tapped in lackawanna county

[manitobabob]

tapped today 96 pails, 2 old guyz 1 young guy 18 inches of iceand snow to get through but we did it. our 2nd year, still learning but eager and willing.. having a ball. hoping to make 10 or 12 gallons. looks very promising for later in week.

[Maplewalnut]

Another pocono trader! Welcome abroad, look up zman, he's in your neck of the woods

[Z/MAN]

Have most of my taps in. Running late like everything I do. Weather looks good the next couple of days. Welcome MANITOBABOB. I'm down the road by Richards Driving Range on 307. Where are you at? Maplewalnut are you all set to go?

[Maplewalnut]

I have about 200 more buckets to put up but all tubing is tapped. Conflict with snowmobiling this year. I have put on about 500 miles in last two weeks

[bprzyw]

Good to see a bunch of us from the same area. Hello to all. manitobabob, looks like you may get your 10-12 gallons this year. Z/MAN, Good luck this season. Hoping to get at least 10 gallon when said and done. But, still only got 20 taps. If anyone needs help, i am all setup, so i can help if needed.
Bernie

[Z/MAN]

Did anyone see any of my buckets blow by today?:lol:

[manitobabob]

yea zman we saw buckets today. we found you. appeared no one around. hope for better weather an a good run that will hold you buckets down.. bob

[Z/MAN]

I was in the garage all day. I have some sap to sweeten the pan but would have gotten blown away if I tried to boil today. Hope to have a shack this fall.

[Z/MAN]

Fired up the evaporator today and boiled down the 25 gallons of sap I had collected. Actually collected 31 but used 6 to make a keg of homebrew. (First try using sap instead of water to brew.) Thought I would have had more but as Maplewalnut said I don't think all the trees were really thawed out yet. The evaporator took a lot longer then normal to get a good boil going. I guess it takes a lot to get all those bricks hot when your trying to boil outside after the winter we had. Now waiting for the next run.

[bprzyw]

Z/MAN, congrats on your first boil. I have 27 gallons of sap. Hoping this weather breaks a bit to collect more. Let me know how the homebrew goes with the sap. Never tried that before. I make Mead, wine and Sarsaparilla.
Good luck.
Bernie

[Z/MAN]

Can't believe it didn't get warm enough for a run today. This seems like a repeat of last year here. I have only collected about 65 gallons of sap so far. Haven't drawn off any syrup yet but was real close on Tuesday's boil. Weather looks great for this coming week but it also looked that way last week. Got my fingers crossed.
Paul

[manitobabob]

didnt run for crap yesterday, finished almost 2 gallons. seems to be running today, next week looks real good who knows , keep yer taps crossed..

[Z/MAN]

Finally running descent today.

[manitobabob]

ran like hell yesterday. far and away our best run. boiled all day today, finised 2 plus gallons still lots more to boil.. love it havin a ball

[Maplewalnut]

Great to here you guys are finally running. Hopefully the snow from yesterday is melting fast up there. This week looks ideal again. tap em all.

[Z/MAN]

I didn't even get the ice to melt off the trees here today. It still looks like a winter wonderland here. I still have ice hanging on my sap lines. Needless to say the trees didn't run again. On the bright side I was able to boil for a couple of hours. I woke up Sunday morning with severe pain in my shoulder-neck and couldn't even turn my head. Went to the chiropractor on Monday and I'm getting back to normal now. The wife ran the evaporator for a few hours Sunday with me supervising but I still had sap left so I used it up today. I fill my preheater by buckets so it really sucks to wake up disabled in sugar season!!!

[manitobabob]

didnt run past 2 days much at all, finised 2 gallons today all caught up, ready for a big week end hopefully

[bprzyw]

Ok, guys, waiting for a big run. picked up 25 gallons yesterday. Have a total of 130 gallons of sap so far. Will hopefully boil on sunday-monday. Maybe a good weekend, we will get some more.:)

[berry boy]

Thats alot of truck to haul sap from 20 taps. But it will get it anywhere you want to go.

[Z/MAN]

Picked up about 80 or so gallons in the last day. Will be boiling Sunday and maybe tomorrow!.

[Z/MAN]

I boiled down 50 gallons of sap today and as of 11:30 PM I again have about 70 gallons and it is still running good. I have now made about 3 gal of syrup. Weather forecast looks great for the week but so did last week. Sugar was low yesterday but seems to have picked up some today. How are you Lackawanna county boys doing? I tapped the homebrew that I made with sap today.:D Very smooth and a little sweet.

[manitobabob]

boiled all weekend,approx. 150 gallons, got over 4 gallons. still boiling next few days trying to stay ahead.looks good for most of week, but who knows, all good things must come to an end. will be building all new for next year for sure.

[bprzyw]

Berry Boy,
Yes, it is a whole lot of truck, but nothing stops it. Been using my deere to collect sap. The mud is getting deeper (2').
Saturday collected 80 gallons sap, was a good day. Fired up the arch and boiled about 45 gallons. It was a bit windy sitting in the middle of the field.

[Maplewalnut]

Looks like you guys are finally in the sap, keep up the good work.

Feel free to stop by this weekend if your not boiling yourself, we have open house in conjunction with state Maple Weekend, both Saturday and Sunday

[Z/MAN]

Had a good weekend of sap running and boiling. My little 2x3 is still putting out about 12 GPH. I can't complain about that but I don't like those 1,900 degree stack temps.:o Oh well, it is better then not being able to get it hot enough. Trees should run the next couple of days and then dry out for the weekend. Been doing a lot of cooking on the back end of my arch but I have to be careful, it is HOT!! back there. Kielbasa boiled in sap has been a big hit.

[manitobabob]

still running very well finishing off close to 2 gal. per day trying to keep up... hope to finish around weeks end''''

[Z/MAN]

manitobabob, Sorry I missed you yesterday, again. Give me a call sometime(650-5715) and we can get together when one of us is boiling. It looks like a great week for sap flow so I should be out there a few evenings. 83 year old Mom is getting new knees Monday so I can't say exactly when I will be boiling.BPRZYW, Would like to see your setup someday also.
Paul

[Z/MAN]

Two days ago the weather was looking great for the next week. I figured they would run almost every day with at least one overnighter. Monday I got 4 inches of snow, today I got 9 inches of snow and now it doesn't look like anything will run until next week! Go figure. Spent today bottling and have 9.6 gallons made this year. Almost double of my best year ever.:)
Paul

[manitobabob]

hope we get 1 more run later this week to add to an already great year for us

[Z/MAN]

Well it's been 8 days since my taps last ran but they started today so here we go. Cleaned buckets, tanks and mainline during downtime. Also picked up another load of wood today so I guess I'm ready to go. They were running good tonight so I will be boiling tomorrow night for sure. If we get another solid week of sap like the forecast shows I'll have more syrup then I'll know what to do with.;)
Paul

[manitobabob]

****, sap running good again.. thought we were done, cant wait boiling am cant wait .. stay tuned good luck all

[Z/MAN]

Boiled tonight and thought everything was going dandy. Attempted to do some finishing and canning and the wife broke the hydrometer, Told her no problem I have a spare, 30 minutes later I broke the spare.:( Went 7 years without breaking one and then two in 30 minutes. Oh well, life goes on.
Paul

[Maplewalnut]

Paul-let me know if you need one. I have a spare or two

[Z/MAN]

Thanks Mike but I have another one. It is too tall for my cup but I will find something else to use as a cup till I buy a couple more.
Paul

[Z/MAN]

Collected in the SNOW again tonight. It just will not stop snowing here this year. I was thinking one more boil but now it looks like I might get two. I already have three times as much syrup as last year. Wife sold 30 bottles of syrup at work this week. Sure is nice to finally get a few dollars back for a change.:D
PAUL

[Z/MAN]

Finally pulled the plug. Rinsed all the lines out today and washed all the barrels, buckets and pails. Still have a couple of batches of syrup to finish on the stove and get into bottles. Had a great season and looking forward to building a shack and getting inside for next season. I have 6 gallons of sap in the fridge and will be making another keg of homebrew with it Monday evening. I used the first 6 gallons for homebrew and I will use the last 6 gallons for homebrew. I might be starting a tradition here.:lol:

[Maplewalnut]

Nice job Paul, you stayed at it longer than me.