Checking what VT sugar makers are doing [Archive] - Page 4

northwoods_forestry

03-16-2015, 08:47 AM

Had a really good night last night. Lots of sap from the lower bush but very little from the upper bush where temps barely topped freezing. 150' of elevation change can sure make a difference!

Wild cold winds were roaring through the sugarhouse. Kept the cupola doors closed to try and stay warm. Despite having the feed line freeze up I was able to begin drawing syrup within 1/2 hour of startup and continue drawing without stop for the next 3 1/2 hours till I shut down at 11 PM. Didn't check sugar content, but must have been in the 2.5 to 3% range judging by the amount of syrup coming off.

sapmaple

03-16-2015, 10:23 AM

Had our start up boil Friday made 26 gals Boiled again last night made 134 gals sap was 2.3% like "flats" Going to spend all day today leak checking when it starts running suppose to get up to 42 degree's

Spud yeah the orchard in town is sunrise orchard the Hodges own it I know them but not real well. My son is really interested in sugaring so when I wanted to expand He was on board I told him I was going to do it with or without him but of course I really wanted him to be a part of the operation A chance for him to be a full time driver with UPS came along a he took it makes really good money more than I could pay him but he still helps on nights (boiling) and weekends
Our kids have there own Idea's and desire's and they may not be what we were wanting them to have because they are there own beings
n8hutch I've got a private spot myself where I just relax and drink it in

PARKER MAPLE

03-16-2015, 06:49 PM

Tmeeeh

03-16-2015, 07:31 PM

spud

03-16-2015, 09:31 PM

I was able to get 1700 gallons today. Looks like no more sap till weekend. Sugar today was 1.8%.

Spud

northwoods_forestry

03-16-2015, 09:40 PM

GeneralStark

03-17-2015, 08:29 AM

Of my god not now, can't freakin believe it. High pressure pump motor just burnt up.
This was my Friday what a day, everything was going pretty well then bang all went to $#!+. Don't no yet what to do about the motor, going to have it checked out tomorrow. I bet this isn't cheap. Any suggestions, it's a 5hp baldor single phase. Worst timing ever.

Bummer! Sorry to hear. I had a couple days like this last week. Failed vfd, releaser issue, leaking preheater....Looks like it is all sorted out now and hopefully the rest of the season will be smooth sailing. Good luck!

Since saturday I have pulled in almost 1200 gal. Got home yesterday at about 4:30 from my other job and vac. was at 20". Headed to the woods and found several squirrel chews and a drop off. The sap was running well but it was cold enough that downstream of the leaks there was ice forming in the lines. Made it tricky to find the leaks as they weren't hissing...more like popping occasionally. Anyway got that sorted out and pulled in close to 400 gal. at 2.6% from 5pm to 7am. Still running a bit but not much.

All my tanks are about full so going to ro this morning and boil this afternoon. Pans are sweetened so hoping to make about 30 gal. A hard freeze is coming for a couple days so that should allow me to finish tapping and be ready when the big runs come.:)

spud

03-17-2015, 10:21 AM

Sap trickled in all night and continues this morning. It's only about 100 gallons per hour but I will take it. It is raining at my house now so maybe more snow will melt.

Spud

Flat Lander Sugaring

03-17-2015, 10:08 PM

Rod electric motor Rutland vt.

Flat Lander Sugaring

03-17-2015, 10:26 PM

17 gal today more tomorrow

northwoods_forestry

03-18-2015, 06:39 AM

Gathered in everything last night as the latest freeze blew in. Another cold windy night in the sugarhouse. The rig wasn't as well behaved, syrup was coming in fits & starts & surges. Finished, filtered and packed 13 gallons off 500 gallons of sap. Looks like we'll be frozen in until Saturday.

VTmaplehobby

03-18-2015, 07:05 AM

Randy Brutkoski

03-18-2015, 09:41 AM

Very expensive to rewind. better off just buying a new one. Rods electric was going to charge me $1500 to rewind my 3 horse motor. I can buy the same identicle baldor for $800 direct from company. Look around. I am glad i did. Finally did my first boil yesterday. Made 160 gallons. Very light. Sugar was anywhere from 1.8 To 2.3. Alot of work left to do. To many problems to list.

wsugar

03-18-2015, 12:48 PM

Made 3 barrels yesterday almost a light delicate. Sugar content is going up. So glad I added the other membrane to the ro it works awsome. Going to make some candy and cream while it's cold. Looked at last years calendar and we are ahead on production this year compared to last year. Maybe April is going to be the big runs for us again.

Rabbit Run Sugar Works

03-18-2015, 09:18 PM

Today was the first boil for us today.475 gallons of sap 1.75 sugar. Fired up at 10:30 a.m. all done by 1:30 p.m. boiled off 375 gallons, only enough to sweeten the pans, but it was a nice day in the sugar house.

500 taps 5/16 drops 1/2 inch main lines gravity
100 taps on buckets
Leader 2013 2x8 revolution max raised flue
Inferno arch
enhanced steam away
2x2 front pan
12x40 Timber frame sugar house Off grid ( solar )
Dk 50 Kioti 4wd

GeneralStark

03-19-2015, 08:19 AM

On tuesday I ran approx 1100 gal. at 2.4% through the ro to approx. 250 at about 10.5%. Boiled for less than 3 hours and made over 20 gal. Started at Dark robust with good flavor (likely from first sap from previous run cleaning the lines; I don't dump sap) and ended just on the edge of AR and GD. All good flavor syrup. A good start to the season and it seems the equipment is finally all dialed in, including the new auto draw which is sweet!!

I am trying to sort out a batching issue after I first start boiling. When I shut down I will often flood the pans a bit just to be sure the level doesn't drop too much as the rig cools. There is a lot of thermal mass in the fire brick. When I start boiling the next time I often get a big batch as the syrup pan levels drop and start to pull sap from the flue pan. It's not a huge deal but the level in the pan drops pretty quick as I fully open the draw off valve (or the auto draw does) and I worry about burning the pan. Any thoughts on how to get a more even first draw?

Geroldn

03-19-2015, 08:55 AM

Just want to boil some sap!!! Got 50 gallons still frozen in the tanks... Buckets haven't yielded a drop. Can't believe how great this 3/16 line pulls but we need some warmer weather up here on top of the mountain...
40 gallons of ice in my sap tank from 180 taps on gravity. No boiling yet, no warm ups in the forecast.

sapmaple

03-19-2015, 10:38 AM

First do not flood your pan you should have about half of the level when its cooled down compared to your running level at full song. I pull off two pails of sweet as I'm shutting down and close the valve coming from flue pan Then at start up keep valve closed and when you get a boil in the front pan add in your pails of sweet to the tray you will be drawing from When that is boiling open valve from flue pan and everything should move along You may still get a larger batch that first draw but it should be a little smoother Hope this helps!

On tuesday I ran approx 1100 gal. at 2.4% through the ro to approx. 250 at about 10.5%. Boiled for less than 3 hours and made over 20 gal. Started at Dark robust with good flavor (likely from first sap from previous run cleaning the lines; I don't dump sap) and ended just on the edge of AR and GD. All good flavor syrup. A good start to the season and it seems the equipment is finally all dialed in, including the new auto draw which is sweet!!

I am trying to sort out a batching issue after I first start boiling. When I shut down I will often flood the pans a bit just to be sure the level doesn't drop too much as the rig cools. There is a lot of thermal mass in the fire brick. When I start boiling the next time I often get a big batch as the syrup pan levels drop and start to pull sap from the flue pan. It's not a huge deal but the level in the pan drops pretty quick as I fully open the draw off valve (or the auto draw does) and I worry about burning the pan. Any thoughts on how to get a more even first draw?

sugartree310

03-19-2015, 11:32 AM

I also would say don,t flood the pans either , I have a 3 X 10 intens-O-fire and have never flooded the pans , cool down with levels at your normal operating level, I run the blower fan for fire till no more hot coals are left in fire box and the boil is gone in the pans , I shut the feed valve to front off when boil is gone or if level gets to top of pipe in float box .

woodchuck

03-19-2015, 08:50 PM

40 gallons of ice in my sap tank from 180 taps on gravity. No boiling yet, no warm ups in the forecast.

We pulled out buckets for the first time dumped the ice as we went. We took a pretty good iceberg out of the collection tank. The good news is that the SC was pretty high (over 3) but the volume was only 225. Shut everything down until Saturday......maybe.

GeneralStark

03-20-2015, 09:23 AM

Thanks for the tips guys! I will not flood the pans anymore. May be a bit before I boil again but I will keep you posted.

Finished tapping yesterday in the cold wind and bright sun. South side taps were dripping a bit, but lines stayed frozen. Looks like the total tap count will be 750 this year, which I am happy with. Still have another 65-70 on our property to grab but will wait until next season. Was thinking 3/16 on those but not sure there is enough slope. Now I am thinking putting them on vac. with a small electric releaser to pump up to the sugarhouse. I have enough pipe to run a vac. line down there, and a pump line back up.

unc23win

03-20-2015, 09:39 AM

I am not form Vermont, but I follow this thread what I do is stop flow from flue to front and then stop flow between the two front pans to keep them from mixing this is what my friend told me when I was getting big draws at start up reason being because the density in the front pans was all the same because it was mixing. I run right up until my sap level drops below my sight gauge and I don't draw anything off. If my auto draw is drawing at shut down I will let it draw until temp starts to drop then close valve. I wait for temperature to drop to 200 before stopping flow. Before I was getting 6-8 gallon first draws now I get about 3 which is normal.

Amber Gold

03-20-2015, 09:41 AM

GS. I do the same as sapmaple. Think I got the idea from Goodrich, but just draw off one bucket. Works good. Once you get the front pan boiling good, add a bucket and open the valve between the pans. The bucket will cool off the temp. probe, but the middle will be boiling, as the sap comes in from the flue pan, it'll push the boiling syrup to the drawoff and quickly get the temps back up. Drawing off not long after. I also fire until the feed tank is almost out of concentrate, and when I shut down, I shut the blower off and leave the door wide open, so most of the heat gets pushed up the stack. The pans get low, but don't run dry.

DrTimPerkins

03-20-2015, 11:52 AM

sjdoyon

03-20-2015, 04:40 PM

Very nice. Hoping we see those numbers by Monday.

PARKER MAPLE

03-20-2015, 07:10 PM

Well I got the new 5hp high pressure motor in my hands this afternoon. Man they don't give these away. But the good news on my end is I put a brand new hp pump on this fall, now a new hp motor, two new membranes. And feed pump I think was almost new when I got it. So that's like an almost new machine. Fingers cross, lucky rabbit foot is out and knocking on wood, I can recover my lost expected production and at least make a little money. I think we still have a few good runs coming here, next weeks forecast looks like it's shapp up pretty well.
Going to finish tapping this weekend got maybe 6-700 left to put in.
Pm

spud

03-20-2015, 07:19 PM

Flat Lander Sugaring

03-20-2015, 07:26 PM

lines from head tank to evap all froze yestersAY. took a while to get thawd but made 10 gal in 2 hr on 80 gal
around 25 gal total.

;landed another 600 taps but not sure how many will get tapped

eaerly in the wek I had a 25 minute draw its was cool

Flat Lander Sugaring

03-21-2015, 06:03 PM

got sap suckers up to 15 and 24 inches. found broke ball valve once i finished that you could hear leaks all over., high vac 25 lost a little today need to get out find those leaks.

spud

03-21-2015, 08:08 PM

I only got 4-500 gallons today. I don't think there will be any big sap days in my area till April. Sap is testing at 2%.

Spud

GeneralStark

03-21-2015, 10:14 PM

I pulled in about 300 gallons at 2.6% today at and yesterday with the bulk of it today. Didn't really get going until 2 pm and it just froze up. I didn't want an ice cube in my tank so I boiled it all off tonight. Drew off over 10 gallons and will filter it the next time I boil.

Spent the afternoon fixing some leaks and adding some mainline supports in some low slope areas where I had some sags. Two lateral mainlines weren't getting full vac transfer to the end due to ice from leaks. Things are pretty well sorted out in the woods and vac was at 27". Seems like more squirrel activity than usual so I may be busy this season chasing leaks.

northwoods_forestry

03-21-2015, 10:16 PM

I only got about 700 gallons today. Never got real warm and the wind was blowing all day. I doubt I will get much tomorrow because it is going to get cooler by afternoon. Looks like next Wednesday is the next day it could run for me. I sure hope the sap runs right up to the end of April.

Today was probably the closest I'll ever come to matching your sap flow, Spud. Pulled in a couple of hundred gallons, most of it after dark.

wsugar

03-22-2015, 10:00 AM

The one good thing about all the cold weather we've been having here in northern Vermont is that it has allowed us to get the tubing system nice and tight. Three gauges below are from two different research sections (LR pump research pump on top, Busch research pump in middle) and the main bush production area (Busch pump on bottom....that gauge is actually reading about 0.8" Hg too low).

Crew is now headed out into another couple of sections of woods where the two Busch pumps are reading 23.5" and 25" Hg.

Still just a bit too cold for the sap to run.

Earlier this year you talked about a device that counts gallons of sap. Can you give me info on them. I have a releaser with a pump built in and my wife starts the ro before I get home from work so I would like to know how many gallons of sap I'm getting.

Ty

Sugarmaker's dad

03-22-2015, 10:31 AM

This is what we use. www.watermeters.com

11259

GeneralStark

03-22-2015, 10:50 AM

I also have a DLJ meter that I got used from another sugarmaker. Mine is for 1" and seems to work very well. They're not 100% accurate, but close enough...

sjdoyon

03-22-2015, 11:38 AM

Had over 5,000 gallons come in yesterday, boiling up today since we'll probably not get any sap again until Wednesday. -2 on the thermometer this morning. Guess mother nature doesn't know it's spring.

Flat Lander Sugaring

03-23-2015, 04:51 AM

made another 6 gal close to 29 total

sapmaple

03-23-2015, 08:27 AM

Well that was a fun weekend (I think) started gathering sap Saturday night around 9:00pm did not want it to freeze up in the tanks with very cold temps forecasted for that night and sunday Had trouble getting it out of the two last loads around 2:00 am had to keep hot water on the outlet valve in order to get it out Then had a in line filter clog with ice slush and drain was froze getting water out of the bldg. Finally all sap RO'd and to bed at 6:00am up at 12 to get boiling a hose on the filter press was froze so when first running It hose blew off and syrup every where:cry: finally got it boiled and made 150 gals. from 4500 gals of sap That puts us around 550 gals. We made 650 gals. all of last March so I guess we are on par with last year
My son said we just have to get a little better with this cold weather sugaring if that's what mother nature is going to throw at us " Yeah" I like his attitude but I'm still looking forward to some temps a little warmer

DrTimPerkins

03-23-2015, 08:43 AM

This is what we use.

For more accurate results, it would be better to add about 1' of straight pipe going into and out of the meter. Any type of fittings close to the meter will cause turbulence which can results in measurement errors. Not sure about preferred orientation on that particular meter, but some water meters do best when they lay flat.

spud

03-23-2015, 08:44 AM

Glad to hear things are going well South of me. Nothing going on up here. Sarah Lee and I are justing sitting around waiting for the sun to come out.:)

Spud

GeneralStark

03-23-2015, 09:45 AM

For more accurate results, it would be better to add about 1' of straight pipe going into and out of the meter. Any type of fittings close to the meter will cause turbulence which can results in measurement errors. Not sure about preferred orientation on that particular meter, but some water meters do best when they lay flat.

According to the documentation I have for the DLJ meters, which comes from the website provided, they can be installed horizontal or vertical. I have mine plumbed from the outlet of my sap pump in my heated room straight up and out to the outdoor tanks. I used it for the first time saturday night and it is working well. When funds allow I will get a larger one to plumb in prior to the RO.

It is looking like our season is going to get going this Wednesday.:)

Marc Duclos

03-24-2015, 08:22 AM

Marc Duclos

03-24-2015, 08:28 AM

I am very interested in understanding what the vacuum gages in two location are indicating when this low pressure ascend on us in the next coming day or so. The pump gage has a direct hg measurement that a owners manual says you should have. So okay we get that there and we attempt to achieve a tight tubing system though out the bush and connect a gage to the farthest point. The question I am try to ask is are we reading the hg in the tubing only or are we abele to see the change in hg in the trees from the tap hole too as the low presser front move in.

I could use something to do while waiting for the coffers to refill.
The one good thing about all the cold weather we've been having here in northern Vermont is that it has allowed us to get the tubing system nice and tight. Three gauges below are from two different research sections (LR pump research pump on top, Busch research pump in middle) and the main bush production area (Busch pump on bottom....that gauge is actually reading about 0.8" Hg too low).

Crew is now headed out into another couple of sections of woods where the two Busch pumps are reading 23.5" and 25" Hg.

Still just a bit too cold for the sap to run.

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Last edited by DrTimPerkins; 03-20-2015 at 01:45 PM.

Randy Brutkoski

03-24-2015, 09:24 AM

Sap maple, same things happened to me this past weekend. Only 2000 gallons of sap but the sugar is way high for some reason. 2 loads, 1 was 2.7 and the other load was 3.0 on vacuum. un real.

wdchuck

03-24-2015, 09:57 AM

That kind of sugar content is encouraging- hopefully that happens to us!

GeneralStark

03-24-2015, 06:41 PM

I have pulled in about 75-100 gallons today. Not much, but every little bit adds up...I'm always amazed to see what vacuum will do on these marginal temp. days.

Flat Lander Sugaring

03-25-2015, 05:13 AM

Sap maple, same things happened to me this past weekend. Only 2000 gallons of sap but the sugar is way high for some reason. 2 loads, 1 was 2.7 and the other load was 3.0 on vacuum. un real.

Does Fowler have his rifle still aimed at your vac houses? sounds like a lot thieving going on right now. Shrewsbury and wallingford have got hit,

go to traders ricks center rutland if you need to find your stuff if it comes up missing,

northwoods_forestry

03-25-2015, 07:30 AM

Pulled in 150 gallons yesterday even though temps barely peaked above freezing for a few hours. Calm & bright sunshine helped.

Bracing for a big run over the next couple of days!

wsugar

03-25-2015, 09:03 AM

Does Fowler have his rifle still aimed at your vac houses? sounds like a lot thieving going on right now. Shrewsbury and wallingford have got hit,

go to traders ricks center rutland if you need to find your stuff if it comes up missing,

Same guy that stole the stuff in poultney. He is now in Rutland selling syrup at ponderosa parking lot

billyinvt

03-25-2015, 03:26 PM

How good are the chances that the sap will run through the night? The winds are supposed to be fairly calm but does rain have any effect on sap flow?

Paul VT

03-25-2015, 05:30 PM

The forecast I looked at for Washington county looks like a south wind for most of the night. (Bad for sap flow) I have seen it run well at times in the rain. Only a few of ours are running at all now.

DoubleBrookMaple

03-25-2015, 06:57 PM

Things here on my mountainside barely woke up today, but running some on 24 in. I think I got but 20 gal. Just broke 40 for 5 hours, but dropping fast and down to 32 from 40 in 1 1/2 hours. I knew things would be slow to get going, but......
I have always had 1.7% in my two years, After my first run, two since (including today) have been just over 2%. I hope that holds up.

woodchuck

03-25-2015, 09:23 PM

It sounds like we are in the same boat as most of you. We have not pulled much volume but the content has been through the roof. We have been tossing the ice from our buckets and have a decent iceberg in our holding tank. Last Tuesday we had 225 gallons over 3.0. Thats uncharted territory for us.
The temps were good here today but that wind kept us to a 125 gallons. Im still running the pump tonight but, doubt that I will leave it on all night.

VT_K9

03-25-2015, 09:57 PM

Well today did not produce what I was hoping for in quantity. I had twice as much sap two weeks ago before the freezing temps came back. Yesterday I found a couple sag which I think were killing my vacuum transfer up the mainlines. I had put my pump and vac lines (both 1 1/2") on my mainline wire. Needless to say I cut the pump and vac lines off and lost the sag. That allowed the vac. to transfer up the mainlines. Today I made a few elevation adjustments on the mainlines. I was running 25" of vac. and after walking a few of the lines I replaced 2 saddles. Now I am at 27-27.5" of vac. I will the rest of the lines tomorrow. We are going to put the pump and vac. lines on their own wire as well. I left the vac. running overnight and we will see what happens.

For the previous poster I found on the sap puller I had good results overnight in the rain last year if I can recall.

Mike

spud

03-25-2015, 10:25 PM

wiam

03-25-2015, 10:55 PM

Not much sap today. Wife walked a line and gained 3 inches so we are up to 20". Got a new 40 gallon water jacket canning tank today from Kelley Bee.

PARKER MAPLE

03-26-2015, 04:23 AM

I had a real bad day today. My vacuum pump was giving me problems but I was able to fix it tonight. My old woods is only running 21 inches of vacuum. It appears there is alot more CV2 spouts with pin holes that I need to find and replace. The snow is so deep and hard to walk in that it is really slowing me down. I hope to find and replace more bad spouts tomorrow.

Spud

Spud I'm in the same boat, just smaller scale. I'm finding these spouts failing all over. Mine sometimes have the little micro bubbles right near where you hitting the spout. I liked the concept of the cv but this sucks. A lot of tips and check balls have come out and most are stuck in trees for ever I believe. Oh well, lesson is learned. Good luck.
I walk my lines yesterday to find one section on mainline leaking, fixed that. Another piece of woods had a tree on a main and 5/16 down. What a battle this year is for me.
Finally goy the RO up to speed I think, new 5hp motor, new pump, new membranes. Should be good.

Parker maple

northwoods_forestry

03-26-2015, 07:10 AM

Seems like I'm with Parker and Spud, leaking CVs, though theirs is a problem orders of magnitude over mine - I have maybe 150 CVs out this year. I feel for you guys!

Not the mother load I was hoping for so far. Yesterday started very promising, but that south winds sure slowed things down. Had to shut down the sap puller at 10 PM when temp hit 30, so no big overnight run. Turning on the pump again this morning and hoping for the best. Sugar content and flavor have been excellent, just need a bit more of it! I'm nearing 30% of hoped for production.

maplwrks

03-26-2015, 10:04 AM

Gosh..... I wish I had spent some $$$ on those to have problems with!!! feeling left out!!

spud

03-26-2015, 10:52 AM

Gosh..... I wish I had spent some $$$ on those to have problems with!!! feeling left out!!

Oh don't feel left out. Maybe next year you could buy some of the returned CV2 spouts that Leader will for sure be selling. I'm sure there back on the shelves now waiting for the next sucker to buy them.

Spud

sjdoyon

03-26-2015, 01:27 PM

We decided to try another spout this year to see if there was a production difference. We'll see at the end of season. Sorry to hear others are having issues.

Did have over 4,000 gallons come in by noon. Starting to get more trees thawed each day and come online.

spud

03-26-2015, 06:05 PM

Got about 3000 gallons today. Still have parts of the woods froze up. Maybe next week things will start rolling.

Spud

maplwrks

03-27-2015, 05:19 AM

I'm happy to see it's not just my woods having poor sap runs. On the other side, it allows you to get things real tight before the real run hits!

DrTimPerkins

03-27-2015, 08:27 AM

Still have parts of the woods froze up. Maybe next week things will start rolling.

Yes, although late in the year, the trees are still acting like it is early in the season. Not real great flows here in the hills either -- yet!

BreezyHill

03-27-2015, 09:05 AM

Funny part of the bush is nearly clear of snow after the ran; other parts still a foot, and I wont even talk about the area that had drifted with over 10' along the state line and 150' into the bush. Ok I will its only waist deep now but not going to bother putting in a new main there until next seek when the younger two are off from school. Smaller trees are flowing ok but anything over 24" is weeping at best and the 36-60" trees are still rocking on the porch sipping spring water.

Looks like last season all over again right now. So I am getting another 500 G bulk tank in for storage.

Dr Tim, Why is my sugar content high 3.4 on these slow runs when the trees are still so frozen and cant get to the good stores of energy? Yet when they are able to convert the storage they drop to the lower 2% in in the past at least...or are we possible going to see a higher sugar year? Or is it just a matter of the outside diameter is just larger area and has more storage capacity?

Thanks

ben

sapmaple

03-27-2015, 09:05 AM

averaged about a gallon per tap over a 24-36 hr. period my south facing woods all but stopped running Really looking forward to some west and north winds

GeneralStark

03-27-2015, 09:55 AM

I'm at a little over 1 gpt collected from Tuesday til this am. I'm glad we have been able to collect this much as we'll be able to boil this weekend for open house weekend. Looks like we will pull in some more today, but not much this weekend. I'll likely be boiling raw sap so we can keep boiling for visitors.

I spent the day in the commercial kitchen yesterday making candy and sugar for the weekend. I'm well stocked now so if we do get good visitation we'll have plenty to sell. I don't have tons of syrup jugged, but plenty of variety of products.

Went to the sugarhouse early this am to check on tanks and found the vac. at 23". Headed to the woods to find a fallen snag had knocked off two spouts. One cv had pulled out and left the tip and ball in the tree. I knocked it back in and it seemed to go back together. I was quite impressed with the amount of ice on the mainline downstream of and around the two saddles in the vicinity of the leak.

11401

GeneralStark

03-27-2015, 10:53 AM

Great. Power is out...

vtgaryw

03-27-2015, 01:45 PM

I've seen several references to folks who say that a strong south wind is bad for sap flow. What's the basis behind that?

-gary

mellondome

03-27-2015, 02:02 PM

Drier air usually... which will make the trees stop running..

DrTimPerkins

03-27-2015, 03:03 PM

I've seen several references to folks who say that a strong south wind is bad for sap flow. What's the basis behind that?

The primary basis is that it rhymes well and makes for a nice poem "when the wind blows south, the sap flows drougth", which along with the rest of the poem is more for entertainment than anything else.

northwoods_forestry

03-27-2015, 04:07 PM

Hit 40% of average crop last night (55% of 2014 crop). Looking at the long range forecast, I think we'll be ok.

Flat Lander Sugaring

03-27-2015, 06:27 PM

received new HP pump for new ro
250 psi/601GPH 3 phase 2horse hope to have it hooked up this weekend

11409

sapmaple

03-27-2015, 09:15 PM

The primary basis is that it rhymes well and makes for a nice poem "when the wind blows south, the sap flows drougth", which along with the rest of the poem is more for entertainment than anything else.

I disagree doc I've been sugaring over 40 years and have seen great runs with west and north winds I.E. 2013 season almost all north winds that year. and very poor runs with south and east winds although the vac seems to overcome it to some degree. I think it has something to do with the atmospheric pressure I'm not a scientist but I know what I see!

DrTimPerkins

03-28-2015, 02:08 PM

I disagree doc I've been sugaring over 40 years and have seen great runs with west and north winds...

I actually don't think we disagree at all. I've seen good runs from N, E, S, and W, and poor runs from N, E, S, and W. Sap flow has more to do with the branch temperature than anything else. My point was that there isn't any really strong correlation between wind direction and sap flow, which I think is what you are getting at as well. While there might be a small effect, it certainly isn't anything that is terribly strong or that you should hang your hat on.

PerryW

03-28-2015, 02:30 PM

every once and a while I think I got this whole sap flow vs. weather thing figured out. Then the trees prove me wrong.

DrTimPerkins

03-28-2015, 04:04 PM

every once and a while I think I got this whole sap flow vs. weather thing figured out. Then the trees prove me wrong.

Me too. :D

Flat Lander Sugaring

03-28-2015, 05:50 PM

upto to approx. 43 gal. another 7 today oh and a couple boiling sodas

GeneralStark

03-28-2015, 07:52 PM

Good day for the open house. Started slow but really got busy this afternoon. Hoping for another good day tomorrow with some sun and warmer temps.

Made another 11 gal of amber rich with another 250 gal. to boil tomorrow. My total so far this season is just over 40 gal. Next week is looking good.

PARKER MAPLE

03-29-2015, 05:20 AM

Yesterday we had enough sap, and finally got the RO up and running. It's almost a new machine. I took 650g of 2% and turn it into 225 of 7%. Finally got a taste of how to boil concentrate on the evaporator. Everything went really well. Auto draw was putting out syrup apprx every 10 min and all I had to really do if focus on firing and filtering.. Don't know how I ever did this with out the RO before.. Finally the taste test, couldn't tell at all any difference. Very happy. Bring the big sap flows..

spud

03-29-2015, 06:53 AM

I am glad to hear you guys are doing well. I hope to see some sap today but it looks like the weather man has changed things a bit for my area. The one thing i know for sure is spring will come. When it does I hope to join in on the fun and get a lot of sap. For now it's just me and Sarah Lee.:)

Spud

Scribner's Mountain Maple

03-29-2015, 07:05 AM

Mother nature is a fickle beast. Usually she annoys me, but this year I could give her a big hug. I was way behind getting everything set up this year and behind in tapping too. This extra time has been a life saver. Now I am ready to roll, and it looks like Momma Nat is about to spread some sunshine into our lives. I'm sorry momma for all I've said about you in the past. You are my new bff.

The forecast looks good for the next two weeks. Of course, we will have to see what momma brings us.

Ben

wiam

03-29-2015, 08:06 AM

Finally was ready to boil yesterday and made about 24 gallons.

sapmaple

03-29-2015, 09:56 AM

I actually don't think we disagree at all. I've seen good runs from N, E, S, and W, and poor runs from N, E, S, and W. Sap flow has more to do with the branch temperature than anything else. My point was that there isn't any really strong correlation between wind direction and sap flow, which I think is what you are getting at as well. While there might be a small effect, it certainly isn't anything that is terribly strong or that you should hang your hat on.
I don't think we can hang our hat on anything in sugaring except we love to do it!!

WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER

03-29-2015, 11:24 AM

You said it as well as it could be said. This year is a year that will bring a "expert" to humility.

I don't think we can hang our hat on anything in sugaring except we love to do it!!

Scribner's Mountain Maple

03-29-2015, 07:33 PM

Well I wasn't really expecting much today, but around 12-1 things started to loosen up and it actually ran pretty good for a few hours. Still not the mother load I am waiting for, but it's a start. I have big hopes for this week though.

Someone told me today that they had heard Vermont is at about 10% of normal production so far on the season. We still have a long way to go it would seem. I hope...

Ben

JoeJ

03-29-2015, 08:06 PM

10% so far for me. I expected to make 1,500 gallons and am at 157 gallons now. Not many days left to be able to make a full crop.

Flat Lander Sugaring

03-29-2015, 09:46 PM

spud

03-30-2015, 09:03 AM

Yesterday it started running about 1:00pm and then ran pretty good till 7:30pm. I got 3000 gallons. I only need 2000 more gallons this month to match my GPT this time last year. I think I am right on track and I think the season will go an extra week in my area bringing it to April 27th or so. Once the 12-14,000 gallon runs start coming in it will add up fast.

Spud

GeneralStark

03-30-2015, 09:04 AM

We had a good weekend here at Little Hogback. Good visitation and sales both days, though the sun brought more people out yesterday. Had just enough sap to boil all weekend, though we weren't pushing the rig very hard. Made over 20 gal all weekend, all amber rich right on the golden line. Just over 50 gal. for the season so far. Pulled in almost 400 gal. of sap between 3 pm and this morning. It froze up at some point but is running lightly this morning. Should run ok today and will likely boil again tomorrow. After boiling raw sap all weekend I am looking forward to concentrate.

Flat Lander Sugaring stopped by to visit for a little while and it was nice to meet him. Wicked good guy!

On a side note, since I stopped flooding the pans at shut down I have not been having the large draw off at start-up. It is much more controlled and gives me plenty of time to set the auto draw (which is awesome!). Thanks for the tips guys!

sapmaple

03-30-2015, 10:02 AM

We went out sugar house hopping. first stopped at Little Hogback, awesome set up sugar house was awesome very nicely done. they had a table set up all their products out on it and they were starting the Maple hot dogs but I left before they were cooked. I have a few pics will get them posted. on way back to P town stopped at Sapmaple in cornwall he was motoring right along, had lots of people there. Kitchen smelled good they were cooking things and had their little retail store all set up very nice. Nice sugar house also, very well set up.
Then stopped at the BIG B's house in Hubbardton, Randy always has a good show going, his wife had a table set up maple hot dogs and other munchies, boy by the time we got there was starving almost ate all her dogs, few cups of coffee. must be a dry count no boiling sodas to find any where. Randy had people stopping by think it was a good day for all who had their sugar houses opened up.

Hey Flat thanks for dropping in on Sunday I appreciate it We had quite a few flat landers stop on Sunday (no pun intended) folks from NJ,PA NY IN VA and even an older gal from Germany who we treated with "sugar on snow" that she really enjoyed!
Had to save sap all week in order to boil on the weekend (good thing its been cold) Had about 5000 gallons for each day which we concentrated to 10-11 % There is NO Way I'm boiling raw sap even for open house weekend!! We are about at 900 gallons 25% of a crop Sure hope April is good like last year

Maybe I should know this but What's a Boiling Soda??

GeneralStark

03-30-2015, 06:05 PM

A boiling soda is a carbonated adult beverage. Some prefer PBR, while others may like a local brew. I generally like to wait until I am wrapping up boiling as with many thousands of dollars worth of equipment under my supervision, I don't need to alter my judgement too much.:)

Sap has been coming in slow but sure all day. Nothing too impressive but we haven't gone much over 36 here all day. Or maybe it's the **** south wind. Some sun tomorrow should help.

Scribner's Mountain Maple

03-30-2015, 08:01 PM

I am slightly disappointed in today's haul. When is it going to give? Where I am, I have yet to have one good run. Not even a 1/2 gal per tap in one day yet. The temps today were up and down depending on the wind. Snowing most of the day, with temps in the mid 30's. When I was working above 1500', it seemed like things were froze up, and it was running a little below that. I hope Thursday and Friday brings the flood I have worked so hard for...

Ben

Flat Lander Sugaring

03-30-2015, 11:03 PM

Made another 8 gal OE so had 540 gal still have some more but going Ro bed. Just over 50 now and 60 gal of 10.4% plus more in holding tank

northwoods_forestry

03-31-2015, 05:45 AM

What the heck...tanks are full this morning!

steve J

03-31-2015, 09:24 AM

Scribner's don't feel bad I am over in Middlesex and its not breaking loose there either. Yesterday my buckets barely dripped what few taps I had on 5/16th also barely dripped 3 of my 5 3/16th lines were flowing but at a slow pace while other two were not flowing. I am at 950 feet facing North East.

billyinvt

03-31-2015, 11:02 AM

Down a bit lower here in Waterbury and the trees that ran good yesterday were the ones around the house and out on the edges of the woods. Deeper in the woods, it's still pretty froze up. I'm afraid when it finally lets loose it'll be short lived.

GeneralStark

03-31-2015, 12:55 PM

It's running pretty well here today. Over 1 gpt collected since Sunday about 3pm. Going to ro and boil this afternoon.

I have been chasing quite a few leaks this season mainly due to wildlife, especially squirrels. I don't know if they are having a hard time finding food so they are going for the tubing, or if their population is up this year but I have never had this many leaks during the season. Vac. is back up to 27" for now...

billyinvt

03-31-2015, 01:31 PM

We have a very healthy fox population. On the rare occasions when I do see a squirrel, I never seem to see him again.

Amber Gold

03-31-2015, 01:44 PM

GeneralStark

03-31-2015, 09:21 PM

We have a very healthy fox population. On the rare occasions when I do see a squirrel, I never seem to see him again.

Our land borders 7000 acres of wilderness so there is every possible critter around and plenty that would eat squirrels. The coyotes are barking tonight as usual and the barred owls are hooting...I would think they would love squirrel for dinner. I watched 5 chipmunks chase each other around this morning while I was chasing leaks.

GeneralStark

03-31-2015, 09:28 PM

I've been loosely following this thread and saw a few producers having with issues with the CV2 spouts. Is this issue widespread, or is it more of a bad batch that was missed by QA/QC and a few producers happened to get them? I've only had a couple break and a few that have had the tips come off. I currently have 1/3 of my taps on CV2's, but was going to replace all my drops next year to convert everything to CV2's, but hesitant to do it now.

I personally haven't given up on the CV2 yet as they seem to be doing their thing in the tree, but I have seen several tips come off which doesn't seem quite right. I'm sure it won't hurt the tree but a spout is meant to come out and it just seems like the manufacturer could easily sort that out.

If you are thinking of changing drops, why not just do them all and use a seasonal spout like a smart spout for a season and hopefully within a year or two Leader will get their **** together and make a proper spout.

I ended up making almost 20 gal. this evening from sap collected the last few days after concentrating to about 10%. It started off on the dark side of Amber rich, which I assume is due to boiling raw sap all weekend, and I ended up at golden delicate. I'm hoping to stay there for a while now that the season seems to be picking up a bit. The flavor is awesome.

Sunday Rock Maple

03-31-2015, 10:01 PM

I have been chasing quite a few leaks this season mainly due to wildlife, especially squirrels. I don't know if they are having a hard time finding food so they are going for the tubing, or if their population is up this year but I have never had this many leaks during the season..

Just curious as to how you wash (Dry, water only, water with bleach, Etc.)? We had an awful problem years ago and think they learned to go after the bleach (salty) but we're not sure.

Flat Lander Sugaring

03-31-2015, 10:14 PM

collected 630 gal of 2.3% approx today, concentrate was from 5 to 10%. but all thjat counts is some boiling sodas were drank couple shots of Sapling and made 21.5 gal tonight. We canned every thing we made today. RO washed ready for tomorrow.were at 65% of what we made last year and just under 50% two years ago.

GeneralStark

04-01-2015, 07:58 AM

Just curious as to how you wash (Dry, water only, water with bleach, Etc.)? We had an awful problem years ago and think they learned to go after the bleach (salty) but we're not sure.

I don't really "wash" the tubing. When pulling taps I do rinse the tubing on vacuum with a 50/50 water/vinegar solution and then plug the drop.

The issues with wildlife I am referring to a purely during the season, after tapping and doing repairs from the off season and getting the vacuum up to 27". I generally check the system every other day, more frequently if the vac. drops, and I have been doing repairs in areas I have already repaired...

northwoods_forestry

04-01-2015, 08:45 AM

Record day yesterday. Brought in 800 gallons of sap. Add another zero and I could be Spud!

sapmaple

04-01-2015, 11:39 AM

I don't really "wash" the tubing. When pulling taps I do rinse the tubing on vacuum with a 50/50 water/vinegar solution and then plug the drop.

The issues with wildlife I am referring to a purely during the season, after tapping and doing repairs from the off season and getting the vacuum up to 27". I generally check the system every other day, more frequently if the vac. drops, and I have been doing repairs in areas I have already repaired...

I think the chewing varmints have they own neighborhoods because they chew on certain mainlines and don't touch the next one up go figure

spud

04-01-2015, 12:30 PM

Record day yesterday. Brought in 800 gallons of sap. Add another zero and I could be Spud!

I only got 3000 gallons yesterday so you kicked my butt on GPT. Sap is just starting to run today. There is a light wind and still cool in the woods. I hope to get a good amount of sap Thursday and Friday when the temps hit 55 degrees.

Spud

smokeyamber

04-01-2015, 12:56 PM

Finally got a decent run yesterday, close to 30 gallons from 60 taps, still not really running, but slowly filling up for boiling this weekend. Hoping for a nice stretch here, but it being this late this year I will be happy to get something... today it should run nicely, will be collecting in the dark again... always fun :o

Anyone have hints for preventing splitting ? I am using small 5/16 alluminum taps and am very careful setting them, but still see some splits this year. Seems to be on the smooth barked trees... I do hang buckets directly on the taps, but don't see how that would affect them more than hanging from a hook. I may transition some to a ground setup next year as a test ( using short tubing to a bucket ).

Scribner's Mountain Maple

04-01-2015, 02:58 PM

Things are looking promising for tomorrow and next week. It's 3 PM and it's 29 degrees. Still waiting for that high of 34 they predicted. I think I am finally realizing that a "high" of 34 doesn't mean much. I am learning it means that if everything is perfect, the wind, the sun and the snow cover, that it might reach 34 in some places for a few minutes of the day. The pump is on with anticipation.

tomorrow is the day I think. Tomorrow.

Ben

PerryW

04-01-2015, 03:03 PM

Got to 34 deg here (just across the river from Waterford VT) now has dropped back to 32.

wiam

04-01-2015, 08:31 PM

Thermometer at the house got to 60 in the sun :) one by my releaser in the shade I saw at 37. Got about 200 gallons today.

smokeyamber

04-02-2015, 11:29 AM

Only to 37 yesterday, but walked the trees this morning and they had run yesterday... of course now they are frozen buckets...looks like they will fill today...

DrTimPerkins

04-02-2015, 11:56 AM

Thermometer at the house got to 60 in the sun :)

Temperature readings in the sun don't mean much and certainly aren't good indicators of the air temperature. While the sun will warm things up, how much is difficult to predict. If you point an IR thermometer or thermal camera at the sun or even at an incandescent light source (not recommended), it can give extremely high reading (hundreds or thousands of degrees). But yes....the sun sure does feel nice this time of year.

PerryW

04-02-2015, 11:59 AM

Temperature readings in the sun don't mean much and certainly aren't good indicators of the air temperature. r.

Yup, a dark colored thermometer will read much higher than a light-colored thermometer sitting right next to it.

GeneralStark

04-02-2015, 08:56 PM

Good day of sugaring. Spent part of the morning walking the woods and fixing some micro leaks. There are usually a couple days every season when I am really glad I set up dry lines and today was one. After a hard freeze last night it took a bit for things to thaw, especially without the sun, even though the temp. rose pretty quickly. For over an hour the sap was running hard down the dry lines until the ice let loose and the wet lines took over.

The sap ran very hard, probably hardest yet this season, early this afternoon. Fired up the ro about 2 once I had 800 gal. (@ 2.5 % by my refractometer but 2.2% by my hydrometer; which is more accurate?) which accumulated since Tuesday afternoon. Ran the concentrate to an empty 400 gal. tank and then ran that to the head tank, and then ran all the the sap that had come in so everything collected by 5 pm was processed. Ended up with approx. 225 gal. of about 10%. Boiled for about 2.5 hours and made just over 20 gal. of Golden Delicate with great flavor.

Sap is still running pretty well and likely will all night. I may not have tome to boil tomorrow due to other work commitments so we'll see what happens....

spud

04-02-2015, 10:56 PM

Sap never really got going till late afternoon for me. I did get 3000 gallons by 7 tonight. Sap still running 225 GPH and should continue all night. My sugar is 2.4% and that is very high for me. Raining now and that might get things rolling tomorrow. Going to spend tomorrow in the woods finding more bad CV2 spouts. Need to get vacuum up to 27-28 inches. Right now I am running 23 inches in my old woods.

Spud

PARKER MAPLE

04-03-2015, 06:08 AM

Well sap was rolling in yesterday for me around 10am. I gathered apprx 925g by 4 in the afternoon of 2.2%. Fired up the RO and started boiling. Finished up washing and cleaning by 830 and made another 22g. Things should be full again today. Probably won't boil, I will wash out my holding tanks and then start the RO. Getting ready for Saturday.

northwoods_forestry

04-03-2015, 11:15 AM

Hit 80% of expected production last night and passed my 2014 production total. Gathered again this morning. Looks like gravity lines and buckets have stopped running. Vacuum lines are still flowing.

smokeyamber

04-03-2015, 11:25 AM

Helpers collected a bunch yesterday and I checked this am and ... oh man.:o.. buckets were overflowing for the first time this season ! I ran out of time to collect it all, but most were full or close to full. Figure around 70 gallons at least. Most were still runnning so likely they will be full today when I get home. Not sure if they will stop tomorrow or not, but looks like another recharge period coming up Sunday and next week looks pretty good. I should be able to fire up this weekend if the arch is ready.

GeneralStark

04-03-2015, 01:03 PM

Ran all night and still running though it has slowed down considerably from yesterday. Probably pulled in approx. 500 gal since 5pm yesterday so just over 1/2gpt. I'll let it accumulate and then boil tomorrow. It will be interesting to wee what this weekend's weather brings...

sjdoyon

04-03-2015, 07:10 PM

Had over 10,000 gallons so far today, still running good. Supposed to get 5 to 7 inches of snow tonight.

spud

04-04-2015, 05:03 AM

I got 6000 gallons from yesterday and tonight so far. Still running but temp is down to 36 degrees. Spent hours yesterday pulling 100 more defected CV2 spouts. I think I should have all the defected CV2 spouts replaced by May 1st.:mad: Sugar yesterday was 2.5% I am right around where I was last year for gallons per tap.

Spud

Flat Lander Sugaring

04-04-2015, 06:02 AM

made another 20+ gal. finally will have new ro online today. still have 600 gal to process. think total is just over 100 gal right now

wiam

04-04-2015, 08:05 AM

Made 47 gallons yesterday. Total is 108 so far.

Apple Hill Sugarworks

04-04-2015, 09:38 AM

The sap has stopped running. 660 gals from Fri. am until Sat. am. Not a great run but we will take it. After I boil today I should be at about 60 gals. of syrup.

Flat Lander Sugaring

04-04-2015, 01:11 PM

hi vac still running!!

ok all who care say a prayer for me going to start new ro with new HP pump, vfd, 3 phase and vfd all new hope i dont burn down the sugar house, all folks in NY look east for large black plume of smoke in about 15 minutes

GeneralStark

04-04-2015, 06:50 PM

I hope it went well Flat Lander! Another good day here. Ran about 900 gal. thru the RO that was collected from 5pm Thursday thru some time overnight. It did freeze here last night and awoke to 1" of fresh snow and brisk north winds. Ended up with about 200 gal. at 10.5% and boiled for just over two hours and made 26 gallons of Golden Delicate. I kind of expected to go back to Amber Rich due to the warm temps yesterday, but it stayed light. Up to about 110 gal. for the season so far.

The sap has been running pretty well this afternoon and it looks like tomorrow could be decent as well. It seems like the thaw loosened things up and we should really be into the season now. Hopefully this will be a busy week...

Sugarmaker's dad

04-04-2015, 10:23 PM

Filled 2 more barrels today from the 3,000 gallons that came in between 5:00 pm yesterday until this morning when the temperature dropped from 35 to 26 degrees between 6:30 and 8:30. As of today we have bade 15 barrels. Last year we had 16 on the same date, so hopefully we will equal or exceed last year's production.
I guess we are official now1155711557

Flat Lander Sugaring

04-04-2015, 11:12 PM

northwoods_forestry

04-05-2015, 06:43 AM

Had a chance to catch up on sleep last night. Gravity and buckets stopped running yesterday and had just 75 gallons from the sap puller. Temps this morning are disappointing. Hoping for a good hard freeze, but we only dropped to 28 last night. We'll see if that's enough! Pretty close to 100% and well ahead of last year, but this might be it. No other significant freeze showing in the extended forecast.

sapmaple

04-05-2015, 11:01 AM

We had to go to a function on Friday night so held sap over til Sat was worried because it was so warm. Had 13,600 gallons of sap squeezed it to 13% and boiled it in 7.5 hrs and made 416 gallons of some of the most awesome Amber rich ( my biggest day yet) down to 28 degrees last night headed to forty or so today and with the WEST wind blowing the sap already rolling real good, hope everyone is having a great day

GeneralStark

04-05-2015, 03:46 PM

Sap is running the hardest I have seen it yet this season. Already over 1/2 gpt in about 4 hours. Will likely have to boil tonight to make room for tomorrow as I have to go to my other job all day. The big runs are finally here I think and this week is when we will likely make most of our crop.

wiam

04-05-2015, 05:15 PM

spud

04-05-2015, 06:04 PM

Saps still running a bit and I might get 800 gallons by the time it stops tonight. Going to be 18 tonight so maybe tomorrow will be a good day. Happy Easter everyone. ( Christ died for our sins ).

Spud

DoubleBrookMaple

04-05-2015, 07:50 PM

Never broke the freezing level here today, after surpassing my last years syrup output yesterday, and up to 25 gallons. Next two days look different, and I will be very busy for a few days thereafter. I will be going strong later than most I think again this year, and won't give up as early as last. I quit a little early before the sap turned.

Tucker08

04-05-2015, 09:24 PM

Had a great Thursday and Friday last week. On Friday a buddy and I tag teamed it and got 23 gallons made. That is almost 1/2 of my best previous year. I am at the 69 gallons mark on the season. Went out today after the Easter festivities and have 350 more gallons of sap which surprised me because it was pretty cold and quite windy. Looking forward to boiling again tomorrow. I am loving the Deer Run RO. Glad I got the expandable unit because next year I will certainly make it a 250gph. I have a pretty efficient rig with my preheater, blower, and hood, but never did I dream of doing this much on my 2x6. Noticed the sap from today's run started to get faintly cloudy, but there is still a lot of time yet.

Good luck everyone. Happy Easter.

Flat Lander Sugaring

04-05-2015, 10:12 PM

130 gal total now another 13 tonight still more sap. sending out pump in am hope to get back end of week

GeneralStark

04-05-2015, 10:36 PM

Thank you General. Very windy here. Did not think it was running. Been working in sugarhouse. Read your post and asked the boy to go check. Over 400 in tank. Almost 1/2 per tap and single releaser dumping 2.5 minutes.

No prob William. It ran hard here right until it froze up at about 8pm. Over 1 gpt in about 10 hours at about 2.2%. Ran it through the ro and boiled to make room for tomorrow. Made about 15 gal. Amber Rich so up to 125. Went darker after 30+ gal. of GD, maybe because the pans need cleaning. The last 5 gallons went lighter though. Will probably boil once more then clean the pans.

ryebrye

04-06-2015, 12:13 AM

No prob William. It ran hard here right until it froze up at about 8pm. Over 1 gpt in about 10 hours at about 2.2%. Ran it through the ro and boiled to make room for tomorrow. Made about 15 gal. Amber Rich so up to 125. Went darker after 30+ gal. of GD, maybe because the pans need cleaning. The last 5 gallons went lighter though. Will probably boil once more then clean the pans.

I'm up in Hinesburg - similar story. Ran hard all day long until it froze - I got 135 gallons from 108 taps. Sugar content is still high (2.7% here). This is the single day I've had this season.

The extended forecast looks like freezes might stop happening after wednesday or thursday - anyone in Chittenden County have any guesses as to when the trees will break buds? I wonder what the chances of it getting back to freezing / thawing before the buds break are.

Flat Lander Sugaring

04-06-2015, 05:43 AM

processed 500 into 185 of 5.4 last night before going to bed. now back at it going to 8 / 10%. more sap coming this morning.

northwoods_forestry

04-06-2015, 07:55 AM

Moderate run of close to 1/2 gal per tap yesterday and we beat the forecast with another freeze last night. Should be another decent run today!

billyinvt

04-06-2015, 01:15 PM

GeneralStark

04-06-2015, 03:59 PM

I was amazed at how fast is was running yesterday afternoon! I wonder if it's started up again today.

It certainly is here. I got home 30 minutes ago from work and already have over 1/2 gpt and it is gushing. Vac. was down a bit so I did a little recon and found a squirrel chew in an area where I have done multiple repairs. Now it is back up to 27".

I'm going to take a night off from boiling but will run the ro to make room in the tanks as it will likely run all night with only a marginal freeze forecasted. I'm also going to clean the filter press and soak the syrup pans with permeate so I can scrub them and start boiling tomorrow.

spud

04-06-2015, 09:39 PM

I only got about 1000 gallons today. I hope the sun will come out tomorrow and get things rolling. I am glad to hear you guys are doing well.

Spud

PARKER MAPLE

04-06-2015, 10:41 PM

DoubleBrookMaple

04-06-2015, 11:59 PM

1 gpt in 12 hours!

Super run here today after frozen day and nothing yesterday. It reached 33 at 9am, and by 10 pm I had reached 1 gpt. Nearing midnight and my first 275 gal tot is filled to the brim, and overflowed a bit before I switched over. I will get up early to boil all day tomorrow and try to keep up with this.

spud

04-07-2015, 05:58 AM

Super run the last two days. More the 1gpt. More like 1.25-1.3. Sap running in at 100gph at 5pm today. Looks like there's a few more days of this left. My higher elevation bush hasn't started to run yet. I think I'm going another couple weeks.

What is your elevation to your higher bush. It's exciting to see you guys getting big runs. Lets keep it going. Please send the better weather my way so I can join in on the fun.:)

Spud

PARKER MAPLE

04-07-2015, 06:13 AM

What is your elevation to your higher bush. It's exciting to see you guys getting big runs. Lets keep it going. Please send the better weather my way so I can join in on the fun.:)

Spudy

Both Google earth and my super smart phone say around 26-2700' I dont no if that's right.

adironmaple

04-07-2015, 07:08 AM

Sugarmaker's dad

04-07-2015, 07:36 AM

This is getting depressing. Can we have some sap please.11608

spud

04-07-2015, 07:59 AM

I live in ny but grew up in Franklin county. Was wondering how your year is as compared to last year on a gallons of sap per tap basis. Here we have only collected about 1/3 of what we got last year. Have one bush at 1700 ft that has only made 3.5 gallons per tap so far. Snow still knee deep.

I am just under 5 GPT so far. Last year on this day I was 7.5 GPT so I am not that far off. I think here on the border we have three weeks of sugaring left. Still hoping for 25+GPT. An old timer in town told me yesterday that the latest he ever boiled was May 2nd.

Spud

sjdoyon

04-07-2015, 08:03 AM

We've had three days of snow and five degrees in the morning. Still over four feet of snow in the sugarbush.
Looks like print is arriving this weekend.

GeneralStark

04-07-2015, 08:30 AM

Man you guys up north and east will be sugaring til may this year! It's amazing the difference in weather between the different regions of VT.

We had some rain over night then it turned to snow some time this morning with a little dusting. According to the thermometer it dropped to about 31 some time over night and now we are at 32. Not sure if the branches froze or not as sap was running when I checked at 6:45 and there was another 500+gal. in the tanks. They were empty at 9pm last night after concentrating the 800+ I pulled in yesterday. Looks like I might hit 2 gpt in 24 hours here.

We still have some patchy snow in the woods and in most places the ground is still hard with frost. We are forecasted to get a hard freeze tonight but then it gets marginal. Our final boil last season was April 12th. I'm hoping to get beyond that this year.....

northwoods_forestry

04-07-2015, 10:41 AM

No freeze last night and gravity + buckets are tailing off. Vacuum still bringing in some. This could be it unless we see a freeze in the next night or two. We're close to 125% and closing in on a record season.

Hope the big flows move on to you folks up north!

DrTimPerkins

04-07-2015, 11:11 AM

We're close to 125% and closing in on a record season.

I believe you added vacuum this year. That probably about doubled your yield, so you would be at around 60-65% of a crop without it.

We're at about 30% of what we consider our minimum crop. Weather and some new equipment are being extremely uncooperative. We've not had one "good" day of flows yet. Most have been for only a few hours at best before shutting down again.

How are other northern VT operations doing?

VTmaplehobby

04-07-2015, 11:12 AM

This is getting depressing. Can we have some sap please.11608

I hear ya, On my way home to the top of the mountain I see steam coming out of all the sugar houses and all the tanks on the road sides are half full at 40*. Make it to the top of the mountain and it's 31 and lines are still frozen... Someday it will be our turn...

smokeyamber

04-07-2015, 11:26 AM

Only had two really good days, Now have 320 in storage, but this season has been pretty disappointing for runs:(. I am glad I upped the taps since without them I would have alot less now. Hope to see one more run today and then it's looking like the end for us in central Vt. Oh well, at least I will have the new setup mostly sorted this season and be ready for the killer year next year... ;) I had not really given the new gravity tubing setup much thought, but may reconsider just in light of how short this season was, that extra sap would be really nice and I have a nice hillside setup for it.

tcross

04-07-2015, 11:35 AM

we're doing horrible up here. I'm on the Canadian border as well. got 5" of snow last night! Like Dr Perkins, I've only had one 1/2 way decent run and that was for about 3-4 hours! only been able to make 4 gallons of syrup... the 10 day forecast isn't pleasing either... looking like temps in the 50/60's but only 38-40 at night for 4-5 days! hopefully that doesn't happen!

sjdoyon

04-07-2015, 12:55 PM

Up here in the NEK, nobody has made any amount to speak of. We made 320 gallons to date and most of the others have only a barrel or two made. Even Sweet Tree hasn't done much. Pulling spouts Memorial Day weeken

WestfordSugarworks

04-07-2015, 02:13 PM

Here in Westford we've made about 300 gallons on the same system that last year produced about 850 gallons. But today and yesterday the sap hammered right in. Those few days last week of 50 and 60 degree weather seemed to thaw the trees out for big runs. We are hoping that things don't warm up too much like they are forecasted too. Nothing better than seeing the various trucks and tractors hauling sap around town. It's beautiful.

Sugarmaker's dad

04-07-2015, 04:40 PM

Finally after a snowy start, the sun is out and sap is rolling down the pipeline at 800+ gph.

spud

04-07-2015, 09:13 PM

Woke up to snow on the branches today. By 9:30 am the sap started running. By 12:00 I was getting 1500 GPH. Was able to ship 10,000 gallons today and I have another 2500 in the tank. I need three more weeks just like today and I will be happy.:)

Spud

GeneralStark

04-07-2015, 10:14 PM

No freeze last night but the sap ran steady all day. Over 2 gpt since yesterday am when it froze up a couple hours ago. I lost track of exactly how much sap I processed today, but I ended up making 37 gallons of Golden Delicate. Over 160 total so far.

The sugar content dropped to about 1.9% today, but it should come back up after a hard freeze tonight. Will be back at it tomorrow am...

DoubleBrookMaple

04-07-2015, 11:02 PM

Things are good for me in the southern greens. Two days at 1 gpt! Love this home made vacuum system of mine, and it has performed flawlessly Lightly freezing up for two days now, and maybe the last good run starts on Friday the way it looks. No freeze ups in the forecast after that.

Sugarmaker's dad

04-08-2015, 02:16 AM

2:00 am just finished cleaning up after boiling 6500 gallons from today. Filled 4 barrels.

Vtmaple2

04-08-2015, 02:44 AM

Just got home, made little over 4 barrels tonight. This was only our second boil. It has been to cold for a good sap flow. Sugar content has been very good, testing close to 3%. My father always said you don't make syrup in our woods until the brook opens up. The brook just opened up this week! 1/3 of a "normal" crop is about right for us right now. Hope that changes! On the bright side our new Leader HC RO is saving us time and wood!

Flat Lander Sugaring

04-08-2015, 05:59 AM

tired of boiling dumping sap around 170 gal syrup made not very good year eeven with high vac on around 460 trees, still have wood left but beat up need real ro and bigger arch, if all works out 2x6 will be for sale

northwoods_forestry

04-08-2015, 06:29 AM

tired of boiling dumping sap around 170 gal syrup made not very good year even with high vac on around 460 trees, still have wood left but beat up need real ro and bigger arch, if all works out 2x6 will be for sale

I'll take your left over wood. I'm down to 1/2 cord and sap is still pouring in!

Only added vacuum to 250 taps, but that certainly is helping. We are nearing 0.2 gallons of syrup/tap. Average for us is 0.15/tap. Our best year was 0.21/tap.

Tucker08

04-08-2015, 10:02 AM

With no decent freezes in the forecast, I am feeling like it is the end for me down here in Shaftsbury. We made another 11 gallons last night, which put us over the 80 gallon mark. More than I expected to make, even on a 3.5 week season. I am going to see what it does this week then will likely push water through the evaporator and pull taps. Next year I will add another 100 taps and a second membrane on the RO. The firewood savings with that RO is amazing. I still have enough wood for next year left in the pile. We put a 5.8kw solar array on one of our barns this year and during the day when the RO was running the panels were still sending power back to the grid.

wiam

04-08-2015, 11:29 AM

Last night put us right at 200 gallons. At the end my old Seprotech HP pump got louder. Hope it lasts.

wsugar

04-08-2015, 03:05 PM

Hey rusty if you get to tired bring the sap to east poultney.Im loving this,this is what we all dream about. Making two or three barrels a night. Bring it on for another two weeks. Or longer!!!!

DrTimPerkins

04-08-2015, 07:36 PM

FINALLY a good run! 2.5 gal sap per tap today. A few more like this (maybe tomorrow) will definitely put us back on track.

GeneralStark

04-08-2015, 08:56 PM

FINALLY a good run! 2.5 gal sap per tap today. A few more like this (maybe tomorrow) will definitely put us back on track.

What do you mean by today? What sort of time frame are you referring to? It didn't really get going here today until about 10:30 as the Hogback blocks the sun in the morning. It was running over 100 gph for most of the day but once the snow started it slowed down a bit. It may still be running....but it's kind of nasty out so I don;t want to walk to the sugarhouse.

With the 200 gal. left from yesterday and the approx. 550 I pulled in by 5 pm, I made another 15 gal. of Golden Delicate this evening. Looks like we will get a freeze tonight. Sugar came back up to 2.2% with last night's thaw. Tonight may be the last freeze for a while, but I should be able to get another week out of the season...at least.

Sugarmaker's dad

04-08-2015, 11:55 PM

Good day today. 9,100 gallons from 8,000 taps. Filled 5 more barrels. It's nice to be done before midnight.

spud

04-09-2015, 05:40 AM

Good day yesterday and sap ran 1200 GPH most of the day. Got over 9000 gallons. Snowed last night and the branches are covered with snow. Should be another great day. Still waiting for the 1.5+ GPT runs. Good luck everyone.

Spud

GeneralStark

04-09-2015, 08:48 AM

A solid 3" of snow here, and a good freeze. Could be a good day again today if it warms up enough. Trees and sap lines are coated in snow....possible thunder storms tomorrow and no real freeze in the forecast. Ahhh April :)

DrTimPerkins

04-09-2015, 08:56 AM

What do you mean by today? What sort of time frame are you referring to?

A 24-hr period would be the best approximation. In some cases we have chambers in the woods that collect sap until we measure and then drain them. 24 hrs is typically the maximum amount of time. So that run would have been between 5pm on Tues and 5pm on Wed, with the bulk of that coming in on Tuesday evening from 5-9pm and then from 10am-5pm on Wed. Once the sun hit the trees in good shape it was like a fire hose going in to each of the releasers for a good while. It shut down between those times and then shut down again last night (Wed night) around 9pm. It was the first (and only) good run of this season so far. With that, we're at 46.5% of our minimum goal of 0.5 gal syrup/tap. (Hoping for another run like that again today and tomorrow.

GeneralStark

04-09-2015, 09:03 AM

A 24-hr period would be the best approximation. In some cases we have chambers in the woods that collect sap until we measure and then drain them. 24 hrs is typically the maximum amount of time. So that run would have been between 5pm on Tues and 5pm on Wed, with the bulk of that coming in on Tuesday evening from 5-9pm and then from 10am-5pm on Wed. Once the sun hit the trees in good shape it was like a fire hose going in to each of the releasers for a good while. It shut down between those times and then shut down again last night (Wed night) around 9pm. It was the first (and only) good run of this season so far. With that, we're at 46.5% of our minimum goal of 0.5 gal syrup/tap. (Hoping for another run like that again today and tomorrow.

Ok, thanks for the clarification. 2.5 gpt in the span of say a 10-12 hour sap run (like yesterday) would be very impressive at least in my experience. I had two almost 2.5gpt 24 hour runs this season, and hoping for another today into tomorrow...:)

sjdoyon

04-09-2015, 09:20 AM

25 degrees this morning and another four inches of snow
Had about 4,000 gallons come in yestrrday. Still not running yet, should get going next week.

DrTimPerkins

04-09-2015, 11:05 AM

Ok, thanks for the clarification. 2.5 gpt in the span of say a 10-12 hour sap run (like yesterday) would be very impressive at least in my experience.

Considering that this was the 4 hr tail end of one run and about 7 hrs of the next, with an intervening freeze of 14 hrs, and 1/2 full tanks in one of the sheds that we aren't counting (left it last night for today) we were quite happy with it. It was definitely the best run of the season (at least so far), and typical of those that we normally will get only 2-3 times per year. Just perfect conditions for us.

Things just broke open again here today (starting at 10:10am) at about 34-35 deg F with clouds and wind. Unlike the last few weeks, the trees are now just primed to run as soon as the temperatures allow. Doesn't take a lot to get them started....although good vacuum helps too. From the forecast, it should run for at least the next 2 or 3 days.

spud

04-09-2015, 11:07 AM

DoubleBrookMaple

04-09-2015, 12:37 PM

I calculate my sap for a day from 6am to 6am. The sap is rolling in this morning. Right now I am getting 1350 GPH. Hey Dr. Tim and General I wish I could get the GPT you guys are getting. Yestrday I got 1.6 GPT on my new woods but only shy of a gallon on my old woods. My old woods is 250 feet higher. Still finding leaky CV2 spouts in the woods. I will have it all fixed by May 1st. Good luck everyone.

SpudIt is amazing how a little altitude (temp change) will do.
I haven't broken the freezing mark yet (31) after noon. Everything coated with ice and snow. Yesterday boiled for 11 hours to catch up as I can only boil 30 gph. It fortunately only ran for 3-4 hours as I need the break. Forecast shows a freeze for Saturday night for me. I should get two more powerful runs Fri-Sat, and Sun-Mon. I will run out of wood I think. I did not plan proper for my vacuum output potential. I can store up to 700 gallons so maybe I can get someone to come take it if it comes to that.

Wilk6764

04-09-2015, 04:55 PM

I live in Monkton and have had a great year so far. Thoughts on today being the last sap run? Temps look to be too high the next few days and all next week. Good luck everyone!

Scribner's Mountain Maple

04-09-2015, 06:41 PM

Where I am, I don't think my sap run has even really started. I know the temps are planned to be high for next week. But there is 3' + feet of snow in my woods. In the higher elevation of the bush, I think it has opened up only two or three times since the start of 2015. It never really ran more than a trickle today as it was hovering at 32/33. I just might make syrup in May for the first time ever.

Spud, sorry to hear about the leaking CV's. I also had some with pin holes and several others that broke when tapping. Think I may have a couple more out there. But the snow is still so deep, it is really hard going. I was thinking the other day how to entice tourist to search for leaks on "sugaring snowshoe tours". Like a free army of leak hunters. I hope the idea works.

Ben

GeneralStark

04-09-2015, 09:07 PM

It really started to run hard this morning and then just kind of turned into average (for this season which isn't saying much) flow once the wind picked up and the clouds thickened up. Never went above 38 and now at 35 here in the gateway to the Greens...Here is my hypothesis for the lackluster run despite the trees being primed. Ice and snow do not thaw readily below 38F. We still have snow on the ground from last night and I had to seek shelter in the RO room multiple times today to warm up (before the INTENS-O-FIRE was rippin) because it was so cold (I am sick of cold).

So, if the NWS is correct (which is unlikely based on their record this winter) and it does really warm tomorrow and we experience thunderstorms and downpours and some really warm air (I'll believe it when I see it) THEN the sap is really going to run...If not, then it is due to the annoying as heck south wind, or perhaps it is due to these **** CV2 spouts that Dr. Tim promised would allow me to achieve 1/2 gpt. Paging Dr. Tim...wtf...:)

Anyway, I did make another 15 gal. of Golden Delicate this evening from approx. 800 gal. I collected last night and today til approx. 5:30 pm. 192 for season total.

DrTimPerkins

04-09-2015, 09:22 PM

It is amazing how a little altitude (temp change) will do.

That's pretty much the whole story this year.

spud

04-09-2015, 09:59 PM

Sugarmaker's dad

04-10-2015, 12:52 AM

Sounds like everyone is keeping plenty busy today. Had over 10,000 gallons as of 12:30 am and sap is still coming in at 400 gal/hr. We've made 29 barrels so far including what we've bottled so we are pretty close to 50% crop. Sure hope we can make the other half. Good luck tomorrow.

Flat Lander Sugaring

04-10-2015, 05:53 AM

900 to 1200 every day so dam busy process all night get up do a rinse 2am start processing again. over 200 now. not bAD for only putting up 4 to 5 cords of wood.

need several more 40 gal barrels. hoping to go see Thad this weekend

northwoods_forestry

04-10-2015, 06:57 AM

Thermometer has been stuck at 31 for the past 36 hours. Must be time to replace it?

GeneralStark

04-10-2015, 08:39 AM

No freeze overnight, but down to 33. Sap ran all night but slowed down quite a bit. Probably not going to hit 2gpt in 24hrs. , but will get to 1.5-1.6gpt. Sugar was @ 2% yesterday and still making light syrup. I'm interested to see what happens today as it warms up. Will the trees really thaw out and get going? Or, will it continue to be average?

Scribner's Mountain Maple

04-10-2015, 11:38 AM

Talked with a large producer today. They said typically they would have made 14K gallons by now. This year they are at 1000 so far.

This is surely a strange year. It seems like in the lower elevations, production is close to normal. Where in the higher elevations, it is way down.

Is there any word on how CA is doing on production. I could imagine a lot less syrup being produced this year overall. The prices seem to depend only on CA production and then the strength of the CA dollar.

Ben

ryebrye

04-10-2015, 12:36 PM

I'm at a lower elevation (hinesburg) - things broke free for us this week. I've had over a gallon per tap each day for the past six days. I'm on pace today to end up with about 8 gallons per tap over a 6 day period. (every day for the past five days has been over a gallon per tap, but no 2+ gpt days here).

There aren't any more freezes forecast for my area - there's a slight chance of a freeze Saturday night here but that looks less and less likely as Saturday approaches. The weather forecast for next week seems unsettled but not generally favoring freezes here (and that is probably good news for those at higher elevations)

I tapped late (I have only 110 taps so I have the luxury of just-in-time tapping before the first thaw) - and I expect my trees to continue to be capable of running until the trees here bud. (They will of course stop running if we don't get any more freezes) They are running at a moderate and steady now - peaked a little last hour but seem to be slowing slightly (I have my releaser set up to post ever release event on twitter and graph the data etc so I can monitor it from work, so I have a good idea how it is running)

The graph of gallons of sap per tap for my location show pretty clearly how it's broken recently:

11659

I'm lower than where I want to end the season for gallons of sap per tap - but the sugar content is high this year (either due to seasonal variation, or the new trees I added being extra sweet) so I'm not in a bad situation in terms of pounds of sugar per tap.

WestfordSugarworks

04-10-2015, 05:05 PM

It seems like I have the same weather as you do here in Westford, Ryebrye. Hoping for a freeze tomorrow night but I doubt it will dip below 30. Things really broke free for us too last week, following those 50 degree days. I really am hoping to make some Medium tonight but we will see. So far we've made 13 barrels of Fancy and that's it. I am sick of drinking Fancy all night when we boil. I love how the elevation varies the season for producers here in VT. I'm going to take a trip north once the season ends for us. Or at least a trip up some big hill.

DoubleBrookMaple

04-11-2015, 12:23 AM

Thermometer has been stuck at 31 for the past 36 hours. Must be time to replace it?I had the same issue here.
My weather station showed a high of 31.8 yesterday, but all hell broke loose today, and I got my first view of what my 260 taps on 24" could do. It scared me thinking what the hell id this rookie going to do with all this sap? I was at a flow rate of almost 4 gpt for a couple hours there. Of course things slowed down in the evening, but I filled one of my 275 gallon totes in 7 hours! I won't know until tomorrow what my daily average was.
Boiled off 245 gallons for 5 gallons in 8 hrs. Thats my 30gph boil rate again.
NWS, and Weather Underground both calling for 29 Saturday night here, so I am good!

43 gallons, shooting for 75

northwoods_forestry

04-11-2015, 06:46 AM

I had the same issue here.
My weather station showed a high of 31.8 yesterday, but all hell broke loose today, and I got my first view of what my 260 taps on 24" could do. It scared me thinking what the hell id this rookie going to do with all this sap? I was at a flow rate of almost 4 gpt for a couple hours there. Of course things slowed down in the evening, but I filled one of my 275 gallon totes in 7 hours! I won't know until tomorrow what my daily average was.
Boiled off 245 gallons for 5 gallons in 8 hrs. Thats my 30gph boil rate again.
NWS, and Weather Underground both calling for 29 Saturday night here, so I am good!

I'm with you DoubleBrook. All tanks are full this morn. Had to empty one twice last night. Poised to set a new production high today if the wood holds out!

Flat Lander Sugaring

04-11-2015, 07:35 AM

Broke 200 last night, head is thumping can't imagine why, running out of wood at least 600 gal to process still

wiam

04-11-2015, 07:54 AM

280 total Did not run as much as I expected over night. But 500 gallons with what ran after I ROed last night.

GeneralStark

04-11-2015, 09:08 AM

Sap still coming in steady. Was 2% yesterday but not sure about what came in overnight since processing yesterday afternoon. Finished ROing what I had pulled in by 4pm so I should easily get over a gpt by 4pm again today. My two buckets have stopped. No freeze in two nights but perhaps tonight. After that it may not be until next winter...

Made another 22 gal. of Golden Delicate yesterday which brings me up to 214. I'm happy about that given the nature of the season. I have been hoping to get to 300 and I just might do it. I need to make some dark syrup, and lots of it.

VT Maple

04-11-2015, 09:33 AM

I think we are coming to the end of the season. 1125 taps and we have made 535 gallons to date. Probable finish up this weekend.

DrTimPerkins

04-11-2015, 11:07 AM

Is there any word on how CA is doing on production. I could imagine a lot less syrup being produced this year overall.

From what I have heard California (CA) has had a rather poor maple syrup season so far. :)

For Canada, it is far too early to tell. In many places they really are only just starting.

Canadian prices for the 2015 season crop have already been set. They won't change. U.S. prices might change slightly, depending upon the 2015 U.S. crop and the 2015 Canadian crop, but they won't stray too far from the prices already set after factoring in the exchange rate.

DrTimPerkins

04-11-2015, 11:12 AM

The weather man say's it is going down to 37 tonight. Right now it is 33 and getting colder. My woods already froze up about a half hour ago. The same weather man is saying all next week the night temps will not go below 35. Something tells me we will have 3-4 nights next week that will go below freezing temp. I think I have two full weeks left of sugaring in my area and maybe more.

I hope you're right Spud. The NWS has been off (prediction too warm) by several degrees each day for the last few weeks. At this point I'd like that to continue so we can get a few more decent freeze-ups. We'll be OK if it doesn't (hit 63% of our minimum crop last night, with a good amount of sap to boil today), but would be in much better shape if it does freeze another time or two.

ryebrye

04-11-2015, 01:52 PM

I hope you're right Spud. The NWS has been off (prediction too warm) by several degrees each day for the last few weeks. At this point I'd like that to continue so we can get a few more decent freeze-ups. We'll be OK if it doesn't (hit 63% of our minimum crop last night, with a good amount of sap to boil today), but would be in much better shape if it does freeze another time or two.

Something in the weather models may be shifting. I've been watching a few raw weather site and aggregators - forecast.io is predicting a freeze on Wednesday night now. Things may change between now and then.

I'm hoping you guys get good weather so that whatever studies you are conducting have data that applies to more than just strange years.

Think there is a slight chance of a freeze tonight (NOAA's rapid refresh data model is predicting slightly below freezing. Higher elevations may be more likely to freeze tonight.

spud

04-11-2015, 04:17 PM

Sap is running 400 GPH today. Was able to get 3500 gallons over night. Yesterday's total was 8000 gallons of sap. Dr. Tim if we don"t have any freeze ups this coming week do you think we are done. It still seems very wintery around here. I really don't see the buds coming out this week even if it stays warm. What do you think?

Spud

GeneralStark

04-11-2015, 05:12 PM

Sap still running well, though sugar has come down to 1.7 from 2 yesterday. Boiled today and made another 10 gallons. Right on the GD/AR line. I'm hoping for at least one more freeze and tonight seems like 75% chance of that happening.

DrTimPerkins

04-11-2015, 06:55 PM

Dr. Tim if we don"t have any freeze ups this coming week do you think we are done. It still seems very wintery around here. I really don't see the buds....

It'll keep running for a while with good vacuum, but the sugar content and sap quality will decline. Much depends on the high temperatures reached.

woodchuck

04-11-2015, 08:15 PM

We have had a great run since Good Friday. This Fridays low temps never materialized. 38 degrees here at the moment, really need to see a cold one tonight. We are at about 75% of last season but, all our sap has been clean and clear.

northwoods_forestry

04-11-2015, 08:17 PM

That's it for us. Sap is still running but just swept up the woodshed and threw the sweepings in the firebox. Burned every last wood scrap in sight. Our best season yet for total production.

Good luck to everyone still going!

can'twaitforabigrun

04-11-2015, 09:52 PM

Ryebrye, I agree with your thoughts on a possible freeze midweek. Here are the forecast lows across New England tonight:11684

can'twaitforabigrun

04-11-2015, 09:55 PM

Here is a link where the map can be viewed better: http://weather.graphics/hrrr/2015041200/neng/hrrr_t2m_min_neng_16.png

Sugarmaker's dad

04-11-2015, 10:03 PM

We're going to get spoiled. Finished boiling and cleaning up before 10:00. Since this non-stop run started Thursday morning we have had 23,000 gallons. Sap is still coming in at 300gph temp is 34 degrees. Hopefully we will have a freeze. Will have to restart the RO later tonight to make room for more if it doesn't freeze. 35 barrels so far.

spud

04-12-2015, 05:45 AM

It"s 5:42am at my house and the temp is 31 degrees. I hope this will be good enough to allow for a big run today. Yesterday I got about 5000 gallons.

Spud

bairdswift

04-12-2015, 06:12 AM

6:15 and its 23° at my house in Therford. I believe that will be enough for a recharge

wiam

04-12-2015, 06:52 AM

21 in Barnet :)

GiddingsHill

04-12-2015, 06:59 AM

Been watching this thread and the weather intently all week, I figure I'm around 60% of a crop right now (selling sap).
It was 28F at my tanks ten minutes ago, things seem frozen pretty hard, really hoping it's enough!

PerryW

04-12-2015, 07:07 AM

23 degrees here in Lyman NH (about 6 miles east of Barnet VT)! should flow good todday.

Flat Lander Sugaring

04-12-2015, 08:28 AM

frost on windows, made another 20 gal a dark with robust flavor. question for all of you

the new grade kits only have 3 grade jars but you can buy 5 grade labels, some times I have a blond moment

sap was dumping every few minutes yesterday, pump hasnt shut off for 5 days now the RP hasnt either almost 24hr a day the socialist power company is gonig to love me. will do a count but think we closing in on 240 gal.

CharlieVT

04-12-2015, 08:34 AM

.... The NWS has been off (prediction too warm) by several degrees each day for the last few weeks. ....

I've noticed a definite trend, the forecast overnight low has been several degrees higher than my observations.
At 5 AM today I observed 20 degrees F here in the Deep South of Vermont.
Weather channel website had forecast the overnight low to be well above freezing.
Must be they need to tweak their modeling. :)

sjdoyon

04-12-2015, 10:52 AM

Up in the NEK, we've also been off on the temps from predictions and had snow flurries most of yesterday with temps around 34 until noon. At least the trees above 2,000ft elevation are starting to run. Made 240 gallons on Friday and 260 yesterday. Next two weeks looks good with temps around 30 most nights and still three feet of snow in most of the sugarbush.

GeneralStark

04-12-2015, 11:23 AM

Got home from a show last night at 12:30 and it was right about 32 degrees and sap was still running. This morning at 7 am it was 31 and sap was running lightly. Ice in the sap lifter and sap coming down dry line. Now it is pushing 50 and sap is running hard and ssc is back at 2.1% after going down to 1.8%. Buckets are even dripping. We did not get a hard freeze but it seems it was enough to get the trees dripping.

Running the ro now as two tanks are full as about 700 came in since 2 pm yesterday. Going out for a bit this afternoon so I need the tank space. Will finish ro'ing whatever we get today later and boil this evening. I think we still have several more days here. T0morrow will be warm but cool nights should keep us going.

DrTimPerkins

04-12-2015, 12:38 PM

We didn't freeze hard last night. Some of the puddles were frozen over and the road was firm. Low right around the sugarhouse was around 35 deg F, but we might have had a light freeze in some of the colder pockets of the woods. Sometimes it is far warmer up here on the hill, and all the cold air drains down into the valleys. On the positive side, the sap ran all night and the tanks are 2/3 full with the sap still coming in, so we'll be making a good amount of syrup today. Despite that...we need some cold weather, and the forecast is looking kind of skimpy on that.

Taphole sanitation is really becoming a major factor. For those trees with used spouts, the sap is now 1/2 or less of those with new spouts, and the trees with new drops or CV spouts are doing best. That effect will only get larger with the rest of the season.

WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER

04-12-2015, 02:08 PM

DrTimPerkins

04-12-2015, 04:29 PM

When there is frost/freeze still in the ground, it will come up at night and freeze standing water on top of the ground even when the air temps don't get below freezing. I know Dr Tim knows this, but others may not. You may see frozen puddles and think you got a freeze when in reality it was the frost in the ground freezing over the standing water.

Absolutely. I do know some areas of the bush did get below freezing. We have a lot of Smartrek sensors deployed throughout our woods.

can'twaitforabigrun

04-12-2015, 04:48 PM

Dr. Perkins, what was the lowest temperatures recorded by your smartrek sensors last night?

DrTimPerkins

04-12-2015, 06:51 PM

Dr. Perkins, what was the lowest temperatures recorded by your smartrek sensors last night?

Without going back to look again, I believe some spots hit about 30.5 deg F.

Flat Lander Sugaring

04-12-2015, 07:59 PM

Sweet Maple Trees

04-12-2015, 09:00 PM

Rusty you can't be folding the tent this early with the homemade RO. Only guy I know that makes 50 gals of syrup to a 30 gallon trash barrel full of empty beer cans.

Flat Lander Sugaring

04-12-2015, 09:06 PM

Rusty you can't be folding the tent this early with the homemade RO. Only guy I know that makes 50 gals of syrup to a 30 gallon trash barrel full of empty beer cans.

ill take a picture of this year but didnt come close to 250 gal syrup.:lol:
30 gal trash can, 30 gal black plastic trash bag and a few in a box that had bottles in it

in 8 hr it ran 50 gallons, nothing like it has been last few days.

GeneralStark

04-12-2015, 10:16 PM

pulled the plug, enough wood for one more fire. processing now boil tomorrow night for last time this season. were at 248 should pull off 6-8 gallons tomorrow. sugar down to 1.4=58-1. start looking at upgrades for next year. at least get the new ro up and running. thinking about a ray gingrich? ro. from what a lot of people on here say they really like his stuff. his at 5k+ approx and CDL 500 is 13k hummmm. never made any B a dark with robust

Rusty - Before you drop the cash on a Deer Run consider looking for a used machine. I have been super impressed with the Springtech I bought for not much more than one of Ray's machines. Much better design with higher quality components.

Sap is still running well here thanks to last night's freeze. Just enough to get the trees recharged and bring up the sugar content. Made another 20+ tonight and up to 244. Went to Amber Rich but flirting with Dark Robust.

Sugarmaker's dad

04-12-2015, 11:37 PM

Best day this season. Made 6 barrels which brings the total to 42. The trees are definitely running out of steam tonight.

GeneralStark

04-13-2015, 08:48 AM

40F here this morning and another 400+ gal. since 5:30 pm yesterday. I need to run off to work so I shoveled some snow around my storage tanks so todays sap will stay cold. Red maples are still putting out sap and the closest peeper pond is still frozen. Maybe a freeze Wednesday night? Time to really put the new drops and spouts and cv2s to the test.

This is my first year with plenty of wood and enough time to really see how far I can go.

GiddingsHill

04-13-2015, 09:23 AM

Lower woods froze here last night (around 550'elevation) and upper woods kept running around 1100'
Forecast has definitely been off for us too. If I freeze up without opening my regulator my pump will cavitate all night, I managed to get myself down to the tank shed around 2am and was glad I did as it was just starting to get loud.
I bought the Airtech 7.5 LR to be big enough for 6k+ but for what we have tapped this year it's project to keep it from cavitating, even with a programable phase drive and regulator, if the woods are tight it will bounce off 29" and make a racket.

GeneralStark

04-13-2015, 09:37 AM

I have the same issue with my Airtech. Last season I had to install a T and ball valve in the 1.5" vac line between pump and releaser to give the pump air or it would cavitate and get loud. Mine sounds like it is crackling. I have a hard time running above 27.5" without cavitation, which is where I have been at most of the season. I have not run the pump above 50 hz all season, and turn it down to 42hz when it is frozen. Once I add more mainline and taps it should be less of an issue.

Geroldn

04-13-2015, 11:48 AM

I had a decent run Sunday from 181 taps on gravity tubing and thought the season was ending based on the warm forecast for this week. Frost on the car this morning, my neighbor checked at 10:30 - 25g in the tank and sap is flowing. I'm boiling again tonight! 30g canned so far and more to come. May be a frost Wednesday also.

spud

04-13-2015, 04:12 PM

sjdoyon

04-13-2015, 04:57 PM

We are finally getting some nice runs. Making over 250 gallons each day. Hopefully will get into May.

DrTimPerkins

04-13-2015, 08:17 PM

I have been getting 9-10,000 gallons everyday. Some of my wood froze last night and some did not. It is going to freeze tomorrow and Wednesday night for sure and that will recharge us. Saturday may be another freezing night. I am about 50% of where I want to be. We will be going well into next week for sure.

Glad to hear it's finally running well for you "northern" guys. We haven't frozen up for several days now, but the forecast looks a lot better for Tues and Wed, and perhaps Saturday night as well, than it did yesterday. Let's hope that they get it right this time. If so, we'll cruise right through that 0.5 gal syrup/tap mark....otherwise it'll be close.

Sap is still running fairly well despite the hot weather. Sugar content down to about 2%, but still made 110 gallons of syrup today, for an overall of 0.42 gal syrup/tap mark. Grade is Dark/Robust, but the flavor is still quite good with no hint of any defects as yet. Hoping the rain starts early tonite to cool things down some, although I have to admit it was quite nice walking through the woods today with a t-shirt.

WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER

04-13-2015, 08:33 PM

Dr. Tim,

How many taps is Proctor running now??

PARKER MAPLE

04-13-2015, 08:43 PM

Started to shut down Sunday, the 200 tap lot on vacuum wasn't doing much of anything. So shut that down. Then last nights temp my sugar dropped to less then 1/2%. So I'm going to shut that down in the next day or so if it dosnt freeze again. I still have 600 going but haven't gave any real big runs yet, they are way up in elevation and still 2-3' of snow up there. They are all ways my late runners. And usually produce my best sugar numbers. Made a little over 200g so far was hoping for 250. Figures crossed but dosnt look likely .
PM

GeneralStark

04-13-2015, 10:07 PM

The temp. hit almost 70F here today so I rushed to push the 1000gal. of sap I collected between 5:30 pm yesterday and 5:30 pm today thru the ro. It went thru fine though the pre-filters definitely need replacing tomorrow. They were new today. Sugar is down to about 1.6% so I am loving the ro. Made about 17 Gal. of Dark Robust with awesome flavor, so up to 261 for the season to date. No sign of any off flavors or smells and the sap is still coming in.

The forecast looks cooler for the next couple days so storing sap should be easier. I'm going to clean the press and syrup pans in the am in preparation for what will hopefully be a productive several days.

Things look good for you northerners If I am still in the game.

Sugarmaker's dad

04-13-2015, 10:41 PM

Quite warm in the sugarhouse today. Inside temp reached 81. Made 4 more barrels of medium amber. Looks like the weatherman might give us a bonus Tuesday and/or Wednesday night. Sure would be nice to squeeze out another 10 barrels.

syrup2nv

04-13-2015, 11:19 PM

Made another 285 of Dark Robust today. Stopped buying sap today also. Enough sap on hand to make another 250-275 tomorrow. Currently at 4480 for the season. Was hoping to make 20-30 drums of Very Dark. Still have 7000 taps of my own to draw from. We will see if it freezes up again. Sap is cloudy, making awesome flavored syrup.

Who would of thought 3-4 weeks ago it would turn out to be a decent crop. My target for the season was 5000 gallons.

DoubleBrookMaple

04-14-2015, 12:31 AM

No rest for the weary...
Got my first Dark Robust today.
I had hoped for 30-40 gallons this year, but didn't realize when I built my vacuum system what it would do to me. I am getting buried here in Readsboro! Boiled for 12 hours for the third day straight today. Collected the buckets early today from yesterdays big run while they were cool. I am boiling 350 gallons a day, and have 500 on hand, so I will maybe catch up before the next freeze forecast here. My sap is 46 degrees in one tote from yesterdays run that I have packed in snow. The other is 50 degrees plus, and I will boil that tomorrow first even though it is fresher, as some was coming in warm today. I boiled the sap as it was coming in today at 78 degrees. as well as the bucket sap.
1.4% sap make for a long day on the evaporator.

60 gallons so far, 10X two years ago.

Did I hear someone say R/O?

spud

04-14-2015, 06:00 AM

Things are looking good and I got another 7500 gallons yesterday. Tonight and tomorrow night should freeze so thats going to be good. Looks like 4-5 more freezing nights for next week also. I am hoping I can go till the 25-26th of the month at least. I have a good feeling.

Spud

Flat Lander Sugaring

04-14-2015, 06:15 AM

made more than i thought last night. made close to 16 gal with the sweet in the pans and what we boiled i was turning out 125 gph :o on my 2x6 so we only boiled for 3/4 hr start up and shut down with nitrogen injection :confused: makes sap evaporate 3 times faster. total for year approx 262 will know better in a few days once I get all syrup barreled (dont ask) I was making syrup so fast had to empty jugs of everything around house basement and garage, I wasnt ready to make this much syrup.

oh yea the socialist power pigs they actually treated me ok, my power bill from 3-11 to 4-6 was only 140.02 that is HALF of what last years was only difference is NO SMART METER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
watch they probably estimated my usage I get nailed next month:lol:
Last year 130 gal this year 262 I would think ro ran more

WestfordSugarworks

04-14-2015, 07:55 AM

Still going strong(ish) here in Westford. Finished barrel 16 last night. Still Golden Delicate. I figured with the temperature being the way it was yesterday the syrup might change over to Medium at least. But we only had a few hundred gallons of concentrate to process and on our 5 x 14 that small amount of concentrate may not have turned to syrup before our boil was over. We took over the operation from an older guy and he would sell more than a barrel of Medium retail every year. Since we are taking over his retail market I am worried about not having enough Medium. But I'm confident it will come. I am just sick of drinking GD all night in the sugarhouse. Need something with a bit more maple character. Looks like a freeze Wednesday night so we have another few days at least. Then pulling taps and ripping out the whole tubing system to make way for a brand new installation.

DrTimPerkins

04-14-2015, 08:57 AM

How many taps is Proctor running now??

3,674 tapped this year that go into the production stream. Should be well over 4,000 next year (new section that we prepped this fall/winter) and probably over 5,000 within 4-5 yrs. After that it'll be close to time for somebody else to take the reins up here. When I started here (1996), we had about 1,800 taps and there was very little research on (applied) production issues.

We always have another couple of hundred of taps that we measure sap from, but don't collect. It is unfortunately dumped on the ground, but the value of those is in the research, and there is no good way to collect it that wouldn't take a lot of time, which would mean less research.

Hoping for a good freeze tonite and tomorrow night. Sap is still trickling in, but definitely slowing down.

GeneralStark

04-14-2015, 12:39 PM

Sap is still coming in at 1.6%. Will likely go over 1 gpt/24hours again today. Considerably cooler than yesterday. I took the syrup pans off and there was an impressive amount of niter flakes accumulated. I noticed a couple draws last night where the valve opened fully but the syrup flow was not what it should have been. I'm lucky nothing bad happened. They're soaking now with vinegar and I'll put the rig back together this afternoon so I can boil again. Trying not to let the sap sit around for too long.

Red maples seem to be slowing down but they are still giving out sap. We could get a freeze tonight, but tomorrow night seems very likely. It will be interesting to see how this week plays out.

ryebrye

04-14-2015, 12:46 PM

In my little bush in hinesburg things are still running. No buds out yet. 3/16 + a mainline under vacuum is doing a phenomenal job at getting sap out of these trees - I've had over a gallon per tap every single day for 9 days now, and I think I'll pass it again today. (all new tubing, and I'm using check valves on almost all my taps)

All the sugar makers close to me are shutting down, but I found another one at a higher elevation to haul my sap to. My sugar content of the 210 gallons I dropped off this morning was 2.3% (this is good overall, but my peak was 3.0% for a long time and the average for this season overall is now at 2.8%) - I have some frozen 5-gallon poly jugs floating in my tank today to help keep the temps lower (I should have had them floating yesterday, but I didn't think about it until the morning... and it takes a long time for 5 gallons to freeze).

I'm at a low enough elevation that I don't think I'll get a freeze tonight, but there is a good chance I'll get one tomorrow. I'm hoping to keep pushing through until Saturday.