250 gallons of sap today. But it was too warm. 65 degrees and no frost over night. A school group came today. First and second graders. About 22 people total. They picked a good day to visit as we collected, boiled and bottled so they got see pretty much the whole operation. We are at 165 quarts now. Slowly climbing toward our goal of 240 quarts. Here is picture of the sugar shack. That’s steam from the evaporator coming out the top of the building.
Another big run of 500 gallons. But this was not as sweet measuring only 2.2 degrees Brix. Typically we expect 2.5 degrees to 2.8 degrees Brix. Sap sweetness is measured on the Brix scale. Brix is a unit measuring the concentration (density) of solids in a sugar solution. 2.5 degrees Brix means that 2.5% of the weight is from sugar and the remaining 97.5% of the weight is from water. Water weights 8 lbs to the gallon. So in 10 gallons sap at 2.5% Brix only 1/4 pound of the total weight is sugar. The rest is water that will get boiled out. When more of the weight is from sugar it takes less boiling to get syrup.
Dripped a little today. But still a cold North wind. There might be enough to collect tomorrow. Weather forecast for the rest of the week is highs about 50 degrees, but no freezing nights. That’s not good sap weather either. Of course the weather forecasts have been wrong much of March already so the only real way to know what the weather is like is to go outside that day and experience it. We did clean the evaporator pans today to be ready for more sap.
Cold last night. Down to 10 degrees. And only about 30 degrees today. No sap. There are now about 31 gallons, 124 quarts, of finished syrup. We should be about half way through the season. We expect about 60 gallons, 240 quarts, of finished syrup during an average season from our 400 taps. So 31 gallons is about half way. Of course, nature has a way of changing things so its never certain how much we will get.
Cold North wind with highs only in the 20s. No sap today. But that’s OK because we needed a chance to catch up. With 970 gallons of sap collected over the weekend we need a little time to boil that through. There are now 113 quarts bottled with another batch still to be drawn off tonight. Here is a picture of Ned firing the evaporator.
A busy day. The trees worked overtime again and dripped all night. This is unusual. Nights cool off and the sap stops flowing, but if it doesn’t freeze at night the sap will drip all night. This afternoon we collected 470 gallons more of sap. Definitely a good two day run. Later this afternoon the wind shifted to the North and clouds moved in. Then the sap stopped dripping. But there is still lots of sap to boil down. In the last 24 hours 52 quarts of finished syrup were bottled. There will likely be another 40 quarts or more in the next 24 hours. Another long night ahead.
Friday evening about 8:30 pm a thunder storm rolled through. Why not. The weather has been really strange so this just adds to it. Ned and Dean were boiling down the days haul of 500 gallons of sap when the storm hit. There is an old saying that thunder over an open woods means more snow is coming. An “open woods” means a woods where the leaves on the tress have not yet come out. So we can expect another snow storm yet!
A good sap flow. It was sunny and in the 40s today. Finally a good weather day. And the trees responded. By noon they were getting full. Called for help — family, friends and neighbors — to start collecting at 1:00 pm. Picked up 500 gallons of sap. The collecting tank pulled by the tractor holds 200 gallons so that meant three trips. Working now to boil it through. If there is more sap tomorrow we will need the storage tanks empty. Not sure how late they will boil tonight, but it will likely be late, or depending on how you look at it, early. Bottled either 9 or 12 quarts today already. And there will be more.
Today was 40 degrees, but snowed all day. Go figure. The sap did start flowing this afternoon. We hope to collect and boil tomorrow. And here is a photo taken last week when we were finishing the tapping in the snow. That’s Karl driving in a spout.
Today was cloudy weather, high only to 30, and snow flurries most of the day. Ned cleaned the evaporator and pans in anticipation of the next run. We usually host tours during maple syrup time for school groups. They get hands-on education of maple syrup production. Each one gets a taste of the whole process from clear, sweet sap to warm, delicious syrup. Check the website for daily updates to see when we are collecting and boiling sap.