Loudon, NH

[Russell Lampron]

Started tapping yesturday. Got the 200+ taps on tubing at my house done. It took longer than I had expected because I had to remove more blow down and repair the lines that had been damaged. It has been very windy here this year and even though I have been going through the woods on a regular basis there is still more to clean up and repair.

Going to tap the tubing at my parents house today, another 200+ taps. Hopefully there isn't as much blow down over there. If the wind will die down the sap may run alittle tomorrow. I'm hoping to get all of the tubing tapped today and then tap the 100 or so buckets.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Finished tapping today and got the vacuum pump hooked up. Found and fixxed a vacuum leak but still have a small one somewhere. The sap was running today but the cold wind wouldn't let it run good. Hope to be boiling later this week.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

The trees liked the warm foggy weather. Boiled in 400 gallons of sap last night. It was great to hear the hum of the RO machine, the roar of the evaporator and the purr of the vacuum pump all at the same time. Made some light amber syrup, not sure how much yet. It feels good to finally be making syrup again. Marty have you had a chance to run your RO machine yet? Parker are you boiling yet? Both of you have done alot of work in the off season and it is now time for the reward.

Russ

[gearpump]

I finally got my permeate tank hooked up at 5:30 am on saturday and at 7:00 on sat. run the R.O for the first time. I was in seventh heaven!! Had to make 3 trips with the truck to get all my tanks empty. I think we ended up with 15 gallons of light amber in the finishing pan by 9:00 pm last nite. I still do not know how to run the new machine, but it was draining my 300 gallon tank in less then 1 hour and putting out 8% in the feed tank. God I love R.O machines!! Today I think I will be putting out another 100 buckets, can't have enough sap now!!

Marty

[Russell Lampron]

Marty I was in 7th heaven too when I ran my RO for the first time this year(actually every time I use it). As you use your RO you will learn the little things to keep it maintained. Just remember to rinse it after each use and keep track of how many hours you use it to determine when it needs to be washed. The manual is hard to understand and I'm not too far away if you have any questions. I wanted to go over to see you yeasterday but had too much to do here. Maybe I can sneak away for alitthe while this afternoon.

Russ

[Parker]

Hey Russ- I boiled last night,,was great,,stayed up too late though, wanted to run all the sap through so I could wash the tanks,,Good luck

[powerdub]

Russ, I wash mine after every run. If you wash it more often you don't have any reduction in flow. The other thing is, just when you get the one, that is when your flow rates drop out of site and you have to stop and wash it.

[Russell Lampron]

Parker I'm glad to hear that you finally had a chance to boil. I boiled friday night and last night. So far I have boiled in 925 gal of sap and my wood pile hasn't even began to to go down yet. Hoping for another run on wednesday.

Scott I do what Lapierre calls a 1 hour rinse where the RO machine recirculates the filtrate water in the wash tank until it reaches 43 degrees celcius and shuts off. Then I flush it with the water in my filtrate tank after it cools down. Then after about 10 hours of use I wash it with soap and flush it with filtrate water. Most of the time I only run it for 2 to 3 hours at a time. Do you wash yours with soap after every use? How many hours do you normally run yours at a time?

Russ

[powerdub]

Length of run time depends on the sap run but yes, I soap mine every night. After I am done with all the sap I run a cold water rinse for about 15 minutes, soap it with warm water from the wash tank until it shuts off on high temp and them run the rest of the permeate through it. Every day is like the first as far as the flow rates go. I know a lot of guys that do it that way. I think a little soap a lot is better than a lot of soap a little if you know what I mean. Here is why I do what I do. When I got the machine I was washing only at the time the book said and with the amount of soap the book said. Half way through the season my flow rates dropped of and I could not get them back. Film tech told me to start a wash cycle and then let them sit overnight in the wash water and then wash more often with less soap. It worked and I have been washing everynight since.

[Parker]

Russell- have you had any sap runs since wensday

[Russell Lampron]

Parker I have about 400 gallons in my holding tank that I am going to boil in this afternoon. It has been so cold here that everything is frozen. Have you gotten anything this past week? A couple of days it ran pretty good considering the cold wind and low temps. If the extended forecast can is somewhat accurate Tues thru Sat should produce some good runs.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

We boiled on sunday and made 8 1/2 gallons of syrup. My total for the season is only 20 gals so far (actually alittle more but we have probably drank about a quart, it taste so good). The sap started to flow alittle yesterday and I'm hoping that the extended forecast is somewhat correct. If it is the sap should start flowing good today and continue for a while.

Had a close call with my RO machine. The heater in my RO room had failed and everything was frozen. I borrowed a heater from my mom and got things thawed out. Everything works ok and there is no sugar in the filtrate tank but I was nervous for while.

Russ

[sweetwoodmaple]

Hey Mr. Ethiopia, where are you? Did you get tapped yet or hang it up for this year? :?:

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Don't be hard on Kevin, he had a bad motorcycle wrecking on his way to visit Parker about a month ago and is banged up too bad to make syrup this year. :cry: :cry:

[sweetwoodmaple]

Wow, I didn't know that. He was at my place in early Feb, so it must have been shortly after that?

Feel kinda stupid now... :o

[Parker]

I had not herd that either,,I did hear a motercycle stop at my house a few weeks back,,I was down in the sugarhouse,,was the day roy got the pump set up in Hill,,,Roy did say Kevin was there on a motercycle,,,,,,

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Sweetwood- your not hard on me/I'm hard on myself...Yes the accident happed on a corner on Parker's road about 3/4? mi from his house. I got into some Frost Heaves and it shot me right to the side of the road=no time to react.(Didn't help the sun was shining in my eyes=Sun glasses lens falling off so i had safety glasses on/maybe i would have seen the Heaves? and approached differently). I road the shoft shoulder out for about 70' and got down to near 10 MPH when the front tire hit the real soft stuff/well down i went on my left side-Rest is history.

I did stop quick at Parkers house where he dumps his sap to bend out the left foot peg away from the motor some more-Rode the bike home insted of waiting for a tow co. that i could have called. As i was a little hurtin' on the left side and wanted to get to the Hospital to have it checked out-I didn't stop in and see parker i headed out 30 seconds later.

Last night coming back from Uihlien Maple in Lake Placid, N.Y. i almost had a new hood ornament on my wife's new van/under 600 Mi.-4 deer jumped out in front of me-I about had to lock up the brakes going uphill when in you mind your foot is saying more gas to keep your speed up until the top. They were about 20' from being history.

[Russell Lampron]

Finally had a good run here in Loudon yesterday. Collected 555 gallons of sap, alittle over a gallon per tap. Ran about half of it through the RO machine and boiled it last night (saving the other half for maple weekend). Not sure how many gallons I made but the sap was just under 3% and it seemed like I drew off alot for the amount of sap I boiled. Hoping for another good run today.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Boiled about 300 gals thurs night to save some for the maple open house this weekend. We didn't get a frost so I didn't think the sap would run very good. Boy was I wrong! Had a better run yesterday than the day before. Boiled off another 300 gals last night with enough left in the woods to fill my 600 gal bulk tank. Then to wake up to a 26 degree temp reading this morning. Looks like the sap should run good today too.

Love that RO machine! 600 gals used to be a next to impossible weekend marathon boil. Now it will only take about 6 or 7 hours. I have made over 30 gals of syrup and only used about 3/4 of a cord of wood so far.

My 6 year old grandson helped me all afternoon yesterday. He swept the sugarhouse floor, gathered the buckets that were low enough for him to reach and helped run the pump when we were gathering. Forgot to mention that he also drank the syrup that was left in a pint can in the sugarhouse.

Russ

[powerdub]

We were singing the song today about that RO machine. Allowed us to visit seven other operations. I kind of like that visiting stuff it is a lot of fun. Lots of free food too. :wink:

[Russell Lampron]

We had a very good turn out for the first day of the Maple Open House yesterday. Sold close to $500 worth of syrup with alot of repeat customers buying larger quantities. Hoping for another good day today.

Had some people stop in from Iowa that tap box elders and boil it down in dutch ovens. Also had some people from Rhode Island that were looking for another sugarhouse in the area but found my place instead. Had some interesting converstions with them and both bought some of my syrup.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Had another good turn out for maple weekend yesterday. The sap is still nice and clear here but I am making dark amber syrup. Made over 50 gallons so far and passed last years 47 gallons yesterday. The sap is running good today and it looks like it will run tomorrow and weds. Hoping to get another week or 2 before it is all done.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Boiled in 585 gallons of sap last night. Started the RO at 4:20, lit the evaporator right after that and was all out of sap at 9:03. Cleaned up the sugarhouse put the syrup in 5 gallon containers and was in bed at 10:00. Up to 64 gallons for the year, 1 more than my previous record. The sap is running again today. If the run is good today could hit 75 gallons tonight.

Russ

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Russ,

How many taps do you have?? That is a lot of sap in a days time! :D

[Russell Lampron]

Brandon, I have about 200 taps on vacuum, 129 buckets and another 200 on gravity tubing. About 150 of my taps are smallish red maples that don't produce as well as the sugars but those are on vacuum and that has out produced everything else. Looks like today might be the last run, I hope not.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

I can hear the fat lady singing. Boiled in another 520 gallons of sap last night. Went to grade "B" and at 75 gallons for year. I left the vacuum pump on overnight last night. Only about 4 inches of sap in the tank this am and it's cloudy. Will check it tonight to see if I have enough to boil and if it is worth boiling.

Russ

[Parker]

HANG IN THERE MAN,,,,,,,YOU MIGHT BE SURPRISED WHAT THE NEXT 2 WEEKS BRINGS,,,of course I might be too...

[Russell Lampron]

I boiled in 130 gallons last night. The commercial grade syrup it made was the best tasting of the year. Unfortunately it is time to pull the taps here. The sap was only what had run here yesterday. The trees have already stopped running at my parents house and the ones here didn't run very well.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

All of the taps are pulled and the tubing washed. Still have alot of clean up to do and syrup to can. Made 80 gallons of syrup and had a good time doing it.

Anyone thinking about getting a larger evaporator or adding an RO machine for next season here are numbers to think about. With my 2x6 evaporator and RO machine I made 80 gallons of syrup using only 1-1/2 cords of wood which was 99% dry pine. Thats alittle over 50 gallons of syrup per cord of wood! In the past it was more like 2 cords of wood for 25 gallons of syrup. I don't know how much electricity I used yet but I am sure the amount of wood saved will be well worth it. My recomendation would be to get the RO machine.

Russ

[powerdub]

What are you concentrating to Russ? We are running it to 8% and average about one cord per hundred gallons of syrup.

[Russell Lampron]

Scott I am concentrating to 8% like you are. I would use alot less wood if I was burning hardwood. I have had seasons in the past where I had alot of hardwood limb wood to burn and used alot less. That was before I had the RO machine though.

Russ

[Parker]

Wow,,one cord get me 18-20 gallons of syrup,,,

[Russell Lampron]

Parker instead of looking for a steamaway you should be looking for a good used RO machine. Just saw a 600gph machine in the "for sale-with photos" section that would be a good size for your operation.

Russ

[powerdub]

Russ, I am burning 100% white pine and spruce. I am not sure I can remeber the last time we had any hardwood to mix in. Not enough to make any difference anyway.

[Russell Lampron]

Scott, your larger evaporator and wood saver has a better evaporation rate than my 2x6. I am planning to do some tweaking in the off season to get my gph up alittle more. I am still very happy with my wood usage, I almost have enough left for next season. How big is your RO machine and what brand is it?

Russ

[powerdub]

It is a seprotech and it is 250 GPH. I was seriously considering an up grade for next season if I had a good year but that is out. It does pretty well for me. I can out boil it though and that is tough when I don't have my help around in the afternoon to get it going before I get home from work. For some reason I thought I saw 2X8 for your size, I must need glasses. That amount of wood consuption is very good. It sounds like you have a real nice operation there. Someday I hope to get around and see some of everyones setups.

[royalmaple]

Scott-

Not sure if you could do this with power consumption on the RO, but could you plug into a simple timer like a light timer for example. and have it kick on before you got home??

If so could get you ahead a little bit.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Scott,

What kind of evap rate are you getting with burning that kind of wood??

[Russell Lampron]

Scott,

I would like to get around to check out other operations too. Maybe I'll buy a helmet and take a motorcycle tour this summer. I would like to check out your operation. I have help in the afternoon to get the sap gathered and the RO and evaporator started. When my son is running the evaporator we can out boil the RO too. When the production of my RO starts to decrease I will have to add another membrane. Is it possible to add one to yours? That may be less expensive than getting a new machine. I am trying to find someone with a Springtech or Airablo RO so I can find out if they can concentrate more than 8%. I have read in other post that it is not possible and want to know if that is fact or fiction.

Russ

[small_operator]

Royalmaple,
That's quite a tubing tool you made. I really like that design. I made one myself, but it doesn't have the end expander or cutter. It has a simple hinge, so it's a little tricky keeping alignment. It works ok, but a takes a little bit of fiddling with. What did you use on the vise-grip jaw adjustment. It looks like you made a mod to them somehow. Next year I want to build a twin vacuum releaser. At first glance, it doesn't look that difficult. Time will tell though.
Gary

[powerdub]

royal, I had thought of that but with my machine it has to be dialed in every day and the flow rates adjusted.

Brandon, when the rig gets going good we are 90 plus gallons an hour. We can boil 80 gallons per hour consistently.

Russ, my seprotech will only do to 8% on one pass.

[Russell Lampron]

Matt ditto on Scott, a timer wouldn't work, someone has to be there to push the buttons to start the pumps and then to monitor and adjust the flow rates.

Scott, how does the machine know the sap is at 8%? I can change my consentrate flow rate to make the percentage higher or lower. Just playing with it to see what it would do I had 16% sap coming out of it and could have made it even higher if I wanted to.

Russ

[royalmaple]

Guess that just shows I don't know what the hell I am talking about.
:oops: :oops:

Oh well, at least my mind is working. :D

Actually the tubing tool is just right out of the box. I didn't modifiy it at all. The unit is definately "home made" by the looks, they are using a piece of pipe that is threaded on the inside to grip the tubing, and the tension screw is set to grab the 5/16 tubing and not too hard. THey have a sleeve over the adjustment screw so you can't adjust the tension or mistakenly hit the adjustment screw and throw off the amount of tension on the tool.

Only thing I modified with the tubing tool, is my finger.. 8O 8O

[powerdub]

Russ, I have to also adjust the concentrate flow but in order to get more than 8% the concentrate would have to be less than a half gallon a minute.

[Russell Lampron]

Tapped the trees on vacuum today at my house. The smaller ones in the sun were running good. The large trees still need to thaw out. Still have 300 more to tap. Planning to do that next weekend.

Russ