Five more quarts.

Five more quarts - getting darker. The trees are starting to bud and the sap is losing its sweetness.

Awash in sap

After only collecting sap off and on during the week, several buckets ended up overflowing today. The buckets are around 2.5 gallons each. After making the rounds tonight, we collected 45 gallons of sap, giving us around 55 gallons total. That's a lot of propane. And the replacement fan came for the range hood. Now I don't have to worry about the steam as much.

Three more quarts!

I'm trying something new this year. Finishing the syrup always takes so long. So, after boiling sap down for many hours, I just stick it in the fridge or the garage. Then, I finish it another night. Last night I boiled 30 gallons of sap down to four gallons. Tonight, it finished to three quarts and a half-pint.

I also filter a little less. Getting the tree parts out of the sap seems like a good idea. Then, after boiling for hours, I filter the "almost done" sap into a cleaner boiling pan. That keeps the burnt pieces down. The rest just settles out in the jar over time and doesn't cause any problems.

I need something else to write about. But for now, at least I can keep track of how much I've made throughout the season and hopefully someone out there is learning from my mistakes. I would like to convert to wood in the future or get a better boiling pan to reduce boiling time. But, it's just more money.

Tonight's production - more than expected

Five quarts tonight! It's still fairly light-medium in flavor. The sugar content must be very high right now, as I'm almost positive I didn't boil much more than 40 gallons. So far, we've managed just shy of seven quarts. That's nearly as much as I made all of last year, which wasn't a great year. There are about 50 more gallons of sap to be boiled, as well.

As you can see by the clock in the photo, it was late (not lunch time). The good news is that I boiled outside longer than ever before. Using the larger pan, it boils faster. Only 30 minutes was needed inside to finish it off, compared to the 1-2 hours I usually take. The larger volume of this batch helped keep the boiling sap deep enough in the large pan. This was especially welcome since I finally broke the exhaust fan in the oven hood last week. A replacement is on the way.

I don't even know how much...

We weren't around long enough this weekend to boil , so I'm a little behind. There was so much sap, I lost count. And I know many of the buckets are filling up again as I type this. But, we're boiling now to take care of any sap from early last week. With the snow and cold night time temps, I haven't had any issues keeping the sap very cold (with ice on top). We got another six inches of snow yesterday - the sap is all buried in the snow on the north side of the house. Hopefully, I'll have some good reports of actual syrup soon!

45 gallons!

It's been a busy few days...about 15 gallons each day (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday). Lots of sap is nice, but it's hard when it comes all at once! Of course, with the additional taps, this is somewhat expected. Will have to boil soon!

Boiling day

Today, we boiled. 14 gallons of sap boiled down to fill one quart-sized mason jar, a 3/4 pint jar, and a few tablespoons. That's about a 40:1 ratio of sap to syrup. The color is medium-light amber, and the taste is a little more robust than the last batch, but pretty light. Not bad at all.

Finally got some sap

The last few days produced about 14 gallons of sap. Earlier this week, there was a really bad ice storm that took out power to the area (and many trees and branches). Warm temperatures and rain returned yesterday, but it wasn't very cold last night. The taps were all dripping slowly mid-morning as we emptied the buckets. There is still around 2 feet of snow in the woods, so snowshoes are essential.

It's time to set up the boiling station. For me, this involves cinder blocks and outdoor propane burners (high-BTU burners often used for frying turkeys or boiling crawfish). If the price of gas is any indication, I'm afraid the price of propane is going to make it an expensive year. On the bright side, it's very easy to start and control boiling with this method. Still hoping to use wood one of these years.

1/2 pint

Made another 1/2 pint of syrup. This is good, seeing as we finished off the 1/4 pint I made a week ago. Usually, I don't bother with such trace amounts, but there is something wrong with buying maple syrup when you make your own!

The weather just isn't cooperating. It rained all day today and it's been warm. Better luck next week - the forecast is mediocre. Best of luck to those of you sugaring.