Northern Wisconsin

[Rhino]

Mark.... not sure if u ran out of time or you have mostly reds (soft maples) but I would think your sap should make sellable syrup yet. I heard a producer far south of us quit but turned his pumps back on early in the week and sap cleared up and was back at it. I know every bush is different though. The reason he quit also was that his trees just quit no matter how long his pumps were on. This season for sure will go down as the biggest head scratcher I seen. The one year we went close to the month of may cooking so really this isnt to far fetched to be making good syrup yet. Hopefully you can get a few more runs....

[markcasper]

Well....back in for one more round. Went and started back up after giving my dad a sample. Trees ran over a gallon per tap overnight........

[Rhino]

Had high hopes with the cold clear sap from yesterday but its a tad ropey.... color and taste and smell is awesome just maybe sat to long even if it had ice chunks in it. Made 40 gallons of it... if it had any bad smell or taste I would of pulled the pin and dumped it but it's just the texture not the taste. Will make commercial and help pay some bills. Hope everyone had a safe season and made their goals. Till next spring....take care.... Rhino

[Gizzy]

Shut the vacuum pump off last night to end our season, kind of a bittersweet feeling.Still made light colored syrup with a stronger maple flavor. Had a very good year! Very anxious for next year as after 16 years of selling sap we have decided to start cooking our own. Will start breaking ground on the syrup shack within the next few weeks. A lot of work ahead but it still will be fun!

[Jeff E]

I'm done as well. Shut of the vac last night. Finished with Light to Medium syrup. I tasted it last night and it seemed good. I will reserve judgment until a taste today.
Now the other side of the work begins-cut wood, pull taps, scrub scrub scrub, sell sell sell.

[Zucker Lager]

Pulled taps yesterday but when I did I was having second thoughts, Ice in the buckets and most of the taps were still running and those were running clear................Will boil today and see what I get. Jay

[Rhino]

Had to share this interesting end result..... after making that syrup that had a ropey texture to it yesterday...today was my day to drain out our 5x18 evaporator and finish it in a regular flat pan. Our rig holds 250 gal. But I cooked it down to around 175 before I let evaporator coast down. This morning I took our gas powered centrifigal pump and sucked it all out of the evap. (Goes alot faster then draining). The concentrate came out as white foam like melted marshmellows. It did turn back to liquid though as it sat. As I cooked it down through out the day there was a ton of thick foam to skim. As I came close to syrup I noticed there was no ropeyness to the syrup. It ran out of the flat pan valve with no rope texture what so ever! Im not sure if it was the high speed spinning effect of the pump or the long cooking of the flat pan that took the rope out of it? My guess is the pump just because of the crazy foam that it turned the concentrated sap into. I pulled off 40 gallons that I for sure thought was going to be added to the commercial stuff I made yesterday.

[mike z]

Sold a 511# of amber to Grapes in Holcombe today and bottled the last 10 gal. Season over. I finished just over .26 gal. per tap. Think I would have done better if I would have waited one more week to tap. Have a good summer guys.