Southern Ohio 2021/2022 Tis the season

[buckeye gold]

It's almost December and these frosty morning turn my mind to Syrup season. Started moving wood to the sugarshack over the weekend. The other day I took out my old steam vent and put in a new section of roof, now I need to decide how I'm evacuating steam again.

Today I pulled the pan and cleaned up the firbox of the arch. I replaced any bad and broken firebrick an removed loose mortor. Mixed up a batch of refractory and put a new skim coat over all the brick. While the pan was off I decided to wash and bleach it as well and put new rail gasket on the arch. So the evaporator is ready to go. Put it all back together and sealed it up to keep clean. Next I need to clean and rearrange the shack.

I ordered all my tubing supplies last week and they came over the weekend. So now I need to hit the woods and do line maintenance and repairs( all 3/16th) . I'll cut out old tees and spiles and replace with new. Then retension lines and get ready to set up the collection tank. I figure I'll start with my usual 40-50 early taps around Christmas time, depending on weather. Then go full bore by mid to late January with 100 more taps.

So what's everyone else doing to get ready?

[bmbmkr]

Hidy Neighbor, good to hear from you. My daughter & I have spent the last few nights sittin by the fire cuttin drop lines. I've had my RO tore apart for about a month now, but she's slowly goin back together. Added two more 4x40's and doubled the pump and HP, keeping the original pump for recirculation. I'm really excited to be able to add more taps and STILL reduce boiling time. My wife went to see her folks in NC for the holiday weekend and came home with a new tig Welder, I'm goin to have her tig my preheater that I have had cut & drilled for some time now. We are goin to tap some silver maples this year, crossin my fingers I'll get a few good runs before they bud out. It's supposed to be in the low 60's tomorrow & Thursday. I have to haul some beef tomorrow morning, hope I get home in time to wash to some tanks and pump some water through my pump lines & mainlines. We're bumping up from 550 to 800 taps this year, and if I have time, I have enough taps & tubing for 900. Gettin close- I plan on tappin around 6-10 January.

[warnimct]

I'm trying to decide if and when I will tap trees this year. Forecast for where I am (Clermont County) has only 1 night below freezing in the 10 day. I know it will probably get colder, just a matter of when the runs will start and how good they will be.

Sold my big evaporator last year since I didn't have a place to tap and now that I can do about 50 taps, trying to decide if I want to make a new barrel evaporator again.

[SevenCreeksSap]

So it seems pretty early to tap,and I'm just north of you a bit. The weather is perfect right now, more like the early March usual tapping weather. Surely we'll get a good solid freeze for a couple of weeks? I'm going to get everything ready and shoot for mid January if it stays like this.

[buckeye gold]

thanks 220 Maple, I wish I figured out cold tasting myself but someone said it at one of the maple conferences and I remembered it. It is definitely true and the colder the better for taste test. Now, my syrup is the best you ever tasted....just had to say it LOL . I guess the only opinion that matters is the consumer. I think your right there is a lot of off flavor syrup packed as good every year. My wife is the offical taste tester. She has a really sensitive pallet and is very picky, if she doesn't pass it, it stays at home. I have had people tell me they really don't like Maple syrup and I have found out they had bought bad syrup. I often give them some and usually they come back for more and say, "that's nothing like what I had".

[buckeye gold]

My sap brix has been a tad higher than average for early taps. In most years early sap is 1.0-1.2. This year it's been running 1.3 to 1.4. I wouldn't judge my sap brix as an example of any other bush. It is very rare I see sap over 2.0 % and my average is 1.6 to 1.9% in prime time. I see a lot of 1.4 sap even right in the heart of season. I just sigh when I see people reporting they made 2.5 gallons of syrup from 100 gallons of sap.

[buckeye gold]

Started cutting off all my old drops and disinfecting them and then installing new tees and spiles. Started repairing lines and reinstalling the drops with new tees and spiles. Iam about to go off on my annual ,"how much I hate squirrels" rant. Dang I spent two hrs on one short lateral today and finally said pi$$ on it a made a run of new tubing. I hope I don't have to do much of that as tubing has been scarce this fall. Arrrrggggg, I have I ever told you "I HATE SQUIRRELS

[OneLegJohn]

It sounds like we are tapping after Christmas this year. I know the guys want to get a jump on it.

[buckeye gold]

sevencreekssap, I guess I should explain. Many who have known me on here for years know I do some early tapping. I have a set of 50 taps I always tap around Christmas to make some early syrup and boster my year. My regular bush is 110 taps I tap mid to late January. So I am not going all in, just starting a set early. There have been a few years those early taps made my season. If they quit running I will pull them when I do others.

[SevenCreeksSap]

Right, I've noticed before you tend to have some early taps, hope it works for you this year too. With the weather we're having now I'm considering going really early too, just figuring as soon as I do we will get a good long regular freeze and they would close up sooner. I've settled down to about a steady 70 or so taps for the last couple years and not ready to get bigger again. Just need to be patient I guess. If it stays in this pattern though we'll definitely tap in January. Such a guessing game.