north east ohio 2012

[tom jr.]

thought I would open a thread for everyone to post as I havent herd from the ashtabula county guys yet. let us know what is going on out their.

[tom jr.]

off to start the vacster today . I see my puddles are froze over, may get a micro run?

[christopherh]

Most of my taps are pretty dry, cold weather coming though. I'll boil down the 250 gallons remaining in the tank.

[johnallin]

Ive got 95 gallons to boil off, nothing much since Wed - pulled 40 gallons in. Total syrup is only 5+ gallons..
I too hope the cold snap gets things moving - but me thinks the wind tomorrow will not help at all. Sure hope I get more than two weeks worth this year

[heus]

Up until a couple of days ago we have had a real good season. 53 gallons of mostly light amber and now some medium. 275 taps mostly on aluminum buckets. Trees have shut off since yesterday but hopefully this weekend's cold spell will help recharge the trees. We have boiled 17 times since we tapped Feb 4th and 5th.

[Jeffery G.]

1800 gallons of sap so far, on 226 taps. 30 gallons of syrup filtered and packed, fingers crossed for another freeze.

[tom jr.]

about 200 gal sap in the tank so far today. i'll let it run all night before the freeze up tomorrow should get some more with the cold front coming. cleaned up evaporator again today glad i did the scale was enough to burn my syrup pan in a tiny spot , just had it sparkling on monday cant believe it gunked up so fast.
75 gal so far most light, just started medium this week.

[tom jr.]

boiled 300 gal of sap today. made just over 5 gal med. cold and noisy in the shack with all the wind. 80 gal so far.

[johnallin]

also boiled today, 80 gallons and made 2 gallons of - still nice light and light syrup. Total after today is 7½ gal. Hope the cold tonight and tomorrow with a warm up Mon slows the buds down and maybe starts the sap back up. Hope every one faired ok today in the south with all the tornados and weather moving thrugh.
One crazy mixed up year for sure.

[heus]

Put in 25 more taps today on tubing to bring me to 300. They were running great but the other 275 not much at all. Hopefully a nice freeze tonight.

[heus]

1800 gallons of sap so far, on 226 taps. 30 gallons of syrup filtered and packed, fingers crossed for another freeze.
Jeff, can you tell me more about the piggyback? Hows it working out for you? I went by your place a couple times recently and saw you boiling.

[jhd504]

Boiled 200 gals. on Saturday. Yesterday, I drained the pans and will finish/bottle that in the next couple of days. Have 7 gals for the year so far, short of my goal of 10, but happy with the results (how can you not be happy!?). I'm hoping for a few more days of sap running, but looking at the weather forecast, it doesn't look too promising.

[woodburner]

Temp at 40 after a cold couple days, vacuum has been running for 3 hrs. no sap, none. I keep checking and looking for a glitch but no problems. No sap in any laterals. Has anyone else been checking today? Did it get colder than I thought and the trees are still frozen? Beats me?

[tom jr.]

going to check mine now nothing at 12 when i fired up. maybe holes dried up after last weeks warm? u tapped early?

[butch361]

At 11 am my gravity lines were flowing in Chesterville Oh. More like dripping it was pushing some ice through the lines.

[johnallin]

Nothing here as of this afternoon and certainly nothing since last Wed. Thought today was going to loosen things up a bit, but the weather forecast looks like we might wrap up sooner than planned.
Thinking i should have started back in early Feb that's for sure. Just over 7 gallons may be worse year ever since the half pint days.

[christopherh]

Pretty slow here to. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some to put in the tank.

[tom jr.]

just broke loose about 4 as their was 20gal in the tank about 4:45 dumping about 7 min. feels like freeze tonight but south wind? johnallin dont even fret about forcast it has changed 6 times in 24 hours. Ed, did yours break loose yet?

[Kngowods]

We didn't get any all day. I checked a couple buckets around 6:00 it seemed to be dripping pretty good

[woodburner]

It opened up a little around 4 also. We had a high of 44 and it is in the 30s now. Hope for a freeze but doubtful with the south wind. Sap is cloudy and without a run overnight the end is only a few days away . They are getting buddy syrup north of Lake Erie on the softmaples already, so my friend near London,Ont posted today. If we make 60 tomorrow the hards will be moving also. Not much dark syrup this year.

[johnallin]

just broke loose about 4 as their was 20gal in the tank about 4:45 dumping about 7 min. feels like freeze tonight but south wind? johnallin dont even fret about forcast it has changed 6 times in 24 hours. Ed, did yours break loose yet?

Went out at 5:00 to change out a few slackers and put taps in some new trees and low and behold most were starting back up. Freind in Perry had nothing all day, but guessing they're seeing the same now.
Yeh, no kidding about the weather forecast...but it looks, for now anyway, like Friday-Saturday may be good for one last run. Holy cow only March 8th and we're looking at the end - this is nuts.

[christopherh]

I checked a few buckets before work this morning, and I'll have plenty to gather when I get home!

[johnallin]

Buckle up Christopherh...even with the wind, mine ran like crazy last night and I brought in a little over 110 gallons early this morning! All clear as a bell and most were still going about 1 every 2 seconds. The trees I tapped last night, to replace trees I changed out, were running the strongest of all - some had darn near full bags. Cleaned out the sap tank and lines before re-filling and now have 110 gallons in the tank. I expect there will be more from today.
With the Friday-Saturday forecast; we may even get more later in the week. This is much better.

[woodburner]

I agree looks like it is all over after this weekend. I boiled all day and canned 8 1/2 gal , dark but clear. That got me up to 126 gal not to bad a year with the weather last year and our winter. Glad I started Feb 2. Sap is still sweet 2.1 brix today. Going to hang in for one last run, but just looked at temp 64degrees.

[christopherh]

Wow! Nice run today! Brought in 350 gallons tonight! Boiled for 5 hours to. Hope it runs for awhile..

Tank Brix was at 2.2 and syrup I was drawing off was a little darker tonight.

[tom jr.]

did freeze last night for a few hours puddles i drove threw had ice on them this am. need a new motor for vac pump as the gx 160 cant turn it at 25 hg any more:o anyhow boiled 400 gal today drew off 10 gal dark amber. after saturday it can be done cause i need to get back to work ( replenish bank accounts to spend on sugaring equipment):lol: just me or anyone els notice larger draws at the end of the season? dont make sense to me. more to boil tomorow

[johnallin]

Collected another 55 gal last night which gives me 165 gallons for Wed. Not bad after such a dry spell. Some trees were still running this am and had several bags with a gallon or so in them. Sap was nice and clear. Will boil this off and see what the weekend brings.

[christopherh]

Well just hauled in another 105 gallons. Trees must have shut themselves off quickly last night. Checked the sap in one tank and it was 1.8. I'm thinking after this weekend it might be it for me to.

[Jeffery G.]

Heus,
I have to say that I am pretty pleased with my homemade piggyback/steamaway unit. It needs a few tweaks during the off season, but it's pretty close. I managed to increase the evap rate of my little rig from 30 gph with a parallel flow preheater to about 45gph! With a few slight mods, I should be at 50 or better. Not too bad for a home built unit that was engineered in the barn. Stop by sometime and take a look if you want.
Jeff

[tom jr.]

1100 gal sap total from this run 25 gal syrup all dark last draw grade b i think. i'll be glad to be done this weekend back to work tommorrow

[tom jr.]

any sap run today? lots of ice here this morning I didnt think it would run so didnt start the vac before i left this morning. i'm to lazy to go look i guess!!

[johnallin]

I went out this morning at 7 and brought in a measley 15 gal thinking that if I didn't it would all "overheat " with the 45° temps we were supposed to see today. Well it didn't hit 40 anything so that was a waste. I've got 160 to boil off tomorrow though and if it does warm - as forescast - up we should see a good run, but likley the last good one.

[heus]

We have been able to bottle 62.5 gallons plus 6 more waiting to bottle tonight. 275 taps plus 25 more for the past week. Taps on aluminum tree saver spiles are pretty much dried up but tubing and plastic bucket spouts are still running pretty good. Made grade A dark last night. Hope to make some more this weekend but looks like its all over after that.

[christopherh]

Made 7 gallons of dark tonight. 2.0 going into the evaporator. Not much ran today, except the yard trees. Hoping for one more run tomorrow.

[johnallin]

Boiled off 90 gal of the 160 I had in the tank today and pulled off 3 gallons of medium amber. Was running out of room in my 9"x9" single cone filter tank so I had to bring it all in a get it bottled. This gives us 10 for the year so far, but still a far cry from the 22 last year. Some of our trees started up in mid afternoon and are still running a bit - will have to see what the morning brings. Will hit it again tomorrow, collect what ever I canand boil down what we have left.
Can't wait to see what the weather man has in store for this week, although I don't put much stock in anything past 2 days now.

[christopherh]

Nice your still making medium Johnallin, mine went dark last boil. I checked a few of the yard trees this morning and maybe a quarter bucket in some, not the overnight run I hoped for. The weather forecast doesn't look good either. I'm somewhere around 32 gallons compared to 50 last year.

[johnallin]

Just checked and most trees are running. I'm guessing I've got 50-60 gallons out there. Still real clear and taste is good.

[woodburner]

Finished the last batch today . Ended with 133 gal. Will pull spiles tomorrow. Tap holes are drying up. The shortest year for my tap holes ever, usually I get 6wks easy, not this year. Dark syrup today, not bad if you like dark, for me the first and lightest is the best, unless you are baking with it. It was a good year overall, I expected low sugar and got high sugar all season, Feb weather great March not so much. Hope everyone had a good year.

[tom jr.]

done here to. woods quit running at 1:30 so shut everything down.taps dried up so much for cv's got 350 gal sap made dark amber, total of 113 gal.this year. hope this dry sunny pattern remains so we can get in the fields before july this year:o

[christopherh]

Gathered and boiled my last 200 gallons of sap. Sap today was a whopping 1.5 in one of my gathering tanks, it was all clear. I'll be pulling my taps soon to. My years total will be around 40, I still have to boil down whats left in the evaporator. I'm pretty happy with the season, made alot of light and medium. It's been nice chatting with everyone through out the season!

[OneLegJohn]

What a dud of a year. I think last year spoiled us a bit. We will end year about 60% of 2011 crop. We tapped first week of Feb. If any of you Ohio boys want to sell bulk, let me know.

[jason grossman]

we are stilll going. we tapped feb 1st and things are still running good. this is are best year ever. we passed last year (which had been our best) by 50 gallons yesterday and still have to boil today and beyond. It pays to get in early and have good vacuum tubing.

[jluckay]

3/11/12 last boil, started on 1/31/12, acctually could have started a little sooner. ended up with about the same as last year 18 gal off 84 taps. not a bad season but syrup was darker for some reason.

[Pete Cerup]

Made 5.5 gallons this year on 25 taps, not a great year and I got in a little late. Finished what I had yesterday and called it a season. Failed attempt on running tubes this year but I think I have it figured out for next year. Last two batches were pretty dark. Overall pretty good quality.

25 buckets/bags
5 tubes
Leader 1/2 Pint Evaporator
Looking to build 12x14 Sugar House for 2013 (suggestions welcome)

[heus]

OK season here. After bottling the rest of what I have tonight I should end up with 80 gallons on 275 taps. I added 25 more 2 weeks ago to make it 300 but 275 for most of the season. Tapped Feb 4th. Making grade B (my favorite!) now but made light and medium most of the season. Last year we made 127 but on more taps (331). Boiled 23 nights compared to 31 last season and only 12 times two years ago. Sugar content was 1.8-2.25 all season. Had big plans to have tubing on vaccuum but never got there. Hopefully next year. First year with a hood and preheater and it worked well. My rig roars when it's fed hot sap instead of 38 at degrees. OLJ saw your article on the maple tour in the paper. That bottler that you have is big as a car.

[johnallin]

Wow, you guys got some good numbers. We're not even 13 gallons on 124 taps and don't think there's anything more coming our way. Didn't tap until Feb 18 - so we only had 3 weeks to do it in. Kind of a bust when you look at last year. Tank is empty just a bit in the evap to boil down, and nothing in the bags today.

[Monster Maples]

Thinking tomorrow will be it for us. Vacuum was still going today, but slow. All light and one run of medium. Going to boil tomorrow and guessing with the temps we should be making some dark. Well I hope we will be making some dark. Not a bad year, no real big runs but a bunch of decent runs. Ready to call it an end though. I am ready to get started preparing for next year.

[OneLegJohn]

Heus, it is a 100 gal jacketed canner. A Craigslist special, lol. Best buy of 2010. The electric meter just spins for hours, but I like canning at least 40 gallons at a time. You should stop out for some pancakes on Saturday, check out the new bottling room and wood shed. You would be shocked at the upgrades since your last visit.

[Kngowods]

Very happy with our first year. we had about 80 taps made just under 12 gal that's ALOT of hrs sitting in the barn next to a barrel!! looking forward to next year we will be getting a bigger evaporator and of course more taps.

[RBC]

hi
where in trumbull are you

[Kngowods]

Champion you??

[OneLegJohn]

Tom Jr, is that you who has a bunch of bulk syrup for sale in Thompson? I heard a rumor some one want to sell syrup in Thompson. Maybe you could PM me and point me in the right direction?