My plan 2022/23

[Brien]

It is 12:20 am or 0020 hrs, the sap is still running as the temperature will not go below freezing tonight. I understand the process of freezing temperatures recharging the tree, I am just curious how long the sap will flow after a recharge. It was -8°C /17.6F this morning and the sap started to run around noon. It is still running over 12 hours later, I wonder if it will still be running when I wake up?


Edit: 5 AM, the lines are still running, although slowed. The Christmas line is easily out performing the others.

I drained the barrels around 6 pm last evening, but despite running since then, there is not a lot of volume. Perhaps the reason for the low volumes the last number of days is because not all of the trees have started to flow yet, so despite having lots of taps, only a small number of them are producing at the moment.

It’s funny though, and I talked about that different setups had different advantages, last year’s steam pan setup, I would be boiling today because 20 / 30 gallons of sap would be a nice boil and I would not worry about the cold front coming in a couple of days. With the divided pan, I am not going to boil for an hour, then shut down, then have the sap sit in the pan for 8+ days of freezing weather. This is not a complaint about the divided pan, just an observation, that other methods have their advantages.

Now back to bed!

Edit: 9 am - 5.5 gallons collected from 53 taps going into barrel one and 4.25 gallons collected from 28 taps in barrel 2. The lines are still dripping.

This year I'm going to wait to have enough sap to do a full batch in my pan. I basically need 100gallons of sap to end up with 1.5in of near syrup in my pan. That way when I take it home to finish off it's a minimum boil on the turkey deeper fryer. Last year I got to anxious and boiled down to make 3litres. Way to much boiling at home and cleanup for me for that little amount.

[Swingpure]

This year I'm going to wait to have enough sap to do a full batch in my pan. I basically need 100gallons of sap to end up with 1.5in of near syrup in my pan. That way when I take it home to finish off it's a minimum boil on the turkey deeper fryer. Last year I got to anxious and boiled down to make 3litres. Way to much boiling at home and cleanup for me for that little amount.

I had that experience last year with my steam pans when I boiled smaller volumes of sap and then having to take the pan off early because the levels were getting low near the end of the boil and having to spend quite awhile finishing.

I collected another 7 gallons and I am up to about 40 gallons on hand right now. The lines were still flowing at 6 pm, 30 hrs after they started flowing.

I am going to let the 40 gallons freeze and will thaw them just prior to starting in March. I will pull out some initial ice from the pails in the morning to help them get a little more concentrated. I might get a little more flow Sunday and Monday, then things will freeze solid until March. Once I get 20 to 40 fresh gallons in March, I will start my boil.

Edit: Sap still running at 8:20 pm. (32’20”)

Edit: sap finally slowing, but still dripping but the temperature is now nearing freezing, collected another 5 gallons between barrels and pails, 34 hours continuous running.

[Swingpure]

With the 2 weeks plus before I likely start boiling, I thought I take advantage of the time to improve the front facade of my evaporator and leave the door open (pun intended) for a future metal door.

As per the picture, I would like to change out concrete pieces with 1/2” thick steel. Really only the top part that goes across the fire box would see any real heat. New pieces as per the red squares in the picture and they would be welded together I would just use concrete blocks to keep the metal tight to the cinder blocks.

Do you see any concerns with doing that?

Eventually down the road I would add a metal door, but likely would still go with the concrete door for this year.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/097e...-qm0UsqxMjyFTg

Attachment 22885

I ordered my metal to renew the front facade. It was not in stock, so I have to wait a week Friday for it to arrive and I am already lining up the welder. The new face will give me much better access to the firebox and will be more solid.

[Swingpure]

I was fortunate with the recent mild spell, it melted the snow in the area where the local hardware store, stored its patio stones. I was able to pick up the 1’x2’ patio stone I needed. I got a spare just in case I am clumsy again. It took about 15 minutes to measure and drill the holes for the two homemade handles. The door actually works a lot better than it looks.

In 8 days, my welder will start making my new front facade. It should make everything look and work better.

Today I also removed some ice from the pails that are storing my sap, it will turn colder tonight and the sap should freeze a lot more. I expect some more sap to run in two or three days before another extended freeze. When the time comes to start boiling, I may have 50+ gallons of sap to start.

The cold spell right now will extend from Feb 21 to March 2nd and counting. I am not sure how long the effects of this polar vortex will last into March.

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https://share.icloud.com/photos/0bew...NuQvEa6H5Mmu0A

[Swingpure]

It was +3.4 C/ 38°F today. The sap flowed a little and still is, but never fast.

We snowshoed the trails along the lines on the steep hill, that I have not tapped yet. It is amazing after high winds, on how the paths can disappear from the blowing snow. The one benefit this year is we have taken up snowshoeing as a winter activity and after walking the lines, we have made several trails in the coniferous woods on the other side of the hill we tap. The moose in that area are following our snowshoe trails, almost like game trails and are leaving deep hoof marks in the trail.

I get the metal for my front evaporator facade on Friday. No rush as cold weather keeps getting extended, as each new day appears on the 14 day forecast. We had taken the ice hut off the lake expecting the maple season to start, but I think we will be putting it back on the lake to fill up the time for the next two weeks or more. There are three trees we have to take down as well, so there is always something to do.

[Pdiamond]

How has the ice fishing been this season?

[Swingpure]

How has the ice fishing been this season?

Our lake is a pretty good summer fishing lake, but a tough ice fishing lake. It has been as good as most years, which is you are happy to be out enjoying the day and occasionally you get a fish, a pike or a lake trout.

[Pdiamond]

Sounds good to me. I collected 75 gallons of 3% sap from my 50 bags yesterday and I got 30 gallons of 2.5% today. I tapped in my one little 3/16 line with 8 taps on it and I would say when I checked the barrel tonight it had about 20 gallons in it. I almost have enough to start the evaporator. Of course, now we are supposed to get a big cold front for several days.

[Swingpure]

Sounds good to me. I collected 75 gallons of 3% sap from my 50 bags yesterday and I got 30 gallons of 2.5% today. I tapped in my one little 3/16 line with 8 taps on it and I would say when I checked the barrel tonight it had about 20 gallons in it. I almost have enough to start the evaporator. Of course, now we are supposed to get a big cold front for several days.

Wow, good flows. Congrats. That is exciting

I have to admit I learnt my lesson. Despite having mild temperatures the trees in our area just do not flow as well in February as late March and April. In future years I will not tap until March. My volumes per tap were so low. Fortunately I have 75 taps still to tap and hopefully the 100 other ones will still flow somewhat in March.

I am really excited to see what the taps do on the steep hill. Right now we have two weeks of below freezing temperatures to come with lots of snow to fall.

Watching news in Toronto they have grass and people were out on sandy beaches. We are two hours north and a world apart as far as the weather. I was ice fishing today and we bring the ice hut back out tomorrow.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/06fT...hxXvyNBlWP4mkw

[Swingpure]

Back sometime in the fall of 2022 I changed my profile pick to have a moon in the maple leaf. I had noticed that the Sugar Moon was on March 7 in 2023 and having tapped last year on March 6, I thought March 7 would be an excellent.day to envision tapping in 2023.

This winter has been so strange, with what seems to be an ironic ending. All winter long in our location we had one stretch of consecutive days below freezing of 7 days, all of the rest were four days or less. We had an abnormal number of days above freezing, which on two occasions encouraged me to tap some of my trees. The first time was good decision as it created family memories, the second in hindsight was a mistake.

Now as we approach the time of year where we hope for warming and possibly normal tapping, we are forecasted to have 15 days and counting of below freezing temperatures with a fair amount of snow. Having winter this time of year is normal, just seemed unusual for this unusual winter.

As some posters on this forum seasons are ending, our start to the season is weeks away, which is also normal. I am totally patient to wait for the start of our season whenever that will be.

As mentioned on another post it was a mistake to tap here in February, as the trees do not flow here as well, that time of year. I think a stranger reason not to tap early is it extends the season. Last year from the start of boiling to the end of boiling it was four weeks, I did it all without any help and I was tired and done at the end of it and it occupied all of my days during that time period. After my test boils the past couple weeks, it reminded me of that and there is no need to artificially extend the season for me as a hobbyist.

I am looking forward to getting the metal for the front facade. The good thing about the warm spells we had, is it allowed me two test boils to discover and resolve some of the issues with the new evaporator setup and also gave me confidence that the new pan and setup, boils well.

I still have lots to learn, the draw offs, dealing with sugar sand build up and I still not have tried my new transfer pumps and a few other things, not the least of it might be the RO.

In the attached picture on the right is last March’s actual temperatures and on the left, the current 14 day forecast.

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https://share.icloud.com/photos/0f45...BAMGfOsFz3sgIg