Spring Harvest 2015

[Amber Gold]

I think final numbers are in. Season was better than I thought it was, and we did better this year than last. We lost a sap seller, but made almost as much syrup. We hauled in 19,220 gallons of sap (21.8 gpt) and bought in another 5,335 gal from the Dills. Based on the SSC, we should've made 537.7 gal of syrup, but we only made 467.4 gal...difference of 87%...not sure where the 13% of syrup went, but some of it is due to not having an accurate water meter and going off the markings on the tank...will need to do something about this for next season. Gal syrup per tap was 0.4gpt and I shoot for 0.4-0.5gpt, so right in the ballpark. If March was just a touch warmer (really quite a bit warmer), we could've had a very good year. Syrup flavor was very good this year, IMO better than years past. Made very little Amber, a lot of Dark, and little Very Dark.

Already thinking about what we're doing for next year. Got some leads I'll be tracking down for possible expansion. We'll see over the next month or two what pans out.

[GeneralStark]

Great work Josh! Similar results here. 310 Gal. from 745 taps so a bit over .4gpt. I too thought I should have made more based on SSC but I'm really questioning the accuracy of my refractometer. I calibrated it daily, but it consistently read .2-.3 higher than my sap hydrometer. I also realized that a new to me SS tank was only 300 gal. (as I was using it due to overflow fitting) instead of 400 so that threw me off for the first part of the season. Really good flavor here too. About 60% GD, 20% AR, 15% DR and 5% VDS. I finally made some Very Dark Strong!!

[Russell Lampron]

I finally made some Very Dark Strong!!

I remember you asking how to make Pennsylvania Fancy. Of course around here it's known as NH Fancy. How do you like the taste?

[Amber Gold]

Off by a keg. Actual season total is 452 gal...I liked the other number better.
GS Glad you had a good season. Not sure what the grade distribution was, but I'd guess 10% Amber, 80% Dark, 10% Very Dark.
We're using a Hannah digital refractomer. I never did think that maybe the refractometer was off.

[GeneralStark]

I remember you asking how to make Pennsylvania Fancy. Of course around here it's known as NH Fancy. How do you like the taste?

I like it. I made two batches and the first is quite good with heavy flavor. The second is from my last boil when I also ran water into the flue pan to push as much syrup through as possible. This second batch has a slight bud flavor, so not retail syrup necessarily but I do have customers that will like it for cooking. It all filtered and was not ropey at all which I was concerned about due to the warm temps. and the sap definitely had a funky smell.