
Originally Posted by
Andy VT
If I'm doing my math right, you got about a quart per tap, and that is excellent! I think I had that sort of season as well up here in the Champlain valley. Hard to tell for certain because I had to quit about a week early. So I came out to .19 gallon per tap because of that. After dumping a gallon that didn't taste good, that brought me down to .16! Man that was sad! Some sap went sour I think.
Yeah, it was a respectable final result. Still I hate to lose so much of my production due to a stupid mistake. Especially when I put so much effort into working around the warm spell in the middle of the season.
On a positive note, a couple of local farmers bought some of my syrup to try to sell at their markets. We'll see how it goes. If they get a lot of customers and want more, I may start ramping up production again a bit more next year. If not, around 10-15 taps seems to be the max I can use plus giving away to friends and family.
GO
2016: Homemade arch from old wood stove; 2 steam tray pans; 6 taps; 1.1 gal
2017: 15 taps; 4.5 gal
2018: 12 taps and short season; 2.2 gal
2019: 7 taps and a short season; 1.8 gals
2020: New Mason 2x3 XL evaporator halfway through season; 9 taps 2 gals
2021: Same Mason 2x3, 18 taps, 4.5 gals
2022: 23 taps, 5.9 gals
2023: 23 taps. Added AUF, 13.2 gals (too much sap!)
2024: 17 taps, 5.3 gall
2025: 17 taps, 4-5 gall
All on buckets