Tapped in Hopkinton 2014

[SeanD]

I went out at 11 a.m. when it hit 34, anticipating a nice 40 degree afternoon. Well the clouds moved in and that was as high as it got. Then the heavy snow moved in. Then the frozen rain.

I tapped anyway because I was already out there. I did the 62 on tubing and stopped. Every hole was bone dry except for a couple (and I mean 2) on the east side that got a little wet - if you looked at it in just the right light.

I'm holding off on buckets until I see the tubing running.

Oy! Enough with the snow and cold already!

Sean

[foursapsyrup1]

Hope you have a great year. Big Sap by Saturday - I hope.

[Jebediah]

Best wishes for a great season! Big thaw on the horizon...

[Biz]

I tapped 1 tree on Monday, a red maple, just for fun. Thinking I'll wait a couple more weeks for the "real" tapping season since I have all buckets. Probably will miss 3-4 good running days this week, but it's looking like some great weather in March-April!

Dave

[SeanD]

Thanks, all.

38 and drizzling was the best it did today. I'm up to about 60 gallons from about 70 taps so far. The vast majority of that is from yesterday and last night. Nothing is really running today. Tomorrow should be better.

I've been watching the 10-day forecast. Starting Monday, the deep freeze will be here through next weekend. On Wednesday, there's even a chance of sn-...sn-...sn-. Ah, I can't even say it. This reminds me of a January thaw followed by the last week of Jan going into Feb, not March!

I'm holding off on the rest of my buckets for the next warm up.

Sean

[NedL]

I got my 30 taps in on Thursday afternoon. Friday some ran and then got a good run on Sat. Looks like sugar content is pretty good for me. I got just over 3/4 of a gallon of syrup from about 34 gallons of sap. Looks like it's shutting down for a couple of weeks, now.

[SeanD]

I was a little bummed that things didn't really get going today. I had it in my head all week that Friday was the day. It was so sunny so early this morning that I thought this is it, FINALLY. Then I looked at the thermometer. It was 7! I almost lost it.

The forecast for the next ten days looks great, though. No let downs this time. I'll get the rest of my buckets out tomorrow.

Let's get this party started!

Sean

[SeanD]

Things are still putting along here. No epic run to speak of this weekend. It's hard to get totals with more of my taps on tubing, but I'd say I've only collected about 90-100 gallons since this thaw began on Friday. I put more buckets out anticipating a run this weekend, so I'm up to about 85 now. There's one area that's always late getting going, so I'll probably get those in next weekend and hit the 100 tap mark.

Let's hope we all have a good week.

Sean

[SeanD]

I got a good boil in tonight and made 2.75 gallons. I think I have the kinks worked out with the pump, head tank and preheater - at least enough that I could relax a little bit. It's hard to measure the amount if sap I'm getting and putting into the evaporator now.

One barrel still has a huge, 30 to 40 gallon block of ice in it. I was able to push my hose down along the side of it and get under it. The sap I was getting out of that was 4%! The downside, though was that when I pumped all the sap out, that giant block of ice sat on my foot valve and I couldn't get it out. Eventually it gave and I have half of a foot valve now. Oh well, I got 4% sap!

Sean

[SeanD]

Saturday, I put some more taps out and hit the 100 mark. I didn't have a lot of sap to boil today, but what I had was very sweet. I was able to make just under 5 gallons from about 140 gallons of sap.

Sean

[Four labs farm]

That's a good sweet boil right there. I averaged about 3.50% sugar content from 112 taps on sugar maples only this year. A lot more finished syrup for the gallons boiled off. I was getting worried about the season but it's getting a late start. Hope this week is good. Going to put a few more taps out in my new found sugar bush and can't thank the owner enough.

[SeanD]

It's been a good flow for the last couple of days, but not up to 1 gpt. I'm saving up all of my sap so that I have plenty to boil for Mass Maple Weekend. Next week looks pretty good but the last days of March do not. I hope a cold snap is right behind the warm up on the way.

Sean

[SeanD]

Best run of the season today. Things got off to a slow start yesterday, but it ran through the night. Things are still running pretty well into this evening. Hopefully, the deep freeze the trees have had this winter will be balanced out by a good long run. They revised the forecast upward today so the lows from here on out are mid-30's and higher.

I hope everyone is having fun with this last big run.

Sean

[SeanD]

Hit 32 the last 2 mornings and had strong flows both days. I really didn't expect much, but the trees really responded. I picked up about 60 gallons each day. Boiling tonight and what's left tomorrow night. I'm not sure the sap will keep in this heat. Another frost is forecast for Thursday night. Maybe we're not done, here.

Sean

[foursapssyrup]

glad to hear you are still getting sap. we had a good run mon-tue, but nothing really to speak of since. our trees may have called it quits.

[SeanD]

We didn't get the freeze they had predicted for Thursday night. Clouds moved in late and held temps in the upper 30s. I'm going to hold on a little longer. There's another shot at a frost tonight and another one Wednesday night.

It has been a really slow season, but the last couple of runs have made my syrup numbers more respectable. Nothing like last year, but nothing will compete with last year. The other upside to this weird season is I'm not too burned out. Usually, by this time I'm ready to call it quits, but I guess there have been so many breaks in the season that it hasn't been too bad.

Good luck down there.

Sean

[foursapssyrup]

did you get a run on sunday? we pulled all our taps and cleaned up everything, but it was running decent. just have the last of the sweet in the pans to boil down on the turkey fryer.

[WESTMAPLES]

hope you all had a good year, im still pulling in good clean sap from my coldest bush ( north face of a mountain) my other bush will still run when I turn the vac pump on but the sap is buddie for sure, check valve taps helped me extend my season for sure. along with adding vacuum for production. hope next year is more productive tho , im searching for an ro and preheater for next season. good luck to all and`keep it pumpin till the buddie end`

[SeanD]

did you get a run on sunday? we pulled all our taps and cleaned up everything, but it was running decent. just have the last of the sweet in the pans to boil down on the turkey fryer.

Yes, I picked up 40 gallons! I dumped a couple of nasty buckets but I figured I'd give the rest a try. Overall, it's really cloudy but 2.5% on the nose. I just finished getting it into the evaporator and squeezed out another gallon of syrup. It tastes good on a quick sample, but I'll check it again before I bottle to make sure it's good.

There's a real good frost coming Wednesday. Some trees are done, but my big ones are still putting out. If I can get another 40 gallons of sap, I'll be happy. I'm going to keep each draw separate from this point on so I can keep anything buddy away from the rest of the good stuff.

This is turning out to be a pretty respectable season up here. What did you guys end up with?

Sean

[Maplesedge]

I ended up with 2.5 gal. Good enough for me. A guy I work with has 800 taps in Paxton, mostly tubing, pumps, check valves, the whole nine yards, and he's up to 500 gal made and still going. Says the stuff he's making now is a dark sweet B that people like for cooking, real strong, but not buddy.

[Biz]

I had a good run Sunday and boiled Sun-Mon. Most of my buckets on red maples (about 15 out of 80) have been pulled down but the sugar maples were still running good as of Sunday and sugar content still around 2.5%. Will probably get 1 more run in this Thursday then pulling buckets this weekend. Not done canning up but will probably end up with 10-12 gallons, averaging a little over a pint per tap, second worst yield in 18 years. I did tap some reds for the first time this year which were less than stellar performers, about so this pulled down my average but still isn't great. Had many days where it wan't quite warm enough to run, now it's not quite cold enough to freeze.

[SeanD]

I had my last boil and drained the pans last Thursday 4/10. From time to time, there was just the slightest hint of off-smell to the boil until the very end when the last couple of gallons of sap gave off the worst smell I ever had in the sugar house. It was like rotten cheese and it wouldn't leave my nose for the rest of the night. I finished it off inside today and ended up with a gallon and a half of delicious B - no off-flavors.

In the end it was a very respectable season here. I ended up with just over 29 gallons off of 103 taps. I usually have a better average, but I can't complain at all considering at the end of March I had only made a little more than 18 gallons. I thought the season was a disaster then. Sap volume was way down, but luckily it was very sweet.

Clean up is going to be tough because the kids are full on into sports now. I'm glad April saved the season, but overlapping with baseball and soccer is tough.

Have a great off-season, everyone. I have expansion plans in the works already.

Sean