Done for the year I think. I'm out of seasoned wood and the ice storm is making a mess of things. There is still some full bags of sap hanging on some of the trees but I think I've made enough.
Switched to mostly bottles this year instead of mason jars (still used some mason jars just in case).
Using a coffee urn to fill the bottles was an awesome tip. Made filling bottles a one man operation.
Tried getting a preheater working that wrapped around the evaporator flue. Made a hell of a noise and gave up on that.
20 taps. Three trees I double tapped as they are coming down in the summer. One of them produced zero sap! I guess it will be coming down first.
1050L of sap, 40 hours of boiling (not counting finishing on the stove inside).
17.6L of syrup. Started light then ended darker.
Bought a welder. Plan is to make my own small evaporator instead of the barrel evaporator. Also plan to build a small shed to get out of the weather. I only had to boil in the rain once this year buy watching the weather forecast.
2015 - 8 buckets, 332L sap, 8.5L syrup - Barrel evaporator, 2 steam pans
2016 - 8 buckets, 432L sap
2017 - 10 bags, 470L sap, 9L syrup
2018 - 20 bags, 1050L sap, 17.6L syrup
2019 - 20 bags, 970L sap, 22.2L syrup
2020 - 17 bags, 813L sap, 17L syrup