Good sun on about 30 of those taps, they are all hard maple. Slope is decent for 3/16" (guessing 25' from highest taps to collection). I haven't stuck a gauge on any of the lines yet but will before the weekend is over. Around half of those 88 were wet when tapping, the larger trees weren't warmed up enough to give much, if any at all.Originally Posted by sticky face
Tapped 44 of the soft maples today, not a drop...
Soft maples started up today, although only 1.0% for sugar... I have another 25 bags to put up, hopefully will do it Monday.
I had 88 sugar maples only doing 1.0 - 1.2% earlier in the week. hated to dump 75 gallons on the ground but wasn't going to boil it that low. The good news is that those lines are 1.4 - 2.0% sugar now and hopefully they go even higher. I have never had sugar content in the sap this low, doesn't matter if they are hard or soft maples.....
We collected 33 gallons from our 80 taps on Saturday afternoon. Taps were put in last Sunday, so this was the first collection this year. Sugar was 2.1%--so nothing to brag about. It ran hard for awhile on Saturday afternoon, but by dark nothing over 2" in 5 gallon pails.
I don't know how Sunday or today was because we came home Sunday morning.
Bought a new sap hydrometer and it said I had 60 gal. of 3.4 sap in my tank. Never had that high. Hope the hydrometer is accurate. But I did get 2 gal. of very metabolic syrup. Hope it clears up. It was the worse ever. Good luck.
2012 8 Taps 3 pts syrup.
2013 38 Taps 10 gals. syrup made with turkey cooker
2014 57 Taps 10 gals. syrup. Homemade fuel oil tank evaporator
2015 51 Taps, 10 gals. syrup.
2016 50 Taps, 9 gals. Syrup
2017 54 Taps, 13 gals. syrup
2018 75 Taps, 21 gals. syrup
2019 67 Taps, 21 gals.
2020 73 Taps, 20 gals.
2021 75 Taps 21 gal.
2022 75 Taps 14 gal.
2023 0 0 Stroke
2024
I learned after dumping 75 gallons a week ago that my sap hydrometer was reading at least .75 low. I also was reminded you can check a hydrometer in a cup full of water, it should float at 0%
Looks like a week of good weather, after today's freeze up. After that, it looks a little warm.....
For the others in the Winter area, how is your syrup tasting? Boiled again on the 30th and made metabolic syrup again. Took it to 240 degrees two times to get that flavor out and the syrup was sweet but lacked any maple flavor. so far worst season ever. I think it would be better to not get any sap than to put so much effort into bad syrup. But I will keep trying. I am still hoping the flavor improves.
2012 8 Taps 3 pts syrup.
2013 38 Taps 10 gals. syrup made with turkey cooker
2014 57 Taps 10 gals. syrup. Homemade fuel oil tank evaporator
2015 51 Taps, 10 gals. syrup.
2016 50 Taps, 9 gals. Syrup
2017 54 Taps, 13 gals. syrup
2018 75 Taps, 21 gals. syrup
2019 67 Taps, 21 gals.
2020 73 Taps, 20 gals.
2021 75 Taps 21 gal.
2022 75 Taps 14 gal.
2023 0 0 Stroke
2024
Made 4.5 gallons of nice amber colored syrup on about 160 gallons of sap from 60 taps. Tapped 40 on the 17th and the rest on the 23rd. Sap has been pretty slow overall, but still quite a bit of snow in the woods. Flavor seems to be pretty similar to other years. Hopefully things pick up towards the end of the week.
We boiled 1 batch from 120 gallons of sap and 1 small batch from 40 gallons of sap(Fridays run). The 120 gallon batch was extremely sweet, smokey, dark had sediment that looked like molasses, and it tasted good but almost chocolate flavored. The 40 gallon batch was good/normal. I am not sure what you are tasting. I had a couple of early runs from up there last year, that had an unexplained musty flavor, that I thought may me metabolic. Rileys from Eden Prairie MN. posted on here that they had some metabolism this weekend too. Did you add distilled water then after taking up to 240? Good luck I hope it turns around for you.
Looks like I will pull taps on Tuesday. I have 225 gal to boil and expect another 300 by then so that will take care of my wood supply. Should finish the season with a little over 35 gallons of syrup.
Bought a Smokey Lake 2x6 w/ forced air over the summer so that took some time figure out the basics. Going from 12 gph to around 40 gph really changes the game. Sugar content has been pretty good this year so have been able to draw off a little over a gallon an hour. Added a 100 gallon head tank and also set the temporary shack (should be building a new 15x30 this summer) up on a piping system to where I don't have to carry any sap. Everything is moved to collection tanks, storage, head tank, evaporator, via tubing or pipes with transfer pumps.
All taps are on 3/16" tubing. 88 on natural vac and 44 on a Shurflo. (I did purchase 500 gallons of sap from a nearby bush that was getting low on wood).
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