I have only collected 90 gallons so far and boiled the second 45 of it today. It has not dropped below freezing for several days, but next week is looking promising.Originally Posted by 4Walls
I have only collected 90 gallons so far and boiled the second 45 of it today. It has not dropped below freezing for several days, but next week is looking promising.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
After four consecutive days without dropping below zero, the next three days at least, should have great flows. Might have a boil Tuesday and Wednesday.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
I got my 80ish taps put in last week. The snow is going very fast at my property in nipissing. Was able to collect around 40 Gallons of Sap. Brought the near syrup home and ended up with 2.5l of syrup, a little low, but it was nice to get back in the swing of things.
So far I have collected 90 gallons and made 6.5 l of syrup. I lost a little syrup in my bottling process, but I am changing that process.
This morning it finally dropped below freezing, but not by much (-2.4°) and not for that long, but it should kick start the flow again. Tomorrow morning should drop to -8, so that should recharge the trees.
Edit: There was 26 gallons in the three barrels this morning, I did not check the pails. Late this afternoon I will recheck the barrels and the pails and hopefully get 20+ gallons for a good boil tomorrow.
I will walk my lines again around noon, once the sap starts flowing again, checking for leaks. I am not sure what to do if the spile and tee fittings look good and I have tapped the spile and I am still getting air leaks.
Last edited by Swingpure; 03-21-2022 at 08:13 AM.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
Not a bad day yesterday. Collected 250 gallons of sap. This morning it is -3 and the sun is up. Temps expected about 5 today with no wind. Should be the first full run. Expecting 4-600 gallons of sap if things work the way I expect them to.
I walked all the lines yesterday. No leaks. No bubbles and good vacuum at the tops. Its all natural head drop vacuum so no fancy pumps to worry about.
I've got everything set up and tested. My sap shack is down at the bottom right at the edge of the lake. It is a good 40ft vertical back up to the evaporator by the garage. I pump it up through a 3/4 in black water pipe with a stainless jet pump. I keep a heating pad under the pump to prevent freezing and breaking. Both the pump and the heater are controlled by smart plugs so I can turn turn them on with a button on my phone. I sure don't miss the 140 pails I used to have. Really don't miss carrying the sap uphill 10 gallons at a time in snowshoes. The good old days.
Hope everyone's day is a sweet success today.
Up until today, I had collected a total of 90 gallons of sap. Today I collected 86 gallons and will boil it tomorrow. The flow tomorrow is expected to be better than today.
My boil tomorrow is almost double of my previous two boils and is expected to be a 10 hour boil. It will be a -9° chilly early morning start to the boil.
Debating on doing two batches in the one boil, so that the syrup is not too dark. Not sure if those concerns are well founded?
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.
I collected my first amount of sap today. It was only 14L form the 33 taps. At least it's a start.
2021 - Year one. 15 taps using 5/16" and drop tube into buckets. Homemade barrel evaporator with 2 steam trays.
2022. 32 taps. Added AUF.
2023. 51 taps. Ditched the steam pans for an 18x22 flat pan.
2024. 56 taps. Built a proper evaporator to fit the 18x22 flat pan and 1 steam pan.
2025. 62 taps.
Good morning. Must have been slightly better conditions in the Parry Sound area. I managed 290 gallons of sap yesterday. Was expecting quite a bit more. It's not supposed to break the freezing point up here until noon so I get a lazy morning. The RO system that I built last year has been a game changer. I should have built one 15 years ago when I had 30 pails and was boiling over propane. It removed 150 gallons of water from the sap overnight. Should have enough to pull a 6 gallon batch of syrup off the pans today. I think today I will start on cutting next years wood that is stacked in my driveway. Take a break this morning from the maple spa.
I think we're in the same playing field, or should i say forest, I did 85 taps early to mid last week and collected 55 litres yesterday. It didn't go below freezing after I tapped until Sunday night which was about -2*c for a short period then +8 yesterday so not much of a run since tapping.
I have a 2×3 flat pan which takes close to 30 litres of sap to get around the 2 inch mark in the pan, so what I did last night was made a removable plate to sit on the rails for the flat pan with a cut out that fits a full size steam pan that I'm going to use in situations like this when I don't have quite enough sap to boil in the 2x3 but don't want it sitting around any longer than need be. I'm going to test it today and see what happens. I will also use it when i get to nearup to get a little closer to syrup as i found i still had to boil quite awhile on propane to get close when my flat pan was getting low, I dont want to boil lower than 1.5 inches of nearup in the flat pan. Maybe some day they'll figure out the image posting issue and I can put a picture in my 2x3 finished and fired post.
Looks like next week will be good, but I think I said that last week for this week, baahaahaa.
Last edited by Someclown; 03-23-2022 at 06:43 AM.
2019 - Barrel evaporator 2 steam pans 44 taps 13 Liters syrup
2020 - Barrel evaporator 2 steam pans 51 taps 21 Liters syrup
2021- New homemade 2x3 evaporator and flat pan 80 drop lines to buckets
2022- (•,•)1350L naturally ROd sap 44L syrup
2023- "\_(°•°)_/" 1100L sap 30L syrup not accurate due to natural RO
2024 { ';' }1862L sap 52L syrup 52 drop lines to buckets
Come Sunday we're getting into the cold again so likely a stop of flow. I hope to have enough to boil on Saturday.
2021 - Year one. 15 taps using 5/16" and drop tube into buckets. Homemade barrel evaporator with 2 steam trays.
2022. 32 taps. Added AUF.
2023. 51 taps. Ditched the steam pans for an 18x22 flat pan.
2024. 56 taps. Built a proper evaporator to fit the 18x22 flat pan and 1 steam pan.
2025. 62 taps.
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