It has been a cold spring, even by Wisconsin standards. We have not even had 'fool's spring' yet. The cold weather has not been kind to maple syrup producers in Wiconsin. Based on the Facebook group I follow, there are many reports that suggest a down year.
The barrel stove built for Year 2 has continued to be a big improvement over a campfire. For Year 3, we continued to try new improvements. Since we started tapping trees in the middle woods, we bought a 35 gallon plastic tank. It rides out to the woods in the back of the pickup. It is hard to believe we now collect enough sap to warrant a tank instead of buckets.
This year, I bought a reverse osmosis (RO) unit, which removes some of the water in the sap and reduces boiling time. With two passes through the unit, I can reduce the amount of liquid to boil to 25 percent. Out of 4 weeks the taps were in, one week produced 6 gallons of sap, which I boiled without using the RO unit, and one week we got less than a gallon, which was frozen solid and was left in the pails. Week 3 brought a nice run, with 35 gallons of sap, and the final weekend produced 20 gallons of sap. With the RO unit, I was done boiling by early afternoon, much earlier than last year.
The other improvement I tried was a homemade vacuum filter. The jury is still out on this one. I was not able to draw the sap through the filter very well. After watching a few YouTube videos of other homemade builds, I think my problem is a combination of an insufficient seal and too small a vacuum with my little rummage sale shop vac. Back to the drawing board for next year. I hope it is something I can fix, because filtering continues to be the least fun part of the process.
The grand total for this year is a gallon of syrup Last year, I made a gallon and a quart and a half-pint. Next week's weather called for more cold temperatures, which did not sound promising. With other things to do and already 4 weeks of tapping completed, it was time to throw in the towel and pull the taps. This was easier said than done, because it was too cold to do a final wash of equipment outside - the water froze in the pails. I ended up putting the pails in the basement for the day to thaw them out for cleaning.
The reduced boiling time producd a lighter colored syrup this year, with a more delicate taste. The last improvement for 2022 was the purchase of actual maple syrup bottles from Smokey Lake. The syrup looks cuter in the fancy jars, although we still used a few mason jars since they are easier to reuse. It was a down year, but at least we have some syrup. The cost of everything has been rising this year, and based on this sugar season, the cost of maple syrup will be going up as well.
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