April Journal

[jimsudz]

I don't see a journal so I'll start one. 140 gallons made so far,hoping for 200+.Taking the evening off tonight,boil tomorrow evening.

[Dennis H.]

Another clean up day, well at least an evening.
I got the evap pans now nice and clean. I need to to clean the sap pump and hoses, the sap tank, head tank and preheater.
I am planning and doing this all at once. Give the sap tank and sap hauling tank a quick rinse then fill the sap hauling tank with some water and pump it to the sap tank then into the head tank then thru the preheater.

[mapleack]

Gathered another 425 gal of sap, making really dark syrup. This is the second time in the last 20 years that we've boiled this late, may set an all time record for late finishing date.

[whitetail farms]

made a very disapointing 7 gallons on 200 taps and none of it was light,made medium amber and grade B,guess ill start cleaning up tomorrow and see what next year brings :cry:

[Run Forest Run!]

Whitetail, that really stinks. So sorry that 2013 wasn't good for you. It's hard to imagine such low numbers with all those taps. A beautiful sugar house like yours have should have been filled with syrup! But in the true spirit of sugaring here you are already looking toward next season. All the best for next year.

[PerryW]

up to 92 gallons of syrup as of today (avg. season total = 110 gal). Today was the first medium amber made all season; all the rest was Fancy.

Looks like a day or two of freeze up so I washed my gathering tank and feed tank today. I plan on finally canning up some syrup and maybe washing out my front pan to prepare for the rest of the season.

[dufftj]

Season is just getting started here! I've made 8 oz shy of a gallon so far, hoping for a lot more! Tapping all reds and silvers, neighbors calling wanting me to tap their trees too they don't want to miss out...I'm out of tubing,sacks, and spouts......and shortly (fingers crossed) storage space for sap:).

Tim

[maple flats]

Poor season so far. 1250 taps, only made 131 gal. Right now I have 110 gal of 2% sap in my tank that came in after clean up last night. Today and tomorrow likely to flow little if any, high forecast to be 37, but up in the hills where my taps are it is usually 2-4 degrees colder. I think I'll do an acid wash on the RO today to get it back to original performance. Sap should run good after tomorrow for a few days.
My total is lower than it would have been, because of a very costly mistake. In one bush, I showed 2 college kids how to tap, and how to follow the wet/dry conductors and to open the valves on each main as they started to tap the laterals on that main. Then I sent one of the same guys in to check for leaks 3 times. After having vacuum issues on that system when plagued with leaking seals at the vacuum tank, I finally walked those lines myself, after getting the vacuum tank leaks fixed. They had only opened the valves on 2 mains, (150 taps) out of 7 (415 taps total). They will never work alone again in my woods, only with an experienced worker leading or with me directly. I should have checked it myself but I was working on vacuum issues at both woods. I also should have sent my grandson, who has worked with me for 11 seasons and is good at finding leaks. Lesson learned. That was a costly mistake for me!
My other woods also had vacuum issues, right at the pump. During the 10 day freeze up I discovered that my moisture trap had failed to stop the vacuum, and the pump had filled with sap. It did not hurt the pump, but I had to remove the pump, haul it out (it's almost 1/2 mile back in), lift it by myself onto the truck, must weigh 100# and was hard to get a hold on because of iol on the pump and besides, I no longer have the strength I did 45 yrs or so ago. Then I warmed it after topping off the water in it, by heating until warm using a 500,000 BTU torch, and reheating everytime the water got cold again. Then I dumped the sap and water, checked inside and for problems and went to re connect it. Still no volume. That is when I discovered that the moisture trap was full of ice, each day I had opened the drain valve and only got about 1/2-1 cup and thought all was OK when in fact it was full of ice and that is all that had melted. Now I had to remove the trap, haul it home and put it in the shower with hot water spraying on outside as well as into one opening. It took several hours to get that all melted, adding new hot water several times. Anyway, I thus lost 2 days worth of vacuum advantage, as the sap flowed on gravity only, and this has 2 sap ladders to compound the problem.
I won't even guess what these 2 issues cost in sap totals, but it has to have been several hundred gallons.
I sure hope the ACCU Weather forecast is right and not the other 2 forecasts I see, Accu Weather shows good maple weather after tomorrow until the end of next week, the others only show 3 good days and then overnight lows above freezing for several days. Even though the buds are real tight yet, as late in the season as it is, that could change fairly fast with daytime in the 50's and no freeze overnight for too many days in a row.
I also need to get a good way to clean my woods tank better during the season so I can daily clean those 2 tanks for lighter syrup, I only made about 40 gal of medium, and the rest has been dark amber. No B yet.

[maple2]

after a 10 day stretch of boiling, i decided to give my hired man monday off.seeing how it didnt freeze sunday night, didnt figure there would be much sap. good day to wash tanks. i was suprised to find everything almost full. spent the rest of the day trucking sap. should have a long boil today. we are at 3/4 crop. mostly light and medium.

[PerryW]

Today could be the day. All taps have been in less than 4.5 weeks. Extended 2 day hard freeze. high of 48 predicted. Even the cold trees are now running good.

Front pan is clean, tanks are washed, rested up yesterday (goofed off) and I'm ready to make some syrup. I will walk the lines as soon as the sap starts flowing (late morning). Prolly start gathering at 2PM, Should have at least 400 gallons of sap by then. Start Boiling at 4 PM.

Sitting at 92 gallons (85% crop), should break 100 gallons on tonight's boil, which will double last year's crop. Looks like a couple more runs forecast in the next few days. Cautiously optimistic for a good or ever great season.

[heus]

This has been a great season in northeast Ohio! My taps have been in for almost 8 weeks. None are dried up. Will be close to tripling our 2012 production. Its April 4th and syrup still tastes great and still smells good while boiling. Our 31st boil will take place today, tying our record from 2 years ago.

[DonMcJr]

41 taps and I have made 10 gallons, 94 oz and counting! I have to pull taps Friday or Saturday because I have Arm Surgery Monday but I should have at least another 3 gallons of sweet/sap with one more boil and then finishing off the sweet in the Turkey fryer!

My best year by far but it's only my 2nd year!

[Dennis H.]

Today was another cleaning day.
I now have the sap tanks and pumps clean. The preheater is flushed out.
Now I need to wipe the hood down. pull off the pans and clean the arch out and give the pan bottoms a good brushing.
I may actually get things finished up this weekend.

Also been putting together a list of parts to build a small RO. I am not sure if we will have a year again like we did this year but I will not be boiling as long as I did this year.

[whitetail farms]

I have got everything clean and started working on clearing some little pine tree out behid the sugarhouse,but im gonna let that project sit for awhile while the ground dries out then, ill finnish that up and start thinning my woods gonna get it ready to put up tubeing ..so happy I wont be dealing with buckets any more :)

[sjdoyon]

Boiled another 3,000 gallons of sap today resulting in some nice medium amber, still haven't run into any buddy tasting syrup. Supposed to be in the teens tonight and next two nights. Looks like at least another week of boiling.

[PerryW]

go, Go GO! Must still be winter up in Canaan. Finally heard the peepers here today.

[Yellzee]

Started pulling taps and flushing lines today. Surprised to find crap already forming in A few taps and trees. It was cold and windy and threw in the towel on one lat that didnt seem to want to run. Something blocking it somewhere. Seems like every year i find a tee plugged.... Im tempted to replace most of them this fall.

[PerryW]

Started pulling taps and flushing lines today. Surprised to find crap already forming in A few taps and trees. It was cold and windy and threw in the towel on one lat that didnt seem to want to run. Something blocking it somewhere. Seems like every year i find a tee plugged.... Im tempted to replace most of them this fall.

Lot of crap in my lines too. I like to think the blockage happens when I started rinsing when I dislodged a chunk.

[dufftj]

Been a great second season for me. I have out about 50 taps on jugs and sacks and have bottled up about 12 gallons of syrup so far. Starting beekeeping this year and will be picking up the bees this afternoon. I thought I'd be done boiling by now! Guess I'm going to take it to the end and see what I end up with. Pleanty of snow left to bury my holding barrles with, usually by this time of year the trees in my area of the state have started to leaf out, no signs of that so far.

Tim

[maple flats]

I've finished collecting and started pulling taps. The pans are being cleaned just boiling water. Permeate will be used to boil after 2 water boils. I still have 20 gal in my finisher to finish off today. I'll also be bottling from bulk as my shelves are low again. I bottled 14 gal of B yesterday since I was out and that batch of clean up boil ended up B (my first B of the season) and I had 2 customers waiting for B. I think the 20 gal will be C but I'm not sure how much it will finish at yet. It is what was in the finisher plus the final draw from the front pan. Now it needs to be brought to syrup density. I now stand at 312 gal and I'm thinking I might get 12-15 more from the finisher.
Making plans for next year. Thinking very seriously of getting a 500 GPH Ray Gingerich RO, a bigger finisher, and an addition on the sugarhouse (mostly kitchen) along with a cold storage cellar and a bathroom.

[220 maple]

Recieved Leader's Open House Info in the mail yesterday, I can't make it to the seminars but did notice that during the Finishing, Filtering and Canning demo. that Bruce is going to be using the New CLEAR Filter Press. Has anyone been to Leaders showroom lately? Is it on display or are they going to unveil it next Sat.??

Mark 220 Maple

[western mainer]

Sawing out lumber so we can add on to the sugar house 14' X 20'. Going to be adding vacuum and more taps also.
Brian

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Bus is leaving Poultney at 7am sharp. Will stop at D&G first then CDL, Lapierre and then Leader last.

[nymapleguy607]

Bus is leaving Poultney at 7am sharp. Will stop at D&G first then CDL, Lapierre and then Leader last.
Are you going there Friday or Saturday? I think we are going to go to the open houses on Saturday.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Are you going there Friday or Saturday? I think we are going to go to the open houses on Saturday.
Saturday trying to figure out what im going to wear that stands out

[nymapleguy607]

We'll be there on Saturday, I'll be wearing my red jacket that has Hill Top Maple Farm on it. Hope to see you guys there

[Revi]

We have been reading about sap stealers in Maine lately. Check out this pic:

http://www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=1053701

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

looked at the new clear filter press. Its pretty cool but being all plastic/carbonate and still 1700.00. Would have thought it be less expensive than that.
All the dealers had cool things to look at.
I priced 2x6 pans out at all of them. all with in a few hundred dollars of each other. really need to sell my old arch and pans before I do any ordering.
I met PACMAN and WOODLAND at Lapirreir had good conversation with them. Love listening to Rajeane talk.