MapleAcres

From the sap collected and Brix we can project the amount of finished syrup. The projected finished syrup was 39 gallons.

We actually made 42 gallons so we either under counted sap collected or under counted the Brix of the sap. Or a combination of both.

42 gallons is 334 pints giving us 1.65 pint/tap.

Syrup yield is usually expressed in pounds/tap. We think that is left over from when maple sugar was the primary product and producers were paid by the pound for sugar.
1 gallon of syrup is 11 lbs
1 pint is 1.375 lbs (11/8)
1.375 lbs/pint X 1.65 pint/tap = 2.26 lbs/tap = 2.3 lbs/tap

Syrup producers on vacuum typically get between 5 lbs/tap and 6 lbs/tap.

Need to clean the evaporator, finishing and bottling pans yet. Hope to complete cleanup this weekend. The season isn’t over until all cleanup is done.

Starting labeling bottles. Hope to complete before returning to DC.

Into the woods by 5:00 AM to bottle. Cleaned up while the syrup was finishing. Returned unused wood back to the woodshed. Took down the pipes to the storage tanks. The heat gun failed and we couldn’t remove two hoses from the R/O. Fortunately all the major hoses were already removed.

Started bottling at 7:15 AM. 4 gallons and 3 pints. That gives us 41 gallons and 3 quarts total for the season. Round up to 42 gallons. If we had 500 buckets out we would have over 100 gallons for syrup.

Still some cleanup to finish. In the end, it was a good season. When you do any type of agricultural activity, you better be an optimist.

Back to the farmhouse by 8:00 AM.

Disconnected R/O hoses this morning. Late this afternoon disconnected remaining hoses and took out the membrane and brought it back to farmhouse. The R/O is draining now. We’ll bring it into the farmhouse in a few days.

Plan to bottle tomorrow.

Snow started around 4:00 AM. No accumulation but everything is white again. Changed to rain around 1:00 PM.

Into the woods by 8:00 AM. Snow still forecast to start before dawn tomorrow morning. Wanted to get all the buckets and covers in because they don’t need to get wet again. Completed by 9:30 AM.

28 overnight. Cloudy this morning with sun and 42 after Noon.

Into the woods by 7:15 AM. Emptied the evaporator. 15 gallons of sap to finish. Took off and rinsed all the pans. Filled the flue pan with water and cleaning solution while the front syrup pan cooked the remaining sap. Pumped water from the R/O holding tank in the pans in place of getting a tank of water from the farmhouse. Saved time. Started the evaporator by 11:00 AM. Done by 4:00 PM. Should yield about 3 gallons of finished syrup putting us close to 40 gallons for the season.

Took down the remaining spouts and buckets. Hope to pick them up tomorrow because tomorrow evening an inch of snow is forecast.

The third wash of the membrane left clean water in the wash tank indicting the membrane is clean.

We also bottled 8 gallons and 1 pint. We have 37 gallons bottled so far.

Cold today. Cloudy. Windy. Temperate started at 34. Up to 42 but with the wind it felt colder. Forecast is 24 tonight.

Back to the farmhouse by 4:15 PM.

Cold this morning. Wind chill in the 20s. Sunny and 40s during the day. Into the woods by 3:45 PM to take down buckets. All the buckets north of the building are down.

Running a third membrane wash this evening. That should get it clean enough. We’ll have it professionally washed at an equipment dealer again after the season.

Bottle tomorrow. And work on emptying the evaporator. Back to the farmhouse by 5:00 PM.

Into the woods at 2:00 PM to bottle. Had the propane tank filled on Monday. It was still 2/3 full. Can’t figure out why we didn’t get propane at the burner on Saturday. But it worked today. Bottled about 8 gallons. 29 gallons for the season so far with another milk can of 8 gallons yet plus what’s in the evaporator.

While waiting for the syrup to finish, we took down 13 buckets. Symbolic, but signals the season is over. Freezing nights are forecast for this weekend, but sap has moved in the trees. Sap in the buckets now looks bad. We’ll dump it.

Back to the farmhouse by 6:00 PM.

Cloudy. Rainy. 50s. No woods work today.