Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[Goatogether]

Sweetening the pans is taking sap from raw sap or ROed sugar content to the higher sugar contents at the various gradients around the evaporator. Today we did our first boil but did not draw off any syrup, so just "sweetened the pans".


Ahhhhh, yes, I see now. Right O!! Thanks Drewlamb!

[blissville maples]

Another boil yesterday, sap tailed off the majority of the day. Need to lose some frost before bumper runs cam start, overall I feel it will be a good season with good sugar hold out, unlike last year.

Ran probably 3500 gallons thru yesterday, made 65 gallons of amber, lighter again yet than previous 2 boils.

Nice freeze up this week, Looking forward to a day off, been14 hr days for 2 weeks!! Good chance to fine tune a few things and maybe add a dry line I was debating.

[DrTimPerkins]

Collected about 7,250 gal of sap over the weekend (about 1.3 gpt) before it froze up again yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately not real sweet, 1.45 Brix, but will likely come up when things get rocking. An "early" season run...slow accumulation. Trees need to thaw out a bit more and have a good recharge cycle and snow needs to melt back from the tree base some.

Looking like no sap weather until early-mid next week.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Tim do you leave your vacuum on throughout an extended cold spell? Any detriment by not leaving it on?

[DrTimPerkins]

Tim do you leave your vacuum on throughout an extended cold spell? Any detriment by not leaving it on?

The only time they are turned off is if we get a real cold snap and want to do some maintenance. Otherwise they are on the entire season, and the VFD slows the pumps down a lot when everything is frozen up. If you do turn them off, make sure everything is frozen up first. Note that not all pumps can be operated this way.

[tcross]

i run an old dairy pump... it's a BB4. i shut it off when nothing is expected to run, but always wait to shut it off when things are certainly done running. i'm curious... i don't think it'd handle it well if it was left on the entire season.... and on 220 volts it pulls a lot of electricity. but i'm assuming that my type of pump is the kind dr Tim is saying it shouldn't be operated 24/7.

[VTfarmboy]

picked .50gpt last evening, testing just under 2% nice solid early run, making nice med amber

[DrTimPerkins]

There are plenty of folks who know more than I do about this, but dairy pumps typically are made to run only 12-15" Hg. Keeping them cool is an issue, especially if you're trying to get as much vacuum from them as you can. When the sap lines freeze, there is very little CFM moving through the pumps, which can cause them to overheat.

[tapdrinker]

made my first batch yesterday knowing the cold was going to freeze my sap collection bins. Very good syrup.
What do you do if your plastic bins are completely frozen????

[blissville maples]

Not too much can do if weren't able to drain, they will thaw, look for cracked valves as they do. Most the time they hold up fine.

Yep agree with that, I've used dairy pump, you can get them to run 16-18 depending on model. Im more familiar with the delaval vp series. These models when overheat will usually start to experience vanes that stick and you'll start to hear it clanging, different than a pressure difference across the pump from a severe leak. Although I've never seen a vane break from this it is possible.
I suppose a vaccum regulator would help. I've ran mine for days at a time, just have to regulate vaccum. As long as it has oil it's fine.

[TapTapTap]

First boil today. Yup, you read that right. Today with high wind and near zero temperatures this morning. Frozen up? Oh yea. But nothing a little heat couldn't fix - plus a couple of replacement fittings. I had Dave on site today, our heavy construction company's water break foreman. Darn good thing we weren't called for an emergency water break. He was busy at my sugarhouse!

All in all, it was a good exercise to get the rookie team tuned up. Only had just over 1,000 gallons of raw sap so I concentrated it lightly to about 6% to make it last a couple hours. No syrup today but the pan is sweetened and ready to put out on the next boil.

Ken

[tcross]

i get my pump to run around 27-28". it does get warm... but i can spray some water, or put a bit of snow on it and it doesn't hiss back at me... so i'm assuming it's not "to hot". it's a big pump. i also put a 20" box fan on it later in the season when it warms up a bit. the thing has been used by me for 8 years, and by the former owner for 10-12 years. i think keeping good, fresh oil in rigs like that is very important. back when these pumps were made, was the era when they made things right and not cheap!

[tapdrinker]

Tim,
Thanks for this post:
Collected about 7,250 gal of sap over the weekend (about 1.3 gpt) before it froze up again yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately not real sweet, 1.45 Brix, but will likely come up when things get rocking. An "early" season run...slow accumulation. Trees need to thaw out a bit more and have a good recharge cycle and snow needs to melt back from the tree base some.

Looking like no sap weather until early-mid next week.

was getting nervous I'd miss a lot of the season.

[blissville maples]

I will 100% back that! Grab onto some of those older dairy pumps and you'll know they aren't cheap!! That's a fact they use very high carbon steel and made things to last.

Deffinantly a different system than a delaval vp! They don't run over 20" very well.

[drewlamb]

22123
What's wrong with this picture? Ran across this one in the woods today checking lines and thought you would appreciate. Clearly too tired for proper tapping!

[Crowsap]

Double taps are on wrong tree? It looks like the single tapped tree is larger diameter?

[wiam]

Neither one looks big enough for 2 taps

[drewlamb]

Double taps are on wrong tree? It looks like the single tapped tree is larger diameter?
Yup. Also found a dangling drop line we missed during tapping.

[blissville maples]

Yep, prime example of someone who is unconscious! Precisely why I do everything myself. It's pretty clear that the larger tree should have had the second tap as it looks close to a 20-inch tree, versus the other looking to be 16" or so.

I guess you'll have that on those big jobs!!

Hey at least it's better than my neighbor who would put Four Taps on both of those trees! I'll have to stop and take a picture of his tree someday it's a complete joke and probably a great way to kill your Sugarbush especially when you don't untap every year and leave 3 to 5 unclosed entry holes for disease and bugs

Anybody else getting bored! I guess I'll Go kick the snowbank again today!

[TapTapTap]

Anybody else getting bored! I guess I'll Go kick the snowbank again today!

Yup. So much to do once temperatures come back up but can't do anything right now. Could go check the woods for problems but I'll still need to do it again when I turn the vacuum back on
Ken

[drewlamb]

Yeah, being on the trader midday is not a good sign for maple activity! We stayed busy the last couple days doing a complete sweep of our 4 bushes to look for downed lines after that huge windstorm a few days back. Nothing on mainlines thankfully but a dozen or so laterals to fix. Not sure Tuesday will do much for us here except loosen things up but Wed/Wed night looks like a gusher.

[TapTapTap]

Hey Drew Lamb, you could go hang out and wait for melting temperatures at the Whammy Bar! My wife and I went there a few years back after stopping to buy some buckets from you. What a cool little joint. And its located at "Maple Corner". Have a great season!
Ken

[drewlamb]

Hey Drew Lamb, you could go hang out and wait for melting temperatures at the Whammy Bar! My wife and I went there a few years back after stopping to buy some buckets from you. What a cool little joint. And its located at "Maple Corner". Have a great season!
Ken
Ha! That's fantastic. Yeah, the Whammy's been closed throughout the pandemic. Just so small. Everyone is on everyone else's lap just to fit a dozen people in there. But no doubt an awesome community spot!

You guys certainly have stepped it up from bucket days, wow. Guess most of us start that way and it often goes one direction after that! We got up to about 700 buckets before switching over. I think that was 2012. Hmm, that means my oldest laterals are 10 years old. Wonder if I need to think about switching that stuff out. Not sure I know what happens to tubing when it reaches the end of it's lifespan. Is it really not useable? Perhaps at some point it just starts to fall apart or not hold fittings well?

Good luck with your season Ken!

[JoeJ]

I spent 9 1/2 hours on Thursday and Friday fixing fisher chews on 304 taps on a 1,500' long 1" mainline. I did 81 repairs from replacing multiple chewed drops to 15' long sections of completely chewed 5/16 line. The only way to find the "hidden chews" (one bite on a drop) was to run my hand over every inch of the 5/16 tubing and every drop. That made for two rather unpleasant days. Time to set the traps out again. Plus one deer chew, but that one was easy to spot.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

The power went out during the storm, turning off my heaters, making all my pvc shatter. What a mess. So tomorrow I will be working in there again...

[drewlamb]

The power went out during the storm, turning off my heaters, making all my pvc shatter. What a mess. So tomorrow I will be working in there again...

****. Feel for you treehugger. We've probably all been there in one way or another. We have no heat in our sugarhouse so there's always a long list of ice mitigation to do at the end of a boil.

Is that the same Joe that sold me all those 15 gal kegs a few years back? Still using them, but like you have mostly switched to 40s. Curious, how do you know the damage is fisher and not porcupine or squirrel or whatever? Most of our line chew is squirrel, but you can definitely tell when it's a porcupine instead. Just shredded. I don't think there's much to be done with a shotgun to help knock back the squirrel population, perhaps I'm wrong there, but I've taken out some porcupine and have noticed a huge difference. They are pretty territorial and can occupy large parts of a stand, so taking one out can save a lot of damage and a lot of tree girdling. I never feel good about it but feel the need to protect the resource.

[JoeJ]

Drew,
Yes, the same Joe. The fishers bite and chew the lines. You can see the two fang punctures about an inch or so apart top and bottom of the tubing.They do not nick or cut them off like squirrels will sometime do.
When I do manage to trap one of the fishers, the damage goes away for a while.

Joe

[Goatogether]

How would you describe each different chewer’s damage? I’m new and knock on wood haven’t seen any yet. But I sure would like to know what to look for, if anyone would be so kind as to describe each critters signature?

[TapTapTap]

The power went out during the storm, turning off my heaters, making all my pvc shatter. What a mess. So tomorrow I will be working in there again...

I've set up a temperature monitoring device in my sugarhouse kitchen. It connects to the internet and notifies me of freezing or extreme hot temperature. I also have an internet camera aimed at the RO and it's clear enough to read the system temperature so I can monitor the actual condition. I won't have either system if the power fails but I'll get several notifications when that happens. I've got a stand-by generator and auto switch for the house. But I need to manually switch to the sugarhouse. If all that fails, I can grab the Buddy heater.
Ken

22146

[JoeJ]

From my experience, squirrels will nick, make a small cut or chew a whole or chew off a 5/16 line or chews large holes in main line or chew on saddles. Deer will raggedly chew 5/16 line with their molars or just cut the line off. I have never had any deer damage on a main line. I have had coyotes chew the 5/16 into small pieces 1/2" to 1" long, chew up 5' to 8' of 5/16 in one place and even chew on saddles. Fishers will bite 5/16 and leave fang marks that pierce the 5/16 or just bite up an entire 40" drop line. You can tel it is a fisher by the small cat like tooth pierce marks. I have never had any main line fisher damage. Bears will leave large tooth punctures that are several inches apart. With my first attack by a woodpecker, I though a kid had vandalized my main line. The hole were so perfectly round, equal in size and spaced the same distance apart, that I thought that the holes had been drilled in the line. I just had my first woodpecker attack in 5 years this season, with four holes in a 12" space. Just great for vacuum. The only thing good about woodpeckers is that they seem to always make a big enough hole that you can hear the air 20' away.
This may not be a complete list or exactly describe each problem, but this is what I have found.

Joe

[PARKER MAPLE]

Finished taping in today. Man snow is deep in Weston. 4’ in places. But it’s done.
3500 +\~ is what we did. More coming next year. Hoping this week starts us all off to a great season. And that the prices of wholesale go up as well.
Best of luck

[Goatogether]

Thanks Joe!! That’s very interesting and good to know. I’m going to be walking all our lines tomorrow and again, knock on wood! I know we have a fox and sometimes her kits in the wood, but we named our operation after her (Foxy Loxy Maple) so maybe she will get protective and the others will stay?

[tapdrinker]

Does tomorrow open the sap flood gates??? Weather forecast looks like it'll be drenched with sap.
Just tested my sap brix and it's 3.75 ish on calibrated spectrometer. RO should get me above 8 easily.

[PARKER MAPLE]

Does tomorrow open the sap flood gates??? Weather forecast looks like it'll be drenched with sap.
Just tested my sap brix and it's 3.75 ish on calibrated spectrometer. RO should get me above 8 easily.

Man if I only had a few thousand trees that put out 3.75 %
Life would be great. Mine tested just below 2

[tcross]

i'm guessing there will be no gusher up in my neck of the woods. barely above freezing here today. upper 40's to lo 50's wednesday through Friday, but also no freezing. probably have a half way decent run followed by a long trickle. sure hope i'm wrong though!

[tapdrinker]

I jump up and down with happiness... I'm getting an average sap above 5.5 brix from a collection of all my trees. YES!!!!
Sorry for my excitement. First real season for me with all my new equipment. It's running great here in Randolph VT right now.
I should mention-I only tap sugar maple. NO red, silver, etc.

[DrTimPerkins]

Did you toss any ice out or was that straight from the tree? If from the tree, that is excellent sugar content. Yard trees or woods trees?

[blissville maples]

I would probably check my hydrometer or get a new one, just to be sure, I suppose not impossible but that's quite high. I'll see 4-5 on my one bucket tree but I think some evaporation is involved.

I grabbed 800 gallons that had big ice chunk in it and it tested 2.3.

Well all leaks are pretty well found. Had new bush up to 29" yesterday, and 27.5 on another. One still at 25 so some more critter problems there. And my remote generator site at 18" on dairy pump, no high vac this Year which is kind of sad, but this site may be a thing of the past next year as I focus closer to home.

Things pretty locked up still only about a half gallon per tap. Ground is becoming visible so I think after this warm spell we'll be looking for some bumper runs, until then the trees are a little locked up.

[VTfarmboy]

picked .30gpt at dusk yesterday testing 2.2%, good freeze last night here next few days should be epic

[tapdrinker]

@Tim - yes straight from the spile-nothing to do with the buckets at all. Straight up from the spile onto refractometer with atc. Oh... I'm so itching to have enough to boil now. I'll probably ro this afternoon and boil first thing in the morning. One tree was over 7%! It hasn't been tapped ever and probably 100 yrs old or more.

[tapdrinker]

Tim - my trees are a combo of wood younger trees (lines) and yard big old maples. I got approval from owner to tap a 4' diameter tree that hit 7%! Yes! This tree according to owner had never been tapped. He's lived there for over 30 yrs.

[tapdrinker]

For all to read-found this to be very very helpfull. yes I only tap sugar maple. No red/silver/etc.
https://employees.csbsju.edu/ssaupe/CV/conger_final_report.pdf

[GeneralStark]

Tapdrinker... have you calibrated your refractometer with distilled water recently? I'm not saying your ssc is wrong as it's totally possible to get high concentrations from open grown trees, but I have been disappointed before by faulty refractometer readings as they need to be calibrated often. Especially the cheap ones....

Pretty slow to thaw out here yesterday but once the sun came out the sap started flowing a bit. We'll see what today brings...

[DrTimPerkins]

@Tim - yes straight from the spile-nothing to do with the buckets at all. Straight up from the spile onto refractometer with atc.

After putting a few drops of sap on the refractometer, close the lid and wait a minute for the sap and instrument to come to thermal equilibrium. Then take your reading. If the refractometer is warm (from being in your pocket or hand), and the sap is cold, the reading will be off on the high side. Also, make sure the lid is closed right away, otherwise water will evaporate off the slide/well and artificially elevate the reading.

[tapdrinker]

Tim-Yes the same tree that was 7 yesterday is 4.5 today. Still excellent. I started my RO and the sap is brown-5 micron filter. I'm thinking there is a lot of sand in it. I'll be boiling tomorrow as I have 25 gal of what I think is about 6%. My RO is almost worthless when the sap is strong out of the trees. It does help with the weaker 3% trees-brings it up to 5.5 easily. I might look into getting a more powerful pump to get it from 105 ish psi to 125-That little bit would make a huge difference in flow over 4 membranes. When I do boil tomorrow - I'll drop my psi to about 90 as I can evap at that same rate output of the ro system and put it directly into the heater pan. Sap lines are running good-still have about 25 gal in the bin running ro. I expect about 40-50 gal of sap tomorrow at 3 brix min hope I can get more like 4. It takes me about 1.5 hrs to make a gal of syrup at 6 brix. The guy down the street can make 110 gal in that same amount of time. Glad it is a stress free hobby for me... well sort of. LOL.

[tapdrinker]

Tim here is a photo of what I'm talking about. Is this color difference normal? water is obvious and very clean. the Sugar is light brown.

2219022191

[MJPJ Sugars]

Only .56 gpt this week here in Georgia (VT) :cry:

[VTfarmboy]

gathered .50gpt last evening testing right at 2%, very little sugar sand so far this year

[DrTimPerkins]

2.4 gpt of sap since yesterday morning. Decent flow, but still not a super great run. Sugar still low at 1.55 Brix average. Seems to be still a fairly early season run. Crew is setting up more experiments today and we'll finalize some of them tomorrow.

[tcross]

didn't get a whole lot of sap flow up here in the kindgom yesterday or last night, but it has picked up this a.m and is coming in at a good pace now! looking forward to our first boil of the season tonight!

[Ultimatetreehugger]

About a gallon per tap from the last three days. Sap was .9 but has gone up to 1.

[Brian]

Same here low sugar, but running good.

[PARKER MAPLE]

Yesterday’s run was less then expected down here. Ended up with less then 1gpt. Sugar did come up tho so that’s a bonus. Brought it all back to sugarhouse and Roed last night, we will boil it in along with the sap we gather today. Should have close to 1000 gallons of 12%

[VTfarmboy]

picked .25gpt last night just under 2%, was hoping this run was going to be the big one but it never materialized, should be at 25% crop after todays boil

[drewlamb]

Yup. Sounds like many of us are seeing similar. We got about 0.5 gpt from Wed and just over 1 from Thursday. Sap at 1.5.

[GeneralStark]

Yesterday I boiled everything I collected this week and about 200 gal. left over as a block of ice from the end of Feb. About 1900 gal. total through Friday am so over 1gpt per day each Wednesday and Thursday. Made about 30 gal. and would have made more but I had to add water to the head tank at the end of my first boil as my wood loading timing was off....

We did get a light freeze Thursday night so it ran ok yesterday. About 1/2 gpt. Running again now pretty well after a sold freeze last night with light winds and a warm March sun to thaw the trees. Will probably boil again tomorrow before a likely solid freeze for a couple days.

We lost most of our snow here this week so that should help improve sap flow later this week.

[tapdrinker]

looking at long range forecast-full throttle onward from Tuesday for me. I might need more buckets to keep inside to keep my concentrate thawed.

[TapTapTap]

Another lesson learned yesterday with my new electric releaser. I had a leaking fitting that finally failed on the discharge side of the pump. It had no real affect on my production since the sap run had ended due to sub freezing temperatures. I want to replace several pvc fittings with ss but I just used a fernco rubber reflex fitting for now. Of course the fernco isn't good at staying on under pump pressure so I was making a restraining system with hose clamps and steel strapping. While I was making up the joint, some more sap melted in the lines and the tank filled enough for the pump to kick on! What a mess, I was covered with sap to the point that even my socks in my rubber boots got saturated.

Next time, de-energize the pump!

[VTfarmboy]

yesterday picked .30gpt testing 2.1, today in the cold north wind picked .50gpt testing 2.2, making a nice red dark, sugar sand starting to get worse.

[DrTimPerkins]

What a mess, I was covered with sap to the point that even my socks in my rubber boots got saturated.

Sounds about right. Seems like I end up being covered in sap or syrup at least once each season (which always means the Def Leppard song "Pour Some Sugar on Me" starts bouncing around in my head https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UIB9Y4OFPs :cool: )

I like to joke with my brother-in-law who has a small bucket operation that we spill more syrup in a day than he makes all season.

[blissville maples]

well the trees have awaken! Love the short 4-6 hr freezes really makes for a hard run with minimal ice issue.

Boiled off 8100 gallons yesterday from Saturday and Sunday, sugar content very nice testing 1.9 - 2.1. 1.9 is mix of reds. Turned all that into 165 gallons syrup. Started off with some dark amber and was at light amber by barrel #4. Speaking of amber the new grade system really doesn't correctly represent the actual grade of amber. (I made 3 different grades of amber yesterday) It needs a sub category. We all know dark amber isn't robust and light amber is not golden that's a fact, so just call it amber is the answer I guess but that doesn't separate or highlight the different flavor profiles of the grade(light amber being sweet and crisp while dark amber has a slight amount of maple flavor with a lower light transmission than light amber). which isn't an issue for the robust or golden grades. What about the folks that want a little bit of maple flavor but not robust these folks used to grab the dark Amber now they don't know where to find that particular flavor they once had, I guess they have to buy one of each dark and light and mix their own!

.6 gpt sap yesterday from 10 am to 5 pm, like garden hoses coming into releaser! I'm hoping our season isn't too short, I'm seeing 55/60 and full sun coming up which can wreak havoc on the sap! Time tells all!

[GeneralStark]

Speaking of amber the new grade system really doesn't correctly represent the actual grade of amber.

I couldn't agree more. I personally wish they had based the new system on the old VT system and just added a category for the very dark but alas.... that is not the case.

Yesterday I boiled all the sap I collected Friday and Saturday (.5 gpt each day) and made over 10 Gal of classic dark amber. The sap was a bit cloudy as I think the ice from some solid freezes had scrubbed some slime that started to grow during those warm days last week. Sugar content did come up and it was about 1.8. Hopefully that trend will continue...

I picked up a Murphy compensation float and I'm wishing I had done so years ago. What a clever tool...

[DrTimPerkins]

I picked up a Murphy compensation float and I'm wishing I had done so years ago. What a clever tool...

It really is a useful tool once you get your head wrapped around it. No more charts -- quick and easy to get the density dialed in within the drawoff tank, then off through the filter press and in a barrel. I haven't seen a newer version -- have they added a "hot pack" temperature range to the face of the dial?

[GeneralStark]

It really is a useful tool once you get your head wrapped around it. No more charts -- quick and easy to get the density dialed in within the drawoff tank, then off through the filter press and in a barrel. I haven't seen a newer version -- have they added a "hot pack" temperature range to the face of the dial?

The weak link for me has always been thermometer accuracy and frequent calibration so I really like the fact that this removes that variable completely...

Mine only has one scale on the dial for density.

[DrTimPerkins]

Mine only has one scale on the dial for density.

I had suggested a few years ago that they include a regular temperature scale with an indication of packing temperature range along with the density. I think it is part of their instruction manual, but probably could be too confusing for users (and who ever reads the instruction manual for anything :)). The 180 deg F (packing temperature) corresponds to 60.5 on their scale though, so we always try to make sure we're sending it to the barrel while it is still hot enough (which would be a lower Brix value on their scale).

Typically we try to shoot for a touch higher density, then dilute back with sweet from the backpan to proper syrup density. This keeps things hot and ensures we don't drop too low in density.

[blissville maples]

Slow to get going yesterday, ran from 3-6ish, single digits really make it slow to start. Not much sap, but that should be changing from today on!

[DrTimPerkins]

Slow to get going yesterday, ran from 3-6ish, single digits really make it slow to start. Not much sap, but that should be changing from today on!

But the next couple of days should be good flow days. Good luck to all.

[MJPJ Sugars]

Is there any historical data correlation between a previous year's dry/drought conditions and the following year's sap harvest?

Should you expect a less-than-usual harvest/sap flow after a particularly dry growing season?

[DrTimPerkins]

Is there any historical data correlation between a previous year's dry/drought conditions and the following year's sap harvest?

There is nothing published, but we've done some preliminary analysis of this. In terms of sap yield (quantity of sap), the conditions during the sugaring season (cool temperatures, good moisture as either snow or rain) dominate in terms of influence. For sap sugar content, hot, dry weather during the season and hot dry weather in the previous fall and previous growing season all seem to lower it. Growth is a pretty good predictor of syrup yield....hot, dry conditions reduce growth, as does canopy crowding. For sap sugar, you can think of the tree as an engine. When conditions are perfect, the engine will achieve it's optimal power output (based upon the tree genetics). Theonly way to maybe make the engine run better would be to give it high octane fuel (lots of sunlight, nutrients, and water). However almost anything that happens can only have a negative impact on sugar production, pushing growth and sap sugar content lower.

[GeneralStark]

I had suggested a few years ago that they include a regular temperature scale with an indication of packing temperature range along with the density. I think it is part of their instruction manual, but probably could be too confusing for users (and who ever reads the instruction manual for anything :)). The 180 deg F (packing temperature) corresponds to 60.5 on their scale though, so we always try to make sure we're sending it to the barrel while it is still hot enough (which would be a lower Brix value on their scale).

Typically we try to shoot for a touch higher density, then dilute back with sweet from the backpan to proper syrup density. This keeps things hot and ensures we don't drop too low in density.

Yes the instructions, which I did actually read :), do include an explanation of corresponding temperatures. I also like to draw off heavy and then dilute before filtering. I keep the syrup off the evaporator in my canner which keeps it at about 195-200 F but the diluting, adding fresh syrup and recirculating back to canner from the filter press can cause fluctuations in the syrup temp. This is why this compensation float is so handy for my system.

Things finally thawed out here early afternoon and the sap ran well all night. Will definitely go over 2gpt in 24 hrs. I thought I might get something Monday but it just never warmed enough for more than about 50 gal. to come in, mostly just from the lines thawing.

Going to boil today and see what I get. SSC does seem to be inching up and when I tested earlier it was just below 2.

[sugartree310]

It finally opened up here yesterday going to be over 2gpt in 24 hrs , sugar is 2% today and going to boil today also.

[KansasNate]

Anyone else getting a little concerned with the weather forecast? Next few days look great, and I got just under 2gpt yesterday. But past this weekend looks sorta concerning.

I'm in Orange County, and it looks like we're going to stay above freezing indefinitely starting on Monday and the long term trend is for above normal temps in the 10-20 day period (https://www.weather.gov/btv/winter#tab-10). I hope this current run is a good once, because I'm afraid could be our last for the season. Before yesterday, my season total was 2.5 gpt (on 3/16 vacuum)

[tcross]

i hope the forecast will change... usually it's only good for a couple days this time of the year anyways. i'm not even at 1/16th of a crop! had our second boil a week ago tomorrow!

[hogisland42]

I am a bit concerned about the forcast as well. But I agree things can change day to day. Luckily the weatherman is usually wrong

[blissville maples]

Another mirror image boil of previous, around 8500 gallons from wensday and Thursday, testing 1.9 ish turned out 167 gallons of some nice light amber. I'm at right about a third of my minimum goal of 2250 gallons.

Yes the weather is concerning, with the way the last 8 weeks has gone I did not expect this. It is going to cool down after but very slowly, not sure if sap will keep.
It will be interesting to see what happens, I am not super worried about trees budding because there is still Frost in the ground and until the ground warms and dries up a bit shouldn't have to worry about that. If it was April that's probably all of would take to end it. However it's really going to take a toll on sap quality, I think the warmer Bush's will really be hurting. This is where good sanitation really comes into play, new drops etc.

[VTfarmboy]

1gpt in the last 48hr testing 2.3%, over half crop (full crop for my gravity bush is .25gpt) making nice light dark robust, bush is cold but frost is coming out fast in the fields, sap still nice and clear and no moths, geese are moving though and next week has me a bit concerned(sandy soil and good sun) hope forecast is wrong , would like 2 more weeks

[Mead Maple]

Well the sap ran great here in Middlesex. Unfortunately that came at the cost of 1.1% SSC. One of my small bushes located about 5 miles from the house test right at 2%.

Good news is I was able to try out my new to me RO and figured out that it would take 1.1% sap and bring it to just over 6. The second pass brought it up to 15% which has cut my boiling time to no more than two hours. Time to up the tap count!

[tapdrinker]

Randolph VT let loose yesterday. I couldn't keep up with it. RO froze overnight. So it will be another awesome day here. Got 5gal per tap yesterday. It was nutz. 7 3gal buckets overflowed twice. Had to collect in the morning and at night. Lines running awesome too. 5 gal buckets were filling for me every 4 hrs. My shoulders hurt from carrying them over 1/4 mile. Good workout.

[VTfarmboy]

2gpt in the last 48hrs testing right at 2%, swamped trying to keep up boiled 12hr today doors cherry and stack blowing like a locomotive, all coming at once here at the end, dont think we will get past thurs 70+ but we will see, sap still pretty clear made all med last 2 boils

[GeneralStark]

Boiled today about 2700 gal. from this weekend and a little bit left from Thursday that I held over to freeze in the tank knowing that it was gonna get warm. SSC at about 1.6 and made about 50 gal. of amber from the dark side of the range to the light.

It did marginally freeze here last night so that helped restore the flow today but no more freezes until perhaps Saturday unless the forecast changes. I'm having flashbacks to the summer in March 2012 season.

Planning to boil every day for the next few days and see what happens. Sap quality has been good but started to get a bit cloudy today so I don't want it sitting around for too long.

I have been looking for a working dairy bulk tank for a while and an opportunity that was too good to turn down fell into my lap so I spent Sunday getting it ready to be hooked up and serviced. The DeLaval service tech came by today to take a look and will be back later this week to plumb it up and hopefully get it running. He seemed to think it should be no problem given its condition and the fact that it was working before it was removed from the milk house. Not sure it will help this season but I'm glad to have made this addition to my operation.

[sugartree310]

We made 62 gallons of AR tonight after making 120 gallons yesterday , sugar has been decent at 1.8% and we saw 3.0% from bucket sap . Going to boil every night over the next few days till this weather changes , sap still running good and may see a light freeze again tonight . We where also taking about that 2012 season tonight also !

[smokeyamber]

Ran really well yesterday, the new home build RO kept up with 48 taps on tubing and the buckets delivered a bunch. Sap still looks good and I am pushing to boil it all before Thursdays 70 deg day. Hoping we get another run, but with close to 4 gallons produced so far I am hoping for 2/3 crop if we don't get another run of good weather. Running the 2x5 last night the stack kept kicking off like a chimney fire... never had it happen so much, but then I had help drawing and was really going after the firing.... fun times !

Fingers crossed the weather turns out colder then they say... people who want summer must think us sugarers are a bit crazy...

[GeneralStark]

Seems as though we had another marginal freeze here again last night. Sap ran pretty well and will likely be another 1+gpt in 24 hours. Boiled about 800 gal today and made 15 gal of DR but only just slightly darker than amber. Sap quality is surprisingly good and it's still coming into the releaser clear. Very little niter so far... drained the syrup pans to clean them and even after two boils they were totally clean with just a spray with the hose. What a weird season so far...

Going to boil again tomorrow and see what I get. I think the cool nights have been keeping the sap quality ok but we're about to lose that so I'm not sure what to expect. One day at a time...

[DrTimPerkins]

Sap flow was only moderate yesterday (light freeze Monday night) and SSC had dropped to 1.5 Brix by the afternoon. The crew boiled and make 560 gal of Amber/Rich. They'll concentrate what came in overnight and may boil out the pans to keep them from going ropey during this hot spell. Very good quality syrup and very little niter so far. We're at 35% of a minimum crop (0.5 gal/tap). Between the hot weather and low sugar it may be hard reaching that point unless we get some real good weather for a few weeks after this. Forecast looking more favorable after Saturday, but time is the only thing that will tell us for sure.

Later addition: About 1.5 gpt overnight (Tues afternoon to Wed morning) at 1.65 Brix. No freeze. Vacuum down to 25.2" Hg due to warm weather (gas production by trees increases when it is hot).

[ronewold]

Can you clarify what you mean by "boiling out the pans"? Does that just mean boiling things to sterilize them before they sit? Or will you be doing some draining of the pans too?
I too am worried about the syrup in the pans during this warm spell- I was thinking about draining the syrup pan for a quick cleaning anyway, but I wasn't sure what to do about the sap pan. I think I have heard folks talk about doing short boils during down periods to keep things from growing, but it is hard to keep from boiling too much when there is only a little sap available to refill the pans.

[DrTimPerkins]

Can you clarify what you mean by "boiling out the pans"?

Given the high temperatures for an extended period of time, we decided to completely finish all the sweet in the pans to preserve all the good syrup we have. We will transfer the backpan contents to the front pan, close off the valve between the pans, and run permeate into the backpan so we can boil. No drawoffs -- all the pan will be relatively homogenous -- we will use a scoop to move syrup around a bit to ensure this. Once it reaches the proper density, it'll go into a drum. We'll then flood the frontpan with permeate and let it soak until we boil again.

We're doing this because we don't want to risk having any sour sap (due to low flows and high temperatures) coming from the lines contaminate the good sweet in the pans, and don't want to risk the sweet going ropey in the hot weather. Doesn't take much time to sweeten our pans when we're starting with 36 Brix concentrate. Typically only takes an hour to get to the first drawoff.

[GeneralStark]

Boiled again today and made almost 20 gal of nice DR from about 1100 gal. of sap. So, sugar at about 1.4. Still boiling well with little niter. Foaming a little more but nothing too dramatic. Fortunately it was cloudy all day so didn't get nearly as warm as the last couple days so sap quality is hanging in there.

The big news here is that the DeLaval service team set up my new refrigerated tank and it's working great. Just some plumbing, a filter change and a refrigerant charge was all that was needed. They were impressed with the condition of the system given it is 1988 vintage...

So, my plan is to concentrate all the sap I have tomorrow morning into the chiller tank. Then I'll see how warm it gets tomorrow and what the sap looks like. I may end up dumping sap if it spoils in the lines. The syrup in the evap. is good so I want to be sure to not contaminate it so will be test boiling anything I collect from here on in.

There may be a chance of getting through the warm spell if the trees don't bud as by Friday evening the temps. will be much more favorable for sap quality and then we should get some freezing temps. by the end of the weekend.

[tapdrinker]

Made 3.5 gal of nice Amber Rich yesterday. buckets were overflowing last night. will boil again today in hopes of 2 more gal.
Glad it's still running. Many family orders still need to be filled.

[tcross]

sap is still trickling in here somehow. hasn't froze in 3 days. yesterday it was testing 1.75%... this a.m it tested 1.5%. I think i'll keep the pump on until it tests at 1% and hope it freezes up over the weekend... fingers crossed! It's supposed to be cloudy/rainy here for the next few days... hopefully that delays my red maples from thinking about budding. still a decent amount of snow in the woods and my pond is still fully iced over. time will tell!

[blissville maples]

Has been a challenging week keeping the sap moving and halfway fresh. I'm not too concerned about budding yet because the roots are still fairly cold and the ground frost is just about out of the ground the north slopes. The trees know what time it is and they know that this is just a fluke in the weather after the first week of March we had! However it definitely got their attention that spring is near so I think they are staging the bud cycle. Syrup just went dark Tuesday so that tells me were only about midpoint or a little beyond, that doesn't mean sap can't go bad. No peepers, ponds still iced, frost just out, and just started making dark syrup are all indications to me we have a couple weeks left especially if the weather straighten out Sunday. Also with all this sun and warm weather the grass hasn't even started to Green up yet. but Time tells all so well find out!!

My new bush is all coming into tank like spring water still clear all the way thru. Old bushs are slightly cloudy sap still, makes me wonder how much effect old lines have on sap quality, but the new bush is mainly north slope with some frost still keeping tree roots cool, and likely sap also.

[ronewold]

Given the high temperatures for an extended period of time, we decided to completely finish all the sweet in the pans to preserve all the good syrup we have.

Oh, that makes sense, thanks! I should probably do something similar- the weather looks like it is going to remain unfavorable for several days- I don't see a guaranteed freeze until Sunday night here, the forecast has been drifting a bit warmer.
My setup is (of course) very different from yours, but I could do a version of this "boil out" procedure. I would have to drain the back pan and feed the sweet into the front over a couple of hours, since the volume in my back pan is maybe 4x the front. I also would have to go through the pan-sweetening process again if we get another run (no RO yet), but that is probably a risk worth taking to save the "almost syrup" I have. It would also give me the satisfaction of finally drawing off some syrup for the first time on my new rig- the run so far this year for me has been a lot less sap than expected, and the sugar content has been low too, so I have been stuck in pan-sweetening purgatory for a week.
This has been a tough first season for me, lots of learning, and many of my optimistic estimates have been REALLY far off from reality. I've still had a great time, but looking at the sap run potentially ending any minute scares the heck out of me, since I have a whole year's worth of work into this all and haven't produced a drop of syrup yet! I've boiled maybe 1000 gallons of sub 2 percent sap in four short boils, but the numbers say that I need close to 2000 gallons to sweeten my 3x12.
The good news is that I now see that I oversized the major components of my system to allow for a lot of expansion next year. The bad news is that when I expand my taps, I might only then hit the syrup target I was shooting for this year. The other good news is that I have gone through less than a quarter of my wood so far, so this summer's cutting can be very relaxed. I overdid that too.

[tcross]

i have sap frozen in 2 gallon buckets. i'm thinking tonight will be my last boil for a few days. i'm planning on putting those buckets in my flu pan tomorrow a.m and putting some foam insulation board over it to keep it cold. i'll boil down as far as i can in my syrup pan tonight and put what's remaining in the freezer. hopefully that strategy works out.

[blissville maples]

Later addition: About 1.5 gpt overnight (Tues afternoon to Wed morning) at 1.65 Brix. No freeze. Vacuum down to 25.2" Hg due to warm weather (gas production by trees increases when it is hot).[/QUOTE]

Doesn't the general rule of thumb 1.5 to 2 CFM for every hundred taps compensate for that extra gas?
On some of my larger trees and what is a larger I mean 25 to 30 in I have struggled this year with deciding whether or not to drill a new hole which I have a couple times or leave it be. And what I'm referring to is full Columns of sap in the tubing that are moving faster than I would like them to be because of these big trees in my opinion are still thawing out and aren't leeks consistent with a hollow tree. I noticed a couple times when I pulled these tabs the wood in the tap hole had split. I redrilled probably about a dozen of them probably left two dozen others, my release is running around 28 to 29 in and in the woods I show 27 to 28 so apparently these larger trees were the sap is moving faster than I'd like to see can't be too awfully bad?
Also on these bigger trees are the only ones I ever see that the ice pushes the Taps out and have to be reset, I never once have to do this on trees smaller than 14 to 16 in only the Big Daddy's- does anybody else find this also?

[ecp]

blissville maples

I'm glad its not just me. The larger trees always give me problems pushing spouts out. I tell myself its because of the thicker bark as I'm walking around resetting them all. I think tapping below the tubing comes into play with this on the larger trees to because they are peppered above the tubing but what can you expect to do in an old bush.

[DrTimPerkins]

Doesn't the general rule of thumb 1.5 to 2 CFM for every hundred taps compensate for that extra gas?

The general rule is 1 CFM per 100 taps. If you've got 1.5-2 CFM, you'll see less of a drop for sure. Some people who run really tight systems will go lower than 1 CFM per 100, but the vacuum level will really drop off when it is hot. That's why folks running Sap Pullers/Guzzlers (diaphragm pumps) will see a sharp drop off in vacuum during warm spells....they just can't move enough CFM (from tree gases) out fast enough.

The difference in pressure (vacuum) is what drives the sap to flow out of the tree, but it is the CFM removal rate (and the inherent capability of the pump to reach a certain level of vacuum) that allows us to achieve a certain level of vacuum. When it is hot, the trees put out more gases. The pump can only take a certain size "gulp" or "bite" of air in each rotation and expel it. That "bite" size doesn't change, but the # of gas molecules and their dispersal in the air does when it is warm, so the "bite" isn't able to remove all the air that is present, so vacuum level drops.

Larger trees with thick bark do tend to have more problems of spout heaving. We have a study ongoing for this now. Perhaps we'll start talking about it in the next year or two after we have sufficient results in hand.

[DrTimPerkins]

I'm not too concerned about budding yet because the roots are still fairly cold and the ground frost is just about out of the ground the north slopes. The trees know what time it is and they know that this is just a fluke in the weather after the first week of March we had!

I agree....trees are "smarter" (I should say "better adapted") than we give them credit for. In the 40 yrs I've been studying trees, I've only seen frost damage on maples twice -- one of those was 2012, the other, I think was 1983 or 1984. There is a really huge disincentive for trees to bud early....cold temperatures just a few degrees below freezing will kill new leaves, and it takes a LOT of energy to make new leaves. It's analogous to like building a new engine, tossing it out before you ever start it and building a new one without using any parts from the first one...would be very costly for the trees to do that. We still have some really cold days to come.

[blissville maples]

I agree....trees are "smarter" (I should say "better adapted") than we give them credit for. In the 40 yrs I've been studying trees, I've only seen frost damage on maples twice -- one of those was 2012, the other, I think was 1983 or 1984. There is a really huge disincentive for trees to bud early....cold temperatures just a few degrees below freezing will kill new leaves, and it takes a LOT of energy to make new leaves. It's analogous to like building a new engine, tossing it out before you ever start it and building a new one without using any parts from the first one...would be very costly for the trees to do that. We still have some really cold days to come.

Ahh some relief!! Lol

[hogisland42]

I am still worried anyway, especially with all the rain coming tommarrow

[VTfarmboy]

decided to pull the plug and boil out, final syrup was not buddy but pretty dark and strong, just under our .25gpt goal so im pleased(3/16 gravity), 1/3 of the season in 4 days, ripping the 2x6 12hr boils 4 days in a row, almost no niter at the end, we are toast and almost out of dry wood, ready to move on to manure spreading and spring field work, good luck to all those sticking it out

[sugartree310]

We boiled tonight and made another 90 gallons of DR with a great flavor , probably some of the darkest syrup we have ever made . Sugar was 1.4 and sap is starting to look a little cloudy but everything filtered fine . We will see what tomorrow brings .

[PARKER MAPLE]

Same song and dance here as well. Still getting over 1gpt, yesterday the sap turn cloudy but went through the RO just fine and the press. Sugar is down to 1.4, and we are making DR now. I’m hoping that is rain will help us today. I was just outside with the dog this morning and there’s a cool damp feeling. So maybe the trees will hold on a little longer. No buds or off taste yet. Next week looks like good syrup production. Just got to get there, still got snow in most of our woods so that maybe be helping to roots out.
Not throwing in the towel just yet, just hit 50% of our usual crop, need another good week and I think we will be smooth sailing.

Be well and think positive. It’s all up to Mother Nature

[tcross]

we had our best run of the year yesterday without a freeze since Sunday. sap was testing 1.6, which i was pleasantly surprised with. pretty darn rainy here today with an expected 1.5" of rain to fall... we'll see how the trees react to that! supposed to be a light freeze here tonight (fingers crossed). we've boiled 6 times this year and have yet to have a need to clean the pans. i don't ever recall a year with as little niter as we're getting this year. it's pretty nice!

[Stanbridge]

Stanbridge Station, Quebec (5 miles north of Highgate, VT):

Sugar maple buds have started to swell. Snow cover is gone. Sap has stopped running Monday overnight. 60% of average crop this year. Can't always have a record year...

[tapdrinker]

Trees in my area in Randolph vt haven't budded yet. Sap didn't start running until sun broke out-permafrost must still be there somewhat.... so hopefully I get 2 more weeks. (weather looks good -fingers crossed)

[DrTimPerkins]

Sugar maple buds were still tight (in winter condition) in Underhill when I flew the drone up to take a look the other day (see photo). Sugar maple buds still very tight in Newport, VT, this morning. Red maple flower buds are swelling a little bit, which is normal for this time of year and conditions. Still a little snow left in patches here and there.

22296

The crew is boiling today.

[tapdrinker]

make that syrup Tim. I just make excellent waffle syrup yesterday and finished this morning. I tend to label my syrup by taste. If it tastes slightly carmel-I say pancakes... if robust-waffles- if light -crepes, but that's me being a culinary guru. Wish more people did this.

[tapdrinker]

Has anyone tried to make mead (same recipe but use maple syrup)?
I was thinking of trying this but I have no idea what the outcome might be.
I plan on some of my end of season sap to concentrate it to about 20% and use the mead formula.

[MJPJ Sugars]

Red maple flower buds are swelling a little bit, which is normal for this time of year and conditions.

When do/should you pull the taps on the Reds?

[DrTimPerkins]

When do/should you pull the taps on the Reds?

We don't. Red maple flower buds don't seem to affect flavor. Once leaf buds just start to break, it's game over.

[NhShaun]

Has anyone tried to make mead (same recipe but use maple syrup)?
I was thinking of trying this but I have no idea what the outcome might be.
I plan on some of my end of season sap to concentrate it to about 20% and use the mead formula. There is a small scale meadery in my area that has a maple mead. They said they still have to use a % of honey to get it to work right for them, but that doesn't mean a maple only mead isn't possible. Give it a try and let me know how it works out.

[hogisland42]

So you don't worry about a few reds budding?

[DrTimPerkins]

So you don't worry about a few reds budding?

About a third of our bush is red maples. The flower buds don't seem to affect the flavor. Typically our sap doesn't go buddy -- the flows slow down enough to the point where we get sour sap before that, so we stop at that point. Towards the end of the season we will boil a bit on the stove each morning before we concentrate and boil in the evaporator to see if it has turned sour or buddy. If it has, we stop. No need to make commercial syrup -- although if the season ended early this year we might continue as long as possible.

1.5 gpt of sap since yesterday afternoon, although the sugar content is averaging 1.45 Brix. Takes a lot of sap to make syrup with that SSC.

Afternoon addition: Reached 50% of our minimum target crop with today's boil, now at 0.25 gal syrup/tap. Still some sap in the tanks, plus what we have in the evaporator, and sap still coming in slowly, so we're gaining on it. Hoping we get some cold weather soon to bump up the sap sugar content and yield.

[hogisland42]

Good to know, thanks Doctor

[GeneralStark]

Still hanging in there for now. Boiled this morning about 1500 gal of sap that came in from Wednesday afternoon thru 9 this am. So, have been getting over 1 gpt despite no freeze since Monday night. I ran three separate batches through the ro into the chiller tank at about 6% and test boiled some last night. It boiled surprisingly well given the sap quality. The warm afternoon yesterday brought the sap temp up to 63F but fortunately storing the resulting concentrate at 36F seemed to do the trick. Made a little over 15 gal of nice dark syrup which means ssc is probably a little under 1. Not good but I'll keep the pump on for the next few days and see what happens. I'll probably do the same thing and concentrate into the chiller tank and test boil each batch before doing so. There's good syrup in the evap. and this is not the year to risk spoiling it.

Lots of signs of spring that usually indicate the end is near. Red maple buds are definitely popping and I heard the first few bold peepers tonight in the wetlands below.

It has definitely been a weird season and perhaps the weirdest part is the fact that there is still very little niter scale on the pans. While this won't be a bumper season, the quality of the syrup so far has been excellent. At .25 gpt right now and probably won't get much more, but given how weird things have been so far, who knows...

[TapTapTap]

We boiled 6 days in a row (Sun-Fri) to keep ahead of the warm temperatures. Sunday was a full boil with over 2,800 gal of raw sap. The subsequent days were about 1/2 batches processed to a lower sugar to keep the boil at about 2 1/2 hours. The syrup turned to DA on Wednesday. It was more effort and not cost effective but we maintained the syrup quality. The flow has dropped off and we won't be boiling today (Saturday). We hope that the cooler temperatures will preserve the sap so we'll have at least another 1/2 batch for Sunday.

I shut off my lower woods which is on a mechanical releaser and contains mostly soft maples in the wetter part of our property. Besides the flow dropping way off, the mechanical releaser was giving us problems due to the warmer weather (primarily expanding sap lines pushing the releaser off level). I hear lots of peepers in the lower bush and the reds are pretty buddy looking.

I hope we can see production on the upper sugarbush during the coming colder nights. Overall I'm at 0.23 gpt.

Ken

[sugartree310]

We also boiled everyday this week till yesterday , We had a major malfunction with our mechanical releaser on our main bush sometime over the night on Thursday night which left us with very little sap yesterday . I dumped what we had as it wasn’t enough to boil and looked pretty nasty and didn’t want to hold it since it was 68 degrees again. I think the reds look fine some buds may have swelled some but I have seen them bigger. Let’s hope these cooler temps help some with the sap quality .

[tapdrinker]

looking at the weather-it looks like the last week of sugaring.
Looking forward to gardening, flyfishing, golf, but I have to get this done first.
I want to thank everyone for their help on this forum and here is to another decent season.

[TapTapTap]

We also boiled everyday this week till yesterday , We had a major malfunction with our mechanical releaser on our main bush sometime over the night on Thursday night which left us with very little sap yesterday . I dumped what we had as it wasn’t enough to boil and looked pretty nasty and didn’t want to hold it since it was 68 degrees again. I think the reds look fine some buds may have swelled some but I have seen them bigger. Let’s hope these cooler temps help some with the sap quality .

I expanded by 550 taps this year on a new electric releaser with the pump station right behind the sugarhouse. I love it. I diverted my existing upper bush onto the same system. It is far more reliable than the mechanical releaser I use for our lower woods and easier to monitor. I monitor both with an internet camera but it's hard to see what's going on besides a few tell-tail things. However, on the electric releaser I also watch the operations with a Sense electrical monitor in my breaker box. The sense is a smart web-based system that monitors voltage and amperage and looks for unique signatures. It easily picks up pumps, garage doors, refrigerators, ovens, etc. I use it to see how often the electric releaser is running. I've measured each discharge as a minimum of 4 gallons each.

22297

22298

I can monitor on my phone or computer.

[sugartree310]

I expanded by 550 taps this year on a new electric releaser with the pump station right behind the sugarhouse. I love it. I diverted my existing upper bush onto the same system. It is far more reliable than the mechanical releaser I use for our lower woods and easier to monitor. I monitor both with an internet camera but it's hard to see what's going on besides a few tell-tail things. However, on the electric releaser I also watch the operations with a Sense electrical monitor in my breaker box. The sense is a smart web-based system that monitors voltage and amperage and looks for unique signatures. It easily picks up pumps, garage doors, refrigerators, ovens, etc. I use it to see how often the electric releaser is running. I've measured each discharge as a minimum of 4 gallons each.

22297

22298

I can monitor on my phone or computer.

I also have an electric releaser at the sugarhouse with about 800 taps on , I really like how the electric releaser works , I plan to add more taps to it in the future. This sap comes from the hill above the sugarhouse. My mechanical releaser is down at the bottom of the hill close to the interstate and I have about 3200 taps on it , its been pretty reliable over the years, I have had it for over 20 years , its been rebuilt a few times. I may move my operation another 300 ' lower to add the last of the maples on the property I may be looking to change the releaser out then. My station now is 1800' from the sugarhouse , I ran power down there a few years back and I run a 1hp Goulds deep well pump layed flat in a SS round bottom tank with a float set up . it works great . I run cameras on all the tanks ,Vacuum pump and on the RO and can monitor with my phone or iPad at the house .

If I have it right Ken the property you are on was the old Browns property or part off and I remember the old sugarhouse up there in the woods and when I was in Boy Scouts the scouts used to help them. That was in the mid-to late 70s. I also helped Steve Boutin once or twice when I was in high school who tapped up there. he ran a main line down to the old farm house on South Rd . I have had the Maple bug since then. Good luck I hope we all keep the sap flowing for a while .

Oh I forgot todays sap has cleared right up and sugar is 1.7%

[TapTapTap]

I also have an electric releaser at the sugarhouse with about 800 taps on , I really like how the electric releaser works , I plan to add more taps to it in the future. This sap comes from the hill above the sugarhouse. My mechanical releaser is down at the bottom of the hill close to the interstate and I have about 3200 taps on it , its been pretty reliable over the years, I have had it for over 20 years , its been rebuilt a few times. I may move my operation another 300 ' lower to add the last of the maples on the property I may be looking to change the releaser out then. My station now is 1800' from the sugarhouse , I ran power down there a few years back and I run a 1hp Goulds deep well pump layed flat in a SS round bottom tank with a float set up . it works great . I run cameras on all the tanks ,Vacuum pump and on the RO and can monitor with my phone or iPad at the house .

If I have it right Ken the property you are on was the old Browns property or part off and I remember the old sugarhouse up there in the woods and when I was in Boy Scouts the scouts used to help them. That was in the mid-to late 70s. I also helped Steve Boutin once or twice when I was in high school who tapped up there. he ran a main line down to the old farm house on South Rd . I have had the Maple bug since then. Good luck I hope we all keep the sap flowing for a while .

Oh I forgot todays sap has cleared right up and sugar is 1.7%

Yup, it sounds like you know my trees really well. Not only do we own 87 acres of the old Brown Farm, I lease the sugarbush from the Boutins. I've heard others talk about their Boys Scout years and how it started their maple bug. You're also dating yourself. Like you I was in Scouts (Troop 122, South Hero) back in the mid 70s. This May I'll be the big 60!

And yes, sap has started to clear up. I'm at about the same sugar. Coming in slowly but I should have at least 1,500 gallons for tomorrow morning. I like to have more like 2,500 but it'll still work.

Ken

[DrTimPerkins]

...on the electric releaser I also watch the operations with a Sense electrical monitor in my breaker box.

Hi Ken,

I've been thinking of adding the Sense monitor to our sugarhouse panel. Would like to hear any feedback you have about it. Need to upgrade the sugarhouse service next summer, so will consider adding it then.

[sapmaple]

Tim I assume you have a 200 amp service What are you upgrading it to?

I'm thinking I may have to do as well tripped my service breaker once when everything was running full bore

[TapTapTap]

Hi Ken,

I've been thinking of adding the Sense monitor to our sugarhouse panel. Would like to hear any feedback you have about it. Need to upgrade the sugarhouse service next summer, so will consider adding it then.

Dr. Tim:

We built a new house in 2017/18 - are you ever really done? We've got heat pumps and lots of power consuming devices and appliances. After a couple of pricey monthly power bills from VEC, I decided to better manage our usage. I got the sense and we installed it in the house panel. It is useful in managing usage, along with the VEC Smarthub. Later we installed a net-metered 15kW solar array but its not hooked to the sense since it isn't very close to the house and sugarhouse.

The sugarhouse and the house are each on separate 200 amp panels fed off the single 400 amp service. I was thinking about a buying a new sense for the sugarhouse and then upon researching the sense I realized that you can purchase another set of wire connectors and use the sense in it's split service mode. I originally set it up in the house panel on my own. I had my electrician do the split set up because there was almost no room for the device in the switch panel and I wasn't comfortable tapping into the heavier wire. There is no tapping into wires on a conventional electrical panel since you attach directly to a circuit breaker. So now, I monitor both our house and the sugarhouse.

As far as how it works - I'm completely satisfied. It occasionally goes down because I've got a weak wireless wifi connection at the service which is about 200 feet from both the house and the sugarhouse (both have wiresless routers). It doesn't always identify the appliances since it's kind of a crowd-source identification which you can correct and assign your own device name. The other thing is that it can take weeks for sense to isolate and identify the different devices. Also, I've noticed that my well pump for the house will kick on and be correctly identified - however, after a few minutes of running (like if we are watering the garden) it changes the identification to "other". I've only noticed this on the well pump.

I also have a lot of appliances I haven't identified that it calls motor 1, motor 2, motor 3, etc. It also thinks we have like 3 vacuum cleaners. I could do more to figure it out but haven't.

Overall I'd give it a very favorable recommendation - it's a very useful device and very reliable except for the internet issue. I use it quite a lot.

I hope this helps.

Ken

[GeneralStark]

tripped my service breaker once when everything was running full bore

That must have been stressful...

What is up with this weather...? A tornado nearby on Friday, a windstorm today and another in the forecast for tomorrow... cleaned a bunch of limbs off lines yesterday from the storm on Friday and will probably have to do more of the same when it is safe to go in the woods again.

Still getting sap and it has cleared up a bit. Had to dump some concentrate from sap that came in on Friday-> Sat am because it was ropey. It was stored in the chiller tank but I think it had spoiled before I ran it thru the ro as there was lots of slime in the bottom of the sap tank after draining it. I think the warm weather lead to conditions ideal for certain bacteria to grow in the tubing so this problem may persist. I did test boil some fresh sap this am and it seemed ok.

The power has stayed on despite the wind though it has flickered several times. Despite this the vac pump has stayed on which is surprising given the sensitivity of the VFD. Hopefully we can get thru tomorrow's forecasted wind storm without issue.

I'm planning to boil on Tuesday and whether that is with any new sap or just to boil out the pans is yet to be determined.

[Mead Maple]

I concentrated all the material I had on hand yesterday going from 1.1% up to the high teens. After boiling the product I ended up with was an absolutely delicious dark syrup that the whole family agreed that surprisingly was some of the best tasting syrup we’ve made all year. To be honest I was shocked. Only 60% of last years crop thus far, hoping this week will set up to at least make the same despite adding a bunch more taps.

Definitely going to be adding a guzzler pimp to the woods next year as a stepping stone from gravity to vacuum. Any reviews would be appreciated.

[DrTimPerkins]

Tim I assume you have a 200 amp service What are you upgrading it to?

I believe it is 200 amps. Originally was 100 amps and was expanded about 20 yrs ago. However the upgraded RO takes 110 amps at start-up, plus the evaporator and bulk tank and all the other stuff. We're constantly trying new things, so have to alter our electrical distribution, then changed again the next year, so we need the flexibility.

[sugartree310]

We boiled late yesterday afternoon to move along the sap we had which wasn’t much . We made 22 gallons of very dark syrup , definitely the darkest we have ever made . The flavor was ok strong dark syrup but I tasted a slight tint of something ,others thought it was great . Not buddy but maybe more a sour sap tint. Not saying we are done but we really need a good freeze to bring it back . We will see it’s 30 here now and has been since 6am still may not be enough .

[DrTimPerkins]

The power has stayed on despite the wind though it has flickered several times.

We've had a couple of outages this season. Once a few weeks ago power went out to the entire facility, then a couple of breakers would pop after power was restored. Took a few hrs before everything was back running again. Then again yesterday just before 3pm the power was off for about 30 minutes in much of Underhill. Fortunately it came back fairly quickly, but you always hate to see the power go down when the pumps are running.

[tapdrinker]

@ Tim... yikes. That could be a very expensive power issue. Have you thought about some tesla powerwalls to stop that from happening? Might make sense in a big operation.

[tapdrinker]

I have some pretty dark syrup in the buckets. I'll be mixing that with the regular to try to save the flavor. Probably will boil today. Hopefully the wind has died down.

[billyinvt]

I'm interested to see what the quality of the sap that comes today is. I am more than a little concerned about the effect the fluctuations in weather may be having on the trees. The snow in the forecast is encouraging. In my experience, snow always brings nice runs of quality sap soon after.

[tapdrinker]

My brix is 1.1... I've pulled the plug for my season. Here's to the last boil-Raises shot glass with syrup.

[tcross]

i'm getting the best sap flow of the season right now... just a **** shame it's all 1.5%. the ol hobby releaser is dumping every 1.5 minutes. going to continue till it gets to 1.25 and call it a year... hopefully that won't be fore a little while yet.

[hogisland42]

Mines running the best it has all season also! Should be a good week

[Mead Maple]

Even with a strong wind today the sap seemed to continue to flow here in Middlesex. Will let it flow tonight then gather and process tomorrow.

[GeneralStark]

Threw in the towel here today. Dumped over 1k gal worth of sap from the last couple days this am because it was once again ropey. Let the first 100 gal. of what came in today run onto the ground in hopes that the ice would scrub out the lines. This did occur and the sap cleared up. It also ran quite well once the trees thawed but when I test boiled it was buddy.... no big surprise there are many of the sugar maples here have visibly budded.

Boiled out the pans and that brought my total up to just over .25 gpt for the season. Not great but I'll take it.

[sugartree310]

We boiled tonight and made another 65 gallons of very dark syrup , we don’t make this dark of syrup usually. it’s not buddy yet , I am sure it’s not far away. We had very little sap coming into today and had a great run today 27 degrees last night really helped . Had to boil because it’s to warm to hold . Sap is clear and the sugar is at 1.5%. Will see what tomorrow brings .

[ronewold]

My sap was a bit cloudy over the weekend, but it tasted fine and I boiled it. There has been too darn little sap for me so far this season. I've been consistently getting less than 1 gpt per day on my new 3/16 gravity system. Sap has stayed around 1.6 percent. Today I got over 1 gpt for the first time after the nice freeze last night, and the sap was clear! So it feels like I am back in business for a while. It took me about 1500 gallons to get my first draw on the new 3x12. That's a lot of sap, and with the small runs (and some other problems) it took me weeks to get there. Needless to say, it is very dark syrup. I'm not complaining about that, I'm happy to have some syrup after a long year! I think this week looks like it might have some more sap at my place. I can't imagine the trees budding yet, if they do, they'll be sorry- we're supposed to see 17 degrees and 2-4 inches of snow on Thursday!

[DrTimPerkins]

Good news...crew boiled yesterday. We're right about 62% of a full (minimum) crop, which is about right for this time of the year.

Bad news....slight sour taste from the low sap flows from the prolonged heat. Not too bad though and hoping it'll clear up with fresh sap.

Good news.....had a good freeze which resulted in great sap flow starting yesterday late-morning, continued strong all evening. Vacuum still holding well despite the wind. One of the crew had to come in at midnight to switch tanks over and start the RO.

Bad news....sugar content still low (1.4-1.5 Brix).

Good news....colder weather expected again starting tomorrow afternoon.

Bad news....frogs started peeping yesterday late-afternoon.

Good news....still some hope we'll manage to get a decent crop out of it. Fingers crossed.

[tcross]

i'm not sure how much sap we got yesterday because i was too busy trying to keep up boiling as it was coming in. my little hobby releaser was dumping every 30 seconds. i'm fairly certain it will be at least 2 gpt over the 24 hrs. sap content went up to 1.75 from 1.45, so that was pleasant. sap was real warm once i got to it, but syrup taste fine. Nitre has become a problem, along with being real difficult to draw off consistently. our ponds are basically free of ice... for us, that means it's a matter of days. real cold weather comming the next 2 days, so hopfully a few good runs before the buds break, but that is coming any day!

question... do warm sunny days affect bud break more than cloudy/rainy warm days? has that ever been studied?

[DrTimPerkins]

question... do warm sunny days affect bud break more than cloudy/rainy warm days? has that ever been studied?

Most studies relate budbreak and leaf emergence to growing degree days (GDD). Back in 2012, we encountered buddy off-flavor (which is quite rare for us) at the very earliest detectible budbreak (stage V1). https://www.uvm.edu/~entlab/Publications/MapleBudFieldGuide.pdf However things changed very quickly that year, so it might have been somewhere between V1 and V2. There aren't a lot of good data on sunny/cloudy for many sites, so that kind analysis is probably not going to happen. However sunny windless days will increase the temperature of the twigs/buds for sure.

Buddy is not detectible in the sap, but if you reduce the sap by at least 50% in a pan on the stove you can check the smell and flavor for buddy off-flavor. There is a group in Ontario looking at developing a "litmus paper" type test for buddy off-flavor precursors in sap.

I encourage all Vermont producers to monitor and report to https://vermontmaplebulletin.wordpress.com/ on the conditions of the season. More and better data are very very useful.

[Parker]

Buddiness is not detectable in sap? Well, you are the maple doctor,,but,,many times I have tasted sap that tasted just like chewing on a fresh green maple leaf. Is that caused by something other than bud break? Defiantly seems to coincide with my red maple buds breaking or hard maple buds turning bright green..

[DrTimPerkins]

Buddiness is not detectable in sap? Well, you are the maple doctor,,but,,many times I have tasted sap that tasted just like chewing on a fresh green maple leaf. Is that caused by something other than bud break? Defiantly seems to coincide with my red maple buds breaking or hard maple buds turning bright green..

The initial stages are buddy aren't detectible in sap, but when it gets really bad you can certainly smell it.

[DrTimPerkins]

Buddiness is not detectable in sap? Well, you are the maple doctor,,but,,many times I have tasted sap that tasted just like chewing on a fresh green maple leaf. Is that caused by something other than bud break? Defiantly seems to coincide with my red maple buds breaking or hard maple buds turning bright green..

Sugar maple buds turning green would be stage V3 or V4, which is pretty far along. You'll definitely notice a woody/buddy odor and taste in the sap at that point. We've never bothered making syrup past stage V1 (what some refer to as "bud light")...although I know some producers continue well into the realm of "deep buddy." I gag a little just thinking about it.

If we boiled everything we had in the bulk tank, in the sap tanks, and in the pans right now, we'd be at around 81% of a minimum crop (0.5 gpt). We need the sap to keep running good tonite and again after the coming freeze, but if we manage 0.5 gpt this year it'll be a real squeaker and clearly not a done deal yet.

[GiddingsHill]

Sap quality in my corner of Bakersfield seems good still, it cleared some after the Monday night freeze, sugar crept up a little but still very very low (1.2-1.4) I've heard of several in this area and down in Underhill who have been in the .8-.9 range on and off all season. I definitely noticed some weak looking crowns this past summer, primarily in the soft maples and up higher on ledgy ground. I would assume the low sugar would correlate directly to the very dry summers we've had here for the past 3 years. Last spring was extremely dry. This is our eighth season tapping these trees, our lowest production year was about 6.2lbs/tap (which is .56gal/tap?) we are currently at about 3lbs/tap (.27gal/tap) so it would take a miracle to hit anything close to a "normal" year. 4.5lbs might be acheivable with the snow maybe working to slow down the inevitable, but any way you slice it, its going to be a pretty poor year. I will say, however, that Tuesday (yesterday) was probably the hardest sustained run i've witnessed here... too bad it was basically water.

[tcross]

well, we heard our first peepers last night. usually that tells us that it's a matter of days. be nice to make it through the weekend. our sugar content was around 1.5-1.6 with crystal clear sap. we're not even at 1/4 crop here. sure glad i don't owe anyone anything. Many producers here haven't seen their sap get above 1%... the highest ours has gotten was 1.75%...sure does take a lot of wood to get a gallon of syrup! Kind of feel for the larger guys up in my neck of the woods... hope too many people didn't take out big loans this year!

[chep]

Thought it was all over. But the last 2 days sap ran strong. Buckets are still holding strong! I am hoping for a couple more runs to put us over qt/tap. Sap tested 2.4% yesterday. Delicious dark syrup! Some buckets have quit but the ones still running ran hard! Heard peepers last night. Pond is right by the sugarhouse. But let's hope this hard freeze brings more sap! All the best

[sugartree310]

We made another 35 gallons last night after 65 the night before , sugar was 1.4% . The syrup lightened last night and the flavor was better. I was very encouraged after, looks like we will get one more shot at it after this cold snap we are getting.

[Tigermaple]

Gallons per tap seems like an easy way of measuring success but it really tells you nothing. It does not take into consideration what grade was made or tapping practices, employees or equipment employed. A much better measure would be profit per tap because it's all anyone cares about at the end of the season. Revenue - investment (time + expenses)/ taps would show success or failure in a nutshell. Getting .75 gallons per tap while spending 30 bucks per tap is not good while .25/tap and spending 3 bucks a tap is great. Materials and equipment could be divided by their expected lifespan. Just a thought...
Cheers, Pat

[ecp]

Gallons per tap seems like an easy way of measuring success but it really tells you nothing. It does not take into consideration what grade was made or tapping practices, employees or equipment employed. A much better measure would be profit per tap because it's all anyone cares about at the end of the season. Revenue - investment (time + expenses)/ taps would show success or failure in a nutshell. Getting .75 gallons per tap while spending 30 bucks per tap is not good while .25/tap and spending 3 bucks a tap is great. Materials and equipment could be divided by their expected lifespan. Just a thought...
Cheers, Pat

It would be a difficult number to get, but I'd agree. Profit at the end of the day decides if a business can keep moving on or should close the doors.

[DrTimPerkins]

A much better measure would be profit per tap because it's all anyone cares about at the end of the season.

GPT or lbs/tap are measures of yield productivity. Certainly lots of things that could be measured and lots of ways to express it. Gallons per acre is another common way.

Undoubtedly though, for many (not all) producers, a desire to see a profit is what it comes down to, however I doubt that 1 out of 10 producers have records good enough over a long enough period of time to calculate it, but it can be done. See https://www.uvm.edu/extension/agriculture/maple/bizmodules/node/7312 for lots more info on maple business tools. Mark Cannella (UVM Extension) and his crew are really good people to work with.

It is just as wrong to spend every penny possible to get a few tenths more gpt as it is to not spend some money (targeted wisely) to get more sap and increase your bottom line. It runs both ways.

I can tell you that I've presented various approaches to high yield production with folks many times. When you start talking about paying wages people have quite varied opinions. Some really don't want to include in, some do (business people will tell you that it should almost always be included). During one particularly interesting presentation I showed calculations including wages and one of the attendees gave me a real earfull about why his time shouldn't be included. Ten minutes later when I suggested something different as an option he piped up that he couldn't do that because it took up too much of his time. :confused:

[Tigermaple]

Thanks for the link, Doc! Great tools and info.

[drewlamb]

We have boiled 10 out of the last 11 days and are happy for a cold-snap recharge and much needed break. Sap sugar started that period at 2.0 but made a quick decline to 1.5ish where it has held. What a strange year we've had. A few things from 2021 we'll remember...
- Very low sugar sand. GeneralStark mentioned this too. Never seen it so low.
- Cloudy, yeasty sap for most of season - the kind you usually see more toward the end. No amount of daily tank cleaning and timely gathering seemed to change this. Remarkably, still made excellent syrup.
- Zero gallons of golden. A couple early boils were close. And will only end up with about 25% of crop as amber. No VDS yet. 2021 will be the year of DR. Opposite of last year when 80% of our syrup was golden or amber.
- Evaporator foam monsters. Went with organic trans-0-580 for first half of season which worked ok but it absolutely could not keep up once the sap got yeasty. Required constant attention in all pans. Just no way to add enough without affecting the syrup. We switched back to atmos for later part of season. What a difference. Better gradient, less fluctuation in sap levels with more even draws, and WAY less stress. Curious to know how others committed to organic deal with this. What a pain in the ***.
- Great road conditions for truck hauling. Dry March and low seasonal snow make for the lightest mud-season in recent memory.

Looking forward to another good week next week. Thinking the door may close after that.
Good luck to everyone through what's left!

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Your report on dark syrup and yeasty sap from the start are similar to many guys in the western Maine mountains. I know large producers that stated the exact same thing. Mostly dark syrup, 1 of them had made nothing but dark last I spoke to them. Interesting!

[sapman]

We have boiled 10 out of the last 11 days and are happy for a cold-snap recharge and much needed break. Sap sugar started that period at 2.0 but made a quick decline to 1.5ish where it has held. What a strange year we've had. A few things from 2021 we'll remember...
- Very low sugar sand. GeneralStark mentioned this too. Never seen it so low.
- Cloudy, yeasty sap for most of season - the kind you usually see more toward the end. No amount of daily tank cleaning and timely gathering seemed to change this. Remarkably, still made excellent syrup.
- Zero gallons of golden. A couple early boils were close. And will only end up with about 25% of crop as amber. No VDS yet. 2021 will be the year of DR. Opposite of last year when 80% of our syrup was golden or amber.
- Evaporator foam monsters. Went with organic trans-0-580 for first half of season which worked ok but it absolutely could not keep up once the sap got yeasty. Required constant attention in all pans. Just no way to add enough without affecting the syrup. We switched back to atmos for later part of season. What a difference. Better gradient, less fluctuation in sap levels with more even draws, and WAY less stress. Curious to know how others committed to organic deal with this. What a pain in the ***.
- Great road conditions for truck hauling. Dry March and low seasonal snow make for the lightest mud-season in recent memory.

Looking forward to another good week next week. Thinking the door may close after that.
Good luck to everyone through what's left!

I, too , went organic this year. Trans-O worked pretty well here, but dispensing was the main problem, plus using a lot, with the exception of a horrible boil last week. Should have used Atmos for that crap. Also tried Org60. Worked about the same as Trans o, but lot cheaper.

So when you went back to Atmos, you obviously couldn't certify that syrup, correct? Thats what I'm going to do if I get any more late season sap, which will be buddy anyway.

[DrTimPerkins]

Trans O580 works best with auto-dosers. Producers should note that there may be some packers who won't accept syrup made with Org60 since it contains soy (one of the big allergens).

When you switch over to Atmos (or another non-certified defoamer), any syrup made from that point on is no longer certified organic. You could potentially return to organic production, but would have to finish out all the syrup in your pans as conventional syrup, thoroughly clean the pans, then start over with organic defoamer again. Typically during a season when you get to the point of decertifying, you don't go back. Foam doesn't often get better.

[drewlamb]

Right. Everything from here on is non-organic. We are not certified anyway, but wanted to do a trial this year to see if we'd go that route. Exactly sapman, Trans worked fine early but was god-awful recently. Just couldn't keep up. We had a turning point boil just like you - terrible. The smell of that trans made me want to puke. Dumped the entire evaporator and started from scratch the next boil with Atmos. Aaaahhh.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

At 1130 last night I finally caught up from the last thaw. 18000 gallons of sap in 48 hours on 3300 taps...

[DrTimPerkins]

Trans worked fine early but was god-awful recently. Just couldn't keep up.

That's pretty typical for organic defoamers. They work reasonably well to a point...then they don't. Trans works slightly better than some, with less off-flavors. When it reaches the point when you're standing over the flue pan with a bottle pouring it directly into the pan with no effect then it's time to change to Atmos. The lack of organic defoamer effectiveness is one of the weakest points of organic maple syrup production.

[n8hutch]

At 1130 last night I finally caught up from the last thaw. 18000 gallons of sap in 48 hours on 3300 taps... Thats A run.

[chep]

We are obviously small time compared to most of you. But we use organic safflower oil with great success on our 3x8. 1 drop in the front pan is amazingly effective. And usually 1 or 2 drops in the back per firing keeps the foam down
I dont know anyone else who uses it? But I believe it is within organic guidelines (we are not certified, but not interested in commercial defoamers)

[TapTapTap]

That's pretty typical for organic defoamers. They work reasonably well to a point...then they don't. Trans works slightly better than some, with less off-flavors. When it reaches the point when you're standing over the flue pan with a bottle pouring it directly into the pan with no effect then it's time to change to Atmos. The lack of organic defoamer effectiveness is one of the weakest points of organic maple syrup production.

We have done really well with the Trans0580 - Up until our boil on Tuesday. Then all hell broke loose twice during the boil. It came back under control fairly quickly but not until overfoaming all over the sides. We'll be boiling tomorrow and plan to stick with the TransO using our LaPierre auto defoamer. And yes, we are certified organic starting this season.

Ken

[TapTapTap]

At 1130 last night I finally caught up from the last thaw. 18000 gallons of sap in 48 hours on 3300 taps...

Are you serious? Do you have that much storage capacity?

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Are you serious? Do you have that much storage capacity?

I am dead serious. I have 5500 gallons capacity. My sap buyer had to start sending me to another buyer with a bigger ro in order to keep up. I was pulling 1000 gallons out as quick as I could and I didn't start to make headway until it froze yesterday morning. Lots of catnaps.

[abbott]

We are obviously small time compared to most of you. But we use organic safflower oil with great success on our 3x8. 1 drop in the front pan is amazingly effective. And usually 1 or 2 drops in the back per firing keeps the foam down
I dont know anyone else who uses it? But I believe it is within organic guidelines (we are not certified, but not interested in commercial defoamers)

I've been quite happy with organic canola oil. Boiling raw sap, I use probably a pint, pint and a half over a season to make 400+ gallons of syrup. Dr. Tim, are the commercially produced organic defoamers considerably more effective than vegetable oils? Does it really only become an issue when boiling concentrated sap?

[Mead Maple]

I am dead serious. I have 5500 gallons capacity. My sap buyer had to start sending me to another buyer with a bigger ro in order to keep up. I was pulling 1000 gallons out as quick as I could and I didn't start to make headway until it froze yesterday morning. Lots of catnaps.

Well done sir! Impressive to say the least, always a good problem to have especially on a year like this one!

[VTnewguy]

Hoping for a good run today. Got down to 15 degrees last night so it might be until this afternoon before i turn on the guzzler.

[Parker]

Ultimatetreehugger- that's the best post I have read all season. I had to get my calculator out for that one. Awsome runs only come as a result of hard work, and sometimes they still don't come despite hard work.

[drewlamb]

Just took a cruise through the woods. Discouraging... Many red maple flowers are about to explode. Tomorrow? Monday? And sugars are suddenly looking pretty plump. Not sure I will make it through the week. Fingers crossed.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Thanks guys. It was a tough couple days lol 😆

[sapman]

We are obviously small time compared to most of you. But we use organic safflower oil with great success on our 3x8. 1 drop in the front pan is amazingly effective. And usually 1 or 2 drops in the back per firing keeps the foam down
I dont know anyone else who uses it? But I believe it is within organic guidelines (we are not certified, but not interested in commercial defoamers)

I used some safflower oil this year. Boiling good sap at around 15%, it kept the foam down in the steamaway pretty well, but still left a fair amount along the sides.. Worked in my old dripper well, too. Took more than Atmos as expected. But if I added a little trans o every couple minutes, it did a more complete job of eliminating the foam.

A large organic producer friend has used safflower for years successfully.

[Mead Maple]

So after the hard freeze Friday night into yesterday, sap jumped up to 1.75% at my place and then a remote site I collect from had bumped up to 2%. Sap a pinch of cloud to it but still excellent tasting dark syrup. Hoping to get a few more days in to salvage the season!

[sugartree310]

We called it a season today ! the the sap has run pretty good the last two days after the freezes but it was just two late . The sap was a hard two filter I call it cheesy , sugar was still at 1.5% but when I did a test boil this morning it stunk bad . I want no part of that not going to make garbage. Time to clean up and pull taps. Them 8 days with out a freeze and all them 60 degree days kind of killed it anyway.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Still running strong and clear here. Saps between 1 anand. 1.3%. 3000 gallons so far today. Probably got 1500 in the tank.

[DrTimPerkins]

Decent couple of runs over the weekend totaling over 2 gal/tap. Sugar bumped up a little in one bush to 1.7, but still 1.4 Brix in the other. Only a slight chance for a freeze tonite, so the end is likely close. Not likely to hit our minimum target this year.

[tcross]

real solid run yesterday starting about 1 in the afternoon through the evening. still running a bit now. no freeze in the future here either. my red maples are really swollen up. some in town have budded. sap is still crystal clear, but testing 1.5. syrup is really hard to filter and have to switch pans every other hour to avoid a disaster. syrup is coming off in batches rather than continuous. Frogs are singing in the ponds... the end is really close!

[blissville maples]

Hardest run of the year yesterday, guess you'll have that when the frost is finally gone and get freezing nights all roots can pump water!!

One 1900 tap bush was flowing 260-300 gph. Sap averaging 1.3%. boiled off 4-5000 gallons yesterday and made about 65 gallons of dark amber.

Overall it's been a battle cleaning tanks and collecting nonstop to ensure good sap quality.
No off flavors yet which is hard to believe given the swelling of the buds. Back to near amber color yesterday
Tomorrow likely turn the pumps off. Should top out at about 1900 gallons - nothing special but I guess have to pay the Piper at some point!

[smokeyamber]

Running hard here today, sap at 2%, but guessing that today will be it... Plan to boil what I have and call it good. Not the best year, but if this batch is not stinky I will possibly get close to normal. New R/O has been an incredible time saver this season.

[Mead Maple]

Sap is hammering into the tanks today/tonight. Really wish I had vac to capitalize, was about 1.75GPT on 3/16” and by far the hardest run of the year. RO doing the heavy lifting this year and thankful I added that. I do t see us lasting past Wednesday. Good luck everyone!

[TapTapTap]

We threw in the towel yesterday after the flavor went off. I probably could have managed it better towards the end but I had my covid vaccine last week and it knocked the crap out of me for a couple of days. My doctor friend that helps me boils tells me that's what happens to people with great immune systems - go figure.

Pulled taps in our upper bush today. Lot's of sap dripping but I can see the cloudiness in the clear taps.

Time to start planning for 2022!

ken

[tcross]

Tonight will be our last boil. it's taking roughly 65 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup... Sap is still crystal clear, but weak! my syrup is tasting great, however we started noticing a little different flavor in it towards the end of last night. we'll be around 1/2 a crop when all is said and done. so, not a total loss, but surely the worse we've had it since we started.

[DrTimPerkins]

We got another 6,000+ gallons of 1.5-1.7 Brix sap overnight before it froze up. Concentrating today and sending it to the refrigerated bulk tank until the crew can boil. Hoping we get another decent run today and tonite, then that's likely the end. Will post final numbers when we get there, but definitely not a banner year for sure.

[billyinvt]

I too had to dump yesterday's run. Off smells when I tried to boil it. Off taste when I sampled the syrup pan. These are north facing sugar maples. No reds. Peepers are loudly declaring Spring.

[ecp]

Color came up a lot over the last 2 nights which was nice. SCC has just been a steady 1.6 to 1.7 all year but it is running alright. Hoping another week will help out a bit and turn it into an alright year.

Has anyone been reading up on the new VMSMA sugarhouse certification program? Last years sample program was palatable, but to me if they pour gas on that and light it on fire. If that gets pushed through about 75% of the sugarhouses in Vermont will not be able to certify. Probably wont hurt VMSMA will all their influx of cash though.

[tapdrinker]

VT sugaring suffered this year as brix dropped fast and days were few.
In CT they had a 3 month season. A record year across the boards.
I did burn my pan slightly on my last boil-foamed up so bad couldn't see the depth.
Canola oil didn't help much and then I smelled the burn under the boil.. Immediately dumped
h2o in middle compartment and then I could see it. Bummer. Season over and used some
diluted vinegar to get it off. All cleaned now so no worry but the middle of the pan did belly down a little
but pan is level-so pan is still good. phew. Buckets and taps pulled. Now it's clean up time for the RO,
taps, buckets, lids etc.
Oh well, wait a year and see how the next season goes.
Total for me was 6 gals of great sugar-and 2 gal cooking sugar. so, 8 total. I'm okay with it but it's not
enought to fill my orders. I'll be selling all but 2 gal.
Made 3 qts of infused strawberry sugar. It's just so ... so good.
*wipes drool from mouth*
See you all next season.

[TapTapTap]

Peepers are loudly declaring Spring.

I've got mayflowers poking up too.

[jrgagne99]

Decent couple of runs over the weekend totaling over 2 gal/tap. Sugar bumped up a little in one bush to 1.7, but still 1.4 Brix in the other. Only a slight chance for a freeze tonite, so the end is likely close. Not likely to hit our minimum target this year.

Dr. Perkins, what is Proctor's target in GPT?

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr. Perkins, what is Proctor's target in GPT?

Our minimum target each year is 0.5 gpt. Our average production from 2004-2020 is 0.6 gpt. Have fallen below the minimum target only one other season (in 2012 we got 0.46 gpt) since 2004 when we retubed the entire woods and changed to high yield production. This year might even fall below 2012.

There's still a slim change we'll hit our minimum target, but I'm not holding my breath. Should know in a few days.

[Mead Maple]

Last boil for me tonight. Making some dark to maybe very dark syrup but the flor knock on wood is still very good. I can’t image it running much longer given the warm nights in addition to the sap sitting so warmly, was sad to lay the mainlines out of the tank. Good luck to everyone finishing up, I’ll see you on the other side!

[blissville maples]

Finally caught up yesterday from the Thursday Friday Saturday run. Sap had stayed cool until yesterday, the sun is jist too much and it will be worse today. R.O slowed way down with the last few push's so made some of the sap sub par while it waited to be run thru. Time for another vessel!! and syrup filtering quite hard. Probably could have made another 100 gallons of non table grade syrup but decided not to.

Overall it was a difficult year, not a good one for an expansion!!. I almost thought it was over a week and half ago when we were at the same production as last year with 1900 more taps- thank God it didn't end there, would have been hard to keep the moral up. We did finish out last night with about 1995 gallons I was hoping for 2000 as a minimum so we're there as far as I'm concerned. Sugar ended around 1.3 and the syrup had just started the Sourish smell and taste but not as bad as I've seen in past, Made a big difference having the extra taps, no waiting for sap to boil so was always able to collect fire up keeping things fairly fresh.

Time for cleanup and preparation for next year, and finish the other portion of the current expansion. I pulled a bud apart and looks like may be a seed year, seems every 3 years I see masting here- not really helpful for next year.

Hats off to a year that hopefully doesn't repeat anytime soon!!

[DrTimPerkins]

We got another 6,000+ gallons of 1.5-1.7 Brix sap overnight before it froze up. Concentrating today and sending it to the refrigerated bulk tank until the crew can boil. Hoping we get another decent run today and tonite, then that's likely the end. Will post final numbers when we get there, but definitely not a banner year for sure.

Turned out the sap we collected over the weekend was ropey and unable to be completely processed. One of the drawbacks of measuring every drop of sap (for research) is that we are unable to fully drain some collection tanks. Once ropey gets in there, that section is done for the season. Final tally is just over 2,000 gal, or 0.37 gpt, which is the lowest by far since 2004 when we retubed. That is 62% of an average crop for us. Combination of very low sap sugar content and poor weather.

Sap still running fairly well due to good vacuum and good sanitation, but definitely way slowing down. With the dry soils we can't collect enough to prevent sap from going sour in the lines....so we are DONE!

Gotta go...it may have been a poor season, but still lots of data to go through.

[MJPJ Sugars]

All wrapped-up.

11.26 gallons of sap per tap... first time under 12. .23 finished GPT.

Can't all be record-breakers ;)

See ya next year!!

[GiddingsHill]

Shipped a load today around noon. Got a text from buyer at 5pm to shut it down, turned off pump and couldn't believe we had gotten another 3000 gal in 5 hrs, it was hammering...but...too late. Looks like we are right around 4lbs/tap. Enough to pay the mortgage and taxes but not much more, but thats ok. Let's hope we get some rain this summer, these trees need it.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Turned off the pumps today. Still running hard but the quality was gone. 65000 gallons of sap and 900 gallons of syrup. Hardest year yet. I'm completely exhausted. 😴

[sapmaple]

Shipped a load today around noon. Got a text from buyer at 5pm to shut it down, turned off pump and couldn't believe we had gotten another 3000 gal in 5 hrs, it was hammering...but...too late. Looks like we are right around 4lbs/tap. Enough to pay the mortgage and taxes but not much more, but thats ok. Let's hope we get some rain this summer, these trees need it.
Amen on the rain brother!!!

[blissville maples]

Well if everyone wasn't done beginning of the week the 75 degree and sun had to of sone them in! Crazy weather hopefully this isn't a new trend!

Wasnt going to but we decided to boil out pans wensday and made another 12gals or so, that put is at 2007 gallons or .39 per tap. 118,000 gallons of sap. Here in valley sugar was highest I've seen on average in 3-4 years. I think we had just enough freezing and thaw to bump It Up, sounds like the higher elevation trees never had a chance to make much sugar because they went from Frozen and locked up to Summer like weather in 2 weeks! Nice to be on the other end of spectrum for once! It was a bad year and the numbers showed it, but on the flip side we know our potential is way higher so that offers some positive outlook!

[TapTapTap]

Turned off the pumps today. Still running hard but the quality was gone. 65000 gallons of sap and 900 gallons of syrup. Hardest year yet. I'm completely exhausted. 

Hey Ultimate,
I'm confused. I thought you sold sap from your recent post that you collected 18,000 gallons and overwhelmed your buyer. How do you get 900 gallons of syrup if you sell your sap?
Ken

[blissville maples]

Sounds like an extended April fools day joke noone ever caught on to!

He said he got a 5gpt run in 48 hrs, but only made 900 gallons on 3300 taps. Maybe boiling on a 3*12 with no ro and selling extra sap? Yea something doesn't add up......

[dvnwvt]

I’m trying birch for the first time, but unsure on when to tap. I’ve read all the recommendations but unlike maple they’re kinda vague. It's mid April and despite highs of 70 +/- in northwest VT, still not “consistently over 50” as is recommended by some. Seems like if I wait for that it’ll be late April and highs will be well into the 70s. Did a couple test holes in golden birch and barely a drip. Am I missing something, or do I just have bad trees/dry soil/bad year?

[Ultimatetreehugger]

My sugar content never got above 1.7 (corrected because I mis spoke) this season averaging 1.2 percent. I don't boil at all. Yes that run was a substantial part of my crop. I calculate approximately what would have been made based on sugar content. I'll recheck my chart to make sure I didn't miss something.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

22346

Feel free to check it out. Do my numbers add up? If not what am I doing wrong? I removed the dates because it took me three days to truck the big run skewing the time frame.

[TapTapTap]

22346

Feel free to check it out. Do my numbers add up? If not what am I doing wrong? I removed the dates because it took me three days to truck the big run skewing the time frame.

It's more a matter of claiming 900 gallons of syrup that you didn't produce without making that clear.

And sap sugar content to maple syrup is one of those fuzzy math things that is effected by a variety of factors - accuracy of sugar content readings, lost production, bottom of tank waste, filtering losses, sweet in the pan at end, bad quality sap that maybe you wouldn't sell under your own label, et cetera. My guess you could find a 25% or more reduction from theoretical to actual production.

And I will say that your 65,000 gallons of sap collection in a season (and it sounds like hauling in 1,000 gal batches) is a significant accomplishment.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Thanks Ken.

[blissville maples]

I’m trying birch for the first time, but unsure on when to tap. I’ve read all the recommendations but unlike maple they’re kinda vague. It's mid April and despite highs of 70 +/- in northwest VT, still not “consistently over 50” as is recommended by some. Seems like if I wait for that it’ll be late April and highs will be well into the 70s. Did a couple test holes in golden birch and barely a drip. Am I missing something, or do I just have bad trees/dry soil/bad year?

They are late, just starting now in lower elevations...abou1500 feet probably be starting in a couple weeks. Usually last couple weeks of April. It's totally different to make as I'm sure your aware. I was going to make some this year bit haven't decided if I want to play with that or other projects.

I would like to make hickory syrup but the trees do not run based on any type of pattern, freeze and warm don't matter they just seem to run when they run, or not really run just ooze on occasion But if you've ever tasted any, it's as delicious as maple. And the only time I have is afyer cutting them and sap collecting and evaporating on stump, which does create amore delicate flavor. I heard sycamore is good but hard to find a large stand.

[Super Sapper]

Hickory syrup is made by boiling the bark, straining it out and then adding sugar until you get to syrup.

[drewlamb]

Wondering whether anyone is considering changes to their retail pricing. We've had the same pricing scheme for years, but I'm considering nudging it up some after this lame season. Seems if there was ever an excuse to do so, now would be the time. We have been feeling the pain with covid related drop in sales and were hoping on a good season to bring us out. Nope. Also wondering whether there are anticipated changes in the bulk market. And how's Quebec doing? Haven't heard or read anything about their season. Ok, so three questions...
Changes in retail pricing?
Bulk market?
Quebec season?
Guess those last two are closely related.

[PARKER MAPLE]

Wondering whether anyone is considering changes to their retail pricing. We've had the same pricing scheme for years, but I'm considering nudging it up some after this lame season. Seems if there was ever an excuse to do so, now would be the time. We have been feeling the pain with covid related drop in sales and were hoping on a good season to bring us out. Nope. Also wondering whether there are anticipated changes in the bulk market. And how's Quebec doing? Haven't heard or read anything about their season. Ok, so three questions...
Changes in retail pricing?
Bulk market?
Quebec season?
Guess those last two are closely related.

We finally went up on our retail prices. They have been the same for at lease 12yrs.
Customers noticed but never questioned the increase. I think they know how hard things are now, and the constant increase of things other then maple. It was a good move on our part. We have a roadside sugarhouse location and have been selling syrup there every weekend.

[blissville maples]

Hickory syrup is made by boiling the bark, straining it out and then adding sugar until you get to syrup.

Have you done this? Isn't how i understand this syrup to be made, or any other natural syrup for that matter. Corn syrup only one I know that sugar is added. Adding sugar is dishonorable to the craft of syrup making. There is sugar within the tree, they just don't "run. I've had 5 tapped for 3 weeks and one a few drops of sap, and it actually is evaporating to syrup in the bucket!! I think they are more of a mid winter harvest. What you mention isn't a true crafted syrup, I can't imagine much flavor coming from bark!!

[blissville maples]

Wondering whether anyone is considering changes to their retail pricing. We've had the same pricing scheme for years, but I'm considering nudging it up some after this lame season. Seems if there was ever an excuse to do so, now would be the time. We have been feeling the pain with covid related drop in sales and were hoping on a good season to bring us out. Nope. Also wondering whether there are anticipated changes in the bulk market. And how's Quebec doing? Haven't heard or read anything about their season. Ok, so three questions...
Changes in retail pricing?
Bulk market?
Quebec season?
Guess those last two are closely related.

Bulk market is up 10-15%. And will likely increase again, many people holding more syrup because sales have been strong this past year so packers are feeling crunch. Little to no holdover from the 2020 crop.

Quebec had a horrible year, I've heard as low as 2 lbs per tap. They usually just get going first of April - most are done as of now..

This is the season we've needed for a few years now. Actually a bad year every 3-4 would keep market in check.

[motowbrowne]

Have you done this? Isn't how i understand this syrup to be made, or any other natural syrup for that matter. Corn syrup only one I know that sugar is added. Adding sugar is dishonorable to the craft of syrup making. There is sugar within the tree, they just don't "run. I've had 5 tapped for 3 weeks and one a few drops of sap, and it actually is evaporating to syrup in the bucket!! I think they are more of a mid winter harvest. What you mention isn't a true crafted syrup, I can't imagine much flavor coming from bark!!

Boiling the bark with sugar is how I've always heard it's made. A quick googling seems to confirm. It's not so much a natural sweetener as a flavored simple syrup.

[DrTimPerkins]

Hickory syrup is made by boiling the bark, straining it out and then adding sugar until you get to syrup.

Never done it, but I believe there are two methods of making hickory syrup. One is by tapping and boiling the sap collected. The second is by boiling hickory bark (making a hickory tea like solution) and adding sugar. The latter is much more common.

[TapTapTap]

Boiling the bark with sugar is how I've always heard it's made. A quick googling seems to confirm. It's not so much a natural sweetener as a flavored simple syrup.

Perhaps a maple-hickory syrup made by boiling the bark in maple sweet until it turns to syrup density.

[Pdiamond]

Boiling the bark and adding sugar is how I have always done it. Nice flavor.

[blissville maples]

Bark syrups- wow interesting, never ceases to amaze me.

[blissville maples]

Bark syrups- wow interesting, never ceases to amaze me. To me it's not really syrup, more a sweetened thick tea as dr Tim suggest. When I talk syrup I mean the real sh*t!!

My sarcastic side is going wild right about now!
How about some dirty ole dog syrup, just wash your dog and add sugar!! I'm wondering what gravel road syrup would be like, perhaps some maple notes in there from a spilled load!! Haha no need for response, I had to....

[sapmaple]

I agree....trees are "smarter" (I should say "better adapted") than we give them credit for. In the 40 yrs I've been studying trees, I've only seen frost damage on maples twice -- one of those was 2012, the other, I think was 1983 or 1984. There is a really huge disincentive for trees to bud early....cold temperatures just a few degrees below freezing will kill new leaves, and it takes a LOT of energy to make new leaves. It's analogous to like building a new engine, tossing it out before you ever start it and building a new one without using any parts from the first one...would be very costly for the trees to do that. We still have some really cold days to come.

Tim so we have alot of green down here in Cornwall it was 26 degrees last night been below freezing for over 24hrs. How do you think the trees are faring? Is this like 2012?

[DrTimPerkins]

Tim so we have alot of green down here in Cornwall it was 26 degrees last night been below freezing for over 24hrs. How do you think the trees are faring? Is this like 2012?

Buds, swelling buds, and recently emerged leaves are able to take a bit of cold (below freezing) weather. The temperature threshold for injury varies a lot with the stage of bud development and emergence. Hard to say how things will turn out. Time will tell.

[jrgagne99]

Was there a lot of die-back in 2012? I remember that season, but not the after-effects of the subsequent cool down.

[DrTimPerkins]

Was there a lot of die-back in 2012? I remember that season, but not the after-effects of the subsequent cool down.

Not a lot. Some places got some frost damage, most didn't get any.

[PCFarms]

The flowers of the Red Maples in our area all died off. the sugars seem to be fine.

[blissville maples]

I too have been worried about this. Although the first emergence on our sugars were pollen nodes, leaves were behind those just a little and open only about 10% of the way, so I'm hoping they weren't far enough along to hurt much. They do seem to be continuing to grow so that must be a good sign.

So I've noticed about 80-90% of trees started off early with pollen nodes, this started around first of April while finishing up boiling. We had all thought they were leaf buds but those came after the pollen nodes. Will these pollen nodes affect flavor as the leaf buds will. Also noticed the other 10 to 20% did not start off with the pollen nodes. I questioned if these trees we're not as healthy so they budded later, or as I understand maple trees have a sex to them and perhaps this is what that represents. I've noticed that these slower trees are now breaking bud and going right to Leaf no pollen nodes. I can only assume that these are the other gender and do not contain pollen- just things that catch my eye and make me wonder why.

[blissville maples]

The flowers of the Red Maples in our area all died off. the sugars seem to be fine.

That's what has happened with our reds, and is typical. Sugar maples should be doing same with all their pollen glands, and of course making seed.

Seems like a seed year always follows a high sugar year for us.

[MJPJ Sugars]

Sugar maple emerging leaves sure have a funny color to them.... uh oh...

[DrTimPerkins]

Sugar maple emerging leaves sure have a funny color to them.... uh oh...

Care to post a photo? If frost-damaged, they'd be brown or black (almost scorched looking). If they are red...that is normal for newly emerging leaves.

[MJPJ Sugars]

Care to post a photo? If frost-damaged, they'd be brown or black (almost scorched looking). If they are red...that is normal for newly emerging leaves.

Not a great picture, but def a brown-olive color. Certainly not that vibrant VT Green we're used to seeing in May. The buds popped before we had that mid-20's night or three and a few inches of snow around Thursday April 22nd. And I don't think they've grown since.

[Hmmm... can't seem to get the pic attached...OK... 3rd time's a charm]22374

[DrTimPerkins]

The buds popped before we had that mid-20's night or three and a few inches of snow around Thursday April 22nd. And I don't think they've grown since.

Not much has greened up since then....been too cold and dry until quite recently. Red maple flowers at our place are still right where they were 3 weeks ago. Give it a few more weeks and then let us know how things look. The resolution of the photo is too low to see much of anything.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

What's up with other Vermont sugar makers this year? Any big upgrades or installations? My big news is I finally bit the bullet for monitoring, super excited to put my smartrek system to work. Otherwise doing a small 400 tap install by extending some mains no more than 400ft each. Adding about 100 taps each. Makes for a fast install when you aren't working with 1.25 to 2 inch conductors.

[DrTimPerkins]

What's up with other Vermont sugar makers this year?

Lots of preparations this year and last.

- Heavy tree thinning in a couple of areas in preparation for tubing.
- 1,000+ tap expansion (Dr. Abby's research project on red vs sugar maple).
- 2 new ~10,000 gal CDL sap silos
- new CDL RO in the MPRF (Maple Processing Research Facility)
- 2nd 500 gal refrigerated bulk tank
- sap pumping for our lower area directly to the sugarhouse
- testing a new Becker high-vacuum pump
- moved a sap shed to accommodate the pump and tanks above

[BAP]

Lots of preparations this year and last.

- Heavy tree thinning in a couple of areas in preparation for tubing.
- 1,000+ tap expansion (Dr. Abby's research project on red vs sugar maple).
- 2 new ~10,000 gal CDL sap silos
- new CDL RO in the MPRF (Maple Processing Research Facility)
- 2nd 500 gal refrigerated bulk tank
- sap pumping for our lower area directly to the sugarhouse
- testing a new Becker high-vacuum pump
- moved a sap shed to accommodate the pump and tanks above
Sounds like an expensive off season!!

[DrTimPerkins]

Sounds like an expensive off season!!

And a busy one...some things still being completed. Has delayed tapping a little.

A lot of this has been in the plans for a few yrs now, and some of it (the mainlines) was done a year ago. Some is more research, some is more production oriented, but overall it should make our operation a bit easier. The goal was to not have to truck sap after this.

[randolphvt]

Because of covid I'm downsizing as a backyarder. I won't be seeing my friends and family anytime soon. Mailing it is just too expensive.
I'll probably only make 4-5gal this year.

[OrangeAgain]

I'm thinking of tapping a few hundred trees this season and would love to know when I should plan on tapping? I'll be using the blue bag system on each tree.

I'll be selling the sap. What is the expected price for sap?

[VTnewguy]

Replacing all our 3/16 line to a more traditional mainline and 5/16 install. Almost done with that then to the sugar house to finish installing the new evaporator. Time is to short!

[ecp]

I'm thinking of tapping a few hundred trees this season and would love to know when I should plan on tapping? I'll be using the blue bag system on each tree.

I'll be selling the sap. What is the expected price for sap?

Price for sap is a little hard to predict because it would depend on the seller and buyer. If i were putting a couple hundred bags out id wait until sap was already running.

[ADK_XJ]

Replacing all our 3/16 line to a more traditional mainline and 5/16 install. Almost done with that then to the sugar house to finish installing the new evaporator. Time is to short!

I'm curious why you are changing back to 5/16? Did you find the 3/16 got gunked up or lost productivity? I've heard that from other, large producers near us here in NY.

[VTnewguy]

There was a decline in productivity the last couple of years. When we first started it was all on gravity and the sugarbush is nice and steep. As we went along and started adding vacuum the 5/16 seemed the way to go. 3/16 works for sure, and I wouldn't hesitate to put more out. Just need to realistic on it's expectations. Couple hundred taps probably no problem, bigger than that, I would look at different methods.

[HowsItRunning]

My trees are combined with my neighbor's who has a much larger operation, so I only help with gathering 300 buckets, or so. At the end of last year, I was thinking of other things I could do since I'm not involved with the boiling, so I decided to create a website. We all enjoy going out to the buckets throughout the day and seeing how the sap is running, so I decided to automate the process and put the data on a website. There are several different web pages that will show the sap flow in real time throughout the season. I will also add daily sugar content measurements, and the details of each gather and boil. Anyone interested can follow along at www.howsitrunning.com (http://www.howsitrunning.com), any comments on the site would also be appreciated...

[DrTimPerkins]

Anyone interested can follow along at www.howsitrunning.com (http://www.howsitrunning.com), any comments on the site would also be appreciated...

Interesting website. Tim Wilmot (retired UVM PMRC/Extension) had a real-time maple temperature/pressure/flow system set up for about a decade at PMRC called TREEMET. We used it internally to know when the sap was running but realized that a lot of people were watching it after it went down one day and our phone started ringing with people asking when it would be back up.

It is no longer active, but you can see it on the internet archive at: https://web.archive.org/web/20101213142501/http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/?Page=treemet1.html&SM=cammenu.html (note that this is an archive, basically a snapshot of that site as it appeared back then, so most of the links will no longer work since the website has been updated many times since). Keep in mind that this was 10-15+ yrs ago, and the site was about 300 ft out in the woods. We had to run a fiber optic cable out to it. The sensors worked great and a lot of data was generated, and a few papers came out of it. The internet connection at PMRC was (and still is) bad a good deal of the time, especially (you guessed it) in the springtime (wet, freeze/thaw).

We still do a lot of the same type of thing, but more on vacuum now -- monitoring flow, pressures, temperatures within the tree. Most of it isn't public though as that just adds a layer of complexity to the whole thing. I'd upload some images, but still can't seem to do that.

In any case, the folks at Cornell reinvented the wheel this past year, and we may have the same system running this year. Not sure whether it'll be public yet, but once we get the bugs worked out (this year or next) the plan is to put it out there.

[GeneralStark]

It has been a busy fall and early winter here with some improvements to the sugarhouse and a new pump shed that has enabled me to lower all my mainlines to get better slope to my electric releaser. This has been on top of a very busy holiday sales season and some other improvements including working on a new website. Lots of repairs had to be done in woods this fall/winter with more than usual damage to mainlines. I now have the major repairs and drop changing done and am going to start chipping away at tapping this week. I've been on snowshoes in the woods since the MLK weekend storm but now they're essential with about a 2'+ snowpack in the woods here currently.

[VTfarmboy]

hurried and got in early this week, it takes 3 full days to get tapped and sugar house set up (500 3/16 gravity), valentines day is our ave tap date, picked .5 gpt last evening testing 1.75

[blissville maples]

Well started tapping Tuesday. Glad I did!! Tapped my butt off 2900 taps in 3 days, average about 150/hr!! Moving!!
All leaks fixed up, squirrel were horrible this year, vac up to 27.5.
Looks like first boil today, should have about 3000 gals to play with testing at 1.7. nice to see it not start at 1.2!!

[VTfarmboy]

picked .25gpt tonight testing 1.5

[blissville maples]

Well first boil was as usual, alot of unexpected headaches but managed to pull thru and sweeten pans and make half a barrel. Processed about 4000 gallons of sap at around 1.6 brix. Made some nice medium Amber.

[TapTapTap]

Blissville,
I'm a little envious. I've been a little behind then I sprained my ankle in the sugarhouse last week which set me even further behind. Then yesterday, I was rebuilding a section of wet/dry line for my new CDL Saplifter and and cut my hand (right behind the thumb knuckle) while taking apart a SS Wye fitting. You know how sharp they are! Fortunately, I don't think I damaged the tendons to my thumb. But it's a contusion too so it's swollen, stiff, and sore - no problem unless I whack it today.
Ken

[randolphvt]

because there is so much snow... the taps are slow. Once the ground starts to heat up and permafrost goes away we'll get some good runs. Typically when in can see the ground around the trunk of the trees is when I tap. Only have 40 trees.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

1700 taps to go. Need to put the saddle loops on and the expansion will be complete. Beyond that, clean tanks, and setup cooling pump, change oil on the little woods vacuum pump, hit the power switch and away we go.

[blissville maples]

Blissville,
I'm a little envious. I've been a little behind then I sprained my ankle in the sugarhouse last week which set me even further behind. Then yesterday, I was rebuilding a section of wet/dry line for my new CDL Saplifter and and cut my hand (right behind the thumb knuckle) while taking apart a SS Wye fitting. You know how sharp they are! Fortunately, I don't think I damaged the tendons to my thumb. But it's a contusion too so it's swollen, stiff, and sore - no problem unless I whack it today.
Ken

Yeah it's still early, I didnt expect that much sap at all given the frost and snow. There's even good frost in most parts of the woods.

Geez having a rough go at it. I remember few years back I was having a rough start up and remember saying " wow how did I even make any syrup last year at all" when things just keep going from bad to worse!
Ahh I know how that all goes. I've cut multiple tendons! But sounds like you missed that! But it will still slow you down pretty good. I cut my thumb on roofing metal few years ago, cut nerve, that was weird for a while. Yes they are sharp I always have the multiple small minor slices in my hand when reefing on them! You'll get there eventually, alot haven't tapped down here, I just like to be on top of things and the weather just happened to take a wild swing!
Good luck with everything, keep working thru the thumb will heal stronger than if ya baby it!!

[tcross]

the season officially started for me today. closed the valve on the thank at 10 this a.m. after about 5-6 hours of flushing out the system. sap started trickling in at some point last night/early this morning and is coming in at an ok flow currently. good luck to all this season!

[VTfarmboy]

good haul last night .5gpt testing 2% exactly

[blissville maples]

Ran alot longer than I thought, took a long time for the cold to move in tanks had quite a bit this am after collecting yesterday afternoon and boiling. Hopefully wind didn't take any limbs down hate hearing it scream like that