Tapped in Lancaster County, Pa 2012

[Etown Maple Syrup]

Hello MapleTraders, I have begun tapping today. I put 25 taps in on some of the tubing I installed last year. I started on the sunny side and the sap was running. That's a good thing to see. I am two weeks earlier than last year. Since it was 44 here in Elizabethtown, Northwest Lancaster County, and the forecast is the same for the rest of week, I did not want to miss the run. I will continue to post. Now I am excited! Good Luck!

[KV Sappers]

Hello MapleTraders, I have begun tapping today. I put 25 taps in on some of the tubing I installed last year. I started on the sunny side and the sap was running. That's a good thing to see. I am two weeks earlier than last year. Since it was 44 here in Elizabethtown, Northwest Lancaster County, and the forecast is the same for the rest of week, I did not want to miss the run. I will continue to post. Now I am excited! Good Luck!
I'm with you Maple Monk. I tapped 15 trees this morning and by earlier afternoon each bucket was 1/4 full. Sap was running as I pulled the drill bit out of the hole. Last year I tapped on Feb. 11. I thought about tapping last week but held off but looking at the extended forecast again this week I just had to go. Boy what a beautiful sound to hear the sap hitting inside the buckets. Good luck to all this year.

[Etown Maple Syrup]

Today, the buckets I put out yesterday were full. I worked on six 55 gallon drums today to stage in the woods. I cut holes in the top with a jigsaw, then cut a 5 gallon bucket in half then inserted it into the drum hole. Now I can put a lid on the bucket so no rain gets in there. It's a good thing I worked on the drums because the 5 gallon buckets were full. That's the first time that has happened in one day. My plan is to stage drums throughout the woods and pump the sap from one drum to another so I do not have to carry full 5 gallon buckets out of the woods. It is very wet in the woods and I am not able to drive into the woods, so this year I will try pumping from one drum to another. I need to get more taps in as soon as possible!

[sjdoyon]

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[KV Sappers]

Collected 16 gal. of sap this morning. Sap tested at 1.6. Will collect tomorrow morning and then start to boil. Hopefully this 3 burner propane stove will cut my boiling time down. At any rate, I won't be steaming up the kitchen like last year. May the nectar god's be good to us all.

[Etown Maple Syrup]

KV, My wife was very happy when I moved from the kitchen to the farm. I will say, that propane or gas does have the advantage of shutting down quickly if you need to go somewhere or do something unrelated. I think the Maple Guys have a new propane evaporator on the market. I have to make a decision next year when the projected life of my oil tank evaporator ends. Do I make another one or do I step it up? Anyway, I am heading out to drill more taps in, (in the rain) (with a plastic bag over my electric drill)!

[Etown Maple Syrup]

5188Interesting Friday, 53 and sunny. Luckily the temps dropped to 44 after lunch and the sun went behind the clouds. I spent most of the day putting in 42 taps and cleaning buckets. I think today I will be all in. I am headed there at 9. Have a productive day. Make syrup!

[KV Sappers]

[QUOTE=Cassell Farm Maple Monk;172980][SIZE=4]KV, My wife was very happy when I moved from the kitchen to the farm. I will say, that propane or gas does have the advantage of shutting down quickly if you need to go somewhere or do something unrelated. I think the Maple Guys have a new propane evaporator on the market. I have to make a decision next year when the projected life of my oil tank evaporator ends. Do I make another one or do I step it up?

Maple Monk your right about propane having the advantage of shutting down quickly. I started my boil on Thursday and made my first syrup today. Boiled 40 gal. of sap. Took me about 18 hrs. Had problems with the propand burner off and on. Even with the problems with the burner it was faster then doing it on the stove. I know what you mean about making a decision of stepping up. I'm gonna have to make that decision next year myself. Collected only 8 gal. today. Need a little more sap to start up the burner.

[Etown Maple Syrup]

Tuesday I gathered 40 gallons of sap and made some adjustments to my drum collection system in the woods. I positioned them a little better. It was 62 here in Elizabethtown, Pa. That's a record! Also, it was the first time I remember sweating while gathering sap! Today is to be 58. Now 44. The pressure is 29.99s. Does anyone have a quick answer on atmospheric pressure and how it affects sap flow? Time to gather. I forgot to mention that I now have 5 pints of syrup in the frig made Monday! The taste and color are wonderful. Have a great day!

[Etown Maple Syrup]

I just posted my first video on youtube about my syrup operation. Search 2012 Maple Syrup Season. It was another day of low 60's here and I did not see sap running. However I did gather, pump and collect 50 gallons from yesterday and overnight. So I have enough to start boiling again. The forecast is for 40 degree days and 27-34 degree nights. We'll see. The groundhog better not say a thang!

[KV Sappers]

I just posted my first video on youtube about my syrup operation. Search 2012 Maple Syrup Season. It was another day of low 60's here and I did not see sap running. However I did gather, pump and collect 50 gallons from yesterday and overnight. So I have enough to start boiling again. The forecast is for 40 degree days and 27-34 degree nights. We'll see. The groundhog better not say a thang!
Maple Monk .. Good video. Talk about the weather ... 63 here today. My sap wasn't running either. I collected 4 gal this morning and that was it. I did however, boil down 16 1/2 gal today. Where did you get your Pennsylvania Pure Maple Syrup jugs? The weather is looking better for the next couple of days though. Let's hope the sap gods wake up and give us more nectar!!!

[Etown Maple Syrup]

I am related to Brandtview Farms in Shanksville, Somerset County, Pa. They have a 3200 tap operation. They have an Amish family to help and supply them with jugs. I ordered a case of 100 Pint size from them. They are Sugarhill Container jugs out of Tuners Falls, MA. Hillsideplastics.com If you search, you can get a list of PA dealers. Thanks for watching the 2012 Maple Syrup Season video. I am new at uploading and hope to have better instructional videos in the future. I did not collect sap today. I am letting them fill up for the helpers I am expecting Friday and Saturday. They can gather. I will pump and boil. A cloudy 44 here today with presure at 30.08r. Whatever that means!

[KV Sappers]

They are Sugarhill Container jugs out of Tuners Falls, MA. Hillsideplastics.com If you search, you can get a list of PA dealers.
Thanks for the info on the jugs. No sap for me today. Taps did not run today. The nights are to go below freezing and daytime highs in the 40's next couple of days so hopefully the trees will start-up again.

[Etown Maple Syrup]

It's a bummer when the night before the temp was 28 and today was 44. Why? Because the sap is not running. Did I miss a memo or something? I thought for sure that combination of below freezing night and daytime 40's would bring the sap. The day before was exactly the same. Maybe the atmosheric pressure was too high? Two days without sap is giving me the worries. Did somebody say that red maples turned on and off, because now I believe them! Anyway, instead of boiling today, I was able to cut more firewood. So not a total loss. Talk to you traders later!

[calsum2]

I am in wilmington delaware and have three reds in my yard. One has been tapped for 5 days......bone dry......the other for 24 hours because I new it was going to be below 31 last night......still bone dry.

[Dave Y]

While temps are key to sap flow barometric pressures can influnace it also. Believe it or not so can wind direction.

[KV Sappers]

My trees are starting to run again. Pulled 8 gals today and trees seem to be running pretty good. Most of my trees are red maples.

[Etown Maple Syrup]

There does not appear to be any sap running in my woods, AGAIN! I understand that this is out of my control and that many things effect running sap, but COME ON! Give me a little to work with here! Patience, patience (and maybe a low pressure syytem coming through on Wednesday, and a full moon). It did get to 27 last night. It did freeze my transfer hoses and my gas powered pump. So I will pump what is gathered in the drums tomorrow after the lunchtime warm up to 50. Crazy weather!

[Etown Maple Syrup]

Productive day yesterday. Got some wood split and after lunch, pumped 60 gallons of sap to the storage drums. I was pleasently surprised to see sap in some, but not all, of the buckets. Even a little bit adds up to 60 gallons. I will begin boiling my third batch on Thursday. The sap should keep in the drums with the temps overnight 27 and daytime high 40 and cloudy with a chance of snow today. Colder weekend predicted ahead. We'll see what runs! I pick font size 3 so I do not need my glasses to read the smaller print.

[KV Sappers]

Glad to hear your trees ran pretty good yesterday Maple Monk. I collected 9 gals yesterday but the trees have slowed way down today. Temp. stayed in the 30's today and we got about 1 inch of snow. Next 2 days look pretty good but Saturday through Monday look cold. Temps not expected to go above freezing. I boiled down 16 gal. yesterday and got 32oz. of syrup. Brings me to 1 1/2gal. so far this year. Next weeks weather looks promising.

[Etown Maple Syrup]

I did not think I would have the time to boil 60 gallons down, but I did! Everything else was put on hold so I could boil. I boiled about 40 Thursday and finished the 20 today. I have learned to fill the 4 sap pans on the evaporator when I shut down at night and the radient heat will take the levels in the pans down by half,( 8 gallons). I was running the evap pretty hot and was able to make syrup. Very dark color, but very good! I did notice way more dirty foam in the pans then previous boils. It skimmed off easily enough. Most of the buckets and lines are frozen in my woods. I hope that Monday the trees will run again. Saturday and Sunday here in E-town look close to freezing. We may get 2 inches of snow cover tonight.

[Etown Maple Syrup]

After several days and an inch of snow, I ventured into the woods yesterday to remove ice from the bucket lids and remove ice floating in the buckets. I was able to pour 20 gallons or so of more concentrated sap into the holding drums. I removed the ice before pouring, since I believe it is mostly water and extremely low sugar content if any sugar at all. Since then, opinions about keeping ice or tossing it have ignited an old thread. Very good research and very good practical real world research. Depending on the projected temperature for the day, I may keep some ice for longer sap storage, even though it may mean a longer boil time. I would like to make more lighter syrup, so the ice will be tossed! Have a great day.

[Etown Maple Syrup]

Well it seems the sap is still running, all be it slowly. No where near the one gallon per tap per day rate you lucky maplers get out of sugar maples. None the less, I was able to pump 65 or so gallons to the evaporator storage drum. Once I cleared the ice in my pump lines, I was able to pump no problems. I will be boiling Friday! Some of the sap I gathered was from the other day when "the Great Ice Debate" was going through threads. I will see if my boil time will be reduced, and the color is lighter and the quantity is higher! Rainy and 41 here today. Should be sunny tomorrow! Have a great day/evening Mapling!

[Etown Maple Syrup]

Velcome back to the 'Lancaster County, Pa' thread. Wow, I had some fun this weekend with a gang of gatherers and a willing curious group of "let me stoke the fire" helpers. Syrup samples for everyone, I'm buying! I made two batches of a gallon each. Yeah! The sap did not flow much overnight Saturday so maybe Monday I will put sap in the drums for a mid week boil. Later!

[Etown Maple Syrup]

Wow, after a fun Maple Syrup making weekend, the red maples stopped running. I got less than 5 gallons of sap. Very Sad. I hope this is not the beginning of the end for me. I was hoping for another week or two. I'll have to put sap in the refrigerator if the temps keep at this level around here.

[Etown Maple Syrup]

Hello and thanks for reading! Well, that time has come for me to think about next season! After four days of warmer weather, the red maples have begun budding and the sap has stopped. The tap holes are dry. I made 4 1/2 gallons of really great syrup this year. I had fun and great fellowship. I shared the maple story with many more curious helpers this year. That's what it is about?
I learned a few more things and ways to improve for next year. May your sap be 3% and your syrup enjoyed! Good luck to all who continue the syrup journey!5498