Central Ontario Tapping

[dre75]

Did yours come out light to?

Made 1L last night and it is my lightest of the season so far.

[NTBugtraq]

WOW, it seems we missed our big flow day!

We didn't get our taps in until about 5pm that Sunday evening, we were returning from vacation and it's the best we could do.
I just went out to check, our largest maple, who also gets the highest sun exposure, is just barely starting to drip....
@NTBugtraq - what device do you use to measure your sap brix?

Sorry to take so long to respond. I have a digital refractometer and a manual (actually 2 manual refractometers, one for sap, the other for syrup, different brix ranges). They never agree, so I use the number inbetween the two values.

[NTBugtraq]

Today has been great in a couple of ways. First, I managed to bottle 15L already today, and I could have bottled another 8L if I wanted but I decided to combine that with a batch tomorrow instead. That's my best day for finishing syrup ever. Also, it was 67.8 brix, which is higher than any other batch this year. In past years I have ended up with >69 and even >70 brix batches, but so far mine have all been very close to 66 brix.

Second, I have finally solved my overflowing sap storage problem. My arch can only boil @ 15gph, at most. I have, several times, had sap tsunamis that greatly exceeded that rate, and as such I end up losing sap to the floor of my sugar shack. Yesterday I added a few ball values to my main line. They help me identify leaks in the line because I can turn off large sections of the bush. But perhaps more importantly, there is one inside the pump house which turns off all taps. This turns my main line into additional storage tanks...!!!! With 400 gallons of storage on the wall, the last thing I do each day is turn that valve off. What a relief.

Not much flow in the past 2 days...a little, maybe 100 gallons each day. My forecast still has many likely sap-flowing days, the question will really be whether my trees start budding or no. Trees are budding 20 minutes from me (Beaverton, which is on the shores of Lake Simcoe), but nothing here...

[naturenitwit]

Today has been great in a couple of ways. First, I managed to bottle 15L already today, and I could have bottled another 8L if I wanted but I decided to combine that with a batch tomorrow instead. That's my best day for finishing syrup ever. .

Hey there NTBugtraq I am just up the road from you south of Minden. I made 15 liters on Saturday. It was my biggest day ever, but was only about 8 hours of boiling on my 2x4 flat pan. I have about 50, 4 gallon buckets that were full, but were at least 3/4 ice. The remain 1/4 was highly concentrated sap that was sticky to the touch. It was like I had an RO machine. I likely left some good sugar in the pails but the ice is hopefully keeping this weeks run ice cool. I will be back on friday night to start it all over again. My bloody day job keeps getting in the way of the real work. Here's hoping for a cool down to kick start the trees for the weekend.

[NTBugtraq]

Hey there NTBugtraq I am just up the road from you south of Minden. I made 15 liters on Saturday. It was my biggest day ever, but was only about 8 hours of boiling on my 2x4 flat pan. I have about 50, 4 gallon buckets that were full, but were at least 3/4 ice. The remain 1/4 was highly concentrated sap that was sticky to the touch. It was like I had an RO machine. I likely left some good sugar in the pails but the ice is hopefully keeping this weeks run ice cool. I will be back on friday night to start it all over again. My bloody day job keeps getting in the way of the real work. Here's hoping for a cool down to kick start the trees for the weekend.

lolz, you fight the right...;-]

[Hkb82]

Dripping reall good today. I collected about 35g from yesterday's and the day before. No doubt I will have another 40-50g tomorrow with the way they were going today.

[c0ps]

Its been quite here

[Run Forest Run!]

Diddly squat here today too.

[Hkb82]

Well the drip yesterday could not have lasted all day. Thought I was going out to collect a good amount but was very surprised at what I found. Yesterday around 11-12ish I had most if not all buckets dripping but today I only collected 17g. Still better then nothing but what a disappointment.

[NTBugtraq]

A few days ago I had to get to the top of my storage tank to reposition the supply pipe, so I used a little 3 stair step stool. I had to stand on the top stair, and I felt uncomfortable but it worked. Today, it didn't...my side into the top of the arch then the floor...oomph, ouch. I heard cracks in my neck and my back, but I've got full range of motion albeit it while hurting like hell.

A bit of advice; "Never use a 3 step if you can use a ladder"...

And what sucks the most is that the sap is flowing well today. Needless to day I let the fire go out.