Five gallon buckets frozen full equals

[RollinsOrchards]

We try to leave the ice in the bucket at the tree. It helps keep the next run of sap cold on the warm days. I like to take advantage of all the free refrigeration that I can.

[Revi]

It's free RO. We toss the ice and measure the sugar content, which is way up when you dump the ice!

[West Sumner Sugar]

We have been having a lot of discussion about this. We find that the people who can collect on a daily basis, tossing the ice makes sense. In our case, this just doesn't work due to the location of where our trees are vs where we live. A few weeks ago we collected 2+ 55 gallon drums of solid ice. I couldn't imagine tossing all of that. So if you have a small amount of ice, slush that formed over night then yes toss it, otherwise, boil it.

[abbott]

We have been having a lot of discussion about this. We find that the people who can collect on a daily basis, tossing the ice makes sense. In our case, this just doesn't work due to the location of where our trees are vs where we live. A few weeks ago we collected 2+ 55 gallon drums of solid ice. I couldn't imagine tossing all of that. So if you have a small amount of ice, slush that formed over night then yes toss it, otherwise, boil it.

In a case like that, try letting 80% of the barrel melt, then take out the remaining ice. Save it and check it, but I think you'll find that the sugar will have mostly melted out by that point.

[West Sumner Sugar]

In a case like that, try letting 80% of the barrel melt, then take out the remaining ice. Save it and check it, but I think you'll find that the sugar will have mostly melted out by that point.

We will have to give that a try. The unpredictable swings in temp this year have made it hard on us since we can only get to it on weekends. One weekend we are battling frozen pumps and valves, the next we are worried about sap spoiling due to heat.

[abbott]

In my case, I almost always leave the ice in the tank to keep the next run cool. Sometimes if I know we'll have plenty of cold temps I will shovel out the ice after i've pumped out the sap. During warm spells I really have to boil the sap asap since it is quite warm after its long journey through the tubing.