The Official 2024 Maple Season Thread

If extended forecast is right I’m planning on tapping next weekend.

 

Good luck. Let us know how it goes !
It's always such a roll of the dice !

 

I was planning on having 6 taps this year (that’s what I had last year which worked out well) but my uncle had an itch to try making syrup in his backyard for the first time. Having 10 spiles on hand, I put in my 5th tap this afternoon and set him up at his place with the other 5. He’ll have fun with my cousin’s kids doing it, so I’m more than happy to help him out.

 

Fun to watch someone else discover the joy of sapping! Gotten much sap yet? I’m looking at some time next week if schedule allows, which it should

 

Eric Wanderweg did you use all your syrup from last year?


I helped the inlaws finish tapping their 2200 taps on vacuum today (I don't plan to do mine on bags for at least a few weeks yet)and hook the mainlines back together. They are ready to go once they let the first few hundred gallons run on the ground to clean the lines (man that first 'stuff' that comes through is some nasty chit..).

 

Since Friday afternoon I collected my first 5 gallons. Yesterday only about a gallon and a half between 4 taps, as it didn’t get out of the high 30s. It stayed cold for most of the morning here today, but by early afternoon it was in the low-mid 40s and the sap was running strong. Once I get to 15 gallons I’ll start my first boil of the season.

 

I can imagine those lines are pretty gross. In the state forest 15 minutes from my house they leave the lines up year round and every time I pass it during the summer, all I can think about is the funk and mold inside.
I still have about 1/4 of a large mason jar of syrup from last year, but I’ve been using that very sparingly. I think I ripped through a jar a month for a while there last year. Once I got down to my last jar, full panic mode kicked in LOL

 

I’ve got 700 taps in , another 1100 to go .
There is some “ junk “ in the lines but sap turns to vinegar so mostly it’s not that bad . I do dump the first days run on the ground just to flush .
If we could only clean our lines with isopropyl alcohol like the Canadians do things would be much better .

 

Got the trails and the chunks of woods I tap in...clean of limbs..trees..other debris. Beautiful day to complete this.
Got shack all swept..organized. Collection totes all pressure washed and ready ! Got generator gassed up..oil changed. Kero ready..for the heater. Sap sacks loaded onto the holders . RO flushed out n checked !

 

I can almost taste it!

 

It’s a good thing that I don’t have maple trees around here because I don’t have time for another hobby. It sure looks like something that I could get into though. I really enjoy living vicariously through you folks that do it. Keep up with the reports and pictures please

 

Did a little sliding door latch upgrade today. Ought to hold it tight..so no critters can get through .
Before


After

 

As of today I’m up to 15 gallons. It’s go time

 

Looks great !!!!
We are getting ready to tap this weekend now that the forecast changed.
This is great motivation ! Have fun !

 

My uncle one town over got his setup going just now too. I think he has 13 gallons to boil. Nice little joint venture this year between he and I.

 

Mmmmm. Hopefully we get a couple more good sap runs before the season wraps up.

 

Why are the jars upside down?
And is that all you get from 15 gallons?

 

Nice job! We’re gonna get going in a few days. Gotta work the weekend

 

I fill the jars while the syrup is still hot and let them cool overnight up side down to help seal them. Yeah 15 gallons of sap with the water boiled off got me this amount of finished syrup. I would have gotten more, but nearly half of my sap is from red maples and not sugar maples, so the sugar content is lower.

 

Wow, that seems like a lot of squeezing for not much juice. Still looks fun though and I’m sure I’d try it if I had the trees and time, I’m sure I would make the time if the rest of the situation was right.