Notes on the 2023 Maple Syrup season

The last taps were pulled on April 15th, 2023.  Here are a few notes on this season:

1) 272 liters (68 distilling sessions) (about 72 gallons) were boiled

2) had 6 breaker trips or about 10 percent of the time, that is too many, need to follow up on measuring the water output

3) only processed sap above 2 percent sugar concentration, the refractometer worked OK but it was a hassle to use in the cold - need to look at quicker/easier (electronic?) measurement of sugar concentration

4) the sweetest sap was from trees to the west and north, older, larger trees were better than younger/smaller trees

5) the new taps were better than either the original black ones or the clear ones, easier to pull

6) still need to get busy and finish boiling the syrup and canning

7) decided to skip birch sap this year, too much trouble

8) it is really nice to take a break from the boiling, the distiller fan is quite noisy, have about 2 months of distilled water

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm