2012 Ontario Tapping

[Big_Eddy]

We weren't making much syrup, so we tapped an extra 50 trees last weekend and had 2 good runs out of those. I boiled everything we had on tuesday and drained the sweet out of the flue pan and dumped it into the syrup pan to finish. There was still a bit of sap flowing in the week, but not enough to even bother trying to collect. I would need another 150 gallons if I were to sweeten the pans again and boil more, and don't see that happening any time soon.

My total for this year was 42 litres from 100 then 150 trees. I did 120 litres from 10 trees last season, and 37 from 100 in 2010, so this would go down as our worst yet. We even tapped earlier than usual, on Feb 19th. Oh well - I guess my prices are going up.

I will leave the buckets out for another 1-2 weeks until the buds show, but not very hopeful.

[Brian66]

Sap was running a bit today in Parry Sound, very strange considering the weather. This heat is making sap storage a problem, so accumulating enough to boil is a challenge. It was 25C outside the shack and 40C inside! I'm going for a shower now.

[skokasweetwater]

same here in bracebridge brian....really suprised its running at all considering the rediculously warm weather. ive frozen my sap from the last 3 days since it wasnt enough to boil. sunday and monday finally look like the night temps are good. hopefully the trees dont bud out by then!

[chriscris]

Pulled all the taps over the weekend, and boiled the last 2 gallons.
In total we produced 12 gallons of syrup. Way better than expected.

[cavescott]

Collected 60 gal of sap today. Storage a problem here too. To warm. I guess im lucky for my elevation only 3 nights it hasnt froze so far. Doesn't look like its going to freeze again tonight. Hoping to get a bit more time in, its my first year can't learn it all in a week and a half.

[Boulder springs]

Hey Scott,
I tapped 525 on gravity and had five boils. Sure is a warm year. Can't believe I'm still makin' syrup.

Boulder springs,
Emsdale

[cavescott]

Well today was scary first day that I've went out and everything was dry. Now I know what people are talking about when they say it wasn't running. Have confidents it will come back though. Monday looks good and hopefully they have screwd up the forcast for Saterday and Sunday they just need to be a couple degrees off and they have certainly done that before.

[Asthepotthickens]

Just curious, why preheat on propane? Costly. If anything I finish on propane only if we have a lot of sap easier to extract a couple of gallons of near syrup and continue to boil on the wood heat

[Brent]

Just curious, why preheat on propane? Costly. If anything I finish on propane only if we have a lot of sap easier to extract a couple of gallons of near syrup and continue to boil on the wood heat

I scanned this thread to try to find what promted your question but couldn't find anything. Anyway, I preheat with propane for about 15 minutes at the beginning of each boil. My theory is that when you first start up, your pans and really cold, near freezing. Your fire is relatively cold and smokey. To me, this is a perfect set up to get creosote to condense and deposit on yourcold pans. I preheat until the stack temp is up to about 150 deg. and there is steam in the front pan. We started doing this mid-season 2 years ago and we have found almost no creosote on our pans.. Soot yes, but it brushes off very easily, and we get bright stainless under the soot. We're not the only ones on this forum doing this.

[Boulder springs]

Scott, I went scoutin' around, checkin' the buds. I believe it's finally happened here buddy. Sorry to tell ya. Think the boilin's done.