Otsego County 2011

[Brian Ryther]

This is it. First 150 taped in today. The snow is DEEP and makes for slow moving. A few south facing taps were wet. Had a visit from doocat and Rus Flint today. Great to meet bolth of you. The 10 day forcast does not show of any promising runs, but I do not always count on the weather man. It was going to be a low of 10 last night but we hit -14 this morning. They only missed it by 24 degrees. It is also going to take a long time to tap in. I am hoping to get a chance to to do major leak detecting before the first run. My prediction, this is going to be a average year, for gravity, and a huge year for me.

[PATheron]

Brian- Changed my mind yesterday and started tapping last night. Better do a good job and pull out all your tricks becouse your going down and your going down HARRRRRDD!!! Ill give you a tap count tonight. Slow going. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Day two. 630 taped in to date. This morning was ok going. After lunch it started raining and made the 2+ feet of snow wet and heavy. Yes Theron I will go down hard, tonight around 9pm it will be hard to keep me awake.

[PATheron]

Brian- Tapped today too. Got in between 6-700. Were neck and neck. Gotta Wannnnn it. Looks like next week it might run some but Im not sure with all the snow and that. What you think? Theron

[Brian Ryther]

MONDAY!! Tomorrow is make it or break it day. Forcast is for 37 degrees with a low pressure system in place. We will get the much needed first run sap to rinse the ro and if we are lucky sweeten the pans. Vac pump goes on monday, 8am. This a race for the first gallon.

[Brian Ryther]

Another good day. 500 more in for a total of 1100 in so far. It was even harder to get around today. The rain last night made for a not so nice crust on top of the 2" of snow.

[PATheron]

Brian- Im staying home and starting my pump tomarrow too. Im not letting you get ahead of me. Im at exactly 1300 and some taps in the trees. You know how I am on precise numbers other than full syrup barrells. Trees on the ridge were all wet today. Maybe it will run a little. What you think? Theron

[Randy Brutkoski]

You are right Bryan. It was my 1st day tapping and it was hell. Snowshoes didnt work in this snow today. The holes were even running on the north side of the trees today which I thought was kind of wierd being this early.

[3rdgen.maple]

I should have tapped in my vac bush mid last week. If the weathermen got it right the first time I would have. Been sap temps since thursday and tomarrow as well then cold front. Oh well maybe we will get atleast one more run before the seasons over lol.

[Brian Ryther]

Put in the last 300 to finish off the east side of the valley today. I will begin the west side tomarrow. It did not get out of the thirties today so I did not see any wet tap holes yet. Trees are still nice and frozen. I am cinda glad it did not run today. I am far from being ready to handel the sap. It might be a little hard to run the ro from Swanton. Randy, I can't belive that you are already getting wet holes. It must be the bark sap. I did not bother running the vac pump. I know of 4 leaks that need to be fixed before I even turn it on. With out a warm up within the next few days I will continue to concentrate on tapping in. I hired my neighbor to snow blow an acess to a couple of remote tanks tomarrow. The snow is two deep and heavy to plow in the feilds. Theron, was there any sap to the south of me today? Did you suck the ice right out of the trees?

[PATheron]

Brian- Heres the low down at Pierce and Sons. Started the pump this morning but it was pretty cold. Warmed up this afternoon and most of the holes I was drilling were wet to running a little sap. I think if we get the temps next week they say it will run. Fixed a couple humdinger leaks in the woods and had 25 inches on the pump till it completely thawed out then some leaks showed up. Had probly 10 gallons of nasty sap come into the releaser. Gonna let the pump run till morning then shut it off. Tap count right now right at around 1700 and Im going to tap steady till this weekend. Gotta go back to work tomarrow so can only tap evenings. Gonna try to have close to 4000 in by first of next week. Just like a famous sugarmaker once said (Parker) Gotta Wannnnnnn it! Theron

[Randy Brutkoski]

I only had a couple of hours before dark but i got another 150 in. And the trees were running today too. It did get up to 36 degrees today. Still really slow going in the woods. Finally got to one of my big tanks for that bush today. But it took a Payloader to get to it. 2 to 3 feet of snow is starting to become a major inconvienience. Some of the back roads are shrinking and becoming 1 way roads because of the snow banks. Another 6 inches of snow tonight, Yeah!!!!!

[Brian Ryther]

250 for today. Up to about 1,700. The most productive part of today was getting the sugarbush roads snow blown. I will be able to get to the tanks on Monday to empty them. Short term plan is to have all cv vac taps taped in by Saturday afternoon. Sunday, pumps get turned on for leak patrol, and water test boil evap. Monday, make maple syrup.

[PATheron]

Brian- Were neck and neck. I think Im still in the 1700s too. Ive got bad news for you though. I shut the pump off this morning and tested the sap in the releaser. 2.5 and I think it was from my small cull trees. The bacteria migration might get me in the end but I think theres going to be a lot of syrup barrells full before it takes me down. Gonna have to kick in the afterburners and strap in the nightlight to stay ahead of you. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Theron, you have a huge head start on me. You are up to .00588 gallons of sap per tap. I don't know how I am ever going to catch up? You might have enough sap to fill the evap feed line now.

[Brian Ryther]

2K as of today. Off to VT for the night to pick up RO and get rid of the last of the 2010 syrup.

[Randy Brutkoski]

another 250 taps in today. Bryan where are you going to get your R.O?

[PATheron]

Brian- You pulled ahead of me Im at probly 1900 or so. You better put the hammer down becouse this weekend Im going to get SERIOUS about tapping. Theee(drillin anything that gets in my way)rooon, almost tapped a bitternut hickory today.

[PATheron]

Brian- Think Im in the 2100 range. Tapped before and after work today. Got up at 0400. Taking tomarrow off. Im only sleeping and eating enough to sustain life now. Tapping as soon as I wake up. BIGSAP!!!!!!! Im pulling out all my tricks.

[Brian Ryther]

900 miles in 30 hours. 2010 syrup is gone, Bascoms. New ss barrells. Expanded RO, Lapierre in Swanton, and all of the little things needed to make syrup. It is too cold to work outside this morning (-18.) Going to make candy for Lyons club pancake breakfast in Cooperstown Saturday and Sunday. Theron, Keep tapping theose bitternut hickories. They are good for the averages, and flavor. Forecast is looking better and better for the latter part of next week.

[PATheron]

Brian- 2450 taps. My side of the road is done. Ive brought in reinforcements for this weekend. You were starting to crowd me and I was getting worried. Theron

[maplecrest]

come on theron, i have 4000 drilled.

[Brian Ryther]

What a strange weather day. Wind, snow, sun, cold, warm, and everything inbetween. 2400 in. 100 to go for the vac systems. Then trying to rember where all of the problem spots are and fix them. Should be ready for this weeks promising weather forcast. Theron, are you going to stop drilling when it starts running this week. It is not looking good for you. How do you plan on chasing leaks when you are still tapping. This is begining to look like low vac Pierce and Sons = low sap count. If you had started in January you might have been ready on time.
Jeff how meny do you expect to have this season?

[maplecrest]

brian put in 800 more today alot of critter problems makes slow going. 4800 in shooting for 10000.if the weather holds. thurs fri and sat are making me uneasy.might have to stop tapping.

[PATheron]

Brian- You just keep talking smack Ill get it done eventually. I do need to stop tapping for a little to get some stuff built and get leaks good but Ill get them all eventually. Theron

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Come May Theron won't have any leaks!

[Brian Ryther]

Vac all taped in. 99.9 known leaks fixed. Sap began running @4pm. Boil Tomorrow???

[Brian Ryther]

06:00 Releasers set. 08:00 Vac turned on. 08:10 vac levels 5". 10:00 vac levels 25". Decent run day. About 1/2 gal per tap. I am going to let the sap sit in the tanks and freeze tomorrow. This will give me a much needed day to finish plumbing the ro, water boil the evap. and finish cleaning sugar house tanks. I am exhausted.

[doocat]

Brian,
You have been busy since I dropped off that tank. Ii only have 1300 in and running on 18" until I have a day for leak patrol. The other bush will be tapped tomorrow and Wed.
Hope to boil towards the end of the week.

Nice to meet you sorry I had to rush out but the girls were in a rush.

Craig

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Brian,
Get some sleep man, probably your last chance for the next week! We had a nice 24 hour thaw here and going to go back below zero tonight. Lowered snow level in the woods to ease things up on this old man. May be able to walk on top tomorrow. I need another 5 days to be all ready and another 6 to tap. Hope it stays cold for a bit longer.
Doug

[Brian Ryther]

Craig, if you turned on ther pump and got 18" then you are in pertty good shape. If found today that with bolth pumps the difference between 15" and 25" was 3-4 leaks. It does not take much to kill levels.
Doug, you have not begun tapping? It looks like things are going to freeze up tight this weekend into March. If you are not taped in by tomarrow then work for the next thaw.
I am not one to turn off pumps, but I just went out and killed them. Releasers are dry and we are looking at a low of 9 tonight. Tanks are 1/2 full, I figure around 1200 gal. Just enough to sweeten the pans. I think it will keep just fine with the 24 hr cold snap. By the time the tanks are full on Wednesday they should be thawed out enough to drain.

[PATheron]

Brian- We ran yesterday and today kind of straight through. It seems like a typical early run with not a lot of volume. I havent gone back out lately but maybe got 2000 gallons to 2500 gallons over all that time on close to 3000 taps. Sugar I think is thin. Probly the sap in the trees. It did seem like they all want to start running and the snow is melting back from the trees. Im alternating between tapping and leaks and got most of the heavies. Im running 23" on the 3000 with what I know is a big leak somewhere but so much wind today it was a nightmare hearing anything. Doing a lot of sugarhouse work too pretty shot. Slept 4 hours last night. Gonna try to tap a lot tomarrow if I dont have to do other things while its froze up and really hit leaks Wednesday. Theron

[doocat]

I don't turn pumps off until sap stops in the spring. Maybe foolish but then I can't blame myself for missing anything.
Hopefully it is only a few leaks to 25 but we will see.

[Brian Ryther]

Spent all day in the ro room. Expansion kit took up a lot of room, ro room is way to small. Had to re do everything. Still have a few more welds to do in the morning before the trees thaw out. I was glad to have the day off from leak patrol. Back at it tommorow.

[PATheron]

4000 taps in by morning Id say. Then going to hook up the releaser across the road so I can put the 1000 on over there and then I think I can spend all day on leak patroll and get a good 4000 tap baseline. Still working in the shed but almost done. Lots to do. Looks like some good running next two days. Fun to see how much sap we get. Hope you get tons Brian. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

This is better then christmas for a 5 year old. The anticipation is killig me. We are all in for huge sap by the end of the week. I am almost looking foreward to the the weekend freeze up. Lots of miles ahead of us on leak patroll in the next few days.

[PATheron]

Brian- Looks like its going to run the next 3 days straight then its going to cool down and next week be marginal. The good thing is the warm up will get rid of the snow and then the 30s next week may run a lot more sap than we think especially if we get all these leaks fixed now. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

There is nothing a vac pump can do about a south wind. Got up to temp around 11am today. Sap was gushing into the releasers. 1pm, drip, drip. It must have been the frozen sap in the lines I saw coming in. South wind killed the sap today. I was able to do a water boil in the evap and get enough hot h20 to clean tanks and barrells. Better luck tomorrow.

[Brian Ryther]

25" and I earned every on of them today. Miles of leak patrol paid off. Sap is running hard now. Took the better part of the day to kick in. Did get to see the wet frozen and the dry run hard this morning. RO is washed out and saw some sap concentration. @ 11% it was putting out 1000gph. Awsome. Boil tomo am after 5am collection.

[PATheron]

Brian- Coming up to speed right behind you. Kind of like a big block, not that great off the line but building up speed slow and steady. Still tapping, Hope to hit 4800 today. Got at least 6000 gallons of sap right now Id say. Gonna boil this morning. Still hooking up ro's and still have to fix tons of leaks. Been compromising between leaks and tapping. Running 22 inches right now everywhere even the remote bush thats 3000 ft away. Once Im done tapping that in today then tomarrow nothing but leaks then Ill have it. Gonna try out all the equipment today. A little apprehensive about the evaperator. Pretty excited though. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

5am gather reviled one tank full, and one tank with no vac and 1/2 full. After gathering I started up the ro. After a few hundred gallons one of the hp pumps died. So running on one hp pump I am still able to put out 900 gal @ 8%. Hope to see the Lapierre tec rep this week. Fired up the evap to find how well clean pans boil. After sweetening the pans I was able to draw 5 gallons of dark amber. That is what you get when you sit on sap for 5 days. But I must say that it is the best maple flavor I have EVER tasted or smelled. The sugar house smells awsome. I gathered again this evening and am ro'ing it now. I will gateher again in the am then boil before the deep freeze sets in.

[Brian Ryther]

First steam of 2011

[doocat]

Brian, Hey nice tank in that Dodge truck....

We have gathered about 5000 plus gallons and will start cocking today..A folly of small problems over the last two days set us back a little...

Vaccum down on one bush last night after the wind kicked up so will have to try to find that.

[Brian Ryther]

docat, that tank is working out perfect. It is the right size for the truck.

I collected just in time this morning. Valves were begining to ice up. I stayed just ahead of the ice all morning. Made another 30 gallons of dark amber. Then drained every thing I could while the deep freeze sets in for the next week. I am having a hard time with the new evap feed tank. I can not figure out when to stop adding wood. I have had to take wood out of the fire box bolth times i boiled.

[Brian Ryther]

I wanted the day off but I was too un settled about the cold weather and the flue pan. I lit a small fire to thaw the pans, then pumped the flue pan up to the feed tank. I feel better about the feed tank freezing then the flues. While I was thawing the pans I changed the gear pump on my filter press. One less thing to wory about going bad during the season. I might start walking lines to find what caused the massive vac loss during the wind storm / freez up Friday night.

[PATheron]

Brian- Where we at on averages. I think Ive made roughly 50 gallons and sweetened my six by 14 on 44 or 4500 taps? Whos winning so far. I think your beating me. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

.011GPT Theron - .014GPT Ryther. Too close to call. Low sugar is the compliant of the year so far. I am in the 1.75 brix range. I have heard some producers near me in the 1.0 range. So does that mean you have less than one hour boiling on the new evap?

[Randy Brutkoski]

I thought my 1.4% was bad.

[PATheron]

Brian- Im almost done tapping, be done this weekend. Then set up a couple pumps and releasers and Im established. If I get my high pressure pump friday then I should be able to blast through sap fast so I can stay in the woods. Next week is Operation Tighten Up. Then Im going to be able to sit back and just work on calculating my averages hopefully. I think you could be in big trouble. Your only hope is the other day when it was running the power went on and off about 18 times one day so you probly have the bacteria on your side but you better hope they work fast becouse there is going to be BIGTIME SH&^ASTROPHE SAP COMING MY WAY FIRST WARM SPELL. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Trickle run today. Strong sun, but -8 last night made the thaw out slow. So cold last night RO room was 32.0 when I got there this morning. Had to put in a second heater to boost the heat. New ss pipe line is conducting the cold right into the ro room. Lapierre tec rep Lars paid me a visit this morning to trouble shoot the down hp pump. He was able to find a loose wire at the start stop button. Should have I been able to find the problem? Maybe. Was it my problem to find? Not. As I have commented before, Chris at the Maple Guys delivers the best customer service in the maple industry. He stood behind servicing the product when the Lapierre tried passing the buck. It is too bad that Lapierre has only one service tec in the US. 5 hours each direction to find a loose wire. I am just glad it did not happen two weeks from now when the whole maple region is in full swing. Tomorrow is a big ?? 38 degrees rain/snow with a south south east wind. Lets hope for the best.

[Brian Ryther]

Sap ran hard today. From 1:30 pm to about 3 pm. Then it shut down for no reason. I did get one side of the valley up to 26.5". Found a few good leaks. Looks loke Monday is our next window. Pumps will stay on tonight. Maybe when the weather front moves tonight the sap will move out of the trees.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Lars was at my house 2 days ago setting up the plumbing for my R.o. Nice guy.

[Brian Ryther]

While on leak patrol yesterday I found a base tee that had a micro leak around the barbs. I isolated the lateral line with a pair of needle nose pliers. I then cut the tee from the drop line and the lateral line. The drop line was still attached to the stubby and CV and still firmly inserted in the tree. While attaching the new tee to the lateral line noticed that I was able to hear the drop line producing a faint hissing. This went on the for the 3-4 minutes until I connected it back to the base tee. What I heard was the CV letting a micro leak of air back into the tree. What I conclude from this observation. see next post

[Brian Ryther]

Having a little trouble with posting on the trader to finish my last post.
It was a good run day. I collected a little early, around 4pm, it was still running. Brought home 1500 gal of 2.0%. Once I pushed through the old syrup I moved from dark amber to border line light amber. aprox 65 gal ytd.

[Parker]

What was your conclusion?

[Brian Ryther]

What I conclude from this observation. 1. The CV although not perfect is effective.

[Brian Ryther]

2. Because of the duration of the repair and constant back flow into the tree the tree itself is a vessle that as a whole is under vacuum.

[Brian Ryther]

3. Therefore it is especially important to have constant vacuum, all of the time. Freeze, semi thaw, weep flow, warm and no flow. If the vacuum is removed from the system before the tree is frozen solid it will return to atmospheric pressure by sucking air, sap bacteria back into the tap hole.

[Parker]

Probabley to get 100% of the sap possibel you are right,,,but just c.v's and leaving your vac. on till the releaser is frozen is a step in the right direction IMHO....I wonder how much bacteria gets back into the tap with a small backflow like that?

[Brian Ryther]

Parker,
Probaly not much. But how much bacateria does it take to begin drying out a tap hole? And doesn't one bacateria lead to meny bacteria? When we gat a cold snap around the fourth of July I want to be able to turn the pump on and make some syrup.

[Brian Ryther]

I finaly got this years major problem fixed. The HP pump on my ro broke it's shaft. So after 10 hours of driving and hours of phone time and 5 hours of repairs Lapierre finally fixed the problem. It is now time to make syrup.

[doocat]

A couple of years ago I visited with a producer in Vermont that had 20,000 taps. He showed me around, drove up through his bush, and talked about what they do with vacuum. He told me vacuum on when you tap and off when you pull taps. Seems like alot of $ but it really has not been bad. We made quite a bit of syrup last year without the weather so I feel it works....we will see.

Craig

Brian, got the R/O fixed just in time for the weather.

[Parker]

I agree with what you are saying..I look forward to seeing how long you go this year....IMHO there is no wrong way of making syrup,,buckets are fine , gravity lines are cool,,,it all comes down to how much syrup you want to make and how hard you are willing to work for it....

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

And how much you WAAAAAANNNNNNNTTTTTTTT it!:lol:

[doocat]

A lot!!!!!!!

[Brian Ryther]

I also want it bad. That is why I will be collecting tonight at 12am and 5am. It is running hard. Brought in 1700 this afternoon. Processed that in a hour and a half. Might even have to collect buckets tomorrow.

[Brian Ryther]

Yes I did collect last night at 11pm, then again at 5am, then again at 3pm. I also did collect buckets in between. Boil day #5 Gave me another 40 gallons of light amber. Repaired ro is working great.

[PATheron]

Brian- Where we at on syrup count? Your probly beating me. Ive been stuck in the shack. Theron

[PATheron]

I was out at 1230 last night fixing leaks after I boiled though. Gotta WANNNNNN IT!

[Brian Ryther]

Not much to report hear. Two feet of snow Monday. Short run on Tuesday, quart per tap. Slow run today. Looks like it might run all night. 6am collection tomorrow just in case. Vac levels at releasers are good, too much snow for leak patrol anyway. Kindergarden today was fun. Big boil day tomorrow. 120gal ytd. one 40 gal bbl of dark, one 40 gal bbl of med, and one 40 gal bbl of light. Produced in that order.

[PATheron]

Brian- Its running here pretty good considering the wind. Its not cranking but I think it might today. It looks like its going to stay above freezing now so I think were going to get steady sap now. Wind is wrong but my experiance has been it will just slow it down. A lot of east and south. Im only running 23 inches on the ring pump but Ive kind of had to live in the sugarshed. Big boil today. Making fairly dark syrup but thats what we specialize in here. Somebodys got to make it. Not even keeping drum samples and dont know where my grading kit is. If the barrell is heavy its full. Thats as technical as were going. Theee(sleepin fast and cappin barrells)roon

[Brian Ryther]

Pretty big day in Otsego county today. Sap is gushing in. 2500 gallons processed so far. Need to collect again soon! Evap is giving me big troubles. It does not like 11% sap. Syrup pan float can't keep up with out going syrup and water lost due to steam. Fire box might be too hot. Filter press hose blew up. Releaser failed over and over today. It was a good day. I made maple syrup.

[PATheron]

Gotta keep on Brian. Im going through the same stuff. Just got in. Sap running like heck. Hickups with releasers etc. Dairy pump bushes down. Made 140 or 150 gallons of syrup this afternoon. My evaperator seems to do pretty good so far with the higher concentrate. We ran between 15 and 16% and it seemed to work pretty good. Were getting in the groove now and figuring things out. Gotta go to work tomarrow. May have trouble holding things till I get home. Bring it on. We need the syrup. Lost my grade today. Everything is gettting lighter. Forgot to tell you other day hose came off my ro while I was gone and sent 12% sap down the drain for quite a while. Probly around 600$ worth Im guessing. So dont feel bad its a miracle any of it makes to a barrell. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Theron, while you are posting on the trader I am out collecting. Holy cow. I have one tank with 26" that has given me 2 gallons of sap per tap today! Time to go collect again.

[PATheron]

Brian- Whats the syrup count and do you think your going to have to stick to lower concentrate in the rig? That kind of sucks but if the rig is fast enough not to big of a prob? Im working up the next batch right now. Ive got about 7000 gallons Im taking water out of. Gonna boil in the am. Going 15% min, thinking about going higher but Jerry will give me heck. Thee(fillin drums before my buddy Brian gets the weather)roon

[Brian Ryther]

Come to find out my evap problem was not the high concentration or the hot fire box, but sugar sand. I filter pressed and cleaned the syrup pan yesterday but it appears as soon as flue sap got in, it coated the syrup pan with a 1/8" of sludge. So, today I cleaned the syrup pan and the flue pan and had good results. Nice even draws. About 6-7 gallons every ten minuites. Went through 3000+ gallons in less then 3 hours. Things are working like clock work. I bring home 500 gallons every 30 minuites, that is what the ro is processing while putting out 11%. This also matches the evap sap consumption rate. Syrup to date is 220 gallons. I am only collecting the 2500 vac taps, tomorrow I will collect the 300 buckets that I have neglected for the past week. It should be a good day, I brought home 1100 gallons before dark / night freeze this evening. I will sleep well tonight.

[PATheron]

Brian, what are your perm and concentrate numbers on your flow meter single passing it to 11%? Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Theron, 5gpm con, and 12gpm perm. So 1020gph to make 11%. All I can say is XLE440!

[PATheron]

Brian- Its running HARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD

[Brian Ryther]

Best run day ever! 2500 vac taps produced 3500 gallons of sap and 65 gallons of syrup. Sugar sand is brutal. Buckets are over flowing but who has time to collect them? Still in the light amber range.

[PATheron]

Brian- Im hangin with you. The 3000 behind my house did 3000 gallons in 5 hours today and the six hundred across the road did amost 1200 gallons in 10 hours. My other stuff did good too but I didnt keep track of them specifically. My sugar isnt very good though I dont think. ro's are running through the night. Still a lot of sap in the field but the tanker is full. Keep on truckin or Im going to get you on the averages with my measly vac. Syrup count at 540 today. Gonna go up tomarrow. Theron

[PATheron]

I forgot to say its all still running now too, just slowing down.

[Brian Ryther]

Another great day. 3100 gal of sap from 2500, vac pick up only. No time for buckets. Spent too muck time cleaning the syrup pan. Niter is kicking my syrup pans butt. 60 something gallons of Medium today. Had a friend bring me 75 gallons of sap from his buckets. His sap tested 3.8%, Mine jumped back up to 2.0%. 11 gallons of sap per tap so far.

[Brian Ryther]

Found this tree on leak patrol, believe it or not there were no leaks here. Even the tap in the tree, which is still in the tree (there was sap in the line).

[PATheron]

Brian- Whats the syrup count now? Im at 690 today. Not much of a run here today. Are you kicking me on averages? Theron

[Brian Ryther]

2000 gallons for today. Had to collect buckets to get that much. Once the sap let loose it ran hard. I am going to sit on the sap for the night. I want to clean the evap tonight with a permiate boil. Sugar sand is sticking to the bottom of the pans like sand paper. I might try to do a double boil tomorrow. Syrup ytd = 320 gal. .11 gal / tap. should break 400 tomorrow.

[PATheron]

Brian- Better bear down on the leaks. Saps addin up here. I took tonight off to let you catch up. Im going to get a good nights sleep then Im showing no mercy what so ever. Im going to start tightening things up. Looks like the freezes are going away down here which is good becouse then they wont be slowing me down anymore. I think were going to have a slammer year buddy. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

half time report. Sap is running hard. Processed 2000 gal this morning in 1.5 hours. Lunch break, collect, ro, boil again tonight.

[Brian Ryther]

Boil round 2. 3100 gal in 2.5 hours. just shy of 400gal ytd. Moved into medium finally. Late night collect tonight to keep up.

[PATheron]

Sap is running hard in pa tonight. Im actually struggling to stay ahead of it with both ro's recircing a combinged water discharge of 900 gph. Looking like the big boil tomarrow. Vacuum up to almost 24 inches. Fixed a lot of leaks. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Who has time to fix leaks? gallon per tap from 5pm to 10pm. Going to be brave and wait until 5am to collect again. If they are overflowing then I don't care. I need some sleep. I must say that the sap is nice and clean. It is running so hard that it is keeping the lines washed out.

[Brian Ryther]

Boil 13 today. 475 gal ytd. 4600 gallons of sap today. Processed in 3 hours. Back to light amber. Enough light amber already. It would have been great when I was selling wholesale but the people want dark - B. Sanatary improvments to operation have proven effective. All ss tanks and pipe line make for easy cleaning.

[adk1]

wow, that is alot of syrup and sap! nice job!

[PATheron]

889 gal Brian. Where we at on averages. I got 5300 with only 4600 working but well count them all. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Theron,
I have 2500 working hard on vac and less than 300 buckets, so I have to count my self as 2800. With that said we are bolth at .16 gal of syrup per tap. Dead even. It is going to be the fourth quarter of the season where I take the lead and run away with my CV's.

[Brian Ryther]

Another great day. 3500+ galons of sap. Down to 1.3% sap. Still was able to make 55 gallons of Medium syrup. Looks like it will run all night. Next week looks like perfect sugaring weather. It is going to be a year to remember.

[Brian Ryther]

The best way to cure low sugar is to collect buckets. Bucket sap was testing 2.5 where vac sap tested 1.3. Another 3300 gallons of sap to make 55 gallons of syrup for a season total of 588gal. Sugar sand is killing me. Need to boil permiate every day to keep up with the stuff. Vac down to 24" need to get back in the woods and find the problem.

[Oaknut]

hey Brian, do you think it might be possible to stop over and check out your liquid ring vacuum pump. I'm only 15 minutes away from you. Matt.

[sapman]

I boil for my pastor, who's tapping some of the trees I used to since he bought the place. All buckets. I tested his load yesterday: 3.1% average! That's double my woods sap!

[Brian Ryther]

Matt, any time.
Sap man. I have a friend with 40 buckets that is selling me sap. His first load was 3.8 and his second load was 3.2. That 3.8 load only takes 22 galons of sap to make a gallon while my 1.3 sap takes 66 galons of sap to make a gallon.
Brought in 2000 gallons yesterday, ro'ed it and decided to wait until today to boil. 5 degrees outside right now. Major reset for the trees. Once I push through yesterdays sap I bet I go back to making light amber for a few days. Farmers Museum pancake breakfast this morning while things thaw out.

[treehugger]

Hey guys, been reading that bucket collected sap has a higher sugar content than vac line collected sap. I use tubing without vaccum (just gravity). In your opinion, what effect does that have on sugar content? Thanks. By the way getting killed with sand this year (Oneonta area).

[Brian Ryther]

richmato,
Gravity lines do not effect sugar content. They should test the same as bucket sap. The vac systems are pulling so much water through the trees that it becomes diluted. A day like today when the buckest did not perform well because of the high pressure weather system I was happy to have all of the diluted 1.4% sap that the vac systems gave me. I am also getting killed by the sugar sand this season also. It will be the death of my syrup by the end of this season.
Today was a gusher for the vac systems. Another 45 gallons of syrup. Syrup went into dark amber. Hope to see it turn back to medium tomorrow. Slow Food came for a visit. Look them up, check them out, they are a great group doing good things for promoting good food.
Oak Nut,
Stoped by your operation today. Very nice sugar house.

[Brian Ryther]

Killing time while ro sucks down sugar house storage tanks. Sugar house tanks are full and I still have full tanks in the woods. 3am collection this morning to find feild tanks full! 34 degrees and snowing makes for lots of sap. Sugar must be dropping off. Have to slow ro down to 900gph to make 11%.

[Brian Ryther]

50 gallons of syrup before noon. Not to bad. Sap is slowing down. Hit the quart per tap of syrup today. 22 gallons of sap per tap so far. Despite crystal clear sap I am staying in the dark syrup range. I think it has to do with the evaporator. I am going to try to drain the entire thing and clean the sand from the syrup pan and the brown layer off the flue pan.

[Oaknut]

Hey Brian, sorry I missed you yesterday. Thanks for the compliment on the sap house. We'll have to set something up in the future to check out each others operations and chat. I'd love to learn more about vacuum and there is no better way than to look at it first hand. Matt.

[Brian Ryther]

Waiting for my dad to show up so we can begin boiling. Brought in over 3500 gallons of sap today. 300 was from buckets. That tank tested 3%. The vac sap is still 1.5%. 5pm boil time, hope to be finished by 8. Estimating based on sugar count around 70 gallons for the evening.

[maplecrest]

brian with my old rig like yours, i had two front pans would switch them every 500 gallons, and fill the dirty one with perm and let it soak and wipe the sand out with a scrubby.

[Brian Ryther]

Jeff,
If I invest in one thing for next season it will be a new / 2nd front pan. How do you like you new rig? Does it out perform your older evap. Was it worth the investment?

Good boil today. Went a little quicker than I expected. I was finished by 7:30. Grade made it back into medium today. Looks like we have a freeze up for the next few days. It will be a good time to get cought up on cleaning. Not that I need light amber but I want to see If I can bring it back by cleaning everything from releasers to the evap.

[maplecrest]

brian my old rig which thad blaisdale has parts of now with steam away would boil 675 gals sap per hour. made about 40 gals syrup per hour at 10% sap. new rig is smaller 5x13 [old one 6x14]evaps 385 sap per hour at 15% ave 43 gals syrup per hour.this one has cross flow pans. and i drain and clean flue pan as well as front pans before every boil. takes about 90 minutes to drain clean and refill to start boiling.likes about 150 gallons between cleanings. but have pushed it 3 times this season and made 260 gallons a day, three days in a row and the sand was 1/4 inch deep in the pans. over all found this new rig easier to keep clean.

[Brian Ryther]

Unexpected run today. No record setter but all the same I was able to squeek out 25 gallons. I was glad to process the sap before the next few days while the temps go artic. It was a race to keep ahead of the freezing valves and lines. Once the ro was in wash cycle I could relax a little.

[PATheron]

Brian- If you sqeeze your 1200 down so its putting out 11 or 12 percent how many gallons of concentrate did you tell me you get? Also what did it end up with for high pressure pumps exactly? Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Theron, it has been changing as the sugar from the raw sap has been drooping off. At the begining of the season it would take 2000 gallons to make 400 gallons of 11%, now it it takes around 3000 gallons to make the same amount. The concentrate flow meter is down to around 2gpm - 2.5gpm @400psi to make 11%. The perm flow meter is pretty steady around 15gpm

[Thad Blaisdell]

Jeff, talking about my baby again.... a few new modifications this year. New front pan, new flue pan --both welded-- higher concentrate going in--- pulling off 60-70 gallons per hour. Smooth as a babies bottom.

[PATheron]

Brian- What exactly do you have for high pressure pumps on your machine now? Im thinking about adding an extra high pressure pump on each of my machines and then hooking both machines together so all the flow goes through all four posts. Then Id have like one 2400 gallon machine that I may be able to single pass to a flow of maybe 6 gallons per minute of 12%? Im just wondering how many hp and gpm I need per machine to match what yours is doing. Thad- How are you getting the higher concentate? Are you recircing a while first? Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Theron, I have two 5hp high pressure pumps. I can tell you that the difference between one pump and two with two membraines is huge. two membraines is too much surface area for one pump to work efficently. When one of my pumps was broken I could only get the pressure up to 250psi. Reverse Osmosise is a function of pressure across a semi permiable membraine. Without obtaining the optimum pressure you will not acheive efficent performance.

[Yeserday]

Anyone need extra sap?
And before you ask, it is not my post.
Can you believe it?
http://utica.craigslist.org/for/2269837199.html

[PATheron]

Brian- Do you know how many gallons per minute each pump puts out? Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Theron, No I do not. The next time I start the ro I will run only one pump for a few minuites and note the gpm, then start the other pump and compare gpm's.

Yeserday, that must be a joke. but you never know. A sucker is born every minuite.

I am enjoying a nice day off. Nothing Maple, except the Trader of course.

[Bucket Head]

How old is the sap he's selling by the pail full? Sap has'nt run in these parts for days. Then again, it might be as good as fresh sap, its been frozen for days!

Definitely bring your own pails. He's asking way too much for a pail!

Steve

[PATheron]

Brian- What Im doing with my two ro's is working for now. Im just thinking of playing around and trying to soup them up on the cheap. If I found a couple high pressure pumps, even piston ones, and added them to each machine I would have honest 1200's like yours. Then Im going to hook them together so I can run them independently or together where all the flows would go through all four membranes. Then Id have pretty much an honest 2400 rig. I would be able to single pass stuff after very little recirc real high. Thats what Im thinking. I priced a 4 post machine new like what Im describing and theyre 50 some thousand. Im going to keep working on my garage sale equipment and not spend the money. Im tired of paying back stuff. If I had unlimited money Id buy a new one becouse it really would be great but I dont so Im going to keep doing stuff the way Im doing it and just keep trying to make things better on my own. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Boil 20. 800gal ytd. Sap ran the hardest I have seen it all year this afternoon. No matter how hard I try I can not make B syrup . Today went from dark amber to medium by the end. I bet I will be back into light by the end of tomorow.

[Brian Ryther]

Long night last night collecting. Boiled this morning for another 50 gallons. I was shure I would get to light amber but it is just about equil to the light. Too close to call it light. Sap was crystal clear. 1.9 sugar from vac. Buckets ranged from 3.8 - 4.5. Sap is still running strong.

[Brian Ryther]

Moved into light this morning. Not bad for April 1st. 55 gallons today. Another hp pump died on the ro. That makes 3 in the past year. I am not impressed. When you buy a Lapierre ro make shure to buy a 1200 or at least a back up pump so you always have one that works. Just a slight inconvience. Now I have to drop everything and remove the pump, meet somebody half way then put the new / semi new / spare pump on the ro and hope that I do not have any sap running on the ground while I do this.

[PATheron]

Brian- That sucks. Keep your head up. Your doing a heck of a job. I cant tell you how much Im impressed with your syrup production. If you keep going at this rate your going to dang near match my averages this year!!!! Theee(gotta wannnnn it)roon.

[PATheron]

Ive got one more ace in the hole trick up my sleeve to beat your averages and I learned it up your guys's way. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Are you the one who put the ice dam in my vac line? That was a dirty trick. You are going to better than that theron if you want to beat me. Closing in on 30 gal per tap brian.

[PATheron]

Brian- Your not going to beat me. Ive got a trick up my sleeve your never going to be able to match. I dont care how good you are. Im just going to have to resort to my last trick. Im going to LIE!!!!! Thee(drilled big holes, spent tons of money, ran over my dog and still probly not good enough to match you so gonna have to be dishonest)roon

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

OK you guys, I'm tired of the trash talk from you southerners. I am getting serious about making some syrup. Your averages (fabricated or not) are getting blown out of the water. I do need a small favor though. Send your unused drums North. I'm scrambling for a place to put the stuff. Made 120 Thursday and 200 last night. 6 days over 100 gallon so far. Could use some sleep but the coffee is on and that will have to do until after the open house weekend:)
Doug

[PATheron]

Doug- I figured you must be busier than heck lately. Ive drank your coffee, your not going to have any trouble staying awake drinking that stuff. How much syrup are you at now? Were still cranking strong. This is going to be a big weekend for us. Tons of BIGSAP. No huge warmup coming either. I hope it keeps going, I would love to hit 2500. Gonna be hard now with no vaca left but whatever, well do what we can do. Theron

[Maplewalnut]

You guys might make more syrup if you stay off the trader:)

I am getting close to running out of vacation also and if. This weather keeps up I may just catch you guys. LOL

[Brian Ryther]

Another day, another run, another boil. re pete. I made the lightest syrup of the season today. Go figure. about 10 gallons shy of 1000 for the year. Where is the B syrup? I have a lot of customers wating for it. Maybe I should stop washing tanks for a few days? Maybe I will make 2500 gal like Theron? I can fudge #'s just as good as any body else. And sorry Doug, no drum will be left un filled. Some with syrup and some with bs. No extra drums around hear this year. Banner crop in ctny.

[PATheron]

Brian- All your B is in Pa. Ill just swap you for your light. How long are we going to go? Theron

[802maple]

Fabricated or not, you aren't going to catch this Vermonter though.

[waysidemaple]

Theron - As promised here is the link to the youtube video we shot yesterday. Came out okay for a cell phone video camera. Im still smiling from my visit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjUrW_GPA18

Scott

[802maple]

Theron if you are going to beat Brian and me you better get in the woods and fix that leak in the center line on your releaser, what do you think Brian?

[Brian Ryther]

Jerry, The last time some body posted video of Therons leaks coming into his releaser I kept it to my self knowing that it was destroying his #'s. I think he might be one of those guys that think that that is how it is suposed to look. Slug of air followed by a slug of sap and so on. A classic example of the releaser being 10 feet from the vac pump so it looks like you have high vac. Put a gage 1000' out and then see what is says.
I must say that I do have double bank filter press envy.
Frost hear last night might lead to another big day!

[802maple]

Brian, single ten beats double seven.

Just looked at the 2000 tap sugarbush with 2, one and quarter inch wet lines running over half full each and no slugs, 26.5 inches of vacuum in the woods, 4000 feet away, happy happy.

Report from the lower bush is that it is running too, so syrup will be made tonight.

[PATheron]

You guys are right about my vac being right but what you gonna do, hardly keep up with the sap Im getting anyway so something gotta give. Im getting well over a gallon per tap everyday anyway Id say if I get it any tighter Ill have to buy more equipment so Im letting it leak like a regulator. You guys will probly beat my averages but I dont care Im talking smack anyway. Now your really going to beat me now that Im all out of vacation time. Big boil tonight. Thought wed hit 2000 today but looks like it wont be till tomarrow or next day. Real happy so far. What a season. BIGSAP all over the place. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

We are righ on target now. Broke through the 1k mark tonight. Couldn't keep the light amber, just broke past it into medium. Sap is slowing down, only brought in 1.5 gal per tap today. As far as averages go My best bush is now over 32 galons of sap per tap and running clear and strong.

[PATheron]

Brian- Your at .36 and Im at .33. Your kicking my butt. Looks like Im dropping the ball but Im still going to talk smack, theres always next year to take you down. I think dad and I have too many taps for Hobbyin. Next year Im going to try to finetune a bunch of things and do even better but Im darn happy with this year. Weve learned a ton this year. Were going to try to keep going. Im not sure how its going to go. Looks like warm up time. Time to make the nasty mersh. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Things are really slowing up hear. Only 1 gallon of sap per tap today. Looks like a freeze on Tuesday night.

[PATheron]

60 degrees, south wind, no freeze another semi-trailer off my 4600 taps that I actually still have working. Must be a LITTLE vacuum getting to the holes. Not a lot of sugar in it though. I think my buddy brought some sap though so I think I got about the same sap you got Brian. Forecast looks warm, thats going to be way better without releasers freezing up anymore. How low are we going on sugar till we quit Brian? Theron

[802maple]

Theron, check for lines laying in the brook. How are the sycamores running?

[PATheron]

The sycamores are running terrable. Im losing money left and right on that bush. Only maybe two cups of sap in my gallon jug all season. I drilled the tree four inches deep and it had a super crown but just didnt come on to strong at all. Not looking good on that front. I might have a line in the brook but Im getting 1.5 sugar out of it so thats good. Its probly sap running down the brook from something were spilling somewhere. We had Scott over the other day "wayside maple" and dad was pumping sap and when he got done he drained the 30 foot long hose out on the ground so it was lighter to set in the pickup and I think it may have traumatized Scott for life. Hey, dads got to be able to go the distance, he figures more coming in all the time what the heck. It probly is a good thing we spill half what we get or I would have to buy more equipment. My next focus is in the shed Jerry, got to get those ro's to throw water harder. Pumps, pumps, and more pumps. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Theron I agree. Those pesky freezing nights only make for releaser problems that I could do without. It looks like I have a freeze coming on tomorrow night and maybe the next night. Then it is clear sailing for the rest of the season. Maybe if I stop cleaning tanks and we get a few 50 degree nights I might be able to make some PA fancy. I threw my back out this morning picking up my pacer pump. Had to take a few hours out of my day and visit the ciropracter (sp).
I made some nice medium syrup this evening. By concentrating to 13% was able to boil 2500 galons in 1.5 hours including start up and shut down.

[waysidemaple]

Theron- I don't know if I would say I'm traumatized from watching those hoses, but I will say that if I can get vac up and running for next year I might just have to get in this whole averages race you got going on here. All I gotta do is get my dad to feed gas to the vac pump in the woods, keep lines tight, and NOT dump the sap out of the hoses when I pump them out and you won't have a chance at beating my averages HAHAHA. Had a great time over there.

Scott

[PATheron]

Brian- Did you really throw your back out or are you picking on me somehow? In not ever quite sure if your funin me or really giving me crap. You keep making the good stuff Ill fix you up with plenty of Pa fancy. Thats our specialty. I know I wont be able to beat your averages so you go for it. I want to see some big numbers. Im going to go as far as I can. I do love seeing these drums pile up. You pick on me but last year the production did kind of suck but the releasers not freezing up really was nice. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Theron, I was not kidding about the back. Dad had to pick up some of my slack for the past two days.
Another fine day of sap production. 3 out of four tanks this morning were over flowing. Not a good way to help the averages, but the extra sleep felt great. Despite the sap loss I was still able to bring in 3k of sap. Must not have been much sugar. I only made 40 gallons. Syrup is still medium, but begining to have the dirty sock, late season smell / taste. Syrup to date = .39 gpt. Best bush = 34.4 gallons of sap per tap.
It seams like every day there is something that screws up. Today the 80 amp breaker for the ro gave out and would not reset. Then the eletrical suply place (Drogens in Oneonta) tried passing off a used breaker to me. They gave me the bs "well look at that it is used" line. Bunch of crooks.
The best news of the day is that I have been selected as the maple vendor at the Cooperstown Farmers Market. If you are from the area you know that that is the premier market in the ctny area.
Freez up tonight. That might extend the season by weeks. Is the golden 1/2 gpt possable? May be?

[PATheron]

Brian- Im doing the best I can down here but theres no way Im going to match your averages. Im running way more taps than you can do on a side gig. Your going a great job. Im still getting a lot of sap per tap for the no freeze factor. We boiled tonight and did another 105 gallons. That puts us at 2035 gallons. My dairy pump bushes have been suffering with me trying to keep the main stuff good and getting the sugar shed work done. That being said Im super happy with the season. Were going to get a freeze tonight and thats going to make things crank next two days then after that Im not sure what to think. Keep cranking, your doing a great job. Dad and I are going to make syrup till we cant get it through the evaperator and thats all we can do. Anybody says its easy to do a half gallon has never tried to do it on a large scale. Very hard to do with thousands of taps. If you hit it youve definitely earned it. Im seeing at least 2200 or 2300 for us if we hit 2500 Im going to be really celebrating but if I dont make one more barrell Im still really proud of what weve done. Good luck Brian, your an insperation to sugarmakers everywhere. Theres so much to go wrong doing this stuff its a miracle any of us make any amount of syrup let alone a half gallon per tap. Im proud of the guy that makes a few gallons on the flat pan. Its a ton or work and everyone should be darn proud of every gallon they make. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Since it was frozen this morning I found time to figure out the youtube video thing. I wanted to show Theron what a wet line looks like without leaks. This Video is of my best bush. There are 1000 taps on this releaser. This is my best system for many reasons. The odvious is the 35gpt so far this season, the other thing I like is the white wet line / black dry line system. The white line is 1". It runs full pipe most of the time. The sap stays cool and clear in the white. The black line thaws out before the trees do. So when the wet is frozen the dry can handle full run with space over the sap for vac transfer while the white thaws out. What I do not like about this set up is the single releaser. A typle cycle is about 50 seconds. It takes 14 seconds for the vac chamber to equalise with the manifold. I feel that I am loosing some performance due to this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWWuzpM4mJo

[danno]

Hey Brian -
Nice video. Just curious when you shot the video. I'm a bit north of you, but have not seen sap run like that since mid March. Was that taken during your peak runs?

[Brian Ryther]

Danno,
That was 10:30 this morning. Since then it has doubbled in volume. Right around 200 gallons / hour.

[sapman]

Sure wish we'd froze good last night! Basically no run here today. Like that video! Mine has come like that at times, measuring about 250 gph for awhile. But I've got 2200 into one double releaser on 4 lines + dry line. Even at that, I rarely get a gallon/tap.

Keep it up, Brian!

[Brian Ryther]

Big sap day, Little sugar day. 3000 gallons into 50 gallons of good tasting "B". Sap ran as hard as I have ever seen it run. First 1/2 of the day had foggy sap. 2nd 1/2 the sap ran crystal clear. Todays problem is that I am out of space for full barrells. Syrup ytd = 1150gal. .41gpt.

[sapman]

Well that's still 60:1. Many of us would probably like to have that kind of ratio right now! Pretty awesome #'s you've got! Need you to tell me how to get performance like that out of my bush!

Tim

[Brian Ryther]

Tim, It is all about wanting it. I want it real bad.

Pretty big day today. 3300 galons of sap, 50 gallons of syrup. Went from "B" to Dark amber. Sap ran so hard it cleaned the lines and tanks for me. Evap is in serious need of good cleaning. No sugar sand but the dark syrup brown layer. Foam boil is a pain to deal with. Broke into 1200 gal ytd tonight.

Theron, if you are still alive, does the looser have to pull the other guys taps and clean them? That might be good pay back for the trash talk.

[802maple]

Brian, on the sugarbush just up from Nops, we are just behind you with .38 gallons per tap. On the high sugarbush in Lincoln you are smoking us so far with about .15 per tap ,but that could change if it would just warm up, it starts running at about 3 in the afternoon and then freezes back up by 6:30. That is mother nature I guess. Some years having a cold bush helps but. not this year.

[sapman]

I hear you about wanting it. Wish I could afford to take the maple season off, as the day job gets in the way often.

[PATheron]

Brian- Im not taking the bet on the pulling the tap thing becouse I know who the looser is going to be. Ill tell you Im dang happy with the barrell count anyway. Hit 2150 last night and just washed the ro's and back at it today. It even froze so there should be at least one more big horah. I think my averages are actually pretty good over all. Ive had my buddy bring in enough sap to make two hundred gallons and my two dairy bushes have been mostly messed up all season. One hasnt been too bad but the other Ive got almost nothing off. So Ive made all my syrup off mostly the 4600 taps on the ring pump. Im still counting all the holes becouse your being honest about your buckets but in reality if you consider just the taps youve got all your sap off from and same with me those taps have done a lot for sure. Next year Im dropping the one bush on the dairy pump and putting the other dairy pump on the house pump so I just have 5000 on the house ring pump and forgetting about messing with any remote pumps. Then be way easier for us. Theron

[PATheron]

Brian- Your think about something else, Ive heard some guys getting a gallon per tap. I know in my situation honestly I wouldnt even want that sap becouse Id have to buy way more equipment to get it done. Weve barely been able to handle the sap we got and were probly not going to get a half gallon. The higher the averages the better but 5000 taps at a gallon per tap is like running 10000 taps. I honestly at this point couldnt handle any more sap unless I had way more ro equipment. Im not getting any bigger. 5000 is it here. Im still going to try to soop up the ro's and maybe try to get better averages but theres limits to how much one person can do and Im not going to be a slave to the equipment dealers. Im going to pay my stuff off and just year after year make a good amount of syrup and pocket the money. Theron

[maplecrest]

theron i learned that the hard way last year!!!

[Amber Gold]

Brian, watched your vid...impressive putting 1000 taps on it. I'm running 600 taps at 25" on mine and considering getting a horizontal...big runs it dumps every 2.5 min...still maintains decent vac., but wondering if I'd do better if it didn't dump quite so often??

Where did you get the white poly pipe? I installed all black poly, but I have two lines which get too much sun so I'm going to paint them white. I like the idea of installing a white wet line to stay cool and a black dry line to thaw out early.

[Brian Ryther]

Jerry, My best bush is my warm one also. The colder bushes are doing fine with 25gpt but arent even close to the best one that is at 38gpt. Is the bush by Nop's on the side of the road. If so I know where you are.

Josh, during big runs that releaser dumps every 40 seconds. The white wet line / black dry line was on the best things I did this season. That bush faces east and gets sun all day. With the white Lapierre main line the sap stayed cool and clear all season. That wet conductor is one inch. So with 1000 taps it runs full all of the time. No room for air in the line to get hot.

Down to only 45 gallons tonight. Still in dark amber. 1240gal season total ... so far...

[Brian Ryther]

Some good photos.
https://picasaweb.google.com/105080858045605661034/MillHollowMaple311#

[Brian Ryther]

Another fine day. 40 gallons of "B" in the barrell. Froze last night for the last time for, well... it looks like a long time. Time to make some mersh. Only a gallon per tap today. Things are deffinatly slowing down.

[PATheron]

Mother nature slammed on the brakes down here. No freeze anymore unless maybe tuesday night. Havent had a freeze for a couple days all ready. Just getting cought up. Made almost 150 gallons this evenings. Good tasting B Id say. Went through the ro hard. Really helped with the new filters. Concentrate stunk a little I thought and I figured it would be bad syrup but turned out it wasnt at all. Couple gallons under 2300. Makin more syrup tomarrow. Gonna leave the pump on for a while. Gotta keep workin on the averages.... dont want to get beat.... Dont want to loose my BIGSAP status.....

[Brian Ryther]

Went on leak patrol today. Lost high vac around noon. Found the leak and started making sap again. Sap looks pretty nasty. Going to give it the night, collect in the morning and finish up for the season. This will be the first time all season that I have not boiled the same day the sap ran. I do not think it will effect the grade.

[PATheron]

Got my finger on the circuit breaker for the vac pump but cant quite do it yet. Taken me all afternoon to work up 4000 gallons to probly make a drum. Sap looks like dish water but tuesday night it might freeze??? Trees still arent budded out and we still havent made any rope. Just doesnt seem right to quit yet. Im one #ss pain away from pushing that circuit breaker. Nothing better go very wrong or its going to go real quiet in that sugar shack. Theeeron

[Brian Ryther]

Theron, Freeze???? Where do you get your forcast from? Alaska? Did you not see that tomorrow is going to be in the 80's. Do not be scared, pull the breaker. You will feel better when it is over. Mrs. Pa will be singing tomorrow. IT'S OVER!

[PATheron]

Im suspicious Brian, I think your trying to trick me into quitting while your out getting your vac so high you suck the leaves back in. Started making the stinky stuff tonight. Dads going on reconnosince in the morning to see how much of the dish water sap is out there. Either going to dump it or see if I can work it through. Gonna hit 2400 gallons now just boiling out the evap, gotta try to get one more run,,,,, averages to beat,,,,,cant be a quitter,,,gotta try to wannn it like my hero Parker says,,,,,

[Brian Ryther]

I am finished. 65 gallons of buddy mersh today. Season total 1,360. I am going to have to count every tap before I commit to a average. But for a early un official # I will have go with .485 gallons of syrup per tap. Best bush came in at 42.5 gallons of sap per tap.

[PATheron]

Update from Pierce and Sons- Finished for the season. Tripped over something in the evaperator room and accidently tripped the breaker off to the vac pump so left it off. Boiled out the sweet in the evap and called it a season. Dad flipped the trees the bird and muttered something about Lincoln freeing the slaves and left. Gotta count taps too to get a totally accurate average but looking at I think .486 gallons of syrup per tap near as I can tell. Just kidding were probly at the low .4s on the average but were pretty happy. Even if we are poor excuses for sugar makers. Real happy tonight to not hear any equipment running in the shed. Cant wait till next year to try to do better. Our expansion race is over. I dont ever want to make more syrup than we made this year. Now I want to just enjoy finetuning and making our operation better and easier. Want to keep trying to make the best quality syrup we can make and want to try to make it easier every year to do it. Nice job Brian! Hope you make a million dollars on your syrup this year, you earned it! Theron

[802maple]

Brian we stopped in the lower bush, near Nops, It was still dark amber in color and the flavor wasn't horrible (and it is till running) but with 5 days of no freezing, we knew it would be not good when it started again if at all. We just don't want it like you 2 do and besides we also don't like making PA fancy. You asked where that one is. It is about a mile up 116 behind Carraras Concrete.

The vacuum is still on in the cold bush up here in Lincoln and will probably make another 50 or so tonight off 2000 taps, still a very good dark amber with no buds in sight. Hopefully the freeze comes to us that they are forecasting at this elevation tonight. If it comes true , we will have 3 freezes and then we will be getting closer to a average season.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Good Job you guys. The maple gods were smiling on you this year.

[Amber Gold]

Brian, why did you go with the white vs. maple blue and do you have a comparison woods to see how the bacteria was in the white main vs. a black main? Curious.

I saw the white main in Lapierre's catalogue. I'll look into it.

[Brian Ryther]

Jerry, it shows how important it is to have a diverse range of sugar bushes. Cant wait to see your averages from the different bushes.

Josh, In seasons past the bush that I put the white on had oversized black mainline. It was the first to go foggy sap. The sap was always very warm and nasty. This season with the white main line the sap came in cloder than the high temp for the day. It also syayed clear for the whole season except for Sunday / Moday when it was 70+ degrees. The other side of the Valley I have all blue mainline. That sap was not as clear and cool as the white line. The blue is nice because you can see through it. But when it comes down to it who needs to see in there mainlines. I can see the sap coming into the releaser. That is good enough for me.

Theron, I know you have some tricks up your sleave. Other the lying about turning your pumps off, have any of them worked? When offical tap count is over we will see what methods worked. Will you be using CV's next season???

un offical #'s time
86,780 gallons of sap to produce 1,360 gallons of syrup.
62.88 galons of sap per gallon of syrup or 1.37% sugar content.
including buckets (8.9gpt) average gpt was 30.43.
High gpt was 42.3
Low vac gpt was 23.0
.4857 gallons of syrup per tap.

[PATheron]

Brian- I didnt lie about turning my pump off. It really is. I dont think Im going to use the checkvalve. Its not that I think it doesnt work I just didnt really like tapping them in and they were also the only ones that popped off with the ice. That being said I think on a warm year they probly help a lot. Down here this was a cool cloudy year and I dont think the bacteria was really an issue. Honestly every year Ive sugared Ive gotten more sap than I can barely process and always more sap than I can process fast enough. I think Im going to go for perfection on my lines this year now that Im not putting anymore out. Try to get leak free and real reliable and mostly try to focus my attention in the sugar shed on faster, better processing. I really need a second high pressure pump on each ro machine. Then Id really be getting somewhere. Im just not spendint anymore big money period for a while. I want to make money and If I go into next year with the same setup I have now fine. I can still make cheap big improvements. Drains on all my remote tanks out the bottom to clean every day. Im going to hook up valves and a pump to shoot my sweet from my flue pan everynight into my head tank through a filter. Bubbler. Gonna run the bubbler in perm water in the flue pan every night. Stuff like that. Cheap processing upgrades. I would like to have the best averages that I can have but personally I dont think its possable to hit those averages unless its a full time job. If I could do it full time I think I could do way more but going to work to is way hard. If I can make a couple thousand gallons year after year and do my town job and not die in the process thats what Im looking for. I gotta work smarter and not harder. NEED THOSE HIGH PRESSURE PUMPS. Gotta find some junk ro machines. Also selling my remote gas vac pumps and running big main to them from the house pump. Thats another chore thats got to go. Just not enough hours in the day. May even not tap in the one bush next year. Theron

[802maple]

Brian, I will have numbers soon.

I think we caught Theron disease, yesterday we put out 1200 feet of 2" dry line ,1200 feet of 1-1/2" wet line, the wire for both and got 2 " on the wire. If the weather is right today, we will finish the wet line and start on the expansion for next year with 4 new mainlines. Next year we will not have the vacuum issues that we had this year with big lines, and new pump and extended dry lines. Any mainline that is more than 300' is going to have a dry line also, we are not going to deal with frozen lines anymore. The white line is great and we would not change in the woods for a minute, but they don't thaw fast enough on years like this when the sap starts to run at 30 degrees and it tops out at 33.

We are using black for our transfer line, but we use the white translucent Lapierre for our mainlines throughout the woods.

[Maplewalnut]

Brian/Theron-

Nice job, it was fun watching you guys duke it out all season. Knowing you both personally I can attest your syrup is top notch regardless of numbers

Mike

[Brian Ryther]

It is offical. Mill Hollow Maple has the best syrup in Otsego County. At the Otsego County Fair I took home the blue ribbons in Light, Medium, Dark, and Grade B. Clean Sweep. Also took the blue in Granulated Sugar. Congrats to Stannard Maple for the blue in Cream and Candy.

[Maplewalnut]

Nice job Brian.

[802maple]

Good job, Brian,