25 overnight. Sun came out by 10:00 AM and temperature rose to 43. Trees responded.
Into the woods by 6:00 AM. Organized the filter press and other items needed for bottling. Did get the milk can dumped into he finishing pan. Had the burners going by 7:00 AM. Syrup ready for filtering by 8:00 AM. Done bottling and back to the farmhouse by 10:30 AM. Bottled 24 quarts and 13 pints. The grade looks like Amber/Rich.
Back into the woods by 2:00 PM to prepare collecting. Help arrived by 3:00 PM. Done collecting by 5:00 PM. 340 gallons.
With the evaporator and R/O we can process 50 gallons and hour. That means 7 hours of cooking tomorrow.
33 overnight. Dropped to 28 at dawn. Gray and cloudy most of the day. Sun appeared around 11:30 AM but clouds moved in again around 2:30 PM. But that was enough for the trees to start dripping. Not a lot, but some.
Into the woods at 9:30 AM to clean the kitchen. Plan to bottle tomorrow. Dumping the milk can into the finishing pan is the challenge. We do it in stages. First onto a chair. Then into the pan. Lifting from the floor into the pan is too hard.
Into the woods by 9:30 AM to put up 30 more taps using the PVC sap saks we got yesterday. They are more challenging to use then expected. We had to take them back to the farmhouse to assemble because the zip tie was braking in the cold while tightening.
Trying PVC sap saks
Completed the rinse cycle and on R/O. And brought in the bottles from the truck to the farmhouse.
No sap yet. 33 overnight. Cloudy until 10:30 AM. Even with the sun, only up to 35 with a cold breeze. Forecast is for 27 tonight. Forecast for the next 10 days is favorable., although a little cold.
Drove to Merrill, WI today to pickup supplies: bottles, PVC sap sak holders and bags, stainless steel holder for sap hydrometer. And several cans of root beer made with maple syrup. It’s yummy.
43 overnight. Cloudy again today. Tonight should freeze. Snow flurries in Merrill.
Left the farmhouse at 6:30 AM. Back by 3:30 PM. Stopped twice on the way there and three times on the way back, including 40 minutes for lunch. 269 miles total.
Into the woods by 5:30 AM. Expected to finish cooking by 12:30 PM, but it was 1:30 PM before we were finished. No major delays or problems. Just slowly fell behind expected finish time.
38 overnight. Cloudy and 48 today. Doesn’t freeze tonight either. Weather pattern changes on Saturday when we get 30s and 20s.
The insulation under the wash tank has finally solved the wash temperature problem.
The day cooking. 6:20 AM R/O start 7:00 AM 3 ¼” 7:50 AM batch 8:00 AM 4 ½” 9:00 AM 7 ¼” 9:20 AM batch 9:50 AM R/O done 9:55 AM batch 10:00 AM 8” 10:40 AM batch 11:00 AM 6” 11:35 AM batch 12:00 PM 3 ¾” 12:30 PM 2 ¼” 1:00 PM batch 1:00 PM 1 ½” 1:30 PM done
Foggy and gray overnight and this morning again. Didn’t freeze. Cloudy and up to 41 during the day. Sap did not run.
Into the woods by Noon to prepare for collecting the run from yesterday. Washed all the tanks. Prepared the R/O with a rinse cycle. Added insulation to the cement block platform the R/O wash tank sits on. The cement blocks are likely acting as a heat sink. It’s been a problem since we got the R/O, but the new feed pump exacerbated the issue and made it obvious.
Collected 300 gallons. The run is done and all the buckets empty. Upper 40s tomorrow and no freezing nights. We don’t expect sap. But weather becomes more favorable this weekend and early next week with 30s and 20s.
Into the woods by 5:30 AM. Washed the syrup pan. Had to add raw sap to the evaporator because it got too low after the last session cooking. It took 2 ¼ hours to get the first batch of the day because of the raw sap. After that there were batches every 45 minutes or less several times. A good day cooking with 7 batches into the milk can.
The day cooking. 6:30 AM Start R/O 8:45 AM batch 9:00 AM 6 ¾” 9:20 AM batch 10:00 AM 7 ½” 10:05 AM R/O finished 10:10 AM batch 10:45 AM batch 11:00 AM 5 ½” 11:20 AM batch 12:00 PM batch 12:00 PM 2 ¾” 12:30 PM 1 ½” 12:40 PM batch 1:00 PM done
Fixed a tap that kept falling out by re-drilling to use a 7/16″ spout.
33 overnight. Foggy, cold and cloudy most of the day. Sun came out by 1:00 PM and it warmed to 41 before getting cloudy again. Trees dripping. Plan to collect tomorrow.
Collected 325 gallons, but the sugar content is low again at 1.5 Brix. Normal is 2 Brix. At 1.5 Brix the sap to syrup ratio is 57:1. The R/O is essential with low sugar. It’s possible sap moved frequently over the winter when we had freeze/thaw cycles so sugar is depleted.
27 over night. Cloudy and cold most of the day. Temperature did reach 35/36 but felt colder. The buckets had a light layer of ice. If it was warmer, it would be a good run. Tree pressure up to 8 PSI.
Into the woods by 2:00 PM to wash tanks and run a rinse cycle on the R/O. Stated collecting by 2:45 PM. Done by 4:30 PM. Back to the farmhouse by 4:45 PM.
Into the woods by 5:00 AM. 27 and foggy overnight. Felt odd. The fog would kind’a freeze on surfaces. Also made everything damp. Had trouble starting the fire under the evaporator because paper and wood were damp from the fog. Took 1 ½ hours to get a good boil.
Busy Cooking Syrup
The day cooking. 5:30 AM start R/O 7:00 AM batch into milk can 7:55 AM batch into milk can 9:15 AM batch into milk can 10:00 AM batch into milk can 10:15 AM R/O finished 10:15 AM 9 ¾” concentrate 11:00 AM 7 ½” concentrate 11:40 AM batch into milk can 12:00 PM 5 ½” concentrate 12:20 PM batch into milk can 1:00 PM 3 ¼” concentrate 1:00 PM batch into milk can 1:50 PM batch into milk can 2:00 PM ½” concentrate 2:20 PM done
Wrapped insulation around the membrane pressure vessel. We had a lot of insulation left from the wash tank. That helped. Also left the tank heater on during the wash cycle rather then using it to warm to 90 then disconnecting. After three hours it reached 113 and turned off as it’s supposed to when warming to 113. We’ll need to monitor temperature during the concentration cycle now because the insulation may retain too much heat while the high pressure pumps runs during the concentration cycle.
By Noon the sun came out. Tree pressure up to 10 PSI and trees dripping. Because of the cold foggy start to the day, not enough to collect. Plan to collect tomorrow.
Into the woods by 8:00 AM. Put out 64 more taps including the big trees behind the neighbor that runs well. Finished tapping by 10:30, then checked buckets. Moved sap from overflowing buckets to less full buckets so capture the sap until we collected.
Planned to collect at 1:00 PM. Washed storage and collecting tanks. Ran a rinse cycle on the R/O. Connected the propane tank.
Collected 375 gallons. Sap is still 1.5 Brix. Done collecting by 2:00 PM. The centrifugal transfer pump worked well. Emptied the collecting tank in less than 15 minutes.
30 overnight. Partly sunny today. Up to 43. Trees were dripping. We expect they will drip into the evening. We’ll check tomorrow if we need to collect again.
