Northern Ontario 2023
I finished and bottled my first syrup of 2023, at 1:30 am, January 1.
Not having boiled it on a wood fire, it has a different taste. Still great, but different.
There should be three more days of sap flow, before it shuts down. The sap flowing late December and early January is not bad for Northern Ontario.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/032P...MIQMJX2KrlGUAQ
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Last edited by Swingpure; 01-01-2023 at 01:16 AM.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
Did you tap all of your trees already in preparation for spring, or did you just do a few with the warm spell we had? I'm in southern ontario and have concerns this wierd weather will screw everything up.
I just did about 30 and still have over 140 left to tap, which I will wait to closer to the sap flowing to tap.
It was fun but was also an experiment. I will see when all of the trees are tapped and the sap is flowing how much tapping way early has affected the flows.
The weather forecast changed after I had made the decision to tap. It had stayed warm as forecasted, but did not drop below freezing so other than the first day, the flows were greatly reduced.
One of the lines I chose to tap, I originally had not planned on tapping, but I have an a line that runs beside it that is pretty identical, so although not 100% scientific, it will act as a good comparison for velocity of the flows and the length of time the sap flows. In 7/8 weeks I will have my first impressions.
I lived in the GTA area for decades and I know the weather. It amazing how different the weather is a 2 hour drive north is. My buddy in Toronto will be golfing and we will have two feet of snow on the ground. I was watching the weather down there and initially I thought if I lived down there I would go all in and tap, but I have since learnt a few more lessons and will hold off feeeling that way up until I see my spring results.
After a late start to winter and a relatively easy winter other than a couple of storms, it looks like winter is returning up here and snow and cold is on the way. There is a warm spell next week, that I was debating to buy a turkey fryer to boil the sap, but that warm spell is getting less desirable.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
Tapping this Saturday is tempting with 5 consecutive days next week above zero, but that is followed by 6 days of below zero temperatures. Would like to see what is going to happen on Feb23/24. I likely won’t tap unless the 23/24th are above freezing.
My original plan was to tap around March 1 depending on the weather.
5560669B-D8D6-4B8C-BF2E-972C186DD8FD.jpg
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
I decided I will not tap next week. I figure it is more like a January thaw scenario than a true start to the sap flow season. I will watch for the weather to warm up after the next freeze period and hopefully will tap closer to March 1st.
Today the Special Weather Statement in our area was a dud, we received less than a quarter of the rain forecasted and temperatures that were supposed to be +6°, barely reached +1°.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
Sure is tempting hearing all the flow reports in SW Ontario
2010 40 buckets- 4 gals finished
2011 80 buckets- 14 gals finished
2012 105 buckets- 8 gals finished
2013 maxed at 130 buckets- 24 gals finished
2014 new max at 240 buckets- 18 gals finished
2015 newest max 240 buckets-+48 taps on 3/16 gravity- 22.5 gals finished
2016 150 taps on 3/16 gravity- 23 gals finished
2020 250 taps on 3/16 gravity- 22 gals finished
2021 385 taps on 3/16 gravity 25 gals finished
2022 385 taps on 3/16 gravity- 26 gals finished
If I was in SW Ontario , I would already have my taps in. 13 of the next 14 days are flow days. Temperature graph attached is from Guelph.Originally Posted by Maplesapper
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We are just a little colder here and it makes a difference. To be honest if I still had my steam pans, I would be tapping a few more of my lines as I could deal with smaller volumes, but when I start boiling with my divided pan, I think you need some decent volumes to get started and I would need all of my taps to do that.
I have to admit I am still tempted to tap this Saturday and will be more tempted if the forecast for Feb 24/25 are above freezing.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
Well that makes it more interesting and more tempting. As much as I don’t trust weather forecasts lately, the forecasted temperatures for Feb 15/16 are much warmer and the temps for Feb 19/20 are now above freezing and 21 is at freezing. That breaks up the consecutive days of non flow days.
6 and maybe 7 of the 10 days shown are possible flow days. Tomorrow morning I will make the decision whether to tap or not, but today, I may shovel out the area to my collection point, move some collection barrels into place and add the tubing from the end of the line to the barrels.
If I make the decision to tap, I would start tapping Saturday, taking time out to meet a certain person and perhaps finish tapping Sunday morning. Do a test boil Sunday afternoon with water, and if all goes well, maybe start boiling for real on Monday.
So tempting.
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https://share.icloud.com/photos/039_...HKJ9gAytFEkmHg
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
Swingpure, if I recall correctly you have a 2x4 pan right? That's not much bigger than my 2x3 and I have 23 taps total. So as soon as you get like 30 or 40 gallons I think you could fire up the evaporator.
GO
2016: Homemade arch from old wood stove; 2 steam tray pans; 6 taps; 1.1 gal
2017: Same setup. 15 taps; 4.5 gal
2018: Same setup. Limited time. 12 taps and short season; 2.2 gal
2019: Very limited time. 7 taps and a short season; 1.8 gals
2020: New Mason 2x3 XL halfway through season; 9 taps 2 gals
2021: Same 2x3, 18 taps, 4.5 gals
2022: 23 taps, 5.9 gals
2023: 23 taps. Added AUF, 13.2 gals
2024: 17 taps, 5.3 gals
All on buckets
Thanks!
I may have made a really bad decision but I decided to tap.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/02dZ...mwYbaynfmNEErw
https://share.icloud.com/photos/069j...R2C3W0SoUpAWkw
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
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