On March 4th we fired up the evaporator for the first time this season. Our sap was concentrated with our RO which reduced the total volume by 75% before we boiled it in the evaporator. All the equipment worked as expected ( actually as hoped!😂)

We made 30 gallons of Amber Rich syrup. I was expecting more of a Dark syrup as about 1/2 of the sap was stored for 10 days in a refrigerated tank. We normally process the sap quickly but the minimal volume obtained early needed to be batched to make enough . We have been walking the woods looking for leaks to repair so that the vacuum can be maintained at the highest level.

were collecting about 3/4 gal of sap per tap, per day. We will be boiling again soon!

After 5 days of cold weather, we quickly warmed up the mid 40’s for 2 days. The first day just thawed things out, but yesterday the sap flow picked up to nearly a gallon of sap per tap! The sugar concentration has now increased from the paltry 1.2% to 2.2% . It will now take 40 gal. of sap to make one gal. of syrup. We have 2 more days of sub freezing temperatures before next week’s warmup back to the 40’s. We should be making our fist syrup next week.

After getting all of our taps in, Peter and I walked the sugarbush to check for leaks and faulty fittings. Since we have the vacuum pump on and the sap flowing we can identify leaks quite readily. After checking the entire sugarbush we were able to get our vacuum up over 25 inches of Hg. This is the highest we’ve achieved in several years!👍💪🏻🇳🇴

 The sap flow started on the 14th and had weak flow. We collected 700 gallons on the 16th. We tested the sugar concentration which was the lowest we’ve measured at only 1.2% sugar. That means it will take about 70 gal. sap to make one of syrup!!! The sugar content will increase as the ground warms up and the roots can send its stored sugar up the tree! (That is our hope!)

With the weather turning colder for the next several days, I processed the sap through the RO and will store it until the next flow. We don’t yet have the volume to start up the evaporator.

Stay tuned!!