Thanks Susan,Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Finally got it clear after 4 filtering jobs! Wow! A lot of work.. but the product is beautiful! On the last filtering job.. there was spoonfuls of sludge on the orlon filter.. yuck!
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Thanks Susan,Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Finally got it clear after 4 filtering jobs! Wow! A lot of work.. but the product is beautiful! On the last filtering job.. there was spoonfuls of sludge on the orlon filter.. yuck!
What type of filter are you using cone or flat bottom?
If your using a cone filter use 6 pre-filter and make the cone shape like the picture.
With cone filter in this shape you use a lot more area of the filter to filter.
I can filter 20 25 liters @ 190-200 degrees before I have to remove 1 pre-filter.
20 to 25 liters takes about 5 minutes to filter and I have perfectly clear syrup in my bottler and glass bottles after they filled
Attachment 16254Attachment 16255
I'm ready for a break. Boiled 10hrs yesterday and today and looks like the same again for tomorrow. Was stealing wood from the house supply today to get through the last sap. Will need to go bring some more down before I can boil today's sap. Would have thought the weather has been too warm, but the sap has been running regardless.Quote:
Originally Posted by ennismaple
Using the same.. orlon filter and cone pre-filter.. just not as many.Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffB
Thanks for pics. May try more filters next time
Meh, I find those orlon and felt filters just suck up all my syrup cause I make small batches of maybe 4l max. I'll stick with my paper coffee filters! :-)Quote:
Originally Posted by Lespetras
ennismaple said it right in the Southwestern Ontario thread - it's crazy the differences across the province. Especially when some of the distances seem so small. Here, we continue to have a great season. After yesterday's large collection of 430L from our 50 buckets, that brings our season total to over 3800L of sap (over 76L of sap per spile!). We currently have made over 82L of syrup and there is likely at least another 10L from yesterday's collection. Haven't heard any peepers yet but maybe tonight is the night for that (I always enjoy that sound and we may even get some Northern Lights on top of it). I have to think our buds will be too big in the very very near future with the current forecast (and they are looking kind of big although there is absolutely no off-taste in yesterday's collection which I am about halfway through boiling).
Wow I'm 30 minutes northwest of you in Havelock and struggling to get 1300liters of sap from 105 taps of main line system (No vacum)
Wow, Yeah I hear ya. I'm pretty much right in the middle of both of you. Collect around 9000L but have 260 on vacuum which works out to around 35L per tap. You must have a micro climate or some supercharged soil to have more then double what I've been getting especially on buckets. And I thought I was doing ok. Good on you if that's the case.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clinkis
Yup, that's the case. Just 50 buckets catching the drips, one spile per tree. We tapped Friday, February 17 and the trees have been kind again this year. I can't explain it although it sounds like Big_Eddy to south of us is having some good runs too.
I will know in 30 miles if my trees leaked out..I'm just about home from Quebec City for the night.... will update in a few hours once I check it out !
I'm about 15 km due south of Bushfrog, to the east of Frankford.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bushfrosh
180 buckets (all volumes in Cdn Gals = 4.54l)
Sun 19 105 gals
Mon 20 155 gals
Tue 21 65 gals
Fri 24 25 gals
Sat 25 60 gals
Sun 26 65 gals
Mon 27 90 gals
Boiled Tues, Wed, Sun, and yesterday.
Have the 90 gallons from yesterday in the tank to boil tonight, plus whatever comes today.
Our season total was 90 litres (filtered and bottled) as of Saturday evening.
Have another 35-40l ready for filtering after the last 2 days.
(Note: We boiled 450l on Sunday and produced 20l of (67.2 Brix) syrup. That's about 22.5:1 - much better than 40:1)
Sunny in cambellford right at this moment ..
Sure beats the rain the fog and the drizzle I been in since Monday morning !
We can sure use some sun to dry up our trails. It's getting pretty mucky and rutty in the low spots, especially after the snow from last weekend melted.Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffB
My trees want sun, especially the biggest ones. Just got sap from three of them. The little bush maple continues to be a good producer, and one of my late runners is starting to kick in. A little concerned about one of them, though, it hasn't really done anything much this year...yet. However it is also close to one of the consistent producers, which is also bigger than it, so thinking that they share a taproot? Is that possible?
The verdict is in...my trees are running wide open 475 liters since Monday morning.. that's a average of 4.5 liters per spiles....will see what Wednesday brings ....
Complete opposite here today. Yesterday was good. Today more bugs than sap (15 gals from 180 buckets)Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffB
Me too! Almost like some of my bigger producers have quit for the season. Does it have anything to do with the super warm spells followed my freeze spells? I'm wondering if I did in fact tap too soon.Quote:
Originally Posted by Big_Eddy
I hear ya on the mud. A few sunny days would be welcome that's for sure. Using my Big tractor for collecting which works really nice but ruts keep getting deeper and deeper.
We have been using our gator if there isn't that much sap. Much less ground pressure than the tractor. But it's only good up to about 60 gallons. After that the sap weight exceeds its braking ability on our hill.Quote:
Originally Posted by Clinkis
Finished off just over 30 gallons today,didn't seem to be a lot coming in on the vacuum,left it on anyway and found another tank full after supper. Haven't checked the sap for sweetness,but it sure has picked up! 1.5-2 gallons every 10 minutes now,keeps my wife busy bottling
Turned around 400+L of sap into concentrate today. First boil on the new pan and arch. Run's like a champ. Somewhere around 45L (12USG) per hour. Can't really ask for much more from an 18"x48". May be able to squeeze another 5L/1G per hour on a high pressure day but who knows.
Still twiddling thumbs here...think I got all of 6l yesterday...yayy, fireworks!
ETA: just got home from small road trip, sun out, sap in pails, will probably collect mid-late afternoon to make it worthwhile firing up stove. FINALLY!
Our sap barely ran yesterday. We got 2300 gallons (1/2 GPT) plus the 1500 from the weekend so we boiled it. At times the releaser in our New Bush was dumping at 3 minute intervals (100 GPH) but then the sun went in and the north wind kicked up and it slowed down to 10 minutes!
I didn't measure the sugar content of the sap coming in but it must have been high because we made over 110 gallons and I started with an empty flue pan. The first runoff was 63LT (the contents of the syrup pan from last week's boil) and by the end of the boil it was probably closer to 70. It was some of the prettiest syrup I've made! The sap quality was great with no crud in the tanks. I got 70+ gallons of syrup through the first filter in the press before I needed to swap it out.
I am still optimistic that we have 2 good weeks in front of us. The 10-day forecast looks ideal and the snow forecast for Friday will help as a re-set. Because we're on the eastern end of the lake the west wind blows cold air off the ice into our woods so we'll freeze most nights if it gets close to zero.
Just got 18l sap in. Good, cause I really didn't want to make another microbatch of only 2-3l from what I currently have nearuped down for batch #4.
Been a great 2 day run for me. Got over 200 gallons from 100 on vac and 30 on buckets in 2 days. Sap is still comming in strong. Still got a huge iceberg in my tank so I'm going to wait till tomorrow night and RO it and boil. Should be a good run tomorrow also with it freezing up tonight.
Starting to run in the north end of the valley, collected about 60 litres today from 80 buckets... it's not that much but it's our biggest single day collection this year so far. Hoping it's just starting! Finally have enough to boil this weekend.
Monday I collected 47 L, yesterday sucked poop, only got 33 L, was sure I would have much more, but no go, tree's were not giving me the love lol. Im good with it though, I had to catch up a little, so tomorrow night I should be caught all up and ready for more, if it happens.
Im just leaving Thunderbay tring real hard to get ahead of this weather rolling in to make it home to see what.. or if trees gave me any significant results
First post. And first time tapping.
Tapped 7 Sugars at 5 pm on Wednesday and by 6 pm today I have so far collected 10 gal of clear sap, and they continue to drip! Not sure if that’s good production or not but regardless I’m ecstatic and planning to boil on Sunday.
Welcome Maplelane1. :) Your trees are doing you proud. That's a very respectable sap run. Have fun with your first boiling session and then break out the French toast.
Sure sounds good to me Maplelane! Whereabouts you located? Like which county?Quote:
Originally Posted by Maplelane1
Well, unless something changes. I think this morning was our last boil. Strange season indeed. Hardly any sap flow from our trees in the past week despite having good temps.
This last boil produced 4350 ml of syrup, using 165 litres of sap ratio 1:37, sugar content 2.3. We are happy with our numbers this season, regardless of the strange weather patterns!
Good luck to all in the coming week or 2, but I think the Petras clan is tapping out!
OK.. OK..
O have been convinced to leave the taps in for a bit longer. fingers crossed for another run or two!
Hey Les,
I'm not far from you, closer to Kingston, right by Rideau Acres, we had a good run yesterday, was thinking of pulling taps too, perhaps this weekend. I agree, things have slowed way down from earlier in the season. I'm glad we tapped during that warm spell when we were second guessing ourselves. It's been a great year for us too, the most ever sap and syrup. Has me thinking bigger pan for next year. Do you know of anyone local with pans they'd like to unload?
Keep posting neighbour, nice to see we're not alone with this condition, or obsession, whatever.....
TurkeyJohn
Hey neighbour,Quote:
Originally Posted by TurkeyJohn
I honestly don't know anyone that has extra pans.. we only use steamer pans ourselves.. that being said, we'd also like to upgrade.. I'll keep an eye out and let you know.
Yes gonna finish up soon. We are at Washburn road. There's a few of us small time syrup makers in the area. I like comparing notes also.
How many spiles do you have?
Hi Galena. We’re in northern Peterborough County.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Pulled off about 2 gal this am but when we got home after work today the pails were empty. It was cool today (+1 and rain) so I’m thinking that may have slowed things (??) but it’s supposed to dip tonight and jump to 6c tomorrow, so I’m hoping we get another run. Regardless, we’re boiling on Sunday.
Big day yesterday. Turned the first batch of concentrate into syrup. Ended up with about 10L of syrup. Great looking stuff. Also ran another 500L of sap into about 25L concentrate. Finished it today and ended up with over 16L. We collected late yesterday and now have another 200+L of sap in storage. Looks like our season is finally getting started.
FYI,
Careful with any roadside gear. Scum bags everywhere..... Only a few minutes from my place. Close to Toledo I heard.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa...eeds-1.4050060
Thanks for sharing, that's crazy!!Quote:
Originally Posted by DrewCP
Yeah, that is...wonder if KyleBaker is OK? he was running a couple bushes if I remember correctly.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lespetras
Also I found a handy-dandy way to calculate what boiling point of water should be at your location: http://virtualweberbullet.com/boilingpoint.html Interesting to see that I've been right all along with using 210 - 211 as a base!