Maple report

michiganfarmer · #1 03/27/06, 11:00 AM

I had 300 gallons of sap friday at 2 pm. I emptied the storage tank. By 7pm there was another 300 gallons. My evaporator will only boil 300 gallons per day. I had 750 gallons more by sat afternoon. Sunday morniing the 1500 gallon tank that I have all my tubing going into was full. I could never boil all that before it goes bad because I have to work mon-fri, so I sold 1200 gallons sunday. The tank was empty at 2 pm yesterday. The sap is running hard now. I expect to see another 1000 gallons of sap in the tank when I get home tonight. I am going to buy a reverse osmosis machine next year so I will be able to process all the sap, and wont have to sell any. A reverse osmosis will take 40 gallons of tree sap that averages 2% sugar, filter out most of the water, and give you 12 gallons of sap with 10% suger. Ive made 35 gallons of syrup so far, and should have another 5-7 gallons by 10 pm, or midnight depending on when I call it quits for the night. My dad and my wife are boiling for me right now untill I get home from work

MELOC · #2 03/27/06, 07:49 PM

i had a two day warm spell that shut down all of my taps. that was about two weeks ago or 10 days at least. i redrilled 4 taps and i had some sap but i think i may only retap a few more for a final batch.

it was a good learning experience. i need a sugar shack, a holding tank and an evaporator pan. if i increase the volume maybe i could afford to process through a filter press. it was hard to filter my 15 gallon batches that yeilded only a couple pints of syrup. i never tried felt as i couldn't find any. i could triple my taps next year if i have more evaporator capacity. if i have more to work with i can handle more waste.

i have to say i was pleased with the results using mostly red maples. i was even pleased with the silver maple even though it made more sediment.

Timeless Rogue · #3 03/27/06, 07:52 PM

Don't know how long it will last 'cause the temps are s'posed to run right up to the upper 50's here but at the moment I'm averaging three gallons per day per tree. Sure hope it continues for a bit ...

seedspreader · #4 03/27/06, 08:14 PM

great flow here today.