Category: 2008: Season 91 Page 2 of 3

Cloudy and cold today. No new sap, but that gave us a chance to catch up. In the last 24 hours we boiled down 500 gallons of sap. We have 160 gallons left. Got done some important tasks today. The part came for the filter press. Got it installed. We had about 80 quarts of almost finished syrup waiting in milk can. Without the part we were going to be in trouble.

Got a 15′ garden hose to use with the pump for the collecting tank. Dropping it in the opening at the top of the tank works much better for emptying it. Another problem solved.

Around Noon we had to stop boiling to clean our evaporator pan. While shutting down was going to cost us time from boiling, the build up of sugar sand on the pan was preventing us from boiling at full capacity. Not cleaning it now was going to cost us more in time from reduced boiling capacity then taking the two hours to clean it.

We have already collected more sap this season then all of last season. And the weather looks favorable for the next week.

Today’s count
500 gallons of sap pushed through the evaporator
0 gallons of new sap
34 quarts of syrup
131 total quarts of syrup so far

We picked up 660 gallons of sap. The trees must have dripped late into the night yesterday because they were full today. We can only store 600 gallons. 250 gallons in one storage tank. 150 in another storage tank and then 200 in the collecting tank. We had to pickup and walk in the remaining 60 gallons and keep it in pails. We cooked sap until 1:30 am. Then when back out by 4:00 am to continue. A lot of work ahead today to finish this and get our filter press fixed so we can bottle.

And the pump for our collecting tank was operating very slow. We filled the collecting tank in about a half hour, but it was taking over an hour to empty. We switched the pull hose from the bottom of the tank to the top and it got back to normal pumping. The drain pipe must be clogged with leaves and twigs.

Today’s count
660 gallons of sap
0 quarts of syrup bottled
1 visitor

Today started with snow flakes. We got another dusting of snow. By 10:30 it cleared and the sun came out. Warmed to 46. Then the wind picked up about 3:30. The trees dripped some but not enough to collect. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and in the 40s. That is sap weather.

We spoke with a large producer in the central Wisconsin. We purchase our supplies from them. They have no sap yet. They tapped the end of February, but haven’t had any runs. Its been too cold and snowy. They are hopeful but it will be a late season for them. And for us too. A year ago it was 76 and that pretty much ended our season.

We us a special machine to filter the syrup. It has a hand pump which creates pressure to force the finished syrup through the filter to remove the sugar sand and any other impurities. We were finishing a batch of syrup today when the hand pump broke. So we did not bottle any syrup today. There is about 20 – 24 quarts close but has to be filtered. We should get the part we need by Thursday.

Today’s count
0 quarts syrup bottled
1 visitor
1 broken filter press
1 found candy thermometer

The day started cold and sunny again. Down to 12 last night. It stayed sunny all day and climbed to 38. The sap did not run much. But that gave us a chance to catch up. We boiled all day. Bottled 21 more quarts. At the end of the day the pipe on the collecting tank thawed enough that we could use it to pickup what we did not collect yesterday. Picked up 90 gallons. We dumped the ice from the buckets or there would have been much more than 90 gallons. Dumping ice actually helps us. The ice is water which we do not have to boil out. Ice makes the sap sweeter. Snow is predicted for this evening after mid-night. Maybe an inch.

Today’s count
21 quarts of syrup bottled
90 gallons of sap collected
8 visitors
2 candy thermometers

The day broke cold, but sunny. It warmed up to 40 quickly. With the warm sun the trees responded and starting dripping. By 1:00 pm the weather changed. It got cloudy. The wind shifted to the North and snow squalls moved in. The temperature dropped quickly to below 32: freezing. We checked the buckets about 3:00 pm. Many were full. That was unexpected. They must have dripped like crazy in the morning. So we went to collect. And set off a change of events that took much longer then expected and left sap uncollected.

When we got the tractor, we did not check the fuel level before leaving for collecting. That would come back to bite us.

We set out in the snow squalls to collect. We lost track of how many buckets were over flowing.  Ice was already forming in the buckets too so we hoped to get everything collected. No point letting it freeze in the buckets. If we get it picked up we can boil it down. By 4:30 we have 200 gallons and head back to transfer to the storage tanks. The temperature continued drop. After emptying the collecting tank we head back out to continue collecting. The snow squalls stopped, the skies cleared and we saw sunset. We had about 170 gallons of sap in the collecting tank, but had to head back because our storage tanks only hold 350 gallons. We were not done collecting. There is easily 100 gallons still in the woods.  (Let’s hope the buckets don’t burst from the freezing sap. A full bucket that freezes expands and can break the seams on a bucket.)  We were heading back the building to empty the collecting tank when the tractor stopped. Out of gas. Walk back to get gas. Full up. Start the tractor. Nope. Engine does not turn over. Dead battery. Back to the house to get jumper cables and a vehicle to jump us. We get the tractor started. But now its getting dark and much colder. We start the pump to empty the collecting tank into the storage tanks. Nothing comes through. Ice in the lines. With a torch we heat the pipe and are able to get it going, but it runs slowly. Several times it stopped and we used the torch on the pipe again. But we are fighting a losing battle. Once ice starts forming in the pipes the race against the ice is on. Its only a matter of time until we can’t get any more sap pumped through. By 8:30 pm we have to give up. Our pipes are iced up. About 60 gallons remains in the collecting tank. Its OK there, but we have to get it out before we can finish collecting tomorrow.

The chain of events: if we had not run out of gas, we would have made it to the building to empty the collecting tank. A dead battery would not have mattered once we were at the building. It would have been several degrees warmer and our pipes would not have iced up. We would have been done by about 6:00 pm.

Today’s count.
350 gallons of sap collected
100 gallons of sap still in the woods.
1 empty gas tank
1 dead battery

The day broke cold, but sunny. It was down to about 20 overnight. We headed into the woods around 9:00 am to boil down the rest of the sap on hand. It was nice in the woods. The sun was warm. A perfect spring day. Visitors stopped by. We talked with them as we worked. Had a batch of syrup ready to come off the evaporator by 1:00 pm. We had to filter it twice. There is a lot of sugar sand this year. Its a little more work to filter it twice, but it does make the syrup crystal clear. Cloudy syrup just doesn’t look nice.

By noon or so the sun had warmed the trees enough to start dripping. But not enough to collect yet. It was too cold over night. The frost is still in the ground too. The big sap runs come when the frost comes out of the ground. But the snow is settling in the woods.

We were hoping to finish up for the day by 4:30 or 5:00. But another batch of syrup came ready. When the hydrometer starts to float we want to get the syrup off the evaporator. So setup for finishing and bottling again. This batch was troublesome. Filtered it twice. But it was still cloudy in the bottles. Ugh. Turned out the bottling pan had a build of sugar sand too. Cleaned that out. Filtered once more. Then bottled again. Took longer. Didn’t complete everything until 7:00 pm. But the storage tanks are empty. Now we wait for more sap.

Today’s count.
27 quarts bottled
75 quarts total
0 gallons of sap
3 visitors

There is a rhythm to boiling sap. Stoke the fire. Bring in wood from the wood shed. Check the boiling and add wood. Check the sap level in the evaporator and adjust up or down as necessary to keep a good boil. Check the sap levels in the tanks. Keep an eye on the evaporator to see if any almost syrup is ready to come off.  Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat.

So we are watching the sap level in the storage tank. We had about 180 gallons to pump in yet from the collecting tank and were watching the storage tank draw down so it we could add it. About the time the storage tank was nearly empty a batch of syrup was ready to come off.  This is normal and usually not a problem. We setup the pump for the storage tank.  Got ready to draw off the syrup. Stoked the fire once more. Now the syrup is ready to come off. Needed to pump more sap into the storage tank so we had enough fresh sap for the evaporator.  Started the pump. Nothing. Checked that values and all connections. Nothing coming through. Meanwhile that syrup must come off the evaporator or it will burn. In the 30+ years we had the stainless steel pans we have never burned them and don’t want to start now. But we can’t take the syrup off until we have fresh sap. Now we have a problem. The sap froze in the collecting tank drain spout. Find a gas torch. Fire it up to warm the pipe. Finally the pipes open enough for the pump to work. But the syrup is getting close. We let the fire die pretty much to hold back the syrup from burning. Finally the pump is moving sap into the storage tanks. Now we can draw off the syrup. But we have to cut it back some with fresh sap because its gotten to far along. The syrup comes off. The pumps are working. But the rhythm of our cycle is shot. All our tasks are out of sync. The fire is low. And we have to start again to establish our rhythm.

And southern Wisconsin got about 13” of snow. We only got a dusting. Welcome to Spring.

Today’s count
400 taps
40 quarts of finished syrup
A dusting of snow

Helped arrived around Noon. Collected 380 gallons of sap today. It will take about 15 hours to boil down that much sap. So tomorrow will also be busy. But snow is also predicted for tomorrow.

Today’s count
400 taps
3890 gallons of sap collected
25 quarts bottled today
34 total quarts of syrup

The weather has been bad for sap the past few days. Cold. North winds. But now its changing. Picked about about 190 gallons of sap today. Looks like there will be about 400 gallons tomorrow. We always expect one big run period and this may be it.

A cold north wind today so not much new sap. Did collect 180 gallons of sap from Friday. And we have some finished syrup today. Not sure how much yet, but should be between 10-16 quarts.