Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[MJPJ Sugars]

Certainly not the crisp, clear sap in today's & yesterday's buckets as was the last few weeks here in Georgia (Franklin County). Anticipating some teeth-staining syrup here... But no buds on the sugar maples yet.


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[GeneralStark]

Well the fat peeper has peeped here in Bristol. I have thrown in the towel and after almost four straight weeks the vacuum pump is off. First boil was 2/20 and last was today. Long season but unfortunately productivity did not match length of season due to low sugar the last couple weeks. Not exactly sure of final count but somewhere between 275 and 285. Not too bad for this weird season and this hardscrabble piece of land.

Before today the last 40 or so gallons were not of the "reserve" quality and today that certain flavor that lingers started to show up. Not real strong but it's a sign of things to come and given the sap quality this afternoon and considering the forecast I decided to call it quits. No point for me in making commercial syrup. The flavor certainly won't come back with the upcoming freeze either. Been there, done that in 2012.

The peepers are screaming here tonight and the forest floor is starting to green up with the spring ephemerals. The woods are dry and I did have the hose ready in case a spark from the stack got carried away. What a great time of year.

Anyway, good luck to all of you still in it.

[WestfordSugarworks]

Certainly don't want the season to be done. It's warm out there, though. Did see leeks coming up in a friend's woods on Tuesday and saw dandelions come up today and almost (might have) ran over a frog or two today on the road. I've got some energy left in me for another two weeks or more.

[ryebrye]

Before today the last 40 or so gallons were not of the "reserve" quality and today that certain flavor that lingers started to show up. Not real strong but it's a sign of things to come and given the sap quality this afternoon and considering the forecast I decided to call it quits. No point for me in making commercial syrup. The flavor certainly won't come back with the upcoming freeze either. Been there, done that in 2012..

Any chance that the lingering flavor is a metabolism off-flavor? You could test it by boiling some of it in a pot to 240, letting it cool, then mixing water back in to get back to proper density - that technique will remove the nasties from the metabolism off-flavor (if it's worth the effort to do it for huge batches of syrup is another question entirely)

http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/off-flavor2.pdf is the doc that talks about eliminating metabolism off flavor. AFAIK it doesn't do anything for buddy flavor.

[PARKER MAPLE]

Well here we are, this season has been pretty good for us with a new season high so far of 461gallons made. I went to the woods late yesterday chasing a leaks that accord with the wind yesterday. Trees still don't show buds, and no peepers are peeping. But sap was not really running, we need a freeze up soon. I don't anticipate us hanging on to much longer with this warm spell, 64* here yesterday and there calling for nearly the same today. Sap sugar content has really dropped off as well, 1.2-1.4..
Fingers crossed for the 500g mark.
PM

[blissville maples]

sap is certainly not of high quality, however I haven't made any very dark or commercial as of yet, today that will change, processing 1600 gals most from yesterday. im sure 60 degree sap may make some dark if not commercial. ground is dry, frogs out, small bushes starting to break bud, no trees though. flavor has been ok as of 2 days ago although getting that slight robust taste(even with the light syrup) seems as though all my syrup this year has tasted below grade, ie amber taste fancy, dark taste amber etc. this next week will be interesting to see what happens-maybe too late. we need about 5 inches of rain!!

[tcross]

I boiled from 745 yesterday a.m to 1030 at night! longest day for us ever... however we made an awful lot of syrup. sap ran great Wednesday through yesterday. yesterday I had to turn the switch off the pump and just let gravity do it's job. if I left the pump on, the tank this a.m would be overflowing! testing 1.6% yesterday but clouding up. I'm hoping my sap in that tank will survive the 55-60 degrees today and i'll process it tonight and tomorrow! no major bud swelling up here. my wood supply (that I thought would last 2.5-3 yrs) is running on the low side! syrup flavor is still very good... I'm also noticing my flavor is a grade above what the color would suggest! very tasty... better than last years crop!

[spud]

Sap still running and I am averaging one gallon per tap for the last several days. Sap was testing 1.4% this morning. Sap quality is very good and making a good tasting DA. Hoping that after the freeze we will get 1-2 weeks more. No peppers or flowers or buds in sight. It looks like a lot of rain or snow still to come. Vacuum dropped to 26 yesterday due to tree gas. The CV2 spouts is what's going to get me another 50,000 gallons of sap. No slim in my sap at all yet. Still real nice clean sap. For those of you that are now done for the season thanks for posting. For those who are continuing on Good Luck.

Spud

[GeneralStark]

Any chance that the lingering flavor is a metabolism off-flavor? You could test it by boiling some of it in a pot to 240, letting it cool, then mixing water back in to get back to proper density - that technique will remove the nasties from the metabolism off-flavor (if it's worth the effort to do it for huge batches of syrup is another question entirely)

http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/off-flavor2.pdf is the doc that talks about eliminating metabolism off flavor. AFAIK it doesn't do anything for buddy flavor.

No it's bud flavor. Some would call it "pre-bud" as it was still quite subtle. In my experience when this flavor shows up during a real warm spell, within 24-36 hours it will get more pronounced. The syrup will make good sugar and if it were colder I would keep going, but I'm really not interested in making more ropey syrup from slimy fermented .9% sap which is what was starting to show up in my tanks yesterday evening. The high hit 65 here yesterday with a low of 58 last night.

[DrTimPerkins]

The fat lady may not be singing, but she sure is warming up her voice. Red maple (flower) buds have swollen considerably since yesterday morning. Sap very cloudy, and has a faint wood odor. We're not seeing the really big yeasty bubbles yet though. We'll concentrate some from each bush separately (one bush is < 5% red maple, the other is ~30% red maple) and boil each in a small pot on the stove to see whether to process it or dump it. Would rather not run it through the evaporator, as we've calculated there's 50 gal of syrup held up in there....no sense adding buddy stuff to it (if it is truly buddy). Even if it is somewhat buddy, we'll leave the pumps on and let the sap run on the ground until after the cold spell this weekend and see if it comes back a little (rare, but does on occasion).

Sap was running 1.6-1.7% yesterday. We are at 2,145 gal as of last night, 5 gal shy of 0.5 gal/tap (0.4988 gal/tap), however we can easily get past that by boiling out what is in the evaporator if we have to. Just hope we don't have to quite yet.