One snow pile in the yard was hanging on. This morning it was small, but still here. By Noon it was gone.
No snow overnight. About 38 overnight. Cloudy again today and 44. Overnight the weather pattern starts to change to more favorable conditions. Tomorrow is 36 for the high and 27 for the low. We’ll see what happens. Don’t expect sap tomorrow, but hopefully be Sunday as the colder weather pattern holds.
35 and thunderstorms overnight. Today cloudy with showers and windy. Up to 42.
Into the woods by 9:00 AM to get syrup on the finishing pan. Discovered a mess in the syrup pan of the evaporator. 
Had a moment of panic as we thought it was burnt. After inspecting and scraping we determined that syrup had crystallized in the pan. On Monday we finished by 11:30 and were back at the house by Noon. We had about 1 ½ inches of sap in the pan. But it was concentrate. And with the heat from the sap and low fire it continued to evaporate to well past the density of syrup. As the fire died the syrup cooled and then crystallized because it was so dense. If there was more heat from the fire it would have burnt the pan. And that would have ruined the pan. Burnt on sugar does not come off and the pan warps when it burns. With warm water and scraping we were able to melt the crystals and remove it. The pan is fine. Not even warped. We were very lucky. This is the closest we have come to burning the pan. We did loose 3-4 gallons of what would have been finished syrup.
By 10:30 AM we had finished syrup in the finishing pan. Started filtering and we could tell something was wrong. It pumped too easily and the syrup looked cloudy in the tube as it left the filter for the milk can. We checked the syrup. It was cloudy. After finishing filtering we checked the filter press. One of filter papers wasn’t correctly aligned. There is a ¾ inch hole on the filter paper that has to align with a corresponding hole on the press plate. We were about half the diameter out of alignment. The syrup did not flow properly though the press. Back into the finishing pan to re-heat and re-filter. We were careful to align everything. This batch was fine. We can’t control the color of the syrup but we can control the clarity by filtering properly.
Getting more windy. Tonight may snow about 1 inch. The weather pattern should change Thursday into Friday. We don’t expect sap right away, but the colder pattern holds over the next 5 days at least. If that doesn’t trigger sap, this season is over.
35 overnight. Cloudy and 48 today. Still looking at a change to a more favorable weather pattern on Thursday or Friday.
Based on the amount of sap we have collected we are at the half crop point. The big run to start the season was the difference.
40 and rain overnight. Cloudy and 52 today. Into the woods by 7:15 AM. Cleaned pans and started the evaporator fire by 8:00 AM. Preped the R/O and started it by 8:10 AM. Cooking hard by 8:30 AM. And done by 11:30 AM. Three hours. 165 gallons. The R/O spoils us by making it much easier to cook.
Experimented the R/O controls. Trying to figure out how to get higher Brix concentrate. Should be able to get 6 or 7 degrees Brix from the R/O.
Its frustrating waiting for the weather pattern to change. March 13th seems to early for the weather to stay this warm, even with the El Nino weather pattern. The forecast is for the weather pattern to change to normal, colder, temperatures by the 17th.
Bottled this morning. 24 quarts and 7 pints.
This afternoon we collected. Not a lot of sap, 165 gallons. But if it stay stays in the buckets it spoils, so get it while we can.
42 overnight. Cloudy today with highs around 50.
There was frost this morning so at some point it froze overnight. But it was up to 60 during the day, about 25 degrees above normal. Too warm. Taps wet and dripping a little but not enough to collect. Tomorrow’s forecast has rain. It Wednesday before he weather pattern changes to more normal temperatures.
Bottled 30 quarts today. Plan to bottle tomorrow too.
25 overnight. That seemed promising. It was not sunny today. Warmed to mid-40s. Taps wet, but not enough to collect today.
Tomorrow we will bottle again.
Done cooking by 1:00 PM. Started at 8:00 AM. We like the R/O working for us.
Only 44 overnight. Sigh. We need colder weather. Tonight may freeze. But warms up the next days again.
45 overnight. Foggy this morning. Then partly cloudy. Up to 55. Too warm. The sap is moving in the trees. If we had a freeze we would have a big run. There is still frost in the ground in the woods.
Into the woods by 9:00 AM to get syrup on the finishing pan. It was ready by 11:20. Filtered and bottled. 30 quarts and 3 pints.
Decided to collect the sap in the buckets. It won’t stay fresh when its warm. Started collecting at 3:15. Done by 5:00. 215 gallons at 2.4 degrees Brix.
Only 42 overnight. Up to 54 during the day. Partly cloudy. A week ago we had 4 inches of snow with blowing and 18 followed by 0 or below for a few days. Forecast is for warm weather for the next few days. But there is still frost in the ground in the woods. That helps us.
Into the woods by 7:00 AM. Cleaned the syrup pan. No nitre or sugar sand. Didn’t really need to clean it, but did as a precaution.
By 8:00 had the fire going. By 8:10 started the R/O. Sap out at 5 degrees Brix. By 10:50 the R/O completed the 225 gallons in the storage tank. Pumped in the additional 85 gallons for the R/O to process. All done by 1:00 PM. Doing a soap wash on the R/O now. Looks like it may be a few days before we get more sap and the membrane should be cleaned if it sits idle.
Back at the house by 4:00 PM. So 310 gallons in 8 hours. Without the R/O it would take 16 hours.
We lost track of how many batches we put in the milk can. 7 or 8. We have 2 full milk cans now for finishing and bottling. Plan to finish and bottle tomorrow.
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