesday night. I barely got 75 liters in 48hours
My trees have shut off not even dripping at all now with this warm weather! ! ! ! !!
I really expected the drums on my main lines to be over half full wth a great first 24 hours my jugs didn't have enough in them to even get off the 4 wheeler to check.
I'm not super new at this and what to expect but this seems like bad news for my sugar season. Should I be worried?
Jeff, I think you are in decent shape to get some sap over the next few days. You have several below freezing nights starting tomorrow night and that should get the sap flowing for you. I wish I could say the same for here.
Hey Karen
Just looked at the weather network mnus 1 and minus 2 for next 2 nights I sure hope it falls a little more and it flows good .I don't have enough SAP to even fire up the new evaporator I chomping at the bit to try before the SAP I have collected starts to spoil.
My fingers are crossed
Jeff, I think your long range forecast looks really good. It's full steam ahead for you later this week and after the weekend. Catch up on your sleep now. :)
I sure hope the weather works to wonder and it makes the SAP flow like a small river lol .if not I going to have to post a ad
"FREE SAP WANTED" to save my season lol
Will check back later and see how others trees are flowing .
Killdeers arrived back here today,lots of geese flying around,soft maple look like they're blowing out.Going to try running the vacuum pumps to see if enough will haul in to boil
We collected 55 gals Monday, 70 Tuesday and only 35 today. The larger trees were still flowing but the smaller ones not. That's on top of ~80 gals of ice that was in the tank from a week ago.
My youngest had sweetened the evaporator Saturday and then I boiled yesterday and made 10l of Light (aka Amber now). The boys have been boiling since they got home from school tonight and still had 80 gals left to go when I went out to check on them at 10. Not sure how long they will keep going. We still have a nice berg in the storage tank so whatever they don't finish will stay cold. Fingers crossed for a few cold nights. Attachment 13694
Still a slow start around here. Put 40 taps in last weekend and only collected 30 liters of sap so far. Temps have been 5 to 7 degrees daytime and around 0 to -2 at night. Hoping for a good run in the next two days so I can boil this weekend. Of my 30 liters of sap, 24 liters came from one tree along the driveway, I wish they all produced like that.
That's a really nice photo of your syrup Big_Eddy. I hope your boys kick into overdrive tonight for you.
Well today was going great, got my SAP boiling early, got the tote out of the ice, moved in 3 stainless steel tables into the sugar shack, and it all ended in 5 minutes. Burnt the pan, 110 gallon boil down turned into something. Collected 67 gallons, and a mess to reckon with tommorow.::)Attachment 13695
I had moths and fly's around the taps on a few of my trees yesterday.... stealing my sap before it got to the bucket lol !!! Really didn't get much of a flow yesterday, really made me bummed out. While I was in the bush the sun poked out a few times and the taps started dripping and then the clouds came back and they turned off. I will use today to boil down what I collected yesterday... fingers and toes are crossed that the next few nights have cooler temps and I get some more to boil. I have only have 3 liters of finished syrup right now and 2 litres of that has to go to the property owners for letting me use their tree's.