Who is still hanging on?

[PerryW]

I'm still plugged it here in the Littleton NH area. The big heat wave expected yesterday (northern NH) of 70 degrees never materialized. Only hit 54 and it was mostly cloudy. Looks like a few changes for dipping below freezing later in the week.

I'm a 101 gallons and I'm close to my expected total of 110 gallons but I still have only 2 gallons of Dark Amber and No Grade B!

[Snow Hill Farm]

I'm right there with you, still a trickle coming in so I have left the vacuum on. Boiled last night and made half dark amber and half medium amber! Going to at least gather enough to push the sweet out of the pans thurs. night...

[maplecrest]

did hit 70 plus here yesterday, boiling again today but not alot of sap so today is my last day by the look of the weather. hot but a cool breeze

[Thad Blaisdell]

Sap is running hard here..... only crazy part is the frogs are chirping in the pond. The end is near. Was still making fancy and medium yesterday.

[TF Maple]

I have some trees on the north side of a woods that still want to run and I will take what they give me. But it really is time to quit. We had 70's on Monday here in Wisconsin too.

[michiganfarmer2]

I thought I was done. It froze last night so I had dad go turn the vacuum on. Should be good for a couple days


Im about out of firewood.

[bigschuss]

I'm at 2,000 ft. in elevation and my trees located by a nearby river are still buried in snow...they are running strong. This weekend will probably be my last.

[mike z]

I'm barely hanging on here in NW WI. Haven't boiled since Saturaday, have the tanks clean and the pans clean, but I want one more run of it. Temps look good for late this week and weekend. I want to be able to say "back in '11 we made syrup all the way to May".

[sugartree310]

We are still hanging in our selfs, made 30 gallons of C grade yesterday, vacuum still on and sap is still running ,not very strong but running, We will probally make some more tomorrow. I will keep the vacuum on till it is not running any more.

[Homestead Maple]

We have a few freezing nights coming and if we get through the weekend without the trees changing much, next weeks temps look good for most of the week. We are at 2,000 ft. and there's good snow cover yet. Made ADark last night for the first time this season.

[CBOYER]

I am also high elevation at 1650 ft, and forecast is freezing for next 7 nights, and up to 4" snow comming..

[wcproctor]

What the heck is C grade?

[GramaCindy]

I'm barely hanging on here in NW WI. Haven't boiled since Saturaday, have the tanks clean and the pans clean, but I want one more run of it. Temps look good for late this week and weekend. I want to be able to say "back in '11 we made syrup all the way to May".

Me too Mike z! Hoping for one more run and boil….would be a great way to end the year.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

What the heck is C grade?

Commercial which includes everything that is not good enough to be A or B grade.

[3rdgen.maple]

Well Im still going but I really dont know why or how but vac has been giving me some nasty stuff but its going through the filter and making C grade. Will pull the plug when I finish of the last 5 gallon container tomarrow.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Another 140 in the barrels. More sap to process. Looking for another 150+ tomorrow.

[PerryW]

Thad, I',m about the same latitude as you, just across the river from Waterford VT, but with no vacuum, not much sap since sunday. Peepers have been heard in the next town over (Monroe, NH), but now they are predicting low of 27 thursday and a low of 19 on friday. Guess I'll stay plugged in till then and try to make some darker syrup.

[KenWP]

I am still tapped only because I don't really want to fight the mud to pull them.Forecast is for -4 tonight and thursday so who knows what I might get.

[PerryW]

The forecast is for 20 degree lows tonight and Friday night. Time to wash the tank and check lines.

[Snow Hill Farm]

I'm going to attempt to boil some ropey stuff tonight, any advise? I have about 800 gal. to run through the RO and am looking for 150 or so so I can boil for an hour and a half to push the sweet out of my pan (was making medium A Monday night). It doesn't seem really really bad but there are definitely little strands running off whatever I dip in the tank. I've heard it can be tough and the syrup will excessively foam and not draw well? First year with RO so I have never been at this point before... I'll have a garden hose handy I guess in case things go bad...

[danno]

I'm going to attempt to boil some ropey stuff tonight, any advise? I have about 800 gal. to run through the RO and am looking for 150 or so so I can boil for an hour and a half to push the sweet out of my pan (was making medium A Monday night). It doesn't seem really really bad but there are definitely little strands running off whatever I dip in the tank. I've heard it can be tough and the syrup will excessively foam and not draw well? First year with RO so I have never been at this point before... I'll have a garden hose handy I guess in case things go bad...

Make sure your floor grates are clear to catch the sap explosion:). I find the hardest time is when you first start boiling - you will go from no boil to almost uncontrolable foam very quickly. Defoamer will not knock it down like it does earlier in the season. I'd start slowly raising the temps rather than going to full out boil as quick as possible. Lots of defoamer. Seems like once you get past that first crazy boil up, things settle down. Good luck!

[Thad Blaisdell]

Made another 110 last night, could not get to all of my sap, got stuck going down hill on a back road here.... things are better now and got it all home, should make 150 tonight, and keep on keeping on. Looks like the season is going to go till May at this rate..... YAHOOOOOOO $$$$$$

[maplecrest]

snow hill . start with defoaming the flue pan before you even light the fire. i only defoam the flue pan . i only put defoamer in syrup pan if pan is dirty. and every time you walk by flue pan give it a good shot. what is going to happen is syrup will draw off but at a hotter temp. so be watching at 219, and start to drizzle in your bucket or draw pail. watch the denisty very close. dont look in pan will scare you.wash off hydrometer with hot water between tests.the minute you get syrup open up and watch temp will go up fast get it off. or it will go to 220 and the hyrometer will go to the bottom of cup. at that point shut it down you are done.as i was the day before yesterday. made a 55 gallon drum and then would not go to density. also when done r/o ing open feed tank valve and check your consintrate for ropy sap. let it run down drain until non rope sap. i had to dump bottom 1/3 of my last boil before i started because the rope will set on the bottom of the tank but will drain off. leaving 2/3 of tank of sap to boil on top.hard to believe goes thru r/o. hope this helps but happens here every year. last year even in march. this year just the last day.

[maplecrest]

thad what grade you making? da or b? i went from da to one drum of c and done

[Thad Blaisdell]

Made some da last night.....almost ma. Going to boil in a few minutes and then I will let you know. Going to be low 20's tonight, sap is pouring in right now. roughly running at .5 gallon every 8 hours.

[sugartree310]

Made 25 gallons of C grade very buddy smelling syrup tonight. Going to have a good freeze here tonight and we will make some more I am sure of that.

[Flat47]

Made Dark Amber last night and a bunch of B today.
Didn't get out to collect today, but forecast calls for a good freeze tonight, so maybe we'll get one more weekend of boiling. Maybe.

[PerryW]

Made another 3 gallons for a total of 104 gallons. The syrup still graded Dark Amber, though I will probably still label it B as it's pretty close to the B color. Surprisingly, Nice intense maple flavor but I do NOT detect any metabolic after taste (or any buddy flavor). Another good freeze last night and my two buckets near the sugarhouse are running at one drip every 3/4 second, so I may get another couple hundred gallons of sap today and tonight.

[mntapper]

Glad i didnt pull the taps here during the warm spell, collected 300 gallons of sap laast 2 days, 3 inches of snow last nite and good sap weather in the forecast for this week hopefully it will be busy.

[KenWP]

Trees did not to bad today I am told.She who picks up sap for me said a couple buckets filled almost twice today.So I have to boil tomorrow again.I collected a bit of sap from my budded out trees and you can taste the difference in the sap.

[Maple Restoration]

Well were still in the game, boiled off 200 gallons today made 3 1/2 gallons not bad for a rainy day, collected another 150 gallons of sap and still fairly clear. all our soft maples are done and taps are pulled on them, were trying for more week. we have been tapped since feb 26th and only been boiling since march 17th.

[mntapper]

collected just over 300 more gallons today, the trees are going crazy,the 2 days where it didnt get above freezing and the snow really turned them on no buds yet, will be busy boiling again tomorrow and monday.

[Flat47]

Wrapped up yesterday. Quality really dropped quickly, and the last of our syrup was Mersh. I ended up dumping some concentrate from the flue pan when we were hitting temp without getting the density. That was the sign that the season was over.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Sap is flowing as hard as it has all year right now.....?????? Keep on Keeping on.

[PerryW]

my six buckets in Lyman ran hard (except for the two that dried up) but my 650 taps in Littleton only put out 175 gallons. But better than nothing!

[Thad Blaisdell]

Alright everybody hold on to your hats..... I just made the lightest syrup I made all year????? What the hell. Sap is running extra hard at the moment hope to get 15000 gallons today. This is the oddest thing ever.

[PerryW]

I boiled up the 175 gallons of sap that ran yesterday & last night and though it graded out at dark amber, I could start to detect a hint of metabolic aftertaste. The people that stopped by the sugarhouse loved it though.

[wiam]

I was making c on friday. I did not boil 300 gallons of sap that ran yesterday because of other commitments. Another 250 overnight and color came up to medium by the end of boiling this afternoon.:rolleyes:

William

[GramaCindy]

The weather took a turn for the good….good for sapping that is here in NW WI this weekend. Kept my taps out hoping for ONE more boil…Did that yesterday and today. I have a small operation, a 2x4 Mason. Had to re-sweeten the pans and I am hoping for a fairly good draw tomorrow.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Still going. I installed energizer batteries in all of my taps. Made another 140 gallons today. Ended with light fancy. Wouldn't believe it unless I saw it myself.

[GramaCindy]

The weather took a turn for the good….good for sapping that is here in NW WI this weekend. Kept my taps out hoping for ONE more boil…Did that yesterday and today. I have a small operation, a 2x4 Mason. Had to re-sweeten the pans and I am hoping for a fairly good draw tomorrow.

I boiled for 5 hours yesterday and have about 4 gallons (?) in the finishing pan. Filled evaporator with water and vinegar, so I will pull my taps today or tomorrow. It will be bittersweet dumping all of the sap that has collected since yesterday.:cry:

[PerryW]

Picked up 50 gallons of sap yesterday and took of 2 more gallons of Grade B for a total of 107 gallons.

[Ausable]

I boiled for 5 hours yesterday and have about 4 gallons (?) in the finishing pan. Filled evaporator with water and vinegar, so I will pull my taps today or tomorrow. It will be bittersweet dumping all of the sap that has collected since yesterday.:cry:

Yep - Always is --- Seems like I run into the most sap when pulling spiles and shutting down for the year. But - Just water the maple roots with the sap and Mother Nature may smile on You next Season ---

[OneLegJohn]

I have three signs I look at to know the end of my season. First, The Look. We've all seen The Look. We know what it means. We can typically tolerate it. Next, is The Verbal Warning. A laundry list of my shortcomings (all true, might I add). When she starts telling you, you know you're in deep. And you know, if you quit now, you might get a smile by May. Third, is - The Silence. Nothing. Not a sound. Not a complaint, not a phone call. It is the worst. And you all know what I'm talking about. Its the worst. I typically quit about a week after The Silence. I can't take the stillness.

Yeah, we all beat our chests about how great we are at this...but no one deserves the credit like our wives.

[GeneralStark]

Alright everybody hold on to your hats..... I just made the lightest syrup I made all year????? What the hell. Sap is running extra hard at the moment hope to get 15000 gallons today. This is the oddest thing ever.


What was the sugar content of that sap? We were still getting sap under vacuum as of yesterday but the sugar content is down to 1%. We were well over 2% for 90% of the season. Also the syrup flavor has changed. Not bad yet, but off.

It does seem weird to pull taps when the sap is still flowing though.

[mike z]

Things are slowing down for my 200 bucket operation. Pulled the taps on Reds (50) Sunday. Collected and boiled 175 g. that was collected Sunday and Monday. Some buckets ran Ok, others nothing. Taps have been in since March 15 and are starting to dry up. Dark but delicious syrup. If I can collect 100 more g. I should make the 0.25 g./tap ave. for the year. Running out of wood, must save some good hickory for BBQ season.

[Jeff E]

Wierd year. I was thinking I was done 10 days ago, then decided to just clean tanks and wait for the next cool down. I pulled a lot of the soft maples off line, as they were budding.
We got back to freezing nights, started getting good looking sap again. I took a while for the old, matabilized sap (acidy, it cleaned my pans for me) to get out of the evaporator, so I made Light Amber Mersh. Weird stuff.
Last night I made the lightest syrup of my life. It was significantly lighter that Vermont fancy, and tasted good.
So I am still going for it until at least Thursday.

[Thad Blaisdell]

I am currently at 1.4, I have another 150ish to boil tonight. The flavor is way off but it is still filtering well. Who can tell.

[markcasper]

Jeff, I went through that medium amber, dark amber mersch last week, then really black for a day or two and now lightened up again. Most everyone down here quit a week or more ago. I am the only one in the vicinity that uses check valves and am still going that I know of.

I witnessed Saturday April 9th a woods not far from me where there is 2500 taps or so and no adaptors whatsoever of any kind. The stream coming out of my 275 tap bush with vacuum and checkvalves was larger than all the stream from that 2500 tap woods with vacuum on.

In fact, my only pump going yet is the one with checkvalves. The other bushes without them I gave up, not gettin much and doesn't justify the gas $$$$.

I have a neighbor with 225 taps and checkvalves/vacuum, north side and he has been bringing me close to a gallon per day per tap since I can't remember when. I have said 4 times that this was the last collection, but that was 4 times ago. I am closing in on 1/2 gallon per tap and with the forecast, I think it will happen. Looks like Thursday or Friday will be last call.

[GramaCindy]

Yep - Always is --- Seems like I run into the most sap when pulling spiles and shutting down for the year. But - Just water the maple roots with the sap and Mother Nature may smile on You next Season ---

Sure enough, I bet I dumped 30 gallons of sap today while I was pulling taps on my 50 spiles….Murphy's Law!!!

[spud]

I am currently at 1.4, I have another 150ish to boil tonight. The flavor is way off but it is still filtering well. Who can tell.

Thad,

I sure hope you hit 5000 gallons. This seems to be a great year for most sugarmaker's. I envy you all.

Spud

[PerryW]

I pulled the plug yesterday and got half my tubing cleaned out. SHould make my 110 gallons after boiling down the contents of the front pan.

[Thad Blaisdell]

I have another 4000 gallons since 10pm last night. It is commercial now but its still worth making. Looking at 25 degrees tomorrow night, might go 3-4 more days. Still have a foot of snow on the back side of the hill. I still see no difference in quantity of sap...CV vs. CDL Y spout, pulling 27.5 at the bottom, 26 at the top.

[Meridian Maples]

I guess we are finally throwing in the towel. My help says we are done!! It's filtering too hard. Ending the season with around 1700 gallons so it wasn't too bad. Now the clean-up begins!!

[Mark]

I have a feeling my help may also say we are done soon.

[Homestead Maple]

I guess we are finally throwing in the towel. My help says we are done!! It's filtering too hard. Ending the season with around 1700 gallons so it wasn't too bad. Now the clean-up begins!!

The last 20 gallons that I filtered went through the press with a lot of difficulty too. I started with fresh papers and plenty of filter aid but before I got ten gallons through the press, the pressure gauge was already at 40 lbs. I used the by-pass to get the rest through. The syrup looked good (B grade), and it was crystal clear, so I don't really know why it so difficult to filter. I have'nt looked in the container I put this syrup in but I suppose it could be like jelly, now that it has cooled!! :)

[Thad Blaisdell]

Going to boil tonight, 100-130 gallons..... looks like we may go till monday??? I will be over .5gpt.

[Squaredeal]

We're still going -when it's warm enough for the sap to run. Even today, it's not made it above 32.5 degrees at the sugar house with sap just trickling in from warmer areas of the bush. Cold weather has been the curse of this season.

[sapman]

Thad, are those CDL spouts new this year?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I tried 100 of the CDL "Y" spouts that are clear this year and I think they are the same as Thad is using and I hated them. The holes wanted to leak worse than any I have ever used. Too rigid and just didn't seal good. I won't be using them again and wouldn't recommend them to anyone. I would think they would be a vacuum nightmare.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Yes the cdl spouts are new this year. I liked them, although I believe I will be going to a stubby on everything. My Y spouts are still giving just as much sap as the check valves. Not sure about everybody else's research but they were all tapped at roughly the same time and everything is still running. Have to boil in an hour. Roughly 60-70 gallons to make and over 5000 more gallons of sap to process. It has run like crazy here.

[220 maple]

The two large operations I visited last week had cdl y spouts, they was very happy with the production so far, neither one was using check Valves, One of them was unhappy with the promotion of them the other felt they restricted vacuum to the taphole, just their opinion, they both felt that CV's probably will help some producers for sure.

Mark 220 Maple

[vtmapleman]

Sap is still flowing - god bless those CV's - used health spouts in past with a new sanitary spout for the last 5 years. My production is up 40% this year, sap was about 15% sweeter (average 2.3) which was a factor, cleaned out about 1 1/2 acres of softwoods out of the bush (released about 150 taps), plus used the CV's for the first time. I am leaving the pumps on tonight (4/22) - looks like after today/tonight this will be it - then the fun of cleaning up begins - oh where are those grandkids when you need them.

[Squaredeal]

Sap still running here too and nary a check valve for miles in any direction.

[Mark]

I am giving up today in the upper peninsula of Michigan. It might freeze tonight but if it runs a little tomorrow I am going to look the other way. From a visual look at the lines coming in it does not look like the check valve lines ran any longer. They may have helped on the decline but no way for me to tell. I keep my vacuum on until all the lines are frozen so that may have helped the lines without the check valves.

[markcasper]

Today is the last for me. Talked to one other guy in Pierce County and today was going to be his last as well. 4-23-11 written on the wall. There is not many others on there like that.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Sap is down to 1.2 but ran more than 2gpt yesterday. made 65 gal yesterday and need to boil well over 100 tonight. CRAZY. It has to end sometime.

[802maple]

Probably will cash it in tonight with only 2000 running in at the upper bush, most likely will only make 20 gallons tonight. Still good flavor, but there are better things to be doing.

[PETE FELCH]

We finished this afternoon. Pumps are off ,pan cleaner in the pans. 7650 gals total . We got around .5 gal per tap on the tubing with CDL Ys and checkvalves. 5000 more taps planned for next year

[Thad Blaisdell]

Pulled the plug myself tonight. Ropey Ropey Ropey. Was going through the Ro very hard, boiled like the crap that it is. Dumped over 4000 gallons of sap and it was still coming in hard, took a deep breath and going to sleep like a baby.

Great season everybody. See you all at it again in 9 months.

[802maple]

Hated to quit last night, but we called it a season. It was still going thru the RO good, not ropey, and the flavor wasn't bad, but these 20 gallon boils were breaking us down. Time to do the fun stuff that we have been waiting for, yee haw we get to clean everything up. Tomorrow we can put up the rest of the mainline for the lower bush expansion, and then start on the 1000 to 1500 that we will be putting in the upper bush in a couple weeks. Hope to get all the mainline up before the bugs get there to bad.

[sugarstone]

Still running the vac. Appears that only the CVs are running. Probably boiling out the evaporator tomorrow.
Been a long season, tiring season for us. Oil burners caused alot of grief and a week and half of shutdown.

[Ozy]

I Think i have everyone beat, I pulled my last bucket yesterday. Somehow missed one during the clean up. Almost full (of bugs) sap ate the galvanizing right off the bottom of the bucket. Ha Ha

[Ausable]

I Think i have everyone beat, I pulled my last bucket yesterday. Somehow missed one during the clean up. Almost full (of bugs) sap ate the galvanizing right off the bottom of the bucket. Ha Ha

I think You have us all beat this year. However - there are some old posts - where the buckets became part of the tree - lol

[Ozy]

Must be kind of hard on the saw if it is ever harvested for lumber or firewood (a long time in its future). The mill i used to work at the sawyer found a shovel grown right into a pine log on one of his cuts.

[Ausable]

Must be kind of hard on the saw if it is ever harvested for lumber or firewood (a long time in its future). The mill i used to work at the sawyer found a shovel grown right into a pine log on one of his cuts.

A shovel - never heard that one before. Spikes, nails and lag bolts are kinda common. Had the base of a satelite dish grow into a Beech tree after about ten years - Was tricky getting ot out and not damage the tree too much. Oh - and the hanger on a bug zapper - same deal.....

[KenWP]

Out behind the house there is a cedar with a shovel growen into it.Has to have happened in the last 45 years or less as my place used to be a service station I am told and they buried it and built the new place. Things you find out from people other then the real estate agent and the guy who sold me the place.