Pretty lousy season this year. The second half of March brought late season snow and slightly too cold. April brought very high temps (like well over 20) buckets all needed washing today in hopes that the next couple night might bring a late run. I've only made 1/4 of the usual amount of syrup, good thing last year was so great. Red Maples look like they have swelled buds.
2016 - 90 taps and a brick lined oil tank arch (60L of syrup)
2017 - 100 taps (60L)
2018 - 60 taps (12L of syrup)
2019 - 75 taps (22L of syrup)
2020 - 75 taps (25L of syrup)
The brown stinky sap is likely water from a punky section inside the tree. Might be a seam or crack in the tree. Good call to dump it.
2016 - 90 taps and a brick lined oil tank arch (60L of syrup)
2017 - 100 taps (60L)
2018 - 60 taps (12L of syrup)
2019 - 75 taps (22L of syrup)
2020 - 75 taps (25L of syrup)
Didn't get a response from my buddy about the smelt run in Britt/Magnetewan so don't know if they're runningOriginally Posted by 4Walls
Check back, if I hear anything I'll post
2019 - Barrel evaporator 2 steam pans 44 taps 13 Liters syrup
2020 - Barrel evaporator 2 steam pans 51 taps 21 Liters syrup
2021- New homemade 2x3 evaporator and flat pan 80 drop lines to buckets
2022- (•,•)1350L naturally ROd sap 44L syrup
2023- "\_(°•°)_/" 1100L sap 30L syrup not accurate due to natural RO
2024 { ';' }1862L sap 52L syrup 52 drop lines to buckets
Our lake opened last weekend and the smelt have not run yet. I don’t see any clear nights until May. The full moon is May 5.
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 called the Mag Home Hardware. No smelt run yet. Also pulling my taps today. I was expecting good sap yesterday and today. Yesterday conditions were perfect. Only got about 200 L. Didn't even test boil it. All told I'm at 240L total syrup for the season. Normally expect 450-500L. Oh well. That's the way she goes.
My buddy and I are going to tap 70 birch. Do a quick early season run not the whole season. Gonna try cycling it through the RO to about 16 Brix then into the pans. I've made it before in small batches. 10 trees max. I did 35 trees a few years ago. Got it right down to almost syrup then burned the whole thing. Kicked the pot and cried for a while. Got to give it one more shot.
yup I'm done for the year as well. I was hoping to do a boil this weekend, but since my camp road has a huge washout and it made my walk in 45 min instead of 25min I called it quits. Went in and pulled all my taps. (didn't feel like having to carry a pail of syrup out of the bush.) Will have to go back in a couple weeks and clean everything up. By next year I am hoping to have an ATV.
Pulled my taps Friday boiled Saturday cleaned Sunday.
Ended the season with1071 litres of sap ice removed and 33 litres of syrup from 93 taps
Another successful season
2019 - Barrel evaporator 2 steam pans 44 taps 13 Liters syrup
2020 - Barrel evaporator 2 steam pans 51 taps 21 Liters syrup
2021- New homemade 2x3 evaporator and flat pan 80 drop lines to buckets
2022- (•,•)1350L naturally ROd sap 44L syrup
2023- "\_(°•°)_/" 1100L sap 30L syrup not accurate due to natural RO
2024 { ';' }1862L sap 52L syrup 52 drop lines to buckets
I did a final boil on Friday and pulled my taps yesterday. Ended up with 10.5L of syrup with 51 taps. I had 3 taps that never produced this year. Even though I expanded my operation I came up short of the previous year by 2L.
2021 - Year one. 15 taps using 5/16" and drop tube into buckets. Homemade barrel evaporator with 2 steam trays. 4.7L syrup.
2022. 32 taps. Added AUF.
2023. 51 taps. Ditched the steam pans for an 18x22 flat pan.
2024. 56 taps. Built a proper evaporator to fit the 18x22 flat pan and 1 steam pan.
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