I am boiling again today. I have 90 gallons of available sap to boil and the sap is running in the collection barrels. Yesterday I had my best flow day yet, despite appearing to be the least likely with the snow and it not getting above freezing until mid afternoon. Today it is bright and sunny, but it only dropped a little below freezing last night, so the trees did not have a huge opportunity to fully recharge.
I put some ceramic blanket material between my wooden door handles and the concrete patio stone door. It seems to have slowed the handles burning away.
Today so far is going very predictably. I am probably the most relaxed I have been for a boil this season. I now bring lots of water out to drink. I found I was not drinking enough before. I like the canola oil as a defoamer. I use an eye dropper to dispense it.
One thing I do, that I know others prefer not to do, is I finish, filter and bottle on the same day I boil. Just something in my character that wants to see the end product of all of my hard work that day. I have had zero issues with focus or making mistakes. I finish it in my heated garage where I have a TV. So tonight the hockey game will be on while I do the Finishing, Filtering and Bottling.
Last edited by Swingpure; 03-26-2023 at 02:27 PM.
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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Originally Posted by The Heldeberg Sapper
