December Journal

[syrupmaker]

Were has the year gone? X-mas is sneaking up fast now. Went to an auction today and picked up some more maplein stuff. SS tray and sheets, they had some batch tanks but they must have been gold lined. Brought a good bit more than i thought they were worth. Did pick up another DeLaval vac pump, Modle 94 with a 3 HP motor. Guessing it should be good for around 30 CFM's , way more than I'll ever need in the bush. Still no deer in the freezer, but we have been zoneing in a little closer each day. Hopeing by the weekend to have em stacked up like cord wood with the nuisance permits the state gave out.

Not sure how I got coned into it but this Saturday I will be performing as the guy in the big red suite. Better put the pounds on fast. Should be fun though, listening to all the screaming and screeching in a gym full of kids.

Rick

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[mountainvan]

what a nice two days to work in the woods! I looked for forest tent caterpillar egg cases in my sugar bushes while fixing tubing from blow downs, squirrels, bears,{no lions or tigers even though two panthers were spotted a mile away a month ago} and did'nt find too many, so hopefully they won't be to bad next spring. maples in phonecia,ny are loaded with them, defoliated again next year. bottled more autumn leafs last night. tonight couch potato!

[mapleman3]

Well I fully intended to split some more wood tonight for the house and clean up another area before the snow may come tonight .. BUT... forgot I had a scout leader meeting tonight, which isn't all that bad for the fact we had an after meeting at the local pub for a few :wink: oh well work can get done another night, snow or no snow

[mapleman3]

finished up most of the wood yesterday, just a few large peices to split this morning, it's snowing now supposed to only get 1-3" sure am glad I bought Bodens wood splitter, I've split over 7 cord (for the house)with it already so it's paid for itself already. now I'll get in the sugarhouse and start cleaning it up and get ready for a test boil on Saturday with Rick.

[brookledge]

Well i've been real busy the last week or so making candy,cream, and coated nuts I had a Christmas fair on Friday that I did real good at. May do another one next week end. I have a wrapping machine that works good to wrap all of the candy in boxes. Having every thing sealed makes for better sales. I did walnuts and pecans that were a good seller as usual.
Hope others are selling some maple products for the holidays.
Keith

[mountainvan]

selling a bit of syrup but taking the week off. just had surgery yesterday so on the couch. luckily me son has a wireless router, I thought it was for making moulding :) , so I can use my wifes laptop and surf the web looking for maple stuff.

[Russell Lampron]

The wood is all in and the tubing is all mended and ready for winter. After the bad season last year me and my family are anticipating a good season this year. If anyone has some good used sap buckets for sale I am looking for some.

Russ

[mapleman3]

arem't we all looking for some of those 8O :wink: I was lucky and picked up 30+ from Mapleking when I was up in NY this past Labor day... but I'm still looking for about 70 more

[mapleman3]

Well snows here and Syrupmaker and the family will be in tonight.... looking forward to a test boil/pan cleaning shoot the S$#@ session... anyone interested stopping by tomorrow just after lunch is welcome. hopefully all the snow will be cleared out and I won't have to deal with that tomorrow. we are supposed to get 6-10" we have 3 already and counting..... Rick tell the kids we'll be sliding too

[lharris1]

I don't know if this image will show up in my posting but it can be seen on my photo link.

Does anyone use special packaging for maple syrup Christmas gifts? My wife came up with these gift socks and a gift bag. I am adding a dollar to the syrup cost for the gift sock.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/larry_l_harris/detail?.dir=/bd90&.dnm=b2b1.jpg&.src=ph

[Dropflue]

Jim,
I wish I could be there this weekend. You can’t beat sitting around the sugarhouse watching a test boil and having a few beverages while talking maple. Those moments are priceless!! Now you got me thinking, that I might have a test boil in January or early February. All traders invited!!
Tell Rick to drive safe.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Anyone have an idea when the new producer's guide is coming out?? It was supposed to be out months ago??

There will be Ohio State people at the convention if anyone thinks to ask them?? :P

[mapleman3]

Why Funny you ask Brandon, We had our State producers meeting last night and our coordinator Tom Mccrum who is a co-author for the manual says it will be out in 2006, BUT it won't make it for the 2006 syrup season unfortunatly, He does say however that it is going to be a fantastic manual, lots of color pics, up to date info and much thicker than the last one. so get ready for some great reading !!!

Also Mass Maple Producers Assoc. is hosting the big North American Maple conference in 2008, so we are starting planning for it. don't know where it will be but it will be a good one!

more to come

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[mapleman3]

probably fire it up around 1pm...685 Franklin St Belchertown.....which is RT181..... 202south from NH runs right into Belchertown center.. follow straight though the center not a right.... then it becomes 181. if you follow rt 202 by taking a right in the center of town you'll leave belchertown(don't do that)....

413-289-2189

you thinking of coming?

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[mapleman3]

If ya want us to cook ya pancakes... well you bring the syrup :wink: Wow Enosburg.. thats where Mike and Al are... you'll have to drop in there, whats a road trip with out seeing a sugarhouse or two..... Sorry 1pm is to late, just figured we would do some outside stuff with all the kids before we do GUY TIME!!!
Next time though :wink:

[Sugarmaker]

You know the idea of a test boil is not a bad one, But the wife would really think I was nuts.

I do need to start thinking about getting the pans cleaned up.

Just wanted to say again that I have really been enjoying the comments on various maple topics. I'm hooked!
Thanks,
Chris

[mapleman3]

The test boil went well, we got alot of the crud off the pans, still will do a soak with cleaner... mostly we just wanted to fire it up and make steam, Rick wanted to see how the oil worked... I have to say he's pretty interested in oil now that he saw how fast it starts and stops. We took the kids out for a snowshoe walk through the woods that I have on lines, then up to a clearing way out back, bout a foot of fresh snow made for a great time.

It was great having Rick and the Family up... Oh and we fried up an 18 pound turkey last night, I put maple syrup in the marinade that we injected into the bird... YUMMY

Chris, a test boil is a great way to get a few maplers together for a talk maple session(as if we all need an excuse to talk maple) something about watching an evap make steam....

Oh and with the stuff that was still in the bottom of the flue pan it got to start smalling like sugar season... mmmm maple aroma!!

[syrupmaker]

YAAAAWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNNN ......Oh it' Monday already, Holy crap it's Tuesday ! Just wakeing up from my nap forced upon me by the huge MAPLE marinaded turkey that Jim(mapleman3) supplied for our family weekend. Had a great time with Jim and his family,eating,snowshoeing,sliding,eating,boiling(c leaning) and eating some more. Showed Jim how quick it was to whip up a batch of fries with a couple potatoes snuck from the kitchen.

Liked the oil set up but it seems like you would have to much time to stand around and BS with out haveing to fire the old rig. :lol: :lol: :wink: Someday when I have Jim's money to burn maybe I'll switch to oil. Although It has crossed my mind about tinkering with waste oil, haveing an unlimited supply working in a fleet garage. Dreams for down the road I guess.

[Maple Flats]

Around here there is a producer I spoke to at the last winter conference who was prohibited from burning more than a specific # of gal of waste oil, I think it was 600 gal but not sure. After that he had to use fuel oil. Not sure why the state would do this. Seems like the only requirement would be emissions standards of some sort. Anyone else heard anything about waste oil restrictions?

[brookledge]

As far as waste oil in Mass, If you use more than you generate you have to be permited by DEP to be clasified as a collection site. And anyone who brings it to you is suppose to be registered saying where you are disposing it. That is just the tip of the iceberg. I don't know if it would be an issue with your ins. co. or the bank as the chance for contamination would be greater.
Keith

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

To say I am disgusted is an understatement. I sent out a PM aproximately 1 month to a lot of the normal members who use this sight all of the time and the ones that got it know what I am talking about. Sure was a lot of commitment, but very little follow thru.

IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT AND WOULD LIKE TO KNOW OR NEED YOUR MEMORY JOGGED, THEN SEND ME A PM. :oops: :oops:

[mapleman3]

Brandon, You did your best. those who DID follow through with the commitment I commend you, hopefully those who haven't yet done so may remember... it's all about how much you love this site!! and as Brandon said if you want to know more he or I can be PM'd

[forester1]

OK, I'm one I admit it. I know I'm a slacker, my ex-wives told me often enough. It's in the mail now. Seriously, I appreciate this website and would miss it if it was gone.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[softmaple]

what is this little pact? why dont you fill everyone in, if not keep it in the private message realm, there is a lot of regulars that read this site daily and know the personalities of most traders. is this some kind of survivor tv show now that we have to make pacts with members?

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[mapleman3]

no no easy everyone.... a few of us thought it would be nice to send our hosts the MapleGuys some $$ to help with the website... due to all the work that needed to be done and the beefed up security against the hackers we thought it would help keep the site going... it didn't feel right to come out and ask everyone to chip in.. it's a free site and the MapleGuys are gracious to host it...some of the regulars and ones that have been here since the beginning were asked(Not by The Mapleguys), it's not to offend anyone of not being included. we figured 20 bucks from some of you would help. maybe it should have been done out in the open but it wasn't, we didn't want some to feel bad if they couldn't do it. I think Brandon got upset because not much was sent and quite a few said they would....thats all, But I myself did send and would send again if it came down to losing this site, if you can send a donation great if you can't , thats ok too...don't worry I think we'll all be here a long time. and like others have said... you can help by buying supplies and or equipment from the MapleGuys. I myself should do that more.
ok I'm of the soapbox...hopefully I didn't offend anyone :wink:

[VA maple guy]

Well said Jim, I myself am one of the slackers. My little thankyou went out this morning. I'm glad Brandon lit a fire under some of the users.
Thanks to you and Brandon for your effort.
Gerry

[Race]

Thank you for the explaination Jim----------Race in Wisconsin

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Long live the Trader :D :D :D :D :D :D :wink:

[mountainvan]

not much on this subject, but: the maple guys are probably hoping that persons using the site click on their website and buy stuff from them, not from bascoms or goodrich or etc.. this site is great and I've recieved good info and given good info{ most of the time, off on the electrical stuff}. my point is if maple traders want maple guys to continue the site, buy their stuff not bruces. just my opinion.

[Lance]

Jim & Brandon - What's the process to get the $$ to the Mapleguys? Do we just send 'em a check for $20 or is there some central processing point? I'll sure as hey chip in!

[mapleman3]

The address is:
MapleGuys.com
146 Schoolhouse Road
Lyndeborough, NH 03082

[NH Maplemaker]

Not offend'ed, More then glad to do it!!!

[themapleking]

I think if Brandon and others want to help out the Mapleguys. Than start doing bussnies with him and stop refering everyone to Bascoms and Ebay for everything.
I've bought close to $10,000 of equipment from Chris over the years. How are the rest of you doing. That's all I have say on this topic.
Joe

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Joe,

I agree with you 100% and this is what this website is designed for is to steer people to the mapleguys. :D

I did order about 10 boxes of tubing last year, but with being so far away, it is hard for me to get too much off of them as I am 1000 miles away. They don't carry WV jugs, so I drive up to PA and pick them up and I usually get whatever else I need to save on shipping..

Mapleman and many others have ordered stuff from them more than once. Just a way for us who are too far to buy any big stuff off of them to help out a little :D . I can't drive 2,000 miles to buy larger items. No one is asking you to give up any of your moldy money. :wink:

[mapleman3]

Ok .. lets put this subject to rest, that way there is NO hard feelings for anyone... if you want to help the website in any way, Buy from them or maybe send a donation, if you can you can.. if you can't you can't.. no one will know but you and thats the way it should be. otherwise lets get on with the Maple Talk.. thats why we are here...


So what going on in the Maple world with all of you... I still have some syrup to sell for Xmas so I better get crackin....otherwise I'm starting to plan out the tank on the back of my truck, I want it high enough so I can do a gravity dump into my bulk tank at the sugarhouse, I don't want to play around with the pumps anymore.
Also will be changin my in shack feed tank to a 65gal leg tank.. it's shorter than my barrel and I can take it down to clean easier.

[Race]

Hello Jim ,
Not much new here but will tap a few more trees this year . I plan to tap about 750 . After last years low production year I am hoping for an improved sap flow . All packed syrup is given away so nothing is important economically . I run the whole operation for fun and friends. Wood is cut through 2008 and stored inside , so just waiting.

Happy Holidays---------Race

[mountainvan]

just got done clearing crud snow form the saphouse driveway, salt on ice, and will be bottling syrup and making candy later today. have been sending syrup to downstate. not a good year for production, but the best year for sales!! getting a destination marker on the local highway for my sugaring operation, should bring more people in. getting ready for next year ordering bottles, filters, tubing, etc. I love being van the maple man :P

[mapleman3]

Van .. your own highway marker? thats exciting, what a boost for buisness that will be, I'm pretty lucky my sugarhouse is right on a main road actually a state highway sort of.... that with also my website brings in more than I need.. if I made more syrup I would still sell out 8O good thing I save some aside for holliday bottling..

I love bottling in late Nov early Dec. if theres snow on the ground and a crispness in the air... well feels just like sugaring time, I do my bottling in the sugarhouse.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I retail all my syrup, so I bottle every bit of it during syrup season and I sell it all year long. That way I don't have to worry about doing it later in the year. I know about how many of each I need and this year it has worked out nearly exactly right again. It's just easier for me that way. Now that I have my own sugarhouse and hopefully a self contained kitchen in it in a year or two, I may go to bottling bulk. I have always found it easier the other way, so I doubt it.

I did finally get back into maple stuff today for a little. It had been about a month and it is 9 weeks until tapping time here. My new syrup hauler arrived today. I finally broke down and bought my own tractor as my dad moved and took his with him and I had to borrow and that is not much fun. I bought a new Kubota L3400 with a loader on the front. Guess I will have a tank in the bucket and on the back, so hopefully I can get a good size load each trip and cut down on collecting time some. I also wrapped my stack with ceramic blanket on the upper half and insulated good where it goes thru the roof to cut out any potential fire hazards hopefully. I am off next Friday and Monday and hope to get a set of 12' x 20" shelves built in the garage section of the sugarhouse to get everything organized and cleaned up as stuff is sitting everywhere and the tractors and atvs now take up most of the garage. :D

[mapleman3]

Brandon did you get the electric or water hooked up yet? will you keep a section heated when your not there? or just use a hydrant type of faucet.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I went to hook up the water today and the 30 amp double pole breaker was incorrect. I have a GE project box I bought at Lowes and then I went back and bought a 30amp double pole breaker thinking all GE breakers were the same and I found out different. 8O This year I only have a frost free outside the building. I already have the water ran into the building, but I have a cutoff valve next to the frost free that is down about 3 feet that I have a cheat hole to get to and will leave it off until next year. I am hoping to finish the bedroom and kitchen next year and keep it heated just enough to keep the water from freezing! :D

Will shoot for next weekend! :D

[Maple Flats]

That's a bummer. I can't see why there is a need for so many breaker boxes" When I was in the insulation business I had to carry about 15 different breakers in 30 amp 240V just to be able to hook up to all houses for power to run the machine (if they had 240V) We need some standardization.

[mapleman3]

too many different companies that want it their way.. I guess you can't blame them... but at least a few brands out there are interchangable... I find the same problem as I am in the HVAC buisness. :?

[White Barn Farm]

Almost done selling trees and wreaths for the year and now can concentrate on finishing up getting the saphouse ready. It's been a good year for the Christmas trees and I can't wait to add maple products next year!!! I generally drop 10 pounds during tree season and wonder if I can do the same during sap season.
Had waffles and "fall made" syrup this morning for breakfast, I feel richer than Donald Trump!!!!!! :D
Merry Christmas to all and I hope you all find a maple "toy" in your stocking.
Ed

[Parker]

Went to the inlaws for a christmas party today,did a yankee swap with the relatives,,,one of the items in the swap was a bottle of "vermont gold" Vodka.bottle said they are out of Saint jhonsbury......said it was made out of 100% maple sap.......got me thinking....madey, just mabey I could make syrup and a little something ealse this spring???any one know anything about the process???

[Maple Flats]

No but I'll bet the feds have a long list of things and permits for making anything with alchohol and the proceedure could be very time consuming so you better start now if you think it would be sold. For personal it would most likely come under the same rules as wine or beer for personal consumption. Not sure what the max allowed is but there is a max. Good luck and don't drink and drive.

[gearpump]

Parker;
I have tried a couple of times to brew sap. I think that something else has to be added for it to work. Both times I ended up a stinky bottle of slime. Maybe its a standard Vodka mix with a little sap added for the touch?

Started putting up the finished ceiling in the evaporator room today. I am useing vinyl soffit material. What a pain. I don't know if anyone has used this method before, but trying to hook those panels together in a 12 foot length over your head while on a step ladder is a trial in self control! My plan is to try and stop all the drips from condensation that occurs on the metal roof. This stuff should be easy to clean and not be effected by the steam. I am also planning to install a couple of power vents above the evaporator to suck out any heat and vapor. I can't wait to get the plumbing done up and go for a test boil in the new building!

Marty

[brookledge]

Marty,
You will have to let me know how that works. I have thought about doing something to cut down on the drips but never did because of the $. Always find something else that seems more important. I had heard of someone using styrofoam insulation board, cutting it to fit snug between the rafters.
Keith

[Brian]

I set up a 1000 gal oil tank because the 275 was to small. I bought a gas canner 12 x 20 because I lose to much heat going from the draw off box through the filter press to the one cone filter tank. Then would have to reheat the syrup on the turkey cooker. I sold most of my syrup I think I have 3 gallons of fancy and 2 gallons of dark a left.
One day this summer my wife had 3 or 4 cars loaded with people stop. They all wanted 1/2 gallons of B, but I had sold out ,so she sent them to Goodrich's :D


PS. Merry Christmas Everyone and God Bless, The Blaisdell Family

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I second the MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone and forget the happy hollidays. It has been a good year and the Lord has blessed greatly especially with the new addition to the family! :D :D

[mountainvan]

bottled more syrup, made sugar, and cream. cream went to Ohio, sugar to Denmark, yep the country, syrup to Ohio, nj, and California. I like guys like me that what till the last minute for Christmas gifts. I'll do my shopping on friday morning with all the old women :P

[mapleman3]

Thats cool, some of my syrup is on it's way to Nigeria, the priest that helps out at the church where some of my trees are is from there, so I gave hime some syrup and candy to take home with him on his Christmas trip. I've also had some go to Australia,England and the Dominican Republic this past spring too... imagine all the places our syrup has gone... that would be a cool post to start!

[sweetwoodmaple]

Yeah, Jim, maybe you can get a map going for that too! :D

Brian

[mountainvan]

I have a world map with dots on the countries my syrup has gone to. Lots of dots!! the catskills and hudson valley get alot of tourists from around the world, and country, syrups been to all 50 states. I enjoy when dutch tourist stop in the saphouse for syrup and a tour and find out the simple mountain mann knows so much about their country, most of my family lives around veenendaal in the netherlands.

[mapleman3]

Well it's Christmas Eve, all the presents are wrapped, I just finished making more maple peanuts for my parenst house gathering tonight. sold all my syrup but a half dozen pints(mmm more for me !!) it was a great year.... I hope you all get what you asked for the Christmas.... Merry Christmas to all you Traders and your Familys

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I spent several hours yesterday building shelves in the garage side of my sugarhouse and after completion of shelves, I was able to hook up the breaker for my well. It is nice having water even if it is only an outside frost free for this year. I already have it ran inside the building, but it will be at least next year before I get the inside finished and insulated. I did wash out a few tanks and spent 2 or 3 hours cleaning up and arranging items on the shelves as I had stuff piled everywhere.

I spent most of the day today with my family at my parents house and had Christmas with them and it was a most wonderful time. I did manage to get everyone together for about an hour and we went over to the sugarhouse and moved my 625 gallon milk tank from my uncle's to inside my sugarhouse. Sure is nice having a tractor with a bucket on it to be able to move it. I was a bit anxious to see how it would handle it due to the amount of weight and having to carry it up the road at 8' in the air. It is now in position and just needs a little cleaning and it will be ready to go. Also got my feeding tank stand moved from my uncle's to inside the sugarhouse while I had some help. I still need to clean the evapoator as it is nasty and do a few more things, but it is looking much better. Anywhere from 5 to 8 weeks until taps go into trees down here. Will all depend on the weather over the next 5 weeks and the weather when Feb gets here. Hard to believe it is so close as I have been so busy this past year.

Merry Christmas to everyone on the trader and those that make it possible. May God bless each of you and your families!

[Parker]

Was able to spend 4-5 hours in Hill working on the main line,,I decided to reuse the mainline as the price for new is so high now and there is so much of it up there,,,the 1 inch has got to be 2000 feet long,,,Steve gave me a hand,,,we were able to put almost all of it back together,,next time we go up we will re anchor the wire supporting the line as it is just tied around the trees on the end of the line and has killed the trees,,,I hope to get at least 800 taps in there this year to make it worth going that far to gather,,,time will tell,,,we took a walk at the end of the day trying to fugure where to run the next mainline and were amazed at the ammount of tappable trees,,,,,I hope to have 2000 taps there???eventually...MERRY CHRISTMAS and thanks for all the great reading and input,,,

[themapleking]

Set up the 1000 gal. tank in the woods today. Found some more trees that I forgot to run lines to. Bring just over 700 taps. Took down the tree stands, a very slow year for hunting.
Anyone see the L.L. Bean catalog and the Cabelas' catalog. Their syrup prices are a little higher than ours.Cabelas' Pint $11.99 Quart $18.99 1/2 gal $28.99 1 gal $45.99. L.L Bean was about $5 higher for each. Plus shipping. Don't you all wish you could get those prices.
2 more months till we tap.

[Maple Flats]

That sure does sound like some great prices. I wonder if this might signal higher prices for us. Does anyone know what LL BEAN and CABELAS got a year ago? They would always be higher but they might show a trend. Do any of our members sell to either of these?

[Maple Flats]

This week I need to get some things done. 1. build a raised platform for my sugarhouse bulk tank just outside on the north wall. 2. add 1 window in the sugarhouse which I bought about 18 mos ago and been toooo busy to put it in. 3. make more firewood storage for firewood all split to store just outside the sugarhouse. I made it with over 3' overhang to store a row on 2 sides. The sugarhouse is full and I have a lot more wood to stack up. 4. walk the lines to check for trees/limbs down. 5. Set up the evaporator again. 6. Build a hood for the flue pan and maybe over the syrup pan similar to what WEST VIRGINIA MAPLER has in his gallery. 7. Clean up everything. 8. Order an Accu Cup w/ Digital thermometer to pick up at the Maple Conf. on Jan 6,7. 9. Look at the new bush I will be tapping, all roadside going up a good incline, mature Sugars, all for a little syrup in exchange. 10. Get supplies to repair existing and install 2 new pipelines. 11. Do some more TSI in my sugarbush and get the logs out while the ground is covered with snow, if the snow melts down this will wait til new snow. For the TSI I have a lot of Beech that is crowding the sugars, beech makes good firewood, it should know better than to get too close to a sugar maple in a sugarbush! 12. All of that makes me tired, I may need to go back to work to get some rest.

[brookledge]

Maple flats tht seem to be alot more than a weeks work, wish you luck.
I still have more wood to cut and stack. It is all covered just haven't had the time to do yet. If it wasn't raining so much today I'd be doing that. Sure have lost alot of snow in the last few days.
Keith

[gearpump]

Got the ceiling done in the evaporator room. My dad thinks it starting to look a hospital waiting room, oh well! I do need some ideas on what I can put on the walls of the cupola shaft. You can't see it very well from my pictures but the roof trusses are in the way. I think for the sake of being easy I might go with pine boards. All this work should cut down on the "drips" from the metal and it sure feels good to work in a room that can be heated. Today I had the temp. up to 70 degs. and worked in short sleeves!

Marty

[Sugarmaker]

gearpump
Wow that is really a nice sugar house!! Pine would look fine in the cupola area, but are you really expecting any steam with the hoods? Looks like you should be pretty steam free?
I think the ceiling looks great. I would like to finish my back room with a steel ceiling.

[mountainvan]

got run over by a dump truck today!! was crawling through a culvert under our road pulling mainline with me, to connect a mountain bush with a river bush, when halfway across a truck went over. almost gave me a heart attack. fills good to be out working again after being laid up for awhile. hanging more tubing tomorrow, only stuff I take in, then I'm ready to tap. bring it on!!

[wdchuck]

Hi Folks! Been busy!- the woodshed is full of bone dry wood, maybe not the most desirable wood, but at least it's really dry. We cleaned out a couple areas of the woods this fall of dead stuff and non-maple, probably 2 dozen trees in all. Still a lot more to do! Last week I finally fired up the Magic Snowmachine, a 1967 Bombardier Alpine and packed out the main roads before things get too deep. It worked great- a weekend thaw and todays freeze up and nice firm roads that I was able to take the ATV on. Finally got into the woods today to replace some ancient tubing. A beautiful day- sunny and a bit cool! Planning on adding on all the taps I've got time for on the upper ends of the mainlines, replacing more old tubing, changing a bunch of large spouts to the small ones, and maybe putting in a sapladder for about 250 taps. Yeah right I've got all that time! Hey Farmy, wanna sell that Yamaha Bravo yet?

[Maple Flats]

Yea, brookledge, it is a lot, and I NEVER FINISH my list. Got rained out some this week but still got the window in, the groundwork for the bulk tank was finished, and much of the cleaning up or should I say, putting things where they belong was accomplished, I walked the lines and got all limbs off them, and I got SOME management cutting done in a section of the bush (removed 4 med sized beech trees whose crowns were crowding the sugars. Today I plan to build the raised stand for the bulk tank, installation won't be til the weekend when I can rope my brother in to help set the tank. I should also get half of the additional wood storage space set today and start filling it up before the next big snow slows things down a little. I still have good snow cover on the ground but it is down considerably from 2 weeks ago, most areas about 6-8" remaining in the woods, about half than in the clearings. NO frost in the ground yet, even where it has been plowed a few times.

[lharris1]

I finally put my preheater together this week and got it installed in the new steam hood. I wanted to incorporate a couple of ideas. I wanted to have the flow continually upward to take advantage of thermal rise. This may not be too important but may help keep flow even in the parallel paths. The other is to elevate one end of the condensate pan so that condensate on the under side of the pan will run into the gutter. I did some testing and thought I needed at least 10 to 12 inches rise in my 48" long. I have just over 10" and would like to have more but there is only so much room in the hood. I put pictures in My Photos.

Happy New Year to all and hope you have a good sap year.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Larry,

Should work fine, but if you have that much slope on your preheater which appears you don't, it would take more head pressure to push the sap thru.

As far as the preheater pan, the steam keeps it so hot, it gets very little if any condensation on the underside. Most of the condensation is where the steam hits the cold sap running into the preheater and on the walls of the hood where the cool air is hitting the outside. Nothing but hot steam hits the preheater pan, so basically no condensation. :?

[Sugarmaker]

Larry,
I pretty much copied Leaders parallel flow design. In fact Leader gave me some very good suggestions on the construction of the preheater.

I looked at your pictures Very nice! I like the old family picture too.

Back to the preheater. My hood is much shallower and my slope is only about 3 inches in 48 inches long. I get most of my condensate dripping from the preheater tubes. About 6-7 gallons per hour. I do have a problem with air lock sometimes and have to keep a eye on this. (sap stops flowing into the float box) not a good thing. I even have sap vent on the front upper side and I have to have a good stream of sap flowing from the overflow to keep the air lock to a minimum.

Let us know how your system works. Only thing I would say is watch the sap level close for a while.

How many feet of preheater tube do you have?

I also put in a thermometer in the preheater tube exiting the hood, near the float box to check the temp of the sap coming from the preheater. I didn't have this the first year and had to guess as to how the preheater was working.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Chris,

Interesting perspective on preheaters. I have aprox 30' of 3/4" copper in my 2x8 evaporator preheater, and I really didn't have a problem with vapor lock even when the temps were extreme. I have a lot of head pressure pushing the sap, so that may be the difference. I didn't have any kind of air vent to compensate for vapor lock. I always thought the float valve in the regulator box would do better.

I usually don't run my evaporator below 1" and sometimes, it is around 1.25", so if the level drops a little, than I am fine. :?

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[mapleman3]

Well, we had a great day, aside from the maple thing, I got a new toy for Xmas.. A GPS, not only can I mark some areas or trees for later finding, we now have another 8O new hobby... Geocaching !! what a cool thing for family fun.. lots of hiking it's basically a treasure hunting game.. check it out at www.Geocaching.com if your looking for stuff to do with the family and love the outdoors like we do (an you have a gps) this may be for you.... so we did a couple hikes today, the first was very short.. the second was 2.5 miles total does anybody else out there already do this.. I'd love to hear from you. maybe PM me

[Maple Flats]

Today I continued cutting beech trees that are too close to sugar maples. Found 3 12-14"ers that were crowding the maples. Dropped one, dragged it out bucked and split it. More wood for the evap. Still need to get the other 2 out and then check for more. I may need to add more wood storage, lots to cut out and not enough places ready to stack it. By the maple conf I will likely be needing more. Happy new year everyone. May your 06 be the best.

[lharris1]

Thanks for the input on my pre-heater. We raised the feed tank so that should help with the vapor lock problem, and we will watch it close when we startup.

Chris: Glad you like the old picture. The little guy in the black & white is my Dad in 1914.

[Sugarmaker]

Brandon,
Maybe I will try running with out the over flow open? We have a lot of head pressure it seems. The feed tanks are 4- 5 feet above the float box. and can easily over power the float. So we have to constantly watch the float level. Kind of a pain.
Anyway today we got rained out during muzzle-loader hunting, so I may spend some time designing a lifting system for our steam pipes.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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