Red Roof Maples 2011

[Russell Lampron]

After moving another cord of wood up to the outdoor furnace I was able to hit the woods. I finished making repairs to the tubing and started tapping. I got about 175 taps in before I ran out of daylight. It was easier getting through the woods yesterday than it was the weekend before. It was a long ways down when the snow shoe finally hit bottom when it broke through farther than expected. Going to hit the woods with the drill again today and hope to make a bigger dent in the close to 500 taps still to go.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Yikes...Gotta get organized!

[Russell Lampron]

No need to hit the panic button yet Bruce, it is still early. I decided to get a jump start on tapping because my son in law and biggest helper is wearing an air cast on one of his feet and will be for at least 6 weeks. With the deep snow and cold in the woods I don't think it is going to run good for maybe 2 weeks anyways.

[red maples]

Good luck Russ,

I am starting today to try to get by done by wed. should be no problem. Thursday, Friday, Saturday suppose to be in the low 40's but as we all know that could change at anytime!!! Then good cool down the following week. Hopefully I will get enough sap to start sweetening the pans by sat. We'll see.

[Russell Lampron]

Thank you Brad. Good luck to you too.

The latest revision on taps done this weekend. We did 142 yesterday, 174 this morning and 221 this afternoon. That makes a total of 537 so far. I still have a little over 100 to go to finish up the tubing. We did get the farthest and hardest ones done though so the rest will be easy.

I think I am going to take Wednesday off so that I can get the releaser hooked up and finish tapping. It looks like we could get an early run starting Thursday. It would be nice to sweeten the pans and make a little syrup Saturday night.

[SSFLLC]

Hi Brad and Russ, Glad to see you guys are up and ready. We should be close by the end of the week. Where no longer in Pittsfield we bought a place in Gilmanton in December - 15 acres. Last week was devoted to moving the sap house to the back 40 - that was something! Michelle is taking off Tuesday and Wednesday so hopefully we can get the vacuum line up (1,200 ft), finish out the main line and get the branch lines in by Wednesday. Hope this year is better for you than last year.

Keith and Michelle

[red maples]

Congrats on the new property. lots of work there from what I can see. have to change the SSF to FFF (finally found farm)

Good luck getting everything done.

[Russell Lampron]

Hey Kieth I was wonder where you were. Haven't seen any post from Michelle32 in a while. Where are you located in Gilmanton? I'll have to check it out.

[Dill]

So is there a new easy chair next to the evap? Or are you making him sit on a bucket?

Good luck Russ.
Oh was it you who had some extra blue jugs? I might buy a few if it was.

[SSFLLC]

Hi Russ, 317 Loon Pond rd. Should have about the same amount of taps here. This year as the other house. Got the rest of the week off. Michelle has t-w off will be hitting it hard sun up to sun down. Hope to have half of it done by wednesday afternoon with vac on. Ya Dill no easy chairs around this place at least not for a while. Brad sounds like your ready except for the pontoons when all this snow melts. Good luck to you all.

[Russell Lampron]

No easy chair Alden just a cold metal folding chair. The maple bug has bitten Richard so hard that he decided not to wear the air cast. Yesterday and today he strapped on the snow shoes and was tapping trees. We've got all of the tubing done, 638 taps total. The buckets will wait until March unless there is a significant break in the weather.

I am taking Wednesday off from work so that I can hook up the releaser and do the first round of vacuum leak fixes. Hopefully the weather forecast is correct and we have a nice 4 day run starting Wednesday. It would be nice to have the first boil on Presidents day weekend.

Kieth I will have to get over there to check out your new place. Loon Pond Road isn't too far from here.

[Russell Lampron]

Alden forgot to mention that it is Josh who is selling his extra blue jugs. I am keeping all of mine.

[red maples]

Why is he switching to barrels? 600 taps, .5gpt thats 300 gallons!!! that would be 60 blue containers!!! I would take a few as well!!!

[Russell Lampron]

He bought a bunch of 15.5 gallon beer kegs. I bought 4 of them myself. With the kegs drums and blue containers that I have got I have 300 gallons of storage myself. I would like to fill them all too.

[Russell Lampron]

Took today off from work to get the releaser hooked up and fix the known vacuum leaks. It's still a chilly 9 degrees here so I won't be going out for a little while yet. It's supposed to get to 37 degrees this afternoon. Things should start to thaw out then so that I can turn the vacuum on for a little while.

[red maples]

Yeah pretty chilly seems to be warming up pretty quick. accutally birds singing outside thats a good sign.

Gotta work on the sap lift today. Don't like the adustments I did so when I am done it will take out about foot of it. and it will hopefully work better. getting pretty good vac transfer 22* at the releaser and 18* at the end. I think its a little bit wide too. and I have to fix a few leaks here and there too.

[Russell Lampron]

Got the releaser hooked up and the vacuum turned on. Looks like I am going to miss the first run. The vacuum motor on the releaser wont push open the valve that releases the vacuum when it dumps. Vacuum is leaking by the seal and out of the bottom hole which is only supposed to be a vent when the releaser dumps. I'm glad that I tapped early and had a chance to find this out before we had a 2 week run or something. I'm going to call Lapierre and order the part tomorrow.

The sap started to run a little this afternoon. There was still some ice in the lines for most of the afternoon. I got some vacuum leaks fixed but ran out of daylight trying to fix the releaser.

[red maples]

Yes alway lucky to find it early!!! sorry man!!!!

[SSFLLC]

Sorry to hear that Russ, We should be up and running by friday afternoon. Spent all day and half the night yesterday running lines and mains. Today ran the rest of the lines escept three or four. They will get done tomorrow. Should be able to hookup releaser and vac pump also.

[Russell Lampron]

I called Lapierre and ordered the part for my releaser. They had it put on the truck from Canada today and will ship it to me tomorrow. I should have it on Monday. The sap started flowing kind of late today but the trees are starting to thaw and run. I wish I could leave the vacuum on.

Brad how did it run for you today? If it stays above freezing where you are it could run all night. It is supposed to get to 45 here again tomorrow before it gets cold again. It will probably be a little warmer than that for you.

Kieth it looks like I won't be as busy this weekend as I had originally hoped. Maybe I can come over and check out your new place. Let me know when you will be around.

[SSFLLC]

Hi Russ, Thanks for the offer but I work weekends. I don't get home until 6:30. Not sure what Michelle is doing. I think splitting wood. I should have everything just about ready for tapping tomorrow afternoon. Made very good progress today. should have let you take my releaser. I'm sure i won't need it till the next run. Keith

[red maples]

Boy I wish my wife would split wood!!! I felt lucky when she brought in some for me when I was sick last weekend!!! (she only had to bring it from the pile just outside the door!!!) but she still did it. Surprise!!!

It ran OK. its getting better every run. Most taps are running slowly still. North side taps are running but started late and are running slowly. I still think there is an issue with Ice around the bottom of the tree. Since we got that rain last week or when ever that was, most trees have a good thick layer of solid ice around the bases. So my theory is there is not alot of water going up from the roots because the bases are still frozen its just everything coming down the tree. But what do I know???

Only got about 50 gallons today. Its about 36 here right now but I am still getting a little sap. just trickling in though. But the vac will be running all night tonight!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Kieth do you have a Bernard single mechanical releaser? If it is I would have only needed to borrow the cover to the main canister. I could have tested it for you. Mine should be up and running again before the next run anyway.

[SSFLLC]

No I have a double bernard.

[NH Maplemaker]

Russ, this maybe a fool question as I know you are very mechanical! But is there any chance that it needs cleaning of the vacuum chambers? I was just watching the Lapierre video on the Bernard and they were saying they needed to be cleaned regularly or the arms would stick and not switch ! It shows how to clean them. Here is the link I think WWW.sugaringequipment.elapierre.com/default_en.asp?no=113#video Hope This Helps!JimL.

[Dill]

Are you tapping this year Kieth? If not sell Russ your double and I'll buy the single.
If your tapping good luck in your new spot. I had been wondering where Michelle32 disappeared to. We're also missing Stickey this year maybe he'll pop up.

[SSFLLC]

Ya where tapping. Should have everything done today. Hopfully in time to get alittle test on the vac pump. Michelle is tapping and splitting wood this weekend while i'm at wook. I think she has monday off also. She's already change the batterys in her head light. Say's she's out there till there all tapped in.

[Russell Lampron]

Jim the arm is clean and lubed and works the way it is supposed to. The vacuum is leaking past the seals in the vacuum valve. When the arm is in the upper position and the releaser is ready to dump the piston in the valve doesn't go out with enough force to pop open the valve that releases the vacuum. At the same time vacuum is sucking into the lower port that goes to the back of the valve. In that position that line is only supposed to act as a vent so the piston can move. With all of the problems that I have had with it over the years I know this releaser inside and out. I can't wait until can afford to upgrade to a double releaser and get rid of this POS. Then I will have to learn the fixes for the new one.

[red maples]

SO I went out to check on the vac pressure today. I was at 23"at the releaser and 21.25" at the end of 1 of the lines(I have 2 more gauges to put at the end of the other branches I just haven't done it yet) so thats a loss of 1.75" and thats with an extra air flow for the sap lift. I can deal with that. I still might look into a bigger newer vac for next year though. as I plan to add an extra 50+ taps and about 250+ feet of mainline. If I do that I will need the sp22.

[Russell Lampron]

My son in law Richard turned the vacuum pump back on this morning and went out to fix vacuum leaks. Much to our delight the releaser started dumping on its own. It still has the vacuum leak and doesn't push the relief valve open with much gusto but is dumping without assistance. I came home to 250 gallons of sap in the tank and rising. Looks like I am going to boil this weekend after all.

Enough leaks have been fixed so that we are maintaining 21" of vacuum and the vacuum pump is now on until it freezes. It looks like it won't get down to freezing here until 1 am or so. I am hoping to get 200 or so more gallons of sap before it does.

I am off to Joshes in the morning to help him with his RO machine. Then it is back here to put the membrane in mine and get it going. I should be boiling tomorrow night.

The boiling sodas are tasting good tonight though.

[TapME]

glad to see the releaser is behaving for you. Hope the sap will flow the end of next week here. That's when we will be tapping if the weather is right.

[Russell Lampron]

I had a busy day today. I went over to Amber Golds house to help him get his membranes installed in his RO and give it a test run. Everything went well over there and Josh was happy to see the permeate tank filling with water that he won't have to boil off.

Then it was back to my house to put my membrane in and get my RO going. That too went well and by 5:00 I was sending the concentrate to the feed tank. Lit the evaporator at 6:00 and ran out of sap at 7:30. Didn't have quite enough sap to get a draw off but it will come fast the next time that I boil.

This the earliest that I have boiled since the first year that I had my evaporator. I haven't been as ready to go as I was this year either. The only problem has been with the releaser. Everything else has been just about trouble free.

It was good the hear the hum of the RO machine with the roar of the boiling sap. The only thing that was missing was the purr of the vacuum pump. It was too cold to have that running too. Oh and I cant forget to mention how good the boiling sap smelled. I think that is what got me hooked on this hobby in the first place.

[NH Maplemaker]

Russ, Don't forget the taste of the Boiling soda's!!JimL.

[red maples]

Don't you just love that sweet smell. I couldn't keep my nose out of of that syrup pan...cold out too LOTS of steam!!! I changed the line from the feed tank 3/4 to 1-1/4 WOW what a difference I didn't have to keep screwing with the float. but I have to say its a big difference for me from last year Since last year was my first year with this evap, and sugar house vac etc. and this I worked out some bugs and changed a few things and I really kinda know what to expect out of my evap how to make it run just right. there is nothing like experience!!! I was alot more relaxed than my first boil last year. can't wait for the next boil!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Got the part for my releaser today. I installed it and hooked it up and gave it a test. Everything is working like it's supposed to. Bring on the BIGSAP! Enough of this cold weather already.

[SSFLLC]

Glad to hear your ready now Russ we have enough to get us started. We will be adding more daily. Good luck this year Keith

[red maples]

Got the part for my releaser today. I installed it and hooked it up and gave it a test. Everything is working like it's supposed to. Bring on the BIGSAP! Enough of this cold weather already.

YOU SAID BROTHER!!!! looks like some favorable weather coming thursday and friday. then again next week. I was gonna say something else but don't wanna jinx anything!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Brad don't be saying anything that is going to jynx the season. We don't need that.

I was able stock up the boiling soda supply. Market Basket has Killian's on sale this week for $8.99 a 12 pack. I'm officialy ready for sugaring season now.

[Jim Brown]

Good Luck Russ!

Jim

[Russell Lampron]

Thank you Jim and good luck to you too. I hope that you have a longer season than last year.

[SSFLLC]

Hi Russ, Did you run the vac yesterday and get anything? Kind of looking like being so far behind this year is turning out to be a good thing. Where up to the 200+- mark now.

[red maples]

That why I didn't say anything!!! :)

I had the vac on yeaterday got 30 gallons of sap about 1/2 gallon from 7 buckets, 2 gallons from 27 gravity on gravity lines. hit 41 or 42 here. but for the most part like I have been saying right along. I still have a pretty good Ice ring around the base of most trees that just won't melt!!! and it hindering sap flow!!! I was actually hoping this would be a somewhat warm rain to get things going but like always it changes and now for me anyway 3-6 inches and chilly this weekend!!! more for you guys seem to be in the 6-12 inch range.

very slow late start here!!!

I vary my boiling sodas...I perfer Bass, but like Reg Sam Adams lager, Sam cherry wheat, kilian's, sometime a New Castle and when I am feeling like going a tad healthier I go for the Sam light. But I bought a 12 pack of bass and a 12 pack Sam light yesterday so I too am ready!!! Hopefully I don't drink it all before my next boil!!!!:o

[SSFLLC]

Hi Brad, you talk about snow ring on the trees. We still have 3ft of snow in the woods and 6-12 for this one. 34 degrees here now. turning on the pump to see if its going to flow. Walking the neighbors 86 acres today for future expansion.

[gearpump]

Russ and Keith, I finally got the vacuum pump going. What a beast. I only have +100 taps hooked up at the moment, but I can tell that vacuum is the way to go. I have learned not to put a thermal protected starter switch over a running hot pump. It seemed like every time the releaser was going to dump the pump would kick out. Hopefully this long Winter will break and it will start getting warm. We are almost out of wood, only 2 to 3 cords left out of the 20 we put in. I might go back out and run some more tubing, hoping to get 200 to 300 taps on vacuum this year...

Marty

[SSFLLC]

Hi Marty, Glad its working for you. That pump you can add another 0 on the end of those numbers and still be good. Put the oil right to it. I should have stopped by I was just at the hardware store over there.

[Russell Lampron]

Kieth I did run the vacuum yesterday. Didn't get much though. My woods are cold and it was way too cold the night before to get them flowing. It was still 35 when I got home last night so I left the pump on. Hopefully I got some sap overnight.

Marty I knew you wold like the vacuum. I knew it was a good thing the first season that I had it. I have used a lot of wood too but still have plenty on hand. I still have about 5 or 6 cords left.

Brad only 2 12 packs? I bought 4 the other day and that may not be enough if it is a long season.

[red maples]

Hi Brad, you talk about snow ring on the trees. We still have 3ft of snow in the woods and 6-12 for this one. 34 degrees here now. turning on the pump to see if its going to flow. Walking the neighbors 86 acres today for future expansion.

Well someone had asked (forget what thread) Should you wait to tap until the snow ring melts away from the tree??? Well 2 years ago it didn't matter beacuse it was really only snow. and the sap still flowed pretty good. and Doc perkins said snow isn't really the problem. if you have a deep snow pack ,(which we do) then you get rain on top of it then you have ice adhearing to base of the tree keeping that section frozen. So the tree can't pull water up from the roots and we got that rain a few weeks ago I think I got more than you guys did. and it froze to the base of the tree and it goes through that 2-3 feet of snow all the way down to the ground right around the base of most of my trees. I nees a few warm days I think for that ice to separate form the tree and allow trees to suck up the water from the roots.


anyway 86 acres...thats great man happy to hear things are looking good for you guys. And that you got good neighbors now!!!

Russ...Well I go shopping every week so if I run out I can always pick up more!!! te thing is I seem to drink alot more when I am boiling because there really aren't too many breaks so before you know it 3-4 gone!!! "hmmm did I really drink 4 already??"

[SSFLLC]

Ya walked most of it this morning. Stopped counting at 700. Never made it to the other side of the brook. Where the ridge is. Thinking a possible 1400 if I want.

[Russell Lampron]

Kieth if you tap em all you'll be in the 2000 tap range. You're going to need an RO machine to keep up with that. All it takes is once and you will be hooked on boiling concentrate. Josh found that out last weekend.

[Russell Lampron]

Had the vacuum on for a little while today. The sap was trickling in slowly but I was getting a little. It has been a disappointing week. I've got about an 80 gallon block of frozen sap in the bottom of my woods tank. Looks like I won't be boiling that anytime soon.

The 10 day says that we are going to start getting some above freezing temps but they are going to be accompanied by storms.

I am headed to Buxton tomorrow to help Royalmaple get his trees tapped. Should be fun getting snowed on every time I tap a spout into a tree. Maybe there will be a little breeze to blow the snow out of the branches first.

[Russell Lampron]

Wow, step away from the computer for a day and half and come back to 6 pages and 145 threads with unread posts.

I must have been crazy but drove to Matt's yesterday in the snow storm to help him get tapped in. The snow in the woods is deep. After forgetting the most important tool, the swing press. A trip to his house and back and we were ready to hit the woods. That is after getting the snowmobile to run and getting it stuck a couple of times. We managed to get a little over 300 taps in before it got dark. We saved an easy section for last and the last 100 taps went in pretty fast compared to the first 200 plus.

It looks like it finally going to warm up a bit but it is going to be stormy not nice and sunny like it needs to be to get things thawed out and flowing. The snow is still over half way up the sides of my 550 gallon poly tank. Gonna need 400 gallons in it to be able to see the sap level without digging down.

[Russell Lampron]

Not much happening here at Red Roof Maples. It looks like the flood gates could be opening up this weekend and the temps look good for next week. I hope that the forecast is somewhat correct.

I have been running the vacuum pump when the temps have allowed for a little sap flow and have managed to get over 100 gallons in the last week and a half. Most of that is a block of ice that is going to get more solid tonight.

The pre season tune up is done, the releaser repaired and a lot of vacuum leaks fixed. There aren't very many now. I am maintaining 22" of vacuum and am ready for the BIGSAP.

[SSFLLC]

Russ you running your pump today. Suns out lines are thawing out. Big sap this weekend.

[Russell Lampron]

Kieth the pump wasn't on when I just got home from work. I haven't had a chance to check with Richard to see if he turned it on today. We ran it yesterday and it looks like when it gets turned on tomorrow it will stay on until it freezes again which might be Monday. I can only hope.

[SSFLLC]

Thats what were looking at also. I was in the woods all day. No sap here. Had to relevel the sugar shack off by 4 inches. Michelle will be turning on the pump tomorrow as soon as it hits 32. Then on till freeze up.

[Russell Lampron]

The report was that it never got thawed enough yesterday to turn the pump on. It only got to 31 here yesterday.

[Russell Lampron]

Because of the clouds and slow warm up the sap didn't start to flow until about 2 this afternoon. Pulled in about 100 gallons as of 7:00 and still coming in pretty good. Got the buckets tapped today too. I've got 96 of them out this year. Would have had 100 if I hadn't run a new lateral behind my house this morning. Four less buckets to empty and 4 more taps on vacuum.

[Russell Lampron]

The season is off to a slow start. I did boil and make some syrup Sunday night and have 275 more gallons of sap waiting for todays thaw before it gets pumped up to the sugar house. The way that the deep freeze blew in yesterday afternoon had me worried that the sap might freeze in the pipe before it got to the sugar house 1500' away.

[red maples]

yes the cold came fast and furious!!! went to hear a hiss coming from the releaser. upon further review...the 90* elbow from the manifold to the main canister froze up solid!!! caught it just in time although the pressure in the line was dropping so no real threat of sap backup. but close!!!

[Russell Lampron]

I had the same thing happen. The elbow was frozen solid. Never had that happen before.

Had a little over 400 gallons of sap in the tank in the woods from the last 2 days runs last night. Went down to pump it up and noticed that the level in the tank wasn't going down when about as much sap as it takes to get to the sugar house was pumped out. rode up to the suger house to investigate and found that a trickle of sap had come out then the line froze up solid. I wlll get that and todays run pumped up before it gets below freezing today.

[3% Solution]

Russ,
I had 30' of frozen pie going to the sugarhouse, first time for that!!
Hopefully the sap will run tomorrow.
It's got to start soon!

Dave

[Dill]

I was impressed that my vac was pulling 16 inches til I noticed that both main lines are froze solid. Since I didn't plumb valves in before the mainline I had no idea how much it was pulling at the releaser.
I would be boiling right now if my pump hose to the truck wasn't froze up. Got 60 gallons out the vac bush today, which is the most in a day yet.

[Russell Lampron]

The vacuum pump is saving the season once again. I tapped my buckets last Saturday and haven't gotten enough sap to gather them yet. I have collected over 1300 gallons from my vacuum taps and could have had a little more if I hadn't had a problem with my releaser early in the season.

Syrup sales are starting off strong this year. I am selling it fast as I am making it. Open house weekend is 1 week away and with the inquiries I have been getting I should have a good turn out. I hope that I can make enough syrup between now and then so that I have something to sell.

[TapME]

great to here that you are making syrup Russ. Hope the season is good to you this year. We should be out of the frozen tundra here this weekend and things will pick up to normal. Say hi to the family from me.

[red maples]

The vacuum pump is saving the season once again. I tapped my buckets last Saturday and haven't gotten enough sap to gather them yet. I have collected over 1300 gallons from my vacuum taps and could have had a little more if I hadn't had a problem with my releaser early in the season.

Syrup sales are starting off strong this year. I am selling it fast as I am making it. Open house weekend is 1 week away and with the inquiries I have been getting I should have a good turn out. I hope that I can make enough syrup between now and then so that I have something to sell.

Same here bud I have collected 675 gallons out of my vac lines so far on 280 taps. which I haven't had a really good strong run yet. and a maybe 50 gal. outta 27 gravity and 7 buckets. I was gonna add in a few more gravity and buckets but I don't wanna waste my time.

I got alot of people asking for syrup to but I am not selling any until maple weekend. I have alot of people asking about the weekend too, and I wanna make sure I have enough syrup!

[Russell Lampron]

We're gonna make some syrup today. We have gotten 1100 gallons of sap from this run so far. The vacuum is still pulling it in at 22.5" and the buckets are still dripping. I don't expect to get much more out of the buckets but got 125 gallons out of 96 taps since they were tapped a week ago. The sap from the vacuum is at 2% and from the buckets which are all sugars it is at 3%. That's a lot better than last season.

[Russell Lampron]

Had a busy day and night yesterday. Started the RO at 5:15 yesterday morning and finally ran out of sap at 6:00 last evening. Boiled what started out as 1100 gallons of sap in 5 hours and made 25 gallons of syrup. After filtering canning and clean up I finally went to bed at 11:20 last night. I am beat today. I'm glad that I am on vacation this week.

The RO was still putting out 1.25 gpm on both sides right up until I ran out of sap. It ran for 13 hours with only 1 rinse. I gave it 2 soap washes before running the permeate through. It is ready to go for the next round of BIGSAP.

My evap rate was pretty good too. The RO was putting out 75 gallons per hour of concentrate and was having a hard time gaining on the evaporator. I like having my preheater fixed and I love the blower that Royalmaple gave to me a couple of years ago.

[red maples]

Russ what are you getting for syrup grades?

[3% Solution]

Hey Russ,
Good to hear everything is going good.
Keep on boiling!!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Brad so far it has all been B but yesterdays was so borderline that it could have been A Dark. Part of my problem there is that my front pan was burned really bad and the syrup colors up there because of the hot spot that covers almost half of the pan.

Dave things have been going pretty well this season. The sap is sweeter so I am starting to make some product to make up for the slow start to the season.

The latest set back was getting the filter press figured out now that I have installed a diaphragm pump in place of the hand pump. I was having problems with it leaking all over the place no matter how much I tightened the wing nuts. A quick read of the instruction manual that came with it and I found that all I needed to do was shut it off for a minute after I first get syrup through it so that it can heat up evenly. I have used it twice since I figured that out and it worked good.

Got my 600 gallon bulk tank full to within an inch of the top for tomorrows boil. That plus what runs tomorrow should make for another productive day.

[red maples]

I have been getting a light shade of dark A with more of a medium buttery flavor just curious. but a pretty deep red for this time of season.

Oh I know the stuff I had to do was maple related(and went out to dinner with the family). I had to move a snow pile thats accross from my drive way from the sugarhouse. I want to set up a tent for maple weekend. beacuse I can't too many people in there. And I needed to move the snow before it refroze tonight. I want to get any snow I missed melted away by the weekend since the days are gonna be warm. Back to boilng tomorrow 11:00-4:30pm tomorrow. in the morning cleaning tanks and moving sap, and finally clean the releaser it getting the brown ring in there from running so long!!!

[Dill]

Ring around the releaser!


I'm getting med amber, I think last night's drawoff might have been a B, it looked dark. But I screwed up boiling that batch twice. Didn't get a drawoff the night before at 1 am. So I flooded it and brought it back up to boil with wet wood. So it should have that robust flavor.

[red maples]

yeah ring on the inside of the releaser. when it hasn't been cleaned in a bit it will get nice and grimmy inside. and we hadn't had a freeze in some time. so if you notice your sap coming in cloudy and can't figure out why. check in your releaser!!!

I got grade B today!!!

I don't know how I did it I was pushin' it hard!!! No blower...no preheater!!! stock rig.... boiled out 250 gallons in 6 hours!!!! pulled off 4 gallons syrup. could have got a little more but had to shut down.

averaged 41.66 gallons per hour. bone dry pine firing every 3 minutes alternating doors!!! she was rippin' end to end!!!

Didn't get freeze last night but managed 50+ gallons on vac...gotta love vac.

Got to boil the lasty hour in the dark(well sorta) just no lights no radio...dog nicely chewed through my extention cord!!! Dumbass!!!

[red maples]

I was tired I thought I was typing that last one on my thread ooppss!! :emb:

[Russell Lampron]

That ok Brad I like getting other peoples updates in my thread. I had a good night as well last night. I had 925 gallons to start with and made 16.5 gallons of syrup in 3 hours. That was fun! Did I ever mention that I love my RO? I haven't done the official grading yet but it looks to be Dark Amber.

[SSFLLC]

Hi Russ, Glad to see things are working good for you. Where making dark amber here also. You've got the week off. Maybe I can find thetime to stop by and check it out when you boil off that 16% sap. Heading down to sugar shack now. Where starting to fall behind here. Michelle's been boiling but saps coming in faster than we can boil it off. This freeze up will let me catch up a little. I hope! Keith

[TapME]

Nice sap #'s Russ. Wish I had all my taps in one place so vac could be applied. It's been slow here but shouild change today. Have a ''soda'' for me when you boil today. :)

[Russell Lampron]

Had the best sap flow to date yesterday afternoon. I got 250 gallons of sap from 4:00 to 6:00 on my vacuum when I normally see between 25 and 50 gallons per hour. The releaser was dumping every 45 seconds!!! It was a thrill to watch. Collected 600 gallons from a run that started at noon and lasted until 8:00.

Not much coming in yet today. It's only 33 degrees here now. The weather liars have promised 40 for a high today. I'll just have to wait and see.

The RO is running and I am going to be boiling tonight. With the sap that I have on hand it should be pretty sweet by the time that I light the evaporator tonight.

[Amber Gold]

I was wondering how things are flowing today. Last night it got below freezing a touch at the house, but when I got up it was 35. Everything at the woods was frozen this morning which tends to be a bit colder than the house. I still have 500 gal leftover from yesterday's run, plus whatever I don't get today.

[red maples]

yeah not much coming in here either...forecast for 40 today but is sitting at 37. sap is coming in cloudy too!!! so I guess there wasn't enough of a freeze last night.

[Russell Lampron]

Turned out to be a pretty good run. I got 400 gallons from my vacuum taps and 130 from my buckets. The sap from the buckets was from the last 2 days. Gathered the buckets in the rain and shortly after we were done wouldn't you know it it stopped raining. All of the trees were still running too.

I left the vacuum on all night. It was still above freezing when I came in at 11:30 but it got below freezing for a little while. All of the puddles have ice on them and it was 34 degrees when I got up at 6:30.

I still have to can up some of last nights 16 gallons of syrup then it is on to cleaning the sugar house and making some treats to sell at this weekends open house.

[Russell Lampron]

The syrup is getting lighter. It was almost medium amber last night. The flavor is getting lighter too.

Concentrated to 18.5% last night and the 740 gallons of sap flew through the evaporator in less than 2.5 hours. The season total on syrup is now 81.5 gallons, more than 1/2 way to last years 153 gallon total. I have used roughly a 1/2 cord of wood. If this keeps up I won't have to cut any wood for next year.

I'm stock piling today's sap for Saturdays open house boil and have 385 in the tank to start with plus what came in on the vacuum overnight. I have to gather the buckets this morning too and hope that that adds another 100 plus to the total. I would like to have 1200 to 1500 gallons on hand so that I can run the RO all day for the people that want to see it.

My first attempt at making maple cream from dark amber syrup was a success. My wife also made maple coated nuts for the open house and I hope to have time to make some candy today.

[SSFLLC]

Hi Russ nice that you stopped by the other day. Sorry for the long walk in. Its not getting any better ice is out but now 3 feet of mud were the frost came out. boiled every day for 8 to 10 hrs and was falling further and further behind. Did a 22 hr boil and almost caught up. 225 left in head tank. Michelle will boil that tomorrow. Out of wood son cut down and cut up standing dead timber today About half cord that will get us through the week i hope. Good luck with maple weekend. Keith

[Russell Lampron]

Kieth now I know why you didn't come over the other night. How did you boil for 22 hours with no lights down there?

I have close to 1000 gallons of sap for today's open house. Started the RO at 5am so I should be in pretty good shape by 9am when I am planning to light the evaporator. I have every available tank at the sugar house filled with sap to start the day.

After looking at the sample in the daylight it turns out that the grade for the last boil was up to medium amber. I now have medium, dark and B for the weekend open house.

I made some cream for the open house out of dark amber syrup the other night and it came out perfect. It taste a lot better than the stuff made with light syrup too.

The ice broke on the road to my releaser and it is now almost impassable. I can get through with my Foreman with over sized mud tires but my wife's stock Rancher needs help.

[SSFLLC]

I have a gas lantern I use down there. How was the first day of maple weekend for you? Keith

[Russell Lampron]

The first day of maple weekend was a great success. My first day of sales almost equaled last years total for both days. Had a lot of customers even though I have competition at the end of my road now.

My oldest daughter works at the Merrimack Valley High School and was able to post the event on their public bulletin board. I had a big turn out of people from there. I have also gotten a lot of orders from the faculty's of the other schools in the district. I also had an order for 15 pints from the high school itself.

I made 21 gals of syrup yesterday which puts me at 102.5 for the season so far. That is closing in on the 153 that I made last year pretty good. I am 2/3's of the way there with plenty of good sap weather predicted for the next 10 days. Some customers were telling me about the bad seasons some of the places that they stopped at were having. They must not have vacuum because I am having a great season so far.

[Marc Duclos]

What is defomer for. Is it important. How to use it if I needed it on a 40 x 60 syrup pan wood fired. I am in Deerfield and it is my first year I only have 400 taps and I just tested the arch and got the cupolar finshed at mid night last night. I will be starting to evaporate today. I have 500 galons of sap on hand and I can see more coming. I dont see my self scupping up fom and throwing it on the groud. So fome up so what or what.

[Russell Lampron]

A defoamer is just that, I use a commercial defoamer, Atmos 300 distributed by Leader. Canola oil can be used as well as butter or cream. I stay away from the dairy products though because some people are lactose intolerant and I don't want any issues with that. To use the defoamer just add a couple of drops to the boiling sap when it starts to foam up.

Defoamer is usually added to the flue pan if you have one and it is necessary to keep your pan from boiling over.

[Dill]

Russ my daughter and I are headed up Loudon way this morning hopefully she'll last long enough to see your operation in operation.

[Russell Lampron]

Thank you Alden for helping me get things thawed out. I was surprised and happy that you and your daughter stopped by.

I had another good turn out yesterday. The sales total for the weekend was almost double compared to last year. One of my regular customers wife stopped by Saturday and bought seven 1/2 gallons. He came over yesterday and bought another gallon. I love customers like that. I had plenty of syrup on hand but ran out of nuts and cream. Gotta make more next year.

The customers were surprised that I have an RO and many were interested in the process. My wood pile took a hit. I burned almost as much over the weekend as I have all season to date. I have plenty on hand so it is not a problem.

My woods tank was nutted last night and the buckets ran pretty good once they got started. I will be boiling again tonight but the sap will be much sweeter. The syrup production numbers are looking good. I am up to 113.5 gallons for the season so far which is 40 shy of last years total. I should have no problem going over 200. It is nice to have some sugar in the sap this year.

[PerryW]

I am up to 113.5 gallons for the season so far which is 40 shy of last years total. I should have no problem going over 200. It is nice to have some sugar in the sap this year.

I'm gonna have a hard time (trying) to catch up to you this year! A busy schedule, a not-quite-full woodshed and tired legs have reduced my tap count somewhat. I'm sitting at 19 gallons so far, but I haven't really got going yet this season.

[Russell Lampron]

Perry I've been watching your thread but have been too busy to post any replys. Sorry to hear that you couldn't tap as many this year. I hope that you have a good season up there.

I had another full tank of sap last night after yesterdays run. It ran good down here after it finally warmed up. I got 500 gallons from noon until it froze up last evening.

[PerryW]

Perry I've been watching your thread but have been too busy to post any replys. Sorry to hear that you couldn't tap as many this year. I hope that you have a good season up there.
.

I've been busy building a house from my sawmill lumber since last July, so Sugaring just hasn't been a priority. I tapped all the Permanent Tubing Runs on my land but haven't botherred with the buckets or lower producing tubing runs that require hand-gathering. Now I can gather all my sap in 40 minutes instead of 2 hours. I did tap a few dozen more permanent taps and even a string of red maples, so I should end up with 85% of the sap if I tapped everything. I'm also trying to walk my tubing runs at least every other run and keep the leaks to a minimum. I still think I can squeeze 120 gallons out if we have a good year.

Here's the spec house I'm building on 25 acres:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y235/perryW/DP_HouseJan2011.jpg

[red maples]

Gee Russ glad you still have good sugar for some reason my sugar dropped off I have been consistantly 1.5 - 2 on my vac reds and ever since we had that warm up on friday my sugar has dropped off like crazy. Even the big sugar maple that has buckets on it which is usually around 3% or more is down to <2% I don't know??? Same thing happened last year I hit the first warm up and my sugar dropped!!! I am still cookin' it off but not making much syrup now and it pretty dark.

[Russell Lampron]

Perry nice looking house. Now you need to post some pictures of your sugar house. You may have done that already and I might have missed them.

Brad the sugar may come back up after some freezes. That's what turns the starches in the roots into sugars. I haven't had the time to check my sugar content to see if it still holding. When I got home from work last night it was already at 12% and it was at 18+ when I was ready to boil.

Made 9 gals more last night. It was still B but the color is getting lighter. The weekend slow boils made it real dark. I'm putting my clean front pan on before I boil tonight. Hopefully that will get me back into grade A. I need 1/2 gals of everything grade A to replenish the sell outs from the weekend. I have 2 kegs full of dark amber that I hate to open. I should be able to make more before I have to do that.

After having many problems with leakage and blown papers I think that I finally have my filter press figured out. Wet the papers when I put them in, lots of filter aid and stop the press and let sit for a minute to heat up the plates after I first get syrup through it and it works just fine. I like it a lot better with the diaphragm pump instead of the hand pump that it used to have.

[Amber Gold]

Russ, I just ordered a diaphragm pump for mine...tired of dealing with a worn out gear pump. When I filter I put 2 cups of filter aid and mix well. Run it through the press for about 1 gallon into a pail. Dump the pail back into my drawoff tank, then filter the entire batch into my canner. The next batch I'll add another cup of filter aid, then again as needed which so far hasn't been very often. Syrup's coming out very good and pressure's are usually about 20psi. It seems to work well.

[Russell Lampron]

I have an owners manual with my press and it says to use 1 to 3 cups of filter aid for 5 gallons of syrup depending on how dirty the syrup is. I have been using 2 cups per 5 gallons and it is working fine. When I use less than that I will tend to blow out a paper even with the pressure only around 25 to 30psi. I think that may be because of the pulses of the diaphragm pump. It isn't smooth and steady like a gear pump.

[red maples]

my sugar is already back on the rise. coming in much better today. like you said just needed a few freezes. hopefully 1 tonight too. we'll see. looks like this season is going to go into April. Red buds still small and tight!!! And yes syrup is very dark from the long slow boils over the weekend. but its getting flushed out now.

[hurdmaple]

Perry I just saw the pic of the house u are building out by the town garage
u have been working hard and doing a great job.

[Russell Lampron]

Made 15.5 more last night. Now up to 138 gals, 15 shy of last years total. It looking like a slow start today. I might get that much needed night off. The boil didn't take that long but the filtering and canning kept me in the sugar house until midnight. I was out of 1/2 gallons and getting low on gallons. Can't seem to keep 1/2 gallons on the shelf. I have already sold close to a case of them. The grade was back up to dark amber last night. I hope to get back up to medium. You guessed it, I am out of 1/2 gallons and gallons of it.

[Amber Gold]

What size diaphragm pump do you have? The one I got is 3/8" inlet/outlet. I was thinking of going 1/4", but thought it might be too susceptible to clogging from DE.

[Russell Lampron]

Josh mine is a 3/8" pump as well. It is nice and compact and it works good too. I was afraid that it would be too small when I ordered it but it turned out to be just right.

[Russell Lampron]

I passed last years syrup production total last night. I am now at 155 gals and headed for a new record. My previous record is 162 gals and I should pass that tonight. Look out 200 here I come.

I don't know what happened but the red maple behind my sugar house woke up and has had a 1/2 bucket of sap the last 2 times that I gathered it. It normally only has an inch or 2 in the bucket. One time this season it didn't even have a drop of sap in the bucket. Maybe it overheard me telling my son in law that it was destined to be firewood.

Speaking of sap. My 550 gal woods tank only had 250 gals of sap in it at 2:30 and when I went to pump it out at 6:00 it was up to the bottom of the releaser. The high temp was only 38 and it was cloudy most of the day. I have been getting some pretty good runs when it has been cold. The other day it was snowing and the temp hovered around 31 - 32 degrees and I still got a decent run. Go figure!

[Backyard Sapper66]

Way to go Russ!! Kick some butt dude! The sap run this week has had me baffled as well. Temps not much over 35 and cloudy but the trees have been running. I only have 55 taps all on gravity and buckets but have been averaging 20-25 gallons a day.
Good luck for the rest of the season!
Doug
:)

[red maples]

I have 2 red maples on buckets. One has barely had a drip all season had alomost 1/2 bucket on it today!!!

[Kev]

I passed last years syrup production total last night. I am now at 155 gals and headed for a new record. My previous record is 162 gals and I should pass that tonight. Look out 200 here I come.

I don't know what happened but the red maple behind my sugar house woke up and has had a 1/2 bucket of sap the last 2 times that I gathered it. It normally only has an inch or 2 in the bucket. One time this season it didn't even have a drop of sap in the bucket. Maybe it overheard me telling my son in law that it was destined to be firewood.

Speaking of sap. My 550 gal woods tank only had 250 gals of sap in it at 2:30 and when I went to pump it out at 6:00 it was up to the bottom of the releaser. The high temp was only 38 and it was cloudy most of the day. I have been getting some pretty good runs when it has been cold. The other day it was snowing and the temp hovered around 31 - 32 degrees and I still got a decent run. Go figure!

thats exactly what was happening here in IL this season. on days you could / should expect real good runs, next to nothing. on days that should have been too cold and windy and cloudy, they ran good. I just boiled and said thanks LOL

[Russell Lampron]

Up to 161.5 gallons of syrup now, just a 1/2 gallon away from tying my previous best season. I have 300 gals of sap in the tank to boil tomorrow and will set a new record. Perry you've got a long way to go to catch me now.

Not much happening here today. Too cold and windy. The weather looks good for the next 10 days. How long have I been saying that this season.

[SSFLLC]

Hi Russ, Glad to see you broke that record. Still some good boiling ahead. Buds here have not even begun to open. The frost is coming out of the ground though. Wife buried the tractor today in the mud today. Got me out of my paying job early to resque her. Good thing I had the farmi winch on or it would be there till things dry up. Syrup crystal clear great taste but red. Added air under the fire with leaf blower for now, Great improvment to the boil. Checked on an RO for next year. With power very limited here at the house. To up grade the power and add a heated room looking at over 15 grand for everything. So looks like will be going with a steamaway instead. Air over and under also. Keith

[Russell Lampron]

Kieth glad to hear that you got the tractor out. Those Farmi Winches are nice. There's nothing wrong with the red syrup. I make a lot of it and you are right, it tastes great. It's too bad that you can't go with the RO. Adding air over and under the fire and a Steamaway will help speed things up a lot.

[3% Solution]

Russ,
Looks like 200 for you is going to be too low of a number for you to shoot for!!!
Go for the sky ............. 275 to 300!!!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Yeah Dave 200 is now a modest goal. 275 might be a stretch though. I figure 2 or 3 good runs and I will pass 200. Then another 10 or 12 when I boil out the evaporator to top off the season. The fat lady isn't even warming up her vocal cords yet!!!

[3% Solution]

Russ,
That heavy set lady hasn't even left home yet!!!!!

[Backyard Sapper66]

Russ,
We can't let her sing yet we hardly started up here in Alexandria. Good luck on your 275 goal!!!
Our goal is 5 gallons which woud be a ton of syrup for our little backyard operation.
Kudos to you crazy guys that make that much syrup. Making it at 5GPH evap rate is slow but way better than a turkey fryer.
Doug
:)

[Dill]

Hey Russ the 10 day looks perfect.
AGAIN!!!!

Don't know about you but my ground is frozen again. So when it hits 45 it'll be gushing this week. If only I didn't have the pesky job to go to all week.

[Russell Lampron]

Doug I don't think that I could do that 5gph thing again. I am used to drawing more syrup than that off in an hour.

Made 8.5 gallons more tonight. I am now at 169 for the season, an all time high. Having not boiled since Friday and having the sap sit in the bulk tank since Friday night I was certain that my grade would go back down to B. To my surprise it stayed at dark amber.

And I will say it again. Looks like good sap weather for the next 10 days!!! I hope that you guys up north get some good runs so that you can catch up to the rest of us.

[Amber Gold]

The diaphragm pump was hooked up this weekend and it works great...much better than the gear pump. I also installed a 3-way valves so I can use it to pump out drums w/out taking anything apart. I've been running the compressor at 60psi which maintains ~30psi syrup pressure into the press and haven't had any issues with blowing papers.

[Russell Lampron]

Josh I like my diaphragm pump too. I run it nice and slow and have no problems. It was an adventure for a while. The clamping force of the plate that holds the plates together isn't as strong on my press as the ones that come with gear pumps.

[Russell Lampron]

It looks like we are finally going to get some warm weather today. When it does break loose again it looks like we are going to get BIGSAP. This cold spell gave me a little break. Boiling every other night instead of boiling every night.

My woods tank had 450 gals in it last night and I gathered my buckets. I got almost 1 gpt out of them despite having to throw away a lot of ice. Got 250 pumped out of the woods tank before needing the pump at the sugar house. When I returned to the woods tank the line to the sugar house had frozen and I had to leave 200 gals down there. I have enough to get the RO started this morning and should be able to get the rest out of the woods tank before it is full again.

[Backyard Sapper66]

Russ,
I have a feeling we are in for one heck of a run over the next 7 to 10 days. 20's at night, 40's during the day, light winds and sunshine. Hoping I can keep up with it all. Good luck to you!!
Have a "sweet" day.
Doug
:)

[Dill]

Hey Russ have you seen the 10 day? :lol:

Next week is snow/rain/ice, high in the upper 40s lows in the 20s. Can we say big vacuum runs?

[Russell Lampron]

Yes big vacuum runs for sure. It looks like the buckets could run good too. Looks like we should get some BIGSAP if the weather liars are somewhat close in their predictions.

[Russell Lampron]

As of last night I am at 197.5 gallons of syrup for the season. I have 350 gallons of sap in the tank plus what I get today so passing 200 gallons isn't going to be a problem. The grade was almost light amber last night too. Maybe I'll make some light tonight.

The sap is still coming in clear even though it is the end of March. I don't know how much longer this season is going to last but it has sure been a good one. I have gotten sap until the 14th of April before and wouldn't be surprised if it happens again this year. Tonight and tomorrows snow should give us a big boost.

[3% Solution]

Russ,
Sounds like your doing well.
Didn't get that much snow here!!
Maybe 4'"
Doing good here, just hit 37 gallons.
37.75 is the most we've ever made!!!!!
Looks like warm weather coming in middle of the week.
Keep boiling.

[Russell Lampron]

Looks like you are going to set a new record too Dave. I am at 217 gallons now and should be able to add a bit more to that before the season ends. The wood pile is looking a bit scary. I have about enough to make 50 more gallons left.

My grade went up to light amber Thursday night. I'm supposed to make that at the beginning of the season not at the end. I'll take it when I can get it.

Things have been going pretty smooth this season. Only minor vacuum issues and a little time to learn how to run the filter press. The press was a lot different with the diaphragm pump on it. It works a lot better than the hand pump.

Times of sap and no wood are better than times of wood and no sap. If I am out of wood it means that I had a great season.

[gearpump]

Seems like a good year for records. We are on the brink of hitting 300 gallons. Our mighty vacuum pump has been humming along at 20"to 22" and if today keeps running good will hit .625 gallons of syrup per tap on that system. Larry at Windswept was comparing this years runs to one in thirty years ago.

Marty

[Russell Lampron]

Made another 7 gallons of light amber last night. The syrup colors are backwards compared to a normal year but I will take it. I am running out of syrup storage. I have filled my 4 15.5 gallon kegs. I have filled all of my 5 gallon containers but one which has about 2 gallons of B in it. Every time that I grab that one to top it off the syrup grades lighter and I put it back. I am now down to a 30 gallon barrel and two 55 gallon barrels. I know that I won't produce enough syrup to fill the big guys. It looks like I will be emptying some 5 gallon containers into the 30 so that I can refill them.

From Friday afternoon until yesterday morning I got 450 gallons of sap which I boiled last night after sweetening it to 19%. From 11 am until 6 pm I only got 200 more from the vacuum and the buckets hadn't run enough to gather since Friday afternoon. It got down to 27 at the house last night which means it got colder in the woods. I am hoping for BIGSAP today.

[Amber Gold]

Russ, I'm in the same boat as you. All my kegs are filled and my options are either 5 gal jugs or 30 gal drums. My season has followed a typical progression from light to dark, except for the B I made mid-season because of the warm spell. We started making B the other day and I don't see it coming back because it's coming into the releaser a bit cloudy.

[Russell Lampron]

Josh my sap was cloudy yesterday as well but I still made light syrup last night. My syrup started out B, went up to dark, then medium and back to B for maple weekend. From there it went up to dark, back to medium and then except for Friday night it went up to light and stayed there. I have made 27 gallons of it so far.

I pumped 20 gallons of dark amber into my 30 gallon drum and if I don't make any more dark I will heat up 10 gallons more to top it off. That freed up four 5 gallon containers but with the stormy weather and warm temps that are predicted it looks like I might not refill all of them.

It has been a record setting season and I only need enough sap to make about 10 gallons more syrup to break 250 for the season. The wood pile has taken a hit. I have less than a 1/2 cord left out of the 3 that I started with.

[PerryW]

. The wood pile has taken a hit. I have less than a 1/2 cord left out of the 3 that I started with.

It constantly amazes me that you can make so much syrup with only 2.5 cords. I started w/8 cords of pine slabs and after 63 gallons, my wood is half gone. If I was starting out now, I would definitely go with your setup.

On another note, I guess I know why you call them weather liars. I was depressed on sat. morning with only 48 gallons and no freezes in the next 10 days. Now I am at 63 gallons, a low of 26 last night and now there are a couple lows of 22 degrees predicted! Thinks are looking up for my season now. Still 1-2 feet of very dense snow on the ground.

[Russell Lampron]

Yeah Perry I like to sweeten my sap as much as I can get it with the RO so that I can get the boiling done. I save wood in the process and can get out of the sugar house at a reasonable hour. Anyone starting out now would be foolish not to figure an RO into their plans.

[Dill]

The swamp is probably helping you today Russ. I've basically got no flow yesterday or today. I figure it'll be mersh tuesday onward.

[Russell Lampron]

Well Alden it looks like the end is near. For the first time in a while I'm not saying that the 10 day forecast looks perfect.

As of 2:30 this afternoon I only had 200 gallons in my woods tank. That is all that had come in since yesterday at noon.

I gathered the buckets yesterday afternoon and was surprised to see that they were dripping this afternoon. Some of them had almost as much sap in them today as they did yesterday. What I gathered yesterday was what had run since Thursday.

I need sap enough to make about 10 more gallons of syrup and it looks like I might get it. The sap that is in the woods tank and buckets now is going to get me about 1/2 way there. The vacuum pump is on and will be until the sap stops flowing.

[3% Solution]

Hi Russ,
Yeah not looking good for around here this week either.
Getting caught up finally.
Never seen sap run like this before!!!!
Sure was a fun ride though!!!!
But it isn't over yet!!
Didn't make any Light and very little Medium.

[PerryW]

Yeah Perry I like to sweeten my sap as much as I can get it with the RO so that I can get the boiling done. I save wood in the process and can get out of the sugar house at a reasonable hour. Anyone starting out now would be foolish not to figure an RO into their plans.

I'm pretty foolish, but not as foolish as the people who bring logs to me and then pay me to saw up my sugaring wood.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y235/perryW/Sawmill-Winter.jpg

[Russell Lampron]

Perry you have been doing this for a while. When you started out the common train of thought was to get a bigger evaporator when you outgrew the one that you had. Now sugarmakers should be thinking about adding an RO when they outgrow their evaporator.

[PerryW]

Yup I started out in this location in 1988 with 275 taps and a 2x6. Got sick of that after one season and got the 3x10. Since then I have been tapping around 700, mostly woods trees.

It's a good balance for me. A good run for me is 400-500 gallons which is a total of 5 - 6 hours in the sugarhouse, including fire-up at the beginning and cleanup & filter washing at the end.

There are no motors or pumps in my operation except my sap truck and I can run without power if necessary. The only drawback is the wood; but the sawmill seems to solve that problem.

Well off to gather and boil. To me, it's just like Christmas Morning every time I open up the cover of that 600 gallon tank.

[Russell Lampron]

Wow what a season!!! I never thought that running out of wood would be a problem before the season started but that is what happened. I'm going to have to go out and cut some standing dead wood to finish up with.

I never thought that I would make close to 300 gallons of syrup either. As of last night I am at 260 gallons for the season. I have 300 plus gallons of sap in my bulk tank and last nights freeze and today's warm temps will make for another good run. By the time that I am done I should be in the 280 gallon range.

The grade has been just under the light amber shade and the syrup has a nice medium flavor. I haven't made any mersh this year and am really happy with the lighter grades that I have been making at this end of the season. The buds haven't been a problem yet and it looks like the season will end before they are.

The taps have been in since Valentines weekend and are still going strong. The CV spout adapters seem to be paying off.

[TapME]

you sure have had a good season Russ. The same is true here. Keep on going foward. And the wood thing we are doing the same thing here. Standing dead pine or spruce is all coming to the evap to be burned.

[red maples]

yes I could have made more syrup but ran outta wood as of last weekend and I don't have anystanding dead left (I cut it all out last year) Oh well, I pulled my taps yesterday. Heck of a thing though getting light grades at the end of the season, take it while you can I guess.

[PerryW]

yes I could have made more syrup but ran outta wood.

That's no excuse! With that R.O., you should be able to make 10 gallons of syrup with an armload of squaw wood.:D

[red maples]

I only dream of an RO...thats still 2-3 years away yet!!!

[Russell Lampron]

The membrane on the RO is plugged just about solid and it took all day to get my sap to 3%. The wood pile is gone and one of the tires on the sap trailer won't hold air long enough to make it down to the tank and back without adding air. So even though I still had sap coming in I reluctantly turned off the vacuum pump and called it a season.

A great season it was though. I did my last boil last night and made more fancy. I didn't adjust the density and filter it yet so I don't know how much. I still have to finish what is in the evaporator too. I should be in the 280 range when all is done. That is more than 100 gallons more than my previous record of 162 gallons.

The worst part of the season, the clean up, starts today. Boiling the contents of the evaporator in the finisher and getting the membrane out of the RO are the top priorities. Then I will pull the buckets and move on to the tubing.

[red maples]

oh yeah the dreaded clean up...I am there too evap is just sitting with Vinegar solution in it. my taps are pulled buckets are down I just have to clean them and flush tubing, and drain and powerwash the evap pans. and also do a good scrub of the sugarhouse floor.

I keep trying to leave the sugarhouse open but the darn phebes keep trying to get in and build a nest in roof joists

[PerryW]

. I should be in the 280 range when all is done. That is more than 100 gallons more than my previous re.

Wow 280 on a 2x6! I'm glad you guys in central & southern NH had a good season after last year. It looks like pretty close to average year for me even if it quits now.

[Russell Lampron]

Perry I hope that you get the runs to meet your goal. It seems like you guys in the north country aren't having as good of a season as we had down here. Most producers around here broke their previous records by a lot. If I had hit 306 I would have doubled last seasons total and I only added about 30 new taps this season.

[Russell Lampron]

All of the taps are pulled except the three that are in the middle of a small pond. I found out that I have 648 taps on vacuum to go with the 96 buckets for a total of 744. I thought that I was closer to 800 which makes the great season that I had even better.

Now that I know how many taps I have it is time for the final numbers. I made 275 gallons of syrup at .37 gallons per tap. The vacuum taps which are mostly red maples gave up 13200 gallons of sap at 20.4 gallons per tap. My buckets gave up 1160 gallons of sap at 12.1 gallons per tap. The number for the vacuum taps is higher but I don't know how much higher. It was impossible to measure what was coming into the tank while it was being pumped out. At times it was quite a bit.

I have the sap from the evaporator finished and just need to pick up some vinegar to clean the pans. Most of the tanks are washed, the membrane has been removed from the RO and the RO is drained. I still have to wash the buckets when I have a warm day with some decent sun but for the most part clean up is ahead of schedule. It was a sad day when I had to pull the plug on this great season but it is a season that I will remember for a long time.