Tapping the 2013 Season

[Dennis H.]

MapleAck, I have to agree about those CV's. I got almost 9 weeks out of mine and they are still running.

[Jim Brown]

Our main bush is 13 miles north of here and just 7 miles south of Titusville.Our small bush(350)taps is just6 miles from here but on top of a hill trees can also gravity but ran the pumps yesterday for 1 hour and did not pull ANY sap.was pulling 25 inches

Jim

[Springfield Acer]

Our main bush is 13 miles north of here and just 7 miles south of Titusville.Our small bush(350)taps is just6 miles from here but on top of a hill trees can also gravity but ran the pumps yesterday for 1 hour and did not pull ANY sap.was pulling 25 inches

Jim

Oh yeah. I had heard that your main bush was up near Cherry Tree. That would make it another notch cooler yet. Maybe the good news is that as the season grows longer and longer, you're better off to be located farther north in case it snaps warm down here. For your sake, I would certainly hope so.

[Springfield Acer]

The temps got up above freezing fairly quickly today in Mercer and actually reached 37* but apparently it was too cold last night as all I can see is the evidence a few drips. Based on yesterday's forecast, I did not expect any run but when it got 5* warmer, I thought "just maybe". I boiled down my last 135 gallons this afternoon and then kicked a few buckets and 'nothing'. I am back to just a hair shy of medium amber today. I suspect some would actually call it MA but it's a hair darker in my opinion. 37-1/2 gallons now.

[Paddymountain]

Just got back from collecting buckets : 175 gallons. My friend brought 95 gallons !!! game on ,it's all 2 percent so the snow yesterday didn't hurt us. 3 rows of wood left and looks like we'll run out before it quits running. 135 tap gravity bush is done, only a trickle in 4 days. Reds on vac still doing fairly well, sap is clear, but there's a red haze in the sky.

[Dennis H.]

PaddyMtn, sounds like you are having just as good a year as I did.
Keep at it.

[Beeman16137]

We spent the day yesterday on the tour. Visited Casbohm, Cabin by the Creek, Triple Creek and K & B. Everyone was great. Kids liked sampling and I enjoyed talking to everyone I talked to. Always amazing how freely people share their knowledge and time with others. Speaks volumes to your character. I could have spent hours at each sugarhouse. We started at around 10:30 at Casbohm's and by the time we left K&B's it was 3:30. Gotta love the workmanship on that arch. Thank you to each of you and those helping you. Kids loved the steam engine.

[Gary R]

Nothing over hear. Releaser only dumped once yesterday. We cut and split some sugar wood for next year. I've got 5 gal. of maple wine started. We've had four Killdeer around for a few days. I don't think they're finding much to eat on this snow.

[Turtlecreek]

I still have a couple of buckets hanging although I am not boiling any sap. I went up and checked them yesterday and the sap was cloudy, I think that the cloudyness came from dirty buckets. The trees were still running pretty well, and the sap was clear. I looked around and there was no sign of any budding on any trees that I could see. Wish I was still in the game!!

Paddy mountain, I still have 1/2 of a load of wood if you need it, I'll trade you if you want!

[unc23win]

Not a drop here over the weekend. The last I got any was Thursday. It will take a pretty nice day to get things going the lines all froze pretty good. The 10 day forecast looks good for this weekend, but that was the case last week and that changed. The good news I have been adding on taps so when it changes hopefully I will see a boost in sap. Waiting for the fed ex truck with more saddles ha.

[pa farmer]

I'm done for the year. 1512 gal. of sap and I got 30 gals. of syrup. Four pickup loads of wood and 7 day's of boiling. I'm still doing it with black butcher kettles. Everybody loves the dark,dark, dark B syrup. It's the best year that I've had in 4 years. Now all I have to do is bottle it.

[theschwarz1]

Not a drop here over the weekend. The last I got any was Thursday. It will take a pretty nice day to get things going the lines all froze pretty good. The 10 day forecast looks good for this weekend, but that was the case last week and that changed. The good news I have been adding on taps so when it changes hopefully I will see a boost in sap. Waiting for the fed ex truck with more saddles ha.

Same here Unc...TOtally froze! I am waiting for my holding tank, buckets and collection tanks to all thaw out....figures that I'll be away at a conference this Friday and Saturday! MY boys are still a little to young to collect for me too... =( Hopefully I wont lose any if I try to collect everything on thursday (if its not frozen blocks still) and then get it early on Sunday morning...or Saturday night.

[unc23win]

Yea swarz I don't think you will have to worry about sap until you get back its gonna take a lot to unthaw things maybe Saturday or Sunday a few hours of good temps isn't going to get things going. Wednesday and Thursday don't look very warm for sure. We'll see.

[Gary R]

pa farmer, how many kettles do you have? 1500 gal. on one kettle had to be 7 days straight of boiling:o That's a lot of stoking the fire any way you look at it. Congratulations on all the syrup made!

Dennis, you might need to go buy a cord of wood. The weather just looks too good for you:lol:

[Dennis H.]

I now wish I had an RO. Just think of the amount of wood that I would still have when I would have been boiling 6 or even 10% sap insteed of 1%
I would be only thur like half my wood pile!

I am not complaining that it is over, I am enjoying being lazy right now, but it does suck still seeing this kind of weather and knowing that the sap is a flowing.
I did notice on the way home from work this morning that the maples were just starting to get that red haze on the tops. So evem of they are still running I would be making grade B or Commerical.

[Dennis H.]

Hey Paddymtn, I did get your message. Let me think it out 1st and decide what I am need or what I want to do this year, I'll get back with you.
Thanks.

[Springfield Acer]

The slow moving temperature roller coaster came through as forecast but the temps dropped off a bit earlier than expected. The sugars ran OK and the reds were slow. I got 75 gallons of 2.1%. Hardly enough to fire up but I will just to keep the pans fired regularly and to keep what I have from freezing over the next two day cold spell.

[PA mapler]

Hi guys, slow year here in Bradford... I tapped the end of February, but have only had one poor run that lasted two days, just over a week ago. I think the groundhog better go back to meteorology school :lol:!

My trees are all on a north hill, which doesn't help, but the flavor of the syrup was really great. Looks like I can boil well into April this year.

haha, I drained the pans last week, took the fluid from the syrup pan and the syrup float-box, and have a batch of maple-wine started! After I added enough water to get the Brix right for wine, I have about seven gallons going. I'm not sure how it'll work out, but I'm having fun!

[Dan W]

i collected 450 gllons tonight. It took me about 4.5 hours-I hate buckets! I had to RO running the whole time I was collecting and tomoprrow I'll run it for about an hour and boil it down. I am at 2960 gallons of sap for the year. The weather looks good for another nice run this weekend.

[Paddymountain]

Just went over the 4k mark on sap with no end to good temps here in central Pa in sight. Sap ran good on vac today, didn't gather buckets left what was in them so we don't have to play bucket rodeo tomorrow. Just finished boiling ,need to wait for the evaporator to cool down to drain the flue pan for the night.

[sandman6921]

Worst year I've had. Tapped on Feb. 9th, and as of tonight I have collected less than 200 gallons from 75 taps. About 8 gallons today. Just too cold at nights. By the time the sap starts, the sun is on the way down. Amazing what 30 or 40 miles in distance can do though from all of the posts I've read. I'm not the only one around hear having a bad year- fellow in Rockton has gotten less than me, he has bags hung by the road, and all I see him doing is replacing wind shredded bags. No sap.
If ma nature would hold off on the buds, maybe. Most years done by now. Always next year to look forward to though.

[mapleack]

Good day today, 1350 gal of sap. Total for season so far is 18600 gal of sap, about 215 gal syrup. Typical ratio for me with vac. Forecast looks promising to go at least a week longer, I may make my goal of 270 gal yet.

[Dennis H.]

Wow, it sounds like for the most part things are starting to get going for you all.
It very well may be April and you all are still making syrup.

[Gary R]

This weather is terrible! I had my pump on for two days and just wasted electricity, no sap. I had to work an hour south of me and they are 10 degrees warmer than us. Andy and Dan, I'm glad someone is getting some weather.

There is a maple education event this Sunday at Morraine State Park, just west of Butler. I might go check it out. http://www.apps.dcnr.state.pa.us/Calendar/view_event.asp?CalendarID=27995&Location=Lis

Pa Mapler, we haven't heard from you in a while. The wine should turn out great. It tastes like Bourbon. I hope things warm up and good luck to your season.

[Springfield Acer]

I pushed yesterday's 75 gallons thru last night and it did not smell or taste right. I have never boiled late enough to know what buddy or bad syrup tastes like but I'm guessing that I'm learning now. I will test boil small samples on my turkey fryer soon separating the reds from the sugars. If there is good product still from the sugars (or both), I will clean the pans out completely and do a fresh start for maybe another small run theis weekend. My taps have been in for six full weeks as of today. The end is near if not here already in Mercer.
The syrup pan steam smells like chocalate that is on the verge of burning and the syrup has an odd taste. There is still a sweetness yet a kind of punky bitterness especially in the after taste.

[umpwood1]

We collected full buckets yesterday. Cooked until 7:00 pm. I'm off this weekend, hoping for a good run. I have to get some firewood this week.
Sandman.. Sorry to hear you are not getting any sap. You are just up over the hill from me.
Springfield.. Howz that A&A cooking ? Sounds like your boilin' the Dickens out of it. We are at about 40 gallon for the year. I am very HAPPY !!

[waysidemaple]

To date I've made 830 gallons. Tomorrow will be a week of being froze up. Got 1300 gallons of sap yesterday but not enough to really get things going to process it. Today tomorrow and Friday look cold but next week looks better. Of course that's what I've been saying all season and then it never gets warm. Should be closer to the 900 gallon mark of syrup but had an oops and lost 3000 gallons of sap or better. Owell live and learn. Already looking to next year! Buds still look tight so who knows how's long things will go.

Scott

[unc23win]

I got a small run yesterday nothing to get too excited about, I wasn't expecting much it was pretty nice out for a couple of hours. Looks like maybe the weekend will be good we'll see.

[Springfield Acer]

Maybe the season is not over quite yet!!!!
It got warm enough to eek out a small amount of sap today; I'd guess that I could total 20 or 25 gallons but I got enough today to check sugar maple sap against red maple sap to see if the reds are causing my bad syrup. My sugar buckets produced good looking clear sap. I was appalled when I pumped a bit out of my red maple tank for the gravity system. That sap looked mildly muddy! This tank is at the end of my normal sap route so I guess that when I pump it into the bulk tank back at the shack, there's not enough cloudiness to make the whole thing look bad. It has looked crystal clear combined in the SS tank but this red sap is bad, really bad. So I am boiling down 5 gallons of sugar maple sap as I write this, in my turkey fryer in the garage to see how it smells and tastes. I'm much more optimistic now.

[Gary R]

Hey Randy, are you become obsessed with maple? Please tell your wife I'm sorry:lol:

[Springfield Acer]

I was obsessed from the first pint!
I completed my experiment and from 5 gallon of sugar sap,I got about 10 oz of stuff that is the lightest I have ever made and I did not even filter it (too small) and so light, you can hardly taste it. I put it in a canning jar and am leaving it sit and let the sugar settle out. Soooooooo, we're still in business! I'm done with my reds so I'll be down to the 111 sugar taps unless I move a few from reds to untapped sugars!
My boiling buddy brought me 50 more gallons tonight all from reds though. I am therefore doing a boil test on that tomorrow evening before I mix it with my sugars.
I drug out the 'bad' syrup from last night and let my wife and buddy taste it. They both thought that it tasted different like stronger but tasted good. I tasted it too and I now cannot taste the issue that I tasted last night! Go figure.:confused:

[PA mapler]

Gary, I didn't boil last year, never got my firewood cut! But it sounds like I didn't miss out much...

Still waiting for the season to really start, strange as that may sound. Maybe a small run early next week, then who knows. I checked my records, my latest boil was April 15, in 2006 I think. I might beat that easily this year!

Right now I'm anxiously watching for the fermentation to start in the maple wine... I added the yeast and nutrient this morning. It's red wine yeast, hope that will work!

[Paddymountain]

This is the year we'll talk about for awhile!!! Went to gather buckets; 3 1/2 and 4 gallon buckets, two to a tree running over! I got almost 200 gallons of sap 2.2-2.4 percent.
I just got done boiling for the night and stil have 125 gallon to do tomorrow night. The end is in sight though, some of my best trees had no sap in the buckets. My gravity bush gave up the ghost 2 weeks ago, next year it'll get new disposable taps. 2 1/2 rows of wood left; we ain't going down without a struggle. Ya gotta waaaaant it!

[Jim Brown]

Well the sap will not run today It was 14 degrees here this morning!


Jim

[Maplewalnut]

I doubt we will get anything here either Jim, its 17 degrees on way to work, headed for a balmy high of 29

[cur dog]

I think its wild how some are having the season of their lives. Others, like me are wondering when it might start. I've had so many days where it was so close to running, but didn't because of wind and lack of sun. Two or three degrees would have had me in sap so many time this year. The waiting continues.

Anybody know any good groundhog recipes?

[Springfield Acer]

I think its wild how some are having the season of their lives. Others, like me are wondering when it might start. I've had so many days where it was so close to running, but didn't because of wind and lack of sun. Two or three degrees would have had me in sap so many time this year. The waiting continues.

Anybody know any good groundhog recipes?

Sure, but the main ingredient is maple syrup!

[Sugarmaker]

Beeman,
Thanks for the kind words about our NWPA Maple Taste and Tour.
Folks,
Hey frozen maple sap makes the national news, tonight!
We did boil syrup Monday and Tuesday, 180 ish gallons each night. Just enough raw sap to fire up the old rig and get warm after gathering sap in the tundra.
So we pushed through 5 gallons of Dark Amber and inched over the 100 gallon syrup mark.
We will see if there is a chance to make some additional syrup next week too.
Regards,
Chris

[Gary R]

Paddymountain, I think it is going to depend on where you are located as to how we are going to talk about this season:) The forecasted temps keep dropping. No good sap weather in sight.

Sugarmaker, I saw that also. I think Dianne Sawyer called it syrup coming out of the tree. Regardless, it's good to hear about maple on the news. She shared our frustration!

Happy Spring!

[Paddymountain]

Gary R; location locaton location. Today it barely hit 32, not even enough to thaw out what little was in the buckets. The weekend has been scaled back a few degrees.
Anyway,we're having a good year here. Surely though the end is in sight, quite a few of our buckets are done, just a little scum in the bottom. We tapped them around Feb 9th I think,short of pulling them and reaming them(not) it's going to slow down. I'm not sure how some in the northern part of the state have sap, and others don't.
I guess we need to ask Al Gore to send us a little global warming!!! (sorry for the politcal message: admin please don't delete).

[Springfield Acer]

I continued my experiment tonight on my buddy's load of red maple sap and boiled down two gallons on the turkey fryer. It came out fine. Fairly light and good tasting so it's going into the bulk tank tomorrow.
I drained out my syrup pan through a paper filter and boiled that down on the fryer and got another gallon of MA to put me at 39-1/2 for the year.
I was shocked to see what was on the bottom of the pan though. The last chamber had a burnt on scale that when scraped off, was black underneath. it scraped off with a putty knife fairly easily but the other three compartments were coated with a rough sand paper textured sugar sand that would not come off. I filled the pan over the scum/scorch line with 10 gallons of hot water and then added maybe a quart of Milk Stone Remover. After about two hours, most of it pretty much fell off. The rest came off by leaving it soak and then hitting it with a Scotchbrite pad several times. It now looks like brand new!
This is just in time. Our weather forecast here shows eight decent sap days in a row after tomorrow.

[Paddymountain]

Springfield Acer; I find that about every 6-700 gallons of sap, it pays to drain your syrup pan and soak with vinegar, or milkstone acid. I've had to ease up on my firing, I was getting scorch marks about every time I fired up the evaporator. The last week has been terrible for sugar sand, tonight I changed sides after only 2 hrs of boiling.

[Jim Brown]

74897490Well we woke up to between 6-8inches of snow this morning and temps at23 degrees. Prediction for more snow and steady temps
NO SAP AGAIN TODAY!!!Note the spring flowers on the bucket lids-These are in my front yard!

Jim

[Springfield Acer]

Springfield Acer; I find that about every 6-700 gallons of sap, it pays to drain your syrup pan and soak with vinegar, or milkstone acid. I've had to ease up on my firing, I was getting scorch marks about every time I fired up the evaporator. The last week has been terrible for sugar sand, tonight I changed sides after only 2 hrs of boiling.
Yes. This is my second cleaning after 2400 gallons boiled with the first cleaning coming after about 1500 gallons. The first cleaning was more about the side walls with a little bit of the sand paper texture on the bottom and brown dots. I did not worry about that too much. This time the bad stuff was like a thin coat of concrete paint that was fairly brittle and chipped off in large scales sometimes.
I wonder if that was affecting the smell while boiling that I was noticing.
I doubt that I will see enough sap now to require another cleaning; I can only hope!

[Gary R]

Springfield Acer, I clean my pan every 5-8 gal of syrup made. I do not use chemicals, but the pan come off and I use Scotch bright and a hose. You need to be careful with that plating stuff. That's how pans warp and syrup degraded.

[Springfield Acer]

Just your sap pan or both?

[Jim Brown]

Well here we go AGAIN! Temps this morning 18 degrees at8:00am. High today predicted to be around 37-38. Lines are froze solid and would take a high of 45-50 to make them run today.That is After they thaw out!

No sap today AGAIN

jim

[Gary R]

Yea Jim, it must be frozen in maple land. No one is posting. I did turn my pump on a little bit ago. I'm not expecting great things. I am about to try hot dogs boiled in flue pan sweet for the first time. I got to do something with maple:)

[Sugarmaker]

Folks,
Big sap alert!!!!! Just got a call from Keith at K&B and he said it has started to run on West road. We may have to gather tomorrow evening if it thaws out. Sun is just peeking through some overcast sky's!
Good luck out there in maple land!
Just getting thawed out from spending the morning canning syrup in a cold sugar house. Had to start a fire under the sap that was in the evaporator to take the chill off!
Regards,
Chris

[happy thoughts]

Chris- thanks for the alert and glad something is running your way. Still waiting here for mostly dribs and drabs. Temps never get as high as forecast and hover just a degree or two above freezing. Sun??? What's that? Maybe tomorrow and then not again until mid week if I'm lucky. Sure am glad I don't do this for money! Good luck to you. Hope the sap runs big time for you:)

[Springfield Acer]

We spent all day cutting up a huge white oak (42" at the base) today. Two of us for eight hours of cutting that will net a huge load wood since there was nothing else to do.
The sun is out and it reached 38*. The sap is running but it has been too cold to just start gushing out of the trees. I may not collect tonight. I have not decided yet.
Good luck everyone with sap runs tomorrow.
I saw my first groundhog today. If it was Phil, I would have plugged him!

[Dennis H.]

Dad and I went up to the cabin this morning to clean tubing. Got all the tubing flushed out with water and no time.
I was amazed at how fast 2 people can clean all the the tubing. Glad dad was able to tag along.
The trees were still running, which was a real bummer seeing that when pulling the cv's.
It will take at least one more trip up to remove the releaser, move and clean the tank, and relocate the vac pump till next season.

I also got a good start on firewood for next season. I now have a lot on the ground cut into 8' lengths and ready to be pulled out and cut into 16" chunks.

[Gary R]

Sorry, the alert fizzled down here. That seldom seen three letter didn't appear until 4PM (you chose, sun or sap). It peaked to 37* and has been dropping. The vacuum pump pulled nothing as the ladders and trees are still froze. The 3/16 tubing was running, not much flow. Check out the vacuum levels on two of the three runs.75057506

[Run Forest Run!]

I saw my first groundhog today. If it was Phil, I would have plugged him!

Now THAT was funny. :lol:

[Springfield Acer]

I ran the buckets at 6:00 and got 50 gallons plus I threw away an average of 1/2" of frozen stuff from each bucket. Due to the de-icing my sap was 2.5%. It's already down to 27* now. It looks like a small boil tomorrow on a fresh fill on the syrup pan.

[Dave Y]

I havent seen Sap for 10 days and dont expect to see it for an other 5 days. I am glad I retired to make syrup.

[Jim Brown]

Here we go again . temp this morning was 13 degrees at 6:00am. Still only 14 at 8:00am.
No Sap Again today go figure
This is really crazy. it is the 24th of March and they are talking about another major snow storm for here tonight!!

Jim

[heus]

Jim looks like a fast and furious 1-2 week flood when the weather does finally break then its all over. I was surprised to get somewhat of a late run yesterday just across the border. Given the temperatures of the previous couple of days, I didnt think my lines were going to thaw out but they did. Its 14 degrees here but I am fully expecting a run starting by 1pm or so. Are your trees down in a valley where they dont see much sun?

[Sugarmaker]

Dave, Jim, Gary,
Sorry the big sap alert did not work out as well as planned. I tried:( I know its getting frustrating. I have to go look at the totes to see if it ran at all yesterday. Jason said it did and he is about 20 miles from us to the west.
(we did fire up the Ford Jubilee and buzz rig and cut a cord of wood for Eric to take for heating his house.)
I keep hearing we are going to have a very warm April. Well we could use just a smidge of that right now to get the sap flowing.
Like others trying to make syrup in NW PA.
Regards,
Chris

[Dave Y]

Just got back from the woods, the vacuum is making a little sap. At the rate it is flowing I should have enuf to boil by friday. The buckets are doing nothing.

[Jim Brown]

I also just came in and the vacuum was not pulling enough to pay for the gasoline to run the generators. I shut them down. Trees are still froze from this mornings 13 degrees. All mains and lats are open.

Jim

[Gary R]

Already getting colder and hardly any sap. I just pumped out the 3/16 and only got 30+ gal. I've gotten about 15 gal. on the vac the last two days. I dumped most of that because it was cloudy. Probably the stuff that's been sitting in the lines for more than a week.:mad: I checked every tap. I will be glad when I get rid of the two piece check valves. Every one of them seated 1/4"-1/2" in when I tapped them with a hammer. One had pushed all the way off. A big producer sure would hate doing that. It looks like the season will really start on April 1st.

I went to the maple program at Morraine State Park. It was very impressive. 300-500 people for just today. I did not go on their "tour". It appeared to be educational and history based. They don't have many taps and make a little syrup on a 2X4 outside with no cover. At least it was a nice day. I got to talk with J. Burkett for a while.

[Springfield Acer]

I boiled off what I had today to get the front pan back up to near syrup and actually drew off a quart and a half before running out of sap.
Afterwards, I ran the buckets and got 50 gallons from my 111 sugar buckets. It's still 36* so maybe another boil tomorrow night.

[Dan W]

As a result of the news paper articlle, I got a call from a lady that had some friends visiting from Belgium. They came for a visit to the sugar house today and were absolutely amazed. The Belgians spoke some english but mostly french and used their friend as an interpreter. They had tons of questions and took lots of pictures. I sold a bunch of syrup and gave the Belgian family some to take back home. Has anybody looked into marketing in Europe? Ha-Ha. Anyway, I was a very nice hour that they spent here. As far as sap, not much happening. Maybe later in the week but, I've said that before.

[Springfield Acer]

I kicked the buckets on the way to work and the sap has apparently run all night here. There should be some pretty full buckets this afternoon. The question still remains as to whether the sap is still going to make good syrup or not.

[unc23win]

I got about 100 gallons fo sap yesterday the first in 11 days. It ran from about 2pm to 7 or so Saturday night at 11pm it was 30' I thought well maybe it will warm up to Sundays high of 40' quick then Sunday morning at 7am it was 17'. Now we are getting snow 1-4 expected suppose to be high of 34'. We'll see what the rest fo the week brings looks like 40's at the end of the week, but that was forecasted before.

[Springfield Acer]

Today was a good sap day here in Springfield Twp. We collected 133 gallons off the 111 sugar taps which pretty well equals our best 24 hour run based on gal/tap. I did not pump out the red tank. It only had 25 gallons off 123 taps. That's about a third of what they should have run but they are seven weeks old though. I'm actually thrilled to see that much still running on the sugars. Now we'll see what kind of syrup we get. With a mild 27* tonight, we might get lucky again tomorrow! :rolleyes:

[Gary R]

I only got about 25gal on vacuum today. I still don't like the smell of the sap. I dumped it and used bleach to clean the bulk tank. I got 60 gal. off the 3/16 tubing! I think I might of smoked a few years off the life of the BAT mobile. It was tough coming up through all the snow. I should look into chains. I'll definitely be boiling tomorrow.

Jim, I came home today through Cherry Tree. 32* and snowing:( I did see an older couple just past the road to McNally's collecting. You can see some taps near Rte.8.

[NE PA Maple]

Still having fun making syrup:) Finished all the sap I had on hand yesterday, it had been frozen took it in the basement overnight to thaw. The son and wife collected sap while I was boiling, got 10 gallons off our 21 taps, came home tonight to find out they had already collected,,,,,,24 gallons! Great day hoping for another tomorrow.

I was looking at the syrup we bottled last night. It doesn't look as clear asthe other made previously. Can't really describe it. Cloudy is the best description, but not with any particulate. I guess it might be better to describe it as thicker looking like honey. Only what is in pint jars. What we bottled in a 12 oz. bottle looks clear. Is this just from the container making it look denser or could it have this appearance after being frozen?

Hope everyone's sap runs well!

[Jim Brown]

Gary; I seen those buckets justnorth of the center road. I was in the woods until 8:30pm this evening SAP IS RUNNING In CHERRYTREE. I pulled 225 gallons of 2% out of there this evening. A little cloudy but not bad for 2% stuff.
Reds I think are done in the small bush

Jim

[Springfield Acer]

Hey, congratulations Jim! Maybe you can get to work now.

I boiled 115 gallons tonight before I had to make time for sleep. I boiled for 2-1/2 hours and got almost 3 gallons of syrup that tastes and smells great. Its just a hair darker than MA.
There's still 65 in the head tanks that will get dealt with tomorrow evening after what is hopefully another good run on the buckets. 50 for the year may still be in reach!

GaryR; I know what you mean about those chains. With an empty tank, the four wheeler was clawing and pawing through that wet snow covered mud.

[unc23win]

Well I got a nice little run late in the day yesterday got about 300 gallons of 2.2. Looks like today might be about the same temperature although there might be a little sun.

[Sugarmaker]

Folks,
290 gallons of 2.8% sap last night. Not a great run but our taps are 6 weeks + old.
Made 6.5 gallons of Medium grade syrup last night on about 4 draws. Was suprized it came back on grade but the sap was cold with ice floating. Steam away was cranking out between 4 and 5% sap.
Looks like the same tonight, and weather looks favorable for the next week.
Jim, Gary, glad you guys are hanging in there! Is Dave Yeany flooded with sap? Havent heard from him?
Jim Bortles should be right into it this week also may have to get over and see his new RO.
Regards,
Chris
Regards,
Chris

[Gary R]

I boiled 200 gal tonight. This was a few days of sap. The 3/16 ran over a gal per tap today with 1.9 sugar. The vacuum was less than .5gal at 1.6. The first few draws were very dark. Sweet has been sitting 10 days with a heat lamp under it. I think it lightened some at the end. My vacuum taps are 11 1/2 weeks old. I don't know if they are drying up or the trees are just done. It's still cold but I should know by the weekend.

Ask Springfield Acer how to make yellow steam:o Sorry, We've all done something. He made a great recovery though.

Dave Y, I hope your boiling. I was in Dubois today and they were at 48*, 10* more than us. Best of luck to you.

How about you Father & Son?

[Dan W]

Between yesterday and today I collected 720 gallons. It is going through the RO right now. Gonna take tomorrow off and boil in the morning. It looks like a few more good days coming up. So far I've gotten 3700 gallons of sap.

[Springfield Acer]

We collected 160 off the sugar buckets tonight ; almost 1.4 per tap. I then proceeded to scorch my pan because I forgot to open the valve between the pans. I made a quick save which helped with a quick clean up. I wasted a gallon of syrup and an hour and ahalf. I'm reading 216* now and have stopped firing for the night. Only70 gallons boiled but I saved the pan. I watched it turn into yello steam while talking to GaryR on the phone!

[Low budget maple]

Got home tonite and happy to. Collect 140 gal. Lite the fire at 7:30 and now empty with 3 1/2 gal of ma bottled. Gooo nite !! Ps. No phone>>>> no tv = no distractions glad to hear you saved your pan. Believe me we have all scortched a pan. And if you havnt you just aint been doin it long enough !! Haha. Best wishes to all

[Jim Brown]

Well we collected 800 gallon of sap yesterday. 600 off our sugars and 200 off our reds. Sugars test2% and the reds test1.6
Got some leaks to address today and will have the pumps back on . RO is running as we speak
It's go or go home time!!!
Jim

[unc23win]

Well I got about 800 gallons yesterday again as of 8pm it tested 2.2. It was running pretty good. I have about 700 taps on gravity and about 600 taps on vacuum nice to see the releaser tripping about every 5 minutes at 5pm and 8pm it was about every 6.5 minutes. Gonna use the long weekend and see if I can get my bigger vacuum fixed.

[mapleack]

Looks like another big day here, over a gpt sap in the tanks already at lunchtime. SSC is 1% or under and making good tasting commercial, but that's better than nothing! Decided that the best thing about a two month long season is that it'll only be 10 months until we get to do it again! I should be at around 270 gal of syurp made after today, reaching my goal of 1/3 of a gpt.

[emericksmaple]

Andy keep making that black stuff I'll prob take all you make. We have 1950gal made off of 3600 and have not made anything below medium. For us this has been a textbook season. Cold, snow and no warm spells. And it looks like we will go till a least next weekend.

[Gary R]

Well I went home and.....boiled! Not the greatest of weather but we're getting sap. I got 110gal off of my 3/16 taps in 24hrs! 80gal off the vacuum. Sugar content is down some. The best thing is my grade might be back up to DA. I am definitely over my goal of 50gal syrup for the year.

Emerick's, those are some big numbers. I need to get down to Somerset area and see how it's done.

Andy, that is really good GPT for low sugar content. You must squeeze them trees well:) Don't sell your self short. We are in PA, if it tastes good, that's USDA B. Hopefully you'll get paid for it.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Matt,

Is your weather warmer than Henry? I was up there last wed and he was boiling for only the 3rd time and not sure he as boiled much if any since then watching his forecast.

[Jim Brown]

Pulled another 800gallon today 600 on the sugars and 200 on the reds. Sugar has slipped a bit 1.8 on the sugars and 1.4 on the reds. Made 10 gallons of some real nice med.amber today hope to do it again tomorrow!
Jim

[Springfield Acer]

Good to see everyone's having fun. We gathered 150 more today and boiled down 220 over 5 hours and got 5-1/2 gallons of very tasty MA. Well above my hopes for 25 for the year. I'm sitting at 48+! Only 70 left in the head tank.

[unc23win]

Well good day here. I got just a little over 1 gallon per tap with only roughly 50% on vacuum with the good ole sp-11. Still making fancy syrup and it actually lightened up some from two nights ago.

[Dan W]

Well it's been quiet here all day. I hope Jim Brown and Dave Y are needing their floaties!!

[Daryl]

Vacuum didn't start until after lunch time. On 370 taps, we have pulled over 100 gal in 3 hours.
To date, we have made over 80 gallons and it looks good for the next week.

[Jim Brown]

Our taps were froze this morning at 9:30am .releaser pulled slush the first two pulls. Trees are running at 36 degrees and We pulled 400 gallon by 2:30pm. Going back to the woods around 7 and see whats there. Made around 12 gallon of nice Med Amber today . Sugar is JUSSSSST under 2%

It's go or go home time!

Jim

[Gary R]

Just about ready to turn the lights out. 180gal today. I gathered 110 from the 3/16 again today. That sap was at 1.6 and the vacuum at 1.1. The syrup looks the lightest we have made all year!

I had my wife tally some numbers. 4143 gal of sap year to date. 21.9GPT on the vacuum tapped 1/7, 19.4GPT on the 3/16 gravity tapped on 2/9. The 3/16 is really impressing me. Great sap weather to come. I will be out of this years wood by this weekend. I will have to dig into next years:o

[mapleack]

Had another good day today! Got some electrical problems figured out that had kept us from concentrating yesterday, that hurt! Up to 255 gal in drums, close to 15 sitting in the finisher. 270 was my goal to get 1/3 gpt so I'm pretty happy. Sap total is over 23,000. Terrible ratio I know, but what the heck. Looks good for another week, lookout 300!!!

[cadocter]

Wow Gary those are some impressive numbers! Sounds like everybody is up to their ears right now! Gary I can't agree more with you on the 3/16. Yesterday it pulled over 3 gallon per tap in 24 hours. I couldn't believe it. I've gathered over 400 gallon in the past two days off of 160 taps. I think it's time for a bigger Evaporator! At 10 GPH, I can't keep up. I got through 100 gallon today and I'll be at it again tomorrow. Good luck everybody!

[Springfield Acer]

We gathered only 90 yesterday and it looks like this today's run will slow also. Whatever is in the bulk tank tonight will get boiled Saturday morning as I am getting a break last night and tonight. I have not emtied my gravity tanks which are all reds until last night and they have been overflowing for at least a day. I have been worried that these trees were giving the bad smell and taste I had experienced last week. I pumped 110 gallons out onto the ground to make room for fresh stuff if I need more this weekend. I felt extremely guilty about pumping 110 gallons out onto the ground; especially since it was crystal clear. The buds do not look at all bad. After we go above freezing here this morning, it will stay above freezing through Monday afternoon. The next cold snap will definitely be the end for me if I do not pull the plug when this sap run ends.

[Paddymountain]

It's just about over here in central Pa. I only got 40 gallons from 140 buckets yesterday. I'm going to gather again Saturday and probably call it quits. I believe it could go on but our taps have been in since Feb 9. It's been a great year!!

[FunnyFarm]

It ran pretty good here over last couple of days looks like we'll get a freeze Monday and Tuesday then I'm wrapping her up switching to birch next weekend.Been a strange season but its been fun. Hope all did well...

[Springfield Acer]

Slower yet today off the sugar buckets; only 65 gallons but the reds tanks were almost full, maybe another 75 or 80 gallons which I left behind. I have 225 to boil tomorrow AM. Once I am done with that, I will probably go get the red sap and boil it and cross my fingers as to what it makes. I just hate to waste anymore sap in case it is still good. It should br B at worst.

[Gary R]

I got a late start tonight but we're on the last hour. 110gal off the 3/16 again! 90gal off the vac. We have hardly froze the last three nights. We need one tonight. Grade is still great. Filtering, bulking and cleaning the pan tomorrow.

[Paddymountain]

Just wrapped up the last boil a little while ago. I will need to drain the front pan and finish on the turkey fryer. Have about 4 gallon to filter/bottle then start the big cleanup.

[Gary R]

...and just like that, I'm done. With vacuum anyway. Today should have been the mother of all runs. I only got 58 gal on vacuum. I guess 11 weeks, 5 days is to much to ask for the trees and check valves. The wife is complaining about the electric bill! 106gal on the 3/16 today. I'm still going to collect and boil that sap. I really want to make April 10th. That would be 3 months of boiling:o

We are at 57 1/2 gal of syrup. Making medium. I'm hearing of guy's making ultra light, in April?

I visited Dave Y today. He is sitting on around 10,000gal of sap. He finally has it coming big time. I was quickly reminded why I don't like buckets. Carrying 10gal of sap 100 yards through the woods was fun! Sorry, had to go home and boil:)

Oh, the wife restocked the wood pile when I was gone. She's the best.

[Dennis H.]

That is very impressive Gary, over 11 weeks and still going. Keep at it till they give up no more.

Hey Paddymtn, what are the final numbers for the season?

[Springfield Acer]

I boiled off 210 gallons from the last two days and it is still LA but the taste is good - kinda buttery. I also boiled down my scorched crap in the turkey fryer and got what looks and tastes like black strap molasses. One gallon of useless stuff in my opinion but my wife says she wants to try to make some molasses cookies with it. I have reservations....
We gathered another 125 off the sugar buckets tonight that will get boiled sometime tomorrow.
I also finished all but 5 gallon of my bulk material so I can sell it if needed and bottled four gallons of the buttery stuff.
I'm over 3000 gallons of sap and 53-1/4 gallons of syrup. This is so far beyond my wildest dreams and I have left 250 to 300 gallons go to waste that may very well have been useable.
Happy Easter everyone. :)

[Dave Y]

Gary,I t was good to see you today. Sorry I didn't have much time to visit.

[unc23win]

I am still getting a fair amount of sap. 1000 gallons yesterday although the sugar content finally dropped below 2 it was 1.8. My record day was 1400 the other day and that was all 2.2. The syrup finally changed from that ultralight fancy to a medium. Looks like we will get a couple more freezes and most likely stretch the season out one more week high temp of 33' on Tuesday and only 30' forecasted for Wednesday.

[Gary R]

Alright Dennis, I was easy to convince. It did not last long though. I turned the pump back on this morning. I went and pulled any tap that was on a red with big buds. All the holes were black and dry. I only got 30gal off the vac today. I did get 97gal off the 3/16 today! There is still a little snow around those trees. Should be done boiling in an hour. The grade has dropped to "B". Sugar content was 1.1-1.2%.

While the sap ran I went and visited Hurry Hill Farm and watched Jan boil for a while. Then we went to Father & Son's. Surprising no sap today. We still got to talk some maple though:)

[Springfield Acer]

I snuck out late this afternoon and boiled down the last of the sap in the bulk tank to get another 3-1/4 gallons of DA color-wise. Probably B taste-wise. Maybe a bit more before I shut down next Friday.....maybe no more at all.

[Jim Brown]

Well it's been a pretty good week all around Went over the 100 gallon mark today with 10 gallon of nice Med Amber. 500 gallon of sap sitting to be RO'd in the morning. Sugar is still at 1.5 for the sugars and 1 for the reds. reds(300) have been tapped over two months as of today(got to love those check valves ) and still run 150 gallons in 6 hours today and 1%. Sap in clear!
Got to get some sleep toinght
Jim

[Paddymountain]

Glad to hear you guys up north are finally getting into it. I visited my friend last weekend just east of Wellsville, Ny and at that time he only had 2 drums full and has 12k taps.
Needless to say he was sweating it some.

Dennis H; I'm not done bottleing yet, so I'm not got everything totaled up . But I will say I passed my goal some time ago!!!

[heus]

Well it's been a pretty good week all around Went over the 100 gallon mark today with 10 gallon of nice Med Amber. 500 gallon of sap sitting to be RO'd in the morning. Sugar is still at 1.5 for the sugars and 1 for the reds. reds(300) have been tapped over two months as of today(got to love those check valves ) and still run 150 gallons in 6 hours today and 1%. Sap in clear!
Got to get some sleep toinght
Jim
Jim good to hear your woods finally thawed out.

[Jim Brown]

Good Morning Jason ; We are glad also! Hope to get at least one more run towards the end of the week Temp was 39 here this am and snow. Trees need a hard freeze to reset . Hope you guys are doing well

Jim

[Gary R]

Boy. it's getting quiet here. Today was the first in 6 days I did not collect the 3/16 twice a day. Mistake! One tank was overflowing tonight. I got 90gal off of the 60 taps in 24hrs. I'm going to boil it tomorrow. This tubing just won't stop!

Sugarmaker, I have boiled 30 times this season already. I wanted a night off. I did filter a little bit.

[Paddymountain]

Gary R; Do these 3/16 taps have cv on? I can't believe this late in the year and they are still running like crazy!!! I pulled all my buckets tonight, looks like Saturday is wash day.
The evaporator is soaking in vinegar. We have our last 3 batchs to filter/bottle, my wife says it's happening on Thursday. I can't give a syrup total til then,but I just tallied up
the sap amounts; 5100 gallon on 439 taps. one highlight, 70 taps on roadside sugars averaged 18 gallon a tap! and actually there were 2 buckets that never gave a drop.
I'm tired, it was a great season though, no major disasters, just steady plugging along. It is time to rethink some of the process' to see if they can be streamlined at all.
I got this thing going on, it's called a job , that keeps getting in the way and chewing up valuable maple time!!

like Red Maples says "10 months til maple season!!!"

[heus]

Good Morning Jason ; We are glad also! Hope to get at least one more run towards the end of the week Temp was 39 here this am and snow. Trees need a hard freeze to reset . Hope you guys are doing well

Jim
Yes right across the border its been a fantastic season. 205.5 gallons and hopefully some more before the end of the week.

[Gary R]

Paddymountain,

No CV'c on the 3/16. I'm using CDL clear polycarbonate. Remember the new tubing effect. No bacteria in the lines to start. Maybe it would pay to replace drops every year? Next year I plan on using CV2's on those taps. My vacuum bush is on CV's and they are dried up. But, they have also been in almost 5 weeks longer. I plan on boiling until the syrup turns bad. I probably only have one week left.

[Paddymountain]

Gary R, My gravity bush I aquirred this year did only 7 gpt. I just fizzled out fairly early. It's going to get the cdl smart spouts next year. This is it's 3rd year, and last year it wasn't used
at all, I don't know if that had any effect on it or not.

[Sugarmaker]

Lots of good posts,
Jim Brown, Sounds like the sap flow is improving. Report from Gary was that Yeany's had lots of sap to boil.
Trying to catch Jason's total but will probably not make it.
I really feel this will be the last week for maple production near Lake Erie.
Froze last night and that may provide another decent run Wednesday and into Thursday?
Cutting firewood as we boil, that's always fun! Taps will be 8 weeks old this weekend. I cant expect much more from them! About 8200 gallons of sap to date, 178 gallons of finished syrup and another 10 gallon in the evaporator. Getting tired:)
It has been a maple season for the books. Lots of cold weather, lots of good sap made into good quality maple syrup. It seemed like two seasons with the mid point being Taste and Tour weekend. Made all grades before and then also after that weekend. We made the lightest syrup after we made our darkest.

The youngest grandsons Dorsey and Devin are coming to stay with us this weekend so we will be busy!
Regards,
Chris

[unc23win]

Well its cold here been freezing all day went down to about 15 last night and it is suppose to do the same tonight and be high of 34 tomorrow and then 49 on Thursday so it looks like we will be getting sap one more week.

[Gary R]

Well I only got 40gal off the 3/16 today. It did get down to 23* last night. Sugar content is bad, 1%. It's flowing good right now though. I'm boiling 130 total right now.

Paddymountain, that is some serious GPT on your roadsides. My woods trees only averaged about 6-7GPT on buckets. That why I went to vacuum. Then you get too much sap. Then you get a bigger evaporator......and so on:)

[waysidemaple]

To date I've made 1440 gallons. Ended up getting 3000 gallons of sap today. Didn't really think it would run today but I'm not complaining. Going to send that through the R.O. In the morning and start in to tomorrow's sap at the same time. Hoping to make 1700 gallons but weather shows the end is near. Fingers crossed for another week. Dropped the tranny out of my sap hauler so a few extra barrels could really help pay that bill.

Scott

[Sugarmaker]

Gary,
130 gallons is about what I boiled last night. Hope things are going well.
Wayside,
Nice job on the syrup! You did very well this season.
Regards,
Chris

[Springfield Acer]

The sugar buckets were a mixed bag last night, I only collected 35 gallons after throwing away the sap from a half dozen or so due to color. I did make enough to start a boil by going back to my gravity reds and taking some from those tanks. They were still running hard but I dumped the rest of it and pulled the mains to run onto the ground. I boiled for a couple of hours and made 2-1/4 gal of DA with 40 still in the head tank. I'll take what I can get today and tomorrow, finish boiling Thursday or Friday and call it a season - an exceptional season for me with over 60 gallons made.

[Sugarmaker]

Randy,
Great job! 60 gallons is a lot of boiling!
I agree that this is going to be it, this weekend.
Regards,
Chris

[Jim Brown]

We also will be finishing up this weekend.Just got back from the woods and all lines including the mains are FROZE SOLID! Temp here this morning was 19 degrees at 8:00am What sun there is is very deceiving. It is only 38 right now. I'll wait till tomorrow and run the pumps and see what happens. a poor season for us!
Jim

[Gary R]

I got 48gal off the 3/16 today. Not bad for being frozen more than half the day. Real cold tonight. A heater in the evaporator in April? Tomorrow should be good with a boil planned. My grade last night actually improved to DA. I think it is because I have no vacuum sap. I only have 33% reds compared to 75% reds with the pump on. Next week looks like all 60's with no freeze. Sunday should be it.

Springfield Acer, I'm amazed your trees are still running. Nice total for buckets and gravity.

Wayside, that's a lot of syrup. You guys have really grown in the last couple years. Great job!

[Springfield Acer]

Gary, I gathered 80 more tonight just off the buckets. I'm just reaching boil now.

[Jim Brown]

Going to take a TON OF WARMING to get things started today. Temp this morning at 6:30am was 15 degrees.

we will see
Jim

[unc23win]

I have 19' right now its suppose to get up to 49', but we are going to get about 10mph SSW wind not sure how much that will hurt today.

[Paddymountain]

Gary R: Springfield Acer: I'm amazed you guys are still at it! compared to the last few years where two weeks and it's all but over.
Up north guys: I was hoping you would be into it fairly good the last couple of weeks. I guess you can only take what the weather gives,that's agriculture.

[Gary R]

Well we just boiled 103gal. and the sap was running hard on the 3/16. Twice a day collection for the next few days. We are only 135gal shy of 5000 gal. If we make 1.5 gal of syrup each of the next few days we will make 70 gal. Way above what we expected. We even had some poor weather in Feb. and the last half of March. Lots of wood splitting planned for the weekend.

Still boiling!

[Springfield Acer]

The sugar buckets are not slowing down much. I have eight taps that have dried up but still gathered 90 gallons today. I would expect another 80 to 90 tomorrow. I'll boil tomorrow night because I got delayed tonight. I had two guys from da 'Burgh stop to check out the buckets while I was gathering. They then came over and saw the shack, tasted some of the sweet stuff and bought 5 pints. Two guys after my own heart as we stood around for an hour talking maple, hunting, back packing, Pittsburgh sports, fishing, work, and who knows what else; a good couple of guys. I may delay pulling the buckets in until Sunday since it looks like Friday night will be cold now too. Then I'm done. Period. I think.....

[Gary R]

Springfield Acer, you need to go as long as possible. I can't believe your still boiling in April. In my short career of making syrup I've boiled this far into April already. It was commercial though. You may never see it again. Besides, if you want to catch me you need to keep going:lol:

I know Sugarmaker and Dave Y are still at it, who else?

[Springfield Acer]

Springfield Acer, you need to go as long as possible. I can't believe your still boiling in April. In my short career of making syrup I've boiled this far into April already. It was commercial though. You may never see it again. Besides, if you want to catch me you need to keep going:lol:

I know Sugarmaker and Dave Y are still at it, who else?

I didn't know it was a competition but I guess it's a good thing I spotted you that three week head start. Besides, what makes you think that it's me catching you?

[Springfield Acer]

After another nice run yesterday, I kicked the buckets on the way to work this AM and they are well along already. Maybe it did not get that cold last night and they will start slowing as the day goes on. As the temps rise, they may continue to flow though and we will get a bigger load yet. We'll see. They're calling for 20's tonight and then nothing below 32 for as far as the 10 day forecast shows. I will collect Saturday afternoon for the last time. What a run!

Jim;
Sorry to see that the weather did not play better for your more northern trees.

[unc23win]

I had a nice run yesterday it ran late, but decent got 650 gallons of 1.8. The 10mph ssw wind kinda knocked it back for a bit. The sap was still running when I was in the shed at 10 last night. Today looks to be a little cooler with less wind so it should be a pretty good day. Suppose to freeze earlier tonight Saturday looks to be good as well.

[JBurkett]

Gary, we are still boiling away. Sap has really slowed down. My Dad keeps bringing sap so I keep making syrup. We are going to go througb the weekend and see what Monday brings. Already a record year, over 1250 gallons by the end of tonight.

[Sugarmaker]

Randy,
A little competition is OK. Gary always pushes us to get the most and the best out of these PA folks:)
Our grandsons Dorsey and his little brother Devin are here for the weekend. I am trying to help Cheryl watch them. I did not gather last night but did go to Father and son's (Jim and Chase) sugar house late last night and watched them make some nice light syrup. That Deer Run R.O. was doing the job cutting down on wood consumption and boiling time!
I was able to get out this afternoon and gather just over 400 gallons of 2% sap. Its waiting and I may boil after the boys are asleep.
If things hold together we will make the more syrup this year, than those prior. Will finish up this weekend like most in our area. The temps don't look to dip below freezing after tonight.
Regards,
Chris

[Gary R]

Collected 140gal off the 3/16 in 24 hrs. The sap has been 1.25% the last couple of days. Boiling now and still looks like DA. We filtered and bulked 5gal of DA this morning. I also cleaned the vacuum tubing. Bleach solution and flushed with water under vacuum.

unc23win, good to hear your still going strong. Nice sugar content. I looked you up on a map. I noticed to the south, in Tioga SF is maple mountain. Is that worthy of a field trip? I like to see lots of maples.

JBurkett, great to hear from you. You must be close to .5GPT on syrup?

Springfield Acer, We're in a race with Mother Nature. Trying to get all we can when we can. I know, I started early. Keep making great syrup!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Jim,

If it has been that cold last couple of days when it warms up you should get a huge run.

[Springfield Acer]

I have had bu kets as full or fuller today than all year. Many are still very clear and I am getting 1.8 percent. I am very surprised.

[Paddymountain]

I'm done: waaaaaaaay surpassed my goal of 80 gallons!!!

total for the season: 101 gallons 6 pints

details are in the Pa Season Totals thread

[Dave Y]

No I did not drown in sap. Although it was close. We hauled in 3400 gal yesterday. We are over 600 and should make 700 by tomorrow midday. The season we are having is good but it will not be a good season as we lost too many sap days in March to cold days. We should be done by Wednesday. Glad everyone has done well this year.

[Sugarmaker]

Dave,
Wow that' impressive 600-700 gallons! Seems like only a couple weeks ago there was no sap to be found.
After boiling from 8:00 to midnight last night I am resting comfortably. Made 9 gallons of medium syrup to add on the pile. Cheryl says I need to go gather again this afternoon. Well I suppose, If I have too:) It froze real hard here last night, should run real good into tomorrow after noon then the hoses will get pulled from the totes and the clean up will begin.
Gary is doing real good on that 3/16 steep slope gravity system.
Regards,
Chris

[Gary R]

I only collected 85gal today, 50 of it in the last 6 hours. It froze hard and nothing ran until 9AM. Boiling it in now. Expect the mother load tomorrow, but I think that will be it. Funny down draft tonight. Things aren't boiling that well.

Dave Y, good to hear from you. I hope you break 1000gal. Best of luck to you!

[Springfield Acer]

The sugar buckets slowed to 70 gallons tonight. I'll probably do my last boil tomorrow afternoon unless there is a good run tomorrow that I do not expect. I am actually planning on pulling all the taps and starting to cleanup. I may collect sap and buckets at the same time if I wait long enough.
I am of the opinion that I gave up too early on my reds on gravity. They are still running strong and fairly clear but I pulled the tanks and the mains are running on the ground. I know I've lost 300 - 400 gallons there which is about 10% of my total of 3700 to date.
Still a great year.

[Jim Brown]

Well we are going to call it a season tomorrow .Will have a short boil maybe 3hrs tomorrow .Pulled releasers form our main bush tonight and running the RO to process 400 gallon of cloudy sap. don't know were we will finish but in the area of 150 gallons. Most of it coming in the last 7 days. Only had 35 gallon at the start of last week

Now to clean up the mess!
Jim

[Dave Y]

Gary I doubt that I will make 1000 gal. Headed for the tanks to get more sap and to make sure they don't run over. I figure I will finish on Tue as I have to be in the burgh in the AM . Good luck to everyone cleaning up.

[Gary R]

I only collected 55gal this morning. I'm calling it quits. The syrup is of questionable quality. This has been a long season. I should have 3/16 tubing and evaporator cleaned by today.

Dave, my thought's and best wishes go out to you all and the 'burgh.

[FunnyFarm]

untapped everything yesterday made about 22 gallons for the season.Think i can do much better gonna switch to check valves next year and start changing taps yearly...I'm half way through tapping my birch right now hope to get about 150 tapped this year.Season's not over yet.

[Springfield Acer]

I am boiling the 115 from the tank while two friends pull the taps and buckets bringing in whatever the trees have made. They actually ran pretty good thru the night.

[cadocter]

Well I think the season is coming to a close for us. I dumped the 3/16 because of the color. Our main bush is still running real strong and clearer than a whistle. The tank was overflowing early this morning from only 16 hrs of run. Gotta give the credit to the check-valves. It's been a great year! I think we'll be close to breaking 40 gallons this year. Sounds like everybody else has had a fairly decent season too! God Bless

[mapleack]

Got 470 gal of sap today from yesterday/ overnight. Boiled that, then boiled out the evaporator. Still have to finish syrup to see what the total will be. Sap total was 27,100 gal. That's 33 gal sap per tap. Hope to finish syrup tomorrow night, I'll post the total when i know it.

[Springfield Acer]

RIP 2013!
We gathered another measly 45 gallons of "good enough" and dumped some others. I finished by pushing thru 30 gallons of water and am all done except finishing a bit from the front pan. 3745 gallons of sap for about 68 gallons of the sweet stuff.
The buckets and their taps are in the garage waiting for the cleaning.
I've gotta run the taps and days to see what the per tap numbers are and post all that on the other thread.
For those of you still able to get product, I hope you can keep it coming in.
Now I've gotta move some of this stuff!
For me, all I can say is "what a year"!:D

[Gary R]

My final boil was yesterday. 5155gal of sap for the year. I still need to finish what was on the front pan. I did get all the tubing and every tank cleaned with bleach. I also got the evaporator acid cleaned yesterday. Last 5gal of syrup is buddy.

[unc23win]

My sap will probably be done running today. Had a pretty good weekend. The trees did fairly well for me it was a record season 280 gallons of syrup so far. None of it has been dark. Next year I will be looking to get all of my taps on vacuum.

[FunnyFarm]

tapped 70 birch yesterday got over 100 gallons of sap already and its running at a steady trickle...on my way up the mountain to start tapping buckets.

[Gary R]

Took a night off. I hopefully will get totals in a couple of days. A backyarding neighbor stopped last night. He was talking to the biggest producer in western PA a couple of weeks ago. He made 960gal of syrup in ONE day on one of the warm days in early March!

[Dave Y]

Here sit at 2am posting on the Trader because I am still boiling. Got back from Pittsburgh at 12:30 pm and had 3500 gal of sap to boil.then we brought in another 2500.leaving 2000 at the vacuum. Plus whatever is buckets. So I will be boiling awhile. will break 800 before morning.

[Sugarmaker]

Randy, Gary, Dave folks,
We are cleaning equipment and taking a few nights off to relax:) Lots of records broken this year. Didn't burn anything up or have any broken bones either. Dave you caught up real fast! That's a lot of sap! Gary got in 4 months of season. Randy made a lot of syrup too. I will try to post stats in other post.
Regards,
Chris

[FunnyFarm]

Just un tapped all the birch trees gathered about 700 gallons of sap half way through cooking it down its looking like it'll end up about 5 gallons. It certainly isn't maple syrup and it surely took WAY longer to cook down . In the end its not bad stuff.We'll see how the little we got sells and decide how many trees we'll tap next year.We'll definitely be finishing off our maple season with a birch season from here out though...

[BC Birch Tapper]

It is a different tree, different sugars & different end use. One has to educate the consumer about any new product & emphasize that it in NOT Maple so it won't taste the same or have the same application. it is used more in cooking than as a table syrup

[FunnyFarm]

About as soon as we had syrup the wife set to making a birch sauce for chicken and some pumpkin birch cookies...The sauce was really good and the cookies are long gone...lol

[Father & Son]

No posts for almost 4 days. All the PA sappers are either catching up on their rest or have moved on to spring projects.

Jim

[Springfield Acer]

No posts for almost 4 days. All the PA sappers are either catching up on their rest or have moved on to spring projects.

Jim

A little bit of both here. I can't seem to get to cleaning the 100 or so bucket lids. That's all that's left other than some odds and ends type improvements for next year. I finished raking and seeding the ditch line from the new water and power to the shack today that we ran last November.
Turkey season next Saturday and a couple of volunteer projects already piling up.

[Sugarmaker]

Just got all the tubing cleaned and the tubs washed today. Seemed to take all week. Yes some much needed rest over the last week too. Decided to keep all the syrup I have made, so none will go to bulk at this time. Canned 20 gallons. The rest is in the freezers. Will see how that works out. Yes have to get on to yard projects. Was snowing and hard frost last night.
Regards,
Chris

[Dan W]

Today I did a final rinse on all the bucket taps and laid them out to dry in the garage. I am already gearing up for next year. I ordered another membrane for the RO as well as a new pump. Over the summer I am going to re-do the RO, run new electric to the sugar house (more AMPS), and talk to a neighbor a mile down the road about tapping his woods with tubing. Other than getting the tractor PM'd I basically took this weekend of and next will be the start of the honey-do list and yard work.

[Gary R]

Jim, we finally got to hear from you!:lol: Everything is ready for next season but the wood. We're half way done with that. We had the flue pan off this weekend and pressure washed it. Touched up some paint on the arch, washed the floor and covered the stacks. We went and experienced the big syrup buy day on Saturday. It was interesting. People have been mowing grass for a week. I'm not looking forward to that!

[Dave Y]

Gary who was buying?

[Gary R]

Firth's, many thousands of gallons in the building by 10:30AM, decent prices also. A dozen vehicles in line to unload when I showed up. Unfortunately he was very busy so I didn't chat very much. I'm not going to post prices.

Dave, did you turn your pump back on over the weekend?:)

[Dave Y]

Gary, I did not turn the pump on as I am finished. I sold a little bulk on FRI. My buyer is in NY. The prices have held very well. I found out I made no commercial this year.