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Record Warmth brings earliest Msple Syrup on our 31 years

by Don 2/8/2024 5:46:00 PM

Temperatures for the last week have remained in the 40s and 50s, setting records in the Minneapolis region. As we added taps and repaired lines each day, we painfully watched the sap pour on the ground at the lower collection tank, until we could install our mechanical releaser and attached vacuum pump. We consistently saw 2-3 drops per second from the majority of taps, not just those on the warm, south side of the tree, which would have been consistent for the early season. 

Our sugar concentration in the sap was 1.8% to 2.1%, quite typical for our sugarbush . We collected sap for 3 days, until we had 2200 gallons . By then, the reverse osmosis machine was installed which removed 75% of the water from the sap, thereby saving 75% of the energy and time to boil the sap into syrup. We cleaned our evaporator one final time by filling it with water and brought it to a roring boil.

We made our first batch of syrup ,a light grade color on February 7th, the earliest syrup has been made  in 31 years.!  The previous years were 2002 and 201- the third week in February!

Many surprises already, and the "regular" syrup season hasn't even started!!

 

SURPRISE START TO 2024 SEASON

by Don 1/28/2024 12:04:00 PM

In 31 seasons of our Maple syrup journey we have never tapped trees in January or seen a week of 40 degrees already. We started tapping trees yesterday because it was so pleasant outside. Of the 300 taps placed so far, approximately 1/4 would drip sap! The unusually warm weather is predicted to last another week so we plan on having our 1000 taps in by weeks end.

We don’t anticipate the actual season to begin yet, but suspect it will be earlier than our previous earliest start of February 18th which occurred in 2002.

We also installed steel platforms at our outside tanks to provide a stable work platform instead of climbing ladders to clean or service tanks. Painting the new structures will be a summer project.

Check back next week for updates or follow our Instagram page      somerskogen_sugarbush

 



 

The season finale!

by Don 4/14/2023 7:39:00 AM

April 13th was the day we threw in the towel on the 2023 season. We were 6 days into a continuous flow of sap but the last 3 were in the 80s which set high temperature records.This melted any remaining snow, took the ice off our lake and began to turn the sap cloudy. The sugar content of the sap dropped from 2+ % to only 1.2%. This is one of the early signs that the season is coming to a close. The sugar sand (niter) more than doubled which plugs the filter press sooner and builds up on he syrup pans. We also found more foaming of the sap. All this adds up the time to “ put a fork in it”! So we did. We actually had quite a good season making 483 gallons of syrup on our 1050 taps.

Now the cleanup process begins.