Eastern Ontario 2022

[ir3333]

worms..i meant gypsy moths, but i don't think we're suppose to call them that anymore.
And the tree they got is normally a good producer but has given almost no sap this
year and it's sugar content is 1.9%. Mid season for me now and my trees are all around
2.5%, even the large ones! Might be a dribble today if it hits 6 or 7 degrees, then
another deep freeze!

[Lanark]

The saptapapp said 218 for me today and it was right. My plan now is to leave the 5 gallons in the food grade buckets and slowly siphon off the clear in a couple days then run the remainder through the vacuum press. There's really nothing to collect in my 80 buckets today, couple cm's maybe in a few buckets.

[paulslund]

Did a nice boil this afternoon and showed the kids the ropes.. they pretty much ran the show this time.. made me proud as they focused really well and kept at it.. had a very constant boil all afternoon. So far, last Thursday I boiled 470L, most of which was from Monday to Thursday. This past Thursday I boiled another 250L which was from Monday (or Tuesday? can't remember), but still had the collection barrel with about 150L which I boiled today along with another 40 litres that the pump pulled off the trees during the day (buckets barely have anything to speak of so will let them freeze).

To date I've boiled 910L from about 2.3weeks worth and I'm already at about 73% of last year's total haul. I think the syrup is higher though..will know when I finish bottling, but I think I've got a good 10L of syrup from the 250 I boiled on Thursday.... and these last two batches are lighter than my first boil..

[jungmaria]

How are you all measuring the brix of your sap? Can I use the same hydrometer that I use for my syrup?

Interesting about the small trees, nearly all my tress are smaller and I’m starting see my ratio creep up. Started the season close to 41:1, but now at about 44:1.

my sugar content has been as high as 3.0 % consistently this year. My neighbour was told by the
owner of Foster Farms in the county their sap has been averaging 2.9 %...I think they have 7000 taps!
i don't use the sap from the small trees after 5 or 6 runs because it's usually 1% or less and the lengthy
boils make very dark syrup.
I'm betting it's your Hydrometer, early sap is usually higher.

[Galena]

@jungmaria, I don't measure the content of my sap or syrup, though I think you need separate devices for measuring sugar content unless you get that fancy gadget that costs a few hundred... fwiw I just do some maff....# of l of sap divided by # l of finished syrup to get my ratio....batch #2 was 31:1 this one looks more like 28:1...what species of maple are you tapping? Those ratios seem awfully low....though a few years back there was a season with stupid amounts of sap but very little syrup.

Batch #3 which I literally just finished right now, got it like a catwhisker off of Brix - if it's the 6l that it looks like, then it's 26.6:1. If it's 5.5l then 29:1.

@paulslund, can I borrow your kids for the next big run? Also I've had batch #3 turn out really light in colour in the past, usually it's batch 1 or 2 that's very light.

[jungmaria]

Yes but your trees are amazing!
I have a very young sugarbush, only 3 of my 80+ taps are doubles, so those ratios are pretty normal for us. They’re all sugar maples. I leave the sweet in the pans so don’t truly know my ratio until the end of the season, so it may be a little better than that.

batch #2 was 31:1 this one looks more like 28:1...what species of maple are you tapping? Those ratios seem awfully low....though a few years back there was a season with stupid amounts of sap but very little syrup.

Batch #3 which I literally just finished right now, got it like a catwhisker off of Brix - if it's the 6l that it looks like, then it's 26.6:1. If it's 5.5l then 29:1.
.

[ir3333]

buy a sap hydrometer..they are fairly inexpensive and very useful.
Earlier this year we had a small run that i collected the following day.To my surprise my buckets had about
5 inches in them....but i soon found out about 2 1/2" was ice.I collected the free sap and checked the brix
with my sap hydrometer and it was 4.5 % sugar! Just the water had frozen...poor mans' RO!I also use it
to check when the sap levels drop below 1% sugar. I won't boil sap that low.

[Galena]

@ jungmaria ah I see. The bulk of my trees are mature sugar maples, 3 of them are bush sugars (one of them now has 2 spiles, the other 2 one each) and this year a red is in the mix, which may be affecting things. My biggest sugar is off the line this year as it had surgery in January. Doesn't stop it from dripping sap on me though if I walk close by! I wouldn't mind knowing the sugar content, esp of the 3 bush maples, but I think it kinda ruins the fun ;-)

If I ever do get a sugar measuring thingy then I'll check the content of my trees sometime, but nowadays ago by what I get once I finish hotpacking. Just bottled up a sold 5l of #3, and there's a bit more - probably another .25l - slowly filtering out. 160l of sap/ 5.25l syrup so this batch's ratio at just over 30:1.

ETA: just checked batch #3 expecting to see beautiful clear syrup in all the containers....but guess what there's a layer of nitre on the bottom of every.single.freakin. jar and bottle. I know I did everything right.

But the one thing I did differently this time, which I sure af won't do again, was set the pot of 186 degree hot syrup off the stove and onto my 2' thick ash countertop. Clearly the wood held the heat all too well, coupled with Maillard's reaction, and the nitre formed in the jars.

Soooo that's a mistake I'm never making again!!! Kicking myself and having a sulk before I roll up my sleeves, decant the bottled syrup back into a clean pot, get out the nitre and start all over again. Hope I have enough new lids for the jugs. Argh.

[paulslund]

@paulslund, can I borrow your kids for the next big run? Also I've had batch #3 turn out really light in colour in the past, usually it's batch 1 or 2 that's very light.

Now that's funny right there!!!

Seriously though, they are now catching up on homework all morning before we do a bunch of bottling this afternoon. The school system changed things recently and we can designate certain "chores" as volunteer hours (due to the lack of volunteer activities due to the pandemic).. so I made sure they were extremely engaged in this and they didn't let me down! I told them I give them at least a 90% if I had to actually grade them! :-)

Just by my looking at the containers I'm definitely at the ~30:1 ratio or better!

[Galena]

Now that's funny right there!!!

Seriously though, they are now catching up on homework all morning before we do a bunch of bottling this afternoon. The school system changed things recently and we can designate certain "chores" as volunteer hours (due to the lack of volunteer activities due to the pandemic).. so I made sure they were extremely engaged in this and they didn't let me down! I told them I give them at least a 90% if I had to actually grade them! :-)

Just by my looking at the containers I'm definitely at the ~30:1 ratio or better!

Good to hear! Definitely read my sad tale and learn,,,or do you bottle straight off the evap?