Eastern Ontario 2014.

[Galena]

Got batch #6 of syrup done yesterday, 3l of nice really clear red syrup. Boiling down what I got yesterday (16l), a little concerned that the sap is starting to get cloudy and as it was evaporating, definitely stringy when being skimmed and transferred to a faster pot. I know there are threads here already on ropey sap so I'll dig em up. I just don't want to dump sap!

And still got another 20l today, but not going to get to it tonight. So yep my total sap collection *crossed fingers* is 400l. New record by far! Now, if it's all good when I boil it into batch #7, I'll be so happy.

My trees on tap STILL not budding, though glad to see #7 started to bud out yesterday. Some spiles definitely drying and slowing up, but my best tree (gave me 9l today) still chugging clear sap. I smell and taste the sap from each spile to ensure that it's still good.

[Run Forest Run!]

The trees on my property didn't produce today, but the eight taps down the street (in sugar maples) gave another 60L today. It's clear and boils without any buddy stink, so it was another busy day at the burners. Woohoo!

BTW Russ, that's one poofy pup pic. Cute.

[Galena]

RFR, cover your trees' ears so they don't hear...my trees are finally drying!! Still not budding but so relieved. And this morning when rinsing out a water jug, noticed a distinct sour smell, about 1 cup sap I somehow missed pouring into the pot in the bottom...and yep it came out cloudy and yucky cottage-cheesy texture. Went down the drain. Was quick to go check the last 20l of sap I got yesterday, thank gawd it's still good. Now I get that started later today, maybe make batch #7 by evening, and of course pull spiles and clean equipment.

[NTBugtraq]

Thanks Karen, that's Emma, one of my 3 Bichons...but the pic is from back in the days when I lived in a neighborhood and had a professional job. Now she either looks totally ratty, or near completely shaved...;-]

No sap today...but my gradient is finally established so I've bottled 7.5L so far and expect to do another 4-6L this afternoon.

Woot on your 400L Susan, that's amazing!

Cheers,
Russ

[Galena]

Russ....yep I guessed right on your pup being a Bichon...remind me to tell you someday about the dog show judge in Best In Show :-) And yep the official final count is 402.3l.

Got the last 2l+ today about an hour ago. Lots of dry spiles, light yeasty smell (though not rancid like this morning's surprise was!) and clouding in the sap, but not serious. One of the trees, #9, was still producing nice clear sap.

Now *all* I have to do is clean everything, let it dry, put it away, and continue turning the last dozen litres or so into nearup so I can make my last batch of liquid gold. Or amber in my case. May be another Red Queen! Hope to get 4l out of this last 84.5l batch of sap!

[dscanuck]

About to do my bottling of the season. I was wondering if anyone ever bottled syrup with blueberries. Was thinking of trying something this year.

[jow]

That would be neat to do! Interested in if that would work....be like the worm in a tequila lol kinda ....

[NTBugtraq]

About to do my bottling of the season. I was wondering if anyone ever bottled syrup with blueberries. Was thinking of trying something this year.

I think you'd have to make sure they don't float but instead sink in the syrup, otherwise they could pose a mold problem. Maybe boil them in your syrup during the last couple of degrees (like put them in at +5F)

Made 14L of syrup today, and finally, it was drawn-off my arch pans directly into my filters. That was a huge relief, thought it was never going to happen. I still have another 60 gals of sap on hand, and the arch is full, so I expect another nice crop of syrup tomorrow. Forecast calls for it to drop below zero again tomorrow night, so hopefully more sap on Wednesay and Thursday. Still no buds.

Susan...let me remind you about a judge in Best In Show...;-]

Cheers,
Russ

[Galena]

@ Russ...Ok bear with me here, things went kinda pear-shaped...in the movie Best In Show, which is a comedy revolving around the dog show world that came out in I think the early 1990s...there is of course a big climatic dog show scene. In it the main judge is a larger woman in a black skirt suit if I recall correctly.

Anyhoo that woman wasn't some extra or actor being paid scale. She IS a real world, internationally-recognized dog show judge who does travel everywhere...and I know this cause one of the first people who befriended me on the photo site on which I compete, and with whom I went on a photo expedition with some 8 years ago (sadly he has since left the site so I can't send you a linky to his profile)...is her brother!!! And the resemblance between the two is so strong that there is no way it could be otherwise.

I don't know her professional name, whether she goes by the surname Morgan or not, but his surname was Morgan. Paul, I think, I have to go through some 90 pages of PMs to verify it.

So it's one of those 6 degree of separation thingies, I guess two? One and a half? in this instance :-)

[ennismaple]

We boiled Friday, Saturday and Sunday and each day the sugar content got worse. Sunday the sap looked like crap, we couldn't filter it coming off the wagon, it was impossible to filter the finished syrup - and the syrup tasted pretty good and almost came back to medium! Crazy season... We definitely couldn't have boiled today (Monday) because the sap started to go ropey in the float boxes and in the lines that feed the RO. I was glad to get the Beast drained, rinsed and it's now having a snotty sap bath for a month or two.

All things considered we'll take the season we got and we're happy with the changes we made to simplify our operation. We already have plans for making things bigger and better next year!