24 overnight. Day started sunny, but by 10:00 AM it was getting cloudy. Up to 40. A few drizzles this afternoon. Rain is forecast for tonight.
Into the woods by 7:30 AM to boil. Started collecting at Noon. We wanted to get ahead of the rain. Picked up 400 gallons. 2.8 brix. Also bottled this afternoon. We now have 53 gallons bottled. There is about 1 ½ milk cans waiting to be finished and bottled.
25 overnight. Sunny and up to 42 today. While the trees were dripping, it was not a big run. That’s unusual. Could mean we are getting toward the end already. We will see what happens tomorrow when we collect. Upper 20s tonight and 40’s tomorrow. But rain is forecast for the afternoon. Longer range, next week it gets colder again.
Boiling sap with the evaporator is a well choreographed dance. You have to get into a rhythm to push the sap through. Bring in wood. Saw or split if necessary. Fire (add wood to the fire.) Check the sap level in the pans. Adjust the flow if necessary. Watch the boil. When it starts to loose its intensity, open the damper fully to allow more air flow. In between, bring in more wood because the fire is always hungry. When the boil looses its intensity the second time, fire again. Repeat until the tanks are empty. In between all of this we have to skim the foam when needed from the evaporator. And check the levels in the tanks. Sometimes we have to pump out a tank too which involves setting up the pump then breaking it down when finished.
You can tell from bubbles in the boil when a batch of syrup is getting close to done. The bubbles are small and golden in color. Then we monitor with the hydrometer. It comes off the evaporator at 29. (Finished syrup is 32.) We have to monitor the fire and sap levels closely when a batch is almost ready. Don’t want the fire too hot, yet we can’t let it die down completely. And the sap level in the big pan has to increase so there is enough to replenish the syrup pan after drawing off.
The draw off is very will rehearsed. Use the fire gloves to take out the siphon out. Its filled with hot sap and you will burn your hands unless using the fire gloves. The fire gloves are then set on a near by chair. The gloves need to be handy and positioned so we can grab them as we walk past to replace the siphon. The milk can goes under the valve on the syrup pan. Before opening the values, close the damper completely to keep the fire intensity down. Also stir the syrup in the pan to bleed off excess heat. When the valve is opened, keep stirring the syrup in the pan to keep a liquid layer on the pan bottom so it does not burn. When the flow from the valve gets low, reach for the brick on a ledge on the wall. Pick up the pan on the side opposite the valve and place the brick under it so it tilts toward the value. While doing this maneuver you have to move fast because you have stopped stirring and a portion of the pan will lack liquid and could burn if not covered quickly with liquid. As the pan empties into the milk can you have to increase stirring. You have less and less liquid to keep the pan covered. At some point you can no longer keep the pan covered with liquid because its just been emptied. Then you reach over with the scoop to add sap to the pan. Two scoops then close the valve. Four or five more scoops then take out the brick to level the pan. The brick goes back on the ledge on the wall so you know where it is next time. Now move the milk can away from valve and replace its cover. Change gloves. Regular gloves off, then pick up the fire gloves (positioned on the nearby chair earlier) as we walk around the smoke stack to the other side of the evaporator to replace the siphon. Back to the front of the evaporator so we can fire again. The fire has gone down and needs more wood to get the intense boils back. Open the damper. Then its back to the regular fire, watch and monitor cycle.
You have to be agile, mobile and have stamina because you do this for 8, 10, 12, or 14 hours at a time when boiling.
Long day. Got back to the house at 2:30 AM this morning after cooking since 6:45 PM in the evening. The up at 5:30 AM and back into the woods by 6:30 AM to continue cooking. Pushed through 400 gallons in 24 hours. On a roll boiling last night: every 1 ½ hours a batch of syrup was ready on the evaporator. Time goes quickly when when drawing off that frequently. Bing in wood. Skim. Fire a few times and a batch is ready. A bright moon all night too.
Down to 22 overnight. Up to 42 during the day. Sunny. But not a strong sap run. We did collect 275 gallons today. But given the weather expected more. Its good there wasn’t more because we need to catch up on cooking. About 500 gallons of sap is on hand in the tanks now.
One milk can is completely full of syrup we drew off last night. A second is ¾ full. We need to figure out a time to bottle.
27 overnight. 42 and sunny during the day. The trees responded. A perfect day in the woods. We picked up 600 gallons of sap. Started the evaporator after collecting, about 6:45 PM. Cooked late into the night because we expect more sap tomorrow. All tanks were full and we needed to empty some to make space in the tanks. Sap at 3 brix.
We had puddles today from melt. Except for the rain earlier in the month we have not seen puddles like this. Mid 20s overnight. Up to 40 today, but cloudy. Still after 1:00 PM the melt appeared. Checked the buckets around Noon. The trees were starting to drip with 1 qt – 3 qts in the buckets. If freezing was forecast we would have collected while its liquid. But tomorrow is forecast for sunny and 40s with lows in mid 20s overnight: we like that. Should be a good pick up tomorrow.
Cold North wind today. Up to 34 or so. The sun appeared late in the day. We are still waiting for the promised warm up.
We did bottle today what we drew off yesterday. 6 gallons 3 quarts. That gives us 36 gallons and 3 quarts for the season. We are happy with that so far, but awaiting a return to 20s and 40s: freezing nights and sunny days so we get some good sap runs.
About 25 overnight. Up to 34 today. Cloudy and windy. But the sun did make an appearance late in the day. The wind was actually causing the snow to drift. The wind came out of the north across the 80 acres of open field and picked up the snow and blew it. On the 24th of March.
Boiled today. Into the woods by 8:00 AM. Cleaned the front syrup pan. It was frozen after a week of no use. Put it on the gas burner to thaw out. By 9:00 AM the fire was going. The sap from yesterday tested a 4.3 brix. That is very sweet. Of course some of the sweetness results from the ice we dumped out. Took four batches of syrup off the evaporator. Every two hours again. By 5:30 PM we were back in the house.
The weather forecast still calls for a warm up starting Tuesday. We should get 40s and 20s which is what we have been waiting for.
About 15 overnight. Cloudy all day. What happened to the sun? It reached 38 but without the sun it takes too long to warm to get a good run. The past four days we had sun which warmed the trees but the air temperatures were too cold for sap run. We were expecting sun today and hoping for good run. Still this afternoon there was liquid in the buckets along with a lot of ice. We went out to collect. Empty the ice and pickup the sap that is there. Picked up 150 gallons of sap. And the buckets are ice free so if we do get a warm up later in the week we are ready.
Further south trough central Illinois , Indiana, and Ohio and into West Virginia they are having a snow storm. 12” of snow.
It was 4 degrees this morning. This is February weather. Sunny during the day and up to 32 or 33. The sun is warm. The trees did warm up later this afternoon and tried to drip. Its not supposed to be single digits tonight. And up to mid 30s tomorrow. Maybe we get a run.
The recent past seasons we have had concerns about warm weather so this year is unique. We never know what mother nature will give us.
Down to 15 last night. Sunny, 31 today. Our weekend warm up has been scaled back. Not sure what will happen but hoping its warm enough for a sap run. The March sun is warm and wants to thaw and melt. But the surrounding air is cold.
Into the woods to pickup the syrup we bottled yesterday. Noticed the “snow hats” on the covers we gone. Monday’s snow left about 4” of snow on the pail covers, like hats. It was still there yesterday. But the warming sun must have finally warmed the covers enough to let the snow slide off.
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