Maple Syrup!

timberlinetree · March 19, 2016, 06:54:00 AM

I hear of that stuff,but didn't know it was European or for real. Thanks for posting.

CJennings · March 19, 2016, 05:16:08 PM

Well the maples are budding out where I am in southern VT. I hope northeastern VT holds out long enough I get more sap.

Chuck White · March 19, 2016, 06:22:45 PM

Our maples won't be far behind yours CJennings!

Right now, we're on a freeze-up, but it's likely to break loose for a couple of days and we should get a couple of good runs, then pull the plug!

We may catch up with last year but at this point we're unsure! We're hoping!

CJennings · March 19, 2016, 07:26:50 PM

I think towards the end of the coming week I'll have a decent sap run at my place in northern VT but I don't think the season will make it too much longer if the warm weather keeps up then.

Chuck White · March 20, 2016, 10:00:42 AM

Seems the little buds are slowly coming out whenever it warms up a little!

Like the old saying: The End Is Near!

Stephen1 · March 21, 2016, 06:39:45 PM

We had 2 runs last week, 500 g of sap so far. Winter is back with a vengeance here. 3 days of snow coming with a little rain mixed in. The long range always looks good, but changes over night. Good old mother nature. right now we are looking good, the season is typical now, our best week has been that 1st week of April , so will see. Cheers

Chuck White · March 21, 2016, 11:26:34 PM

We had a little bit of a turn-around today, it ran and we gathered 375 gallons of sap, boiled it down and drew off 9.9 gallons of syrup.

Cold again tonight and expected to get warm tomorrow, so we'll likely get another run tomorrow!

The end is near, we have no snow!

GAB · March 22, 2016, 09:25:10 AM

Quote from: Chuck White on March 21, 2016, 11:26:34 PM
We had a little bit of a turn-around today, it ran and we gathered 375 gallons of sap, boiled it down and drew off 9.9 gallons of syrup.

Cold again tonight and expected to get warm tomorrow, so we'll likely get another run tomorrow!

The end is near, we have no snow!

How did it taste and what was the grade using the old rating scale?
Gerald

PPT_Man · March 22, 2016, 06:16:56 PM

I am new to this forum and forums in general.

I live in central NH and last year I made about 5 gallons of syrup.

But here is what I can offer. I boil my sap using electricity - and not on the kitchen stove. Well, actually, I FINISH the syrup on the kitchen stove (while my wife is out), but almost all the boiling is done outside with electricity. I make special boilers using large stock pots into which I have inserted the heating element from a hot water heater. I have been doing variations on this for several years and it works well for me at least. I don't know if anyone else would be interested in this, but if so, I will post more information. Let me know. My technique would NOT be approved by Underwriter's Laboratory!

CJennings · March 22, 2016, 07:30:54 PM

Some of my maples at my woodlot are budding out, some are not. I think the season is just about done for me.

Corley5 · March 22, 2016, 07:42:24 PM

We collected about 75 gallons of sap this afternoon from our 110 taps. We had a 120 and a 100 gallon day week before last then it warmed up and then it got cold. This was the first sap since then. After the storm tomorrow we should have a few days with runs starting probably Friday. Our evaporator won't be done for this season but our friends are boiling our sap with theirs on their evaporator. They've got a 2X4 Smoky Lake continuous pan on an arch he made. Between their 50 taps and our 110 there's 12 gallons of finished syrup thus far.

thecfarm · March 22, 2016, 08:34:30 PM

The buckets was over flowing today. Did not think it flowed much yesterday,was kinda on the cool side and the wind was strong. The wife does it all,I have the easy part of cutting the wood for it. :

I guess she should of checked them yesterday.

Chuck White · March 23, 2016, 09:17:01 PM

Quote from: GAB on March 22, 2016, 09:25:10 AM
Quote from: Chuck White on March 21, 2016, 11:26:34 PM
We had a little bit of a turn-around today, it ran and we gathered 375 gallons of sap, boiled it down and drew off 9.9 gallons of syrup.

Cold again tonight and expected to get warm tomorrow, so we'll likely get another run tomorrow!

The end is near, we have no snow!

How did it taste and what was the grade using the old rating scale?
Gerald

It tasted really good and a good strong Maple taste.

Really smooth.

But it was very dark ie, Dark Amber, robust flavor.

Strong, not so good smell in the sugar house, but very good taste.

Yesterday, we gathered 475 gallons and boiled most of it down, then started up again this morning, and gathered another 500 gallons.

We at about 107 gallons now, and we'll have around 300 gallons to gather tomorrow morning.

If this keeps up, we may reach last years total of 150 gallons of syrup.

bill m · March 23, 2016, 10:12:42 PM

Collected another 1000 gallons today and made 19 gallons. trees were still running but slowing down compared to yesterday.

Corley5 · March 23, 2016, 10:44:32 PM

We collected 60 gallons tonight. I'd have left it in the buckets if it weren't for the 12" plus snow fall we're expecting. Sounds like a few good days after the storm but the season should be getting short now. Once upon a time when we made syrup we took the buckets down on March 31st. The next year we put them up on April 1st. Just never know.

thecfarm · March 24, 2016, 05:53:10 AM

Buckets are ¾ full here!!! I have no idea how much longer. Kinda on the cool side for now.

Chuck White · March 24, 2016, 04:45:31 PM

Quote from: GAB on March 22, 2016, 09:25:10 AM
Quote from: Chuck White on March 21, 2016, 11:26:34 PM
We had a little bit of a turn-around today, it ran and we gathered 375 gallons of sap, boiled it down and drew off 9.9 gallons of syrup.

Cold again tonight and expected to get warm tomorrow, so we'll likely get another run tomorrow!

The end is near, we have no snow!

How did it taste and what was the grade using the old rating scale?
Gerald

The syrup tasted really good, heavy Maple taste, but while boiling it had an off-smell (not so good) to it.

This would have been graded Dark Amber, still a good grade, just dark!

Chuck White · March 24, 2016, 04:51:15 PM

Tuesday we gathered 475 gallons and boiled most of it down, yesterday we gathered 500 gallons and boiled it down and made 17.7 gallons and today we gathered 200 gallons and boiled it down, made 6 gallons.

Big turn-around in color, aroma & taste between the 21st and 22nd. We're back making light amber now!

28° ~~now~~, all day, everythings froze up, supposed to break loose again tomorrow!

celliott · March 24, 2016, 04:54:58 PM

Well the past few days haven't produced much for us, been frozen up. Got a little sap and boiled yesterday. It's been too cold to check vacuum so we have been doing some TSI\thinning in a stand, releasing small maple stems, and removing all softwood. We are leaving some other hardwood species occasionally and if there is a large gap we may leave a nice spruce. Lots of small diameter fir though. We may get enough spruce\fir to make a truckload of logs, we'll see.

Tomorrow through the weekend looks real good for sap!

Chuck White · March 25, 2016, 07:09:43 PM

Today, we started gathering around 10:00. We gathered 600 gallons, 3-loads, when the first load was dropped off, 1 guy stayed at the sugar house and started boiling. When the 3rd load was back, we had to wait for storage space.

When the space was available again, we emptied that load into the storage tank, then around 3:30 we went and gathered another 300 gallons. 900 gallons total.

Boiled till around supper time, then shut down, will start boiling again around 8:00 AM tomorrow.

Corley5 · March 25, 2016, 07:23:18 PM

Dumped the snow out of the buckets this afternoon after it thawed a bit. Sap ran a little. Supposed to be 17 tonight and mid 40s tomorrow. Should run.

Chuck White · March 26, 2016, 06:54:36 AM

20° now, it'll be a while before sap runs today, works out well so we can boil what we didn't yesterday! ;)

GAB · March 26, 2016, 07:57:28 AM

Quote from: CJennings on March 22, 2016, 07:30:54 PM
Some of my maples at my woodlot are budding out, some are not. I think the season is just about done for me.

I hope you are aware that the soft maples will start budding out earlier than the hard maples. If you have the typical New England mix in your woods you may have some 2016 sugar season life left yet. The weather is a very high deciding factor as to how long and the type of season it will be.
In my area the buds on the soft maples (silver) has been out for a while and yesterday I picked quit a bit of sap (note I only have 45 taps) and most of it was fairly clear. That being said if I look at the tree tops with the right sunlight I am seeing a reddish hue now. I am in the Champlain valley.
Gerald

CJennings · March 26, 2016, 04:35:32 PM

Even the sugar maples were starting to bud. Actually it's mostly sugar maple anyways. I've got a southwest facing slope that really catches the heat early apparently. Truck trouble is making me miss this weekend whether I like it or not too.