Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[DoubleBrookMaple]

My biggest day today, as I made 10 gallons. Syrup is darkening some, and my last sample was Amber and not anywhere near dark. Sap still running some on vacuum, and I may have a freeze tonight, but a cold day. Snow in the morning, turning to a cold rain.
My biggest year at 60 gallons.

[Sugarmaker's dad]

Well, it has been a great two days. Almost 23,000 gallons in 36 hours. Made 11 more barrels of syrup. This might be a good season after all.

[DrTimPerkins]

Great sap runs over the weekend. Vacuum was high throughout the time. Sugar content is still good, about 2.2-2.3 Brix. Every tank was full when we started yesterday morning, and it was still coming in well, so took some time to catch up to it. We boiled for nearly 10 hrs. Made 229 gal of very nice syrup (probably a record boil length and production day for us). We're up to about 45% of a (minimum) crop so far. Glad to have it freeze up a bit early last night. Cool and windy this morning, so probably not going to flow well today until after lunch, but it is coming in slowly. Looks a lot better for most of the rest of this week though, so better rest while we can.

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Great sap runs over the weekend.
Looks a lot better for most of the rest of this week though, so better rest while we can.
I posted some grim weather facts about this year, and being rookie at this I thought we may have a early/short season, but it appears not right now. Dr Tim pointed out that the trees would not be fooled with the moderately warm weather, and he was right. I just had one day that hit 71 degrees. We seem to be returning closer to normal temperatures for the next couple weeks, and that is good news.
Good Luck To You All!

[spud]

I have about 3200 in the tank. It did not freeze in all my woods last night. Sap is running about 325 GPH right now. Hope to get half gallon of sap per tap today. I hope for a great week. Good luck everyone.

Spud

[bairdswift]

No sap here today. Still only 33* and snow. Let's hope for tomarrow!

[GeneralStark]

Running ok today, probably 350 since 6 am. We did have a freeze last night but it warmed up quick this am and started running right away once it hit 33. The dry lines were carrying most of it when I left for work at 7. Now it is 36 with a forecasted high of 45, but I doubt we will get that warm. Low of 39 forecasted tonight but I think this cold air circulating in from the NE caught the NWS by surprise. Maybe we will get another freeze tonight?

I had a good quick boil last night and made 15 gal. of DR, just over from AR. I had a fair bit of slime in the tanks which I think was the result of the ice that formed in the lines during Friday night's freeze scrubbing out the lines. Will be interesting to see if the syrup lightens when I boil tomorrow. Taking today off from boiling to work on other stuff.

[Tucker08]

Boiled permeate tonight and pushed through. Got another 6 gallons for my efforts. We are up to 95 gallons, which is the best year yet, and are quite happy. If the trees hold off, we will be back at it this weekend. Buds on the red maples are very swollen. Buds on the sugar maples still look ok. Will pull my red maple taps this week and will only have sugar maples when I turn the vacuum pump back on.


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[Flat Lander Sugaring]

did complete count of all jugged syrup we are at 110 gallons plus a few 3.4oz bottles. we have 300 from yesterday to boil tonight and if any comes in today. very dark even after cleaning everything.

NOT SELLING BULK THIS YEAR!!!!!

[spud]

No freeze here last night. Wind and rain all night and temps around 35. Sap should run all day but nothing to big. Looks like we have two more warmer nights and then back into cold temps again. This is a great March so far. I am hoping for record numbers this year. No sun for days. Got to love it.

Spud

[tcross]

sap ran pretty decent yesterday! stopped about 11:45 last night. woke up to 34 degrees... when I turned the pump back on at 6:15 this a.m it was coming in steady we got down to 30 here for a few hours last night and got a 1/2" of beautiful sugar snow! trees seem ready for action... should be another good day. gotta take half a day off from the day job and try to catch up this afternoon! good times!

[GeneralStark]

No freeze here last night. Bottomed out at 34 and sap ran all night. Not too hard but over 1gpt since yesterday am. Sugar is down to about 1.7. I'm cleaning syrup pans again and going to boil tonight.

The vac. pump has been on for over a week straight and looks like it could be on until April if the long range is right. I have 27.5" in the woods and have had very little squirrel damage during the season this year. This has enabled me to focus more on getting the sags out of the lines in several flat areas.

[DrTimPerkins]

No freeze up here on the hill either. Ran all night, slow but steady. Got about 3,000 gal overnight to boil today. Made another 65 gal yesterday. Total of 984 gal so far, or nearly half-way to a full crop. Forecast is looking good. Might actually get a nice break (too cold) on Friday night and Saturday this weekend. Everything running 26.5" or better (we're up at 1300ft+, so lose a bit of vacuum potential due to elevation). Things are looking great so far.

Forgot to mention earlier that we fixed our releaser issue. We pulled off the housing and screen on the submersible pump and replaced it with a screen that is much larger with bigger holes, so no more clogging. Of course the lines are all flushed out clean now too, so it might not have made any difference anyhow, but at least this way it is far less prone to clogging.

[Sugarmaker's dad]

Ran the RO last night to concentrate 2,700 gal from yesterday. Drained all the pans last night and boiled permeate to clean everything up. Started the RO this morning to concentrate 3,800 ga that came in overnight. If all goes well we can start boiling relatively early today. 22 barrels so far. Keeping our fingers crossed for a full crop of 60 barrels.

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Interesting difference down south here, as we hovered all day yesterday at or below freezing. Still a small layer of snow & ice everywhere. I turned on my twice repaired Gast after midnight when the temp started to rise some. It stayed around 33 most of the night, and 36 right now.
Sap flow quite good under 24" with 130 gallons off the 330 taps.
I gained another inch of vacuum when I reduced the rotor-to-housing gap from .0025" to .0010"

[Sugarmaker's dad]

We thought we might get an early start and finish early but spent more time cleaning pans than anticipated. Made 5-1/2 more barrels. Looks like Friday and Saturday will be days off!

[PARKER MAPLE]

Sounds like you deserve a day or to off 👍. Going to have a great season I bet.
I was extremely skepticle last week that our season here in mid/ south VT would hold out. As it turns out weather has been almost perfect and getting some more good runs. With 2% sugar. I will take it. We are at half our goals now. RO starting to become a little to small, might need to up grade at the spring open house.
PM

[tcross]

sap came in very steadily yesterday all day long, and kept going over night! sugar has dropped to 2% from about 3%. made 8 gallons last night from about 220 gal of sap. should be boiling today and tomorrow, then a much needed break here as well! I haven't had a second to clean my tanks or my pan since two weekends ago! been boiling every night for 9 days straight now! awesome!

[spud]

Sap ran a little all night. Woke up to about 3500 gallons in the tank. Went down to 36 last night. I did get 9000 gallons in the last 24 hours. Sugar has dropped to 1.8% but thats fine. Big winter like weather coming so that is going to help us big time. I wish my sugar would go back up after the cold snap but I don't think thats possible. Setting up to be a very good season.

Spud

[GeneralStark]

Yesterday I processed well over 1000 gal. at 1.6% and made about 25 gal of syrup. The first 17 gal. barrel was dark robust, and then the rest was amber. I think the cooler weather, cleaning the pans, and having gotten thru the "ice scrubbing sap" explains the lighter grade. All great flavored syrup.

I pulled in another approx. 300 gal. since 7pm yesterday and now the sugar is down to about 1.4. No big surprise there with the extended vac. induced run.

Very interesting forecast starting tomorrow which includes a chance of thunderstorms as the colder air moves in. Textbook sugaring weather for quite a few days after a break Friday and Saturday. Going to clean a few things including the releaser pump chamber as it has accumulated a good layer of slime. I'm real curious to see if the sugar content comes up after this next cold snap.

I will be very surprised if we are still boiling by Open House Weekend but who the hell knows.

[billyinvt]

Got through whatever sap I had last night. Weather is going to give us a little break to clean and bottle. What's the sap flow/sugar content/syrup grade going to look like after this next solid freeze?

[DrTimPerkins]

I'm real curious to see if the sugar content comes up after this next cold snap.

I expect that it will come back up. Freezing stimulates the conversion of starch to sugar as well as promoting development of stem pressure.

We made 91 gal of dark/robust yesterday...very good flavor a tad on the mild side. That puts us just about exactly at half a crop (of a minimum 0.5 gal/tap).

Sugar content still around 2% here. Perhaps another 2,500 gal overnight. Very little niter so far....foaming not bad.

If you haven't yet seen it, check out the Vermont Maple Bulletin, a weekly Vermont maple crop report by Mark Isselhardt, the new UVM Maple Extension Educator https://vermontmaplebulletin.wordpress.com/ Send comments and crop reports to Mark.Isselhardt@uvm.edu

[DrTimPerkins]

What's the sap flow/sugar content/syrup grade going to look like after this next solid freeze?

All are likely to improve.

[Sugarmaker's dad]

Made another 3 barrels tonight plus bottled 100 pints and 55 quarts. Total of 31 barrels for the season. We are keeping our fingers crossed for 60 barrels total.

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Sap is still running some. I made 10 gallons of Amber/Rich today (got very close to Dark at the end), and left 350 gallons to process and boil off tomorrow with whatever comes in overnight. That will be it until next Wednesday as it looks now.

[spud]

I was able to get 7000 gallons yesterday and last night. Sap is running this morning and I hope to have it pick up as the day goes on. Only went to 39 last night for an hour. Sugar is 1.5% right now. Starting tomorrow we have over 10 days with very cold nights. Trying to hit 50% for the season before the cold spell. After the 10 day cold spell I plan to get the other 50%. The 20th of April still looks very good for a end of season date. Nice to hear Dr. Tim say the sugar should come up again. That's great news. Good luck everyone.

Spud

[GiddingsHill]

We've had a real decent stretch here in bakersfield. we're at about 3lbs/tap
Had an unexpected light freeze early this morning in the lower woods, just enough to ice the puddles. Sap isn't beautiful today but it's running better than I'd expected. Wind has kept me busy in the woods last few days. Looking forward to the big freeze coming.

[tcross]

we had a slight quick freeze this a.m as well. certainly not much, but the sap is coming in steadily! This freeze up will help me catch up. been boiling yesterdays sap each day... hoping to catch up tonight and tomorrow evening!

[ryebrye]

Today is the third full day without any freeze here (we had a small freeze Sunday night) - things are still running well for me in Hinesburg.

I've got 107 taps and have had over a gallon of sap since the last time it thawed out for us (Monday morning) - it's been running non-stop since it thawed out - slowing down at night and picking back up in the day.

I'm using check valve spouts and 3/16 tubing running down a steep drop to a mainline under vacuum with a little releaser that I built myself that, among other things, tracks whenever it dumps sap out (and posts messages on twitter that I follow from work to keep an idea of the progress.... https://twitter.com/ryebryesreleasr )

The graph of when the sap runs are kind of interesting (at least to me) - for instance, right after it thaws the hardest it runs - by far - is in the first hour. After that, the rate gradually tapers off to a consistent pace when it's basically just getting the vacuum sucking it out.

13846

I posted graphs that show the sap flow / hour for the past few days here if anyone is interested:

http://imgur.com/a/wLVzL

I trade / sell all my sap so I've been tracking sugar content as well all season. It has dropped off a bit the past few days (running 2.1% last two days, was at 2.7% earlier in the season), and the sap is mildly cloudly (nowhere near "end-of-season" cloudy. It cleared up nicely on Monday after the freeze so I anticipate it clearing up again with the upcoming cold snap. I'm a little over halfway to my last year lbs / tap total (I'm sitting at 3.89 lbs / tap right now)

[spud]

Has anyone heard from JoeJ in Essex? I was looking forward to seeing his production numbers. I hope he is ok.

Spud

[northwoods_forestry]

Still chugging away in SE Vermont. Gravity lines and buckets shut down on Sunday, but vacuum lines are still bringing in plenty of sap for a daily boil. Making darker syrup than we've ever made before, but flavor is still good. Cold weather this weekend could give all systems a recharge and put us into record production territory next week.

[GeneralStark]

I bet he is drowning in sap....

Over a gpt/day since the last freeze. Sugar is down below 1.5 here but that's what the ro is for. It never got too warm here yesterday due to fog and clouds and the sap ran well all day and overnight. I awoke to two tanks full and the third nearly full. I ran the ro for an hour to make some space so I could head to town for breakfast with my folks. Saw several Silver Maples budding in Middlebury.

Ended up processing well over 1000 gal. and made about 20 gal. of DR but just on the edge with AR. Awesome flavor!! My dark syrup customers will love it. No sign of buds, peepers, or any off smells or flavors. This is modern sugaring. Several operations locally have called it quits or didn't bother tapping. I think we may go to April. Over 180 so far...

[DoubleBrookMaple]

My third day since the freeze, and midnight last night until midnight tonight I got .75 gpt at 1.5%.
I processed and boiled today, and thought that would be it, but I guess I will empty what little all my gravity barrels and buckets have and what comes in on vacuum until tomorrow mid day. Push it all through my pans and clean them.
I still have no DR. Very near, but not quite.

[JoeJ]

Hi Spud,

Like the General said, I have been almost drowning in sap. Hard to believe how the trees are running without a freeze. Yesterday, I got 1 gal of sap per tap from my Jericho woods in 18 hours. Last year these woods donated a total of 25,020 gal of sap and this season as of yesterday, 26,450 already. I am about half way to my .50 gal syrup per tap goal. Just might get there the way things are going and the weather outlook.

It would be nice to have a day of tomorrow if that does happen. Lot of long days. Sugar content has dropped to 1.3%. The first 690 gal tank yesterday RO'd to 15% put 68 gallons in the concentrate tank.

Joe

[spud]

Great to hear from you JoeJ. I am glad to hear you are doing so well. I woke up to one inch of snow today and the temp is 27. As of late yesterday my sugar is 1.5%. With my sugar dropping it will be hard for me to hit .5 but still possible. Dr. Tim did say the sugar could go up after this freeze up so that could help. Let's hope we all take this to the 20th of April. Good luck everyone.

Spud

[VTfarmboy]

Not sure what to do? last boil was monday and tues, made 9 gallons of verydark even after cleaning pans. Full crop for us here on a 300 bucket setup(.25ish). Was gona wait to see what this cold snap does, but the peepers are peepin and the birch and willow are flushed out heavy, the farm is sandy and frost is all out, souther exposer. It was very hard to make syrup the last couple boils(222 degrees) but tasted good and filtered fine. Dont want to burn my pans trying to get alittle more. No ro here, open 2-5 raised flu. One cord of wood left. Im thinking boil out Sat?? or wait and see? What would you all do?? Thanks!

[billyinvt]

If you tap sugar maples and your buds are all tight I'd wait til Wed, Thu, Fri next week when it looks like it could be a real solid run. I'm headed out to my woods this afternoon with binoculars to get a good look at the section of red maples that make up about 25% of my taps. Their buds were looking pretty swollen last I checked.

[GeneralStark]

Was still above freezing when I got up at 6:30 (37F) but quickly dropped, a dusting of snow fell, and the lines froze up quick. Sun came out just before noon and now the sap is running hard, like after the last freeze several days ago. We'll see if it keeps up and for how long but I did pull in about 300 gal overnight at about 1.2% so I think I will likely boil off everything I have this evening before it freezes hard over night.

[spud]

My sap just started running also. It's running 400 GPH so we will see how long that last. Going to get very cold tonight. Should be another run on Sunday. Good luck General.

Spud

[Sugarmaker's dad]

Ran the RO yesterday afternoon, 1:00 AM, 9 AM and again this afternoon. Sap just didn't want to give up. Made 4 barrels plus bottled another 20 gallons or so. It will be nice to sleep in tomorrow!

[DrTimPerkins]

Sap ran until late last night, but was stopped by 7am. Still good sugar at about 2%. Another 55 gal DR syrup today. Total over 1,300 gal, which is 0.30 gal/tap so far. Nice to have a day or two off with the cold. Great timing since I'm volunteering at the Vermont Odyssey of the Mind tournament tomorrow.

[WestfordSugarworks]

Joe you are drowning in sap, yet have had time to come out to the sugarhouse here ;) ? Hope to make it over your way before the end of the season but seems like we always have so much on to the to do list. Organic inspector is coming next Friday and hoping for the best!! Replaced all lights to shatterproof in sugarhouse and any related buildings and our woods are all set for Organic. Hopefully sugarhouse can pass muster. Boils have gotten to be real smoooth recently with a steady draw off only varying 1 or 2 tenths once we get a steady draw going. All pretty dark syrup made, AR or DR with no GD yet, but hoping for that after this freeze. All good flavor. Made the mistake of not running pump today, dad and I both went off to school/work and didn't turn on our Westford woods pump. Having a bunch of people from UVM out to the sugarhouse tomorrow morning.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Not sure what to do? last boil was monday and tues, made 9 gallons of verydark even after cleaning pans. Full crop for us here on a 300 bucket setup(.25ish). Was gona wait to see what this cold snap does, but the peepers are peepin and the birch and willow are flushed out heavy, the farm is sandy and frost is all out, souther exposer. It was very hard to make syrup the last couple boils(222 degrees) but tasted good and filtered fine. Dont want to burn my pans trying to get alittle more. No ro here, open 2-5 raised flu. One cord of wood left. Im thinking boil out Sat?? or wait and see? What would you all do?? Thanks!
Need to hold out, this week could be very good.

We have boiled almost every night love high vac!! We are now sitting around 140 gal, over half of what we did last year. Ro working harder having to re-circulate to get to 10%. 2 30 gal trash barrels full of empties setting new one out tonight.
I heard bascoms bulk price 2.30-2.25- 2.20-1.90

Wood getting low, cut split today old pine that been down for a couple years.

[JoeJ]

Westford Will, one of the benefits of being retired. Yesterday, started pumping overnight sap from Jericho sap shed at 5:50 AM and got home at 10:45 last evening. Oil burner decided to have a one hour hick-up. Today the expensive commercial oil burner man is going to analyze and hopefully fix it. The Carlin 601 is 23 years old and it might be about time to replace it. I bought the evaporator in 2003 and the burner ran perfect until 2 years ago with no issues (and without being serviced, MY BAD) The repairs and service have cost me two or three hundred a year fro the past 2 years.

Another 1.1 gal of sap per tap again yesterday

Joe

[GeneralStark]

I was happy to see the sugar content come up in the sap that came in yesterday after the freeze we had in the morning. It was down to 1.2 but back up to almost 2. Maybe it will be higher after this freeze up.

The sap that came in Thursday and overnight into Friday was getting a bit cloudy and slimy. The ice scoured the lines again yesterday morning, but by mid afternoon it was running clear. I am hopeful this means that our grade will come back up. I would like to make a bunch more AR as this is a very popular grade for me.

I did process everything I had by evening yesterday and ended up taking about 600 gal. to about 7 gal. of DR. Still great flavor.

I suspect I will have about another week of good quality sap here. It is supposed to get quite warm again by the end of next week and the days are getting longer. I see signs of buds down in the valley so it is only a matter of time.

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Did a complete cleaning of my pans yesterday hoping that it could be a mid-season cleaning, or near so. They did need it. Just a 2x4 drop flu hobby pan with a 2x2 in front of that. I did clean the front pan twice already, because of some foaming, and it was in good shape. But, after boiling near 80 gallons of syrup the rear pan ready needed it.
Looks like a busy week ahead. Nice to have a break. Very cold nights, just a short time over freezing the next couple days. Forecasts look quite good for the week. Beyond that... who knows.
Today I will do some RO maintenance. I have processed over 5000 gallons to 8-10% so far with it. All my builds require fine tuning for the first year or two. Like debugging a program! What can I say... I like a challenge.

[spud]

Sarah Lee and I are just waiting for this cold spell to end. Looks like Saturday we should see sap again. Once it does warm up it is showing the nights could still be below 32. I hope to get 3-4 more weeks of real good sap runs.

Spud

[wdchuck]

Strange day over here- cool, breezy and sunny................and the sap ran like crazy. Not a gusher, but a pretty solid day.

[spud]

Turned out to be an ok day for me also. I got 3500 gallons today. Sugar was back up to 1.8%. Sap is a bit cloudy but I think it's going to clear up by weekend. Should see more sap tomorrow. I will not shut vacuum pumps off till the season is over. Rain and snow in the forecast so that's great. At least 3 more weeks of sugaring into area. Good luck everyone.

Spud

[ryebrye]

It didn't thaw out here until the afternoon and then the sap slowly started to pick up. It's still picking up a bit even though the sun is down and it's approaching freezing - obviously it will die down abruptly when the lines start to freeze.

I measured some sap right out of my releaser and it was at 2.1% - the last big run before the freezes I had was 2.0% so it's not much of an improvement in sugar content. I still have ice in my tank, and will let it freeze again tonight.

[woodchuck]

Things kicked in for me around 2:00 this afternoon. Ran steady, not crazy, until 9:00 tonight. Sugar came up from a pre-freeze of 1.6 to a 1.8. Ive struggled with SC this year. Bucket volume was low. A good day on buckets can move my total sugar up .4 ish.
Sap is still clear and buds seem to be on hold.

[wiam]

We made 18 gallons tonight. Total of 344 so far

[Meuphrat]

Having a great season down here in southern VT. Almost at .5gal/tap. Tapped out 1/24. Caught first sap 1/31. Made some early syrup then shut down for 2nd week feb. Been going strong since. Watched the weather almost take us right to the edge then got this stretch of nice freeze and thaw. Crazy thing happening tho. We are making really light syrup again after making a lot of dark. Has a bit of a strong flavor not bad but not fancy flavor. Almost like what you'd see off of a steam boiler. Boiling on an old leader special drop flue wood fired. Grade went lighter for some folks around us but not this light. I guess I would be curious if anyone has insight into what about the trees and weather effect color and flavor. I understand that as buds progress flavor gets stronger but would the cold keep the grade light while buds still progress?

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

made another 12 gal last night, went from really dark to getting a little lighter probably back to medium amber. up towards 170/180 now should break 200 by this weekend, Gravity started to run again yesterday. chased vac leak for hours saturday. FYI vac leak finder doesnt pick up dead trees and leaks in tress, sap sucker up to 24"

[smokeyamber]

Things woke up here in Central Vt, buckets were 1/3 full on most and a couple were 1/2, figured with the wind and cold it would not have done anything... trees proved me wrong. Time to flush the vinegar soaking pan and get ready to fire up again. This is the first season I have actually cleaned the pan and taken a break in the middle of the season. Nice to have a few gallons in the bank before this run...today is looking good as well with some sun to thaw things out. Looks like I will be boiling on Easter :lol:

[tcross]

slow trickle here in the kingdom yesterday afternoon... trees woke up in time for it to freeze up again. it was sort of amusing... I have a couple buckets for shts and giggles and they were dripping steadily after my vacuum shut off... they are in the middle of the yard however. hoping today will be better.

[DrTimPerkins]

Having a great season down here in southern VT. Almost at .5gal/tap. Tapped out 1/24. Caught first sap 1/31. Made some early syrup then shut down for 2nd week feb. Been going strong since. .... Grade went lighter for some folks around us but not this light. I guess I would be curious if anyone has insight into what about the trees and weather effect color and flavor. I understand that as buds progress flavor gets stronger but would the cold keep the grade light while buds still progress?

Good to hear that your season is going well.

Buds don't really affect flavor....until they do....meaning that when it turns buddy, the season is basically done. Almost like a switch, although sometimes there is a little "pre-bud" and sometimes (rarely) a real cold snap can cause the a slight buddy off-flavor to recede temporarily. This is caused by a change in the amino acid composition in the sap due to bud development. Active buds release a suite of amino acids into the sap.....which make the sap taste terrible. They do this only at and after budbreak. Any "pre-bud" flavor is due to some trees in the system having started to bud, but most have not. Usually it's just a short time period before they all pop.

Regular flavor development in syrup is fairly complex, however it is the microbes in the system converting sucrose to invert sugar, and the combination with various amino and organic acids in sap that results in darker color/stronger flavor (one of the most common organic acids is malic acid....the compound which also gives apples their tartness....malic acid is a major constituent of niter -- calcium malate). More microbes when it is warm, thus darker syrup. When you have a cold snap, you kill off some of the microbes, therefore less sucrose inversion so the grade comes back up. In rare circumstances, near the very end, the sap pH can get so low that the color can lighten due to reduced "alkaline degradation" during boiling. That'll make light syrup with a not so great flavor.

[DrTimPerkins]

The trees want to run....but at least here up on the hill they're just teasing us. Sunday and Monday afternoons we had a bit of sap come in for a few hours late each afternoon until the sun went down. All our tanks about 1/3 full. Not enough to boil or concentrate yet. We'll wait until tomorrow afternoon and decide. However it looks like great weather coming for late in the week.

[GeneralStark]

Ran real hard yesterday afternoon here as well. Went over 1 gpt from small runs over the weekend and yesterday's gusher. It looks like my refractometer is off despite continuous calibrating. I guess it pays to buy a good one. My sap hydrometer is showing sugar at 1.3 so it doesn't seem like the freeze has brought it back so I guess Dr Tim's hypothesis has not been correct for all of us. ;)

I suspect it is going to run well again today as it has already hit 35 here. Will boil tonight and see where we are at for flavor and grade. Our red maples definitely have some swollen buds but nothing too dramatic. We are just under 200 for the season so far and I am hoping to go at least thru this week.

[madmapler]

My sugar hasn't gone up at all either as of yet. It's been around 1.0 for awhile now. Color has become almost AR. and the sap is running strong and clear.

[Homestead Maple]

Thank you for explaing why the grade color can become lighter after prolonged cold spell during a maple season. I was wondering about this earlier today. I hope the temperatures moderate after this freeze up so that the season is extended!

[Meuphrat]

Thank you so much for that response!! Exactly the info I was looking for. So cool!!



Good to hear that your season is going well.

Buds don't really affect flavor....until they do....meaning that when it turns buddy, the season is basically done. Almost like a switch, although sometimes there is a little "pre-bud" and sometimes (rarely) a real cold snap can cause the a slight buddy off-flavor to recede temporarily. This is caused by a change in the amino acid composition in the sap due to bud development. Active buds release a suite of amino acids into the sap.....which make the sap taste terrible. They do this only at and after budbreak. Any "pre-bud" flavor is due to some trees in the system having started to bud, but most have not. Usually it's just a short time period before they all pop.

Regular flavor development in syrup is fairly complex, however it is the microbes in the system converting sucrose to invert sugar, and the combination with various amino and organic acids in sap that results in darker color/stronger flavor (one of the most common organic acids is malic acid....the compound which also gives apples their tartness....malic acid is a major constituent of niter -- calcium malate). More microbes when it is warm, thus darker syrup. When you have a cold snap, you kill off some of the microbes, therefore less sucrose inversion so the grade comes back up. In rare circumstances, near the very end, the sap pH can get so low that the color can lighten due to reduced "alkaline degradation" during boiling. That'll make light syrup with a not so great flavor.

[sapman]

Good to hear that your season is going well.

Buds don't really affect flavor....until they do....meaning that when it turns buddy, the season is basically done. Almost like a switch, although sometimes there is a little "pre-bud" and sometimes (rarely) a real cold snap can cause the a slight buddy off-flavor to recede temporarily. This is caused by a change in the amino acid composition in the sap due to bud development. Active buds release a suite of amino acids into the sap.....which make the sap taste terrible. They do this only at and after budbreak. Any "pre-bud" flavor is due to some trees in the system having started to bud, but most have not. Usually it's just a short time period before they all pop.)

Hi Doc,

Not sure if I'm experiencing that temporary bud recession or what, but my syrup has gone from what I thought was buddy, to good flavored, overnight! I even had about 7-8 gallons of finished syrup that I put back in the front pan from yesterday, as I didn't have the filter press ready. It had very bitter aftertaste. When dumping back in today, it tasted fine. Couldn't believe it!

Here's hoping I have another good day or two! And I almost started pulling taps yesterday, but I found out buddy isn't worthless, after a call to Bascom's. Wife said finish what I had, but it's been running so hard, I decided to keep going.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Dr Tim,

When the reds start the flowering bud is the sap still good until they start the leaf bud and same with sugars?? Seems most of the time my reds get to that they are done running anyway.

[woodfordmark]

Sap has started running again here in the Bennington area....northern exposure....todays run tested 2.4% and as of 8pm the run was still steady....all gravity

[woodchuck]

Sap ran well for me here on the western slope of Chittenden county. Kicked in around noon and is still going. SC did not improve with the last freeze. Starting to believe the old say “Weak sap means a long season”...... Lots to learn.

[MJPJ Sugars]

Steady drip-drip-drip in Georgia, VT here tonight. Crystal clear... Reminds me of 2 Saturday's ago at the start of that 4-day non-stop run.


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[wiam]

200 gallons in my woods tank at 5:00. Temp had been dropping to 30. Went up on hill to check tank just barely. Temp was 31. Almost 600 in tank. Releaser had froze stuck open. Sap started pouring out dry line before I got Releaser straightened out. And had warmed up to 33 in about 10 minutes. Hold on guys. It is coming.

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Southwestern Vermont is flowing on my west facing mountainside! Turned vacuum on at 1pm, and in 12 hours I have 300 gallons in the tank from my 330 taps. Flowing at 30 gph right now under 23" and 1.5%, again.... and just below my average of 1.7, so I am not complaining now that I have my RO running so good. I just tested it today with my improvements. Nearly 2 gpd per tap! 30's mostly, so gravity is plugging along..
Looks like a good week ahead. Supposed to freeze again here Friday night, maybe Saturday night, and again next Tuesday night. Good cycles if all goes well! No temps over low to mid 50's so, I hope the trees stay sleepy.
Then comes April...

[wdchuck]

Sap ran well all day yesterday and then continued overnight- temps went to 34, but my releasers never froze up. Go figure!...My new tanks with A gallon and a half per tap capacity are just about to overflow. C'mon Dad,wake up and start hauling!

[northwoods_forestry]

Still chugging away in SE Vermont. Woodshed is close to empty, but there should be just enough left for us to set a new production high today.

[Beyondsuspension]

We had a light coating of snow overnight with the temperature dropping to 31. I have been turning the pump on after work and letting it run until bed time, the sap has been running steady for the last two nights. Weekend forecast looks excellent, we should be busy.

[DrTimPerkins]

Not sure if I'm experiencing that temporary bud recession or what, but my syrup has gone from what I thought was buddy, to good flavored, overnight!

It could either be pre-bud, or heavy fermentation in the lines (which tastes more sour than bitter). How does it filter?

[DrTimPerkins]

When the reds start the flowering bud is the sap still good until they start the leaf bud and same with sugars??

It's all good until it tastes bad....

[DrTimPerkins]

Had about 1/4-1/3 tanks full yesterday morning. Started to trickle in yesterday afternoon, but slowly. Opened up a bit more between 4-7pm, but then never stopped. Didn't run real hard overnight, but it kept coming in. It's about 34 deg F and light snow right now -- probably not going to warm up much today until close to evening. Should freeze up tonite. Vacuum still over 26" everywhere....very little woods work needed this year (so far). All the tanks were 3/4 full or better this morning, so we've fired up the RO and will be boiling before long. Should make well over 120 gal. Sugar is about 1.8% now. Looks like it's going to run a bit today, but then not start again until Friday, with a perfect forecast for sugaring weather for several days after that. Fingers crossed.

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Didn't run real hard overnight, but it kept coming in. It's about 34 deg F and light snow right now -- probably not going to warm up much today until close to evening. Should freeze up tonite. . Fingers crossed.
Big difference down south, as my 330 taps yielded 600 gallons in 24 hrs. Gravity is good as well. Temps overnight were 30's, and today around 50, with occasional sun. Beginning processing and will boil soon, and see what I get.
Trees look good, with tight buds, with a couple that look swollen? Maybe a red maple? I am not sure. This seems to happen with trees around my hillside house that has roots that have been covered over from excavation years ago.
13955

[DrTimPerkins]

Those look like red maple flower buds to me. Typically those appear (swell and open) the earliest.

[MJPJ Sugars]

30 gallons, 25 buckets, 22 hours... Gonna need a bigger boat!


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[spud]

One of my vacuum pumps died on me yesterday. I brought it to CDL today and they were able to rebuild it and get it back to me at 5:00 tonight. Ronnie and I were able to get it hook up and running in minutes. Running smooth and at 28.5 inches. Based on the amount of sap I got from my upper woods I figure I lost about 4000 gallons. Can't cry over lost sap. I'm ready for the next three weeks of big sap. I can't thank the guys at CDL enough for all their help.

Spud

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Sap still running strong, and my best daily average so far at 1.8 gpt per day on this run. Processed and boiled off 650 gallons today, resweeted my pan and made 7.5 gallons of AR, not near dark. I have five 55 gallon gravity feed barrels out there near full, with some buckets overflowing, but at/near freezing tonight and cold tomorrow so no hurry on that.
My syrup did lighten a little from yesterday's freeze up. Very productive year for me, as I will soon double last year's yield.
90 gallons YTD...

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Those look like red maple flower buds to me. Typically those appear (swell and open) the earliest.I pulled the taps on that one. It looked worse from the ground.

[WestfordSugarworks]

One of my vacuum pumps died on me yesterday. I brought it to CDL today and they were able to rebuild it and get it back to me at 5:00 tonight. Ronnie and I were able to get it hook up and running in minutes. Running smooth and at 28.5 inches. Based on the amount of sap I got from my upper woods I figure I lost about 4000 gallons. Can't cry over lost sap. I'm ready for the next three weeks of big sap. I can't thank the guys at CDL enough for all their help.

Spud

28.5"? Get it!!! That's awesome, it's great when people can come in clutch like that. We've had that a couple times this year where someone comes in clutch.

Surpassed last year's crop today with our 19th barrel. Not saying much since it's brand new tubing and boiling off of 1500 more taps or so, but it's a good feeling nonetheless. Check out this video that a friend made for us. Nice little promo. https://vimeo.com/160035148

[JoeJ]

Long day yesterday. The 2,149 trees at my Jericho woods donated 4740 gallons of sap in 24 hours ( 2.20 gal of sap per tap). That is the highest gpt I have seen in 13 years of sugaring in either of my woods. That total would have been even higher if I had been able to capture the sap that was spilling out of my overflowing 3859 gal tank at 6:00 AM yesterday morning. The RO was working 12 1/2 hours yesterday.

[spud]

Long day yesterday. The 2,149 trees at my Jericho woods donated 4740 gallons of sap in 24 hours ( 2.20 gal of sap per tap). That is the highest gpt I have seen in 13 years of sugaring in either of my woods. That total would have been even higher if I had been able to capture the sap that was spilling out of my overflowing 3859 gal tank at 6:00 AM yesterday morning. The RO was working 12 1/2 hours yesterday.

That is some wicked production. I would have been happy with half that. Your trees are sucking up so much ground water that your neighbors wells are going to go dry. What are you getting for sugar? Thanks for sharing the numbers.


WestfordSugarworks- I enjoyed your video. My daughter said you have a sign on your dorm door saying ( Maple syrup for sale). You got to love it. Let's keep this season alive for another 3 weeks.

Spud

[DrTimPerkins]

We're a bit higher on the hill than Joe, so we didn't see the trees run like that, but they hovered between flow and no-flow most of the day. They sure do want to run like horses chomping at the bit. We made another 135 gal of syrup yesterday nonetheless, mostly from sap from Tues nights run. That puts us at 1,441 gal total on 4,269 taps (0.34 gal/tap). Sugar content from both bushes was running 1.8%. Nothing much going to happen today, but should start running well tonite, and looks like great weather coming up over the next week.

[GeneralStark]

I too had a record run Tuesday -> Wednesday. It finally froze last night after having pulled in over 2gpt in 24 hours. For several hours on Tuesday the sap was coming in at over 100gph from 740 taps. Not bad for my little operation. I have never seen it run so hard here. I'm not sure exactly how much came in but I processed about 2600 gal. (800 from Sat.- Mon) with the ro Tuesday and Wednesday. My original plan was to boil Tuesday but it took so long to get the sap thru the ro, and I burned up the heating element on my canner (don't ask) so I postponed til yesterday after returning from CDL to get a new part for the canner. I agree that CDL is a great company to work with. They have always taken great care of me.

Anyway, I boiled for over four hours yesterday and made over 40 gal. of syrup. The most I have made in one day. All DR though it started right on the line with VD and ended right on the line with AR. The niter has finally shown up. Also using a bit more defoamer. Flavor is still very good and I was able to get 50 gal. (7 from last Friday's boil) thru the filter press. Up to 230 for the season (.31/tap).

It looks like it will start running again later today and go right thru tomorrow. We'll see if we hit 100 gph again but it seems like the trees want to run. Sugar has been about 1.4 and sap has cleared right up.

I was having an issue with the ro shutting off on low pressure when rinsing yesterday. I didn't have time to figure it out yesterday as I had to get to an engagement but will work on that today. I suspect there is a restriction in the feed line as I have a Y and valve in the line right before the ro to purge air and the flow of permeate was much less than usual. Maybe some slime or otherwise....

Red maple buds are visually swollen here, but nothing major with the sugar maples. We'll see how long the trees will go, but I suspect the next warm sunny days we get may be the end.

[northwoods_forestry]

Hit a new production high last night. Also cooked the flue pan...

Damage isn't too bad, caught it in time to prevent major carnage. Still not sure what happened. Either the float jammed or the the feed line was temporarily blocked. Gave it a quick shine this morning and back in business.

[JoeJ]

Spud,
I was hoping that the freeze would help the sugar content, but no, still 1.2%. The sap dropped to 1.2% on the 17th, 18th and the 22nd and the freeze did nothing to help. What the freeze did give me yesterday what my first sugar sand in a rather large dose.

[drewlamb]

Anyone else go fancy yesterday? I made about 30 gallons of some of the lightest syrup I've ever seen. The kids call it Jack Hill SUPER fancy!

[wdchuck]

Pumps turned on just a little while ago- trickling now, but I'm betting on a gusher!

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Still going strong.. 800 gallons on hand today. got to catch up!
Sap is running well again today.
Sap ran well all day yesterday, and stopped by 20:00 last night when it reached near freezing. It stayed at 31 degrees for several hours, and sap is running today at 1.6%. My sap never seems to vary from 1.5% this year since very early on in the season.
Processed and boiled just 400 gallons last night, and still getting AR. Rapid freeze, (which according to Dr Tim is contrary to the ideal slow freeze) to 27ish will occur tonight.
On a personal note...
Brutal day yesterday, as I collected more than 250 gallons from my 90 buckets after the gusher, as most were overflowing. A very small number has some cloudiness, maybe left over from previous run. My buckets are in hillside woods. It takes me 4-5 hours to collect. My back cannot handle this, honestly. I have to quit buckets, but it's hard to let the sap go.... Sounds like I need to design a sap collection hose sucker system for next year! Something with a 100' hose with a remote switch and foot valve.... Found my off season challenge.

[spud]

Raining hard here at the border. Temp is 40 with a slight breeze. Sap is running 650GPH. Sap is testing at 1.9% today.

Spud

[Sugarmaker's dad]

Sap ran steadily but not too hard all day. Enough to have 3,400 gal to run through the RO tonight and get the membranes washed. Sugar was back up to 2.1 Tomorrow should be great. The rig is all cleaned and ready to go early.

[JoeJ]

My 2,145 taps in Jericho overflowed the 3859 gal tank from 6:00 PM yesterday to 6:00 AM this morning. 1.8 gal sap per tap in 12 hours! Sap total from last evening to this evening was 5,810 gals, 2.7 gal sap per tap. Too bad the sap only JUMPED way up to 1.3% from 1.2%.

Joe

[northwoods_forestry]

Emptied out the woodshed last night so I'm going to call it a wrap for the season. Finished up at .21 gallons/tap. Doesn't sound that impressive, but this was a new production record for us. After the last cold snap, the grade went from VDark to Amber and finished up last night at Dark.

Best of luck to all you folks up north. Looks like you all should be having a great season too!

[spud]

Hope you enjoy your summer Northwoods. I was able to get 7100 gallons yesterday. About 2/3 of that sap came from the lower woods. The upper woods was pretty cold yesterday and only gave a little. Supposed to get full sun today so maybe sap will start running by noon.

Spud

[GeneralStark]

Sap ran pretty well here since Wednesday. Probably close to 2000 gal. up to freeze up last night since 4 pm Wednesday. Never really got too warm here yesterday so it just moderately ran all day. Too bad all this sap which is now 16% in the head tank is likely going on the ground today. Started boiling last night and the foam in the rear pan was out of control. Would shut the blower off to keep it from flooding the sugarhouse, then try again. Same thing. Finally it got to a point where we could moderately boil without overflow with some defoamer, but the defoamer didn't seem to do much. Drew off some syrup which seemed good, and besides the weird foam in the back pan everything seemed normal.

Then we started drawing off some really dark, weird tasting syrup (very burnt) and then the front pan started to scorch. Shut down the blower and flooded syrup pans and assessed the situation and level was fine but the foam from the back pan had moved to the syrup pans and we were essentially boiling foam. Tried again with no luck. The syrup that came off was also ropey. Very strange. At this point we called it a night and drank a beer and ate bacon and pancakes in the sugarhouse while the rig cooled. Disappointing and frustrating to say the least. Yesterday I cleaned the front pans as the niter scale build up was impressive. There was nearly one inch of scale piled up in the syrup channel. Looks like I will be draining and cleaning the whole rig today and starting over in order to continue the season. It's tempting to quit but the sap has still been good (though 1.3%) and no indications of budding. The syrup we made last night was ropey and burnt but not buddy.

The question I still have is why the bad foam and then why the ropey syrup. Did the sap in the flue pan ferment? It has been cold and the last boil was Wednesday so doesn't seem likely. Or did the sap in the preheater ferment? The only thing that was unusual was the last boil I had to rush off so instead of the head tank completely draining, there was about 10 gal. left in the head tank. I dumped this before cleaning tank yesterday, but is it possible that this ended up fermenting as the rig was cooling off and some ended up in flue pan?

Anyway, any thoughts from you experienced guys would be appreciated.

[DrTimPerkins]

We had the same very good sap run as Joe J. Sap sugar went up from 1.7-1.8 to 2.0-2.1% after the freeze. Syrup came up 2 grades. Made almost 200 gal, putting us at 1,640 gal total or 0.38 gal/tap. Looks like a good couple of days coming up.

[DrTimPerkins]

Sap is testing at 1.9% today.

That's up some isn't it Spud?

[spud]

I am very happy with my sugar content. Just down the road from me their 1.4 and I don't understand why.

Spud

[DoubleBrookMaple]

I made another 10 gallons last night, and passed the 100 gallon mark! All AR, but very close to the test standard, and almost Dark, once again. My 330 tank was full at the end of the day from my 330 taps, as it stopped running in the early evening. Still holding 1.5%. Good freeze last night, and just reached 31 at 10:30. Should be a good couple days.
I, like the General had some issues with foaming two consecutive days before yesterday, and had a very hard time controlling my flow. I think it was some sort of sap issue. I had completely cleaned my whole pan just 3-4 days ago. I had rotated my front pan after the first day, and it did not help. I drained and cleaned my front pan before yesterday's boil. Not a lot of niter, but it sure helped. Yesterday's boil went very smoothly.

[spud]

Sap is still running 1100 GPH at 7:30 tonight. Started late today but I am up to 6000 gallons so far. It was supposed to go down to 19 tonight but now their saying only 30. Should be in the 30 range for 4-5 hours so things should go great tomorrow. Already passed last years numbers with 2-3 weeks to go. Got to love it. Sap is clear and testing 1.8% today.

Spud

[ryebrye]

My 107 taps are holding strong in Hinesburg. Steady run today but not record breaking. A bit over a gallon per tap.

For sap I'm at 23.9 gallons per tap for the season so far. My sugar content average is 2.2%

The temperature is hovering around freezing now and it looks like it might be around 30 for four or five hours tonight - hopefully that happens because it should help take advantage of tomorrow's nice warm day.

My sugar content is still strong - the stuff I measured today was 2.2%, it has been hanging in there at 2.3% most of this past week.

Yesterday's syrup was the lightest of the season - 81% Iight transmittance (gd) and great flavor. Today's was 67% (AR).

[Sugarmaker's dad]

Sap was still running as of 11:00 pm. It didn't really start running strong until later in the afternoon. Made a little over 3 barrels tonight so we are at 42 barrels so far. Hoping for a big day tomorrow.

[GeneralStark]

Sap ran well here yesterday and did freeze overnight. Pulled in almost 2 gpt between Friday at 5 pm and this morning. Sugar still about 1.3%.

Yesterday I cleaned the ropey crap out of the rig and rinsed, boiled, scrubbed, rinsed, boiled, scrubbed, and this morning will rinse again before sweetening the pans. It will be interesting to see what I make today. Still no peepers here and the red maple buds are in the same swell stage they have been for about a week now. If it does get to nearly 60 today, that may change.

When I cleaned the rig yesterday I found some seriously funky slime in the flue pan float box. It smelled of anaerobic decomposition (think septic tank) so my current hypothesis is that this is what caused the ropey syrup incident. Note to self: clean float box more frequently.

Good luck everyone! Today should be a gusher for all of us.

[ryebrye]

Sap is running hard in Hinesburg. It was freezing around 10pm and thawing around 6am and running hard by 8am.

Extended forecast is for a cold snap to come in around April 3/4th - current weather models have it below freezing all day one day that week.

I really hope the buds don't break early and get frost damage. If they don't pop, this season could have some more legs to it.

[DrTimPerkins]

Total at 1,724 gal (0.40 gal/tap) after last night. Sugar still at 2.0% in both bushes. Sap quality is still good. Vacuum running 25.5-27.0" Hg (depending upon how warm it is and how much gas the trees are putting out). Froze here around 10pm, but tanks about 1/2-2/3 full this morning, so must have warmed up during the night. The Smartrek system is running great....and very interesting to watch the temperatures throughout the woods. Easy to see when things freeze up out in various sections, but still running in others.....makes me even more convinced that shutting off the pumps (which we don't do) when it freezes is a real crap shoot at times.

Spent some time looking closely at buds while measuring my chambers this morning. Everything here is still tightly closed and in their winter condition. No signs at all of bud swelling.

Running well right now. Will be boiling in a few hours.....HAPPY EASTER everyone!

[DrTimPerkins]

I really hope the buds don't break early and get frost damage. If they don't pop, this season could have some more legs to it.

Buds that are just swelling (but not yet open) still have a reasonable amount of cold tolerance. It is when the buds are fully open and new leaves emerge that they are at their most vulnerable and can't handle temperatures more than a few degrees below freeing (for a short time). Cold temperatures at that point can be damaging. Frost damage is pretty unusual on maples....it does happen, but not commonly.

My first scientific specialty (after getting my Ph.D.) before I was appointed Director of UVM PMRC was tree cold tolerance (mostly of spruces).

[MJPJ Sugars]

Faucet is on... Beyond my little 4x2's capacity for 25 buckets. We've been boiling since 5:00 AM yesterday and have boiled down about 140 gallons -- my 10-year old spent the whole night in the shack :) -- giving it our best shot, but methinks I hear someone calling "no mas" from the house... Happy Easter and good luck!!


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[spud]

Dr. Tim based on your buds in Underhill at 1250 elevation how much time do you think you have this season?

Spud

[Meuphrat]

Good to hear that your season is going well.

Buds don't really affect flavor....until they do....meaning that when it turns buddy, the season is basically done. Almost like a switch, although sometimes there is a little "pre-bud" and sometimes (rarely) a real cold snap can cause the a slight buddy off-flavor to recede temporarily. This is caused by a change in the amino acid composition in the sap due to bud development. Active buds release a suite of amino acids into the sap.....which make the sap taste terrible. They do this only at and after budbreak. Any "pre-bud" flavor is due to some trees in the system having started to bud, but most have not. Usually it's just a short time period before they all pop.

Regular flavor development in syrup is fairly complex, however it is the microbes in the system converting sucrose to invert sugar, and the combination with various amino and organic acids in sap that results in darker color/stronger flavor (one of the most common organic acids is malic acid....the compound which also gives apples their tartness....malic acid is a major constituent of niter -- calcium malate). More microbes when it is warm, thus darker syrup. When you have a cold snap, you kill off some of the microbes, therefore less sucrose inversion so the grade comes back up. In rare circumstances, near the very end, the sap pH can get so low that the color can lighten due to reduced "alkaline degradation" during boiling. That'll make light syrup with a not so great flavor.

Just wanted to say thanks again for that awesome info Dr. Tim
Based on your response we ran around in the woods and took about 230 red maple taps off our system. That's about 10% of our total taps. We got rid of our buddy flavor all together. We made about 200 gal. With a strong flavor (before we took off the Reds). Thought we were definitely done. Many operations around us have stopped. Since the flavor came back for us we've made 60 more gallons of really tasty table syrup.
I guess my follow up question would be has anyone else had this experience (this year or in the past)? Pulling reds and select sugars that are on field edges...? Just curious if we should attribute our bounce back in flavor to pulling buddy trees?
Mike Euphrat
The Bunker Farm
Dummerston, VT

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr. Tim based on your buds in Underhill at 1250 elevation how much time do you think you have this season?

1250' is about the base of our sugarbush. Most of the trees are a good bit higher than that. We do have about 25-30% red maple in one of our bushes though.

Hard (next to impossible) to really say when it might end due to buddy off-flavor. Fairly warm today for my liking (the light breeze is helping keep the trees a tad cooler), but the nights have been cool and we have some nice cold weather coming Monday and Tuesday nights with some rain/snow. All that is good for continued production. Sanitation effects (which signify high microbial growth in the tapholes and lines) haven't really kicked in too much. Sap is still very good quality (as of this morning) and sugar content is still fairly high. We'll see what the warmer weather today does, but I hope we have at least one more good week. We could get a couple more weeks if all goes well. The last two years we had just started sugaring at this time.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

M
Sap ran pretty well here since Wednesday. Probably close to 2000 gal. up to freeze up last night since 4 pm Wednesday. Never really got too warm here yesterday so it just moderately ran all day. Too bad all this sap which is now 16% in the head tank is likely going on the ground today. Started boiling last night and the foam in the rear pan was out of control. Would shut the blower off to keep it from flooding the sugarhouse, then try again. Same thing. Finally it got to a point where we could moderately boil without overflow with some defoamer, but the defoamer didn't seem to do much. Drew off some syrup which seemed good, and besides the weird foam in the back pan everything seemed normal.

Then we started drawing off some really dark, weird tasting syrup (very burnt) and then the front pan started to scorch. Shut down the blower and flooded syrup pans and assessed the situation and level was fine but the foam from the back pan had moved to the syrup pans and we were essentially boiling foam. Tried again with no luck. The syrup that came off was also ropey. Very strange. At this point we called it a night and drank a beer and ate bacon and pancakes in the sugarhouse while the rig cooled. Disappointing and frustrating to say the least. Yesterday I cleaned the front pans as the niter scale build up was impressive. There was nearly one inch of scale piled up in the syrup channel. Looks like I will be draining and cleaning the whole rig today and starting over in order to continue the season. It's tempting to quit but the sap has still been good (though 1.3%) and no indications of budding. The syrup we made last night was ropey and burnt but not buddy.

The question I still have is why the bad foam and then why the ropey syrup. Did the sap in the flue pan ferment? It has been cold and the last boil was Wednesday so doesn't seem likely. Or did the sap in the preheater ferment? The only thing that was unusual was the last boil I had to rush off so instead of the head tank completely draining, there was about 10 gal. left in the head tank. I dumped this before cleaning tank yesterday, but is it possible that this ended up fermenting as the rig was cooling off and some ended up in flue pan?

Anyway, any thoughts from you experienced guys would be appreciated.

Anytime it does that where you can't keep in the flue pan it is ropy. Might as well dump and start over. As you can't use enough Defoamer to keep it in the pans. I would guess the 10 gallon in preheater got really bad and caused most of the problem. Always good idea to drain preaheater to keep it from freezing and busting and to prevent this from happening. I always drained my preheater while evaporator was still boiling so what was inside of it would get pasturized good.

[woodchuck]

Good flow both Saturday and Sunday. Nearly 900 gallons of sap combined. My vacuum has settled in at 23”, which is pretty decent for me. The sugar content is still tough. 1.4 Saturday, 1.3 today. Even my bucket SC is between 1.7 in the woods and 2.0 from the big trees in the open.

[Sugarmaker's dad]

Sap ran crazy hard in Montgomery Center today. Over 18,000 gallons of nice clear sap from 8:00 last night until 10:00 tonight. Still coming in strong. Ran out of concentrate at 8:00, so the evaporator was shut down and the RO is in a wash cycle now. Will start the RO up again to concentrate what is in the tanks during the night. Should be able to start boiling early tomorrow.

[WestfordSugarworks]

The Smartrek system is running great....and very interesting to watch the temperatures throughout the woods. Easy to see when things freeze up out in various sections, but still running in others.....makes me even more convinced that shutting off the pumps (which we don't do) when it freezes is a real crap shoot at times.


I agree that shutting the pump off is a crap shoot. This morning at 1:30 my dad went to check on our Jericho bush and it was 28 at the pumphouse, with sap coming in pretty well. He thought that we had a temperature inversion going, which makes sense. I think the top of the bush is 1400' and the base is 900 or so. Anyway, he went back at 6:30 this morning and the moisture trap had tripped the pump. We think what happened is the sap turned to slush and somehow made it through the screen into the submersible pumps and wouldn't pump, filling the releaser and triggering the trap. Because when he got there this morning the pumps were working again, just the vacuum pump was off. Luckily we have our woods real tight so we still were at 20" when he showed up. Anyone else in that area see an inversion last night? I don't know much about inversions but it was interesting.

Besides that the weekend went well, we passed the 1000 gallon mark for our bush in Westford. I want to know what our production is in Jericho but the guy trucking and boiling the sap needs to total his numbers from his 3 trucks first. We must be over 200,000 gallons of sap over there by now.

Got our vacuum up high again yesterday, so went up to Fletcher and Fairfield yesterday and checked out Jr Sloan's place for a while instead of doing my homework and drove around and looked at all the tubing and sugarhouses. About half of the sugarhouses I saw were boiling. Saw a lot of deer in fields too. It was really cool to talk to Jr and some of his crew, and see that he has highschool girls and guys working his filter press and barrels. It's just nice to see young people working in sugaring, as well as both genders. Where i grew up, most people worked at the grocery store or movie theater and so its nice to see a place where people are working in sugarhouses. Also, anyone have a guess how many taps are boiled off of in Fairfield and Fletcher? It must be more than 700,000 taps between those two towns alone.

Looks like good weather for the next week.

[GiddingsHill]

Westfordsugarworks, My guess would be that the slush backed up your lines (even briefly) and then thawed with a serious amount of sap behind it, which gave your releaser a big slug of sap that your submersible just couldn't pump out fast enough, flooding the releaser and triggering your trap. Those pumps usually can deal with a lot of slush and other junk, I'm amazed what makes it through mine. We have about 600' of vertical from the tank shed to the top taps and yesterday mornings weather was perfect for releaser problems: solid freeze down low, slush farther up and sap up top.
I ran the mainline valves at the releaser while my wife thawed a couple problem spots to get it moving, if I hadn't been there to slow down the sap and slush it would have tripped the trap immediately, it was insane how much came through.
We've gotten over 3gal/tap in the last 24hrs, been an amazing run. Content is down around 1.6 but sap is nice and clear.

[spud]

Got 23,000 gallons over the weekend. Sap quality is great and testing at 1.8%. Going to rain today and maybe snow tonight. I see nothing but great sugaring weather for at least two more weeks. I am at a .34 GPT right now so that is 2/3 crop. Hoping for that .5+ to happen.

Spud

[tcross]

we got a ton of sap here yesterday. not sure how much exactly as I was boiling off and pumping it to the feed tank as it was coming in. from 10 a.m to about 2:30 my hobby releaser was dumping ever minute and a half. started out at around 2.75% around 9:30 a.m and then down to around 2 before I called it quits last night around 9! woke up this a.m and my main tank has about 10" before overflow... guess I'm buggin out of work early :) Its a record year for me! I'm over my highest total by 5 gallons and I think we have at least a good week perhaps 2 here! I need a bigger evaporator if we have more years like this! red maples are starting to bud... hoping Thursday-Friday weather doesn't really make them pop! if not, the long range forecast looks promising!

[GeneralStark]

M

Anytime it does that where you can't keep in the flue pan it is ropy. Might as well dump and start over. As you can't use enough Defoamer to keep it in the pans. I would guess the 10 gallon in preheater got really bad and caused most of the problem. Always good idea to drain preaheater to keep it from freezing and busting and to prevent this from happening. I always drained my preheater while evaporator was still boiling so what was inside of it would get pasturized good.

Thanks Brandon. The next time I see foam like that I will know what to do. I have had bad foam before with late season sap but was able to keep going which is why I attempted to continue, but the rope foam was different. I could tell something was weird just by the look of it. Man that stuff was tough to clean out of the rig. I have made ropey syrup before but nothing like this episode.

I suspect you may be right about the preheater, though I also suspect the anaerobic slime in the flue pan float box may have had something to do with it. I do generally drain the preheater but the previous boil I had to rush off to my other job and that was neglected.

[GeneralStark]

Looks like you guys up north are getting the BIGSAP runs I had here early last week, which makes sense as I am typically about a week ahead.

I don't believe we had a consistent freeze here Sat. night either. It got to 29 at the sugarhouse in the open, but I'm not sure the higher woods actually froze. The sap ran pretty well but not the 75-100 gph like Saturday. There was definitely an inversion happening in this region as the mtn. tops were 10+ degrees warmer than here yesterday morning.

I finished cleaning the rig yesterday, then sweetened the pans with the sap from Saturday and overnight into Sunday and then drew off over 10 gal. of the lightest syrup I have ever made. It was only slightly lighter than the color of the concentrate going into the flue pan. Very light flavor as well but no off flavors as of yet.

It almost hit the 60 mark here yesterday and for the first time yet this spring......I heard peepers in the late afternoon singing from the wetlands below us. Our garlic is coming up, the owls are going nuts, and I saw the first wildflower behind the sugarhouse. I suspect we are nearing the end here, but perhaps the cooler weather this week will delay the inevitable. No freeze last night and the sap ran light but steady and about 400 gal. came in since 6 pm yesterday. I'll be back at boiling later today...

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Yesterday the sap didn't start running until near noon, and high temperature for the day was late and 56. I have 600 gallons today from the 330 taps at 1.7%, which is higher than it has been for a while. Still nothing dark, and Even though some of the red maple buds are swollen, yesterday I did a survey, and my sugar maple buds are tight. More cold weather ahead, and no warm sunny days, so I am optimistic than I will go for a while yet.
Remote barrels and buckets will be full today, and I can gather tomorrow, and hold for a day or two to process with Wednesday's fresh sap run. Looks like I will be over 10,000 gallons of sap for the year!

[DrTimPerkins]

Made another 170 gal or so (not exactly sure.....it's being filtered and packed this morning) yesterday (Easter Sunday) for a total of ~1,882 gal (~0.44 gal/tap). Good sap run all day. Sugar content holding nicely at 2.1 in the Main Bush and 2.0 in the Red Series Bush. Still not much foaming. Niter picked up a little. Temperature dropped off overnight and the wind picked up quite a lot, so sap has slowed down quite a bit. Tanks only 1/3 full this morning. Looking like it'll be too cold to run much most of the day tomorrow, but then should be very nice for several days after that.

One report of buddy off-flavor in north-central Vermont already. No details. Heard a solitary wood frog in our woods yesterday....they usually come out before the peepers.

[madmapler]

I was up north of Burlington today and was surprised to see how much the buds have swollen. Looks to be more so than in the southern part of the state. I only wish we had the temps.

[GeneralStark]

I was up north of Burlington today and was surprised to see how much the buds have swollen. Looks to be more so than in the southern part of the state. I only wish we had the temps.

Well you were in the banana belt of VT.

[DrTimPerkins]

I was up north of Burlington today and was surprised to see how much the buds have swollen.

Not the maple buds. I live in Williston. Most things with swelling buds are ornamentals and invasive species (and the banana trees).

Another 100 gal today. Up to 0.45 gal/tap now. Sugar still at 2.0. Lots of niter.

Probably not a lot of sap in the next day and a half....too cold.

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Processed and boiled from yesterday's and last night's run and got my first DR, with good taste. Last time was near dark, and this time no doubt. Hard freeze Tuesday night, so we will see what comes of it.

[Tucker08]

Pulled taps down here I Shaftsbury this weekend. Super dark, bordering on off flavor. I was one of the last in the area to call it quits. All in all, a good season with 100 or so gallons, which is 15 more than my best.


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[spud]

Ran all day just not that hard. I got 4000 gallons today and the sugar dropped to 1.7%. Still very good clear sap. Freeze tomorrow and then monster runs coming Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Next week will be cooler just keeping the season alive. I see 2-3 weeks more with ease.

Spud

[ryebrye]

Sanitation effects (which signify high microbial growth in the tapholes and lines) haven't really kicked in too much. Sap is still very good quality (as of this morning) and sugar content is still fairly high. We'll see what the warmer weather today does, but I hope we have at least one more good week. We could get a couple more weeks if all goes well. The last two years we had just started sugaring at this time.

By sanitation effects do you mean that clean tubing (or tubing check valve spouts) are performing as well as old tubing up to this point in the season?

[tcross]

took the afternoon off to boil...I could not get a good fire going yesterday in the arch! must have been the atmosphere conditions or something, cuz it was just not working well! sap came in half way decent yesterday... basically done now! hopefully today will be different cuz I'm up to my ears in sap! not a bad problem I suppose! nitre is back... full force! it was tough keeping the foam down yesterday late evening!

[spud]

Woke up to two inches of snow and 29 degrees. Still snowing now. Me and Sarah Lee are taking the day off. Mega sap by tomorrow afternoon. CV2 spouts are going to kick in soon I would think.

Spud

[madmapler]

Not the maple buds.

.

I was with another sugarmaker in the area and we were overlooking one of his bushes. I noticed the red halo over all the trees. That, to me, looks like buds swelling and I don't look forward to seeing it in my bushes. I didn't look at one up close(bud) but they were maple trees.

[GeneralStark]

I was with another sugarmaker in the area and we were overlooking one of his bushes. I noticed the red halo over all the trees. That, to me, looks like buds swelling and I don't look forward to seeing it in my bushes. I didn't look at one up close(bud) but they were maple trees.

When the trees are wet and it is raining or cloudy, maples can often have that look that you describe. Certainly red maple buds are swollen in this region and I have seen silver maples flowering lower in the valley. It certainly won't be long here before sugar maples go especially with a couple days in the 60s and a night in the 50s later this week.

[GeneralStark]

Hovering just below freezing this morning with a dusting of new snow. Sap lifter froze up but still trickling into the releaser so maybe a marginal freeze underway here.

It ran moderately all day yesterday and overnight. About 1 gpt in 24 so I have almost 1000 gal. to process today and see if the trees have bedded yet.

[madmapler]

With all due respect, whatever it was that I saw was in comparison to the same existing "wet" conditions that were in my home area. (My own bush in fact so I'm pretty sure some of those are maples) I left here, went there, and came back expecting to see things developing similarly as was up north. I did not. Not to boast, but I can tell a maple tree from a mile away like a mother penguin knows the sound of her offspring amongst thousands. It's a side affect of my disease.

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Woke up to two inches of snow and 29 degrees. Still snowing now. Me and Sarah Lee are taking the day off. Mega sap by tomorrow afternoon. CV2 spouts are going to kick in soon I would think.

SpudSounds like my place. I have 3-4 inches and 29.. Of course, I live adjacent to the long closed Dutch Hill Ski Area, and get a lot of snow.
Collecting remote buckets and barrels today. Should be 400-500 gallons to boil late tomorrow with the incoming "mega sap". A good hard freeze at 22 tonight. Will it lighten up my syrup that just turned Dark? Interesting to see.
I am at 125 gallons on the season. Somewhat possible I can make 150.

[spud]

Sounds like my place. I have 3-4 inches and 29.. Of course, I live adjacent to the long closed Dutch Hill Ski Area, and get a lot of snow.
Collecting remote buckets and barrels today. Should be 400-500 gallons to boil late tomorrow with the incoming "mega sap". A good hard freeze at 22 tonight. Will it lighten up my syrup that just turned Dark? Interesting to see.
I am at 125 gallons on the season. Somewhat possible I can make 150.

Forget the maybe hitting 150 gallons. You're going 200+ my friend. Hang on tight it's going to be a wild ride.

Spud

[DrTimPerkins]

With all due respect, whatever it was that I saw was in comparison to the same existing "wet" conditions that were in my home area.

Sean....likewise, no disrespect whatsoever. Not sure where you were in BTV, but at least in the areas I pass through in Williston (Taft Corners), Essex Jct., Essex and out to Underhill Center on Route 15, I've not seen any strong bud development on maples. I've not been in closer to the lake towards BTV or SBTV where it is a little warmer. Of course...I've also been driving home pretty late at night the past week, so perhaps that helps explain it. :lol: The first "red" that people often see in maple are red maple flower buds.

Snow and 28 deg F in Williston this morning. What the rest of the season holds for us depends a lot upon the warm weather we get later this week. Hopefully the rain will help keep things cooler. If we can make it through that brief spell, it'll be a great season....otherwise, only about average.

[GeneralStark]

With all due respect, whatever it was that I saw was in comparison to the same existing "wet" conditions that were in my home area. (My own bush in fact so I'm pretty sure some of those are maples) I left here, went there, and came back expecting to see things developing similarly as was up north. I did not. Not to boast, but I can tell a maple tree from a mile away like a mother penguin knows the sound of her offspring amongst thousands. It's a side affect of my disease.

I hear ya. I am not at all surprised by your observation because as I said the CV is the warmest part of the state. As a botanist, I do however find it interesting when sugarmakers start going on about how their buds "look". I have looked at lots of tree buds through the years and at this point can't see much of a correlation between how a bud looks, and what really matters...how the syrup from those trees tastes.

[DoubleBrookMaple]

I was with another sugarmaker in the area and we were overlooking one of his bushes. I noticed the red halo over all the trees. That, to me, looks like buds swelling and I don't look forward to seeing it in my bushes. I didn't look at one up close(bud) but they were maple trees.Sean, you and I have similar weather. Our weekly and monthly averages, highs and lows are very close. I scan the state, and despite living very south, we have colder weather by 5-10 degrees over much of the state. Halifax is near 2000' elevation, as am I. Some of my bush is over 2000'. In the 3 previous years I have watched this site, I get good syrup near to the end as many, all over the state. I found a couple reds swelling so far, but that is it, and my last boil was my first dark, But... we will see.
I made the mistake one year of paying to much attention to buds and quit to early. Now I keep those thoughts at bay, and follow the General's way.
I've thought this out some, and being on the west facing side of a 2600' steep mountainside, my trees get a limited number of hours of direct sunlight, maybe fooling them into thinking it is still winter. It seems like 10:00 or so until I get real sunlight.

[spud]

Sap is crashing in at 1200 GPH. It started about 3:00 and has not let up yet. Supposed to drop to 29 by 8:00pm. May get a tank full before it freezes. Got to love it.

Spud

[woodchuck]

In hopes of a big day tomorrow, I was collecting some test buckets high up in our woodlot. Then it dawned on me that this was the first time this year that I collected sap with snow on the ground! Kind of fun collecting back in the woods by headlamp and being serenaded by coyotes on every hill.

[WestfordSugarworks]

Woke up sometime last night to a terrifying wind.. I wasn't expecting wind and got worried about our tubing. Walked lines all day and didn't find a single limb down on a 5/16 in the 3 bushes I was in! Let me tell you, that wind was LOUD last night.

Was in our Jericho bush when the sun came out and the sap started flowing real well. It's cool to hear the slush hammering down the lines as they thaw out. Pulling 28.4 at our Jericho bush. But.. sap only at 1% today. What the heck?

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

think taps all done, 60 gallons last two days on 985 taps hi vac running 27". we are right at 198 gallons for the year.

[tcross]

sap came rushing in last night around 3-330 and ran really hard till about 8-830 and shut right off. still tested 2.25%. got 22 on the thermometer today... sun is out. should be another great day today and tomorrow!

[madmapler]

Sean, you and I have similar weather. Our weekly and monthly averages, highs and lows are very close. I scan the state, and despite living very south, we have colder weather by 5-10 degrees over much of the state. Halifax is near 2000' elevation, as am I. Some of my bush is over 2000'. In the 3 previous years I have watched this site, I get good syrup near to the end as many, all over the state. I found a couple reds swelling so far, but that is it, and my last boil was my first dark, But... we will see.
I made the mistake one year of paying to much attention to buds and quit to early. Now I keep those thoughts at bay, and follow the General's way.
I've thought this out some, and being on the west facing side of a 2600' steep mountainside, my trees get a limited number of hours of direct sunlight, maybe fooling them into thinking it is still winter. It seems like 10:00 or so until I get real sunlight. I'm sure you're right. I only observe bud activity as a sign of the seasons progression. I don't stop making syrup until my filter press says so.:)

[steve J]

Well I will boil one last time today and I am sure I will still have sap left over. And I am pretty sure based on the look of the trees I could survive this warm up and boil next week, But I am nearly out of wood and I am pretty worn out from boiling to many hours I need to figure out if there is a good hybred pan for this 2x4 that will help me increase gallons per hour. If I was younger I buy a much bigger rig but its not in the cards at this point.

[GeneralStark]

Still chugging along....sap ran pretty well yesterday once it thawed back out from the morning freeze up and was still trickling in despite 29F at the sugarhouse at 11 pm. We hit a low of 27 here last night which should have really recharged the trees. Hoping for at least one more good run before the flavor drops off. No freeze forecasted here until sat. night so I hope to ride it out. I will be very impressed if the flavor doesn't go buddy before the weekend.

I processed a bunch of sap last night and made about 18 gal. of AR. Right on the edge of GD. Still good flavor though not as stellar as what was made earlier this season. Still filtering ok and boiling is pretty easy. Have to be pretty attentive with the foam in flue pan, as it did try to jump out a couple times. Just about 260 for the season.

Get ready for a gusher today, especially you guys up north!

[spud]

Sap is running 1000 GPH as of noon. Sugar is 1.6% today. Some great sugaring weather to come this week and next.

Spud

[GiddingsHill]

Sap down to 1.5 but much clearer than what we got yesterday afternoon. Running hard, just got to hold on for a few days for a real freeze

[VT_K9]

Made a trip to pick up a 40 gallon drum today. Came home to boil the sap from yesterday and today. Looks like we are nearing the end of the season here the syrup was rather buddy. Maybe this weekend's temperatures may help make a little more syrup. We are up to about 104 gallons this year. A good improvement over last year's 65 gallons with adding about 40 new taps this year.

Mike

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Processed and boiled my gravity and buckets from yesterday's collection, and the warm sap that came in this afternoon.
Made another 12 gallons of DR with good flavor. One of the coldest spots in the state here this morning (freezing until 10:15), and the sap never started flowing at all until near noon. Flowing well now, and near clear sap at 1.5%, my norm for this season.

[wiam]

Pretty good run here today. Should run until Saturday night. We hit 600 gallons tonight.

[JoeJ]

My Jericho woods 2,149 taps are up to 22 gal sap per tap. I have collected 47,300 gals so far as compared to a little over 25,00 last year. Too bad sugar went down to 1%. Yesterday, from 2:00 Pm to 6:30 PM, sap ran .70 gpt. Can't wait for this morning surprise. Overall, at .43 gal syrup per tap.

Joe

[GeneralStark]

It's one day at a time at this point. I made another 10 gal. AR last night with ok flavor. Boiling is still pretty easy. Some new smells are starting to appear in the sugarhouse which suggest the end may be near for me. I'm savoring the final days as much as possible.

The sap ran pretty well yesterday once everything thawed and went well over 1 gpt in 24 hours from yesterday til today. Sugar at 1% or slightly below, and sap has that late season look and smell to it. My plan is to boil today what came in overnight and will come in today and see where I am at. I may finish it off with a water chase, or try to go til tomorrow. If we hit the predicted highs I think sap quality is going to drop off dramatically...

We are participating in the open house weekend but I don't think we will boil. I have no interest in trying to keep sap when it is 60+ degrees and don't want to boil late season syrup with visitors. I think it will actually be nice to focus on giving tours and talking with people instead of having to worry about boiling. Any Traders looking for something to do are welcome to stop by!

Good luck everyone!

[billyinvt]

Pretty sure my red maples are done after today and tomorrow's warmth. Sugars will probably produce again next week if my tap holes aren't dried up. They've been in 6 weeks now. Running very low on dry wood and spousal tolerance.

[DrTimPerkins]

Didn't warm up fast enough yesterday, so only made 65 gal before we shut down for the night. That puts us at 2,020 gal for the season, a new total production record for us, which is 0.47 gal/tap. Sap kept coming in and ran well overnight (tanks are all 3/4 full or better), so with a little luck we should break 0.5 gal/tap by this afternoon. Judging by my research chambers, it was probably the 2nd or 3rd best run for the season. Sugar content yesterday was 1.7-1.8 Brix. Haven't checked it yet today. Not sure if we'll make it though the next few days....the clouds and rain should help. However the peepers are starting and green things (spring ephemerals) are beginning to show up on the ground in the woods. I'd say we have about a 50:50 chance (maybe a tad better) of still making syrup next week.

[n8hutch]

. Running very low on dry wood and spousal tolerance.[/QUOTE]
Aren't We All

[spud]

Dr. Tim those peppers are going to be under an inch of ice come Saturday night. I see no signs of buds in my woods yet ( I am afraid to look up though). I think I have a 100% chance of going into next week. Sap is clear and still testing 1.6% this morning. Sap ran all night but is now only running 300 GPH. There is no sun today or tomorrow so that will help. I'm thinking big sap starting next Wednesday again. I want my .5 real bad. I have 210 apple trees coming on the 22nd of April. If I hit .5 avg I may be able to talk the wife into 200 more. :)

Spud

[MJPJ Sugars]

Certainly not the crisp, clear sap in today's & yesterday's buckets as was the last few weeks here in Georgia (Franklin County). Anticipating some teeth-staining syrup here... :) But no buds on the sugar maples yet.


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[GeneralStark]

Well the fat peeper has peeped here in Bristol. I have thrown in the towel and after almost four straight weeks the vacuum pump is off. First boil was 2/20 and last was today. Long season but unfortunately productivity did not match length of season due to low sugar the last couple weeks. Not exactly sure of final count but somewhere between 275 and 285. Not too bad for this weird season and this hardscrabble piece of land.

Before today the last 40 or so gallons were not of the "reserve" quality and today that certain flavor that lingers started to show up. Not real strong but it's a sign of things to come and given the sap quality this afternoon and considering the forecast I decided to call it quits. No point for me in making commercial syrup. The flavor certainly won't come back with the upcoming freeze either. Been there, done that in 2012.

The peepers are screaming here tonight and the forest floor is starting to green up with the spring ephemerals. The woods are dry and I did have the hose ready in case a spark from the stack got carried away. What a great time of year.

Anyway, good luck to all of you still in it.

[WestfordSugarworks]

Certainly don't want the season to be done. It's warm out there, though. Did see leeks coming up in a friend's woods on Tuesday and saw dandelions come up today and almost (might have) ran over a frog or two today on the road. I've got some energy left in me for another two weeks or more.

[ryebrye]

Before today the last 40 or so gallons were not of the "reserve" quality and today that certain flavor that lingers started to show up. Not real strong but it's a sign of things to come and given the sap quality this afternoon and considering the forecast I decided to call it quits. No point for me in making commercial syrup. The flavor certainly won't come back with the upcoming freeze either. Been there, done that in 2012..

Any chance that the lingering flavor is a metabolism off-flavor? You could test it by boiling some of it in a pot to 240, letting it cool, then mixing water back in to get back to proper density - that technique will remove the nasties from the metabolism off-flavor (if it's worth the effort to do it for huge batches of syrup is another question entirely)

http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/off-flavor2.pdf is the doc that talks about eliminating metabolism off flavor. AFAIK it doesn't do anything for buddy flavor.

[PARKER MAPLE]

Well here we are, this season has been pretty good for us with a new season high so far of 461gallons made. I went to the woods late yesterday chasing a leaks that accord with the wind yesterday. Trees still don't show buds, and no peepers are peeping. But sap was not really running, we need a freeze up soon. I don't anticipate us hanging on to much longer with this warm spell, 64* here yesterday and there calling for nearly the same today. Sap sugar content has really dropped off as well, 1.2-1.4..
Fingers crossed for the 500g mark.
PM

[blissville maples]

sap is certainly not of high quality, however I haven't made any very dark or commercial as of yet, today that will change, processing 1600 gals most from yesterday. im sure 60 degree sap may make some dark if not commercial. ground is dry, frogs out, small bushes starting to break bud, no trees though. flavor has been ok as of 2 days ago although getting that slight robust taste(even with the light syrup) seems as though all my syrup this year has tasted below grade, ie amber taste fancy, dark taste amber etc. this next week will be interesting to see what happens-maybe too late. we need about 5 inches of rain!!

[tcross]

I boiled from 745 yesterday a.m to 1030 at night! longest day for us ever... however we made an awful lot of syrup. sap ran great Wednesday through yesterday. yesterday I had to turn the switch off the pump and just let gravity do it's job. if I left the pump on, the tank this a.m would be overflowing! testing 1.6% yesterday but clouding up. I'm hoping my sap in that tank will survive the 55-60 degrees today and i'll process it tonight and tomorrow! no major bud swelling up here. my wood supply (that I thought would last 2.5-3 yrs) is running on the low side! syrup flavor is still very good... I'm also noticing my flavor is a grade above what the color would suggest! very tasty... better than last years crop!

[spud]

Sap still running and I am averaging one gallon per tap for the last several days. Sap was testing 1.4% this morning. Sap quality is very good and making a good tasting DA. Hoping that after the freeze we will get 1-2 weeks more. No peppers or flowers or buds in sight. It looks like a lot of rain or snow still to come. Vacuum dropped to 26 yesterday due to tree gas. The CV2 spouts is what's going to get me another 50,000 gallons of sap. No slim in my sap at all yet. Still real nice clean sap. For those of you that are now done for the season thanks for posting. For those who are continuing on Good Luck.

Spud

[GeneralStark]

Any chance that the lingering flavor is a metabolism off-flavor? You could test it by boiling some of it in a pot to 240, letting it cool, then mixing water back in to get back to proper density - that technique will remove the nasties from the metabolism off-flavor (if it's worth the effort to do it for huge batches of syrup is another question entirely)

http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/off-flavor2.pdf is the doc that talks about eliminating metabolism off flavor. AFAIK it doesn't do anything for buddy flavor.

No it's bud flavor. Some would call it "pre-bud" as it was still quite subtle. In my experience when this flavor shows up during a real warm spell, within 24-36 hours it will get more pronounced. The syrup will make good sugar and if it were colder I would keep going, but I'm really not interested in making more ropey syrup from slimy fermented .9% sap which is what was starting to show up in my tanks yesterday evening. The high hit 65 here yesterday with a low of 58 last night.

[DrTimPerkins]

The fat lady may not be singing, but she sure is warming up her voice. Red maple (flower) buds have swollen considerably since yesterday morning. Sap very cloudy, and has a faint wood odor. We're not seeing the really big yeasty bubbles yet though. We'll concentrate some from each bush separately (one bush is < 5% red maple, the other is ~30% red maple) and boil each in a small pot on the stove to see whether to process it or dump it. Would rather not run it through the evaporator, as we've calculated there's 50 gal of syrup held up in there....no sense adding buddy stuff to it (if it is truly buddy). Even if it is somewhat buddy, we'll leave the pumps on and let the sap run on the ground until after the cold spell this weekend and see if it comes back a little (rare, but does on occasion).

Sap was running 1.6-1.7% yesterday. We are at 2,145 gal as of last night, 5 gal shy of 0.5 gal/tap (0.4988 gal/tap), however we can easily get past that by boiling out what is in the evaporator if we have to. Just hope we don't have to quite yet.

[billyinvt]

Yep. I'm all done too. Sap has really low sugar content and not looking too nice either. I surpassed all the goals I had set before the season and really grew as a sugarmaker. Already thinking about next years tweaks and upgrades! Good luck to all who are still in the game!

[DoubleBrookMaple]

I am processing today, some 650 gallons that came in at 1.5% through the day yesterday, and dropped to 1.3% through the night, and a little cloudy. I will collect buckets and gravity barrels today, and hope for the best. That should bring me up near 850 gallons of sap. I will update late tonight after my boil. Very little sun, and a high of 62 yesterday, so I am still holding out hope for today and next week. It will certainly be quite dark I imagine. I completely cleaned my pan after my last boil, to help my boil go better.

[madmapler]

Just finished off my last drum. Sap is coming too slow to be worth it. It's been tapering off since the first warm up. Buds are still holding tight. I350 gallons for the season.

[GiddingsHill]

Still hanging on here. Sap flow up considerably overnight (along with a damaging south wind), 7000gal since yesterday's pickup (which was around 2pm)
I don't even dare test what I'm getting right now, it's a little cloudy but doesnt have really any scent to it yet.
My neighbor blew the oil seals out of his pump last night, not a good time to be without vacuum if we are going to make it to the weekend.
I like your optimism Spud, you and I seem to have similar weather so I'm counting on you to be right about more good sapping!

[ryebrye]

The sap in my tank today is super cloudy (almost like milk) - I'm on a hybrid 3/16 vacuum system. I shut off my pump but the gravity-induced vacuum will keep pulling sap out for the rest of today and tomorrow into the freeze. I'm going to let this sap dump onto the ground and hope for the best after the cold spell.

I don't see any signs of budding in my trees - I have a small (but mighty!) sugarbush so I can reasonably walk the entire thing and inspect every tree after it starts to freeze up again.

Before I dump today's sap I'm going to boil some in a small pan and look for any of the musty smell coming from it too.

For sap production I've exceeded my expectations for the season.

Right now I'm at 28.8 gallons of sap per tap and if you were to hypothetically mix up all the sap from this season together the sugar content would average out to be 2.18% (Last years was almost 0.3% higher for an average sugar content, so it has been lower but I wont complain. I know others have had it worse).

I have all CV2 spouts and my taps aren't showing signs of drying out yet - if the trees haven't budded in my area this next cold spell could help push this season into the "amazing" category for me, but you wont ever hear me complain about 28.8 gallons of sap per tap if the season is already over for me.

[WestfordSugarworks]

Have you guys who are done considered selling sap once you quit boiling? I've heard of people doing that up my way. I agree, don't wanna process commercial syrup and it probably wouldn't be worth it financially to us. But I know of big guys up my way who will boil commerical stuff for a long time and get a fair price for it, too. They have the necessary resources to process and still turn a profit. Although unless you live close to someone, it probably wouldn't be worthwhile for them to truck if the sugar content is so low. With the sap we are selling at our Jericho bush, a truckload (4500 gal) at 1% is about one 55 gal barrel according to the guy trucking yesterday. 3 Hour round trip for them to drive down, pick up, drive back, dump.

[spud]

Still hanging on here. Sap flow up considerably overnight (along with a damaging south wind), 7000gal since yesterday's pickup (which was around 2pm)
I don't even dare test what I'm getting right now, it's a little cloudy but doesnt have really any scent to it yet.
My neighbor blew the oil seals out of his pump last night, not a good time to be without vacuum if we are going to make it to the weekend.
I like your optimism Spud, you and I seem to have similar weather so I'm counting on you to be right about more good sapping!

I drove all over my woods today and there really is not any buds even close to coming out. The Red maples are swollen but I have very few Reds in my woods. My sap quality today is cloudy but still fine. There is no smell at all. Sugar is 1.4% today but thats fine. I only got 2000 gallons today but it will continue running all night. I am very excited to get this 3 day freeze up. I really think we have at least one week after the freeze up. I'm hoping for 25,000-50,000 more gallons of sap this season. I see no reason not to get it.

Spud

[bairdswift]

Spud- what are you plans with all the apple trees? Think the wife will allow the other 200? Why not maple saplings to tap? What's on the land the apple trees are being planted now?

[woodchuck]

Pulled the buckets tonight and heard the peepers on the way down. Ill leave the line taps in for now just in case. Spud, tell us more about the apple trees. I planted 6 Dunstan Chestnuts last year and have six more coming. Always wanted to do apples.
Thanks to all for the help and friendship.

[ryebrye]

Don't forget to measure the temperature of your sap when you check the density...

My sap wasn't all that bad (cloudy, yes, but not stinky or anything) so I took it to a bigger producer I sell sap to. When I checked the density I thought "well yep... My sugar content is dropping, that's 0.2% lower than it normally is" but then I remembered to check the sap temperature (I used a high precision instant-read thermometer to check it) and it was 57°F...

According to the temperature correction charts that means I need to add 0.2% to it... Putting it back to where it normally is for me.

I'm sure most of you big guys already know this, but I think it's ready to forget because 99% of the time sap is below 46°F and didn't need any correction so it's easy to forget.

[DoubleBrookMaple]

It looks good down here for next week. I am hoping for for a slight improvement in quality, but I will take what I get.
I collected buckets, barrels, and processed all my sap today and boiled till late. Sap was warm at 50-60 degrees for a long time, and never was more than moderately cloudy. As expected, syrup was DR, and just a little bit of a bite, so I guess it is slightly buddy. While I was collecting buckets I looked up now and then, and no obvious signs of buds on the sugars. I had pulled taps on some reds 3-4 days back.
I am just short of 150 gallons for the year.

[DrTimPerkins]

We boiled a little concentrate on the stove and it was fine, so season still going. Sugar content was still 1.7%+ -- sap was a bit cloudy, but not terrible. No real big yeasty bubbles yet. Ended up making 65 gal DR yesterday with excellent flavor, bringing us to a total of 2,261 for a yield of 0.515 gal/tap. Will probably make another 50-60 gal today. Sap has definitely slowed down, but we have plenty of moisture in the woods, and nice cold weather coming tonite. Should be back in action by the middle of next week after a few days of nice cold weather and some rest.

[spud]

Thank you Doc that's music to my ears. I cleaned all my tanks today and I am waiting for next week.

Spud

[spud]

Spud- what are you plans with all the apple trees? Think the wife will allow the other 200? Why not maple saplings to tap? What's on the land the apple trees are being planted now?

If I can hit .5 GPT I will order another 200 trees. I have NO interest in more maple trees so the saplings are out. The apple trees are being planted in a field right in front of my house. I had been letting a neighbor hay the fields but always dreamed of planting an apple orchard. I have room for about 2000 trees if I ever wanted to get that big.

Spud

[spud]

Pulled the buckets tonight and heard the peepers on the way down. Ill leave the line taps in for now just in case. Spud, tell us more about the apple trees. I planted 6 Dunstan Chestnuts last year and have six more coming. Always wanted to do apples.
Thanks to all for the help and friendship.

I currently have 13 verities of apple trees. Several people have asked over the last four years if I have a market for my apples. I'm told that I should line up a market for the apples before I plant the trees. I say plant the trees and get them started then find a market. A four year old tree will produce one bushel of apples. I have room for about 2000 trees but only 750 trees will fit in the field in front of my home. We are working on filling that field first and then see what happens. The orchard is just a hobby for now with hopes of making some money in the years to come. The thought is that when I have a bad sugaring season maybe I will have a good apple season. A little spring and fall money would be nice. I plan to buy a cider press and sell some of that also. I have 250 trees that are producing some apples. I have ordered some bee hives. Walking in my orchard is like therapy for me. Everyday during the summer months I take walks just looking at the trees and watching them grow. My wife thinks I'm crazy but does say she likes the looks of the orchard instead of a hay field. I bought a Ferris zero turn mower last spring and I enjoy mowing the orchard in the summer months. I also have Cherry, Plum, Pear and Apricot trees planted. It's all a hobby with hopes of making some money someday. If I never make a dime with the orchard that would be ok. The joy of planting and watching them grow is a lot of fun. Someday I will be an old man sitting on my porch drinking hard cider. I don't want to have to say I wish I had done this and that. I want to be able to say I did it all and had fun doing it. My kids help plant the apple trees and complain about it. I tell them that someday when they bring their kids to visit Grandma and Grandpa they can say they helped plant the orchard.

Spud

[WestfordSugarworks]

Spud, I'll buy some of your cider if you get a press. I used to make hard cider but some of the drive to do that faded when I realized I was putting way to much money and time into it and could get some cheap Natural Ice for half as much as the cider cost. But if I did it again i would buy some better equipment.

Dr Tim, what you said is also music to my ears. Although I visited JoeJ and two other sugarmakers today who were skeptical of the continuation of the season. JoeJ was going to see what Wednesday brought but I think the other two were gonna call it quits. Been to 2 sugarhouses that were boiling some syrup that smelled raisiny to me. Sour. One last night and one This morning. We boiled and made some great syrup last night. Really ready for more.

[bairdswift]

Spud- I like the way you think. Your thoughts are spot on!! Your kids will look back on this some day and it will fill there heart,no worries. I'm at the point where I'm trying to kick my dreams into gear so I don't look back and think I wish I had done such and such.. My dreams are a little crazy to, cows and maple.not many people of my age are dreaming of milking cows and making maple syrup. But then again most are not willing to work that hard anymore.

[ryebrye]

I currently have 13 verities of apple trees. Several people have asked over the last four years if I have a market for my apples. I'm told that I should line up a market for the apples before I plant the trees. I say plant the trees and get them started then find a market. A four year old tree will produce one bushel of apples. I have room for about 2000 trees but only 750 trees will fit in the field in front of my home. We are working on filling that field first and then see what happens. The orchard is just a hobby for now with hopes of making some money in the years to come. The thought is that when I have a bad sugaring season maybe I will have a good apple season. A little spring and fall money would be nice. I plan to buy a cider press and sell some of that also. I have 250 trees that are producing some apples. I have ordered some bee hives. Walking in my orchard is like therapy for me. Everyday during the summer months I take walks just looking at the trees and watching them grow. My wife thinks I'm crazy but does say she likes the looks of the orchard instead of a hay field. I bought a Ferris zero turn mower last spring and I enjoy mowing the orchard in the summer months. I also have Cherry, Plum, Pear and Apricot trees planted. It's all a hobby with hopes of making some money someday. If I never make a dime with the orchard that would be ok. The joy of planting and watching them grow is a lot of fun. Someday I will be an old man sitting on my porch drinking hard cider. I don't want to have to say I wish I had done this and that. I want to be able to say I did it all and had fun doing it. My kids help plant the apple trees and complain about it. I tell them that someday when they bring their kids to visit Grandma and Grandpa they can say they helped plant the orchard.

Spud

If you are interested in getting a lot of production out of your orchard should look into putting in a tall spindle system. (I know a bit about this since my father-in-law is one of the ones who has been researching it for years at Cornell - http://fruitgrowersnews.com/article/the-tall-spindle-system-apple-orchard-design-for-the-future/ )

[woodchuck]

I currently have 13 verities of apple trees. Several people have asked over the last four years if I have a market for my apples. I'm told that I should line up a market for the apples before I plant the trees. I say plant the trees and get them started then find a market. A four year old tree will produce one bushel of apples. I have room for about 2000 trees but only 750 trees will fit in the field in front of my home. We are working on filling that field first and then see what happens. The orchard is just a hobby for now with hopes of making some money in the years to come. The thought is that when I have a bad sugaring season maybe I will have a good apple season. A little spring and fall money would be nice. I plan to buy a cider press and sell some of that also. I have 250 trees that are producing some apples. I have ordered some bee hives. Walking in my orchard is like therapy for me. Everyday during the summer months I take walks just looking at the trees and watching them grow. My wife thinks I'm crazy but does say she likes the looks of the orchard instead of a hay field. I bought a Ferris zero turn mower last spring and I enjoy mowing the orchard in the summer months. I also have Cherry, Plum, Pear and Apricot trees planted. It's all a hobby with hopes of making some money someday. If I never make a dime with the orchard that would be ok. The joy of planting and watching them grow is a lot of fun. Someday I will be an old man sitting on my porch drinking hard cider. I don't want to have to say I wish I had done this and that. I want to be able to say I did it all and had fun doing it. My kids help plant the apple trees and complain about it. I tell them that someday when they bring their kids to visit Grandma and Grandpa they can say they helped plant the orchard.

Spud

Very cool project. The bees seem like a natural step for any orchard. Keep posting in the off season. Always enjoy seeing what folks have for hobbies.

[blissville maples]

seems as though a lot of people don't like to make dark or commercial, someone has to supply the makers of ice cream ,donuts, cereals, maple foods etc. I wouldn't be surprised if more than half of the consumption would be B or commercial grade considering how often most people eat pancakes. I think most people see maple as big money maker(and it can be quite profitable if your able minded and bodied and aren't LAZY) and don't think the commercial is worth the time, at only 300 less a barrel its not that bad if your set up smart and not into the bank for this and that(things take time to acquire) similar as to working for yourself or owning a small business, buy new fancy tools all the time it eats at your profits, hire too many jokers it eats your profits. its imperative to do things cost effective so producing commercial is still profitable.

[WestfordSugarworks]

Anyone else excited as I am for more sugaring this week?! A few days to fix odds and ends and get some rest and then more sap for another week and a half at least!!

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Agreed...
Good time to fix/improve things. I am getting ready as if it was another season coming, and doing things that I would have done at end of season for next year that will now be done. I reconfigured my vacuum line manifold, and wound up with my vacuum pump/releaser box in my basement shop for some modifications.
It looks like I will be collecting buckets in the snow! 2-3 inches last night, and 3-5 tomorrow. Unlike so many, I do love the winter, although it was nice collecting without tromping on 3 feet of snow. My last 10 gallons of dark was said to have "a little off flavor", and it will be interesting to see what it comes to this time. I don't care, I want to make syrup until even I cannot stand the flavor. I do this because I love it, and it will be over soon enough.

[GeneralStark]

Another Open House weekend in the books!! Great attendance and sales yesterday (new record) but not so much today. We didn't really have high expectations for today and actually didn't intend to be open at all, but we were around working on projects so we did entertain some visitors and sold a few things.

I was having so much fun giving tours yesterday and chatting with people that I never bothered to actually light the evaporator to boil water. People didn't really seem to miss the boiling anyway. Lots of questions about the weird weather and how that affected production this year and fortunately we could tell them that we did fine. A little down from last year but still ended up at about .4/tap. I may have to dip into my "strategic reserve" to keep up with this year's sales but that is ok.

The Open House forced me to get a bunch of cleaning done so now I just have to do a little more work on the evaporator, pull the taps and rinse tubing, clean out the releaser and do the final RO put to bed.

Good luck to all you guys still going!

[spud]

If you are interested in getting a lot of production out of your orchard should look into putting in a tall spindle system. (I know a bit about this since my father-in-law is one of the ones who has been researching it for years at Cornell - http://fruitgrowersnews.com/article/the-tall-spindle-system-apple-orchard-design-for-the-future/ )

The spindle system is a little to costly for me to set up. The cost was $11,000 in 2007 but now is more like $15,000 per acre. Because I have no real market lined up for my apples yet I think it would be better to plant just a traditional orchard. As it is if I don't sell my apples I may have to offer deer hunting on my property. :) Home to the 800 pound white tail deer.:lol:

Spud

[spud]

seems as though a lot of people don't like to make dark or commercial, someone has to supply the makers of ice cream ,donuts, cereals, maple foods etc. I wouldn't be surprised if more than half of the consumption would be B or commercial grade considering how often most people eat pancakes. I think most people see maple as big money maker(and it can be quite profitable if your able minded and bodied and aren't LAZY) and don't think the commercial is worth the time, at only 300 less a barrel its not that bad if your set up smart and not into the bank for this and that(things take time to acquire) similar as to working for yourself or owning a small business, buy new fancy tools all the time it eats at your profits, hire too many jokers it eats your profits. its imperative to do things cost effective so producing commercial is still profitable.

I agree with you 100%. I understand a smaller producer may not want to waste time on making low grade syrup. For a larger producer it is a must. If you're selling 500 barrels to a packer they will buy your low grade syrup. If they don't then they don't get the good stuff. Couple years ago the packers said they were only going to pay $1.50 LB so some ended their season. The guy I sell my sap to continued make the junk and then got $2.00 a LB for it. Low grade syrup can be blended and it can be used for many different things. You almost never see quality light syrup sold in the stores. If sugaring is you're business and not just a hobby then it would be foolish to not keep boiling right to the end. If you can get the junk through the filter press then keep on boiling.

Spud

[spud]

Spud- I like the way you think. Your thoughts are spot on!! Your kids will look back on this some day and it will fill there heart,no worries. I'm at the point where I'm trying to kick my dreams into gear so I don't look back and think I wish I had done such and such.. My dreams are a little crazy to, cows and maple.not many people of my age are dreaming of milking cows and making maple syrup. But then again most are not willing to work that hard anymore.

I milked cows for years and love dairy farming. If my back was better I would be milking a small herd of Jersey's and making cheese. Go for it bairdswift. You only live once and dairy farming is a great life. Keep it simple and you will make money. :)

Spud

[GeneralStark]

It's not just about wasting time....for many of us it is about making a quality product we can stand behind. When you sell it direct to the customer, they know who to come find if it isn't what they expected. If you just put syrup in barrels you may not think as much about the final consumer of the syrup and what they think of it, you may just see the paycheck you are going to get. Hence the desire to fill as many barrels as possible regardless of the quality or flavor.

Just because a producer is "small" doesn't mean they don't rely on the income. And just because packers are buying off syrup doesn't mean it should be made. There are lots of barrels of crap syrup sitting in warehouses that will likely never be used.

[spud]

It's not just about wasting time....for many of us it is about making a quality product we can stand behind. When you sell it direct to the customer, they know who to come find if it isn't what they expected. If you just put syrup in barrels you may not think as much about the final consumer of the syrup and what they think of it, you may just see the paycheck you are going to get. Hence the desire to fill as many barrels as possible regardless of the quality or flavor.

Just because a producer is "small" doesn't mean they don't rely on the income. And just because packers are buying off syrup doesn't mean it should be made. There are lots of barrels of crap syrup sitting in warehouses that will likely never be used.

General.

We take as much pride in our product as you do. I currently picked up a customer in California that owns a bakery. They are asking for the lowest grade syrup I have as long as it goes through the filter. What their saying is the lighter syrup takes away from the flavor of their goods. A friend of mine who worked for a large packer in Vermont said they were shipping 275 gallon totes to Japan of the lowest grade. He was not sure as to what they were using it for but they were paying almost the same price for the junk.

If a packer has a market for low grade syrup then low grade syrup ( Should be made ). The packers understand that the large sugaring operations cannot afford to stop production once the high grade syrup stops being made. Over the years the packers have found markets for the low grade syrup and have made good money by doing so. This also has helped the large operations make a bit more money. It's not for the General to say when the season should end for all sugar maker's. Is there low grade syrup sitting in warehouses somewhere? There may be but I can assure you it will in time be blended or sold as is for a much higher price then you might think. No packer is buying low grade syrup only to then throw it away. To suggest such a thing is silly. You're customers want high quality syrup and that's what you provide them with. But there is other customers around the country and world that are asking for low grade because it fits their needs. Please also remember that low grade syrup is also of the highest quality. Just because it has an off taste does not mean it's no good. The guts of a crab or lobster are thrown away by most people but large company's use this to make crab cakes and lobster cake. The waste from a pig is used to make sausage. Should we do away with crab and lobster cakes and also pork sausage? Should low grade syrup not be used for flavoring? I can assure you General that if you were a large producer you would have no problem making 30-50 barrels of low grade syrup as long as the packer bought it.

Spud

[rhwells2003]

If you are interested in getting a lot of production out of your orchard should look into putting in a tall spindle system. (I know a bit about this since my father-in-law is one of the ones who has been researching it for years at Cornell - http://fruitgrowersnews.com/article/the-tall-spindle-system-apple-orchard-design-for-the-future/ )

Very interesting read. Kind of goes against all the old ways of apple tree growth and maintenance we've all heard for years. The cone shape for better light exposure to all fruit bearing limbs makes sense compared to the short rounder tree shape we've all seen for years.

[WestfordSugarworks]

If anyone is interested in birch sap or has a birch bush, check out my related post under 'Tapping Vermont 2016'. Otherwise, good luck to those who are still collecting and may we sugar for many weeks to come!

[GeneralStark]

Spud- You are making syrup now? I thought you sold sap.

I would never in a million years suggest that I could or would tell anyone else what they should do or how they should do it. If someone wants to make syrup until the leaves come out...that is their choice. Just sharing an opinion on a public forum.

Have you ever been to a workshop given by a bulk syrup buyer? Well I have and they always say the same thing. Don't keep making buddy syrup. Simple as that. The buyer I have sold commercial syrup says the same thing as well. He doesn't make any once the bud run starts despite having a market for it.

Sure we all make some but there is a big difference between making off flavored syrup during the season and continuing to intentionally make off syrup once the bud run has started. Sure packers buy it because that is part of the deal, and they find a market for it. I do too. But it is not good syrup and the suggestion that it is a key component of the maple syrup market is off base. Why do you think the Federation is trying to get rid of thousands of pound of it at super low prices?

I know several bulk producers that also sell retail and they all say the same thing. I set aside the best syrup for me and the rest goes to the packer. There is a difference between retail producers' perspectives than those of bulk producers.

The suggestion that people can't "afford" to not make off flavored syrup baffles me. Where do you get this idea? If you can't make your operation work making good syrup then you have a serious problem.

An interesting read on the subject: http://www.omspa.ca/news/

[Parker]

Wow.........

[PARKER MAPLE]

Well how about them peepers....... Lmao bet they wished they never came out after the last couple of days..

Still no buds in our woods here on the mountain. Cold very cold 12* this morning and 18* now. Seems to be like a short deep freeze. I would of never guessed it in beginning of April. Got to try and go out with a bang here at end of the week. Hoping for one last good run. Last boil we made DK-R not com, and flavor was very good still. I don't know what to expect when the sap starts to flow again, but better be ready. Drained and washed all tanks, drained and washed all pans, RO is cleaned and hopefully ready for the grand finally.
Good luck to all still in the game, never give up only comes once a year..
PARKER MAPLE

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

General,
It sounds like telling others what they should be doing with their operations is exactly what you are saying. Adding that if a person couldn't "make it" in the way you choose to run your operation, that they are a failure. I think you are missing the big picture my friend. I do agree that buddy/off flavored syrup tastes like crap when compared to good flavored syrup. Not nearly as bad as birch syrup, which is worth gold, but that is another topic. My point is that maple syrup is still, and always will remain the worlds greatest natural sweetener. The majority of the good tasting syrup finds it's way to a bakery or onto someones table. The rest is not a useless commodity. There is a market for it, and I think it will continue to grow as food manufacturers continue seeking alternatives to high fructose corn syrup and bleeched cane sugar to sweeten their products. There is no doubt in my mind that I would rather my kids eat food that has been sweetened with an off flavored maple syrup vs. corn syrup.

I also guess I can't understand why a producer of any product would end the season early if they could still make a commodity that was worth money. That just doesn't make sense to me as I depend on this income to pay my bills and feed my family. Each barrel of off flavored syrup that I intend to produce (still making good flavored syrup now) will be worth 6-800 bucks. Lets say I make 6 barrels of this product. That is a lot of coin to leave on the table for a guy like me. Maybe your financial situation is different and you haven't a need for the extra money.

Ben

[spud]

Spud- You are making syrup now? I thought you sold sap.

I would never in a million years suggest that I could or would tell anyone else what they should do or how they should do it. If someone wants to make syrup until the leaves come out...that is their choice. Just sharing an opinion on a public forum.

Have you ever been to a workshop given by a bulk syrup buyer? Well I have and they always say the same thing. Don't keep making buddy syrup. Simple as that. The buyer I have sold commercial syrup says the same thing as well. He doesn't make any once the bud run starts despite having a market for it.

Sure we all make some but there is a big difference between making off flavored syrup during the season and continuing to intentionally make off syrup once the bud run has started. Sure packers buy it because that is part of the deal, and they find a market for it. I do too. But it is not good syrup and the suggestion that it is a key component of the maple syrup market is off base. Why do you think the Federation is trying to get rid of thousands of pound of it at super low prices?

I know several bulk producers that also sell retail and they all say the same thing. I set aside the best syrup for me and the rest goes to the packer. There is a difference between retail producers' perspectives than those of bulk producers.

The suggestion that people can't "afford" to not make off flavored syrup baffles me. Where do you get this idea? If you can't make your operation work making good syrup then you have a serious problem.

An interesting read on the subject: http://www.omspa.ca/news/

General- A properly run sugaring operation can and should be able to survive without making off tasting syrup. But why would they want to take 10 years to pay off their operation when they can do it in 7 by making off tasting syrup. Rule number one in sugaring is never believe what a packer tells you. Of corse they are going to tell you not to make the off tasting syrup (their not paying your mortgage). If they promoted off tasting syrup to all sugar makers then they truly would be swamped with syrup. There is only so much good quality syrup a packer can sell. The same is said for low grade syrup. Talk to people that have worked for a packer and they will tell you the off taste syrup sells and there is a market for it. Now if you were a large producer and you could make 50 barrels of off tasting syrup and the packer would pay you $1.75-2.00 LB would you do it? Of corse you would because that's $750-880 a barrel. That extra $40,000 in your pocket each year sure would be nice. You say your commercial buyer friend stops making syrup when the buds start to come out ( Despite having a market for it )? Either that's not a true statement or your friend is not very business smart. I can see him stop making low grade syrup if there was NO market for it but if there is a market then he really needs to get on board. I never said that off tasting syrup is a KEY Component to the syrup market but it is a useful one. The fake syrups in the stores that may have 2% real syrup in them would likely buy low grade syrup at a more affordable price. The same would be for any company using maple for flavoring. It has been said that if you use off tasting syrup to make maple sugar the off taste goes away. I cannot say for sure if that is true but I have heard this from more then one producer. So if a large producer can make and sell off tasting syrup and maybe earn an extra $40,000 doing it then he would be a fool not to. In life there are two kinds of people. Some take one step forward and two steps back and others take two step forward and one step back. It's safe to say the big producers selling buddy low grade syrup are two steps ahead of the others. I must say though General that I enjoy all your post and I look at you as a key asset to Maple Trader and to the Maple industry. I can tell you take great pride in the product you produce and my hat goes off to you for that. It's ok to disagree at times with fellow Traders. I'm glad you had a great season and it was fun reading your post along the way. Up here at the border I hope for another week or more before I call it quits. I like to pull my spouts once the leaves turn RED. :lol:

Spud

Spud

[GeneralStark]

Spud and Ben,

I'm sorry if my comments seem to be condescending towards your way of doing things or your perspective. That is not my intention at all. I take syrup quality from my own operation very seriously, and I am also concerned about it for the industry as a whole. I'm really not sure how aware people are of the broader issue with syrup quality in the industry as a whole. I generally post here from the perspective of a single retail producer but my involvement in the industry goes beyond that.

I appreciate your perspectives and once again I hope I have not overstepped the boundaries of respect. You can likely sense my passion related to this matter. I have met many Traders through they years and everyone I have met are wonderful people. We don't all agree on every matter but I appreciate civil debate and believe it is important for our industry and our society. I have not yet met you guys in person but I do hope to.

I would like to continue this conversation as I think it is very interesting and worthy of further debate. However in an effort to keep this thread more on topic for VT Sugarmakers to post what they are up to I will start a new thread in the next day or two. I hope you will join me there.

Good luck with the rest of your seasons! Even if you are going to be filling barrels with buddy syrup....:)

[ryebrye]

I assume everyone else who is still going is excited about this deep freeze? I really like that it isn't going to freeze Wednesday night in my area - it's going to take a full day for the trees to thaw out again - but Wed / Thurs / Friday should be a really good run.... then more freezes.

The even more extended forecast has a nice cycle of freeze / thaws going into April 15th. (Now is when I regret telling my wife "Sure, we can leave on vacation on April 14th, sugaring will be done by then this year since it's been such a warm year")

[WestfordSugarworks]

I assume everyone else who is still going is excited about this deep freeze? I really like that it isn't going to freeze Wednesday night in my area - it's going to take a full day for the trees to thaw out again - but Wed / Thurs / Friday should be a really good run.... then more freezes.

The even more extended forecast has a nice cycle of freeze / thaws going into April 15th. (Now is when I regret telling my wife "Sure, we can leave on vacation on April 14th, sugaring will be done by then this year since it's been such a warm year")

Very excited! A lot of people up my way have called it quits even though there still could be good sap tomorrow or Thursday. I think they got sour on Friday and Saturday. I'm ready for more and we will collect sap and sell (Jericho) and collect sap and boil (Westford) until they don't want sap or we can't make syrup. Hoping that when we turn pump on in Jericho we still are pulling above 28".

[Happy Hill Maple Farms]

First time posting on the trader. I've been reading about all your seasons through out the year and i've very much enjoyed reading everyone's posts and staying up to date with the weather/sap runs around the state. We're still going here in Lyndonville/Sheffield Heights area. Sap got very cloudy Saturday with 3 days straight in the 50s/60s but we survived the warm up with no sour taste. Buds still appear to be very tight. We're at 6000 gallons for the season on 21,000 taps, hoping to hit our goal of 8500 which seems very realistic at this point. Good luck to everyone still in the game!

[spud]

Talking to sugar makers in my area and they are all excited for the warm days to come. We know we will get sap but for how long? The 10 day forecast looks great for my area. The only maple trees that have swollen buds is the very large trees right behind my house. The rest of my woods consist of smaller hard maple and they are showing no buds at all. Is there a reason why the big trees bud first? With this freeze could sugar once again increase for a while? Would it be possible for the quality of syrup to get better again? I am ready and waiting for whatever the trees want to spit out. Good luck everyone.

Spud

[ryebrye]

It's trickling in at my place this afternoon - it is 38°F but with some wind and not a lot of sun. The sap that is coming in is mostly stuff that has been sitting frozen in the tubing (it's pretty cloudy).

I have a feeling it will take it a while to thaw out and start running.

[wiam]

Same here ryebrye. I think my single vertical has dumped twice all day. lol

[ryebrye]

Same here ryebrye. I think my single vertical has dumped twice all day. lol

It's like February behavior all over again! (Tomorrow it will run for sure) I think it's supposed to warm sightly overnight so I'm leaving my pump on in case the trees wake up and dump sap in the middle of the night

[PARKER MAPLE]

It's like February behavior all over again! (Tomorrow it will run for sure) I think it's supposed to warm sightly overnight so I'm leaving my pump on in case the trees wake up and dump sap in the middle of the night

Same here, pumps stay on until next freeze
Pm

[blissville maples]

It's not just about wasting time....for many of us it is about making a quality product we can stand behind. When you sell it direct to the customer, they know who to come find if it isn't what they expected. If you just put syrup in barrels you may not think as much about the final consumer of the syrup and what they think of it, you may just see the paycheck you are going to get. Hence the desire to fill as many barrels as possible regardless of the quality or flavor.

Just because a producer is "small" doesn't mean they don't rely on the income. And just because packers are buying off syrup doesn't mean it should be made. There are lots of barrels of crap syrup sitting in warehouses that will likely never be used.


yes agreed we want a great tasting product, and you will always have that, however as the season changes the flavor/color does as well. id put my best in a taste test in comparison to yours anyday. thinking about the consumer?? like I said someone has to supply for ice cream, donuts, oatmeals, etc. THEY DONT USE FANCY. they want dark dark dark-commercial- it takes less to flavor their products. I would be very interested whereabouts all this crap syrup that is going unused you talk about is at??? honestly that isnt true, obviously you've never personally talked to Bruce Bascom. furthermore no one makes fancy and some amber then calls it quits, that's foolish. actually it wouldn't surprise me if some do-they in my book are called idiots, just like folks saying this year "ahh derr im not tapping there was no snow" well you morons don't tap and miss one of the best seasons ever-- sick of these pecimistic folks who think if theres not ten feet of snow theres no sap- haven't we learned its not what happens the off season its what happens during sugaring. don't get me wrong snow is good but not neccasary- I would have loved to see some but not going to not tap due to the fact

[blissville maples]

also these packers, like bascoms, are in it to make money they wouldn't be buying something that had no market

[wiam]

26 here. Froze for the night. Did not really thaw. We got a quick inch of snow. Should run tomorrow.

[PerryFamily]

I think there is definitely a market for Commercial syrup but I also think it might be a tougher market bulk buyers than say good quality syrup. By that I mean more work on their part, between blending and sales. I thought the price was around a dollar a pound for off tasting commercial? If so that tells me the bulk buyers are trying to discourage producers from making a pile of inferior syrup. My 2 cents

[tcross]

i got nothing yesterday. I think it would have ran a little if my laterals weren't froze solid! woke up to 34 this a.m at 530 with 3+" of snow... should run good today! i'll be boiling up tonight and tomorrow evening, then it's clean up on Saturday for me! the wife and I are building a house this summer, so it's time to get on top of that. it's been a great season so far! by the looks of my trees, I could and should go another week minimum... but I guess you gotta have priorities! a happy wife, being one of them!

[spud]

5 inches of snow this morning. Going to hit 52 degrees by noon. Pumps are on and ready to roll. Lets hope we all get a ton of good quality sap. Good luck everyone.

Spud

[ryebrye]

It's 50 degrees in hinesburg, still basically just a trickle. I'm in the banana belt so I would expect to thaw a little earlier than most.

The sap was running harder than this right up until it froze Saturday night - it's like they are still too frozen do do anything. I don't think my taps were showing signs of drying up before it froze Saturday night. I didn't get a chance to walk my woods this morning but I will later this afternoon if things still haven't picked up.

The taps are all CV2 spouts on 2-year old tubing... I ran my pump right up until the freeze saturday so sap wasn't just sitting around in the lines very long - maybe the taps have dried up, but if they have it's not for lack of trying on my part. I'll monitor it more throughout the day.

Is it running for anyone else?

[GeneralStark]

I haven't pulled my taps yet and at the moment it is running quite well just on gravity. I would not want to try boiling the sap, but it is running...

[wiam]

58 here in Barnet. Mine are only at a trickle. I think it is just from the 4 day freeze.

[GiddingsHill]

It has picked up here. I dumped the few hundred gallons I got yesterday and this morning, but now It's running clearer so I've closed the valves. Testing 1.7, no smell. I cleaned the releaser and our single booster yesterday early morning and that did smell, it was not fun. Good luck all!

[DoubleBrookMaple]

It has picked up here. I dumped the few hundred gallons I got yesterday and this morning, but now It's running clearer so I've closed the valves. Testing 1.7, no smell. I cleaned the releaser and our single booster yesterday early morning and that did smell, it was not fun. Good luck all!Similar situation here. I opened my releaser and cleaned during the cold spell. It was quite bad. My sap did not run at all yesterday, and through the night, and only started late morning when temperature reached 47. First sap was quite cloudy, but running much clearer, and with moderate flow now at 1.4%. I switched tanks, and will probably dump the 75 gallons of cloudy sap, which was a line flush I think.

[ryebrye]

It's starting to pick up a bit in Hinesburg - It was about 3 hours to the first time my releaser dumped, then 45 minutes, then 30 minutes, most recent one was 25 minutes... When it runs really hard it will dump about every 2 minutes - so the flow rate is about 20 times less than max flow rate, but it's ramping up.

(If anyone cares about seeing how the sap is running in hinesburg, I have my releaser posting messages on twitter so I can watch it from work - https://twitter.com/ryebryesreleasr the couple things that happened earlier this morning before the 3 hour delay were me cleaning it out and testing it before leaving it for the day)

[spud]

Running 500 GPH here at the border. Sap is clearing up after a few hours of running. Tanks are cleaned again and the valves are closed. It's time to get back to sugaring. Should run all night and then tomorrow.

Spud

[woodchuck]

I expected more here in Jonesville. The pumps started at 11:00 and I have about 100 gallons. I dumped the first 50 but it looks clearer now. Anytime I’m dumping the releaser in 10 minutes or less is great. Seems to be about 25-35 minutes at this point. Im thinking I’ll let it run all night and see if the trees are just slow to thaw. The ground is very dry here and I don’t think that helps. My 2¢

[blissville maples]

very slow, turned pumps off, 2200 taps 200 gals 6 hrs. I guess when you hit april, and the ground has hardened up below, as well as chemical changes in the tree from recent 70's for 3 days its game over. I guess could have saved up for a couple days but if it didn't do much today then I cant see it getting any better!!

[GeneralStark]

Or your tapholes just dried up. I'm still getting an impressive amount of sap on gravity...tempting but not going to do it.

For anyone still interested I did start a thread on making buddy syrup.

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?28460-The-Intentional-Production-of-Off-Flavored-Syrup

[ryebrye]

The rate of sap flow is still increasing here. I think the tapholes may be drying up a bit, but the rate of sap increasing after the temperature drops and the sun goes down seems like a lot of what was holding it back was the trees being frozen solid and not yielding much sap. (maybe the frozen parts of the trees would act like ice packs inside the trees keeping the rest of the sap cooler - so it seems like it could take a while to thaw out from those couple of days)

The sap is running about twice as fast now (8pm) as it was today around 3pm - I dumped all that was in my tank this evening and washed my tank out to clean out the cloudy and scaley stuff that came in. The sap is clearer now.

After the kids are in bed, I'll test boil some of it in a sauce pan to see if it's worth it to keep going.

Sugar content was lower for me - I hadn't been below 2% at all this season and this stuff was 1.7 - 1.8% - a bit of that is rain water diluting it but not much of it.

If this is the end, it's been an interesting season to say the least. Higher elevations should have some more legs left in their season I would imagine.

[woodchuck]

OK, so scratch my last post. The idea was to run the pumps all night and finally finishing a good book. Beer opened, butt in recliner, book in hand...................and the wind starts to howl like a train. I check my vacuum and my usual 24” is running 15”. Headlamp and rain gear on I start closing valves until I find the culprit. Maple top took out a lateral line. I had to shorten the run by one tree but now back to my book and slightly warm beer. ;)

[tcross]

sap ran decent over night. boiled the 125 galls I got yesterday last night and made some delicious DR. I thought about untapping my red maples cuz the buds are very very swollen and some popped open... however my last boil will be tonight, so I decided to leave them and hope for the best! the best happened... sugar content was right 1.9% and crystal clear. got another 75 gallons between 9 p.m and 530 a.m. after tonight i'll be done, but the sugar maples aren't even budded yet... anyone in my area has another solid week to go with the forecast! it's been a record year for me! good luck to everyone still going!

[spud]

Sap ran a bit all night and I have now gotten 6500 gallons since yesterday. It's snowing hard right now but sap is still coming in. Looks like it will continue to trickle in at 300 GPH till about 7-8 tonight. Sap is pretty clear and I can see the bottom of my 4250 tank when its full.

Spud

[rhwells2003]

I haven't heard much from other sap suckers in my area, but I know my trees don't show any signs of letting up yet. My reds are swollen, but my sugars don't show any signs of buds. I dumped the little bit of sap I got Wednesday afternoon to get rid of that cloudy sour stuff, but in the last 24 hours I got 1.2 gallons/tap, and eventhough it was 34 and snowing at the house this morning it was still running good and clear. The first bit yesterday was cloudy, but its cleared right up since. The guy that buys my sap is boiling tonight so we'll see what he makes. If its still good syrup, and with the extended forecast I don't see why we can't make it to the end of next week. I don't know my exact sap total this year, but I think I'm plus/minus 20gal/tap.

[ryebrye]

I dumped and washed my tank last night around 6pm. In 14 hours I've got 0.8 gallons per tap of clear sap sitting in it. I can see the bottom - which I couldn't before with the cloudy sap.

I did a test boil last night and there wasn't any bad smell in the steam. I got it all the way down to syrup (and probably past syrup, since it was such a small amount on my kitchen stove) - the 1 teaspoon or so of syrup I ended up making didn't have any off flavor.

It's running about 10 minutes between releases right now and overnight it was doing about 15 minutes - so the rate has picked up this morning along with the snow. By the end of the day I should have a lot of sap - well over a gallon per tap - probably in the 1.5 gallon-per-tap range.

This makes me think that my trees were frozen and my tapholes haven't dried up.

[DrTimPerkins]

We tossed out all the crappy sap (mostly ice) in the tanks yesterday morning, and pressure washed everything, then let the incoming sap that had soured in the lines go down the drain for a while until it cleared up. Things started very slowly because the trees had been in the deep freeze for several days and were solidly frozen to the core, so it took a good long time for them to come up to temperature where they would run. It started to pick up by late-afternoon to early-evening, and then ran all night. This morning Brian and Wade test boiled sap from each of our two woods to see if it was buddy....fortunately it wasn't, so we're back in the syrup-making business. We ended up with about 3,700 gal of clear sap off of our 4,300 taps. Sugar has dropped off some to about 1.5-1.6 Brix.

Brian had boiled out the rig (total 39 gal syrup) to avoid things going ropey, so he had to sweeten the pans again today. Ended up with about 20 gal of DR syrup (plus what is now in the pans again). Flavor is still good. Total for the season in the drum is now up to 2,314 gal, or 0.54 gal/tap.

Looks like we've got another weekend off (too cold to run), but looking like a great week coming up.

[spud]

Sap is still running at 6:00 tonight. Since yesterday afternoon I got 9000 gallons so far. Never ran hard today but it ran some. My upper woods is not running great. I think my trees are still to cold. Monday they should warm up and give me a bunch. Sap testing at just 1.3% now. Next week should be fun.

Spud

[WestfordSugarworks]

A few more sugarmakers in my area began making nasty stuff and called it quits yesterday and the day before. We are still making good syrup. Haven't dumped sap all season. Fixed our 3'' dry 2'' wet lines this morning using an electrofusion coupling at our big sugarbush. In this warmth they had almost completely collapsed. We should have fixed it sooner. Hoping for another week of good syrup.

[PARKER MAPLE]

We had our last boil today. 20min from the end things started to have an off smell and slightly off taste. So we called it a season. A very good one at that for us as well. Drained and rinsed the pans now soaking them. RO was washed and rinsed, might do the acid wash in morning or just buy new membranes next year not sure yet. Pulling taps tomorrow and washing as we go. Back pack sprayers and wash solution will get us started. Time to go on vacation😬

[sugartree310]

Turned on us last night , sap was still running good and clear but stunk the sugar house up pretty bad and after we made about 10 gallons of very ropey looking syrup we shut down and dumped everything else , time to clean up and look forward to next year .

[DoubleBrookMaple]

I started pulling taps yesterday, despite my earlier pledge to continue "until I could not stand the taste". My last boil the day before was unfavorable. Not terrible to me, but definitely not to be bottled. I hated to quit, but did it spontaneously after walking out to pull my reds taps. There were many sugars still looked good, but seeing a few so swelled discouraged me.
Near triple my last years numbers anyway with my expanded taps, and not possible without my home built RO that did a wonderful job. After I finish what is left in my pan I will have broken the 150 gallon mark!
Until next year....

[spud]

Looks like the sap will start running early afternoon and then run all night. It is snowing now but should be turning to rain soon. People in the area at elevations of about 600 feet or less are done. I am hoping to make it to the weekend before the syrup starts tasting a little nasty. My property is covered in snow right now but should all be melted by tonight. I think my big maples will thaw out by tomorrow and really start pouring out the sap. Good luck to all that are sticking it out.

Spud

[tcross]

pulled the plug Friday night! decided not to take off my red maples because Friday was the last boil regardless... proved to be a dumnb mistake. syrup started getting a very slight off flavor even though my sap tasted fine! it was a good year. got a good jump on clean up over the weekend! good luck to those still in it!

[MJPJ Sugars]

Still have a few taps running strong and clear -- while buckets hanging adjacent in the same tree are dry -- guess that means the taps ran dry? Nary a bud on the big sugar maples here in Georgia; I think we'll give it one more day before closing-up the back yard.

It's been AMAZING reading and learning from the folks on this forum. Really cool that professionals take the time to share with the community here.

Thanks!!

JQ


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[abbott]

Still have a few taps running strong and clear -- while buckets hanging adjacent in the same tree are dry -- guess that means the taps ran dry?

Yes, they have probably run dry due to the bacteria growth in the tap hole. You could experiment by pulling a tap and drilling the hole 1/8th inch deeper to see what happens.

Search "reaming" in this site to read up on the pros and cons.

[bairdswift]

We are still giving it s try over here in west Fairlee. Boiled on Sunday. The first of the syrup was the week old sweets. Pushed that out with some syrup that had a little off taste.through it into a barrel as a mix. Going to give it another shot and see if we can't make another 50 or so gallons for some beer money and call it good. Saps running ok. 1/2 a gal per tap today and should run into tomorrow

[spud]

Sap picked up over the night and my tanks are full. Yesterday the sap was pretty cloudy but it is clearing up now. Hoping to keep the season alive to the weekend. What are others getting for price per pound on there good stuff? Organic and non Organic? I had a friend say HighLand was paying $2.20LB for good stuff.

Spud

[rhwells2003]

Sap picked up over the night and my tanks are full.

yyeeaahh I checked my tanks at 9 last night, they were a little over half full but sap was just trickling in. I check them this morning, tanks are overflowing and sap is pouring in. It really turned on over night. Not the best looking sap, but doesn't have any sort of bad smell to it. I'll keep sucking it till the guy that boils it pulls the plug. I'm guessing another day or two

[spud]

Sap ran ok today and it is nice and clear. Being told it is making ok tasting syrup. Sugar is 1.4% today which is up from yesterday. Hoping to go till Sunday.

Spud