October journal

[steam maker]

Well sitting here in oxford new york just got done milking my friends cows and doin his chores so he could have day away with his family! Need to take up bow hunting so i have something to do in between milkings! Need to start gettin my ducks in a row for this season! Oh well things will be different next year 😝. Gonna start digging for new ro room addition tommorow ! I better get moving !!!!!!!!!

[maple flats]

How did we ever get this far into a month before someone posted in that month's journal? It seems impossible.

[PerryFamily]

Got my slab ( 8 x 12) poured for the RO room. 6" 4000psi with fibers and radiant heat in the concrete. Stripped the forms today and insulated the sides of the slab. Got the water line dug. Just need some pipe and sand tomorrow. Way too many things to do and get with very little time and most importantly money to do it.!!!

[Gary R]

Just a few things done Maple over the summer. Switched from a 200 to a 400 gal. bulk tank. Ran water to a hydrant just outside the sugar shack and did the whole floor in diamond plate aluminum. I'm thinking of replacing my drops. The check valves don't seem to be working. A 20% reduction of sap each year for the last two years.

Archery season is upon us. Every day in the woods now. I also spent 2 weeks in Colorado scouting for next years Elk hunt and road dirt bikes. It was a blast!8024

[Maplewalnut]

did the whole floor in diamond plate aluminum. I'm thinking of replacing my drops. !8024

Never been in a sugarhouse you have to take your shoes off. LOL That floor looks awesome

[Yellzee]

Wow that is an impressive floor
. I moved the evap over to pour concrete where it sits. Originally poured the floor around it and tired of it shifting every spring. Other than that... Bow hunting. 10 pointer on my trail cam waiting for me!

[Gary R]

Thanks guy's! I would have preferred concrete for clean up, but I have enough **** money in this hobby:) I found a scrap dealer selling band new sheets cheap. I have the wife convinced to clean it daily (ya right). The neighbors want to bring a disco ball in.

[maple flats]

I'm just going to pick up my "spring discount order" tomorrow. Got a second finisher (to run 2 face to face), some more 1" tubing for 2 more mains and enough lateral to do the job. I also have all CV2's for the 1st time (been using CV1), along with all the fitting needed (I hope). I'll be back in the woods next Monday. I've got to take the chainsaw along, had some trees down. Last check none had hit the mains, but a big one had blocked the main trail to my collection tank and pump.

[ennismaple]

Our 3,000 gallon sap tank arrived mid week - it's 12ftx6ftx6ft. I can't wait to get it into the sugar camp before my mother turns it into a swimming pool! Hopefully we don't need to make any structural modifications to the building to get it in...

[unc23win]

Our 3,000 gallon sap tank arrived mid week - it's 12ftx6ftx6ft. I can't wait to get it into the sugar camp before my mother turns it into a swimming pool! Hopefully we don't need to make any structural modifications to the building to get it in...

Awesome! I think I might be in the market for one like that I was thinking it would be easier to fit inside of course I don't have the building yet but 12' goes inside a smaller building than a 20'.

[red maples]

My loan came through from Farm credit east!!! got a check yesterday morning!!! So now to get it into the bank and start on the projects!!! I have to wait to get the RO though. Since I am applying for an energy grant through the USDA everything is obviously on hold (grrrrr) and I need to get a waiver before I can buy it since I will be purchasing it before I know I am actually getting awarded the grant. PITA!!!

Anyhow very excited!!!

[GeneralStark]

My loan came through from Farm credit east!!! got a check yesterday morning!!! So now to get it into the bank and start on the projects!!! I have to wait to get the RO though. Since I am applying for an energy grant through the USDA everything is obviously on hold (grrrrr) and I need to get a waiver before I can buy it since I will be purchasing it before I know I am actually getting awarded the grant. PITA!!!

Anyhow very excited!!!

Are you having the energy audit done this sugaring season?

[red maples]

No, Don't need it anymore. If you don't currently have an RO or a Steamaway they don't require an energy audit anymore I think starting 2013. This is because they have all the documented proof of the amount of savings there is involved with the RO's and steamaways.

Now if you are upgrading your evaporator then you need one, or if you are trying to get a new one but supposedly you need to add taps or prove you have increased the amount of sap you are processing and need a bigger RO and I think it must show at least a (this number might be wrong I don't remember) 40% saving in energy. So I guess if your trying to do 2000 taps on a 250gph RO the you need to upgrade to a 600 or 1200 then you might qualify for a grant.

[ennismaple]

Our new Lapierre sap tank was delivered last week - 2984 USG of beautiful shiny stainless steel! It was Canadian Thanksgiving this past weekend so we had a bunch of family over on Sunday who were voluntold to help move it into place. It was no easy task because the tank is 6ft wide, 12 feet long and just over 6 feet high. The space it needed to fit into is not a whole lot bigger than the tank, is adjacent to the front door of the sugar camp and has a load bearing post in the way. We managed to think our way through the logistics and get it rolled into place with no damage and minimal grunting and groaning. It'll be nice to have the extra storage capacity in the sugar camp and it will serve us well when we add another membrane tower to the RO machine for the 2015 season.

All our evaporator wood has been cut, split and stacked on pallets so we're getting close to being done with the critical things needed for the 2014 season. We'll start adding some new mainline this weekend to add a few hundred more taps. It's a logical, uphill extension of the new mainlines we put in last year. Gotta love working on tubing in the woods on a cool October day!

8052

[DrTimPerkins]

Our new Lapierre sap tank was delivered last week

Congratulations on the new addition.

[ennismaple]

Congratulations on the new addition.

Thanks Dr Tim. We love new SS!!! It's like hunters buying camo - you can never have enough! And you don't want your wife to know how much you actually own or what you paid for it...

I got our entries ready for the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair competition this weekend and they were delivered this morning. It's our first time entering at the Royal and I hope we do OK - at least placing in one or two of the categories (we entered XL, Light and Medium syrup plus maple butter and stirred/granulated sugar). We have several past world champions in our district and we do well against them in the Perth Festival of the Maples so I'm cautiously optimistic. We don't make extra-light that's as high a % transmittance as many others so that puts us at a disadvantage in that categorie plus for the confections. I plan on attending the fair on November 2nd to see how we made out.

[ennismaple]

We squeezed the tank into a space that's 14 feet long by 8 feet wide. The 2 tanks it replaces were only 800 gallons each and we used to pump from one to the other to feed the RO machine and would often need to leave sap in the woods until there was room in the camp. With over 4,000 taps spread over 5 different locations this was a logistical nightmare. The 2 x 800 gallon tanks will now be used for permeate storage. We're very excited for next year!!!

[sjdoyon]

Have 14,000 feet of 2" pipe and 15,000 feet of 1" pipe arriving early next week to begin our latest expansion. Hope to get 2,500 - 3,000 new taps hooked up. Going to be a busy November.

[unc23win]

Rock on sjdoyon thats awesome I am glad to hear someone is getting busy installing new line! I am still working on my sugarhouse that got delayed I wanted it done by October 1st. Then I will be adding on taps.

8,800 taps is a boat load of taps for a 3x10 isnt it?, but I guess the 900GPH RO helps. Good luck!

[ennismaple]

Nice work sjdoyon!!! I'd be interested in how many man-days it takes to get all those taps installed from start to finish. It's a great time of year to work in the woods!

[220 maple]

I dropped in on my Amish friends two weeks ago, they have been busy installing a tubing system since the second week of July, they was hoping to be finished by Nov. 1, I wish them luck I suspect they got 4 to 6 inches of snow last week. I heard of another area near them that had six inches of the white stuff!

Mark 220 Maple