Well the trees budded out this week and we had perfect sap weather. Oh well. The warm first two weeks negated a spectacular finish to our syrup season, and we still had a great season. We pulled buckets today and collected 450 gallons from 1500 buckets, with 500 more to pull tomorrow. Our syrup count is at about 600 gallons. Tomorrow we will do the final cook.
For those who may not know, one might ask, “How do I get the last of the concentrated sap out of my evaporator with no sap in the feed tank?” Well the answer is an easy one. If you have a source of fresh water, fill your feed tank with plain water and start the evaporator . The tap water will “chase” the concentrated sap all the way through the evaporator. Now you may think that it would dilute the sap, but it does not. We generally get most of it out. When it is all out, I add the Roth Pan Cleaner and let it sit overnight and the next morning I drain and rinse the pans and they look like new.
Be thinking about your equipment needs for next year, this is the time that CDL will soon be announcing their big sale. Last year it was 23% off list price on everything that CDL made. I will keep a sharp eye out and post on my blog and website when this happens.
I hope you had a safe and excellent season. We now can all rest a bit.
Don