Any sappers out there?

[Duffman]

Gissert

pushbutton

mpester

I'll take "Who Are Three Guys I've Fished With" for $200 Alex.

[mpester]

But you only work with one of them!

I took the pot off the stove at 220. This photo is at about 217. I boiled a pot of water to see what temperature it was when boiling. It boiled at 211. I was going to stop at 219 but I let it go a degree higher until the bubbles looked more sticky. The bubbles were getting much denser very quickly at that point so I stopped. I was thinking I would rather come up a bit short rather than boiling too much.

[mainbutter]

They say not to put your beer test material back into the fermenter when doing home brew because of bacteria.

Some home brewers do it with no issue, using a properly sanitized wine thief and hydrometer.

But that is off topic a bit from syrup. You're cooking, not fermenting, remove and re-add to the boiling pot as much as you like. At 140*F+ you are killing any living contaminants. You do not need to be as finicky with sanitation when boiling syrup as you do with brewing booze.

[mainbutter]

We finished our second boil of the year, some 17 gallons of sap down to a gallon or so yet to be finished.

The north metro trees were dry today, but produced a very tiny amount yesterday. I bet their season is over.

Our finlayson-area trees were doing today despite not getting below freezing last night. It wasn't furious, but one of our better trees was getting a drip about every 10 seconds. We did get a gallon or more out of a handful of trees up there since Monday.

The snow report has gone from waist-deep to knee-deep at the deepest spots, and many areas are thinner. The thickest snow cover is all in the shade of the forest.

If the snow doesn't all vanish TOO fast and we get some colder weather moving through soon, the season might continue. I just hope we get a couple good days that fill our buckets completely.

[cherokee]

Pulled all buckets today. Another year. That's a wrap.

[pushbutton]

yep, just noticed my trees are budded out, was hoping for a few more days early next week, but it's all over.....well, except for the eating of a lot of pancakes.

[Gissert]

My two silvers in the yard (my test trees) are budded. Going to take a look at the 120 sugar taps I have in tomorrow. With the cold stretch here, I'm going to try for one more run. Wife is finishing a 160 gallon batch of last week's sap today. So far it's looking dark, but not buddy at all.

[mainbutter]

Forecast for 21*F tonight for our trees. We're shooting for one more run also! I work every day, but may try to do a late/overnight boil Monday evening if I get a report of trees producing.

[perchking]

just pushed 90 gallons thru the evaporator, about 3 gallons on the turkey fryer right now. Got to go, I am currently hitting 216

[Gissert]

While I was out of town last week, my wife pulled 160 gallons of cloudy by still sweet sap. Boiled it down to nearly 5 gallons of nice dark amber. Now the freeze is on, hoping for a good run this weekend.

[pushbutton]

While I was out of town last week, my wife pulled 160 gallons of cloudy by still sweet sap. Boiled it down to nearly 5 gallons of nice dark amber.

First off ....how do I get me one of these?

Am curious as to what you "northerner's" run will be like this week after all that warm weather. Keep us posted!!! Live in the land of old oaks with my money trees being silvers, and, as previously mentioned, are kaput. Also have a good amount of box elders that have not budded yet and might monkey around with some.....some more. Usually add about a 10 percent of their reduced sap in the final sap mix for a nice flavor blend; straight up though....it just ain't right But the ice went quick, the sipp is still to cold to chase roughish, the trout streams are muddy, so might have to experiment a little more with the black sheep of the maple family

[mainbutter]

Well the lino lakes taps were running sometime between monday and today because we've got gallons more sap out of each of our test trees! I don't know if it's any good with the temps we had yesterday and monday, but I'm hoping.

I've got extra hopes for further up north based on these test trees just north of the metro.

[pushbutton]

Am learning more and more every year....as most of my BUDDED trees ran tuesday. Not great, but ran none the less. Actually had some natural wound sap sickles form on one tree since it was below freezing most of the day....they were super sweet....so was the sap. As usual, the sunny side was the best......keep us posted on your up north endeavor.

[mainbutter]

Lino lakes trees update: Our test trees are still producing great amounts. This last week kicked out 12 gallons from three trees.

Finlayson area trees update: All buckets are overflowing. One bucket knocked off from wind or other. I have no idea how much they produced, but I need to get hoses running into 6gal jugs next year We only have a bakers dozen trees tapped this year, but with just under 2 gallons from each one, do the math for our sap The trees were dripping 1 drip per second this afternoon.

We'll fight the weather to try to get it all boiled down tomorrow.

[Gissert]

My wife last collected Sunday in advance of the cold snap. I collected yesterday, and pulle 200 gallons off 130 taps. SOme of the 5 gallon jusgs were overflowing. Boiling like mad now. Hopefully we get good flow thru tomorrow - regardless, I'm done come Monday.

[cherokee]

Way to keep at it. This late stuff should be some great tasting syrup.

[Gissert]

Had some this morning. Got the big griddle set up on the camp chef stove in the garage. Hash browns (cooked with lard, of course)sausage and eggs.

I dont want this to end, but the kid wants to go turkey hunting soon.

[mainbutter]

All in all yesterday we boiled down about 40 gals with a second bucket harvest yesterday. I had to head home last night, so I'm eagerly awaiting a report about how much is in the buckets this morning if the trees kept flowing. Overnight temps were predicted to be 39, but the ground is still very frozen with a few inches of snow.

[Gissert]

What a crazy season. Of the 200 gal from Friday, got 175 of that boiled down to 10 gallons of concentrate in the finish pan. Pulled another 210 yesterday. Going to collect one more time today. More sap than I can handle!

[mainbutter]

Anyone still going? With below freezing temps this weekend, the family will be up north and will check the buckets just in case. We collected another 8 or so gallons that are at fridge temps just in case we get some more this weekend. Too bad I have to work

[crawdad]

yes, still running in Duluth. Last weekend was good through Monday, overnight temps going low this weekend.

[mainbutter]

The soon-to-be-faterh-in-law collected and boiled 12 gallons today and said the spouts were dripping It should be another great weekend!