Southeastern WI 2021 Tapping

[sbingham]

Reading the last two posts, a filter press is definitely a game changer - even for a hobby operation.
I felt we had our filtering down pretty well - ended up adding a Smoky Lake 3 bank with hand pump, finished syrup is crystal clear.
The filter press is spendy but takes your product to a whole different level.
We also use the Smoky Lake Murphy Cup prior to running through the press and a steam bottling unit.
We gift most of our syrup but will also sell some to cover the costs of next year's supplies.
You can take a bottle and tip it upside down and there is absolutely no niter on the bottom of the bottle.

[littleTapper]

Thanks for press feedback. Someday! If I add more taps next year, the funding for one should increase. Unless it's a really good year, I'm not clearing that much

Got all caught up yesterday in the heat. Tanks and storage all cleaned up and ready for the next run and heatwave.

The stuff that came off the evaporator yesterday was amazing. Nice amber color but oh so good. Foamy stuff though.

edit; just looked at the 10-day and after tonight no freezing worth a darn in it

[WI Sugarpop]

Realized some of my first bottling is crystalizing in the bottles. If I had to guess, the refractometer is out of whack a bit. Was delaying getting a hydrometer, but not anymore. Ordered up one from Smoky Lake.

Also incorporated the cone filter optimizer this year after deciding not to plunge into a filter press (yet). Works great. Moves syrup through much faster and it's coming out nice and clear.

How do you like the cone filter optimizer?

[littleTapper]

How do you like the cone filter optimizer?

It is way, way, way better than a straight cone filter. Syrup goes through considerably faster. It also results in less prefilter usage from clogging; and pulling a prefilter is a better experience as well; as the bottom/point of it is still unused and when you pull it the syrup goes to that and right through. It's a bit more challenging to get a stack of prefilters in it; but less are needed than when using them in their normal shape. Pulled only two prefilters in 6-8 gallon filterings.

Such a simple device, but it really does help. Makes cone filters much less of a hassle to where I do not dread that step any longer.

I put mine in a 4-gallon square bucket with the bottom cut out that sits on a stainless rack over a 5-gallon bucket when filtering. I then dump the bucket in the steam bottler; warm up, then have at it. Sped up my filtering and bottling operation a lot.

[WI Sugarpop]

It is way, way, way better than a straight cone filter. Syrup goes through considerably faster. It also results in less prefilter usage from clogging; and pulling a prefilter is a better experience as well; as the bottom/point of it is still unused and when you pull it the syrup goes to that and right through. It's a bit more challenging to get a stack of prefilters in it; but less are needed than when using them in their normal shape. Pulled only two prefilters in 6-8 gallon filterings.

Such a simple device, but it really does help. Makes cone filters much less of a hassle to where I do not dread that step any longer.

I put mine in a 4-gallon square bucket with the bottom cut out that sits on a stainless rack over a 5-gallon bucket when filtering. I then dump the bucket in the steam bottler; warm up, then have at it. Sped up my filtering and bottling operation a lot.

Thanks for your input. We've used cone filters for over 20 years. My son has always done the filtering and he does a great job. We do between 75 and 115 gals of syrup. We also sell sap but probably not this year. We're at about 37 gals of syrup so far.

[1arch]

Reading the last two posts, a filter press is definitely a game changer - even for a hobby operation.
I felt we had our filtering down pretty well - ended up adding a Smoky Lake 3 bank with hand pump, finished syrup is crystal clear.
The filter press is spendy but takes your product to a whole different level.
We also use the Smoky Lake Murphy Cup prior to running through the press and a steam bottling unit.
We gift most of our syrup but will also sell some to cover the costs of next year's supplies.
You can take a bottle and tip it upside down and there is absolutely no niter on the bottom of the bottle.

The investment is a tough pill to swallow but I agree it is a game changer. I picked up a smokey lake filter press when he first offered them and have had excellent success. It is also helpful to pump syrup, sap or even water with the built in valve configurations.

[littleTapper]

Well, the forecast here really blows. Should get a decent run here today into tomorrow, but yeesh. With the amount of heat in the system, I'm not sure how my silvers don't try to grow leaves in the next 10 days. Fingers crossed middle of the month cools down, but I don't trust that long-range forecast - been teasing colder all along and keeps shifting up.

Hopefully you folks a bit north of me see some freezes starting the 5th.

Scary/interesting looking at growing degree days here. Last year was kind of wild; this is a different level.
https://data.usanpn.org/vis-tool/#/

[MarquisVII]

First day below freezing for me is 3/10, and that's a whopping 31F for about an hour overnight...

I make quart sized ice cubes for my totes. I only have about 15 containers for them though. Toss them into tanks, then make more as fast as they'll freeze, which lets me rotate about twice a day. I actually just started using permeate instead of sap since it will stay frozen a little longer. I won't mind the extra 2 minutes to RO it out. In any event, I'm already tired of it so this next week is going to suck.

[littleTapper]

Yeah, this next week is going to be not too fun.

Boiled this morning and finished things up and bottled again. Right at 20 gallons for my 96 taps.

Oddly enough, the trees have started to run a bit this afternoon. Got 10 gallons off the 32 sugars right now after emptying the tank this morning. No freeze in a while and they were stopped dead this morning.

We'll keep going as long as we can. Got people knocking down the door for syrup

[MarquisVII]

Cloudy sap, and barely enough to warrant firing up the evap so I'm going to keep holding till the weekend. I don't feel great about it though.

All my tubing which is mostly new this year, even the stuff fully shaded near my pump, is totally gunked up. Can barely see through it. Already decided I won't be spending time cleaning it this year. It's all going in the trash. I figure it only costs me about 12 hours of a heavy flow next year to break even. This is a rough season.