MapleAcres

25 overnight.  Sunny and 55 today.  Into the woods by 8:00 AM to work on cleanup.  Pulled all the remaining spouts.  Completed that by 9:00 AM.  Disconnected and drained everything on the R/O so it could dry out during the day.  Brought the R/O back to the farmhouse this evening.   Some people have  big screen TVs in their living room.  We have an R/O.

Got a tank of water.  Filled the flue pan of the evaporator with water and front pan with 2 1/2 gallons of the remaining sap to cook.  Started the evaporator at 11:00 AM.    It took 5 hours to cook those 15 gallons.  Can’t fire hard and only the front pan doesn’t evaporate at the same rate as the flue pan.  All the remaining sap is now cooked to 28 °Baume and in the milk can.  Tomorrow we finish and bottle it.  Looks like it will be around 5 gallons.  More then we anticipated.

Tomorrow we start the day by picking up the buckets and covers from the woods.  They go into the garage for off-season storage.  Then bottle and count up our crop total for the season.

Ice on the puddles this morning so it froze overnight.  Sunny and upper 50s today.  Some trees are still moving sap.  That’s expected.  They are not running enough to collect and we know the sugar content in the sap is weak.

Another milk can bottled today. 27 quarts.  Hoses disconnected from the R/O and the membrane is in the farmhouse for off-season storage.  Tomorrow we’ll bring the R/O to the farmhouse for the off-season too.  Pulled more spouts.  Plan to pickup buckets tomorrow.  Weather forecast to be sunny and 60s.

Pulled more spouts today.  Over half are out.  Emptied the evaporator of sap.  15 gallons remain to cook yet.  Tomorrow get a tank of water and fill the flue pan with water and cleaning solution while cooking the 15 gallons on the front.   Ran 200 gallon of water through the R/O as a final rinse.  Its ready to drain and disassemble for off-season storage.

Windy all day. Started cloudy but cleared by Noon.

The R/O’s had a soap wash Monday and another Tuesday.  Today did a hot water cleaning cycle.  Tomorrow rinse with 200 gallons of permeate and it should be ready for off-season storage.

Fired the evaporator for 1 ½ hours today.  Its easier to cook off sap on the evaporator so fired it up to cook through as much of the sap remaining in the evaporator as we could.  Next drain the back pan and fill with water.  Then cook off the sap while the back pan boils with cleaning solution.

Bottled another milk can of syrup.  About 30 quarts.

Cloudy all day.  About 40.

Started pulling spouts.   Also reviewing how to prepare the membrane for off-season storage.  The documentation that comes with the R/O contradicts itself in some places from one page to the next.

Rained overnight and drizzled during the day.  In the 40s.

Warm again.  About 40 overnight.  Started out sunny.  Up to 60.  Clouds rolled in around 11:00 AM and the temperature dropped to mid-50s.

Into the woods at 8:00 AM.  Back to the farmhouse by 3:15 PM.  Could have been back sooner but worked on getting a 4th batch of syrup off the evaporator.    It was close enough that we didn’t want to leave it and risk it getting to density as it simmered.  That happened last year and we ruined a batch when it crystallized.  Had too slow down firing so as not to burn it.  We were able to get a small batch off.

This syrup has a stronger aroma and is darker in color.  That’s normal.  And some people like the darker syrup or use it for cooking.  The delicate maple flavor will get overwhelmed in cooking with other ingredients. Up to now our syrup was a nice medium amber.  The R/O helps make lighter grades because we can process the sap quicker.

25 overnight.  That was unexpected.  Sunny and warm today.  Up to 60.  The trees gave a small last run.   The sap is not sweet: 1.4 °Bx which is 60:1.  Picked up 230 gallons which will boil down to just under 4 gallons of syrup.  It will likely be darker too, but that’s okay as people like the dark syrup for cooking.

When we emptied the pail we did not replace it on the spout.  Instead we turned it over and set it on the ground to drain and dry.   The pail stays by the tree so we know how many spouts are on the tree.  If we moved the pail its likely we’ll miss a spout and the spout stays in the tree until we notice it while tapping next spring.  The spout doesn’t hurt the tree, but it delays healing the tap wound.

Tomorrow we’ll cook.  Then we get into cleanup mode.  We have enough time this year for cleanup so it won’t be rushed.

Tomorrow is also warm: high 50s.  Then rain is forecast for next week.

Cloudy all day until around 5:00 PM.  Then the sun appeared. Its been a long stretch of cloudy days.  Up to 43 but without the sun it feels cold.  Taps wet, but nothing more.

Into the woods by 7:15 AM.  R/O started by 8:30 AM.  Finished 11:50 AM.   310 gallons.  Finished cooking by 4:15 PM.   Four batches into the milk can.  Back to the farmhouse by 5:00 PM.

No snow overnight.  Well, there was some if you looked carefully.  We had rain.   Not heavy rain, but wet all day.   Tomorrow it starts warming to the 40s and 50s.  With the weak sugar content our season should be over.