28 overnight. 40 and cloudy today with sun very late. The cold night did cause sap to start dripping but not a bit run yet. Tree pressure at 1 PSI. Not sure what to make of that. Expected higher PSI. A few more freezing nights in the forecast.
36 overnight. Cloudy, breezy and 40 today.
Into the woods by 4:15 PM to dump sap from the buckets. When its 50-60 sap doesn’t keep. Estimate we dumped 50-60 gallons but it didn’t look good. Dumping was the right choice.
Spouts are wet. If we get freezing nights the sap will run again. Tree pressure at -1 PSI.
46 overnight. Cloudy, light rain, some sun, 48 today. Still hopeful for more favorable conditions Friday, Saturday and Sunday give us a final sap run.
44 overnight. 60 today with clouds and some sun around 2:00 PM.
Into the woods at 2:45 PM to start the burners of the finishing pan. Ready by 3:15 PM. Bottled 8 gallons total. We are not all caught up. Two more days of warm weather. We are hoping for one more run.
37 overnight. Cloudy and 55 today. Rain tomorrow into Wednesday. Weather pattern becomes more favorable on Thursday with a return to freezing nights.
34 overnight. 54 and sunny today. Tree pressure at 3 PSI all day. Trees did not drip. We need another freezing night but the forecast for the next several days isn’t promising for sap with clouds, rain and 40s or 50s without freezing nights.
Into the woods by 7:00 AM. Brought over water in the milk can again. Evaporator going by 7:30 AM. Three batches into the milk can. Just over an hour between batches. Not cooking concentrate so this is really good. Cooked at 25 gallons/hour again. Done by 11:45 AM.
When its over 50 the heat when opening the evaporator doors radiates out and hits you hard. When its colder the the heat dissipates before it reaches you because of the colder temperatures.
Thinking back to tapping 400-500 and cooking on this evaporator without the R/O. That was a lot of work.
24 overnight. Sunny and 44 today. Tree pressure up to 12 PSI. Trees dripping. By 5:00 PM pressure down to 3 PSI.
Collect 105 gallons. Sugar content back to normal: 2 Brix.
Successfully bottled today. Frequently the first bottling has problems: filter press hard to pump; cloudy; trouble holding temperature. But this first bottling went smoothly.
Welding repairs on evaporator. Added an angle iron on the back, right side where it rusted through causing the evaporator base to open up and threaten the structural integrity.
Cook tomorrow.
25 overnight. Sunny and 45 today. That’s good for us. Trees dripped. 12 PSI but started dropping after 3:00 PM. Forecast is 27 overnight and sunny and 45-50 tomorrow. Hope to collect tomorrow.
Into the woods by 7:00 AM. Brought water and cleaned the syrup pan. Evaporator going by 7:30 AM. Two batches into the milk can. Done cooking by 11:15 AM.
Shipment of bottles delivered today. We won’t use them this season. Ordered bottles before we decided to scale back. Bottles keep so we have them for next season.
Plan to bottle tomorrow.
8:00 8″
9:00 6.5”
10:00 4.25″
11:00 1.25”
11:15 Done
34 overnight. Sunny, windy, 40 today. All the snow from the other day melted. Went out collecting at 3:30 PM. Back to the farmhouse by 5:00 PM. Sap looked good. Sugar content is dropping. 1.5 Brix today.
Tree pressure was 6 PSI at Noon but dropped to 2 PSI by 4:30 PM. But we got the full run. We need a freezing night again for another run.
Cook tomorrow.
29 overnight. Cloudy and 36 today. Light snow and sleet started by 8:15 AM and continued on and off through out the day.
Into the woods by 6:30 AM. Used the tractor to bring over a milk can of water. Cleaned the front syrup pan. Evaporator going by 7:30 AM. Two batches into the milk can. Done firing by 11:30 AM. Back to the farmhouse by Noon.
Tree pressure up to 7 PSI. Some dripping.
Sap Level In Tank
7:30 10.0″
8:00 9.5”
9:00 7.5”
10:00 4.75”
11:00 2.25”
11:30 0.5”
Noon Done