I’m cheating tonight, using electric to get this batch finally finished off. It is 10 plus gallons that were steamed off with the wood stove. I hope to have the outdoor evaporator set up tomorrow evening. I’ve got 15 gallons of sap iced down with snow, and should get another run tomorrow. Darn day job gets in the way of this serious stuff.
Finished off a boil. Im around the 5 gallon mark for the season not including a spill... Trees were running good today. Running some dead standing apple through the "incinerator" seemed to garnish an extra gallon per hour or so.
On its way 85. Done quite a bit this past week but had to start-stop a few of the boils. Went out the other day to grab some frozen sap and The Boom was gung ho at first. He wasn't all that happy with the ride back to the house. Will take a pic later today when the final tally is done.
View attachment 158737 Burned yesterday with this high tech contraption. Over 2 gallons total, not bad for a handful of hobby guys and a bunch of silver maples. We do have a few sugars but mostly silvers.
Me and Emma were out brewing and this ended up in the 10 quart fish bucket. And ended up in this bucket which will be finished tomorrow as we've had enough this weekend. 28- 500ml jars done and not sure whats gonna finish from the minnow bucket? Neighbours were already given a few.
I was soaking in my hot tub yesterday after trupping on some vines and taking a hard fall. I noticed that all the maples are budding already. Pretty early!
I can top that. Hold my beer... I was planning to attach it to the garage when I built it but when I brought it outside and set it down I decided life would be a lot easier if I just left it on the ground. More portable that way too in case I decide to move it someplace else next year. Cooked up another batch yesterday. Close to 40 gallons; so about the same size as the first one. Took around 6 hours running at 1” in the pan, vs over 8 last time when I just dumped it all in at once. I could have been done even faster than that but I switched from the 3 year dry locust to pine at the end and that was a mistake. Yielded 6 pints plus one extra that we’re going to keep ourselves cause it ended up a little cloudy after trying to squeeze the last bit thru the filter. Oh and I picked up another little toy: Just in the nick of time too - looks like Ma nature turned the taps back on again here.
Finished off a half gallon tonight to add to the pint I did on the PH. Tonight’s is on the right, first batch (heavy) is on the left. The flavor is decent, but some of the sap was held for 3 or 4 days. There was 15 g of new sap tonight, and it should run into the evening and then again tomorrow, so boiling tomorrow after work.
Yes. Initially the sugars get converted by bacteria, affecting the grade (syrup is darker). With more time, the sap can get cloudy, and “yeasty”. That stuff gets dumped on the ground. I store mine out of the sunlight, and keep it as cold as possible. We still have snow, so I am able to bank snow up against my storage to keep the microbes at bay.
Well it looks like we’re back in business over here boys! We collected about 50 gallons since Monday. Looks like we’re heading into some more “normal” March weather here so I’m hoping it keeps up. I couldn’t cook yesterday cause I had dinner with my mom. Just about done with a 30 gallon batch on the evening. Looks like I’ll be cooking again tomorrow too!