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Yes, this week was very unexpected.
Some guys around me pulled taps last week, but in the last 3 days I have made 25% of this season's crop! It aint over til it's over.

We are a mile in from the Kzoo county line, right in the 4 corners of VanBuren, Kzoo, St. Joe, and Cass counties.

Our 130 taps have produced 1490 gallons of sap. Sugar was running 3.5 for the...

I am down by Kalamazoo.

A lot of the reds and silvers have completely flowered over the last week.
The buds on the sugars have not started to swell yet. The canopy is starting to change form...

So you've put about 5 gallons through that filter...? It's not worn out. I pack my syrup in 5 gallon pails, then re-bottle it as needed throughout the year. When re-packaging I bring it up to temp,...

My supplier sells 3 1/2 and 5 gallon pails for packing finished syrup. I pack hot syrup into them, and have not had any issue of them picking up off-flavors.
The pail does get quite soft though, so...

When you boil water, you see the bubbles forming on the bottom of the pot? They travel up through the water and burst on the surface letting steam escape.
The "explosion" happens because the cold...

The fittings for brewing are likely Swagelok, Tylock, or Parker. They are not made specially for brewing.
I work for an industrial piping contractor, and we regularly work in food and beverage...

IBC totes are made with a few different thread sizes and types. Here is a link on how to determine what type you have.
http://www.frankberg.nl/ibc-valve-thread-size.html

After determining what...

Be careful when getting the cleaning vinegar. Some of the brands local to me have fragrance or other ingredients added. A lot of it is still 5%, but "low odor" or with fragrance added.

I would not worry too much about the weight of the container. For most containers the volume is a nominal value, not exact. Many of the bottles and plastic jugs actually overfill by a couple ounces....

The Dr.'s right! Don't worry, the only predictable thing about sugaring is that it is unpredictable.

I've had some years when all the taps flowed at the same time.
I've had some years when 1/2 the taps ran for the whole season, but would only fill the bucket 1/2 way each run. The other 1/2 of the...

Don't mind the "swell" or "plumpness", that is only a gauge as to how much time may be left in the season. Just look for OPEN buds, that is quite obvious. You can't miss a tree with leaves!
As...

Hey stinky, that tree is not even close to budding out. Those "stem like things" are the buds, and are there all winter. In the spring they will start to swell up, and eventually open. When they...

I set 120 taps in the SW (about an hour north of IN, and an hour east of the lake) on the 17th. So far I have collected 650 gallons, and finished about 12 gallons of syrup. Flow should return here on...

My wife and I were discussing the 10-day forcast yesterday...I am thinking taps will go in this weekend here as well.

my guess is that is has something to do with whatever you stored it in, or where you stored it. A week of near freezing temps after it had been boiled, it should have been fine.

If it tastes bad,...

Hey Berkshires,

It can take a full day to "sweeten" the pans, but that's only for the first boil. Every boil after that, what goes in is what comes out. You can see the color variations from each...

Tap 'em!

I get about 1/2 gal per tap syrup yield on roadside trees with buckets. On buckets they can still out produce some vac systems in a woodlot. Early season, when it's colder, they take a...

I finished with 22 gallons off 75 buckets. The crop this year was 63% of my average from the last 5 years. I had 1 run of amber, and the rest was dark. All had very similar flavor.

With my trees, it makes a big difference on how big the tree is. The smaller, 1 tap trees stop after the 1st day. The huge trees flow for at least 2 days, and sometimes 3 without a freeze cycle.

It started to run for me Sunday as well. No record breaking numbers, but it's better than nothing.

I'm holding out for the end of this week, to see if we get those cold temps. I tap all sugars, and the buds have not even started to swell yet. If the cold comes back, so should the sap! If you tap...

If the freezing temps return, it should run again. But watch out for budding if you are tapping soft maples. Over here near Kalamazoo, a lot of silvers and a few reds are in full bloom.

I had a peeper hop in last night too. First time that's ever happened.