Otsego County 2012

[Brian Ryther]

Hello
As of today I have tapped 900. I waited for the 50 degree weather to pass before tapping. The short long term forcast looks like the perfect time to tap in. low 30's in the day and 20's at night. I did not want the January microbes to affect my April production. New for this season ... no buckets, wet - dry releasers (1000 taps), wet dry 5/16 (200 taps), 700 new taps for a early season total of 3,200 ish, new syrup pan, all ss pipe in sugar house, larger vac supply line to releasers. Goals for season .... 35 gallons of sap per tap, 1,700 gallons of syrup.
Brian

[maple flats]

Me too, but I think that is too high to expect. I started tapping today. Today's section had not been repaired yet so we only got 250 done. Too many tree rat chews. When this section gets done this week, the next will go faster because it is all new. When cutting in drops in that woods however I was surprised how much chew damage we found on new tubing. That bush does however have lots of hickory in it so squirrels will be a huge issue. I'm trying to find some squirrel hunters to help out. I might even need to take it up myself a few times if I can't find someone. Might give me a good chance to try out the .410.

[Brian Ryther]

800 in today, 1700 total so far.

[brettsherwood1]

Hello the weather looks too good to wait much longer. Might try to get some taps in before work tomorrow morning. Brian do you think it is too early for buckets?
-Brett

[treehugger]

Hey Brett, It's Rich. I was wanting to tap for the upcoming weekend too, but saw next weekend was going to be cold. I might hold off until the cold snap passes. Let me know what you end up doing.

[Brian Ryther]

Bret, Today is the only good run day in the near future. I usualy dont tap buckets until the last week in February. Bucket season is much shorter than Vacuum season. I also tap this early because it takes me two weeks to tap and get the vacuum system up and running and leak free.

[Brian Ryther]

Took advantage of the warm weather and turned on the vac pumps. Chased leaks all day. 24" by the end of the day. Wet dry releaser worked great. At 5pm when I got out of the woods to check it the wet releaser had failed and the dry was acting as back up. No lost sap. Cycle time on the dump cycle is shorter. Not enough sapp to do anything with. Might flush ro with it tomorrow.

[danno]

Brian - you are running two seperate releasers off the same pump? One for wet and one for dry? Was that the reason you're running two, in the event one malfunctions?

[Brian Ryther]

Dano,
The second releaser is for contiunus vacuum #1 and back up for when the frist one misfires. Today the wet releaser never thawed out, but the dry releaser ran alll day. No lost sap.

Another 500 in today. 33 degrees and the sap ran steady all day. If this keeps up I will have to boil tomorrow.

[GeneralStark]

Dano,
The second releaser is for contiunus vacuum #1 and back up for when the frist one misfires. Today the wet releaser never thawed out, but the dry releaser ran alll day. No lost sap.

Another 500 in today. 33 degrees and the sap ran steady all day. If this keeps up I will have to boil tomorrow.

How do you have the two releasers plumbed exactly? Wet lines to one and dry lines to the other? On the same tank?

This is an interesting idea.

[Brian Ryther]

white line is wet, black is dry5306

[Brian Ryther]

Up to 2,900 so far. Hope to finish tomorrow. Tapped the 5/16 wet dry taps today and turned the vacuum on. So far so good. 24". The old style blue vented spouts seem to fit great in the CV's. Weather man missed todays highs by 5 degrees. It never got above freezing. Next two days looks to be promising.

[PATheron]

Brian- Are you getting BIGSAP?

[Brian Ryther]

Theron, BIGSAP maybe not, but it was a good run today. It was a good chance to find leaks and the frog stuck in my vacuum pump water line. Finished tapping this morning. Season total apears to be 3,112 taps. All releasers are 23" - 25" almost up to where I want to be. Looking like I will get to boil tomorow.

[PATheron]

Ive been getting a lot of half runs like I said. Itll run hard but lots of times its only for maybe 4 or 5 hours. Typical of this time of year. Really adds up though day after day. Without having my dairy pump bushes Im spending all my time finetuning my good house taps and its a blast. Im tweeking mainlines and fixing tons of little leaks. I think now Ive got a good hard 24 inches and I still have a lot more bubble patrol to do. The one releaser is almost a mile from the pump and Im only loosing and inch down to 23 inches but Im really happy with that as apposed to running a remote pump. This weekend its freezing up so I cant fix leaks so Im going to run some more lines new and hook some more trees up. Gotta wannnn it. I might even drill my other stuff and run it gravity but Im focusing on anything I can get on the ring pump. Theron

[GeneralStark]

white line is wet, black is dry5306

I'm interested in learning more about this. I have a cold woods and my releaser often freezes. Where is your first connection between the wet and dry lines? I'm assuming that if the wet releaser freezes, the sap will jump to the dry line at the first connection between the wet and dry. Does it make sense to have a connection between the wet and dry lines right near the releasers?

[Brian Ryther]

General,
My first connection between the wet and dry is about 200' up hill. I do not think it is necessary to have a connection closer to the releasers. I want the wet to act as a resivour during the dump cycle while there is a heavy flow and the manifold can not keep up. I also under size the wet line so that it runs full pipe durring normal flow and can also handle heavy flow. I want to keep the dry line dry durring all normal operating conditions.

[PATheron]

Brian- What you doing now its froze up? Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Sleeping! Actualy it did run today for two hours today. I figure I got 1/10 of a gallon per tap today. Yesterday night I ran 1500 gallons through the ro. I squeezed it down to 150 gallons of concentrate. I figured since it is going to be so cold and the sap is pretty nasty I just left it in the evap feed tank. Should have syrup by the end of the week.

[PATheron]

Brian- Ive been working over on my other hill on some new lines this weekend. I think by tomorrow night Ill have another 260 taps on line on the ring pump. Im thinking that will make me around 4660 or there abouts on the house system. If we get another freeze up weekend I think I can get another 75 or so. Trying to make up for not having the dairy pump bushes going. Theron

[treehugger]

This question is for all of those with a highnot number of taps. Are your woods very dense with maples and do you use conservative tapping. Because I have a 13 acre piece tubed with about 130-140 taps and struggling to get more. How many taps per tree are you doing? And how much land are you tapping?

[Mark Wengert]

New base stack is up. Pans back on. A little ambition Monday after work and i should be able to put up some buckets. I love this winter but lets hope we don't get the "march 13 blizzard of '93" replay..... I was by the other day Brian, but you were way outback. I'll swing by again somethime to visit.

[Brian Ryther]

tree hugger, I estimate between 80 - 90 taps per acre. This is with conservitave tapping, one tap most trees, two if over 20". Most woods are mixed with oak, beach, shad, bass wood, hemlock. Pretty typical for this region.
Mark, stop in some time later in the week. It looks like I should be boiling in the evenings by Thursday. Hopefully.

[PATheron]

Ive probly got same density as Brian. Same tapping guidelines. Spread out over a lot of acres with releasers far from pump and some taps have been catered to becouse of the density of maples in those spots. If your not overtapping the trees to get that many taps takes a lot of ground. Our area where I live is predominately maple and ash. Sounds like your spot has a low percentage of maple unfortunately. Theron

[Mark Wengert]

114 buckets up. Sap house is ready. Lets get boiling! Would love to break the 50 gal mark this year but anything will be good. Good luck to all!

[Brian Ryther]

Keep us up dated Mark and good luck.
Took a day off today and tried hunting the rhodents that destroyed one of my sugarbushes. No luck, but it was nice to take it slow for a day for once. Hoping to see massive sap Thursday and Friday.

[PATheron]

Brian- Getting any sap? Getting short runs here, little here, little there. Nothing big yet but adding up. Keep fixing, keep impoving. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Yesterday was the first sap in a week. Not enough to to anything with. Lines are leak free. I am working on micro leaks. Hollow trees, dead wood, loose sadles etc. Trees must be frozen solid still.

[couponqueen1]

We collected some sap this afternoon. Not much but every bit helps.We have 90 buckets. New to all this but I have found it is addicting. It is fun to do with my kids.

[Yeserday]

Now that people have cleaned up their sugar shacks, has anyone in the area found any old evaporating equipment that needs a new home? I would love to get off steam trays and blocks or increase my GPH. If you need to make some space let me know. This is my 3rd year, and I am real small scale so I don't want anything large or fancy. (and yes I am panhandling to feed my addiction.)

[Randy Brutkoski]

brian, how many gallons are you up to. I have boiled 2wice and am at 125 gallons. Hope the season goes good for you.

[Brian Ryther]

I have not boiled yet. I must be in a cold spot. I have been tapped in for 2 weeks. Maybe tonight will be the first boil, for shure by tomorrow night. I have a bunch of broken pvc mainfolds. I am going to weld a bunch of ss ones this morning to replace the pvc.

[treehugger]

Me too Brian. I have been tapped since Friday and have about 10 gallons of frozen sap to show for it. It was colder over the past few days than was predicted. I hope today to get some sort of a run. But we're starting off at 15 degrees. It's going to take a while to thaw out.

[Brian Ryther]

Finally. 10 days ago I turned 1500 gallons into 15% and sent it to the feed tank. I never boiled it. I did not wash my lines last season. First run sap. And I still made a solid Medium syrup today. Go figure. Every thing went great. Didn't forget any valves, didn't burn the new pan, and made 20 gallons. Good day. time to go collect.

[Brian Ryther]

Waiting for the ro to process 3,500 gallons. Boil at 6pm tonight. Should be finished by 9pm.

[sapman]

Wish I had your RO, Brian. I'm limping along with my 600, recircing WAY too long. Takes many hours to get 3200 gal. of 1.5% sap to 14%! So far, the improvements I made by getting rid of the sap ladders are working much better. Even though the lines are too flat, production is still exceeding anything I got last year.

[Mark Wengert]

Boiled Wednesday and Thursday and made first 2 gallons of the year. Light amber, never have done that before! Not that I care but everyone tells you what you're doing wrong and now I proved that I'm doing nothing wrong. A few days off lookinh at the weather and back at it next week. Having fun so far.

[Brian Ryther]

Tim and Mark, gald things are going well for you guys. Mark, you can do everything right and still only make dark all season. As long as you are doing the best you can, and having fun, then you will get what ever the trees want to give you.
Sap finaly let loose around noon today. runing about 300gph or better. I will need to collect a few times tonight, at least until it freezes. Once I have all of the sap home I will start the ro and go to bed. Plan to boil tommorow morning around 7am - 9am.

[Brian Ryther]

40 gallons this morning, Low sugar. it took around 70 gallons of sap per gallon. No sugar sand this season.

[lew]

Brian, I noticed that we have very little sugar sand this year as well. finally had our first boil yesterday after all the electrical problems. NYSEG had to put in a bigger transformer because the new RO draws so much juice. Ran through 7,000 gal. yesterday and another 6,300 today. finally made light amber. first time in 4 years. I'm thinking it's because we are not recirculating the sap any more. Others are saying it's because we didn't wash our tubing last year. I don't care so long as we make light. Only bummer is the low sugar, 1.5. I was hoping for 2 because this is the first year in 4 that we had full leaves all summer.

[Mark Wengert]

Wanted to gather and boil today but spent almost all day plowing the roads. Oh well, it pays the bills. the weather looks great next week so as soon as they thaw again, game on! I'm loving it.

[Brian Ryther]

Lew, the one time I tested sugar it was 1.3. ouch. I hope the freeze up tonight and tommorow will bring it back up. How meny taps do you have this season? CVPS has treated me very good also. When I called them to let them know about the ro and the power consumption they changed my transformer and up sized the lines from the pole to the meter for free. I am into medium today and am hoping to get into light next week. I think if I keep up on tank cleaning I should be able to get a few weeks of light syrup now that the sap lines are flushed out.

[lew]

Brian, I can't remember if you had problems with catepillars the last few years or not. If not then I feel pretty good about 1.5, as good as you can for that low of sugar. As far as NYSEG goes, my bad I guess. I assumed that a 200 amp service would provide you with 200 amps. All the wires from the transformer to sugarhouse were properly sized according to the linemen, but the transformer was just too small for our upgrade. Love that new RO. Took 1.5 turned into 12 in a single pass at 1800 gallons per hour. walked into the sugarhouse at 10:30, walked out at 4:30. INcluded in that time was countless malfunctions with drawoff (to be fixed today), cleaning everything up and draining the finishing rig to soak in permeate water. Made 3 barrels of borderline light/medium, color of sample bottle. pretty happy. I could have done without the wind yesteday though. I know we will have some lines down. Just gott all the leaks fixed and we were pulling 24 at the releaser and 22 at the far end of the woods. A personal best.

[lew]

Oh I forgot to answer your question. WE expanded the main woods to 3,000 on vacuum. That's all i have tapped right now. Another 300 gravity to tap today maybe, this week definitely. Another 120 on vacuum right behind house that needs lateral lines strung, vacuum set up, etc. This year it will get done. Not going to tap another woods with 500 because the tubing is in such bad shape, it just nees to be retubed and I want to add vacuum to it.

[Walling's Maple Syrup]

Lew, the one time I tested sugar it was 1.3. ouch. I hope the freeze up tonight and tommorow will bring it back up. How meny taps do you have this season? CVPS has treated me very good also. When I called them to let them know about the ro and the power consumption they changed my transformer and up sized the lines from the pole to the meter for free. I am into medium today and am hoping to get into light next week. I think if I keep up on tank cleaning I should be able to get a few weeks of light syrup now that the sap lines are flushed out.

Brian,Hopefully your sugar goes up. We have averaged 1.6-1.7 on our first 5 boils here in Norwich. All our taps are on vac. also. That is odd that you are so low. Good Luck! ,Neil

[PATheron]

lew- How many gallons per minute are you getting at the 12% one pass? Theron

[lew]

Theron,

1800 gallons per hour. 47 degree sap, 300 psi, one pass, 1.5% in 12% out at 4gpm. Loving it.

[sapman]

Lew, what brand RO do you have? And which membranes? Those numbers sound awesome to me! Great production on your bush, too! My sugar started at 1.6, down to 1.3, Friday back to 1.5. Praying it gets better.

[PATheron]

Lew, Awesome numbers, gotta be loving that. Theron

[lew]

SApman, It's a CDL 2400 with Mark 8 membranes.

[Brian Ryther]

2% sap today!!! Half the sap same amount of syrup. 45 gallons of light today. It looks like the season is starting to be in full swing now.
Lew, it is good to see some one sizing there eqiptment properly. Big vac, Big ro, Big evap = time in the woods to make Big Sap.

[lew]

Brian, didn't get 2% but we did hit 1.9%. Yes, that is a totally awesome feeling. Until I think back to when I used to gather over 2% most of the year. Actually gatherd a couple of days of 2.7% off this woods several years ago. It is nice to have the bigger equipment. Walked into the sugarhouse at 0900, fired up the RO, then the evaporators. Walked out at 1200 after having running 3000 gallons though and everything was all cleaned up. the only bummer was that I had to go to work right after boiling.

[sapman]

Still holding around 1.4% here. Good run today surprised me, as the tank was running over. I hate wasting sap! Never got above 35 degrees.

[Brian Ryther]

Not shure what to make of this season so far. I see other producers all around me making more sap then me and I get frustrated. But it is only March 2nd and I have made the most syrup I have ever made by this date. I can't break into light syrup . Tonight the sample bottle was the same as the light in the grading kit but not lighter. o well, another barrell of outstanding flavor syrup tonight and happy for it.

[mountainvan]

same as light sounds like light to me.

[Walling's Maple Syrup]

Not shure what to make of this season so far. I see other producers all around me making more sap then me and I get frustrated. But it is only March 2nd and I have made the most syrup I have ever made by this date. I can't break into light syrup . Tonight the sample bottle was the same as the light in the grading kit but not lighter. o well, another barrell of outstanding flavor syrup tonight and happy for it. Brian, I wouldn't worry too much about your woods being behind in sap production. You probably have a colder woods so far this year and the trees just haven't "woken up" yet. The temps we have had are borderline temps anyway and i believe the trees are still half frozen. Our best bush with 1900 taps averaged 42.5 g/t last year and hasn't even hardly ran yet. It is lagging behind our other three bushes this year. Without sun most of the time and borderline temps, that is what we are attributing it to. The 50's forecast for this Wed. and Thurs. will loosen them up. Good Luck,Neil

[treehugger]

Brian me too. I have only boiled twice. North facing woods are alot cold than southern facing. But it all evens out in the end. Saps running hard today at a little over 2%. If my woods were not cold i don't think it would have froze last night. I was feeling the same way. I thought something was wrong with my lines. But no. I just needed to be more patient.

[sapman]

Sap didn't run well here today. Didn't freeze last night, though, so there's the difference. Still just dreaming of going back above 1.5%!!

[Yeserday]

Not shure what to make of this season so far. I see other producers all around me making more sap then me and I get frustrated. But it is only March 2nd and I have made the most syrup I have ever made by this date. I can't break into light syrup . Tonight the sample bottle was the same as the light in the grading kit but not lighter. o well, another barrell of outstanding flavor syrup tonight and happy for it.
My trees on buckets haven't even produced enough to boil until today. My sugarbush always seems to take a while to wake up. You should be happy you have an awesome vacuum system. Good luck trying to produce fancy syrup.

[Brian Ryther]

A good 24 hours. About 1.6 gallons per tap today. Surgar was 1.9 - 2.0 alomost all day, the last 1000 gallons did drop to 1.7. @ 250 gallons I need to rember that this is at least double what I have made any other year by this date. The freeze up for the next 2 - 3 days is a welcome site. I am however a little worried about the 50 degree weather by the middle of next week. The syrup today was the same as yesterday, matched the light bottle in the test kit. Still not shure what to call it. By the time I get to bottle it it will probaly darken to a solid medium, but I am shure it will make great candy, cream and sugar. Also worth noting is that there is still no sugar sand. I was able to filter 60+ gallons through my 7" press with no problems. Also worth noting is the lack of foam in the pans. I think I have used a table spoon of defoamer to date for the season. I bet I could have used less but I am in the habit of adding a drop the the flue pan after every time we add wood to the arch. I hope this trend continues.

[Dan Bolton]

Hey Brian! I am the same way! Lol, its hard to be patient when you see others boiling. I was telling marty the other day when we were inspecting our lines, i don't think its running the way it should. Haha. We are happy though. We have been averaging 250 gallons of sap on a run. Yesterday we had a good run here. We got about 300 gallons. Our lines are all brand new so this is all trial and error. We put out 425 and will add 275 to get to 700. We have to remember that ours is gravity feed and when the manifolds freeze tight it takes awhile to unthaw.

[lew]

2% sap today!!! Half the sap same amount of syrup. 45 gallons of light today. It looks like the season is starting to be in full swing now.
Lew, it is good to see some one sizing there eqiptment properly. Big vac, Big ro, Big evap = time in the woods to make Big Sap.

Brian, Don't flatter me so much. I do have the big equipment, but I still find it hard to get to the woods. I'm trying to get a couple of kids trained to do some of it for me. I just finished boiling and they ahve been in the woods since 2:00. the high winds the past couple of days have raised havoc with the lines. We were down to 19" yesteday. Actually some of the lines started running this afternoon and made things easier for them to find leaks. Just started making medium today.

[Brian Ryther]

Suprise run today. Only 1/2 gallon per tap, but just enough to boil. I would have had more but releaser screw ups killed me today. Heading out to boil now.

[Dan Bolton]

Had a good day today! Made 10 gallons of syrup. Our sap was testing high as well which was a little suprising. Forcast for this week looks awesome after tuesday.

[doocat]

The long term 10-15 day forecast looks a little scary down here jsut below Binghamton but they are never right anyway.

Craig

[lew]

Brian,

We didn't get quite that much, maybe 1,3 of a gallon per tap. That figures. I didn't think it would thaw out today so I gathered everything up and boiled it in. when the boys told me what was happening at the woods I couldn't believe it. I wa already all shut down and cleaned up when I found out. I figure there's maybe 1,00 gallons out there. It will be one big chunk of ice by tomorrow night. That will help keep the sap cool when we hit the upper 50's wed. and thurs.

Doocat,

Our forecast is calling for 2 hot days in the upper 50's then cooling down to more seasonable sugaring weather. Not great temps at night. Just getting close to freezing, but that's what vacuum is for. Hope your weather isn't too scary.

[doocat]

I'm sure the forecast will change 3 or 4 times before it gets here.....

[lew]

You think it will take that long?

[Brian Ryther]

Last night's boil did not end on a positive note. I burnt my brand new syrup pan. 3 of 6 sections were on fire. When I looked in fire box the pans looked like a topo map of the green Mtns. I got it shut down and pushed the burnt sludge out with water. Then I boiled permeate and let that sit over night. This morning I filled it with 13 gallons of vinigar and boiled that. After letting it sit for three hours the black came off and the ss looks like new. Except for some minor rippling. The pans flattend back out enough to boil just fine. After a little investigating I was able to determine the cause of the fire. My 50 year old arch is begining to bow right where the syrup pan and the flue pan meet. The pan rail is down about 3/4 of a inch. I think this made the syrup pool at the cross over between section two and three. I had to use different thickness pan gaskets to level the pan when I first installed it pre season. The arch must have gotten worse over the past week. I figure I lost about 20 gallons of syrup and a few years off my life.

[lew]

Ouch!!!! Sorry to hear that Brian. Sounds like you'll be able to finish the season with that pan? sucks that it was brand new. I feel for you.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Jeez Brian, that sucks. At least you pin pointed the cause and the pan is salvageable. Keep plugging away!

[nymapleguy607]

Brian sorry to hear about your pan, but thanks for posting. I checked my pans last night and they were about a 1/4" low where the pans meet. Got them shimmed and ready to go again.

[Brian Ryther]

After leveling the arch yesterday the back right corner was picked up 7/8". Syrup pan is now level. I will now check the level every day. Big sap day today!

[Maplewalnut]

Brian- Good save, sounds like it could of been alot worse in a few more seconds. Keep at it, I'm afraid my season may be ended this time next week.

[lew]

Brian,

Like you said, the forecast will change several times before the weather actually gets here. Well, now our forecast looks like doom and gloom. after this weekend not a frost in sight and temps in the 50's. But that will change, I hope.

[Mark Wengert]

Back at it! Didn't run like I thought but made 3 more gallons of nice syrup. Mine matched the light dead on tonight but I called it medium. Don't want anyone telling me I jiped them.... Just over 13 for the season. Looks like a good running is coming. Lovin it!

[Brian Ryther]

Morning boil is in the barrell. One hour off then clean the evap, collect and boil again. Despite the 55 degree sap the color is staying pretty light.

[lew]

Ran gerat from yesterday AM until this mornings pickup. gathered 9,000 from the start yesterday until 7:00 this morning (actuall gatherd 10,500, but 1,500 was a block of ice from the sap that ran Sunday afternoon). She's still runing at about 200 gph. sugar content is down to 1.3 though. Started making dark last night and this morning we are still holding a nice mid-dark. I did notice the filters on the RO were a little slimy, but like you said Brian the sap looks pretty good for the temps we have.

[doocat]

Work hard we only have until Monday then the weather man says we are done....

[Brian Ryther]

100 gallons for the day. Regarding the up comming weather. It will get warm. It will shut down. It will come back. We will make syrup on Easter. It is not even close to being over.

[Bucket Head]

I'm hoping your right Brian! I don't know if boiling on Easter will happen, but I sure hope March turns around. This kind of weather for march is just plain wrong! Bitter cold two days ago and then nearly sixty degrees!! Pretty discouraging weather for sugarmakers.

Thankfully, as I'm typing this, its snowing and down to 37 degrees here.

[nymapleguy607]

I hope your right Brian, will the sap clear back up after a really warm snap? mine started turning cloudy yesterday

[Brian Ryther]

Another day. Season total 400. Dark amber today.

[sapman]

Same here. First dark Thursday night. Right at 400 myself. Another boil tonight.

[Brian Ryther]

Great day, Sap ran the best I have seen it all season this afternoon. Beacuse I listened to the weather I went out for a midnight gathering session. I found the tanks full and the releasers Frozen. 32 degrees right now at 1 am. Hope it gets down to at least 30 degrees before sun up. Grade B tonight.

[lew]

Same here Brian. My Bernard Double was dumping every 17 seconds. that works out to 719 gallons per hour, off of 3,000. I was impressed at the flow and that the releaser could handle that. It must have stayed at that flow for quite awhile. After 5 1/2 hours there was 3,300 gallons in the tank. the flow had dropped to 400 per hour as of 10:30 last night. and it was 32 degrees at the woods. @8 this morning, should be a big day. We are making B as well. The sap in the tank looks a little cloudy, but not bad. Wish we were going into some nicer weather, I would clean out the pans and start again. But I think I will just keep pushing out the B.

[treehugger]

Sap ran hard in Oneonta yesterday, this morning and early afternoon pretty good too. I am only making light still. Had one small batch of medium early on. I guess it will darken up soon by the sounds of it. I just hope the cold comes back soon, though I could use a little break.

[Brian Ryther]

Great day, Had a low of 27 last night. 7 degrees lower then the forcast. 70 gallons. Started out B then went to Dark amber for the last 40. The midnight sap last night was 1.8%, the 4 pm sap today was 0.8% Time for dinner then back out to collect.

[Brian Ryther]

Biggest day of the season so far. 75 gallons of Dark Amber. Sap is still running strong. Maybe we dont need it to freeze?

[sapman]

Wow, good job, Brian! My flow has significantly diminished. Not sure how much more I'm going to get. They've taken away anything close to freezing from our 2 week forecast, so I'm pretty bumbed. Getting very hard to add to my total now.

[sapman]

Brian, what kind of spouts are you using? How many inches do you run?

[danno]

Tim, seems like Brian was too cold when we were running good a couple of weeks back - defintely a different climate down there. I spoke to Sandy down in Deruyter right before this warm up, when we were at a half crop they were at a 1/10th.

My vac is still on and picked up almost gal/tap over the last 24 hr period, but it REALLY slowed down last night/this morning. I may turn the vac off today. I'm not pulling taps for awhile anyway. I may just wait and see what late March/April brings. Buds on the sugars are still tight - but now I'm seeing 80's early next week.

Mark my words - when that cold, stormy system out west moves east, late march/april will be perfect sugaring weather.

[sapman]

I hear you, Dan. It always gets perfect again, after it's taken me out! Guess I'll leave the vacuum on 24/7, just dial it down if it's not running.

[sapman]

One good thing, made 25 gallons last night on 1400 of 1.2 % sap. Even better, the last 15 were medium! On cloudy sap!

[Brian Ryther]

Tim, I use check valves. My vacuum is usualy between 0" and 26.5", I can keep one system at 26" - 26.5", the other one runs at 23.5. Past 24 hrs has been good. Light frost last night and little more then a gallon of sap per tap today. Boiling tonight at 6pm. I hope it stays in the grade a range. Hope to have a good freeze up tonight.

[sapman]

Thanks, Brian. I tried this year with another spout, but not overly impressed, so may go back to cv's next year. I'm praying for a surprise freeze tonight. Probably last chance.

Keep up the good work!

[Dan Bolton]

Getting ready to go boil in the last 150. Pretty sad season to say the least. As fast as it started it was over. We put out 425 taps this year. This summer we will add 375 to get to 800. Each year we will add more. On a bad year you really see it when you have a small amount of taps. After tonight we should be between the 30 to 35 gallon mark.

[Mark Wengert]

Nice work Bolton. You guys worked hard to get ready this year. To bad the season didn't work as hard for you. I started pulling after work today till the lightning came. Called it a day till Friday. Should be about 25 for season after i finish boiling tomorrow night. Wash em up and be ready for next year. Thinking about making some cream this weekend. fun project.

[PATheron]

Still going in northeast Pa. Very warm but the sap keeps running. Getting half to two thirds of a gallon per tap of sap per 24 hours. Still processing nice so keeping going. Want to see if you can make mersh with the leaves on? Theron

[Brian Ryther]

Another 45 gallons in the barrell tonight. Good freeze last night. Going after Therons PA Fancy for a week, then it will be back to business when the cold weather returns.

[danno]

Only got down to 35 up here outside of Syracuse today, but for some reason it ran better today than it has the past few days, go figure - about 1/2 gal/tap between sunrise and sunset, now has slowed way down again. Concentrate is boiling,, RO'ing and filtering fine, so we'll keep at it. I've boiled worse:)

[sapman]

I haven't gotten squat. Boiled the 500 from the last couple days, but just a trickle coming into the releaser. Certainly no where near 1/2 g/tap.

[PATheron]

Brian- Were making full blown mersh for sure but knock on wood Ive never had it processs so good. Maybe were just getting better at it. I can only get it up to like 13% without working a long time at it but its filtering good and everything. Theres no freeze in site. Im just going to see how long I can go. Getting like half a 55 gallon drum per day. Theron

[PATheron]

My last freeze was monday and at night now it drops right off and hardly runs then in the morning at 9 or so it just kicks in and runs good? Must be running out of habit? Theron

[Randy Brutkoski]

I am surprised that you are still going theron. Most of the guys around me are done. Going out to boil. After today i will be around 1450 gallons.

[Dan Bolton]

Nice work Bolton. You guys worked hard to get ready this year. To bad the season didn't work as hard for you. I started pulling after work today till the lightning came. Called it a day till Friday. Should be about 25 for season after i finish boiling tomorrow night. Wash em up and be ready for next year. Thinking about making some cream this weekend. fun project. Thanks Mark. You know you are never done when it comes to this game. Yesterday we milled a bunch more siding for our sugar house. I told Marty i wish i could snap my finger and next year would be here,,lol. We will be just as busy this summer as last. We still have to side the entire sugar house as well as build a wood shed. On top of that we have to order our pans in april. Plus add another 375 taps. Crazy but eventually we will be ahead of the game.

[Brian Ryther]

1500 gallons of sap today. That is with no vacuum all night. Sap is running pretty good now. Going to sit on the sap and boil it tomorrow afternoon. Try to bring in another 2500 gallons before I boil. Any one who has pulled there taps and wants to come out for a st pattys beer I am going to try to boil tomorow around 4pm.

[PATheron]

Brian- Im still in it to win it. Hasnt froze in over a week and its been basically 70 all week and Im still getting between 2500 and 3000 gallons of 1% a day as of today. Started gettting hard to process today with the ro machines but its stil boiling ok and Im still pressing it. Slows down at night to almost nothing and kicks in in the morning and runs. How long think I can go? Dads not wanting it, he wants a gas mask to boil. Kind of a wus. Theron

[PATheron]

stinky sap

[danno]

Was planning to turn vac off today and do the last boil, but still collecting 1/2 gal tap/day after no freeze since a week ago today with 60's all week. Buds plumped up over the past day so am probably gonna call it afrter today's boil.

[Mark Wengert]

Buckets down, finished boiling with a total of 22 gallons. far off from 50 last year. had fun and finishing cleaning up this week. pulled a muscle in my back so laid up for a day or so. Good luck to those still going.

[Brian Ryther]

3000 gallons of sap today, I think that I am pulling sap from everyone who turned there vacuum off. It is running as good as it has run all season this afternoon.

[danno]

It ran well up here as well Brian, I'm at a loss as to why. Not as good as early season, but 1/2 gal/tap. Pretty surprising after no freeze in 7 days and 70 degree afternoons. C/V's and good vac I guess. Ofcourse the sap is only .75%:) and buds on sugars are getting plump and lightening in color. Reached 1/3 gal syrup/tap today.

[PATheron]

I think Im done guys. Same as you Danno, IM still getting 3000 gallons per day every day off 4700 taps but it wont boil anymore. Wont flow. Foams up and just acks all whacky. Done our best. Looks like 2100 gallons. Four tenths of a gallon for me which is my average over the years so Im really happy with what weve done on a challanging year. Good luck to all up north. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

31 degres this morning. Game on. 4 more days of warm then the second half of the season will begin.

[treehugger]

I actually had clear sap running yesterday, in the 65 degree weather. Brian, you really think there's going to be a second half?

[Brian Ryther]

Theron, you are blowing me out of the water. There will have to be a second season if I am going to catch up to your averages. Sap is running good again today. I dont want to but I will have to process it tonight. I do not think that it would keep for a day. Lots of mud in the pans. It is easy to clean but must be kept up with. There will be a second season. It looks like it will begin on Saturday.

[sapman]

I'm waiting for that. Not sure if I should be. Will my sap (if it does run) be processable? Guess I'll find out.

[lew]

We pulled the plug and washed tubing yesterday. the buds are swelling and the sap just isn't running enough to make it worth while. As a matter of fact, some soft maple buds are not only swelling, they flowered out last tuesday. Ended up with .29 gal. per tap. Not what I wanted, but better than a sharp stick in the eye.

[danno]

Done. Finished off the sweet in the front pan today. I did notice yesterday in the long range forecasts that good sugaring weather is in it's way. With all that cold/snow out west, it was just a matter of time before it came East.

[PATheron]

Brian- Im giving away 3000 gallons a day now. Still running like clockwork, I agree with you on the second season. Im keeping my releasers from getting in full tanks and the vac is still at 25 inches. Im not turning it off till the next freeze and then Im going to ro it and give it one more try. I can still ro it but it wont flow good in the evap. I dont know what will happen once it freezes becouse our trees will definitly be budded out. Ive never tried anything like that before. Theron

[PATheron]

Last few barrells I boiled it fine. I pressed it fine and Im pretty sure once it cooled it was rope. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

A few leaks today cut the sap production down. Still enough to have a short boil. Vac is back up to where it needs to be, try again tomorrow. Tonights boil was during a lightning storm.

[PATheron]

Giving my sap to my friend right now. Boiled out the evap tonight and got 40 more gallons. Looking at the weather going to have my friend take everything till thursday and then Im giving it one more shot with the cool weather coming. Maybe just the weekend. Out of vacation and pretty much out of energy but still WANNNNN IT. Theron

[lew]

Theron,

What percent are you concentrating to? I cleaned out my 5x10 max pan and 3x7 finisher and got 90 gallons made from 12 percent going in.

[Brian Ryther]

Last night while I was boiling I looked out the door of the sugar house and saw a bolt of lightning strike across the valley. I joked with my dad that probaly hit my pump station. Shure enough it struck my locust utility pole that is between the tank and the vac pump. It blew the bark off the pole and triped the breaker for the pump.

[tuckermtn]

I would say that breaker earned its keep...

[Brian Ryther]

After getting the pump back on line today I was not able to get above 15", so major leak. Went looking for it and found that lightning had struck 2 more times in the sugar bush. Blowing the bark off the maple trees, melting the laterial lines, vaporising the mainline wire. pretty cool, or maybe not. I was able to isolate the line so the rest of the woods is now back on line and in production. Filled another barell tonight.

[PATheron]

Lew- Last couple boils could only get 10% with the sap so bad. My evap only holds 150 gallons Im guessing so I think I got most of the syrup. Theres still sweet in it. Im going to try to make a little more this weekend Im thinking but im just trying to make the last few nickels. Seasons done. My trees are budded out. Its over unless I can make syrup with leaves on. Theron

[mapleack]

Brian, we need pics!!
After getting the pump back on line today I was not able to get above 15", so major leak. Went looking for it and found that lightning had struck 2 more times in the sugar bush. Blowing the bark off the maple trees, melting the laterial lines, vaporising the mainline wire. pretty cool, or maybe not. I was able to isolate the line so the rest of the woods is now back on line and in production. Filled another barell tonight.

[Brian Ryther]

mapleack, I have a bunch of photos but the trader photo size won't let me post. When I get a chance I will put them on photo bucket.

[Brian Ryther]

It is not over, but I am out for now. Sap is running just fine, but the 80 degree weather turns it into snot before I can process it. I pushed the sugar out of the evap today. Washed the truck and put the welding gear in it. I am not going to pull taps for a few weeks. If it gets cold again then I will give it another go. I pulled a few of the taps that were struck by lightning and they are clean as the day as i put them in. No crud or sign of snot. CV's are doing there job, mother nature is not.

[Brian Ryther]

Had some free time tonight, not boiling, so i added a bunch of photos to my photo bucket account. photos are from this season and the lightning strikes.

[Maplewalnut]

excellent pictures

[mapleack]

Indeed, lucky it didn't vaporize the mainline pipe itself too.

[Brian Ryther]

Round 2. Vac is back on. Tanks and releasers are clean. Having a hard time keeping up with the sap suckers / wood peckers. This week should be a big one. BIG SAP WARNING. This late season run will be one we will talk about for generations. When we are old timers we will rember the season of 2012 as the one that came and left then came again.

[tuckermtn]

amen brother Brian...keeping the faith over here in NH as well...

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I hope that Parker has been keeping the goddess appeased!

[treehugger]

Do you guys think if we do get another run over the next week or so, that the sap will be worth boiling? I haven't pulled taps yet hoping it wasn't over yet.

[Maplewalnut]

Well, any sap?? Might turn mine on tomorrow suposed to be in teens tonight

[MillbrookMaple]

We are gearing up for it to run around here. 33 right now at 1:30 and a forcasted low of 11 tonight. I can't tell if any of the trees have bud yet but I'm going to go for it and send it as C if the syrup is buddy. We taped this bush which is all sugar maples the last week of January with check valves so it should be a good test of them also. All the rest of our bushes are mostly reds and have been pulled. Good luck everyone and may the BIG SAP begin!

[markcasper]

Keep up the info, over in Wisconsin we will not be as lucky as you, am interested how the cv's perform after tapping that early.

[Brian Ryther]

No sap today. We only got to a high of 34 degrees. Very cold north wind all day. Checked my pans and found that the last boil had turned into slime. So the Evap is empty and clean now. Now we wait.

[CaseysSugarHouse]

Waiting up here. too, been froze all day and low of 16 with the wind chill i bet it will be 0. Hope we get a second round, all week looks like perfect sap weather. We sure need it.



NATE

[Parker]

The Goddess is comeing back for another round,,She just wanted to see who really WANTS IT!

[treehugger]

So i guess it's safe to say that if we get a run you guys will be boiling it. One of the local dealers said they are not going to boil because the guys in Vermont that theyif talk to have been in the slimy syrup. I say what the heck. If it runs and is clear might as well.

[Brian Ryther]

"Bud Lite" I saw some one else on the tader call syrup that. That seems to be the best description of the syrup I made today. Good color, I did not dare taste it. The smell alone will haunt me for a few days. For me the experement is Over. I turned off the pumps, again, this afternoon. I am out.
750 gallons of syrup for a sad average of .24 gallons per tap. I need to check numbers after today to be shure but I think I am at 23 gallons of sap per tap. I am unable to come to a good conclusion on the wet / dry laterial and drop lines. The releaser that serviced those taps screwed up almost every day. DR Perkins was right about his warning for finding leaks. It can be almost impossable to to find them but with a little patients and needle nose vice grips I was able to isolate lines and find leaks. I do not feel that it is a good way to improve a poorly installed system. For best results I feel that it would need to be installed on short, straight low tap count laterials. My wet / dry releaser system worked very well and probaly paid for it self a few times over. I found the back up releaser working several times after the wet releaser had failed. I do however feel that it would be more cost effective to just purchase one releaser that works all of the time, like the Lapierre single horizontal.