Vermont Sugar makers, post whats happening

[Randy Brutkoski]

Your right about the champlain valley. My sugarbush in benson which is 2 miles away from the lake has been doing well. Strong south wind and a good leak somewhere and i still pulled a gallon per tap today. Boiling didnt go so well today. Someone didnt pay there electric bill because green mountain power had about 1000 of us with no power in the middle of a boil with 35 poeple and customers in my sugarhouse with nothing going on. Had to get generator going to put syrup through my filter press before it got cold. Frustrating. Almost 3 hours.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Your right about the champlain valley. My sugarbush in benson which is 2 miles away from the lake has been doing well. Strong south wind and a good leak somewhere and i still pulled a gallon per tap today. Boiling didnt go so well today. Someone didnt pay there electric bill because green mountain power had about 1000 of us with no power in the middle of a boil with 35 poeple and customers in my sugarhouse with nothing going on. Had to get generator going to put syrup through my filter press before it got cold. Frustrating. Almost 3 hours.
should hire an electrician to put in a generator that would run the arch.

Ok got my bush running on a sap sucker, its a slower rpm than the ones they sell now so onlymaxed out at 16" on the low bush side. Still have a few leaks. we got the sap ladder done, HG dropped to 13 on the low bush side and only 7.5 on the upper end of the sap ladder on the high side bush. Who said a sap sucker wouldnt do a ladder? I have a video will upload tomorrow when i get a chance but think it could work better if we add more ladders, 10 taps for every star just dont think its enough. Any ideas you vac guys have let me know. collected 420 today made 6 gal syrup from fancy to dark and back to fancy. Blew up one generator today borrowed one hope to get another tomorrow.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

i plan on boiling again today around 3pm so if some of you want to come by more than welcome. I should have 500 or so gal by then to process and run

[Apple Hill Sugarworks]

Can anyone tell me how to get ice cubes through my RO? For the past 4 days we have had little drips and drabs then freeze!! Maby I can just save the ice and sell it in the summer to make lemonade.

[chevypower]

The sap's been trickling in the last 3 days... Looks like we might have enough to boil tomorrow hopefully.

[spud]

I got about 400 gallons today between 4:00-6:30 pm I really hope this week will give us all a bunch of sap. I am so bored waiting for this season to start.

Spud

[MapleChaser]

Our woods finally let go today without some problems when they unthawed. The ice push the 1 1/2 mainline apart. Bump two 5/16 lines off the wye fitting and pushed 10 stubby off. When we got the vacuum back up manage to get 1100 gallons.
This week will be fun.
MC

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

made another 5 to 6 gal tonight, i love the 8% didnt even collect the sap from today just late yesterday and last night. will have a few more hundred gallons tomorrow. Thanks to ALLGREEN I had wood, only one and half pallets left of my own wood.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Made just under 200 gallons today and still have 6500 gallons of sap left. Recirculating all night and with the big run tomorow i should make another 200 easy. I am already at what i made last year. Banner year.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Also had about 250 poeple stop by the sugar house this weekend. They all bought something. Maple coton candy and the maple hot dogs were a big hit. Aperfect season so far.

[steve J]

I SHOULD BE ABLE TO BOIL FOR FIRST TIME IN 14 DAYS THIS AFTERNOON.Sap has been trickling in for last two days but I noticed my lines were full last night so when temps heat up today I should be rolling in it.

[maplwrks]

We had a cocker of a weekend also. Sap ran all night Sat. night and we made 110 gallons yesterday. We are at 610 gallons as of today---should go over 700 this afternoon. There is a guy in town that has made 500 gallons on a 2x6!!

[GeneralStark]

We had a cocker of a weekend also. Sap ran all night Sat. night and we made 110 gallons yesterday. We are at 610 gallons as of today---should go over 700 this afternoon. There is a guy in town that has made 500 gallons on a 2x6!!

I collected almost 60 gallons of 3.9% sap from 45 buckets yesterday. That was from this last week's drips. The tubing was running well at 2.9%.

This should be a good week. The RO is running smooth and we are ready to make lots of syrup.

[802maple]

Up here in the mountains, we thought we were going to get a drip of sap. Then I looked and I was looking in the mirror and the drip was coming from my nose.

[maplwrks]

My good friend Ed Martel stopped by yesterday. He's in his eighties and no longer sugars. I let him sit down at the evaporator and run it for better than an hour. He was like a kid in a candy store. I had the concentrate cranked right up there, and he was making syrup to beat the band. He just kept shaking his head and grinning. Lot of fun and good memories. Hope he can come back out to play today!!

[spud]

Sap was running today. I got 4000 gallons so far and it is running 650 gallons per hour at 6:00 pm.

Spud

[Tucker08]

Ran hard in Shaftsbury. Would be boiling it but I am on the road for my real job. Friends collected and I will be ready for an all nighter tomorrow when I get home.

[sjdoyon]

Finally, appears deep freeze is over. Boiled a little over 40 gallons today. Sap coming in at nearly 450 gallons an hour this afternoon. Temps still near 40 around 5:00pm, should have a good run late into the evening, expecting low 20s tonight.

[fiberguy]

Up here in the hills lines thawed out and started running around 3. Was running hard but I'm sure quit soon after. Tomorrow looks good to get back to boiling though.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Just shut down. Made 200 gallons tonight. Back at it in a few hours. I still have 9000 gallons to put through the r.o. still. What a run.

[spud]

At 10:30 am this morning my sap was already running at 500 GPH. Oh Sweet Mama bring it on.

Spud

[smokeyamber]

Ran yesterday... dump station lines thawed as well so all is well. Collected around 30 gallons from 50 taps looks like when I get home I will have to help the kids carry some full buckets ;) This is a classic season and I can't wait to fire up the rig !

[sjdoyon]

had to run the RO last night around midnight, 3,000 gallon tanks were full. Was able to get a hundred gallons on light amber made today. Temps only in the low 30s but trees are releasing hard.

[spud]

The day started out real good and by noon I was getting 880 gallons per hour. The wind started picking up in the afternoon and shut the trees down quiet a bit. The day's total was only about 5000 gallons. Their talking 40 and rain tomorrow so we will see what happens.

Spud

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

total as of tonight 93 gal

[Tucker08]

Just got done for the night. Chewed through most of what I had backed up. Need to function at work tomorrow. 36 gallons to date.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Just got done for the night. Chewed through most of what I had backed up. Need to function at work tomorrow. 36 gallons to date.
im boiling again tonight tucker08, i usually start around 6 to 6:30 turn off at 9,
come on 150

[Randy Brutkoski]

I am a couple gallons shy of 1900 gallons. I have alot of sap to boil and another big run today will happen. 3000 is not going to be out of reach. Had to go to bed at midnight last night. Anything more than a 40 hour shift i am worthless. recirulating all night. I hope my 3300 gallon tanks are down in a few hours. I need another post.

[wdchuck]

A gusher yesterday. Sap was running just as hard on gravity when I got there to turn it on as it was the whole day before under vac. Then all hell really broke loose- releasers dumping all over the place! Looks like more of the same.....

[maplwrks]

Randy--you need to trade that 1200 for a 4800!

[GeneralStark]

Gusher is right. Some of my buckets put out almost 4 gallons in 24 hours @ 3.5%. Sap tank were almost overflowing and I had to sell some sap as we got slowed down by a clogging waste oil filter on the boiler burner. RO is helping, but we need to use it more effectively (see thread in RO section).

We have been making nice medium amber right in the edge of fancy.

[smokeyamber]

Big time run here.... Couple trees put out close to 3 gallons for a 24hr period. Close to 50 gallons off my 50 taps. Storage tank will be full today. Will be boiling rest of week just to keep up. Weather is looking great for a continued run ! :D

[sugarin' in the hood]

Finally running here, we should be in the thick of it for a solid week. If it does not rain after real job boiling sap again today, if raining finishing the almost syrup that my father started and wife finished boiling last night. Nice to see the steam coming out of the local sugar houses again. Good luck to all.

[spud]

I only got about 4000 gallons today. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Spud

[DrTimPerkins]

Fairly good run up on the hill today. Sun started things off fairly early (10am). Still running, but slowing down some. Hoping for a freeze tonite and another good run tomorrow, but may be later starting. We're at about what we consider 1/3 of a crop so far, but looking like it'll be a good week.

[sjdoyon]

We had 2,500 plus gallons at 2.75 today. Happy with the runs since the nights are cold and day only in the mid-30s. This weekend looks good. We have about 370 gallons made so far. Making some nice fancy this week.

[steve J]

Smokeyamber you have no idea how close I came to remodeling your sugar bush last Saturday morning. The hill road going down by your bush was pure ice and I cam rather close to going right over the edge and down thru you bush. And it only got worse once I got onto center road.

[fiberguy]

Low pressure came through and ran real hard last evening. Collected 110 gallons off 275 taps on gravity at 4pm. Collected another 60 at 9pm.

[IdTapThat]

Got 11,000 gallons of sap yesterday. Boiled 82 gallons of syrup at 8% with brand new pans, couldn't quite make fancy but ill take it.

[DrTimPerkins]

Decent run overnight. Light freeze should have recharged the trees a little. Could be a pretty good day. Overall looks like the next 10 days will be real good.

[spud]

I got 1000 gallons over night. A lot of fog this morning and the sap is running about 400 GPH at 9:30 am. If the sun could burn through the fog I think the sap would run real good. I still have a ton of snow in my woods and hope this season last another 4 weeks or so.

Spud

[farmall h]

Pulling sap & boiling long and hard! :)

[Randy Brutkoski]

I am now at 2050 gallons of syrup right now. And i still have 7000 gallons of sap. Recirculating most of the rest of the night. Should have no problem making 3000 gallons this year.

[steve J]

Well sap is not running at this point my lines were horrible this year and have been since Irene destroyed the area I have lines running thru and my reconfigureing simply did not work. Going to try to reconfigure them one last time this afternoon in hopes of one run next week and at lease I will know rather that works or not otherwise I will rip it all out and start from scratch come summer.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Randy, get off the computer and get that new post hitched up already........

[smokeyamber]

Hey Steve, it stopped mostly at my end of the road too.... good thing since I am almost out of storage. First boil planned for tomorrow if all goes well in the metal shop tonight...adding dividers to the front pan.

Hope it runs for you and it does look like we will get another shot next week...





Well sap is not running at this point my lines were horrible this year and have been since Irene destroyed the area I have lines running thru and my reconfigureing simply did not work. Going to try to reconfigure them one last time this afternoon in hopes of one run next week and at lease I will know rather that works or not otherwise I will rip it all out and start from scratch come summer.

[Randy Brutkoski]

at a little over 2200 gallons now. Came back to fancy for a little while. yellowish color but then went away. I think it might of beee
n some metabalism but went away after 2 barrells of it. Nice da. now.I think the end is near down here but i am going to the last drip. If i could boil that crap last year then i can boil anything.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Randy, get off the computer and get that new post hitched up already........
tried last night Thad, need a couple motor contactors like what you got and all the fitting are metric so we need adapters, another start stop momentary push button. little more involved than what was first thought, nice tower!

[LukeW]

Any predictions regarding end of season in northern VT? I've only made just under 40 gallons of fancy and medium. Was shooting for 100 gallons so I'm a little anxious for a few more good runs.

[sjdoyon]

Weather looks good next three weeks, 40s during the day and teens at night. We are just hitting our stride with over 500 gallons made and the last five barrels are fancy. Our trees just thawed out so we have a ways before budding but we have all rock maple trees tapped.

You should be ok for a while.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

approx another 12 gal today, both sap suckers split the diagrapm, drove to Barre and Thad made the trip to Goodriches. have 2 diaphragm and one kit. need to get these trees pumping again.total for year we should be around 120/121. Made an awesome dark amber today.

[spud]

Any predictions regarding end of season in northern VT? I've only made just under 40 gallons of fancy and medium. Was shooting for 100 gallons so I'm a little anxious for a few more good runs.

I see no reason why we can't keep making syrup to the third week in April. I think we have 3 weeks left here in Richford.

Spud

[Randy Brutkoski]

Made another 110 gallons yesterday. Should have a good run today. Making da right now. doesnt look like i will be with my family today.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Made another 90 gallons today. The ro is recirc. all night. Should be another 100 tomorow.

[northwoods_forestry]

Trees shut down on us yesterday. Going to take the red maples offline today and hope the forecast hard freeze tonight gets things going again. We are just over 60% for the year and need a couple more good runs!

[maplwrks]

RANDY---YOU GOTTA WASH THAT THING NOW AND THEN!!! The clouds came in yesterday afternoon, and the sap gods smiled!! It really cut loose and ran the best that it has in about 5 days. I made another 45 gallons of grade B last night and have a good shot of sap for today. Looks like a good week this week, although we could use a little moisture. We're at 910 gallos with no end in sight.

[GeneralStark]

Nice steady sap flow the last few days. About 1 gal./tap/day on the buckets and better than that on the tubing. Sugar is still over 2%, and the next week looks good. We could use some rain. The leaves are starting to get crunchy in places, but the ground is still rock hard from frost as well.

[sapmaple]

WOW running out of drums to fill running out of wood to burn Will crack 3000 gallons tonight We have 3500 taps of brand new tubing this year and they just keep on running Got some older tubing with south and east slope, seems to be slowing down.But with three nights in the low 20"s should really charge things up again but it is April so we'll see

[smokeyamber]

Finally got to boil on Sat ! Went through a bunch of my stockpile close to drawing off the first batch... didn't check buckets yesterday but suspect they are gonna be full. So nice to finally get the rig running.

[DrTimPerkins]

Any predictions regarding end of season in northern VT? I've only made just under 40 gallons of fancy and medium. Was shooting for 100 gallons so I'm a little anxious for a few more good runs.

Still lots of season left, especially up your way. We've got some good cold nights coming. I know the woods you're tapping quite well....great little sugarbush there. You'll make plenty more syrup.

[sjdoyon]

We're shooting for end of April. Sugarmaker a few miles up the road had his last boil 2nd of May in 2011. We've got 100 percent rock maples so crossing our fingers and appreciating these cold nights and mild days. Made some nice fancy the past week.

[Randy Brutkoski]

The sugar really droped today. Made another 80 and the head tank is filling up right now. At 2480 gallons right now. Should have no problem hitting 3000. What a year.

[spud]

I am almost at 50% for the season. The weather looks great up north and I think I will be running for 3 more weeks at least.

Spud

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Sugar here down to 1.6 typically would have been done love the ro. Made another Six gal tonight. Need bigger ro

[LukeW]

Still lots of season left, especially up your way. We've got some good cold nights coming. I know the woods you're tapping quite well....great little sugarbush there. You'll make plenty more syrup.

Good to know. We scrambled to get about 800 taps in. Next year, we'll have a couple thousand. I also need to design and build a new preheater. Made another 13 gallons of the most delicious dark amber last night. I hope you're right... it would be great to hit the 100 gallon goal. Just over halfway right now.

[chevypower]

We made 195 gallons yesterday, took the holiday off so we had quite a bit to boil down. Looking good so far, I hope your right everyone about how long we have left. I'll be happy if it runs decent for at least another week.

[GeneralStark]

Was surprised to get any sap today as the wind was cold. The sun was warm though so it ran hard for several hours this afternoon until a few minutes ago when everything froze tight in about 5 minutes. Been concentrating what we had stored from the last couple days and will finish boiling it off tomorrow. Weather looks good for at least another 5 days. Sap is still just over 2%.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

250 gal sap today feel like genstark above surprised it ran at all. have 50 gal from last night to boil

[sjdoyon]

Froze up last night hard, didn't get above 30 degrees today. Nothing ran today. Same for tonight and tomorrow. Looks like we'll be back in action on Thursday.

[maplwrks]

I used the down day to put the pan through an acid bath. Hopefully the cold weather along with a clean rig, the grade will come up a little. The sap did run pretty good this afternoon. I've got three more barrels to fill, I'm at 950 and still going.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

3 more gal, sitting at 140 gal to date approx. COME ON 150

[spud]

3 more gal, sitting at 140 gal to date approx. COME ON 150

Flat's

You might make enough to pay off that RO you have. :) Glad to see you are having a good year.

Spud

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Flat's

You might make enough to pay off that RO you have. :) Glad to see you are having a good year.

Spud
well I think we have on paper, 140x45 =6300/2=3150 but thats after we sell all the syrup at retail price.
thanks spud already planning to add on so its either a commercial ro time or a second homebuilt. Want to go to 6-8% one pass

[Randy Brutkoski]

Should be up around 2700 gallons after today. Still making Dark Amber. Tomorow will be a big run. Sugar went way down.

[spud]

Well the weather people say's right at this time it is supposed to be snowing with 15 MPH wind. The sun is just coming over the mountain at 6:53 am and it looks like it's going to be a nice day. Thank you weather people for all you do. :confused:

Spud

[northwoods_forestry]

Whew, back in business. Too cold, then too warm, then too cold again what a season!

[maplwrks]

The season is pretty much over here. Sugar has dropped to just a shade over 1%. I even bought some sap last night that tested .9% 95.5 gallons to make 1..... NOT!!! Still making grade B, but has been flirting with commercial. I have had a good year and I'm getting to where it isn't much fun making the dark crap. I want to hit 1000 gallons and then I think I will throw in the towel. I am at 972 gallons--should hit our goals tonight!

[802maple]

You need to get a tanker load of cane delivered to Orwell.


The season is pretty much over here. Sugar has dropped to just a shade over 1%. I even bought some sap last night that tested .9% 95.5 gallons to make 1..... NOT!!! Still making grade B, but has been flirting with commercial. I have had a good year and I'm getting to where it isn't much fun making the dark crap. I want to hit 1000 gallons and then I think I will throw in the towel. I am at 972 gallons--should hit our goals tonight!

[northwoods_forestry]

Sap came in at 2.65% yesterday, but there was a lot of ice I chucked...

[chevypower]

Running great right now, low sugar though. Should have a good day overall tomorrow but I'm afraid we're close to the end. Over 1100 gallons for the year so far.

[sjdoyon]

Started running around noon, running great this afternoon. Still a high sugar content at 2.5. Hope to get another two barrels boiled by 9pm. Looks like things will finally start running this weekend, still have a large section of our sugarbush at 2,300 ft elevation which are waiting to let loose.

[vtmapleman]

Sap came in at a trickle until around 3:30 when the wind shifted to the west then started to pick up - hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Have made about 60% of a normal crop.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

i need swimmies!!!!!! AND A BIGGER RO 900 today plus a little left from yesterday. 400 sap sucker taps already dropped another 200. sap down to 1.2
well guess not doing as good as I thought did a count tonight on syrup canned and blue jugs, looks like im at 136

sap suckers are saving us, more for next year.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Concentrating right now. Still have 10,000 gallons of sap to process. Taking long time because of how low the sugar is, but i am making dark amber and very close to medium. Great flvor.I am over 2600 and it looks like tomorow is going to be a killer.

[spud]

Sap ran good yesterday starting at about noon. Ran all night and at a good pace. Since noon yesterday I have gotten 10,000 gallons of sap testing at 1.4 or so. Looks good for the next two weeks.

Spud

[smokeyamber]

Couldn't collect yesterday... figure today the buckets are gonna overflow... heard my first squeaky frog last night so the end is coming soon...

Gonna push tonight and tomorrow to get ahead and finish everything off... may pull taps early next week...

[Tucker08]

Today, Tomorrow, Sunday and it will be over here in Shaftsbury. I am done with it and am going to give the last bit of sap i have away. We managed 55 gallons on the 2x6 this year and made some really great tasting stuff, so I have no complaints. I have orders for B and still have not been able to fill them. That said, the sugar content dropped to 1% and without an RO, I cant let it take that long with the amount of yard work I still have to do. Good luck to all those up north...have a great remainder of your season.

[GeneralStark]

Sap Tsunami here the last few days. Yesterday am my 800 gallons of storage was on the edge of overflowing. Pumped to the sugarhouse, cleaned tanks and started over by 1 pm and at 7:15 this morning I was back to tanks about to overflow. Still flowing ok, but slowing down. Sugar at 2.1 and the next two days should be good, but the end may be in sight. Over 100 gallons.

[chevypower]

A good day today, made 154 gallons, most of that nice medium... Over 1200 gallons on the year so far. Still had more sap to boil but it will have to wait until the morning. Hopefully we have a few more good days to come.

[sjdoyon]

Left sugarhouse last night after boiling, arrived this morning to over 2,500 gallons in our tanks. Boiled all day and then the cold front moved in this afternoon, now snowing. Probably last snow we get this spring but who knows. Gearing up for the next few weeks when we'll be in crunch time.

[spud]

I got another 5000 gallons today even though it snowed and the wind is blowing. Things are looking real good for the next few weeks. The guy I sell sap to has made over 3000 gallons of syrup in the last 24 hours. All tanks are full and 18 RO post are working around the clock. You got to love it.

Spud

[vtmapleman]

2000 gallons of sap in last 24 hours all from 1100 taps - it just would not stop - snowing with a west wind - looks like we are going to be busy boiling for the next three/four days. I think I need a bigger RO - wife won't hear of it!

[PARKER MAPLE]

Well Guys I havnt posted here in awhile, but have been reading all of yours. Seems you guys are doing well and things are at a steady speed as of now. We had the best run in our history of sugaring here in Andover yesterday all tanks were full and on the verg of over flowing. There is deffinatley an RO on the list for this summer. I believe Im apprx 100 or so gals made as of now but not given up should be able to make a bit more today and tomorrow. Theres still 1.5ft of snow in the woods in the Weston sugar bush and temps are particapating very well over there. The cold spell we had this week did allow me to wash and clean up everything, tanks, pans.

The 2 things for the list for next year is a Homemade RO Maybe a 4 post 4inlol
and a filter press, cone filters really suck lol

Maple Rookie

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

going ot to sugar house to start wash, have 500 gal sap approx to process. I think last run for us will be tomorrow. Still hoping to do a tour to Andover, Shaftsbury and Barre

[northwoods_forestry]

Glad to hear that everyone is reporting doing real well this season.

Looks like we have one more freeze in the forecast for SE VT that should take us into early next week. Sap was at 2.25% yesterday. Only 1 cord of wood left in the woodshed, so I'm pretty sure I'll be scrounging for wood to finish up on!

Gotta go empty some tanks...

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

starting up rig at 5 today any one around want to stop feel free
520 south st

[Randy Brutkoski]

Just a few gallons shy of 2800. Was making a real good med. towards the end of the day.

[spud]

Last night it was in the high 20s and then by 6:00 am it was 33 and rain. The big trees are already running strong this morning so things should go well for me today. I think it will hit 48 today and rain most of the day. I need two more weeks.

Spud

[northwoods_forestry]

Sap at 2.5% yesterday and syrup was lighter though still grade A dark. We only climbed to the high 30's so not a big run. Should be good today and tonight and may be wrapping up Monday evening. Looks like we'll finish up at around .15 gallons/tap.

[chevypower]

We made 53 gallons of medium amber yesterday and another 55 gallons today. Sap was coming into the sugar house real well around 3pm so tomorrow should be a good day hopefully, I think everyone is getting tired :)

[spud]

I got 7000 gallons of sap today as of 6:00 PM. Sap still running 700 GPH and should run all night. I hope to wake to at least 5000 more gallons in the tank. Tomorrow should be a big day.

Spud

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

Collected 5000 gal since Thurs morning and I am out of wood. I hate to see good sap go to waste. Is there anyone out there within range of Waterbury that is looking for more sap?

[DrTimPerkins]

Friday and Sunday were two of the best days of the season so far (hoping for at least another week). The run from Thursday night through Friday was probably the best one I've seen in 15 years or more. First time since we set up one section of the woods (6 yrs ago) that the sap had to flow into an overflow tank, and it got 1/3 full. Made 165 gal of syrup on Friday, and another 128 gal today. Still running well when we left, so hoping for another decent boil tomorrow. Spout sanitation becoming more important now. Regular spouts have slowed down by about 1/4-1/3. CV2 spouts and new spouts on new drops still cranking away very well.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

The run from Thursday night through Friday was probably the best one I've seen in 15 years or more.

Same here in Duxbury. From Thurs Morning til Friday night I collected around 3000 gal on 1400 taps which is the best I can recall ever in our bush.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

650 gal today smelled like a clam bake then smell went away, turned out some C hat wasnt to bad. Had hotdogs and hamburgers for any one who showed up and lots of beer

[northwoods_forestry]

Friday was definitely the big day here too. Pulled in close to 1000 gallons all told. I was disappointed with today's output. With a low of 26 and a high of 50 I was expecting a gusher. Instead, I was mostly cleaning up from Saturday.

That's it for freezing temps here for the next week, so another gather & boil tomorrow will likely be the end of our season. Good luck up North!

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Collected 5000 gal since Thurs morning and I am out of wood. I hate to see good sap go to waste. Is there anyone out there within range of Waterbury that is looking for more sap?
thad in barre might take it unless thats to far
pm me for number


Think we are done time to cleanse my body and start detox, bought a 30 pack of labatts saturday only 4 or 5 left

[PerryW]

Friday was definitely the big day here too. Pulled in close to 1000 gallons all told. I was disappointed with today's output. With a low of 26 and a high of 50 I was expecting a gusher. Instead, I was mostly cleaning up from Saturday.

That's it for freezing temps here for the next week, so another gather & boil tomorrow will likely be the end of our season. Good luck up North!

Wow, that's exactly what happened to me. I expected 500 gallons of sap on Sunday and ended up with 325. (i'm in NH Near St. Johnsbury VT). My cold trees ran great but the warmer trees seemed slow. I think I did pick up some sap since the gather yesterday at 4 PM.

[spud]

I woke up to 4500 gallons of sap. It went down to 34.8 at my house so I guess that's a freeze ever though the sap ran all night. Hoping for a big day today. In the last 24 hours I have gotten over 11,000 gallons. Trees are running great.

Spud

[MapleChaser]

I have called it quits. Can not get it to go thru the RO just taking a lot of pressure and slowing down. We have had a great season. Time to think about next year

[Stamford sugarmaker]

Glad to hear lots of sugarmakers reporting tons of sap flow, but that certainly was not the case down here on the MA/VT border. I am trying to figure out why.

In the past, my road buckets always out performed my gravity system- about 30 taps on each. This year was the opposite, the tubing system was decent while in many cases the road buckets were dry! That has never happened before and it sure has me scratching my head. Two friends in my area also report a poor to mediocre year. I do know that there were many days here that were a lot colder than the temps guys on the forum were reporting in their location.

Anybody else not reporting a banner year? Anybody have any ideas why the season seems to run great 30 miles away from where it is not running well at all?

Peter

[PerryW]

My tubing was outperforming my buckets until the last few days and now the buckets are screaming! But I'm guessing it has more to do with the fact that my bucket trees are field trees with big crowns.

[GeneralStark]

Sap is still coming in, but we're getting close to the end. The last four days have been good with lots of sap still at 2% or slightly above, and nice flavored B or C syrup. It looks like there is a chance for a freeze for us next weekend, but it will likely be too late but we will see. I believe that I am over 20 gal./tap for sap collected but I haven't run the numbers and we still have sap to boil and syrup to make so I will report more when we are done.

[GeneralStark]

Glad to hear lots of sugarmakers reporting tons of sap flow, but that certainly was not the case down here on the MA/VT border. I am trying to figure out why.

In the past, my road buckets always out performed my gravity system- about 30 taps on each. This year was the opposite, the tubing system was decent while in many cases the road buckets were dry! That has never happened before and it sure has me scratching my head. Two friends in my area also report a poor to mediocre year. I do know that there were many days here that were a lot colder than the temps guys on the forum were reporting in their location.

Anybody else not reporting a banner year? Anybody have any ideas why the season seems to run great 30 miles away from where it is not running well at all?

Peter

What are you using for taps with your buckets? I have found that old taps will sometimes lead to dry buckets in certain weather conditions. The bacteria closes the taphole before you get any good flow.

[wsugar]

Hey FLS. What's the ratio of beer to sap before it becomes unsafe????

[Stamford sugarmaker]

GenStark,

I tried to squeeze one more season out of my old seven sixteenths taps. I already purchased the newer five sixteenths for next year. You might be right. I wish I had thought of this earlier and tried a few of the newer ones to see if it would run. The old ones are definitely getting tossed!

[chevypower]

Sap ran good yesterday and we ended up with 169 gallons of mostly medium amber syrup today. Sap flow has slowed quite a bit and without a freeze up I fear the end is near!

[GeneralStark]

Sap is still coming in on vacuum. About 600 gallons since noon yesterday. Just under 2%. I collected the dregs from the buckets and pulled them. 16.4 gpt from the buckets. We'll boil what we have tomorrow.

[802maple]

I have called it quits. Can not get it to go thru the RO just taking a lot of pressure and slowing down. We have had a great season. Time to think about next year

How was the flavor? We have found after a cold night it filtered hard because of ice scrubbing the mainline, the next day it would be fine. You may want to try it one more day.

[steve J]

I pulled the plug yesterday it was a forgetable season for me buckets were good but like a few others said here not as good as the pass and my lines were a disaster which I will rework this summer once I get still more of the Irene down trees out of my way.

[spud]

I got 4000 gallons of sap today testing at 1.5% Does not look like we will have a freeze until Friday night. I thought Dr. Tim said last year that even if the buds start to come out and then we have a freeze it will stop the buds for day's. If this is the case then we just need to make it until Friday and then we would have good sap runs next week. My woods is not showing any signs of budding yet. I want more sap.

Spud

[Old County Road]

I tap in Halifax, VT about 15 miles due east from Stamford,VT and the first week of April was by far the best week of the the season with about 3 gpt. I still have about a foot of snow on the ground and I think I could have probably gone another week or so, but I pulled my taps yesterday. From 03/03/13 till 04/07/13 I averaged about 9gpt on 100 taps with 90 of those being sugar and 10 being red. Not overwhelming but okay. Overall I had a pretty good season.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

I need to do some figuring on that Ryan.
another 150 gal on the 400 taps, I think mine have dried up, 10 gal sap on 10hrs of sap sucker.
The 150 tested .8 / .9 ro turned it upto 3.
sap still rolling in on the 400 making all C and cone filter wont filter it.

ok sugar house tour time, Andover, Barre, any one else?

Stopped at two places today, both in Middletown Springs, one all locked up the other I visited with for a long time,

[Randy Brutkoski]

Been making 2 to 3 barrels a day for the last 4 days., Made 2 barrels tonight and it is starting to get ropey.I am at 2920 gallons and i really want to make 2 more barrels.That will give me 3000 gallons of syrup beating out flatlanders 2991 beers he drank during the season. Everyone around me are all done.

[PARKER MAPLE]

Good morning all,
Well I finished up the season yesterday making some very dark B grade. I figured Im done now given the wood pile is completly gone. I was burning everything in sight yesterday. I even found some old cedar decking I took off a deck job last fall. Man let me tell you cedar burns HOT... Im still getting sap up in my weston bush its testing 1.0% and still clear. All of my syrup comtainers are jambed packed and I lost count of how many gal I made lol. Theres a guy down there road from me that will by all the rest of the sap I can get him. So I guess I will start cleaning up the sugar house and tanks and pulling tapes this week. New vac system worked awesome and Im sold on it for next year and will be puting it in all the other sugar lots as well.
Hope everyone had a great season and see you at the open houses, there right around the corner you no.

Maple Rookie

[LukeW]

It's a good thing I visited the forum and read your posts. I was thinking about calling it a season, but I think I'll give it another week or so. Took the day off from boiling... starting to forget what my kids look like. Seems like I couldn't get the sap level to go down regardless of how much boiling I did in the last several days. Even still, the tanks are full right now. We overflowed several times... no idea how much we lost. Still making delicious syrup!

[northwoods_forestry]

That's it for me. Gathered what was left in the buckets and tubing taps this morning then finished and packed the last 10 gallons of A-Dark this afternoon. Not a drop of grade B. Tomorrow I'll boil down what's left in the front pans, maybe I can work a little grade B out of that.

Good luck up north, hope you can make it through this warm stretch!

[chevypower]

43 gallons of nice dark amber today.. Boiled nice and tasted very good.. Crossing fingers for a possible freeze tomorrow night.

[wiam]

Made 11 gallons of DA today. Have made 322 so far. Still hoping for more.

[PerryW]

Made 11 gallons of DA today. Have made 322 so far. Still hoping for more.

My trees are right across the river from Waterford Vermont and I just dropped into Grade B today. Also hanging on till the weekend at least. Having a great year here; best year since 2000!

[vtmapleman]

Just got done boiling - still making a nice flavor medium amber....sap flow really slowing down - forecast is for freezing temps tomorrow night.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Made 140 gallons of grade c the last 2 days. 20 more for 3000

[spud]

I got another 5000 gallons of sap yesterday. The sap ran all night at about 250 GPH. I should have no problem getting 5-6000 more gallons today. Randy I am glad you are going to hit your 3000 gallon goal. I to would like to hit 3000 for the season and think I could if we could go another 7-10 days. Right now I am a little over 2000 for the season. Times running out.

Spud

[Vermont Creation Hardwood]

I'm done for the year. Boiling yesterday I detected the faint nose of bud. The syrup had no bud taste, but I sniffed it during the boiling. I'll never forget the last batch of last year, the buddy smell of boiling and the buddy taste of the syrup that I dumped. Never want to boil buddy again.

This year was my best season yet. Wonderful syrup.

[GeneralStark]

Yesterday we ran the RO most of the day and concentrated what we had collected the previous 2.5 days. 1150 from my 380 on vac and 600 from my neighbors 1250 on vac. Guess why there is such a difference. Sugar at 1.8 and it went through the RO ok. Then we boiled and made good flavored C. No odd smells or flavors, but it is getting tough to get it through the filters. This morning, the tank is back to 400 gallons at 1.6. May get a freeze tonight. Things could get interesting.

[spud]

I got another 4500 gallons today. They say it's going to freeze tonight but it is still 41 at 8:00 PM. I see no buds in my woods yet.

Spud

[Randy Brutkoski]

Made a barrel tonight to put me over 3000 gallons. Com. but it filtered very nice. I only made 1680 last year so this year has been great.

[sugartree310]

Turned nasty on us tonite , buddy , stinky , smelly , what ever you want to call it , we are all but done, I don,t think a freeze will change it!!! Been a good year though 800 gallons made .

[spud]

Turned nasty on us tonite , buddy , stinky , smelly , what ever you want to call it , we are all but done, I don,t think a freeze will change it!!! Been a good year though 800 gallons made .

My folks live in Williston and they say the buds have been out almost a week. How are your trees looking?

Spud

[wdchuck]

No buds here- a light freeze last night. It should run pretty well, this is the part of the season where those check valves should make a real difference. Bring it!

[sugartree310]

The trees look good only a few of the soft maples buds are fat, I still have the pump on , we will see what happens today, got down to 30 here last night, at least we will finish filling the barrel we started last night and then call it quits.

[DrTimPerkins]

Hit 0.5 gal syrup/tap yesterday. Sap production at this point is due almost entirely to vacuum-induced flow -- sap sugar content still OK (was about 1.8 Brix yesterday). Real cold season so far. Many days the temperature made it to just below the point where the trees would run. We had a light freeze up on the hill last night (actually this morning....around 5:30am...was here watching the temperature as it kept creeping down slowly). Now hoping it warms up early enough today to start running. May get a few more freezes and decent runs by the beginning of next week. CVs and new drops/spouts are still running quite well. Most other things (used spouts/drops, cleaned spouts/drops, used drops with seasonals, cleaned drops with seasonals) are still running some, but have really slowed down considerably. No signs of bud swelling yet.

[GeneralStark]

Some red maples have begun visually budding here. What was boiled yesterday still has ok flavor, but dark (C). Light freeze last night and it is running well on vac. Cloudy sap and the ice that formed in the lines scrubbed them out and brought down some nasty crap.

Will probably let it collect today and then RO and boil tomorrow. Not expecting much for table syrup, but we're still going. I heard peepers the last two nights.

[spud]

I got 6500 gallons so far today and it is still running at 550 GPH at 4:15 PM. I should get another 2000 gallons before it freezes up. I hope to hit .5 GPT by next week. Trees are looking good and we may see sap for 10 or more days still. Sap is testing at 1.5% as of today. Keep it coming.

Spud

[DoubleBrookMaple]

I am a rookie in southeastern Vermont, at 2000ft, and most buds are still closed, and sap flowing at .5 gpd on some newer taps I put in the last week from my walk around this morning. I collected what I figured was my last sap for boil off yesterday. 2 days from 50 taps ( a make-shift conglomeration of buckets, taps with tubing to jugs, and just straight tubing, and I got 75 gallons. I still have 30-50% ground cover with snow on the mountain here. Here is the Grade A dark amber I boiled off yesterday (next to a Grade B from a previous batch) on my home made evaporator. Forecast shows below freezing here the next 4 nights... Do I dare try for one more? I need the experience to make some more mistakes!
7773

[PerryW]

If you made dark amber during the last boil, then I'd keep going. Sounds like you elevation and snow cover will keep you in the game for at last through the weekend.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Sap is still coming in the releaser at my 1800 tap colder bush. Sugar is holding. I am not going to throw up the white flag just yet. I think everyone is all done around me.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

I am a rookie in southeastern Vermont, at 2000ft, and most buds are still closed, and sap flowing at .5 gpd on some newer taps I put in the last week from my walk around this morning. I collected what I figured was my last sap for boil off yesterday. 2 days from 50 taps ( a make-shift conglomeration of buckets, taps with tubing to jugs, and just straight tubing, and I got 75 gallons. I still have 30-50% ground cover with snow on the mountain here. Here is the Grade A dark amber I boiled off yesterday (next to a Grade B from a previous batch) on my home made evaporator. Forecast shows below freezing here the next 4 nights... Do I dare try for one more? I need the experience to make some more mistakes!
7773

keep going until sap stops

[maplwrks]

Keep going as long as you can---make all the crappy commercial syrup you can so the packers have something cheap to mix with all the good syrup they've bought to pack!!

[Randy Brutkoski]

Actually it isnt terrible flavor. Filtering good too.

[PerryW]

Keep going as long as you can---make all the crappy commercial syrup you can so the packers have something cheap to mix with all the good syrup they've bought to pack!!

you rabble-rouser!

[smokeyamber]

Done here... finished last of syrup from front pan. Super dark, but tasty. Looking like I will finish with around 8 gallons this season double last year ! I also pulled taps early last weekend cause I ran out of time to boil. Amazing season.

[GeneralStark]

Snow, sleet, freezing rain and 33. Another freeze last night and the sap is running again on vacuum. The ice is scouring the lines still so sap is milky. Concentrating what we have collected last few days, most of it from my 380. Still going through ro ok albeit slower. Sugar at 1.6%. May be done today after boiling.

[spud]

My trees are all froze up today. Nothing is running but starting tomorrow things should be good. We got one inch of snow/sleet today and the roads are bad.

Spud

[farmall h]

Made 11 gallons today from yesterdays small run. Hoping the weekend gets things going again before the buds begin.

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Freezing throughout the day here, a high of 31 with 1-2 inches of snow and ice. Forecast shows three good freezing nights and warm days through Monday. Just what the big producer over in Whitingham was hoping for when I visited his operation and chatted with him a couple days ago. I will get one more good batch it looks like!

[spud]

The sap ran real well here for me today. I have over 7500 gallons so far and it is still running at 600 GPH at 5:30 tonight. Looks like it is going to freeze tonight and maybe a big run again tomorrow. I think I have at least one week to go.

Spud

[PerryW]

The sap ran real well here for me today. I have over 7500 gallons so far and it is still running at 600 GPH at 5:30 tonight. Looks like it is going to freeze tonight and maybe a big run again tomorrow. I think I have at least one week to go.

Spud

I was guessing you had a good day up there on the border based of the way my coldest taps ran. Has a few buckets that were 3/4 full and running 2 drips per second at 4:30 PM today. The main bush near the Connecticut River across from Waterford VT did nothing.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Sap is still coming in the releaser at my 1800 tap colder bush. Sugar is holding. I am not going to throw up the white flag just yet. I think everyone is all done around me.


Keep going as long as you can---make all the crappy commercial syrup you can so the packers have something cheap to mix with all the good syrup they've bought to pack!!


you rabble-rouser!
\
Hey Randy are you using cv's? :evil:hehehe

Maplwrks mad cause he done and Randy sucking the leaves back into the branches:lol:

[spud]

Sap ran all night and I got 4000 more gallons. The temp was only 34 this morning at 5:00 so wondering what I will get today without a freeze. Looks like we may not have to many more freezing nights to come. Still no buds in the woods yet. Hoping for another week or so.

Spud

[wiam]

I only got 300 gallons of 1.3 yesterday after a day below freezing. No freeze last night. 200 gallons of .7 this morning. I am afraid it's over

[spud]

It's not over till the fat lady sings. In the last 2 hours I have gotten 2 inches of snow and the temp dropped to 31 degrees. The trees are all white and the branches might have froze. I thought Dr.Tim or PMRC said this will cause good sap runs when the branches freeze up from snow. I might be wrong on this but I thought I read that on their site one time. Has anyone else ever read anything like that? My sap run did not stop this morning but it slowed down some. The back part of the woods may have froze in the last few hours.

Spud

[GeneralStark]

As of 9 am this morning I have officially called an end to the 2013 sap collection season. Turned the pump off as the sugar has dropped and the syrup we made yesterday did indeed possess a buddy flavor. Not horrible, but not much point in continuing. It has been a great season.

[DrTimPerkins]

It's not over till the fat lady sings. In the last 2 hours I have gotten 2 inches of snow and the temp dropped to 31 degrees. The trees are all white and the branches might have froze. I thought Dr.Tim or PMRC said this will cause good sap runs when the branches freeze up from snow.

It all depends. If they do actually freeze nice and slowly, then this will cause good recharge. If they don't freeze, there won't be any recharge and you are in the realm of vacuum-induced flow. It is pretty much all or nothing. If the sap was still running, then all your woods did NOT freeze. A portion of it might have, but not all of it. Late in the season it often takes temperatures in the mid-to-upper 20's to actually freeze the trees. The wood holds the heat somewhat like an insulator. If all the flow stops for a while, then it is a good indication that the trees froze. If it runs continuously, then it probably didn't freeze, at least not throughout your woods.

We froze here at PMRC on Friday night.....not last night (Saturday). Forecast for us is 27 deg F tonite, but often they are off. In the hills we frequently have inversions where it is warmer with elevation instead of colder. Great run from yesterday through this morning though, but it appears to be settling down into a steady vacuum-induced flow at this point. If we get another freeze it'll run well for several more days. If not, it'll just peter out slowly. I'm guessing we'll be making syrup until near the end of this coming week. Syrup still tastes good, but it is starting to get that late-season smell (dirty socks). Should be at about 0.56 gal/tap (6.15#/tap) by the end of todays boil. Old spouts are slowing down quite a bit. New spouts are still running, but definitely slowing down some. CV spouts are still chugging along very well.

[sjdoyon]

Had a ok week. Made light and medium amber all week averaging 90 gallons of syrup a day. Top section (2,000-2,300ft elevation still froze solid) so only half our trees were producing. Our sugarbush froze up Thursday night and finally let go yesterday afternoon and was releasing 25 gallons every ninety seconds, appears our top section of the sugarbush is finally coming on line. Left last night at eleven with tanks empty, returned at 0600 this morning with 3,000 gallon tank full, 500 gallon over-flow tank full and sap on the floor:cry:. Looks like our sugarbush is finally running. Looks like we should make 160 gallons of syrup this afternoon. Trees are weeks away from budding, looks like a long several weeks ahead of us.

[PerryW]

Had a ok week. Made light and medium amber all week averaging 90 gallons of syrup a day. Top section (2,000-2,300ft elevation still froze solid) so only half our trees were producing. Our sugarbush froze up Thursday night and finally let go yesterday afternoon and was releasing 25 gallons every ninety seconds, appears our top section of the sugarbush is finally coming on line. Left last night at eleven with tanks empty, returned at 0600 this morning with 3,000 gallon tank full, 500 gallon over-flow tank full and sap on the floor:cry:. Looks like our sugarbush is finally running. Looks like we should make 160 gallons of syrup this afternoon. Trees are weeks away from budding, looks like a long several weeks ahead of us.
Long season for you eh? I still can't believe your trees are still going strong after tapping in January! I had some real good running trees today also, but unfortunately my large bush in Littleton did not run at all. Going to hang on and see what happens after the predicted freeze tonite.

[Thad Blaisdell]

I guess mother nature saved the best for last. Made 520 gallons in the last 36 hours. No rest for the wicked.

[spud]

WOW way to go Thad. I woke up this morning to 28 degrees and the trees are froze up. This could be a good day.

Spud

[Thad Blaisdell]

I am ready for another day like that........ This season has been like the little engine that could. It just keeps chuggin along, then at the finish line it has a burst of speed.

[sjdoyon]

Ended up with over 200 gallons of medium amber last night, around 8,000 gallons of sap came in. Good freeze last night and gusher when sugarbush thawed this morning, releaser dropped every 15 seconds for a good clip. Looks like another 200 plus gallon today. I think we're going to need to get a bigger releaser if we add another 300-500 trees this summer.

[PerryW]

Ended up with over 200 gallons of medium amber last night, around 8,000 gallons of sap came in. Good freeze last night and gusher when sugarbush thawed this morning, releaser dropped every 15 seconds for a good clip. Looks like another 200 plus gallon today. I think we're going to need to get a bigger releaser if we add another 300-500 trees this summer.

I'm figuring it getting time for me to quit when you are making more syrup than I am getting sap. Off to gather.

[chevypower]

Sap was running well today after the freeze last night. We made 49 gallons of C today went over 1850 gallons for the season, should go over 1900 tomorrow. We are almost out of barrels again (two left) and the syrup has an off taste so we will be most likely sugaring off tomorrow and calling it a season. It was still filtering fine and boiling alright today but it's only downhill from here!

[wdchuck]

Boiled last night to catch up before the freeze-made 50 gallons, and get this- the last 20 were fancy! I am not making this up......Saps been running hard all day- i wonder if we can survive the week- accuweather has us freezing next sunday to thursday!

[spud]

I got another 6500 gallons today and is still running a little tonight. I can clearly see things are coming to an end in my woods. We had a great freeze last night that should have giving me 11,000-12,000 gallons of sap today. I will keep chugging along for a few more day's and see what happens. I'm very close to hitting .5 GPT and would like it if I could. My plan is to use all CV2s for next year. I plan to tap early January next year. I would consider this to be a very good year for me. My sap is still making a very good tasting dark amber.

Spud

[spud]

Woke up to 3500 gallons in the tank this morning. Still coming in but only at about 200 GPH. It ain't over till it's over.

Spud

[DrTimPerkins]

I'm very close to hitting .5 GPT

Good luck Spud....hoping you make it.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

Well it's been an amazing last week or two. The first time on my hill when I couldn't keep up with the flow. Tanks ran over several times. I am exhausted. At 298 Gal now and will get another 10 tonight. After that I am pulling taps. Suspect I could have made another 1-200 with help of RO. Next year. Still have 2500 Gal of 1.3 % sap in the tank if you want it, come and get it...

[chevypower]

We called it a season today... Trees were starting to bud a little, making a less than tasty C grade syrup, sap was getting pretty rank coming down the lines, and we were out of barrels. It was still boiling well and going through the filter press but the end was near. We ended up with a total of 1974 gallons for the season, much better than the 760 we were able to get last year. All in all a great season for us!

[sjdoyon]

We made another two barrels of medium amber today, now the higher elevation trees are only running while the lower elevation trees take a break waiting for the cold weather that is coming.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Chased water through today. I didnt want to because the sap was still running. But i just couldnt filter it. Finished up the season making 3100 gallons. Big difference from last year,(1680 gallons). Planning on adding 1000 more taps this coming year and another post.

[DrTimPerkins]

Hit 0.6 gal syrup per tap today. Commercial grade at this point, but good flavor. Might get a few more days out of it.

[spud]

DrTimPerkins;223607]Good luck Spud....hoping you make it.



Thanks Dr.Tim for your support. Things are going well and we got another 4200 gallons yesterday. It's 32 at the house as of 5:00 am this morning. We may get in the high 20s tonight and re-charge the trees. Still making very good syrup from my sap. Early next week we are going to have freezing nights for 3 day's in a row. I am hoping to make it that far but not sure. Friday will be in the 70s and could be trouble. It ain't over till it's over and it ain't over yet.:)

Spud

[wdchuck]

Spud, we look to be in about the same situation as far as the weather- we had a bit of frost last night, so I'll see what today brings, but I'm really hoping for something bettter tonight. Sap is still flowing pretty well- I'm no research project, but i really like those check valves!

[802maple]

The Lincoln bush is about the same as you guys, still making a very good medium amber, running well, 6000 gallons yesterday, freeze last night, actually the pond refroze out about 4 feet from the edge, but the frogs are noisy for the first time this morning.

[sugartree310]

We are all done here in Williston. Sap not really running enough anymore , chased with water last night also and filtered really hard . We shut the pump off , time to clean up and start get ready for next year. We made almost 900 gallons this year , compared to 500 last year.

[GeneralStark]

Finished off the dregs of sap from the last few days yesterday and made some ropey, bitter syrup that won't filter. The pump is off for sap collection but I am pulling taps and rinsing on vacuum. It's amazing how quickly and heavily the sap starts running once the vacuum is back on. The peepers and wood frogs were really at it last night.

[tuckermtn]

stopped in at sdoyon's sugarhouse this afternoon and caught up with Yvan and his crew. Releaser was dumping ever 3-4 minutes, and they were making some nice tasting medium amber. well on their way to .5gpt. Their taps have been in since mid-January and no signs of slowing down.

In Lancaster NH tomorrow and planning on stopping in at Fullers to see how Dave and crew are doing.

-Eric

[DrTimPerkins]

Still chugging away. Hit 0.62 gal/tap today. Would have been even more, but sap filter clogged overnight and dumped ~550 gal of sap down the drain (arrgghhh). Slowing down a lot, but looking like it might freeze again tonite.

The real question is.....will the warm weather on Thurs through Friday be the end of it, or will we make it through that and still be making syrup next week when we get some nice cold weather again?

[Brian Ryther]

Still chugging away. Hit 0.62 gal/tap today. Would have been even more, but sap filter clogged overnight and dumped ~550 gal of sap down the drain (arrgghhh). Slowing down a lot, but looking like it might freeze again tonite.

The real question is.....will the warm weather on Thurs through Friday be the end of it, or will we make it through that and still be making syrup next week when we get some nice cold weather again?
It is reassuring to hear that even PMRC has typical maple malfunctions.

[Thad Blaisdell]

That little steam engine is still going here ( I think I can I think I can), going to boil again here in a little while, made 130 earlier, looking to make another 60, so a grand total of 190ish for the day. Pretty darn good I think. I too will hit .5 if we make it into the weekend cooldown......... Salvation

[J. hutchins]

Dr. Tim I was just curious, Is your guys GPT Your whole bush or just check valves?

[spud]

I was able to get another 4000 gallons today. It is supposed to freeze tonight so I hope this will get me more sap. I hope Friday does not shut me down.

Spud

[spud]

I woke up today thinking it would be in the high 20s but instead it was 38 degrees. If I could get my hands on the weather man I would pop him right in the pie hole. I could be dreaming right now and this really is not happening. Maybe I will go back to bed and when I wake up in a few hours it will be in the 20s. You got one last chance to get it right Mr. Weather Man. Good night.

Spud

[wdchuck]

Thad, good for you!....Still going up here- quality is still good, but I need grade B, and this freeze will no doubt kick things into gear. I'll hold out for Sun/Mon and stay with it as long as the flavor is ok. I wont hit .5, our sugar content is too low for that, but .4 isnt a huge stretch.

[DrTimPerkins]

It is reassuring to hear that even PMRC has typical maple malfunctions.

Glad someone can enjoy it. :) Just part of sugaring -- crap happens.

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr. Tim I was just curious, Is your guys GPT Your whole bush or just check valves?

The 0.62 gal/tap (so far) is for our entire production operation (2,869 taps this year). About 75% of that is on CV (either the original or CV2). We have several hundred additional taps looking a different things where the sap is dumped on the ground :o Just too difficult to collect it -- the value is in the research, not necessarily in the syrup. In some of those areas, we are getting 0.75 gal/tap or better, but not a drop of syrup.

I agree with Spud....the weather forecast has been very spotty this year. Some days are right on, others are widely incorrect.

[Buffalo Creek Sugar Camp]

The 0.62 gal/tap (so far) is for our entire production operation (2,869 taps this year). About 75% of that is on CV (either the original or CV2). We have several hundred additional taps looking a different things where the sap is dumped on the ground :o Just too difficult to collect it -- the value is in the research, not necessarily in the syrup. In some of those areas, we are getting 0.75 gal/tap or better, but not a drop of syrup.

I agree with Spud....the weather forecast has been very spotty this year. Some days are right on, others are widely incorrect.

Can you tell us how the system was set up that yielded the .75 gal/tap?

[spud]

During Leader's open house next week PMRC is having a seminar on sap production. I have a feeling they will be talking about how to achieve high volumes of sap per tap hole. I am wondering if Dr. Tim will be there?

Spud

[sjdoyon]

agree with the weatherman comments.... we've been at least ten degrees colder than the forecast most of the spring. Supposed to be in the 20s at night this weekend so they had better be close, need the trees to recharge. Still made another two barrels of medium amber today but our good fortune will change if we don't get some cold weather this weekend.

[DrTimPerkins]

I am wondering if Dr. Tim will be there?

I'll be there (at Leader's Open House)....presenting at 10am in the upstairs conference room on both Friday and Saturday.

[DrTimPerkins]

Can you tell us how the system was set up that yielded the .75 gal/tap?

I will be discussing our research findings at all the presentations I give this year (starting at the Leader Open House next Fri/Sat), and eventually it will be written up and appear in the Maple Digest.

[spud]

I got another 3000+ gallons yesterday but today might be the end for me. I am not sure if the trees would recharge well enough this weekend to make it worth while. I may leave the pump on for a few more days just in case. With the tap holes drying up more leaks are appearing in the woods. Keeping 25 inches of vacuum right now is tough. Has anyone else had this problem? I went from 28 inches of vacuum a week ago to 25 yesterday. I assume it's the drying of the tap hole's and the weather that are major factors in this problem. There's no doubt some spouts would have loosened but the change happened over the corse of a week or so. Any input would be helpful.

Spud

[wdchuck]

Interesting, Spud. I'm holding out for the weekend, but I've had no vacuum loss due to drying up- pulling 25 consistantly. My only problems have been 2 instances of wind damage pulling apart a lat....lucky!

[wsugar]

Finished boiling last night for the season. Made 1150 gal with 2500 taps happy with that but there is room for improvement. Also the new piggyback cut my cost of making syrup @ 40% but I will do the math and know exactly what that number is.

[DrTimPerkins]

With the tap holes drying up more leaks are appearing in the woods. Keeping 25 inches of vacuum right now is tough.

Hi Spud....It might simply be that the trees are producing a lot more gas. The warmer it gets, the more gas they produce, and your vacuum will drop correspondingly. No amount of leak repairs will help at that point since it is coming directly out of the trees. You'll know if this is the case if when the temperature gets colder the vacuum goes back up.

[802maple]

Made 2 barrels of dark amber 2 nights ago , 2.5 barrels lastnight of B, still very good flavor. There isn't going to be much tonight though. Wait and see.

[DrTimPerkins]

...holding out for the weekend, but I've had no vacuum loss due to drying up- pulling 25 consistantly.

Sap is still running slowly, but the temperature is over 60 deg F, so we opened the tank drains (don't want to run the stuff through the RO at this point). We'll likely boil down the sweet in the evaporator today (so it doesn't go ropey), but will keep the pumps running and see what happens with the freezes predicted for Saturday and Sunday night.

[PerryW]

Hi Spud....It might simply be that the trees are producing a lot more gas. The warmer it gets, the more gas they produce, and your vacuum will drop correspondingly. No amount of leak repairs will help at that point since it is coming directly out of the trees. You'll know if this is the case if when the temperature gets colder the vacuum goes back up.
Interesting! I noticed the ratio of gasses to sap (in the tubing) seems to vary over the course of the season.

[spud]

Hi Spud....It might simply be that the trees are producing a lot more gas. The warmer it gets, the more gas they produce, and your vacuum will drop correspondingly. No amount of leak repairs will help at that point since it is coming directly out of the trees. You'll know if this is the case if when the temperature gets colder the vacuum goes back up.

Thank you Dr. Tim for that information. I knew my pump was ok but I knew it was working harder then usual. I plan to keep the pump on for the weekend to see what happens. Hey wdchuck and 802 maple lets keep this sugaring season alive for another week. Good luck to all.

Spud

[802maple]

Like Dr.Tim said, we need to be vigilant for ropey syrup today and tomorrow. We have about 2000 gallons of sap overnight.

[GeneralStark]

Like Dr.Tim said, we need to be vigilant for ropey syrup today and tomorrow. We have about 2000 gallons of sap overnight.

Is ropey sap/syrup purely caused by fermented sap? Is it due to higher invert in the sap or other factors? What exactly causes it? It is weird stuff.

[sjdoyon]

Had another 3,000 plus gallons come in last night. Sap is getting cloudy so the cold weather this weekend should help (we hope).

[spud]

I got another 3500 gallons today. Tomorrow night should go down to 25 degrees and maybe recharge the trees. The season is near over but every drop counts.

Spud

[sjdoyon]

We're boiling this afternoon but releaser is only dropping every eight minutes (25 gallons) today.

[Stamford sugarmaker]

Will cloudy sap turn to clear after a day or two of colder temperatures?

Peter

[802maple]

nope it will not....


Will cloudy sap turn to clear after a day or two of colder temperatures?

Peter

[sapman]

Keeping 25 inches of vacuum right now is tough. Has anyone else had this problem? I went from 28 inches of vacuum a week ago to 25 yesterday There's no doubt some spouts would have loosened but the change happened over the corse of a week or so. Any input would be helpful.

Spud

I had several cv2s start loosening up in the last week or so of my season. Not many, but I bet we had to tap a couple dozen back in. Prior years would have been several hundred!

[spud]

Shipped 2500 gallons today. I am going to leave the pump on till tomorrow just to see what will happen. I don't expect much more sellable sap if any. It was a great year and I am waiting to get a season average on sugar content.

Spud

[sjdoyon]

Got down to 24 degrees last night, sugarbush didn't start running until 10:30 today. Had about 300 gallons an hour come in, did not warm up much today. Felt like in the 30s all day. Supposed to get down to 15 tonight.

Was able to get 60 gallons of dark amber made today. Still haven't hit buddy syrup yet.

[vtmapleman]

When down to 25F last night; however, after running the vacuum for four hours - nothing - the end has come - boiled out the evaporator still making Dark amber - never did make any B this year - overall a very good year.

[spud]

Sap started running at about 10:30 am and by noon I was getting 550 GPH. The sap cleared up nice but I am being told it was hard going through the pre filters to the RO. I just dumped 4000+ gallons of sap tonight and it was still running in at over 400 GPH. The pump is off and I am done for the season. I hope everyone has a great summer. I just picked up my 40 apple trees today so I will be busy planting them and pulling spouts this week.

Spud

[DrTimPerkins]

The pump is off and I am done for the season.

Brian boiled out the sweet in the pans (so it wouldn't go ropey) on Friday and we left the tank drains open over the weekend to flush out the lines after the hot weather. We were hoping the cold weather would give us another couple of good sap runs. While the sap has been running nicely and much clearer yesterday and today, it unfortunately has turned buddy, so the season is over for us. Final result is 0.64 gal syrup/tap. Now time to start crunching numbers for the Leader Evaporator Open House on Fri/Sat.

[sjdoyon]

over 3,000 gallons came in today from our high elevation trees. Made two barrels of dark amber today.

[802maple]

Made 2 barrels of B tonight, going for one more day.

[Randy Brutkoski]

802maple. Your son graded my syrup today. I didnt know he worked for highland.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Do you live on the north side of southeastwestville.

[220 maple]

I've really enjoyed following your posts the last three weeks, my last boil in WV was on the 4th of April. Thanks for extending my season thru the messageboard.

Mark 220 Maple

[Randy Brutkoski]

How many gallons did you make way down there. I take it you are in a high elevation area.

[spud]

I am still waiting on my sap buyer to give me the totals on my sap. I know I made about 2900 gallons for the season. I think the two things that hurt me this year were 1) low sugar 2) Tapped a little later then I wanted to due to some low back issues. I missed two of the three runs in January and I feel that was about 12,000-16,000 gallons of quality sap. Next year I plan to tap early January and use all CV2 spouts. We had a great year and I am just thankful I was able to take part in it. I am glad to hear everyone had a nice season. The good Doctor Tim and others spanked me like a red headed step child in production but that's all right. This gives me something to shoot for and I find that to be very helpful. Thank you to all that contribute to Maple Trader. Also a big thanks to Dr. Tim for helping many on this site.

Spud

[opiejudd]

We had a good season for our first season. We made about 20 gallons of syrup on our 2x4 pan. Next year is going to be a whole new ball game. The sugar house is getting doubled in size, a dedicated canning area will be made, and we are jumping to between 500 and 700 taps (on high vacuum) to accommodate the new 2x6 pan we will be getting.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk 2

[802maple]

I hope he downgraded all that syrup from down your way, just like I taught him. LOL
Yeah he is the Quality assurance guy over there, for about year and a half now.


802maple. Your son graded my syrup today. I didnt know he worked for highland.

[802maple]

Yeah, in the very northeast corner of it.


Do you live on the north side of southeastwestville.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Jerry,
Will I see you at the open houses this weekend.

[802maple]

Probably, just not sure when I am going.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Just wondering if anyone who is going to the open houses this wkd. Is planning to record any of the talks, especially from Dr Tim on taphole sanitation and different studies focused on improved production, and from Tim Wilmot on further research on natural vacum in 3/16 tubing. It would be a great resource for those up in Ontario and the western maple regions in the states. I would willing to pay a fee to have Cornell makes their webinar maple talks available to the public through their website. Or if members of the association up here could have access to those talks through the association. I know that Dr Tim mentioned that the research would be published in the maple news, but the prsentations are normally more in depth and include question and anwser segments.

[DrTimPerkins]

Just wondering if anyone who is going to the open houses this wkd. Is planning to record any of the talks, especially from Dr Tim on taphole sanitation ...

Typically we do not allow recording of our presentations.

[sjdoyon]

We made another two barrels of dark amber today. Still haven't hit any buddy syrup. Only passing the sap once through our RO at 10% so as to not stress our membranes, in the event the sap starts to get slimy. We have at least one other sugarmaker up the road at the same elevation still sugaring.

[mapleack]

Thanks for the updates guys, I love reading about you all still sugaring while I should be mowing the yard!

[802maple]

Threw in the towel yesterday, it still filtered well for some reason, but it went ropey, the flavor wasn't buddy but it was to strong for my tastes, so if I wouldn't eat it, I am not going to make it. Thinking of next year.

[maplecrest]

been pulling taps since sat. my last boil.sap is running hard and clear? made no syrup in feb this year and not really got started until last week of march.was making good syrup till last drum of comm.but consentrate was going to rope before i could finish boiling.got tired of checking to make sure was liquid not rope going into evap. the bright side i guess is the sap is flushing out my lines. that last year at 80 degrees were full of snot.

[sjdoyon]

We made a barrel of probably B grade today. Sap is coming in at a low sugar content. Looks like we should be done this weekend if we last that long. Finish line is near. Didn't get half our sugarbush running until early April which time our lower elevation (1600ft) sugarbush stopped running. Going to be around .5 gpt, also got spanked by Proctor's impressive GPT. Last year was .42 gpt so definitely an improvement.

[spud]

Sounds like you had a real good year. Do you have any snow in the woods still? I got the kids pulling spouts today and the sap was running like crazy. In the four hours the kids pulled spouts we got 2500 gallons of sap.

Spud

[sjdoyon]

We're somewhat pleased, we don't want to be greedy but the top half of our sugarbush was froze for 90% of the season and they are our best trees. The amount of ice was ridiculous, one foot deep in some places. We're happy and look forward to adding another 400-500 taps in the next few weeks so hopefully next year will be just as successful.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

Final result is 0.64 gal syrup/tap. Now time to start crunching numbers for the Leader Evaporator Open House on Fri/Sat.

Dr Tim, When are your presentations this tomorrow? And are they at the leader store?

[Homestead Maple]

I wonder what our season might have been like if the ground had thawed out sooner here. We didn't have the ice that you had but we never got what I would call a really good run, just sort of steady runs. I think because the roots weren't thawed out completely.


We're somewhat pleased, we don't want to be greedy but the top half of our sugarbush was froze for 90% of the season and they are our best trees. The amount of ice was ridiculous, one foot deep in some places. We're happy and look forward to adding another 400-500 taps in the next few weeks so hopefully next year will be just as successful.

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr Tim, When are your presentations this tomorrow? And are they at the leader store?

10am on both Friday and Saturday in the Leader Evaporator Co. conference room.

[DrTimPerkins]

We're somewhat pleased, we don't want to be greedy but the top half of our sugarbush was froze for 90% of the season and they are our best trees.

A small amount of elevation this year made a big difference. We spent many days, especially early on, watching the thermometer. It just never quite got warm enough to run on many of those days. We made nearly 2/3 of our crop in the last 2-2.5 wks.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

10am on both Friday and Saturday in the Leader Evaporator Co. conference room.

Excellent, thank you. It will be good to learn more about your operation and methods .64 GPT is hard to imagine...

Ben

[DrTimPerkins]

Excellent, thank you. It will be good to learn more about your operation and methods .64 GPT is hard to imagine...

That isn't our highest. Probably 4th or 5th of the past 10 yrs. overall it ranks a little better than average.

[sjdoyon]

Pulled the lower elevation taps today. Final boil tomorrow and then plenty of work to start doing to close everything up and start on this year's expansion plans.