Backyard Syrup Enthusiasts 2023

[West Sumner Sugar]

Was last season a banner year or a normal year? Just curious how the 65% fits into your normally expected volume.

Last year was a good one for us. Biggest to date, we did 85.5 gallons of syrup. This year proved that syrup is truly made in the woods. Lots of issues out there which made for a disappointing year. Not being able to be at the sugarhouse during the week is a struggle for us. We are planning some adjustments for next year to change that. I have 113 taps here in Lewiston that outperformed 400 in Sumner by almost double. That's the difference between perfect vacuum and not perfect vacuum. Either way, chalk it up as a learning experience and move forward.

Luckily we did have enough syrup made to fill a 10 gallon bourbon barrel so we can fill the demand there.

Good luck to those still pulling sap!

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Looking at the forecast, we are going to keep going thru Monday until it dries up. With 60 degree temps, we will be finishing out the pans with the last boil. We’ll make it to 60 gallons today and if we get 3 good days Friday thru Sunday, we may push 70 gallons. We will see what the weekend brings.

[eagle lake sugar]

I'm still waiting to really get started in Eagle Lake. We had a few days of trickles, but they really haven't started running yet. There's still 3' of snow hard packed against the trees with no tunneling yet and the clock is ticking! It looks good here from Sunday on.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Good to hear from you up in Eagle Lake! Keep us posted how it goes. I’m afraid the mountains around here may take it hard next week. I hope it stays cool enough up there for you to have a good season!!

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Collected and am boiling another 345 gallons. Unreal week. The weekend looks really good as well. We’ll pull sap thru Monday and call it quits.

[Mvhomesteader]

Collected and am boiling another 345 gallons. Unreal week. The weekend looks really good as well. We’ll pull sap thru Monday and call it quits.

Just checking to see who's left in the game.....congratulations mainebackwoossyrup. You're really having quite a season! Have you ever gone this far into April before?

And Eagle Lake-I hope you can get a season started. I bet those trees will unleash like crazy mid next week during the warm spell.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Just checking to see who's left in the game.....congratulations mainebackwoossyrup. You're really having quite a season! Have you ever gone this far into April before?.

Yes, definitely new records for us. Really couldn’t have asked for a better season. Only 2–3 days where it hit 50 in March. Been a long time since we had these cooler temps for a whole month. 1st week of April is typically our last boil. April 5th past 2 years so this year will be a little longer. Best sap quality in a long time, snow storms in March are a muddy mess but helped immensely. And I do believe in zap bac spouts. Runs have not dropped off at all. The weather helps but the bush with the 2nd season zap bacs is still our best producer.

[craigwade2005]

Made another 4 gallons of syrup this past Thursday. Was right on the line of another draw off but had to shut down. Looking forward to hopefully another 3-5 gallons on Monday before crossing our fingers to see what next week does.
On a less exciting note my bourbon barrel showed up with the extra bung driven through the side by UPS so I guess that process will have to be delayed. Southeast Barrel was great about it and is shipping a new one out Monday.

[maineboiler]

Way to hang in there Craig. This will be a record season for me, I could have collected more but I had enough. I’ve barrel aged my syrup as well, it can be a struggle to get high quality barrels.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

420 gallons for this last run, boiling right now. Sugar content down to 1.3% and sap is getting cloudy but tasted and smelled fine. We’re all done. Should make some nice dark syrup. Got my limit on smelts last night so on to that

We’ll start pulling taps and let the pans soak. We will push 70 gallons, best year for us. Vacuum held good all year after initial leak checks. What a difference, good luck to those still going in the north!