2018 - NW Wisconsin

[Austin351]

With the colder weather, I've been able to work on my oil tank evaporator adding AUF. Would love to see that thing at 16+ GPH. Wow, that just doesn't seem too impressive after seeing it typed out but am only dealing with about 9 sq ft of flat pan.....

I haven't built my permanent sugar shack / wood shop yet (hopefully this summer) so added a cupola to my 10 x 12 shed over the weekend. Has power and will be nice to boil indoors for the first time.

[Austin351]

Had a good first boil of season on Sunday, about 150 oz. of syrup coming from 32:1 sap. Probably the lightest I have ever made, although I prefer a dark amber.

1st syrup 2018.jpg

Weather has been marginal over the past week, still not spectacular in the woods but should have enough to do another boil tomorrow. The 10 day outlook doesn't look good for flow so will take advantage and head south to see family Thurs - Sunday.

AUF recently added seemed to work pretty well although I need to add some baffles to get air directed a little better. The cupola recently added to the shed seemed to work pretty well also. I did need to keep the door open for draft but, didn't have any raining / dripping from roof.

[OCHTO]

nice looking first syrup. I wish I could make some. All mine is dark and I got some metabolic flavor. I'm 5 miles due south of winter on a hill. Where are you? I have an oil tank evaporator too and can get 15/hr when I crank it. Crude preheater really helped.

[mike z]

Things finally seem to be getting going. I boiled twice only this season. Sugar was high though at 3.4 and 3.0 %. Pretty light too. Not quite Austin light, but close.IMG_0249.jpg

[Austin351]

nice looking first syrup. I wish I could make some. All mine is dark and I got some metabolic flavor. I'm 5 miles due south of winter on a hill. Where are you? I have an oil tank evaporator too and can get 15/hr when I crank it. Crude preheater really helped.

I am across the Brunet River from Dix's Chalet. Cant see house from road (the way I like it... ) Are you off W? Only maple I know down south is Brad and Linda's.

[Joe Bob]

I boiled about 35gal of sap on 3/18 and got 64oz of light golden syrup. I boiled again on 3/25, about 48gal of sap and 128oz of syrup, still light golden. Sugar content was in the range of 2.5%-3.0%.

Sap flow is all over the map. After a week my bags were anywhere from empty to full and overflowing. With a few warm days this week I expect to have 50+ gallons of sap by the weekend. I'm going to try and get all of my bags emptied by Saturday. The low Saturday night is forecast at 8 degrees and collecting blocks of frozen sap is no fun at all.

[OCHTO]

Austin, I'm off old J. Cabin can't be seen from the road. I see you have reds. I tap all sugars. Around 3.2% which is highest in 5 years. 75 bags and I've made 4.5 gal. so far which is really poor. Taps will dry up soon. Some bags a third full on days when it gets up to 40. Other bags made me look up to make sure I tapped a maple, only a few tablespoons. Weird.

[Austin351]

I would call today, the first day of my season with real flow. Had the manifold on bypass, went down to put the battery on the pump, and there was a good steady stream coming out the bypass. unfortunately, the next 10 days are pretty much shot due to temps...

[Dave Nielsen]

First time this season we've seen any decent sap flow here in Sarona too. Tubing and bags were both running well at 10:30 this AM. Looking forward to finally getting a decent run, but not too excited about our prospects for the next week or so.

[mpester545]

One of my first posts. Thanks to all the people on here for all the information they share. Question for the group. I have my taps near Siren. Boiled last weekend and heading up again today. I can't make it up to boil there the following weekend - 4/7. With this cold weather, will I need to make a run up there on the weekend of 4/7 to dump the sap before I can make it back on 4/14? With the cold weather and all the ice that will be in the buckets, will the sap last for that long?