Tapped in Lyman-Littleton (march 6)

[PerryW]

Finished tapping my 750 on pipeline and 30 buckets. Closed the valves at 3 PM today March 6. Running slow now but may trickle in tonite & tomorrow.

Tomorrow looks a little warm (high 50's) but a lot of my trees need some thawing anyway. Looks better after that with below freezing on the weekend.

[sjdoyon]

running good today north of you, have about 1,200 gallons, vacuum will stay on all night. Supposed to be nice weather tomorrow.

[PerryW]

I ended up with about 325 gallons of sap today. I would expect around 500-550 gal when things get going.

[PerryW]

Gathered almost 400 gallons of sap just before dark. Sjould make my first syrup of the season tomorrow AM.

Still running okay when I gathered but no gusher. The colder taps are still sluggish.

Hoping for a mild freeze tonite, and some more sap tomorrow. After that, I'm just hoping the weathermen are wrong.

[sjdoyon]

Glad to see you had a good day. We collected over 2,000 gallons and still running. Probably had a few hundred gallons froze in the lines, thawed out this afternoon. Temps are supposed to be warm but you might be ok in Lyman for the week. Good luck.

[PerryW]

Gathered 575 gallons today and made first syrup of 2012; 17 gallons of high-end medium.

[Amber Gold]

Perry, I took your evaporator problem thread to heart and hit it hard last night. Out of my 2.5x8, I usually get say 70gph out of it and run 13-1400F stack temps. I thought I was being wasteful, so I stopped splitting the wood down and went to loading it every 5-7 min. Did this for a week and found the evap. rate went down to about 60 gph and I had a harder time maintaining a gradient in the pan. Last night, I went back to my old ways, split everything down to wrist size, threw on a few sticks each side every few min., stack temps 1500F+, and the RO running 90gph into the feed tank was barely getting ahead of me. I went through more wood, but not 50% more, and we put some concentrate through her last night. Made somewhere around 30 gal, but grades been at a B since Saturday's run.

[PerryW]

Yeah, I vary back and forth between wood conservation mode and get-her-done mode. In wood conservation more, I leave the damper almost closed and the back of the back pan only boils slowly. In get-her-done mode, I run the damper wide open and the flames shoot out of the top of the 20' stack.

[PerryW]

gathered 80 gal of sap today. Made another 10 gallons of mid-range medium for a total of 27 gal. I will at least hit 25% crop (30 gal) by boiling the contents of the pan.

Still hoping the 10-day forecast is wrong.

[PerryW]

A very mild freeze this morning. but only enough for the coldest taps to weep out a quart (at the most). Supposed to be slightly colder tonite, looking at one more shot at some sap tomorrow before more gloomy temperature predictions.

[PerryW]

looks like the freeze ain't gonna happen. Looking like a disastrous year for me, can't see how anything decent will flow out of the trees with 60's and 70's predicted.

Sitting at 27 gallons now, which is about 20% of my expected crop. Prior to 2012, my worst year (in 24 years) was 72 gallons, my average is about 110 gal and my best year was 201 gallons.

[Klay Knoll Farm]

I see you had your post at 3:00 this morning. I saw the same thing about three this morning in Bethlehem. Dismal year!

At this rate we will have only made 15% of our crop. Bleak, bleak, bleak! We ran some vacuum to no avail. If they don't want to run, they are not going to run.

At least we had a chance to try the new osmosis machine and the auto draw-off at the Sugar House. We laid plenty of new tubing, hate to think what we would have had if we did not.

Every year that was bad the disease kicks in, if I double the taps, this won't happen again! My wife is getting nervous, when I do this, it could mean bumper year next year, new evaporator the next year!!!!!! So there might be a silver lining. LOL She is walking into the room, bye.

[PerryW]

It a cold, raw, rainy day today with temps at 36 deg at 1 PM. Picked up 35 gallon of sap that weeped out over the last 2 days and boiled for a bit w/ NO takeoff. If I shop around for a forecast, I can find one that says 32 deg tonite. Probably stay plugged in for the time being. The yard is still mostly snow and frost in the ground so, who knows? We're usually a week behind central NH and two weeks behind southern NH.

[PerryW]

Hasen't froze for the last three nights except a tiny freeze last nite. The temps never got above 47 yesterday but still managed to pick up 45 gallons of clear sap. Should get me above 30 gallons which is 25% crop.

Now we just need the weathermen to be wrong for another 6 days......

They are predicting 70's for the next 5-6 days, but they were wrong for the last 2 days.... I guess I never kept the taps in under conditions like this, but at this moment, the signs of nature as this moment look like less than half way thru the season. Taps have only been in 12-14 days, so maybe I'll just see what happens. Or maybe not. Got the old Kawasaki 250 out yesterday and checked the sap yesterday. First time ever checking sap on a motorcycle. It was a little chilly at 45 deg.

[OldManMaple]

Just barely froze last night, enough to freeze my cooling line from the brook. I've averaged 400 gallons a day all week, enough to make 59 gallons since monday bringing my total up to 82 1/2 and I've burnt about 1 3/4 cords of wood. We're just two weeks into a normal season. I'm getting the road king out if I can make it up my driveway.
Make some potato potato out of this weather

[sjdoyon]

Ran good last night, over 2,000 gallons this morning. Temps around 30 at 2,000 foot elevation. Still plenty of snow cover to keep things cool. Sugar content down to around 2% from 3.25% the day before. Looks like a cold front coming in after this warm weather blows out. We might get lucky in the north country and get a few more weeks in.

[PerryW]

Actually running pretty good right now. 150 gallons in the tanks since I gathered this morning and I'd think at least 100 more overnite considering their flow right now.

[KenWP]

Got more sap today with it being so hot then I got in the last two weeks. Weird weather.Supposed to get real cold come next sunday.

[derekp]

I had a few buckets at the end of the day today smelling pretty fishy..moths are flying all over the light out the door...buds are popping open....looks like its over for me...i think?only boiled twice...37 gallons first boil and got .68 gallons of grade a medium and todays boil-33 gallons and got .58 gallons of grade a light....my goal was to make a gallon of syrup since its my first year so i guess i met that goal but it came and went way to fast...someone please tell me its not over!!!!!!!

[PerryW]

Gathered 190 gallons of sap at dawn and boiled 6 gallons of dark Amber for a tally of 33 gallons, which is about 28% of my expected crop. Not a great run, only 40% of a typical sap run but not bad for gravity with no real freeze in 3 days. Sap was a little cloudy but smell and taste is still good. Gonna hang on for now. Gotta at least make a few gallons of Grade B.

[PerryW]

Just checked a couple of my good running roadside buckets and they had a gallon each in them. Trying not to get my hopes up but getting another 100+ gallons of sap makes the hot weather easier to take. Will gather early tomorrow and boil before it gets too hot.

[OldManMaple]

You would think Berlin would be the last to bud out. Our trees are still holding out but how long can they last at these temps. I was surprised when Ethan came back yesterday with a full tank. He had to leave some in the woods. Sap tested @ 1.8 at 58 deg. I'm at about 110 gals now. I think it will run good today. Got to go check the pump.

[PerryW]

Picked up another 100 gallons of sap at dawn and pushed out 5 gallons of good tasting B for a season tally of 38 gallons. almost 1/3 crop.

Pussy Willows are out, silver maples budding, reds and sugars still tight but nature is changing at an accelerated pace with these temps. I detected a slight pre-metabolic taste in the syrup but not bad. Maye just the heat? Dumped most of the bucket sap as it was too yellow, but nothing dried up yet. Pipelines still running clear.

I will stay plugged in for now partly because I hate washing my steep tubing in this heat.

[derekp]

I had 31 degrees here this morn..checked a few buckets and nothin..checked my 15 trees on gravity and nothing..pulled a few dried up trees..sap i got yesterday looked real clear still so maybe there is still hope for me.i havnt talked to lucien at bissons yet but hes still goin by the house wit a full tank..hoping to make one more batch!!im officially addicted!!

[PerryW]

Picked up 75 gallons of slightly cloudy sap. Pretty much dumped most of the buckets; too yellow. Steam still smelled okay but syrup getting pretty strong. Definitely Commercial grade, though I didn't quite get a take-off before emptying the tank.

I suspect any sap that runs after two more days of this 70+ degree stuff is gonna be bud run here in the Littleton NH area. But, in the name of science, I'll stay plugged in to see what happens this weekend. I'll keep collecting or dumping each morning till then. My trees usually slow down too much to mess with by budding time but only been tapped 2 weeks so who know?

Say my first dried up bucket today; all the rest had at least some sap in them. Poplars getting fuzzy, little ponds thawed out, some red maples also getting ready to pop (pulled the few red maples I have plugged in today). I suspect peepers will be here by tomorrow or friday.

[red maples]

Perry seems like a really short season for you. how much syrup did you make? I am probably one of the more southern guys my trees pretty much quit last week. jelous of these other guys here that were still getting sap not sure if they still are but with this year anything is possible!!! my reds started popping the other day and now I guess they are about 1/2 done and even the sugarmaple buds are swelling pretty good!!! they should be out by this weekend I suspect!!!

[PerryW]

Perry seems like a really short season for you. how much syrup did you make? I am probably one of the more southern guys my trees pretty much quit last week. jelous of these other guys here that were still getting sap not sure if they still are but with this year anything is possible!!! my reds started popping the other day and now I guess they are about 1/2 done and even the sugarmaple buds are swelling pretty good!!! they should be out by this weekend I suspect!!!

Don't feel bad. Us Northern Guys have to listen to all the big sap runs downcountry while our spouts have icicles. Finished tapping 16 days ago. Sap only really ran good 2 days (around mar 11-12 i think). Luckily I have made another 11 gallons from sap that wasn't supposed to run. I will hit 40 gallons which is 33% of a full crop. My worst year since 1989 was 72 gallons... Oh well, at least with my shoestring operation, I only need to make 10 gallons to pay all my expenses (fuel,jugs, repairs, mileage, taxes, etc...) After that it's profit....

Still plugged in. Gotta see what comes out of the pipe if it freezes again.

[sjdoyon]

I'm on the NH/Canadian border and we've been very lucky considering we only had a couple feet of snow on the ground to start with. Thirteen straight days of sap run, had over 2,000 gallons come in the past 24hrs, thought it would slow down with these warm temps and cool nights but you just never know. We have all rock maple trees, the reds around here are still putting out sap so I think we'll be ok. Next two weeks look ideal (20s at night, 40-50 during the days). You might be ok in the Lyman area.

[SandMan]

Many of my Reds popped today. Sap was ok monday, but turned "funky" with a VERY bad smell during a test boil today. I guess I'm done....dismal year. Hope for a better year in 2013!

[OldManMaple]

Still hanging in there. I don't know why but we've been getting 5-600 gallons a day all week. Started pulling some of the reds so my tap count is going down. The ground is still frozen under the leaves in a lot of the bush and my sugars are holding good, again I don't know why. The sap was going into the ro @ 68 deg and looks it. and was about 1 1/4% so I did a double pass but only got it up to 8 1/2%. The worst part is the heat, I've got an insulated bulk tank in the bush but it must be coming in pretty hot. Wish I'd used more 30p, I only used it in the open like under and along the power line. I'm at about 135 gallons now. The last batch last night had a bit of an after taste. Doing a clean out today, pulling more reds and I'm hoping to hang in to the weekend but the ten day keeps going up. Perry's right, two year ago my bush took forever to warm up and then the season was over so I think things all average out. Get ready for the tics

[PerryW]

Picked up another 50 gallon of sap this morning and pulled off 3 gallons of good tasting Commerical. Okay, it was really not that good-tasting, pretty strong with an aftertaste that hangs in your mouth. It is actually pretty good cooking syrup that I can sell for $40.

Pulling the buckets today and maybe one of the warm field 30 tap runs. Up to 41 gallons on the tally, finally over 1/3 crop. I'm at the point of diminishing return but I will keep my woods taps plugged in. If I can be done by 9 AM and make more than 2 gallons, it's still worth hanging on to me. Off to pull & wash the buckets. Good day for it.

[red maples]

Yeah I am glad I pulled the plug last wednesday. I finished off the last of the sap from my pans last night. (I emptied them last week but just had to finish it) got a good filtered taste and it is has that beginning of the slightly buddy tangy woody kinda taste to it. So I even though I probably could have made a few more gallons of merch I have 2 gallons thats good for me(they go quickly anyway) Already have 1/2 gallon saved. I ended with 42 gallons.

[PerryW]

Picked up 30 gallons of sap this morning and pulled off 1 gallon of Commercial for a tally of 42 gallons. Saw some field sugar maples with buds popped. Looks like no predicted freeze until monday nite, which looks too late for me. Steam is starting to smell. Pulled and washed buckets yesterday. Will start washing smaller tubing runs today and keep my main bush plugged in case, but unless a miracle happens, I am done (other than boiling down the front pan.) At this point, the sap is bad enough so I will probably just dump the back pan instead of wasting the time to boil it down.

[derekp]

Geeze...just got done cleaning up after tonights boil..i had about 28 gallons of sap and got 0.56 gallons of grade A dark amber. i was expecting to get some B but i was shocked with the finished product..our homemade stove was boiling off about 7-8 gallons an hour. we finally have it dialed in on what coulda been our last boil. i have 38 degrees here in Berlin at the moment...forecast says low of 28 tonight..so possibly a good day here tomorrow...being my first year taking this somewhat serious, i really didn't know the point of when to decided if a tree was budded out enough to pull taps. a had a few that started getting fuzzy so i pulled them but nothin that i have tapped now has open buds yet so i guess i'll keep going until i get some bad smelling steam. i hope everyone has a fun and busy weekend!hopefully next year i'll be set up enough to get more involved!got the plans together to build a 12x12 shack out back!!

Perry, we got a call at work this week from someone in Lyman looking for a quote for a forest management plan. I guess they want to manage their land as a sugar bush. Are there a bunch of sugar bushes down ur way? Im not too familiar with the Lyman area.

[PerryW]

there's lots of maple trees up the the gardner mountain range the forms the border between Lyman & Monroe that are in serious need of tapping. It's good to hear that they are saving the maples and not just cutting them.

I',n 95% sure I'm done boiling. Still have the main bush plugged in but even the sugar maples are blooming.

[PerryW]

still hanging on. GOt a HARD freeze last nite. Might not warm up enough today though. Still have 65% of my taps plugged in and waiting to see what the sap will look like (if I get any).

[PerryW]

Looks like I may at least 150-200 gallons of nice clear sap to boil up tomorrow. My big bush is just trickling but I should still end up with 150 gallons of sap and a little colder bush of 25 has run 1 GPT yesterday and most likely again today.

Sap looks and tastes great, but I'm almost certain it will taste buddy. I'll let you know.

EDIT: 4:20 pm - I ended up gathering today to avoid ice problems tomorrow morning. Just picked up 150 gallons of clear sap, so I'll boil it up tomorrow morning and hope for no buddy smell. My 25 tap coldest bush ran as good (or better) than it has all season. Still running as we speak.

[Russell Lampron]

Go Perry Go! It looks like you will beat my 45 gallons without a problem. Now that the temps are more seasonable it looks like you might be able to salvage some of this bad season.

[PerryW]

Thanks Russel,

I still don't know if I'll be able to make anything that is fit for human consumption.

[PerryW]

Boiled up 150 gallons of nice looking sap this morning and no takeoff. I don't own a sap hydrometer, but I'm guessing the sugar content is down. Steam still smelled pretty decent. Maybe a hit of off-smell but not bad. I will gather tomorrow and try to push a batch out.

[PerryW]

Wow, April Fools sap. Picked up 200 gallons of the stuff from my three remaining tanks. While my 600 gallon tank didn't run well and the sap was getting cloudy, my 25 tap barrel ran 60 gallons of clear sap in 1.5 days! Best run of the season for that small tubing run. Another small 30 gallon barrell also ran the best of the season.

Took off another 3 gallons to tie Russell's worst year record of 45 gallons! Very strong tasting and maybe a mild buddy flavor, but definitely still good cooking syrup. It started to lighten up toward the end as the old sap is finally pushed out of pan.

[derekp]

Awesome that your still going. i boiled 40 gallons tonight and right away i noticed the buddy smell in the steam. i ended up with a gallon of odd tasting syrup that it really light in color but cloudy. all the sap i collected was crystal clear too...so i guess im all done! is there any use of buddy tasting syrup??

[PerryW]

Awesome that your still going. i boiled 40 gallons tonight and right away i noticed the buddy smell in the steam. i ended up with a gallon of odd tasting syrup that it really light in color but cloudy. all the sap i collected was crystal clear too...so i guess im all done! is there any use of buddy tasting syrup??

THe syrup I took off today was very dark (way below Vermont Grade B) probably because it's been 8 days since a take-off. Because of the strong dark taste, the buddy flavor is not that noticeable. The steam still does not smell too bad. I did unplug all my warmer taps several days ago.

Things started to lighten up at the end of the boil, but not enough sap for another take-off so I'll have to wait till tomorrow to see what happens.

(also see my response to the BUDDY SAP thread)

[maple maniac65]

started boiling today with 675 gallons of cloudy syrup on clean pans. 3 1/2 hours later I had the first draw of light amber syrup only problem is it has an odd taste. It is not buddy but more like a peanut smell. Best commercial I have ever made. Hope to pick up another 500 gallons of sap today and boil it tommorrow. I am on vacatgion and boiling is a lot more fun than raking the lawn.

[PerryW]

Picked up 110 gallons of slightly cloudy sap from my remaining taps and took of 6 gallons of syrup for a tally of 51 gallons. Color was back up into Vermont Grade B and the flavor wasn't too bad considering. Certainly good cooking syrup for my customers who use it. I actually think not cleaning my pans helped me here as the buddy flavor is somewhat masked by the strong late season maple flavor.

I may decide to boil up the front pan but after an unusually large takeoff just as I ran out of sap, it might not be worth it.

Got the holding tank washed and rinsed. Back to washing and pulling taps. Less than one month and I'm done.

[PerryW]

Sap ran like crazy today! But then i woke up. Yawn.