Peak Sap Collection
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We had a terrific run of sap on March 16th. After a stretch of cold weather, the temperature rose sharply in the afternoon to 14 degrees. Ours trees thawed out in the early morning and the sap started to run slowly around 10am. We checked our pipeline systems for leaks caused by the ice storm last week, and waited for the sap to accumulate in our tanks.
As the afternoon progressed and the temperature increased, the sap started to run heavily and it was pouring from the trees by 4pm. While the substantial warm up triggered sap flow, a significant drop in atmospheric pressure accelerated the flow as well. Pretty exciting to see the tanks filling up! Even better, the sap sugar content had gone up to 2.5% from 1.7%, indicating that the trees were pulling water, sugar and nutrients form the soil and that it would take 33% less sap to make syrup. Yeah!
After concentrating sufficient sap with reverse osmosis, we started boiling around 7pm and boiled until 2am. With abundant sweet sap we made golden grade syrup. Meanwhile, the sap kept pouring through blizzard conditions until freeze up around 3am. We cleaned up the camp, packed the syrup we made and with our tanks full of sap, we went home for a rest at 4am knowing we had a full day ahead of us. After a brief nap, we boiled through the day Tuesday, and cleaned up all the sap making more golden grade syrup, went to a birthday party for our daughter Melanie and then home for a rest.
After the weather, it’s all about pumps! Moving sap from trees to tanks to the evaporator and then into bottles requires many different pumps. Most are powered by electricity, so reliable hydro is a must. There are 23 pumps of different sizes and types in our production processes. Vacuum pumps draw sap through the lines and centrifugal pumps move sap from the woods to the camp. There are specialized high pressure pumps in the reverse osmosis process, a diaphragm pump to move and filter syrup, and a number of other styles in the evaporator and pressure washers.
A maple producer needs to understand how all these pumps work, as well as how to maintain and repair them. A pump failure during a major sap run event like we just experienced, could cause of major loss of production.
We now have ample supplies of golden and amber grade syrup available. The Kettle Boys and Shantymen are here from Friday to Sunday each week. Our trails are open. Dress warmly with footwear suitable for slush and snow and join us for a maple experience!
Photo caption: 2,500 gallons of sap! Can’t put anymore in this tank.