2011 sugarhouse notes

[MainelyMaple]

Well I finally got a chance to go through all my notes I took during the season and tried to make some sense of them all. We added almost 200 taps for 2011 (425 total) and vac to 268 of them. We made 90 gal. total which we were pleased with considering we only made 10 gal. in '10 with 235 taps. We kept track as best we could to amounts of sap from 4 different collection points to see how they add up. We had 268 on vac, 107 buckets, a gravity line with 10 taps on it(line 1), and a gravity line with 40 taps on it (line 2). However, the numbers don't come out as good as I hoped they would.

-We collected 5,515 gal of sap
-1,176 from buckets
-96 from gravity line 1
-555 from gravity line 2
-3,688 from the vac line

So 90 gal. of syrup from 5,515 gal of sap puts me at just over a 61:1 ratio.
-Total syrup/tap= .21
-Buckets= .17
-Gravity 1= .15
-Gravity 2= .23
-Vac= .23

Now granted on the vac we are using an old dairy pump and only running it at about 17". On top of that we have 3 or 4 lats that have upwards of 10 or more taps on fairly long laterals, that will be changed for next season. But with the vac taps we got .23 gal of syrup/tap, not an impressive number for vac at all, I mean I got the same ration on my gravity run. But I collected 3,688 gal of sap from vac, if my sap to syrup ratio was closer to 40 as opposed to 60 the numbers would be where they should be for vac at about
.33/tap.

So my sugar content is low, but what is causing this? A few of my theories are the sap sometimes sits in the tank for 2 and a few times during the season 3 days, its kept in a cool dark place but I feel I could be losing sugar content with the sap just sitting there. I also think my trees being older trees, with a fair amount not being the healthiest trees (they took a big hit during the ice storm of '98, but are doing quite well considering) which would contribute to the lower sugar content. Any thoughts or theories? I guess I'm curious if I just have to live with it or is there something I can do?

[TapME]

I would think after being there that some sap totals got added twice.. Wooded trees tend to give lower % of sugar content... and the vacuum at the end of the season will draw out a lower % of sap sugar.

This surprizes me that your count was that high or low, which ever way you look at it. I have the tool to check it this next spring.

[Greenwich Maple Man]

Well I finally got a chance to go through all my notes I took during the season and tried to make some sense of them all. We added almost 200 taps for 2011 (425 total) and vac to 268 of them. We made 90 gal. total which we were pleased with considering we only made 10 gal. in '10 with 235 taps. We kept track as best we could to amounts of sap from 4 different collection points to see how they add up. We had 268 on vac, 107 buckets, a gravity line with 10 taps on it(line 1), and a gravity line with 40 taps on it (line 2). However, the numbers don't come out as good as I hoped they would.

-We collected 5,515 gal of sap
-1,176 from buckets
-96 from gravity line 1
-555 from gravity line 2
-3,688 from the vac line

So 90 gal. of syrup from 5,515 gal of sap puts me at just over a 61:1 ratio.
-Total syrup/tap= .21
-Buckets= .17
-Gravity 1= .15
-Gravity 2= .23
-Vac= .23

Now granted on the vac we are using an old dairy pump and only running it at about 17". On top of that we have 3 or 4 lats that have upwards of 10 or more taps on fairly long laterals, that will be changed for next season. But with the vac taps we got .23 gal of syrup/tap, not an impressive number for vac at all, I mean I got the same ration on my gravity run. But I collected 3,688 gal of sap from vac, if my sap to syrup ratio was closer to 40 as opposed to 60 the numbers would be where they should be for vac at about
.33/tap.

So my sugar content is low, but what is causing this? A few of my theories are the sap sometimes sits in the tank for 2 and a few times during the season 3 days, its kept in a cool dark place but I feel I could be losing sugar content with the sap just sitting there. I also think my trees being older trees, with a fair amount not being the healthiest trees (they took a big hit during the ice storm of '98, but are doing quite well considering) which would contribute to the lower sugar content. Any thoughts or theories? I guess I'm curious if I just have to live with it or is there something I can do?

I'm not at all sure on this, but have heard that sap from a vacume system tends to have lower sugar content. Like I said this is somehting I heard. Makes some sense but am not sure??????

[3rdgen.maple]

Mainly Maple your numbers are darn close to mine on all counts. I averaged 61to1 also. I ran 200 or so on high vac and 400 plus on buckets. The 200 on vac outproduced the buckets hands down. I dont have the numbers in front of me but I can tell you that a tad over half of the sap came from the vac. I collected buckets daily and atleast once a day on vac. Sugar content first run or two was low and slowly climbed till midseason and then slowly dropped till the end. Sugar content was taken from both the buckets and then the vac daily to compare. It was always lower on the vac. and even more so towards the end. I believe the major factor in sugar content is the amount of sun we get the previous summer for the trees to store up the carbs to produce sugar in the spring. If Dr. Tim checks in here he could answer that alot better or more precise than I can. Vac is and was the best thing to get more sap in the tanks. Vac produced sap when the buckets were not even thinking about it. I had days in a row getting sap off vac and nothing on buckets to consider worth gathering. I read on here all the time about guys with less taps and higher syrup volumes. It can really make you wonder what the heck you are doing wrong. Different trees, different areas, different weather, different soil, some woods trees, some field trees, some both. Concentrate on your numbers and the fustration will go away because its will beat you up other wise. It did me anyways for awhile.