2011 Steaming Drill Bits- Tucker Mtn Maple

[tuckermtn]

Put in 450 taps today with help from Kat and Dave-

still need to set tanks and get vac pumps and releasers set up on those two bushes before before thursday.

cleaning boil hopefully tomorrow night...

then the rest of the taps depending on 10 day forecast next weekend.

[Backyard Sapper66]

Eric,
Glad to hear things are starting to roll over there. Been waiting impatiently over here. Portable evaporator is setup, buckets and spiles are sanitized and triple washed as well as the (2) 50 gallon juice drums for storage. I've located about 25 trees that I will be tapping this year on the property, some that are big enough for 2 taps!! Getting excited as you could probably tell. Couldn't sleep so I fired up the laptop and poked my head in to see what everybody was doing.
Good luck this year!!!!
Talk to you soon.......
Doug
:)

[tuckermtn]

Hey Doug- hope things go well for you this season...stop down anytime if your back in Andover...

[Backyard Sapper66]

Eric,
Rest assured I will!!!
By the way, where do you buy your plastic syrup containers? I have been using mason jars but wanted to send some syrup to family members across the states and figured the added touch of an authentic maple syrup container would add to the excitement of getting free syrup.
Let me know when you can.
Thanks a million!!!
Doug
:)

[Parker]

Eric- You got the drop on me this year! Looks like you will get some sap this week....We are going to start on sat. (which is early for me) Gotta log 1 more week.....GOOD LUCK, you have been working hard on it all winter and it will pay off this spring!

[3% Solution]

Hi Eric,
Nice looking place you got there (forgot to post after Jim and I came over).
Jim and I got to get over there some afternoon while your at it. Of course that would mean we'd be right at it too.
Think I headed out to was tubing Friday, then going to tap the next warm up.
Good to ya this spring.

Dave

[tuckermtn]

We go the rest of Salisbury tapped Wednesday and got the pump and releaser set up yesterday...still need to do leak patrol over there...looks like there will be close to 250 over there. so we have just over 500 in now.

was running a bit in Salisbury and at Putney, but no gusher yet...

Putney road has a tank under it, but today's task is to set up the small ladder in to the releaser, then releaser and pump. hope to get that set-up by late morning.

need to get to concord to pick up my round poly stock tanks...one is 8ft round so need to figure a way to get it home so we can build some covers.

lots to do after this early season shake-down.

[tuckermtn]

picked up 200 gals from salisbury at around 3pm yesterday then another 125 as of midnight last night. So a little over a gal/ tap since we got the vac pump up and running on Thursday morning. Refueled the vac pump but with the wind kicking in it wasn't running much when Parker and I left it last night.

sweetened the pans last night- one nice thing about a new pan and truely flat syrup pan is that while boiling last night I had one of the best looking gradients I have ever seen...tried to take a picture of it- well see if it does it justice...textbook

frigged my back up so not sure how much I'm gonna get done in the woods today...lots still to shakedown and set-up.

[Backyard Sapper66]

Eric,
Is there anything I can do to help? I have a few errands to run this am but if you need some help I would be willing to help out. Let me know.
Doug
:)

[Russell Lampron]

Close to a gallon per tap isn't bad for the first run. I hope your back problem isn't too serious. This is a terrible time to have something like that slow you down.

[tuckermtn]

Doug/Russ- I have Mark coming over to boil in the rest of the sap this afternoon...the back thing started last week as a lower back issue, but has now migrated to some some spasams and nerve stuff- something like sciatica I guess...well see...guess the muscle relaxants and boiling sodas don't mix though...

[Backyard Sapper66]

Eric,
Dealing with back issues really puts a damper on any activity. If my back is out to bad then I get migranes to go along with it. Just a little icing on the cake....
I hope you feel better, let me know if you need a hand.
Didn't do much outside today, darned wind up here in the mountain was whipping pretty good. And cold, I guess I don't have to worry about the sap going bad!!!
Hope you feel better!!
Doug
:)

[tuckermtn]

picked up another 75 gallons or so from the two runs we have going. The salisbury bush has around 250 taps and we got 350 gals total off of it in this first run. Putney road has 273 taps on it and we got 60 gallons off it. The difference- vacuum is up and running in Salisbury- nothing at Putney.

Going to get the barn cleaned up and gear re-organized while its cold out this morning. Need to also get the sugarhouse cleaned up for next weekends workshops. We've had over 30 folks sign up so we added a second afternoon session.

Still have 100 gals to push through will do that late afternoon.

slow moving around here...took some good meds and managed to get 10 hrs of sleep last night.

[Backyard Sapper66]

Eric,
You sound like your on the mend. Glad to hear you got more sap, I am sure the vac makes a big difference.
Are there any opening for next weekends workshop? I would like to attend (I have lots to learn!!!)
Keep an eye on that back of yours, your too young to be having it operated on.
Doug
:)

[tuckermtn]

Doug- yes there are a few openings in the afternoon class- call the NH Timberland Owners Association office at 224-9699...

just did some back stretches...hope to be on the mend...

[Backyard Sapper66]

Eric,
I am all signed up for the afternoon class. Its my understanding the class starts at 12pm. If its any different please let me know. I also joined the NH Timberland Owners Association while I was at it. Stopped by Sunnyside Maples today and got some 1/2 pint jugs and a sap and a syrup hydrometer with a large cup. Great peoplen great place. Thanks for the info.
Looking forward to the class. See you then.
Doug
:)

[tuckermtn]

Doug- afternoon class will get going at 1pm- but feel free to come early if you are so inclined...also thanks for joining the NHTOA...

not much maple today- got my order of kellems grips from the manufacture today...nice to deal with and saved a few bucks in the process.

Plan on setting up the vacuum and releaser tomorrow AM at Putney rd. looks like we might get a run later in the week. lots to do...

[tuckermtn]

finally got the vac system up and running at Putney Rd. Still need to set the motors up with 5 gal gas tanks.

Re-hung and tapped our 50 tap-all-5/16 run. Also re-hung a 25 tap 5/16 run here in east
Andover. So we are a bit over 500 taps in now.

Still need to clean up the sugarhouse before the weekend workshop but wanted to put that off in the event we get some sap tomorrow. Its good to have a deadline.

10 day forecast has only a few days above 32, so hopefully that gives me some time to finish the salvage logging job in Hanover and get the rest of the sugaring prep done.

[wally]

Eric,
I also joined the NH Timberland Owners Association while I was at it.
:)

kudos to you, and welcome aboard. the best organization in the state with regard to timber harvesting rights. our eyes and ears at the statehouse and throughout the state.

wally

[Backyard Sapper66]

Wally,
It is cheap enough and a good cause to support. Glad to be aboard.
Maybe we will cross paths this weekend at Eric's.
Doug
:)

[Backyard Sapper66]

Eric,
Thanks again for hosting the Maple Sugaring class. I learned a lot and am hoping to make a few changes to my operation as a result of.
Have a good day!!
Doug
:)

[tuckermtn]

we have around 725 taps in as of this afternoon. Vacuum up and running on all but 50 of those taps. very little sap moving as of 7pm tonight despite the fact that its 42 deg out. Put one buckets out on a 10" sugar in the yard and it was dripping about 1 drip a second.

Plan on tapping buckets in the morning (around 130) unless it pouring out. Then on to the smaller gravity runs scattered around E. Andover.

Looking forward to the simplicity of hanging buckets after doing battle with the vacuum systems for the past week or so. 400 taps now are at 20", 273 are at 14". Need to do leak patrol on that one first thing in the morning.

Have not had any sap to boil since the 20th of February. Long way to my goal of 300 gallons.

If we get enough sap tomorrow its time to do some shake-down with the RO...

early to bed for me tonight...

[red maples]

I have about 100 gallons total. 50 from today. It was a very slow start since it was cloudy. Sap is running slowly but picking up a little. I think with the warm up this week end to help melt some ice and snow around the trees and then a nice cold refresh for monday night. by mid week if forecast stays the same the sap should be running hard ...fingers crossed. its only 2 weeks to maple weekend and I have no syrup!!!!

but I should have enough tomorrow to boil and get a drawoff since the pans are sweetened!!!

Good luck getting 300 gals Eric!!

[tuckermtn]

Well I think I'm ready to throw in the towel on those hobby releasers. This is the third version of them that I have had. Both of them hung up today (despite being level and no freezing temps in sight) One filled the moisture trap and it held and the other moisture trap passed the sap in to the sp11.

chris at maple guys is going to take both of them back in exchange for one regular lapierre releaser. Chris has been excellent to deal with. The regular lapierre will go on our bush in Salisbury (250 taps) and we will let the Chase Hill bush run on gravity. will loose the production there, but its all set up for gravity where as the other two vacuum bushes have ladders and need the vac.

Hung about 100 buckets this afternoon in the rain. Most were running, some pretty well.

so were at 850 taps as of this afternoon. Final push will be in the next few days to get us up to 1000 taps.

have a good one...

[3% Solution]

Eric,
By the sounds it isn't running over there any better than it is here.
Got some sap out there but not enough to do anything with.
Tomorrow we'll pick-up what's out there so it doesn't freeze in the tanks and buckets.
Got to get over there when your at it sometime.
Push .... Push ........ Push!!!!!
Have fun.

Dave

[Parker]

Hammering for us..I got a releaser for you..call in the am

[Backyard Sapper66]

Eric,
Never a dull moment. Thank God for good friends to help out when you need it. Good luck and try to stay dry!
Doug
:)

[red maples]

No problems with the hobby releaser...yet!!! second year still running good. Sorry for the bad luck!!!

Ha you know I shouldn't have said anything!!! its starting to freeze up and went to check to make sure everything was OK!!! and I hear this hissing sound. well there was still some sap coming through although slushy a clump must have gone into the 90 elbow from the manifold into the bottom canister and froze it up solid!!!! it was just gurgling and surging. caught it just in time.

[tuckermtn]

got the new lapierre releaser installed yesterday afternoon and the sap was actually running a bit. Keeping my fingers crossed...

cleaned tanks and fired up RO for first time this season. Made some permeate to clean membranes then pushed the remaining 350 gallons through the RO. Will boil this morning.

supposed to get to 37 or so today, then warmer and percipitation tomorrow. Going to be ready....

I think we are around 925 taps now. Hardest ones always come last...

have a good one-

-eric

[tuckermtn]

20 more buckets and 15 more gravity tubing this afternoon. Picked up some more buckets over at Parkers, now I need to get some more buckets spouts.

boiled in concentrate this morning, then finished and filtered our first syrup of the season. Dark amber, with a buttery light amber flavor.

turned on pumps around noon...running a little. Buckets on south side of trees dripping, but north side dry. Very exposure dependent.

looks like next run Friday.

[tuckermtn]

Peer pressure had me at it early this AM. Pump at putney rd was on all night- refueld at 615. Reinstalled the sp11 in Salisbury and fired it up. Then Heide and I collected 130 gallons from the buckets.

Dave and I finally got to do leak patrol at Puntey. from 17inches to 23 was only three leaks.

Pumped 175 gals from Salisbury and 185 from Putney tonight but left around 100 in each tank.

ROing now. With all the ice left in the buckets and tanks the sap we tested before it went into the RO was 2.9%. I'll take a season with numbers like that...

[Backyard Sapper66]

Glad to hear things are getting back on track for you. Go gettum' Eric!!!!!
Doug
:)

[tuckermtn]

buckets running hard here at 12:30pm...

bring it on!

[maple sapper]

Glad we met that day at Grainger. Its been a challenge as usual. Not a bad season though. Four boils and almost beat last years season total for sap. I'm ready for tonight.

[tuckermtn]

maple sapper- yes good to make the connection last week at the Grangiers in Manchvegas...

Excellent run today- Don't think I've ever seen a bucket tap run as hard as some of the ones I saw running today. We only gathered from 2/3 of our taps (now fully tapped at 1100 taps) and pulled in 800 gals of 2.3 % sap. More in the tanks- didn't get it all pushed through.

were up to 54 gals of finished syrup plus another 10 in the canner. All medium amber till last night. Finally making some dark. Were getting there...

lots to do before maple weekend...

[Amber Gold]

Eric, up boiling until 3am boiling...pretty late night. I thought I was up late when I left the SH at 12:30 this morning. I've never seen the trees run as hard as they did yesterday...great run. We've been making medium all season, but we switched to dark last night. Cleaning the pan today so we'll see if it helps.

[red maples]

Eric, up boiling until 3am boiling...pretty late night. I thought I was up late when I left the SH at 12:30 this morning. I've never seen the trees run as hard as they did yesterday...great run. We've been making medium all season, but we switched to dark last night. Cleaning the pan today so we'll see if it helps.

Thats what I am doing today!!! I am getting into some very dark B but its a lighter flavor than a traditional B it kinda tasts like a light dark flavor so I am thinking all the niter is black as night!!! could be coloring the syrup a bit???

[red maples]

maple sapper- yes good to make the connection last week at the Grangiers in Manchvegas...

Excellent run today- Don't think I've ever seen a bucket tap run as hard as some of the ones I saw running today. We only gathered from 2/3 of our taps (now fully tapped at 1100 taps) and pulled in 800 gals of 2.3 % sap. More in the tanks- didn't get it all pushed through.

were up to 54 gals of finished syrup plus another 10 in the canner. All medium amber till last night. Finally making some dark. Were getting there...

lots to do before maple weekend...

I didn't check my buckets until last night I had 1 overflowing...that never happened. that was the best run I have seen since I start on this maple craziness!!! :)

[tuckermtn]

big run for us yesterday. A 55 tap gravity run had over 110 gallons in it in 28 hours. Six buckets that I hung 28 hrs earlier averaged 2.5 gals each.

bad news is after Heide and Kat had gathered 175 gals of the Maple St buckets my f-350 crapped out. Brakes aren't working, no guages on the dash, and no power. All at once...no good. Been borrowing a friends Dodge one-ton so hopefully that one keeps on rolling.

up to 77 gals. Dark amber now

[tuckermtn]

quick update- in for dinner.

1233 gallons of sap hauled today, made 37 gals of syrup. Best one day syrup total by far. Looking back thats what we made the entire 2006 season. Great day for us.

F-350 back running (a few blown fuses and a busted brake line)

got to jug and clean up for pre-school visit and prep for maple weekend.

keep on keeping on...

[Backyard Sapper66]

Eric,
That sounds exciting!!! I mean about the sap and syrup, not your broken truck. Hopefully we will see you this weekend sometime.
Keep on keeping on!!!
Doug
:)

[tuckermtn]

had a good first day of maple weekend. did a couple hundred more in sales than last years maple weekend Saturday. Hopefully the weather brings out some more folks today.

My new favorite size jug is the 1/2 gallon. Easy to fill, and selling well. People like it because it fits in their fridge. Sold all 6 that we had jugged up yesterday. More to come.

made our first grade B of the season yesterday. Color is barely B, but taste is lighter. Going to jug that up this morning. Its our most popular grade.

Only vacuum runs ran yesterday. Will be boiling raw sap today so we can make some steam. Got nice and cold here last night so hopefully things pick back up today.

Hope to wash all tanks on Monday to get preped for a good week. Up over 150 gals of syrup- more than we did all of last year. Still have hopefully 2 more weeks to go...

good luck all...

-Eric

[Russell Lampron]

Good to hear that you also had a good turn out for the first day of your maple weekend. I am surprised that you only had 6 half gallons jugged up to start with. I sold 7 of them to one of my first customers. Grade B is also my biggest seller. Thankfully I made 21 gals more of it yesterday. I jugged that up last night to replenish my supply. I sold out of grade B quarts, started with 12 and only had 1 gallon jug left.

[tuckermtn]

today it was the gallons that were selling. Did more in sales today than yesterday so happy with the overall weekend.

BIGSAP this afternoon/evening. Be at it late tonight.

keep it coming...

[Backyard Sapper66]

Eric,
Imglad you had a great weekend!!
Sorry we didn't make it out, we were boiling ourselves. Being the weekend warrior that I am I had to make hay when the sun was shining if you know what I mean. Catch you later.
Doug
:)

[tuckermtn]

day of cleaning and re-grouping. About time since we are already at what we made last year so a good acid soak in the front and vinegar in the back pan cleaned things up.

Had a good run Sunday afternoon but didn't get all of it in to the evaporator last night. Fortunately it never really got above 33-34 deg today and we had clean tanks so hopefully it will still be worth boiling tomorrow. Have my girls 4-H crew coming over tomorrow...must be part of my maplehaulics treatment to have to explain to young folks about my addiction.

hoping for at least another 10 days to 2 weeks...gets cold again at the end of the week so that might stretch it even a bit more...

[tuckermtn]

fired up around 2:45, just shut down now. Gathered 760 gals from a little less than half our taps. Still have 400 gals in raw sap tank and 110 gals of concentrate. Made 5 gals of dark A before it went back to grade B. Good tasting and good looking B. At 179 gals jugged and another 10 waiting to go through the press. Need to work on getting my beer kegs clean and ready to fill. Might need to buy a few if this keeps up. A few more minutes of rinsing for the RO then off to bed...

[tuckermtn]

1531 gals of sap today and 25 more gallons of syrup jugged. Up to 230 gals total. Forecast looks good till next Thursday...

keep it coming...

good luck to all still at it.

[tuckermtn]

Cold the last few days has given me a chance to catch up on a few things. Went to Bascoms yesterday and picked up a Lapierre single releaser and some other odds and ends. They reported that they were at a little more than half crop, just above 12,000 gals.

got releaser set up yesterday afternoon but with the freeze up didn't get it running till today. Boiled this afternoon and would have finished everything but there is an electrical gremlin in the RO that keeps shutting off the power so the pumps start up fine then kick off when the power cuts out. Calling the electrician in the morning.

Our grade seems to be climbing back up a bit. Made some borderline medium/dark tonight but called it dark- sells better for us anyway. Up to 270 gallons with some more to finish tomorrow. All has been with a good, lighter flavor.

Key for me to having a good season this year has been all the good help. Dave and Mark have been rock solid. New this season has been working with Kat, who is a local young farmer. Kat is heading out traveling tomorrow and she will be sorely missed. Tireless worker knows what needs to get done...

Looking forward to a good week.

Best of luck to all still making steam...

[tuckermtn]

First 2000 gal sap day for us today. Still boiling...grade up to medium. 318 gals. to date

[tuckermtn]

My new motto is going to be "It takes a village to make maple syrup". About 6:30 last night went to check on the RO and one of the wires on the re-circ pump relay (contactor) is smoking. Shut it down, throw the breaker, and call the electrician. He is in my barn less than 30 minutes later. Takes one look at the contactor and says "you don't need that wire". So he pulls it off, connects another wire from another pole and we are back in business. Think we were down for maybe 45 mintues tops. I pull out my checkbook and he says "no, not this time. I'll be back." You bet he will be back.

Service like that is one of the reasons I live where I do, and do what I do....

[wally]

Service like that is one of the reasons I live where I do, and do what I do....
not a bad gig, is it?

i'm still making steam, too. we'll see what the snowfall amounts to.

[Backyard Sapper66]

Eric,
You are so right!! Its good to have friends that can help you out in the time of need. Good luck and keep on keeping on!!
Doug
:)

[tuckermtn]

well over 1500 gals of sap yesterday- haven't tallied it all up yet. One of our short tubing runs had 3.3% sap in it. Go figure. Made another 30+ gallons of syrup. Running out of kegs/barrels. Nice predicament. Might see if Parker can pick some up on his trip north to get his new syrup pan. New goal is 425 gallons. Wood will be an issue but think we can eek it out. Good luck to all still making steam. Definitely a season to remember....

[jwalker]

What a season so far.....???? Made around 67 gallons in the last three days. Up to about 250 now. Thankful for the new RO, it really saved our butts this year. Ran to Moores today to get more syrup storage as well. It sure will be a season to remember. Wondering when we'll start losing grade. We have been making light amber since just after maple weekend. Eric looks like your having an incredible year so far keep up the good work.

[tuckermtn]

after a day of almost nothing to do with maple, we gathered about 500 gallons this afternoon. Recirculating now and will boil that in tonight. up to 430 gals to date. Made good flavored dark amber on sunday. Picking up some more kegs or barrels at Fullers on Thursday. Think 450 gals is do-able, not so sure about 500.

good luck to all still at it....

-eric

[tuckermtn]

great sap runs for this time of year on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Bucket taps starting to slow down. The buckets I gathered on Thursday afternoon averaged 3.0%. Crazy for this time of year. I told the guys that I feel I would be lucky to see another season like this in my lifetime.

Had something new happen with about an hour left of boiling tonight- had a "stack fire". Dave was running the evaporator and called me to say something was up. Got out there and the whole stack was cherry red. Shut the draft door off, but it kept right on burning. We have been burning some slab wood must not be fully combusting so I guess we had some creosote build up. Pretty soon the solder started to melt. After about 3-4 minutes it began to cool back down. So my shiny stainless stack now had a pretty good patina to it. Was worried that it was going to melt enough to collapse.

Making a solid dark amber with only a hint of off flavored taste. Had to borrow a barrel from Parker today. We are up to 510 gallons. Should be in the 525 range when we chase with water on Monday. Almost all medium amber and dark amber. Though we added close to 500 taps for this year, our previous season total was 155 gallons.

Looks like we will start pulling buckets in on Monday or Tuesday.

Been an excellent season for us. Lots of tweaks and improvements in the works. Dave is heading to grad school next year and it looks like Mark will be building his own sugarhouse. Fortunately Kat is thinking she wants to come on full time for next season. They have been the key to having such a great season.
Good luck to all still at it...