Eastern Ontario 2022

[paulslund]

So bottled up the syrup from my first boil and yielded 13.9L from the 470L boil for a ratio of 33.8:1, which is a bit lower than I thought it was going to be but still a very respectable ratio, considering Silver maples constitute about 3/4 of my taps.. I think my second boil might be even better (but I've clearly overestimated my other batch so I won't get ahead of myself).

@Galena, sometimes there is always just a bit of the fine niter that can get through the filters.. I'm currently using the 5 micron Orlon filter with 2 prefilters and there always seems to be some very fine stuff that needs to settle.. I keep my jars in the oven set at 170 to avoid cooling down too fast and I waited until the syrup was down to 185 before running through the filters (into a semi-insulated coffee percolator that I use for pouring into jars). I may try the 1 micron filter next year (or if I run out of jars and need to freeze nearup for later processing). If your syrup is 186 I didn't think it would form more nitre even sitting on a well insulated surface.. unless it was actually higher than 190-195 perhaps.. have you calibrated your thermometer?

[Galena]

...@Galena, sometimes there is always just a bit of the fine niter that can get through the filters.. I'm currently using the 5 micron Orlon filter with 2 prefilters and there always seems to be some very fine stuff that needs to settle.. I keep my jars in the oven set at 170 to avoid cooling down too fast and I waited until the syrup was down to 185 before running through the filters (into a semi-insulated coffee percolator that I use for pouring into jars). I may try the 1 micron filter next year (or if I run out of jars and need to freeze nearup for later processing). If your syrup is 186 I didn't think it would form more nitre even sitting on a well insulated surface.. unless it was actually higher than 190-195 perhaps.. have you calibrated your thermometer?

Paul, this is the first time ever that I have had nitre form once hotpacked, and the only thing I did differently was have the pot sitting directly on my wooden kitchen counter as opposed to staying on the burner or, as today, on a cooling rack placed next to that burner.

Yesterday, I poured off the clear syrup from each jar and left residual syrup and nitre in the bottoms, then collected all that together and filtered it through my ever-popular and actually pretty good coffee filter and clothespin setup :-)

Today I heated the jars at 190 for 10 min (probably even longer) then turned the heat off; residual heat in the oven would have kept them around 170 like you say. Meanwhile, I slowly reheated the syrup, which I kept covered overnight in the fridge, back UP to 185; the second my therm (a professional food-industry grade digital therm, a Taylor) read 185.4, I took it off the burner, put it on a heavy duty cooling rack and hotpacked again. No way is that therm off; I'm still willing to bet that that 2' thick slab of ash that is my countertops was responsible for retaining heat. Again, Maillard's reaction.

Just finished hotpacking again, will let you know in a couple hours. Meanwhile this exact same process has left me with 2 batches of perfectly clear hotpacked syrup, nitre free, safely stashed away.

ETA: Just checked and that syrup, along with the other 2 batches, is crystal clear. No nitre at all.

[ir3333]

i see some of you bottle during the season. Once I have finished collecting and boiling sap I
clean and sterilize all equipment, pails, reservoirs, taps and put it all in storage until next year.
Once that is all complete i bottle everything at once.

[Galena]

i see some of you bottle during the season. Once I have finished collecting and boiling sap I
clean and sterilize all equipment, pails, reservoirs, taps and put it all in storage until next year.
Once that is all complete i bottle everything at once.

Yep I'm one of the ones who bottle all season and get several batches throughout. Once the trees dry up, I pull spiles and clean up and finish up my last batch if it hasn't already been done.

So you just bottle up one huge batch of syrup at once? Or do you store separate batches and bottle them separately?

[Fort Wisers]

Been meaning to post for a few days now, where does the time go!
We boiled every night last week minus Friday evening.
With the cold weather coming over the weekend (from last week's perspective) and a bunch of other obligations, we decided to finish up and end our season early.

Thursday night we worked until about midnight, boiled, finished / filtered and bottled a total of 15.75 liters of sweet goodness.
Niter was worse this year than in previous years so filtering was a bit slow, but not unmanageable.
Friday afternoon and Saturday morning were spent cleaning everything up and putting it all back into storage.
It was a short season but a good one in our books and we're happy with the results.
We wish everyone else luck in their operations!

Brent and Katie

[Galena]

Glad you had such a crazy busy season, Wisers! Don't blame you for pulling spiles, the runs this year in our area have been slightly insane. Have a great rest of your year! :-)

[Fort Wisers]

Same to you Galena! I hope all goes well on your end....

Glad you had such a crazy busy season, Wisers! Don't blame you for pulling spiles, the runs this year in our area have been slightly insane. Have a great rest of your year! :-)

[4Walls]

I leave my pans on "low" all the time. Have to run to town to get a kid. Maybe it will be very cold overnight and I don't want to risk freezing and cracking a weld. Or Im tired and want to take a break for an hour and cook supper for the fam.
I am running a 2x8 D&G with flat bottoms. 2007 vintage. I've converted the wood arch to burn used veggie oil. Another story all together. It burns hot, at full throttle I'm pulling 40 GPH. The best I could get with small, split, dry wood was 22. Big wood goes slower.
But If I need to leave for a while, I turn off the compressed oil air mixture and toss some big house wood into the stove. It fires right up from the heat on the glow plate. I will loose about 3 inches from the cool down with wood so I just make sure that I have enough in the pans or leave the sap running. I never leave the sap running overnight.

[Galena]

...I've converted the wood arch to burn used veggie oil.....

OMG I know someone who also has converted everything he runs to veggie oil...a car, van, tractor....it works!

[Someclown]

OMG I know someone who also has converted everything he runs to veggie oil...a car, van, tractor....it works!

That must be one of the vehicle I follow on the road that make me want to go for french fries every time.
BAHAHAAA