Before yesterday's boil I was a little discouraged about the sugar content.
Before yesterday's boil I was a little discouraged about the sugar content.
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.
My friend called me and he was all done, but his sap was still flowing and had some that was still good and wondered if I wanted it. I gratefully took 110 gallons of sap.
Today I am boiling my original 65 gallons and will at least bring to a boil 55 gallons of his. Tomorrow I will boil whatever I collect of mine and the remaining 55 gallons from my friend.
Then I will be done for the season. As I collect from from the pails, I will pull the taps.
After that is all boiled, finished, filtered and bottled, I will worry about cleaning the lines.
Not counting, the sap given me, I will have made between 95 and 100 L of syrup. Considering I only have really 109 taps and about 20 of them are double taps, I did get a L or more of syrup per tree, so that is more than enough to be thankful for.
Now first is to boil for two long days.
Last edited by Swingpure; 04-12-2022 at 09:51 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.
Yep, for us backyarders, a liter per tap is considered a good year. You'll note from many people's signatures that they haven't even hit that level in half a dozen years of sugaring. So nice work!
Gabe
2016: Homemade arch from old wood stove; 2 steam tray pans; 6 taps; 1.1 gal
2017: Same setup. 15 taps; 4.5 gal
2018: Same setup. Limited time. 12 taps and short season; 2.2 gal
2019: Very limited time. 7 taps and a short season; 1.8 gals
2020: New Mason 2x3 XL halfway through season; 9 taps 2 gals
2021: Same 2x3, 18 taps, 4.5 gals
2022: 23 taps, 5.9 gals
2023: 23 taps. Added AUF, 13.2 gals
2024: 17 taps, 5.3 gals
2025: 17 taps
All on buckets
I pulled all of my taps today. Surprisingly, it dropped below freezing and the sap likely would have run well today. I have enough sap to keep me busy. I had a tool to help me pull the taps, I bought it months ago and put it away in a safe place. If I ever find that place, I will find a number of things. Turns out the taps were easy to pull out by hand. I definately tapped too high as I had to stand on my tippy toes to reach some of them.
Yesterday I boiled 65 gallons and pulled that off the evaporator. I also brought to boil another 55 gallons. I will likely pull that off in an hours time. I have also started to boil my remaining 117 gallons, which I will do in two batches. Tomorrow will be a rainy day, so I will try and stay until early morning if need be to finish boiling.
Ended up,with 76% of expected sap per tap, 88% realistic expected sap and when I add in the 110 gallons given to me yesterday, I reached 100% realistic expected sap.
I won’t know how much syrup I made until after tomorrow, but I expect it to be over 110 L.
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.
My average over 20 years is 1 litre per tap on buckets. 1.1-1.2 L/tap on lines. This is looking like a bumper crop year in the north. I pulled 210 gallons of sap yesterday and it is flowing again this morning. I think the end of this week into early next week will be prime. Sap is still light and clear. Not even close to buds on my trees. Syrup tastes amazingly mid season still. Just put away 2 x 4 gallon pails of filtered hot packed syrup. Im running out of bottles. Those will store well and be bottled later.
I want to do a big batch of birch syrup this year. Want to do it as a bit of a collective in the North Bay, Astorville Callander triangle. I want to finish about 5 gallons and share it with those involved collecting the sap. That will take some effort by more than one person because the birch sap spoils quickly with the warmer weather. Will need about 600-800 gallons of sap for a batch that size. I have made it before and it takes forever to boil down at 100-160/1 ratio. I want to run it through my new big RO and concentrate to 10-15%. Let me know if anyone wants to get involved.
It’s funny, there are a lot of areas around us where the sap flow has been great, but not so for our immediate area. My friend a half hour away was filling barrel fulls, where I never even filled a quarter of a barrel on any given day.
I will be boiling well past midnight to finish the last boil of the season. Today would have been a good day for the RO to be working.
I will have boiled 930 gallons using just less than 5 face cords of wood.
Tomorrow will be finish, filter and bottle the nearup from 237 gallons of sap. 110 gallons at 2% concentration and 127 gallons at 3+% sugar concentration.
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 finished boiling my last sap at 2 am this morning.
Today I have four batches to finish, filter and bottle. One down and I am working on the second right now.
As mention in other posts I use the DYI vacuum filter that 4walls has. Unlike 4walls I have not installed the four overcenter clamps required to hold the top pot down, as I was having trouble drilling through the stainless steel and decided I would do that in the off season for next season.
I had been up using bungee cords to help hold down the top pot with mixed results, mostly poor, but I was always able to somehow keep the vacuum seal and it has worked very well for me.
The last filter this morning I lost the seal and never really got it back. I decided to do something different and I have rigged up two clamps, which seem to hold the pot pretty tight. We will see sometime in the next hour how it works.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/015O...nJTE_ucjDLArvg
I have to admit I am pretty pooped, and I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.
Next year hopefully the RO will be working and a new pan will also help to reduce the workload. The induction elements worked well for pre heating the sap, but they kept you busy filling them up, taking them off, sometimes with all three coming to a boil at the same time. They did exactly what I hoped, adding boiling sap to the evaporator, but I will be doing something different next year.
If I go with the divided pan, with a float box and feed tank, my thoughts of having a coil around the stovepipe will not work.
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 am all done boiling, finishing, filtering and bottling after three long nights.
I boiled 930 gallons of sap and made 106.5 L of syrup my inaugural season. I have to say it was a lot of work. It was also quite an adventure and a learning experience. I still have a lot of cleanup to do.
I think next year I will down size a little, not have the drops to the pails and just strictly have the lines and perhaps add a few more trees to the lines.
I will make less syrup, but I will not feel like I have to supply all of my neighbour’s and just make enough for family, a few close friends and myself. I still should make 75+ L.
The goal this off season is to make improvements to the evaporator, get a better pan (likely a 2x5 divided pan with a float box), fix or replace the RO pump, make a new shelter, and split the wood to more wrist sized pieces. Hopefully with the RO and a better pan, my boiling hours will drop.
I am also going to buy this sump pump for getting the sap out of my barrels quicker and easier. A friend has one and it works well. https://www.amazon.ca/Amarine-made-R.../dp/B07B26QP4Y
I will look for anything to make it easier and faster.
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.
While everyone is cleaning up there supplies and having Easter dinner, I'm having to go and empty my buckets as some of the best runs this season are happening. Looks like I will be going until late this week by the forecast and then cleanup
Silvers are starting to form flowers so timing is good.
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
Great for you getting the last run. I thought it might be a good run, I chose not to try it, as everyone around me was pulling their taps. Good luck with the last run!Originally Posted by Someclown
I have been splitting my time with still cleaning up, starting to get my wood for winter 23/24 and thinking about the changes for next year.
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.
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