Early season in SE PA?
Weather has been goofy, and a friend in the Hudson River Valley (NY) mentioned that they have a strong flow going so I checked one of my trees. Yup, sap is flowing strong.
Seems weeks early this year, and I’ve not yet even started the modifications I have planned for the new pan.
Anyone start their season already?
I usually don't tap until after we've had a deep freeze that freezes the trees solid; usually happens mid-late January.
One of my clues is when ice forms on the Susquehanna river.
I'm not seeing any consistent below freezing temps in the near future either.
Although, HowardR got a long-range forcast that predicts a deep freeze starting last week of January.
"According to two long-term forecasts, there's a polar vortex coming in 2 weeks. If it arrives, I'll tap my trees as soon as it ends:"
https://www.zerohedge.com/commoditie...rtex-unload-us
Last edited by Openwater; 01-18-2023 at 07:55 AM.
2020 - 1st year - 13 black walnut taps - 4 bottles syrup
2021 - 50 taps, 22 black walnuts/28 red maples - 4 gallons syrup
2022 - 54 taps, 11 black walnuts/41 red maples, 20 on solar shurflo vacuum - 8.5 gallons syrup
2023 - 47 taps on 45 red maples, 43 on solar shurflo vacuum
Hi Openwater,
Do you keep you're Walnut sap separate from your Maple?
Black Walnut tapping
2021 - 3 trees 5 taps enough to boil a sample.
~ 2 acres, 35+ mature Black Walnut
2022 - 30 Southern Ontario Walnuts tapped, 69 spouts.
650 litres (143 Imp gals) on sap bags, 14 litres (3 Imp gals) walnut syrup on turkey fryer.
2023 - 35 trees tapped, 28 mech vacuum & 7 on gravity. Propane fired custom evaporator, 2'x2' divided pan, 2'x1' preheat pan.
882 litres (194 Imp gals) mechanical & gravity vac turned into 18.25 litres (4.8 Imp gals) syrup off my DIY evaporator
Yes. I don't RO the walnut sap. I also add pectinase enzyme to my walnut sap the night before a boil to break down the pectin that forms the walnut "jelly" that clogs up the syrup filters.Originally Posted by Trends
My maple I usually RO down to about 7-8%.
The walnut gives the syrup a little different flavor than just plain maple syrup that we like.
I've been gradually decreasing the walnut trees I'm tapping, mainly because they're in more remote locations and too spread out to put on mechanical vacuum.
2020 - 1st year - 13 black walnut taps - 4 bottles syrup
2021 - 50 taps, 22 black walnuts/28 red maples - 4 gallons syrup
2022 - 54 taps, 11 black walnuts/41 red maples, 20 on solar shurflo vacuum - 8.5 gallons syrup
2023 - 47 taps on 45 red maples, 43 on solar shurflo vacuum
Thanks for the info.
Have you ever mixed your Walnut & Maple syrup together as a product? and if you have would you mind sharing your ratio you settled with.
I'm thinking of mixing a gal or 2 this year and have not found a starting ratio for taste testing.
Cheers
Black Walnut tapping
2021 - 3 trees 5 taps enough to boil a sample.
~ 2 acres, 35+ mature Black Walnut
2022 - 30 Southern Ontario Walnuts tapped, 69 spouts.
650 litres (143 Imp gals) on sap bags, 14 litres (3 Imp gals) walnut syrup on turkey fryer.
2023 - 35 trees tapped, 28 mech vacuum & 7 on gravity. Propane fired custom evaporator, 2'x2' divided pan, 2'x1' preheat pan.
882 litres (194 Imp gals) mechanical & gravity vac turned into 18.25 litres (4.8 Imp gals) syrup off my DIY evaporator
All the sap gets mixed before it goes in the evaporator. We only keep the sap separate before RO and pectic enzyme addition. After the maple sap goes thru the RO and the walnut sap gets the pectic enzyme, both saps get added to the head/dosing tank that empties into the pan float box. I've never made pure maple syrup from our trees; it's always been processed with the walnut. Last year I boiled 7 times and the raw walnut to maple sap for each boil was a little bit different; I didn't notice a huge difference in taste from batch to batch. It all tastes good to me!
Boil 1: 8 gal walnut sap : 70.8 gal maple sap (before RO)
Boil 2: 8.3 gal walnut : 86.7 gal maple
Boil 3: 4.5 gal walnut : 94 gal maple
Boil 4: 5 gal walnut : 52.5 gal maple
Boil 5: 6 gal walnut : 84 gal maple
Boil 6: 6.5 gal walnut : 71.5 gal maple
Boil 7: 8 gal walnut : 39.5 gal maple
2020 - 1st year - 13 black walnut taps - 4 bottles syrup
2021 - 50 taps, 22 black walnuts/28 red maples - 4 gallons syrup
2022 - 54 taps, 11 black walnuts/41 red maples, 20 on solar shurflo vacuum - 8.5 gallons syrup
2023 - 47 taps on 45 red maples, 43 on solar shurflo vacuum
Looking bleak here in Philly.... Hitting 72deg tomorrow and rarely goes below freezing at night. Have gotten a grand total of 5 gallons of sap from 37 taps over the past 2 weeks..
Guess the bulk of the flow was weeks earlier than normal and I missed it. Bummer, as I had built up a proper 2' x 4' divided pan for this year and was hitting 10.5gal/hr with it for the 39gal of sap I managed to collect.
Supposedly we have a cold snap coming over the weekend, so hopefully the trees start flowing again....
Aric is that you? I remember you from rc.com!
Gabe (Cracklover)
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
Busted!
Howdy Gabe! Man, RC seems like a lifetime ago. You still climbing? I've not been in ages, due to lack of partners for outdoor and dislike of gym climbing. Was at the Gunks over the weekend, but only passing through and didn't get a chance to climb. Seems we got into the maple thing about the same time? My first steam tray evaporator was ~2014, but I did it with brewing kettles a couple times before that. This year I finally built a 2x4 divided pan and a quick&dirty cinder block arch to fire it. Next year will build a proper arch and will likely go back to firing it with a wood pellet-fired rocket stove like my other evaporators were.
Have gotten a grand total of ~4 gallons of sap from ~40 taps over the past 2+ weeks here in Philly, even after reaming the tap holes a week ago. There's a cold front coming through this week, but I have doubts it will make a difference and will be throwing in the towel this weekend. Very strange season this year, and only got ~40gal of sap instead of the 300+ I had expected based on past performance.
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