Category: 2020: Season 103 Page 2 of 6

Finished all the bottling. 94 ½ gallons total.

Projected total calculated from the sap collected and Brix was 92 gallons. Most likely we under counted sap collected. Here are the calculated syrup totals.

Sap Brix Sap:Syrup Gal Syrup
Mar 2 480 2.5 34.4 14.0
Mar 4 375 2.5 34.4 10.9
Mar 8 650 2 43 15.1
Mar 13 500 2 43 11.6
Mar 17 670 2 43 15.6
Mar 24 470 2 43 10.9
Mar 26 420 2 43 9.8
Mar 30 230 1.5 57.3 4.0
92.0
Every collection was over 200 gallons with two over 650 gallons.

Remaining work:
Get all the buckets and covers in
Clean evaporator, finishing and bottling pans
Clean R/O
Tanks and floor

Back to the farmhouse by 5:00 PM

Used more wood because the first two boils we did not have the R/O working. There is plenty of wood ready to replace it. A complete woodshed full is in the yard waiting to be split and cured.

All the buckets and spouts are down. Want to flush with the hose when we bring them in to rinse out the crud.

Checked the evaporator. Flue pan cleanup looks like it will be easy. Most of the pan already looks clean. Boiling with cleaning solution loosened everything. There are small piles of sentiment from nitre that flaked off on the bottom of the pan. May not even need much scrubbing.

More buckets and spouts down.

27 overnight. Sunny most of the day. Up to 50.

Into the woods by 8:00 AM. The goal was to empty the evaporator and bottle another milk can.

Manged to get the flue pan off and outside without spilling the last of the sap on the floor. A quick rinse then back on the evaporator. Filled a tank of water from the farmhouse while the working on the pan. Filled the flue pan with water and the front syrup pan with the remaining sap. Started cooking.

In past seasons cooking down the last of the sap yielded about 4 gallons of syrup. Ended up with considerably more: about 10 gallons, maybe 11 gallons. The remaining sap must have been very sweet to not need much more cooking By 2:30 PM all sap was in milk cans. Used two milk cans so we had enough room. The finishing pan will hold 15 -20 gallons. But the bottling pan only holds 10 gallons. The plan is to finish it all at once, but use two milk cans when its done and add into the bottling pan as room permits.

We did finish and bottle another milk can.

29 overnight. Sunny all day and 43. Back to the farmhouse by 3:15 PM

Into the woods at 11:45 AM light the burners on finishing pan. Had to change to a new tank of propane. Set us back about 15 minutes. It was 12:00 PM before he finishing pan was going. Bottling by 2:00 PM.

We got the second milk can into the finishing pan before starting to bottle. Lite the burner at 2:35 PM so it would be ready shortly after finishing the first can. Finished bottling by 3:05 PM. The second milk can was ready by 4:00 PM. Finished bottling by 5:15 PM. Clean up done by 5:30 PM and back to the farmhouse.

There is 12 or 13 gallons from the evaporate to cook out. That should give us 4 to 5 gallons of finished syrup. Work on that tomorrow when we bottle again.

Cloudy until 2:00 PM when the sun appeared. Temperature mid 40s.

Emptying the evaporator of the last sap is always a challenge. Have to balance amount of sap remaining in pan so it doesn’t burn, with getting a low level to avoid lengthily cooking on smaller platforms. Achieved a good balance today.

Pondered starting the evaporator or emptying in milk cans to finish in the syrup pan with water in the flue pan. Choose to start the evaporator because it cooks faster. Had a good boil after 45 minutes. Got a batch in the milk can. Then stopped firing. 20-30 gallons remain. Will empty the all reaming sap into milk cans. Fill flue pan with water then cook out the sap in the front syrup pan.

Half the buckets and spout down. Tomorrow we bottle.

50s and sunny today. 35 overnight. Into the woods at Noon. Back to the farmhouse by 4:00 PM.

30 overnight. Sunny at low 50s all day. A big change from cloudy everyone other day we’ve written about.

Into the woods late to take down more buckets. About 1/3 down. No sap in buckets either. Frequently we dump a fair amount. Not this year. Buckets empty. At least we know the sap run is over.

Did not needs boots in the woods today. Snow gone. Mud drying up.

37 overnight. Cloudy most of the day until late afternoon when the sun appeared. Temperature mid 40s. Started pulling taps.

Evaporator should be ready to empty remaining partially cooked sap. Then fill with water to start cleaning. This year we will add our cleaning solution while cooking sap in he front pan. We messed up last season and did not get the pan as clean as we usually do.

Into the woods by 6:45 AM. R/O going by 7:45 AM. 6 Brix. R/O finished by 10:10 AM. Four batches into the milk can.

Slightly different aroma in the syrup building. The maple aroma is mixed with a steamy aroma. Not sure how else to describe. In place of delicate maple aroma is a wet maple aroma where steam mixes more with the maple aroma. This happens at the end of the season. The chemistry of the sap changes. Likely due to a higher bacteria load.

Projecting 90-92 gallons of finished syrup.

Next up: cleanup mode. Cook out the last of the sap in the evaporator. Pull the spouts and get in the buckets. Clean the R/O. Clean the evaporator. We still have three milk cans to bottle.

Originally scheduled to leave April 14. But COVID-19 caused non-essential places to close. Virginia is in a mandatory stay home order until June 10. Should have time for clean up. Then move on to transplant maple trees to the area between the syrup building and the road.

35 overnight. Cloudy, 37, northeast wind all day. Between 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM we had drizzle.

Back to the farmhouse by 2:00 PM.

Into the woods at 2:00 PM to wash tanks and prep for collecting Started at 2:30 PM. Done by 4:30 PM. 230 gallons. Sweetness dropped 1.5 Brix: 57:1. Without the R/O wouldn’t cook it. Should end up with about 4 gallons from this sap.

We loose freezing nights. The season has been 30 days. We should end up with 90-92 gallons.

37 overnight. Cloudy and 47 during the day.

Tomorrow we cook. Should be a short day.