Central Ontario Tapping

[MustardSeedMum]

Trees didn't start dripping around here until 11am. But those that did went gangbusters. Collected 120L from about 45 taps by mid day, and then had to empty some of the same buckets a few hours later...another 40L. There's still more out in the 5gallon pails that we didn't collect. I've got about 25 dud taps...all blue bucket spiles. grr.
There were several taps that were real champs - probably close to 8L from each tap..

Ice was a little crunchy when I came in for the night. But the muck is still soft. Forecast is for it to remain above 0. We'll see if it drips through the night.

[Run Forest Run!]

That's a great haul MSM. One thing that I was thrilled about was my great sugar content. Some of my super stars of the day were 4.25% (silver maple) and 4.0% (two sugar maples). My Norway offered up 3.5%. I'll happily take less sap at a high sugar content than more sap with lower sugar. All in all a good day.

[MustardSeedMum]

Gosh Karen, you had to tempt me with the refractometer again!
I feel like I'm boiling blind with my sap. Haha. I must say that I noticed that some of the rims on the buckets where the sap had dried off felt a little sticky. Maybe it's a higher sugar content? Or maybe just my imagination?
But didnt take long for the colour to change in the pans though - compared with the first boil of the season.

Well Im heading off to la la land. Want to get a headstart tomorrow before its supposed to drizzle. Not going to fight the rain boiling without a roof over my head.

[Run Forest Run!]

I've now put my 3rd batch in containers so the niter can settle out before filtering, bottling and proper heat-sealing. I'm thrilled with my total of 5250ml from 146L of sap. That's a 3.1% average sugar content. That yield of 28:1 was SO much better than my first 2015 batch of 70:1. Now I get to update my signature!

Hey MSM, that stickiness on your buckets is just residue left from the evaporation of past sap. Nice try though. lol Get a refractometer! You know you want to.

[Rob Walton]

That is awesome Karen!

[Run Forest Run!]

Thanks Rob. I boiled up 110L of sap today and have a big pot of 'nearup' on the stove right now. It was a long day outside in the wind, drizzle and rain. Thank goodness I could position my boilers under the eaveline. That helped. The neighbour kids were taking selfies in front of the boiling pans of sap when they got off the bus. The aroma drew them in.

[Run Forest Run!]

Well this was a long day. My syrup finished off nicely on the stove. Tomorrow I'll measure it all out. Looks like at least 2L, maybe 3?

[Lespetras]

Well this was a long day. My syrup finished off nicely on the stove. Tomorrow I'll measure it all out. Looks like at least 2L, maybe 3?

Hey Karen,
What happened to the really late night boils? We are gonna be up until 3 a.m. In our home with our syrup!! I pegged you for a dusk til dawn boiler.. Lol
Lesley

[Run Forest Run!]

You've definitely got me pegged Lesley. I'm a nighthawk, but when it's done it's done. I'm not about to add more water to the syrup so that I can boil it longer. So you are at 20.4L and counting! My goodness! You've created a monster! You'll have to let me know how much you end up with tonight! Good thing you've got a long weekend ahead of you.

[Run Forest Run!]

This morning I adjusted the density of the syrup I boiled last night and measured it all out. I got another 2.385L from yesterday's boil of 90L. That's a 2.3% sugar content at 37:1. Next step was to happily update my signature stats. I'm now at .49L per tap. Considering that a couple of those taps haven't begun to run yet my numbers will only improve.

The taps are dripping very slowly at the moment so today might be a boil-free holiday for me.