Just got done bottling for the first time in 2019. 36 1/2 pints and 42 pints. Trees are running good will cook tomorrow night. It should be a good week and then all bets are off. You can see pictures on our facebook page.
Just got done bottling for the first time in 2019. 36 1/2 pints and 42 pints. Trees are running good will cook tomorrow night. It should be a good week and then all bets are off. You can see pictures on our facebook page.
2 X 6 Smoky Lake with auto draw and reverse flow
16 X 16 Smoky Lake Filter/Finisher
2017 82 on gravity and 31 on drops to buckets
I'm in the process of cooking down 400 gallons. The niter has been minimal so far. Next week looks great and then I'm ready to be done.
2017 160 on 3/16th
2x6 homemade arch
2x4 copper drop tube flue pan
sawmill shed converted to sugar shack
Had a quick warmup down here but the trees bounced back. So far no sign of budding yet, which is good. Cold snap came and got 90 gallons of 3% today off of 28 taps, so no complaints here. Looking like one more day according to the weather man and wife...
Had the most equipment failure ever in a year, first the RO, then 3 hydrometer's (paper slid in side ), 2 digital thermometers, and my coffee urn. Bartered a deal with a friend though for the remainder of the season. He's grateful for it as he burnt his pan's beyond salvage I guess.
SEason total so far is 6.75 gallons bottled with more to come. Low niter this year as well.
Keep on keeping on,
SDdave
It's not the size of the tree...it's what inside that counts!
I'm a very small yard tree syrup maker. I have a batch that will probably be 1/2 gallon on the stove finishing. If I were to pull out my Orlon filter and pre filters, about how much of that syrup will I end up leaving in the filter? I usually use coffee filters. Thanks.
You could recover most of it if you soaked the filter in hot sap to get the sugar out for further boiling, but if it were me I'd pour it in glass jars and let the sugar sand settle out, then pour off the clear syrup. Then I'd combine all the "dregs" and do the same thing again.
We had our second best gather of all time today, helped greatly by not collecting yesterday. We got over 2 1/2 gallons per tap. Really fun to have to hustle to keep buckets from overflowing.
I look forward to a long day of boiling tomorrow.
Been pretty good for me the past few days. I boiled for the first time last weekend and ended up with 3.5 gallons of very dark syrup. Darkest amber I have ever had. My sap keeps producing about 33:1 which I am very pleased with!
My first two batches look good, my 3rd batch formed sugar sand one day after bottling. So that batch will not get sold, I may have been too hot on that batch for the bottling. What temp do you guys bottle the syrup at?
So far a fantastic season for us. Sugar content is steady at 3.5%, first 2 finishes are on the cusp of golden delicate & amber/rich, third finish well into delicate with 85% light transparency and little to no sand. Silver is starting to bud. This year's temp sugar shack has made the experience a pleasure.
2019 Sugar Shack.jpg
JC
44° 55' 23" N
2x6 smoky lake divided pan custom arch ‘The fire truck’