Eastern Ontario 2018

[Lespetras]

Wow Lesley, I can't believe how much sap you sugarers are getting in your area. You've collected 1000L more than I have and I have 28 taps in. I can't wait to get making some serious steam. I will say that at least my sugar content is good.

Hi Karen,
Yes the sap is flowing.. but if my memory serves me correctly.. your trees are always a few weeks behind. I wouldn't get stressed about that.. as for the sugar content.. it us a bit disappointing but not gonna stop us. We have tried a few if your tricks like throwing out the ice etc.

[Galena]

Wow that is low. I did see another post about low sugar content recently, poor guy was boiling at 60:1 and 70:1. He also had massive amounts of sap. My trees seem stable each year at 3% but most of them are huge old sugar maples. If memory serves, Lesley, your bush is almost all young trees and I remember you said that they seemed to have a rough year in terms of foliage since last season. Wouldn't surprise me if low sugar content is to be expected as a result. Hope it gets better.

[BrutemanAl]

Well - after I spent about 20 hours feeding wood into my homemade 20x60 evaporator this weekend and ended on Sunday night with almost as much sap in the tanks as I started with, my wife is suggesting I might need a bigger evaporator.
Anyone want to fund my expansion?

Now I need a free evening to set aside for bottling as I've run out of stainless pots.

Al - I'll be doing a large finishing and filtering run sometime over the next few days. Would there be interest in me creating a "How I filter" thread with pictures? I filter in batches of ~15l but my process can be applied to smaller batches as well.
IMO - the best thing you can do to reduce filtering frustration is to preheat your felt filter with steam, AND hang the filter so that the outside remains hot (i.e. inside a container of some kind so the outside is not exposed to cold air) while the syrup is flowing through.

I would be all over that Big Eddy, If possible I would even come and see it done, your only a 20 min drive away after all


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[BrutemanAl]

I 2nd Big Eddy’s Suggestions on filtering. I soak my cone filter and pre filter in hot water right up til I’m ready to filter. Then gently ring out excess water and put them into a filtering canister which sits right beside my evaporator. I think, like Big Eddy mentioned, keeping the filter enclosed and hot improves its efficiency. Also NEVER try and force syrup through the filter. This will push nitre through as well. Let gravity push through what it can and if there is any left that doesn’t go through add it to your next batch. I then reheat the syrup to 185 and bottle.

I do hundreds of litres with this method every year and it seems to work well for me. I’m pretty sure this is the 4th season with the same cone filter. After each use I soak it in hot water to clean.

Al, your more then welcome to check out my filtering techniques sometime. I’m only about 20 mins away from codrington.

Pm me where you are, it’s great to know there is a few close by willing to help and share there techniques


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[wobbletop]

Not sure about everyone else but the sugar content of our trees is really low. Unless my numbers are incorrect, we are currently boiling at a ratio of 50:1.
I have been unable to keep track of our individual batches as our sap got ahead of us and we ended up needing to combine everything.. that being said it took roughly 1000 litres of sap to make 19.5 litres of syrup!
Fingers crossed for higher sugar content moving forward.

Ours was 50:1 as well. 300L sap to about 6.25L syrup. I measured the sap at around 2.0-2.2%.

[Lespetras]

If memory serves, Lesley, your bush is almost all young trees and I remember you said that they seemed to have a rough year in terms of foliage since last season.

Yes there could be something to that for sure

[Lespetras]

Ours was 50:1 as well. 300L sap to about 6.25L syrup. I measured the sap at around 2.0-2.2%.

Yes it's been a rough start as far as numbers and boiling times.. where abouts are you located? I wonder if it's location derived? We are just north of kingston

[wobbletop]

Just west of Toronto. North of Milton.

[Clinkis]

Not sure about everyone else but the sugar content of our trees is really low. Unless my numbers are incorrect, we are currently boiling at a ratio of 50:1.
I have been unable to keep track of our individual batches as our sap got ahead of us and we ended up needing to combine everything.. that being said it took roughly 1000 litres of sap to make 19.5 litres of syrup!
Fingers crossed for higher sugar content moving forward.

I've been getting very low sugar numbers as well. 1.7-1.8% but getting lots of sap at least. I usually average over 2. Here's
Hoping it improves.

[Galena]

Thinking it would be a good idea for those who are having really low sugar right now to see what your areas and bushes might have in common. Are they:
* Small sugar maples? ie 1-spilers? Smaller trees produce a lot, a lot faster, but I would think that they are also that much more susceptible to infections and the effects of bad weather.
* Are they located on flat ground or on hilly land? Perhaps airflow and drainage are an issue;
* Did your area get the hard freezeups last March?
* Was the foliage in the crowns this year past much sparser than normal, perhaps leaves were undersized? If they were, then that would probably be a good sign of stress in the trees.

Just my .002 worth. Meanwhile, I've *finally* caught up to my trees, have another 100l reduced to nearup. And not 100% sure, but think I detected a slight almond-y note in this batch when I tried some splashover that had cooked down to syrup. A definite nuttiness, that's for sure. WIll try again later with a clean palate.