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The Old Evaporator Maple Syrup Blog
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Wyatt collecting sap with daddy!
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I boiled last night, but ran out of fuel. I had about 6 gallons of sap yesterday, and about 3 today. I finished off all of about a pint, just a tad over. I Brought out all of the syrup I had, reheated all of it and bottled it. I ended up a little over on density, but that makes for better tasting syrup.....
Sap total....................4464 ounces
Syrup Total...............110 ounces
Average Sugar...........2.1%
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I cooked another quart of finished syrup thoe other day, and a full pint today. The pint was light amber, and the quart was dark amber. There was a little over 7 gallons cooked the other day, and about 5 gallons today.
Sap total....................3312 ounces
Syrup Total...............89 ounces
Average Sugar...........2.3%
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Well, I cooked last weekend and got enough to have a grand total of just about a quart of syrup. It would be just over, but it got a bit thick!
Totals before this week.....
Sap Total 1648 ounces
Syrup total 37 ounces
Sugar content, just over 2%
This week I got another 7 gallons of sap, and have waited until tomorrow night to boil. I should have another 3/4 of a quart of syrup to finish off tomorrow.
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I have boiled sap the last two days. Yesterday, we had just about 1 1/4 gallons to collect, and today 2.5 gallons. So, with the 3/4 gallon of sap I had from the past week, that brings the total sap collected to 880 ounces. Between yesterday and today, I finished off a full 16 ounces of syrup.
Sap Total..............880 ounces
Syrup total..............21 ounces
AVE. Sugar content.......2%
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Well, the outlook when I tapped (1/24) looked like it was going to be perfect weather. But, as one know living in Spokane, we often times get shafted when it comes to sunny weather in the winter/spring. We got an inversion which lasted for several days. With that came fag, and no sun to warm it up, as was predicted. So the days satyed cold. For the last 8 days, it has been cold and cloudy.
Now that the inversion has went away via a different weather system, we are supposed to warm up for at least the next week. Today is supposed to be in the high 20's, maybe even up to freezing, with plenty of sunshine. Tomorrow and all next week we are predicted to get 38-40 degree highs, with just barely freezing nights. Near perfect to get some sap. The trees are ready to run. I am ready to cook. Bring on the sap!!!!
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I finished off my first batch, even though I knew I wouldn't get much. I ended up with a whopping 5 ounces of Syrup! Very, very fine flavor. Let's just say there isn't any of that left to package! The sugar content was about 1.8 %. I only got a quart of sap today (likely last night before it froze).
Sap total....................304 ounces
Syrup Total...................5 ounces
If it would warm up a little, to burn this nasty fog off, I know the trees are ready to run.
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It was a slow start due to fog. It stayed cold till mid-afternoon. The three trees ran 272 ounces of sap, or just over two gallons.
Sap Total............................272 ounces
Syrup..................................0 yet
I am cooking as I write this, to at least boil most of it off. I don't want to get too far behind.
I ran out of propane, with about 1/2 my sap left, so I will finish it tomorrow, with hopefully a lot more fresh sap.
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Well, I finally tapped! Mrs. Marten seems to think her tree needs a break from tapping this year, so I didn't tap that one again. I went down and asked the neighbors down the street. Both agreed, so Coty and I tapped them last night. We put single taps on two trees, and two taps on the large maple. They were running when we drilled them last night, and I would expect
they ran for a while last night. We should have sap today, as it is
expected to reach 45 degrees today. The rest of the week looks good to
get sap, so stay tuned.
I am using the smaller spiles now, which are more "Eco-friendly". They require a 5/16" hole, instead of a 7/16" hole that traditional spiles take. Yields with the smaller spiles is a little less when not using vacuum, but the advantage is less wounding to the tree, which of course means faster healing of the hole.
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The Sap suckers are under way making syrup already, which makes me anxious to get started again. I have a little bit of time to wait yet, though. I won't tap until mid January, or thereabout.
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The season is still months away, but I am starting to get stuff ready. I built a new bench in the syrup room, and have cleaned the syrup room up. I tested a new turkey cooker I got at a yard sale this summer as well. It brings a 1/2 gallon of water to a full rolling boil in under 3 minutes. I will have to aquire another one for a second cooker if I am to have more taps this year.
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I held off pulling taps till today hoping there would be more good sap
to cook. We got the perfect weather..... It cooled
off, about 20 degrees last night, then sunny and about 40 today.
No wind, and just all around a "perfect day" for sap. Come it
did!!!!!! It did not thaw out till about 11 or so, and in
the several hours of sun we had, I got almost 2 gallons of sap. I
wanted to know if it was going to have the "Metabolism" taste, so I
started by boiling some on the stove. Sure enough, when it was
finished, the taste was strong..... I immediately went out
and pulled my two taps. No reason to keep them in any
longer. I went over and gave Mrs. Martin a pint of syrup
for letting me tap her tree. I really look forward to it every
year, but now it is officially over. As I walked back by
the tree, the bark was drenched with sap all the way to the
ground. It was definately a good run, just not one I was going to
make syrup from. Till next year.....
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Well, I determined I am at the end of my season, so I will be pulling
my two taps today. The syrup just doesn't taste as
good at the end of season, so I will have to wait till next year for
that fresh flavor again to arrive!!!! Here are the totals for the
season.
Totals:
Sap........................................................................................................34 gallons
Finished Syrup ..........................................................................................125 ounces
Average sugar content ....................................................................................2.1%
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Today may have been my last day for the season. I finished
off 30 ounces of syrup tonight. It has that end of season
flavor to it. I describe it as kind of "aprocotty" flavored
maple. It still tastes okay, just different. I will likely
cook one more time, and if it still has that flavor, I will not be
cooking any more. The flow has slowed as well, due largely I am
sure to weird weather for this season. The sugar content did come
up slightly today, to 2.3%, not that it affected the running total
though. So, here ar the totals for the season, provided I end it
right now.......
Totals:
Sap........................................................................................................34 gallons
Finished Syrup ..........................................................................................125 ounces
Average sugar content ....................................................................................2.1%
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Well, I haven't posted in a few days, but I have gotten a little bit of
sap. I have about 8 gallons built up over the last four days,
since the fire incident. I have not yet cooked any of it off, as
it has been cool enough to keep. I will have to cook tomorrow
though. I have to rebuild my arch set-up first, and hopefully
this time I can keep from burning anything......
I still haven't received the webcam, but as soon as I do you can bet it will be up.
I have done a few figures, just for amusement purposes. Have any
of you ever watched a tap drip sap into your bucket? As it turns
out, every drop has a predictible volume. For every ounce
of sap, there are 480 drops. Multiplying that by 128 gives you
61440 drops in each gallon. Multiply that by 3 gallons that I
have been getting in a day, gives you 184320 drops in one
day. The day I got three gallons, I figured it was above
freezing for 12 hours. DIvide the number of hours into the 184320
drops, gives you 15360 drops. Divide that number by 60 minutes in
an hour, you get 256 drops per minute from 2 taps. Cut that
number in half I am getting an average of 128 drops per minute of time
above freezing. Pretty amazing stuff. If you have ever
watched a spile drip sap, you know it is pretty fast when it gets to
about 100 drops per minute. At 128, it would almost be a
steady stream. This is only an average, so I would imagine, I do
get a steady stream for a good part of the day, in order to get the
three gallons of sap!
With that I will close for tonight. A big day cooking tomorrow......
Running totals:
Sap........................................................................................................33 gallons
Finished Syrup ..........................................................................................95 ounces
Average sugar content ....................................................................................2.1%
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Last night after cooking for about 7 hours, I noticed just a little
smoke coming from the bench. I pulled all of the bricks
down to find some pretty charred wood, ready to burst into
flames! Not the kind of thing you want to find at 1am after
having cooked for the last 7 hours..... I was ready
for bed, not to put a fire out! I pulled all of the wood
out and dowsed the bench with water to cool it off. Now it
is back to the drawing board for an arch set-up. I probably won't
fire tonight unless I am swimming in sap. The weather is
cool and foggy again, so it won't even get above freezing till probably
2pm. On the bright side, I finished off about 48 ounces of syrup
last night. That brings the total to 95 ounces!
I have more than my alotted quart per tap average, so I am happy!
The syrup has taken on a slightly 'off' flavor from the fresh maple I
got just a week ago. It still tastes good, just not the
same......
I also won an aution today for an Axis web camera to post a live feed
on the net. Hopefully I get it before the end of season!
Running totals:
Sap........................................................................................................25 gallons
Finished Syrup ..........................................................................................95 ounces
Average sugar content ....................................................................................2.1%
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We had a nice day today in Spokane, WA. It warmed up very
slowly though, due to some heavy fog for most of the day. We hit
a high temp of 38 degrees, but it didn't come above freezing until
2pm..... SO for a short day, I think we did rather well,
getting just a tad over 3 gallons of sap. It again is testing
2.1% sugar. I am boiling everything tonight so I get caught up
(barring any mishaps, or problems!)..... Tomorrow is
supposed to be sunny and a high of about 40. We should see plenty
of sap tomorrow. I am not sure how much I will finish off
tonight, but I would say it will be close to a 1/2 gallon in
total...... Also, I have a camera on ebay which I might
actually get for a reasonable cost..... If I do, I should
have a webcam set up before I am finished cooking!!!!!
Running totals:
Sap........................................................................................................25 gallons
Finished Syrup ..........................................................................................95 ounces
Average sugar content ....................................................................................2.1%
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I got 3 1/4 gallons today. The means 6 1/4 gallons to cook
tonight to get caught up. It was a beautiful day here in
Spokane. The next two days look much the
same..... Hopefully the sap will keep coming! Major
mistake tonight... I ran out of propane. I will be filling that
tomorrow. At least I got a couple of gallons cooked off. I
may have to get a second burner going to keep up with all this sap.
Running totals:
Sap........................................................................................................22 gallons
Finished Syrup ..........................................................................................47 ounces
Average sugar content ....................................................................................2.1%
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Watched fooball all day and to my surprise, I have 3 gallons in
the tank. Add that to the syrup I started yesterday and I should
get
a pint off what I have currently. I am going to wait till
tomorrow to cook. Hopefully I will get a ton tomorrow. Here
are the running toals....
Running totals:
Sap........................................................................................................18.75 gallons
Finished Syrup ..........................................................................................47 ounces
Average sugar content ....................................................................................2.1%
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I cooked tonight, but didn't finish any syrup off. I have 8
ounces that would be about 4-6 ounces finished. I will hold
off till I get more sap to cook. I ended the day with a little
over 2.5 gallons (added with yesterday's meager run). Hopefully
tomorrow I will get swamped!
Running totals:
Sap........................................................................................................15.75 gallons
Finished Syrup ..........................................................................................47 ounces
Average sugar content ....................................................................................2.1%
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Well, I have about 1.25 gallons in the bucket. It still
isn't above freezing, so I doubt today will add to the total. The
outlook for the coming week though looks favorable for getting a
boatload of sap! 39 degrees and sunny most of the
week!!!! I finally got the glass milking bulb from an old
dairy, so I can set up a webcam to check on my sap flows while I am at
work. I also got a fridge compressor unit to use for vacuum, if I
can get it to work. First time I plugged it in it blew the
breaker. I didn't check anything further yet.
Running totals:
Sap........................................................................................................14.5 gallons
Finished Syrup ..........................................................................................47 ounces
Average sugar content ....................................................................................2.1%
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I finished off 10 more ounces of syrup tonight!
Running totals:
Sap........................................................................................................13.25 gallons
Finished Syrup ..........................................................................................47 ounces
Average sugar content ....................................................................................2.1%
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Today the sap ran very little, maybe a 1/2 gallon. I am
going to boil it down, but not all the way. Just enough to get it
in the fridge (not taking up too much space from the food
etc...!). I have about 2 gallons to boil right now and just need
to make sure it doesn't spoil my average of making light amber syrup!
I got my refractometer back today. Upon testing the sap, it is
testing 2.1% sugar. I was pretty close on my estimate!
Running totals:
Sap........................................................................................................13.25 gallons
Finished Syrup ..........................................................................................37 ounces
Average sugar content ....................................................................................2.1%
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I only got a little over a gallon of sap today. I will wait until
I get about 4 gallons before I cook again. Meanwhile I got
the supplies together and extended the tank hose so my tank doesn't
have to sit so close to the pan. The weather is looking bleak for
the next week or so. It may not have to cook till the weekend.
Running totals:
Sap........................................................................................................12.75 gallons
Finished Syrup...........................................................................................37 ounces
Average sugar content (estimated)...................................................................2.2%
Cheers!
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I finally figured out where to fix the times...... All should be accurate now!
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I finally finished cooking and I'm all caught up on sap. I
ended up with 37 ounces (a little over a liter) of maple syrup. I
am now headed for bed. Two nights in a row of going to bed after
10 is enough for me for a while! A such is syrup
season!
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Welcome to my maple syrup blog! I am new to blogging, so bear with me.
I tapped my tree on the 15th of January this year. By the evening
of the 16th, I had almost 7 1/2 gallons of sap to cook. I
went to cooking, but ran out of propane. I took a little
sap in the house to finish just a bit over a cup of syrup. It
turned out to be light amber and very tasty! I still had
just over 3 gallons yet to finish.
This morning, I woke up to two gallons of fresh sap in the tank!
I emptied it into other storage, and then went to work. Of
course I kept an eye on the weather all day! The weather
was nice, but not too nice. When I got home, I had just
over two gallons of sap in the tank. I went and filled the
propane tank, then started cooking. I am cooking as I write
this actually! Well, I will post again later when I get a
chance. I still have some three gallons yet to boil
down. My pan is starting to get syrup, so it won't be long,
and I will pull my first big batch off. I will likely have
about a quart and a pint after tonight.
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