and the smell of burnt pan,oops. Didn't lose too much but still a lot of work.Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
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and the smell of burnt pan,oops. Didn't lose too much but still a lot of work.Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
Good morning
Yesterday went well all for a little evaporator problem I can't get my front pan hot enough to draw off .(look at my thread maybe you can help it is named ( "Need some advice") on the tapping Canada screen.
Any way had about 85 gallons stored and started to boil then to my surprise was flooded with a run uf SAP 65 gallons in about 6 hours my main !ines ran like little streams WOW ! ! ! ! . I collected that liquid gold at 3pm and hope it ran into the night to collect this morning. I ripped those those gallons really quick , the new pan works better then I though in the drop flue section.
Did anyone else get a good run in yesterday's sun soakecd day today should be good as well if not no cold temps forecasted till mid week so will boil and drain flue pan and finish in the garage.
Hoping for 2 or more gallons when all said and done today.
Had a great run yesterday too. Collected around 250 gallons. Should have been more as 2 of my tanks and several pails were overflowing. Today will be a busy day getting through all that sap. Went down to -2 here last night so I imagine it will run again today but I doubt we will get the flood we got yesterday.
My day sucked !!! Reading all these people near by me in Campbellford and area, I'm in Codrington and only got 20 ltrs sap !!! Not what I was expecting to say the least.
That is annoying when others in your area get more sap than you. I wonder how Kyle is doing down near Smiths Falls, he's only 40km away but could be getting tons more sap as he's further south than me. On the other hand, people more north of me by the same approximate distance, could be getting very little as they did in 2014. Microclimates, lay of the land etc etc...the only other bush I can compare accurate notes with is 5min drive away.
Busy finishing off yesterday's sap, checked the trees in my jammies and wellies this morning and temp outside already 7 degrees or more and everyone's got sap. May be making another batch of syrup tonight!
Surprising....but often seems the same to me! Maybe not quite as cold at night being a little closer to the lake?Quote:
Originally Posted by BrutemanAl
Yesterday was very good. Not the best ever, but not bad at all. We had frost on the grass in the morning, then it ran well into the night. Likely 300L on 85 taps.
Today...nothing!
Not a bad week, though. Sunday to Sunday - 1000L - just finishing my main boil on that. Shureflo pump helped on some days.
Spent a couple of hours at the sugaring neighbour's today, getting caught up on local gossip, drinking Timmy's, standing around the arch getting a nice steam facial, bringing in armloads of firewood as needed, watching how they collect/transport/store/move their sap through their little system to their shack...and on weekends they always have about a dozen or so people around from their own adult kids in their 40s and 50s to their kids and the the kids' friends, so a diverse bunch to talk to and enjoy :-) Got just under 8l today, only 1/5 of yesterday's yield, but still enough to give my big stockpot something productive to do this evening.
And bottled up my first batch of 1250ml, great colour, usual marshmallow/vanilla notes...I love sugaring :-)
Got about half of what yesterday produced 61 gallons, it seemed that the trees that were sheltered from the breeze were producing better. Got the front pan finally all cleaned up again and ready to start boiling again in the morning, another attempt to produce some syrup.
Same here Steve. I'm glad you chimed in today as I was wondering if you were experiencing the same conditions.Quote:
Originally Posted by SPM in King
So I see a lot of eastern Ontario taps slowed down today.. Us too! We collected a total of 323 litres in 2 days but most of that was yesterday. We are currently working on boil number 6! It's gonna be a late night tonight only half way through!
Next year.. It's gonna be a big a__ arch with lines! Enough of this luggin buckets of sap around.. I'm in it for the smell and the booze.. Forget the excercise!
We still haven't had a huge run yet. Less than 2L per tap per day average for the last few days. Not really concerned at all. We only need enough sap to do 2 boils. That always gives us enough syrup for our family and some to give away.
Everyone was pretty impressed with the young lad. He is now able to collect his own trees! No help at all!
Attachment 13764Attachment 13765
Cant wait to get out and boil for the next couple days!
What a great little worker Drew. Do you rent him out by the day or by the hour? He'd sure be a big help around here! ;)
Awesome pictures Drew, I love it when the boys come to the forest to help, my oldest at 6 is my runner, if I need something from my atv, he goes and gets it. My other boy at 5, sticks by my side and helps where needed, or he walks behind my atv and brings me the buckets when I stop so I can empty them into my container.
So far this year it has not been great so not allot of help has been needed, but it is the time spent with them in the bush that matters, I try showing them different things to look at and try to teach them things like.... what made that foot print? no its not a robin... its a deer lol. What made that foot print? Nope that's not a deer !! That's a bear lol. They will get it one day I hope lol
Portland Reporting in:Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
March 7 = 136L on 104 taps
March 8 = 138L on 104 taps
March 9 = 157L on 121 taps
March 10 = 50L on 121 taps
March 11 = 203L on 121 taps
March 12 = 385L on 121 taps
March 13 = 89L on 121 taps
Today nothing, time to jar and get a new fan for my arch.
Saturday was our biggest single boil ever. 12 hours from when we started up the RO until we left the sugar camp. It was a high to mid Amber-Rich all day but we were not able to get it to Golden. Sugar content was not great but OK - better than Thursday's first boil. We've now walked all our lines and found the worst of the leaks plus the "hangers" (mental note - need better training program for volunteer tappers). All systems are running at 20" Hg or better.
Yesterday was disappointing. It froze Saturday night but we got not much more than 1/2 gallon of sap per tap. We had to wait to fire up the RO until mid afternoon because there wasn't a lot of sap ahead of us. It was a decent run but not what we hoped.
From 3 boils we're at about 25% of a crop. This week's weather looks much better considering 5 days ago it was forecasting double digit highs with no freezing at night. What we really need is 8" of wet fluffy snow!
Today's nice and cold and rainy so all the trees are just shut down, saying they worked hard giving up 50l this weekend, they'll be back at work Wed or Thurs :-)
Yes Sat was a good day i gathered 1,200 gal of sap ran it through the R.O. It was 2.9% coming in my R.O. took it to about 6.0. Not as good Sunday but left my vacuum running over night and got another 100 gals. overnight Sunday.
Marty,are you getting any freezes?It came close here last night,was down to 36 at 8:00, little bit of ice on the puddles this morning,but too light a freeze for too little a time to start anything
Whew..
Batch #6.. 338 litres made 10.7 litres of syrup! Sugar content 2.7% sap/syrup ratio 32:1, longest boil we've done.. So dark!!but good for my family as they love the dark stuff.. I'm a bit more partial to the lighter syrup with vanilla undertones
Attachment 13799
Just got in from another long day. Collected about 45 gallons today, RO'd and boiled it then drain evaporator and boiled off the concentrate. Evaporator was filthy and it's time to start fresh. I have everything completely finished off and the evaporator is soaking. Have 17 gallons of syrup so far. If weather forecast is right then looking like we should have at least a couple more weeks around here and this season might just turn out ok.
Bruce - if the forecast says +1 or +2 C overnight we will typically freeze because we are right beside the lake. All that ice creates it's own micro-climate! It froze Saturday night but not hard enough. Sunday night was likely the same. We still have snow in the woods so that helps too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce L
I forgot to add that we got just under 0.4 GPT yesterday. Assuming today is the same we'll boil tomorrow.
No sap for 2 full days now, bored bored bored bored bored...but hey, I am now an official Maple Addict!!!! :-)
And made pretend I was doing something useful...tomorrow I am picking up an order of some watchcap-style toques I had made up with an askew maple leaf and the words Tap Me inside them...so as partial payment for them I am giving the owners of the embroidery shop 1l syrup to defray the cost a little...so pulled together some syrup from last year's remaining batches, sterilized a jar, heated syrup to 185 and made a nice little blend for them.
Marty we are just 5 minutes north of the Ten Acre Truck stop in Belleville and I have had the Vacuum running since Sat morning and things are still running. We had a good draw Sat and Sun. Then it has dropped to 0.4 GPT every day since. I finished RO'ing the last tank last night at 7. And when I left at 930. There was another 60 gallons. Weird year this year. No snow on the ground here and frost in the ground. But the bush is 90% north facing. I'm sure sometime today it should stop. Till this weekend.
So far we are around 65 gallons of Syrup in 5 boils.
My brother got to the sugar camp this morning and the 1500 gallon tank (for 1850 taps in our coldest section of woods) was 1" from the top! I guess it ran all night. The releaser is only tripping every 6 minutes but if it did that for 12 hours since the tank was last checked it adds up. He will have a long day. The RO was on early and he was fired up before 11am. Hopefully he gets through it all problem free and gets home before midnight.
With what he has in front of him I'd say he'll get us to 0.4L per tap by the end of today. With what runs tomorrow we should get to close to 50% of a crop before the weekend freezeup.
Weird weather right now, thunderstorms, lightning, and trying to get the boil done.
We're getting pounded with hail in a thunderstorm. Weird weather indeed.
Just dip the hailstones in Maple Syrup, yummy.
Collected maybe 100 gallons from one bush this morning,got the vacuum pump running in the main bush to clean out the lines,almost filled two tanks,probably about 650 gallons,fired up at 2:30, finished at 5:30 with another 16 gallons of liquid gold
Woohoo...got 1.5l today, this is after 3 days of not collecting...:-( We're meant to get a thunderstorm tomorrow,wonder if the change in atmospheric pressure will affect the flow, and if so, how?
Nippy this morning, frost on the car, ground hard and slick in areas, still about -3...so will be interesting to see what goes on today...should get something at the end of this day!
Your brother is rather tired today...
That's better than being well rested! Vacuum pays for itself on weeks like this!Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleEnnis
MaxJ,
I hope your boil went well.
I'm looking for a little local weather intel. Did you get any sap today (Thursday)? How was the wind? I'm wondering if my buckets are still hanging!
I haven't been online this week but we had a huge run last Saturday and boiled down about 50 gallons on Sunday. Overall a beautiful day.
Jon
Hey all, I have some Tap Me toques for sale...see Classifieds for details. Very limited run, first come first served!
Uhm... in your ad they are listed as $1,520 each. I know the Canadian to US exchange rate is pretty low at the moment but......... ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Boiled on Tuesday.
Finished off Dad's concentrate from Sunday on propane while I got the last 400 liters of sap rolling on the arch. Was able to get almost 35L/hour of evaporation on the 2'x4' flat pan. Better than expected considering the weather and low pressure.
Finished his batch around 14:00 and got around 15L of syrup.
Finished my batch around 19:00 and got around 10L of syrup.
Took about 12 hours to get everything done. That got rid of our sap backlog. We are now starting over. Picked up less than 100L in the last couple days.
I bought a 5 gallon stainless syrup filter tank and added the coffee spout option. Worked perfect. Filtered and bottled from 1 single tank. We used to filter into a stock pot then fill bottles with measuring cups and funnels. Very messy. The no drip coffee spout was awesome. Didn't spill a drop and only had to clean the 1 single tank instead of pot, bowls, cups and funnels.
Kind of hard to spend money on something that's really not 100% necessary, and when you factor in that we will never ever recoup any cost as we do not sell our syrup, but it will literally last forever. Every hobby costs money I suppose.
I collected a whopping 18 ltrs yesterday, first I have collected in 3 days. I will wait till later today and go and see whats there and if there is a amount worth collecting I will bring that back and start boiling.
There was probably a litre or less in the buckets yesterday Jon, even though the winds were gusty in the afternoon the pails were still hanging pretty straight.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maplerock
Finally got 22 litres bottled by the end of yesterday and have 30 litres of 40% content syrup to wet the new pan if it comes in today.
Managed another 4 litres of the syrup that was saved from the pan that I burnt last week, not sure what the outcome of the this syrup will be, but I'll do a few cuts with regular syrup to see.
Looking at the weekend forecast we might be in for another good production run.