Done for now

A 1/2 pint short of 2 quarts. Dark, very tasty.

No more sap - boiling what's left

I was holding off saying the sap was done, but now the weather confirms it. One tree today had a half gallon or so, not very sweet at all. Several had a few tablespoons of yellowish sap. Probably from sitting in the hot sun a couple days.

I have the two pans boiling outside and one inside. There probably isn't enough propane or time tonight to finish it all off. We'll see how far I get. I'll try to avoid the trap of putting fresh sap in the pan very late. Then it has to boil off for an hour of two before bringing inside to finish (another hour or two).

Boiling again

Another late night. Boiled about 20 gallons +/- tonight. It's on the stove finishing now. This reduces the remaining sap to around 30 gallons. At least it's manageable.

Loads of sap

Surprisingly enough, we got sap today-8 gallons. It was very mild last night, just around freezing. In total, I have about 60 gallons of sap...enough for about 1.5 gallons of syrup. Total sap for the year is around 120 gallons. Not bad considering about 10 of the taps are pretty quiet trees.

The sap this week was also the sweetest it has been all year. It really was a great week for sap. Not sure when I'll boil, but probably Saturday evening. Definitely won't get through the 60 gallons. There isn't enough propane or time in the day.

Record production (for me)

We achieved the higher volumes of syrup we were shooting for. 1.25 gallons of syrup made on Friday and Saturday (see photo below). If I can get one more weekend like this, I should have enough for the year and a few gifts.

Finished everything tonight at 8PM. That's nice because usually it's much later. The turkey fryers worked really well when turned up high, getting through the 30-35 gallons of sap in about 7 1/2 hours. I also waited longer this time before bringing it onto the kitchen stove. The finishing process was a little faster because of that.

The syrup made last night (below, left) used sap from last weekend and Monday. The syrup made today (below, right) was from late-week sap. It looks a lot darker and tastes a little stronger. I've heard that batch processing like this can make the syrup darker, but haven't found many sources online for that (let me know if you can confirm).

Boiling day

I have somewhere around 30-35 gallons of sap. Right now, the last of it is boiling in the pans. Looking forward to see how much we get. The sap is sweet, plus I dumped all of the ice out...and there was a lot this morning. Some trees are quiet today, others are dripping so fast it is almost a steady stream.

Sap's back

Boiled down around 12-14 gallons tonight for 1.5 quarts, plus a few ounces. That's a pretty good ratio. Somewhere in the low 30s, but I took out some ice. It seems to help, even if I lose a small amount of sugar. The buckets are full and I'll toss the ice in the morning.

Uh oh

Since the 14-gallon collection on Sunday, I got 20 more gallons. No collection today, maybe I'll check it out in the morning (didn't see much in the few buckets I checked...too warm). I don't know how much time this is going to take to boil, but I think it will be a lot. So, hoping to make a gallon this weekend.

A productive weekend.

Well, I boiled down a half gallon of syrup on Saturday and emptied 14 more gallons of sap today. It's going to be a busy week or two. The weather looks promising, with only one night forecast to be above freezing. Without freezing temperatures, the sap doesn't build the pressure to come out.

Boiling took about 8 hours on two burners. Then a couple hours to finish, etc.

That's more like it.

After gathering a few gallons of sap this weekend and making a half pint of syrup, we had two days (Sat/Sun) that were so warm at night, no sap came out. However, today was a different story. We gathered eight gallons of sap today from our 20 taps. Some of the colder trees (deeper in woods) are just starting to produce. A few out in the open produced 1-2 gallons just today! It's sealed up and stored in the shade and snow for this weekend.

Made some

Boiled down 1.5 gallons of sap just for a taste (and before a cold week that will likely produce no sap). It is very light in color and taste, but is good. 43:1 ratio, so the sugar content is pretty good for this time of year. Off we go!

The taps are in.

Well, I really think we're on the edge of the right weather. Today and tomorrow are warm, but then it's barely above freezing here. And I'm usually a few degrees colder than the forecast. We'll see.

Snow?

Well, so much for the trail. It snowed about 12" Sunday night. With high winds, the snow drifted everywhere. Some people in the area are tapping, so I guess it's time. Looks like 30s to 40s in the coming days.

The buckets and extra steam pans arrived today. Time to clean and sanitize.

Made the trail

We snowshoed around the property today to set up a path to the tapped trees. We went to last years and many more...a total of 29. Although, I only have 20 taps. Not sure what I'll do there. We also trimmed some of the pine/fir boughs blocking the sun.

Ordered the stuff

The last couple weeks were spent looking for good deals on supplies. In an effort to make tapping, collecting, storing, and boiling easier, here is what I got.

(10) Spiles - local feed/farm supply store

(20) Sap buckets - online...hoping they arrive this week!

(10) Storage buckets w/lids - Craigslist, 8-gal. each, also used for gathering.
(2) Propane burners - Home Cheapot online after a massively frustrating experience in store.
(2) Steam pans - online...to speed up boiling this year.

I need to make a lot of syrup to make up for the money I've spent!

Let the 2009 season begin!

Welcome back. I've started thinking about the 2009 season and what things I'd like to do differently. Last year, I only made just shy of 1 gallon of syrup. So, my first goal this year is to make more syrup. Second, boiling took a long time, so I'd also like to reduce that time.

So far I've purchased 10 more taps, more filter paper, and some funnels. Now, I'm looking for outdoor propane burners (the gas grill approach didn't generate enough heat to maintain a boil on cold days).