We've had some crazy winds and forecasted 3 cold, cold nights in a row (-18 tonight and tomorrow night). I hate chasing down blown off buckets and tapping frozen trees. The spiles never seem to seat correctly. We still have loads of snow in the bush so no real rush. Should start to run nicely Wednesday and Thursday. Mar 12-16 looks great. This will be our prime week as long as the forecast stays relatively the same.
Here we go. I tapped 74 trees earlier today (I guess that how many buckets I had). We should get a good run tomorrow at +12C.
Eric (Kinburn, Ontario, Canada)
www.ericmayer.ca
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18"x48" Dominion & Grimm wood fired evaporator
10'x16' sugar house
2010: 15 taps (5.5L of syrup)
2011: 50 taps (48L of syrup)
2012: 72 taps (20.25L of syrup)
2013: 0 taps. No syrup.
2014: 65 taps (25L of syrup)
This looks like it will be the shortest year on record. I boiled for the first time yesterday and will finish today. I'm planning another boil for Tuesday, but after that it will warm up too fast...way too fast. Oh well.
Eric (Kinburn, Ontario, Canada)
www.ericmayer.ca
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18"x48" Dominion & Grimm wood fired evaporator
10'x16' sugar house
2010: 15 taps (5.5L of syrup)
2011: 50 taps (48L of syrup)
2012: 72 taps (20.25L of syrup)
2013: 0 taps. No syrup.
2014: 65 taps (25L of syrup)
well I think it is all over before it ever started. I just bottled 12 liters last night and for a total of about 16l. I could almost cry well no one is getting free hand out this year just enough for ME. Hope for better luck next year or maybe a freeze soon.
Homemade oil tank rig
60 taps
old john deere tractors and sleds
good times had by all
Sad, sad sad, 14 litres for me, 65 trees
I tapped 27 trees this year and only made 8 litres of syrup. Quality is excellent,, great colour and taste but only 25% of what we usually make. Yesterday the trees started to bud so we're done. I feel for the commercial producers in our area.
Stephen
Started 1986 12 taps made 3 gallons boiled over open fire in large pot then to 18" x 66" evaporator boiled at 20 gph, 132 taps made 30 gallons. Moved west no maplesbut back now
Now tap 60 trees, using D&G 18X48 wood Evaporator
Finished off what we had on Sunday. TERRIBLE year. 50 trees only produced 160 gallons of sap. It is still running right now but not worth collecting. Spoils in the bucket right away. We pulled and washed everything yesterday.
160 gallons of sap yielded 3.5 gallons of syrup. A dismal 45:1 ratio. I don't really understand the ratio. All the sap was testing at 2-3%. Our non family give away bottles went from 500ml to 250ml.
Despite the poor return I would not trade my time back for anything. Time spent with family and friends is worth all the hard work.
........till' next year............
Drew
Drew - The sap was still running in our woods the last 2 days but looked closer to spoiled milk than sap and smelled worse! No way that was going near our equipment...
5,000 Taps on vacuum
9,400 gallons storage
3 tower CDL RO
3.5'x14' Lapierre Force 5
10" CDL Wesfab Filter Press
Twitter & Instagram: @ennismaple
www.ennismaple.com
Trees are budding and the sap is dark it's over folks
Homemade 46 by 26 wood boiler with two polished stainless pans
Home made sugar shack with Caputo Rooftop
15 gallon pre-heater tank with a circulating copper pipe stack heater.
two 45 gallon storage tanks with transfer pumps
150 taps (buckets)
Arctic Cat Prowler
Two big reds with bucket holders to collect the sap
Good wife to assist me
Getting sweeter one drop at a time.
I'm still baffled at our bush's low sap output. How did you guys run this year?Originally Posted by ennismaple
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