Tapping 2007

[tapper]

According to the 15 day forecast here in nw pa temps are perfect every day for sap!! The last 2 years I waited and ended up with short 2 week mediocre seasons and given the weather history so far this season hmmmmmm??? What to do?? My new 2 1/2 x 8 leader may get its first test boil with sap very shortly. I hung 6 buckets this afternoon and at the rate they are dripping they will be full tomorrow afternoon.

[Fred Henderson]

I go by what I did in years past. around the 5th of March I start getting and itchy throttle finger.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

There were quite a few people in New England who tapped around the first week of Jan last year and made syrup up until April. At the rate we are going, there sure would be a lot of syrup to be made NOW. :?

[Jim Brown]

Tapper; I had the same idea! This is perfect sap season.45 during the day and 25 and heavy frost each night!. My only problem is I have a date with the surgeon next Tuesday to schedule back surgery. I'm afriad I will have to wait till closer to Feb. But I for one don't think it is a crazy idea and iIm chomping at the bit to see what this new steamaway will do!
Good Luck
Jim

[tapper]

Jim,
I hope everything goes well with your surgery. I am facing the same problem . I have been hurting since thanksgiving and almost useless the last 2 weeks but feeling better the last 2 days. Going to the doc tomorrow hope it doesnt require surgery but after 20 yrs of suffering with it maybe its time to slow down and get something fixed? I put up 2 buckets mid January last year and dumped over 20 gal of sap off them by the end of the month. Then Feb and half of Mar were froze up solid it made for a very short season.

[Sugarmaker]

tapper,
You got my interest with the 45 hp cub. Would like to see a picture of that!
We tapped late Jan 30 years ago. Sure is sap like weather.
Chris

[tappin&sappin]

Guys... If we don't get a couple weeks of some really cold weather, is it going to hurt the sugarin season?

What if in Feb it still hasn't got cold, but temps are freezing at night and warm during day? Will the sap be better or worse?

Other than the type of maple tree, what makes a good sugar content :?:

Jake

[Fred Henderson]

The more freeze/thaw cycles that occur causes the sap to become sweeter. In other words sap moving up and down the tree.

[tappin&sappin]

Oh, I see. Thanks for the info Fred.

Jake

[Beth]

I tapped last year on March 6, and had a horrible season. Either it was too warm and my sap spoiled before I got home from work, or it didn't warm up enough, and my trees never thawed out until late in the day because I'm on the cold side of the hill. I shoulda tapped early like some did! I'm probably going to wish I tapped early again this year, but I've got too much repair work that I haven't gotten to, since I didn't expect this wacky weather again.

[Sugarmaker]

Lincoln's Birthday Feb 12 (also our son Adam's birthday ) or Valentines day has been a good time for us to tap in Northwest PA.

Have been known to jump the gun a little if the weather looks just right.

Since I have everything ready this year I may start a week early. Time and weather will tell.
I did get the tapper fired up today. Had to get a new gas cap and the gas was really bad, Smelled old. Put in some fresh gas and it fired right up. Had to hold myself back from drilling a hole in a maple.

Chris

[tapper]

The earliest I have tapped is Feb 3rd. That was in 1998 and around the same time in 99. They were both banner years! They were el nino years also. We will try to get half of my buckets out this wed. looks like 3 or 4 days of sap but after that getting cold. I have 6 reds tapped now and made 1 qt of them so far. Burned at least $20 in propane to do so tho. That is sick.

[Beth]

I looked at the Accu-Weather15-day forecast, and after a warmup this coming weekend, it's going to be real winter here for a while. It called for highs in the twenties, and lows in the teens or single digits for all next week. I'm waiting for an order anyway from Leader before I go up and start fixing/replacing/tweaking lines.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

This is exactly what it did in 2004 season and it turned out to be a tremendous season here with nearly all light and med syrup. Let's hope for the same. :D

[tapper]

Almost 2 months from the time I first thought of tapping and I finally tapped some today. Rough going in the woods though with 2 feet of snow on the ground didnt get much done. Hope to get most tapping done in the next few days.

[Dave Y]

Jon, Where are your snowshoes. I tapped over the week end on snowshoes and it was just like walking on bare ground

[PA mapler]

I finished tapping yesterday, and tried the snowshoes. They sunk in as far as my boots did, so I pitched them.

[tapper]

The trees I tap are spread out in 2 small ravines about 1/2 mile from home. Right now about the only way in there is with a log skidder but I have managed to break a limited trail with the utv. If I had a chauffer I would put on the snowshoes and just walk from tree to tree with no problem. They would have to be big snowshoes though I saw a guy cruising timber a week ago with snowshoes on and he was sinking all the way in. Looked like it would have been less work without them.

[PA mapler]

Looked like it would have been less work without them.
That's what I found out after the second tree. Walking along straight wasn't too bad, but when it came to dancing around each tree looking for good spots to tap it was a real pain.

Looks like our end-of-the-week run is fast disappearing. I just checked the long-range forecast and it's really starting to look ugly. Although I should check the AccuWeather site. Their forecasts always seem rosier.

[Dave Y]

I don't know what kind of shoes you folks were wearing but I had no trouble w/ apair of traditonal modified bear paws. I weigh 225 so I'm no little guy. If you are not used to wearing them they can be problematic to work in. The key to using them is learning how to walk in them before you try to work in them. As for the possible run later this week I have faith that it will be there. I was in the woods tonite and the trees were dipping and it was only 34deg. the weather is to be kinda ugly but I think the temps will be there. The tress are primed and ready to run all they need is for it to be a little warmer.

[PA mapler]

I used to use an old set of Bear Claws, but the leather bindings gave me conniptions. They'd get wet and loosed up, fall off, then you'd have to get 'em so tight they wouldn't bend right. I finally got a pair of Alaskan Outfitter shoes thru Cabelas, and they are pretty slick. But, I've used them alot for work over the years, land surveying, and have developed a healthy dislike for snowshoeing in general, especially on steep hills.

Think we'll get a run the end of the week? I sure hope so. My trees are on a north slope, so I miss some runs that are borderline as far as temps.

[Dave Y]

Beth,
Leather bindings can be problematic if they get wet. I have a pair of alaskan trail shoes (tradional) that are 58" long they have leather bindings. I keep them oiled up with mink oil. I try to shelac the shoes once a year also. I would not try to tap in them though. But they are great for beaver trapping, deer hunting, and covering long distances in open terrain. The mod. bear paws I have have nylon bindings and work very well wet or dry. One important factor I have found out over the years is wear a good leather boot on your snowshes.

Yes I think we will get a run I was in the woods last nite and I couldn't beleive the trees were running. I think the low pressure sytem will assist the 40deg day.

[tapper]

Low pressure and closer to the equater, the trees here the northern mountains of PA havnt give up one drop yet.

[Dave Y]

Jon,
you will have to move on to the plateau. trees are running, not hard though. Hope to boil on Sat. we will see.

[PA mapler]

Dave, did you have to buy the nylon bindings separate? If I remember right, I looked into new bindings for my Bear Claws, and they were nearly as expensive as new shoes. So my Bear Claws are hanging on the wall in the sugar shack looking pretty. I saw on the news recently that snowshoeing was the latest trend in yuppie fitness. Does that make us yuppies? :)

I was just up on the hill tightening some fittings, and I don't think we're going to get any run today. The snow was still hanging in the trees from last night's flurries. Maybe tomorrow with that storm coming will get things flowing.

[Dave Y]

Beth
The nylon bindings came with the shoes when i bought them in 92 .they do work well for me. Yea I know the yuppies are in to shoeing. But there ins no way Im a yuppie. Im not young and the only thing im upwardly mobile in is the woods.
I am going to make a school van run here in a few minitues, after words I am going to check the trees that were running yesterday. We have a heat wave on down here it is 36 degs.

[Fred Henderson]

My Alaskan (60") had leather binding so when they wore out I put the rubber ones on that you just pull up over your boot heel. Man are they slick.

[PA mapler]

Fred, I've seen those but never tried them. My bindings have this ratchet-system going, and I can snug them up great on any kind of boot I've tried. I haven't once walked out of these bindings.

It never got above freezing here today. I have two buckets by the sugar shack that still have a half gallon of frozen sap from the little thaw last week. I don't have the heart to dump it out yet. Dave, send some of that heat up here!

[Fred Henderson]

The rubber bindings are self sungging all the time. A friend told me a few ago how to make them from an old inner tube but I never did.. I since found the already made ones. I was out on they last Sunday just for a stroll.

[tapper]

Beth,

Bradford is many times the coldest spot in the country and you got some sap last week? I am due west of you just across the resevoir and there has been not one drop here since early January. As far as snowshoes go I had more trouble staying dry than I did trudging thru the 24" and sometime 30" snow. I found some gators laying around today stayed bone dry!

[Splashdam]

No sap running in Port Allegany either.

[Dave Y]

I went out and checked buckets tonite and out of over 600 there maybe a hundred gal in the woods not enough to collect yet. some had a few drops and a few had a gallon most had between a pint and a quart. If the temps get up in the morrow as predicted I should have enough to gather on friday.
Will hopfully get enough to sugar the pans.

[tapper]

Dave,
Looks like by late Friday you will be well on your way! Saturday morning you will be polluting the little town of Marienville with the sweet steam of maple. Keep me posted how it goes for you. If nothing happens here and you cook Saturday I may ride there to see you?

[PA mapler]

Jon, we had a thaw last Wed & Thurs (or thereabouts) and it actually ran alittle. You must really be a in cold spot if you didn't even get that! I was tapping that first day, and maybe half the trees were oozing on the sunny side. Hasn't broken 32 since. We have knee-deep snow here, still fairly fluffy stuff, sounds like you have a little more.

Splashdam, how much snow do you have in Port? We have a 90 acre parcel between you and Roulette to finish surveying, we were going to do it today and wimped out.

[Dave Y]

Jon, I will keep you posted on the sap flow. If I boil sat. and you have nothing to do come on down. I get a couple cases of straubs and we can boil sap eat venison and have a good time. Hell I'll even let you fire the evaporator!

[tapper]

COOOLLLLLLLL I cant wait!

[emericksmaple]

We have sap flowing in southern Somerset County. Tonight is the 3rd night in a row that we have boiled. We only have 2500 tapped cause I sold one of the set up to another fellow. Just toooo much to handle when 2 of us are working full time. Looks like we should have sap thurs and friday too. As of tonight we have 87 gal of fancy++++ made. Happy sapping!!

[Dave Y]

emmricksmaple,
Sounds like you folks got the ball rolling down in somerset co. Has henry tapped yet?
Hey Beth and Jon it's 37degs here in the tropics of western pa and it only 9:30 am. looks like we might get things started. That is if the wind doesn't shut it down first.

[Jim Brown]

Finished our last 50 yesterday got 700 in now.All we have to do is hang the 40 buckets in my daughters yard and we are READY !
BRING IT ON!

[Dave Y]

The temps got to 47degs today. However thing did not run well. The red are ok, and the sugars are barely dripping.

[tapper]

HMMMMM? Hard maple froze hard soft maple froze soft. I just made that up but might be something to it? It was late this afternoon before any of the trees here showed any moisture and very little at that.

[Dave Y]

It Is my understanding that Red maple will tend to run earlier than hard maple.
This seems to be holding true as most of the sap I have in the woods is on soft maple.

[Sugarmaker]

Matt, (Emmericks Maple)
If I had the 87 gallons I would think we were about done for the year. Dave Y, Will I be able to see the steam from Albion if I look south east?
Yesterday I had some local boys help me and we hung 150 road side buckets. Today Cheryl and I gathered what were there was from all the approx 400 taps and ended up with 175 gallons of sap that had a little brown color in the buckets from the rain. The sap in the totes was clear as a bell and balanced out the sap in the buckets. Some of the sap had been in the totes for several days but the temps have been cool so it was in good shape.
The sap tested 3 percent, I have heard that high sugar content may be a indicator of low sap volume??
We boiled this starting at 5:45 and shut down the fire at 8:00 we actually took off about 3/4 gallon of fancy syrup.

I think the diverter tubes that I added in the flue pan helped speed the process by directing the sap as designed.
So we are ready to go if we get any type of a run on Friday. Looks like weather will turn colder again and may limit the runs next week.:(

The remote pumping system had its debut and worked OK but I need to find a better quality hose ( -1/4 I.D ) The cheap hose I have wants to kink.

I do have another 50 taps that I may put on tubing if I get a chance this weekend.
:D Hope Everyone is having fun.:D I know the snow is deep out there and though going in some areas. Like Linesville!;)

Regards,
Chris

[PA mapler]

Jon, I think we need to move south! I've got about 15 gallons of sap so far today, just checked when I got back from bowling, and lucky to get that. The temp never got over 37 on the back patio here today, and my furthest trees are 300 feet higher in elevation. Supposed to be snow flurries tomorrow, so I doubt I'll get enough to boil.

Dave, hard to believe Marienville was that much warmer today! What elevation are you at?

[tapper]

Beth,

I have entertained the thought of moving south for many years. Far enough there would be no maple trees though. How did the bowling go? Sometimes bowling is as frustrating as waiting for sap! My place is at a little over 2000' and i have 40 degrees here at 6:52 am. The city of Warren is almost 1000' lower than me and their temps were 5 or 6 degrees higher than my place yesterday. I havnt checked buckets yet today but late yesterday there were just a few drops in some of the buckets.

[Jim Brown]

Cold wind in the tree tops today only ran alittle even on vac!
Jim

[Dave Y]

Sugarmaker,
I checked a couple of buckets in the yard at 6am and if that is any indication i should be boiling tomorrow. I am going to take ahalf day off today to collect.The steam should be rising to the SE of you about 7 am tomorrow.

Beth , we are around 1500ft out on the edge of the plateau. We don't get much lake weather unless it blows real hard. remember yhis weater is coming out of the south.

[tappin&sappin]

All is relatively quite in Cambridge Springs too. I have gathered 24 gallons in the last two nights from 26 taps behind my house. The 36 taps I have up the road on top of the hill are wet, but not running. It is REALLY windy up there... Maybe I should hang more buckets?

I was hoping to get enough to boil some this weekend, but if it doesn't run much today, I will be out of luck. But what to do w/ the sap I've collected???

Sugarmaker, got your message last night. I didn't get home until 6:00 and still had to check my buckets. I seldom boil during the week, so maybe I'll get up there the next time you boil, especially if you have more sap to work with. Thanks for the invite anyways. Believe it or not I do want to get up to your place!

[PA mapler]

There was actually about 40 gallons of sap in the tank this morning, and it's still drizzling in a little, but that's barely enough really to fill the pans and get it up to a boil. Since the forecast is for cold all next week, I really don't want to have to worry about ice in the pans. At least I got my lines flushed out!

Jon- you're right about the bowling! My goal anymore is to just break 100 each game. It doesn't always work that way. So we pass the time with a few beers and watch this one stud-muffin on the men's league! :)

I think our house is just above 1600', and the taps go up to almost 2000 feet. We're right on the edge of the lake-weather, but don't get hit too badly usually.

[Dave Y]

just got in from unloading sap got aroun 200 off of 400. will go back in the morning an collect the rest. Them dam IPL spouts cost me better than half my sap on 100 buckets. I pulled them and retapped and put in 7/16 spiles maybe I can salvage some thing. Hope to light a fire by noon will probably have just enough to sugar the pans. After Wed. it looks like the dam might break.

[PA mapler]

So is everyone boiling tonight except me? maybe I should stick with bowling!

I got about 60 gallons of sap altogether. It got really nice and warm FAST today, so nice that I took TWO walks up the pipeline, looking for leaks in vain! Dang thing just slowly drizzled sap all day.

And I tested the sap with my hydrometer, and it read 1.5%. Good Lord that's really BAD. Hope it's wrong. Maybe I read it wrong. . .

It's supposed to get cold again, maybe until Wednesday. That 60 gallons should be OK? I have it in a covered SS insulated milk tank.

[tapper]

Beth,

I think it will keep ok? The only other concern is if it would freeze solid on you in your tank then what? But, with a 2x6 I would be tempted to boil it.

[Sugarmaker]

Beth,
Yes with a 2 x 6 I might boil it in get as much water off, then drain into buckets so it doesn't freeze in the pans during this next cold spell. But if you done boil put it into a container that will be OK if it does freeze.


It doesn't look like it will run today the wild is howling and the temp is below freezing. Glad we gathered everything yesterday afternoon. and have it in the evaporator. I also may drain the evaporator just in case or add a heater in the arch to avoid freezing the pans..
We gathered another 175 gallons of sap Friday and it tested 2.6%. Cheryl and our grandson Mike (12) helped gather. I think the gathering time has been reduced with 16 totes as pick up stations vs 200 buckets to service. It took us about 2 hours to gather 400 taps and the road trip is about 20 miles.

Jim and Chase (Father and Son) came over and visited while we boiled it in last night. I may head over to their place to watch Jim boil this P.M.

We did finish off 5 gallons of syrup form the two runs and have another 3 or 4 gal WIP in the evaporator. It graded from Fancy to a very good medium. Taste seemed good to Jim and Chase. (I like to have the first place winners from local fairs judge my syrup;) )

I got the stiffer tubing yesterday to try on some tree to tree laterals and there is a world of difference in the stiffness of the tubing. (30P is stiff compared to Memory Flex much softer) I will try to get some tree to tree laterals replaced with the 30P. We still had 2 places the MFlex failed (Pulled off the fittings). Need to get this bullet proof before we get the "big runs".

Hope all maple syrup producers are having a blast. Its a lot of work but quite satisfying :)

Sugarmaker

[PA mapler]

Mother Nature made up my mind for me! I got back from a funeral at about 1:00pm, and went to check the tank to see if the sap was freezing up yet, and darned if the sap wasn't running! It's 35 degrees on the back patio, with snow flurries, and the sap is running twice as fast today as it was yesterday! Go figure. I must have about 150 gallons so far, and it's still flowing great, so I'll probably boil first thing tomorrow. Unless I get itchy and start tonight.

[Jim Brown]

Well we 'sweetned the pans' Got 175 gallons to start. Got GOOD COLOR in the finish pans and ran out of sap.

Chris.FYI: that steamaway was worth the money. 175gallons and had to pull the fire out in 3 hours! ran out of sap

Thanks
Jim

[pennslytucky]

i think ill be puttin my taps in on wednesday. hope it runs well so we can light the fire friday night...

glad to hear you guys are up and runnin...

[PA mapler]

Had a tough morning. Had to use a blow dryer to get the connection at the tank thawed, then somewhere it froze up again in the 100' line to the sugar shack after boiling an hour. It's 22 degrees, and very windy, and it took me while to get a good boil going. Must be the fresh sap sat in the line too long, and the line built up with ice inside. Didn't help the sap was only barely 34 degrees anyway. Bummer! I was half expecting that to happen, and just about didn't boil today. darn it's cold out.

At least I didn't burn the sugar shack down!:rolleyes:

[Sugarmaker]

Beth,
Sounds about like making maple syrup problems to me.

Tubing was down on Sat and had to go repair it , that's when I found that it was running again. So I gathered again and boiled that in. Of course prior to that I had just drained the evaporator and cleaned up everything: not expecting a run.:o

We boiled till 10:30 Sat night then I jumped in the car and went to Jim and Chase's and watched them boil till about 1:00 in the morning.

Was glad we made 10 gallons of syrup since last Thursday but just about had to go out a squeeze the trees to get that. It took a lot of running around and getting ready and then clean up each day.

Jim Brown,
sounds like your start up on the new steam away went well! Great.

We are starting to think about the Maple Taste and Tour on March 17 and 18 ( hope we can make some more syrup prior to that). Looking forward to all the folks that visit.

Talked to Scott Durfee tonight they made some syrup on their 1/2 pint and are ready to can it.

Sugarmaker

[tapper]

Still no sap to speak of here. Maybe 1 quart in a few of the buckets I have out. Some of my best trees are in a really rugged stream bottom and there is so much snow I still cant get in there.

[tappin&sappin]

After much debate, I finally decided to fire the evap up for the first time on Saturday. Had 50 gallons to start with, takes about 20 to flood the pans and I think I have about 5 gallons left in the holding tank. So I guess I boiled off around 25 gallons and it didn't seem to take very long. Got it going nice around 1:00 and had to quit firing it shortly after 2:00. Finally raked all the coals out around 3:00.

So now the pans are full of sap and I have no easy way of draining it all. My back flue pans don't have a drain. Is it going to hurt anything leaving it in there? I put a heat lamp in the firebox and it is keeping everything thawed. Doesn't look like anything is going to happen until the end of the week.

I'm still not 100% sold on the idea of my pans being completely level. The syrup pan is slightly warped, so it's tough getting a good measurement off of the sap level.

Oh yeah, I had made a small hole in the roof of the building I'm boiling in. Apparently, it's not big enough because it got really "foggy" in there!

Checked my buckets yesterday afternoon and they all have some frozen sap in them, hope thats okay...

[tapper]

T&S,

I had a leader 2x6 for many years. I left it to freeze every year ,it had no drain either. I made sure there was a good concentration of sugar in the pans though. Its almost like anti-freeze then and it never froze very hard even when it sat for a few weeks. I also made sure what was left in the pans had a good boil on it before shutting down after a run just in case it didnt freeze very soon before the next run.

[PA mapler]

I was able to drain everything out of my 2x6 into 5-gallon buckets, and still have maybe 70 gallons left in the tank (and a few frozen gallons in the pipe!). Is it true that the ice that forms in sap will be mostly water? There's gotta be a point when the sap will freeze too. I was just wondering if I should throw out the ice in my 5-gallon buckets when I am ready to boil next, or let it thaw out and dump it back in.

[tappin&sappin]

Tapper... Thanks for the info. I'm not sure if I should let it freeze or keep the light in there so it stays thawed out. If it's warm enough not to freeze, I would think bacteria could grow. But I'm not sure I want to let it freeze and risk injury to the pans. Hmmm, decisions.

PA mapler... When I first started making syrup (3 yrs ago), I would keep all my sap in 5 gal buckets and put them in a big chest freezer. The next day I would toss the ice that had formed out of the buckets. This worked really well, and saved me a lot of boiling. I'm sure that some sugar gets discarded, but when you are only boiling at about 3-5gph, it's worth it. If I were you, I'd leave the ice in the buckets until you are going to boil again to keep your sap really cold. Then I would pitch the ice right before the next warm up.

[tapper]

Beth,

I always left the ice in my buckets till it melted then boiled it all. I'm sure when sap freezes it captures some sugar in the ice. With this weather though I'm not sure the ice will ever melt?

T&S,

Better be safe than sorry and leave that light in there! If you had a good boil on that last bit of sap you probably dont need to worry too much about bacteria.

[PA mapler]

Hi Jon, that's what I'll do. If I think of it, I'd like to test the remaining sap sugar content with the hydrometer, and maybe even melt some of the ice and test that. I do weird stuff like that when I'm trying to keep myself awake boiling late at night. I wonder, though, as cold as the next several days are going to be, how much liquid will be left.

[Dave Y]

I have tested the liquid left after taking the ice off of fresh sap. it has been as high as 9%. Ice is mother natures RO.
I have let concentrate freeze in my pans before, it never froze hard though. However as we sit here tonite I am a little comcerned a bout my pans. I have put a 1500 watt space heat in side the arch to keep them from freezing. I have clamp lights on in side the hood keeping the preheater warm although I belivie it is empty. Got way to much invested to have it blow apart on me.

[Sugarmaker]

AHHH yes, the perils that we sugar makers go through. Dave Y has it about right. With the temps dropping as low as zero sap even with 5% sugar will probably freeze near solid? (My Guess) Error on the safe side, Drain what you can or keep a little heat under the pans. Don't want to freeze and break any pans out there in NWPA. Warmer temps are coming just hang on.

I went out tonight an strung another 40 taps on tubing to totes. I will do the tapping on those when it warms a little. Was brisk 5 degrees with the wind out of the north. Wood fire in the stove feels mighty good!

Sugarmaker

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Just throw a few papers in the arch and scrape up some scrap pieces of wood and bark and burn it for few minutes and you will be good for a couple of days.

[tapper]

I took a ride to Wiggers this morning to get more buckets. I dont think I have ever driven in worse conditions. Many times visibility was 0. It was a good thing I was about the only one dumb enough to be on the road.

[Dave Y]

Jon,
Is wiggers in clymer ny?

[tapper]

Dave,

Yes North Clymer Actually. Good People they are a Leader dealer.

[PA mapler]

It was -7 this morning, so I got worried and checked my five gallons buckets in the sugar shack, and was surprised that they had only frozen not even an inch on the top and sides. And the ice was kinda soft. I had only boiled an hour before I got shut down, so it can't be too concentrated yet. The ice in the big tank is the same- an inch on the top. I did check the sap in the tank, and it was still 1.5%. Here's an idea, should I open up the tank lids and get the sap to freeze some more?

[tapper]

Beth,

If you get it to freeze tight it may be a bugger to get it thawed out again. I know the days are supposed to be warmer but the nights cold. In the past I have dumped ice from buckets on the ground and with the right conditions had it lay there for a good part of the season.

[PA mapler]

Jon- I just wondered if I got several inches of ice on the top, in the tank, maybe it would help keep the next run of sap cooler. It's a 450 gallon insulated SS milk tank. I got if from my neighbor's father, who used to actually fill the insulation area between the SS walls with water, and let it freeze. I don't have the guts enough to try that!

[tapper]

Beth,

That sounds like a good plan as long as you dont freeze the tank so solid that you dont have flow out of it anymore. It may be a while before it thaws enough to flow again.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

The more ice in the tank the better, I have a 625 gallon milk tank inside my sugarhouse and I freeze 3 sap buckets every day with sap and throw them inside the sap long enough to get the ice loose enough to get out and then fill them with sap and put them back in the freezer.

[Sugarmaker]

Maybe we should trade those evaporators in on some good freezers?:)
I was checking around the evaporator tonight while canning some syrup for tapping payment and one order, I found that the float box was pretty well frozen up so I put a elec heater on it, and when it had thawed I took the float and the sap level control valve out so they should be ok. Sap in the buckets of sap drained from the evaporator was just starting to freeze around the edges.

Guess what? All my tubing is still up and connected!!! Yippee! :D Seems like that new stiffer tubing and installing it cold with a tubing tool works. (Sorry I am just a little bullheaded some times and look for shortcuts) I need to listen more then do what folks recommend.

Looking forward to several days of making syrup this weekend.
Are we havin fun yet??;)

Sugarmaker

[PA mapler]

Hi all, hope the sap is starting to flow again. I've got just a slow drizzle coming into the tank, but that cold snap froze the trees up pretty good again.

I ended up leaving the doors to my tank open for a few days, and I have a 4" thick iceberg in there now, which is about 70 gallons. I chopped a hole in it, and tested the sap underneath, and it went from 1.5% sugar to 4%! That's very cool.

[tapper]

Good Morning Everyone,

I was able to break the trail open to some of the better trees with the tractor yesterday. I can get another 40 or 50 taps in there today. I havnt missed anything here yet. 150 buckets up and still not enough sap to gather even after the last 2 warm days.

[PA mapler]

Hi Jon, me neither. I got about 40 gallons of sap in the tank yesterday, which works out to about a pint per tap. Maybe the trees will thaw out a little more today. On the plus side, the sugar was 2% yesterday.

[emericksmaple]

Well to day we made it to the 1/2 crop for us in the southern end of the state. We have 353 gal made off of 2500 taps. All of it is fancy ++. Yesterday we had a big run making 117 gal. We put a new vaccum system in this year and are running 18" at the boosters in the wood, and it is working great!!!! Almost 13,000 gal of sap off of 1600 taps. WOW!!! I hope everyone is getting started up north. Have fun!!!!

[maple flats]

Mine barely ran so far. Not even enough to boil yet. Out of about 500 I have only gotten 150 tapped, this snow is really bad and in most places I need snow shoes. To get elevation for my tubing system I need a ladder to tap over half ( 2 actually, a 6' step tadder and a short ext. ladder, plus everything else I use to tap) and that means the snow shoes go on and off at every tap. I need some more user friendly bindings, these take too long or I need a hill so I get slope without the ladder. Last year I tapped 300 in about 9 hours, this year I have about 150 in 16 hrs, and this morn I find I was not in as good physical shape as I should be, it hurts to walk. I have 2' in the woods near the sugarhouse but much of the woods is more like 4 feet deep. The step ladder never reaches the ground when using, the 1st step acts as a snowshoe and only sinks down a few inches below that step. After driving school bus today I will be back out there trying to get more tapped. On a rented roadside I have a hill next to the road but the drift is over my head and too steep to get up yet. What I did get tapped ran very slowly, they must be frozen yet except the very outer part of the tree.

[tapper]

Finally a decent run yesterday. This is by far the latest I have started in 11 years. I will have the first boil of this season on the new evaporator today.

[PA mapler]

It ran mediocre yesterday, maybe about 100 gallons tops out of 300 taps. The temp never got to 40 yesterday, and that was down at the house. I finally boiled, though, until my lead-line froze up about 9:00 pm. I still have that 4" iceberg in the tank, and so the sap's gotta be about 32 degrees, and when the air temp dropped below 32 the sap in the line got slushy fast and clogged up. Luckily I was paying attention and noticed the sap level in the float valve drop, and shut down in a hurry. With that new blower I've really got things screaming.

I hate to do it, but I might have to chop the ice out of the tank. I can't be shut down every time we go below 32! Maybe I can pack it in the snow and save it if I need it later.

[tappin&sappin]

Finally had enough sap to run the evaporator for a while yesterday. Started boiling at 12:30 w/ 90 gallons. At 3:00 my dad went and gathered for me. Came back w/ 50 gal. Shut down at 7:30. Went through 140 gallons of sap in 7 hours. 20gph. I'm happy w/ that, I wasn't sure what the homemade rig would do. Was thinking it would be 12-15gph.

The flow in the pan wasn't working very well at first. Did some shimming and it started working as should.

Made 2.75 gallons in one day! :) Last year I only made 3 gallons the whole season.

Busy day, but lots of fun. Hopefully the old sap runs all week.

emericksmaple... 353 gallons of syrup? crazy!

[maple flats]

Wow, mine just got worse. Maybe some of you have heard of a huge train explosion. It was within a half mile of my sugarhouse. They won't even let me near to check things out or to do some tapping. The huge black smoke cloud as really nasty looking. I have to find out if I need to de-contaminate everything and I am loosing even more time not being able to get to my woods or sugarhouse. I have 2 remote sites but my equipment to tap is where they will not let anyone thru. I had very little sap flow yesterday but today is warmer and might be flowing but might need to dump it because of soot and not knowing what is in it.
Dave

[HanginAround]

Man, all I can say is it could have been worse, but that is pretty frightening. As long as you don't have any damage, and they loosen things up in a day, things will be okay for you I hope.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/12/train.explosion.ap/index.html

[maplehound]

WOW I feel for you on that. Hope they can let you in soon.

[tapper]

Yesterday wasnt as good as I thought it would be. The 90 Gal of sap I collected was just a tease for the new evaporator. It took about an hour to get the thing warmed up then the sap was gone. The sap was 2 1/2 % with a skim of ice dumped off each bucket. It never got below 40 degrees here last night but the tight little valley my trees are in and all the snow make it just like an icebox. I bet they froze there last night.

[PA mapler]

Jon- had the same mediocre day here too, yesterday. I figured I'd be boiling all night, and I shut down about 6:00pm after boiling for five hours, ran out of sap. Still at 2% sugar, but that's normal for my trees. I wonder, does the snowpack effect the trees, and how much they run?

[tapper]

Beth,

I have never had to deal with snowpack such as it is this year but, I have read and heard stories about the old timers packing snow around the trees to try to lengthen the season. I know that little gully my tree are in is way cold and it is even colder with all this snow on.

[Splashdam]

Sunday the 11th was good. About 50 gallons at an astonishing 4%.Yesterday (Monday the 12th) was disappointing in terms of sap flow. 72 taps and did not bother collecting. Barely any in the buckets. Today Tuesday, the 13th was better (86 gallons @ 2%) Will boil tomorrow.

[PA mapler]

Yet another disappointing run today, half gallon per tap, at 1.8% sugar. Can't say it was too cold today, it was 65 at about 4:00pm! Still alot of snow in the woods, maybe the trees don't like cold feet.

[Jim Brown]

Cold not a problem in our area no time to post boiling 14-16 hours per day right now. Sap running like crazy and the sugar sand is HEAVY and we are only making dark syrup
Jim

[tappin&sappin]

Sap ran okay on Monday (the 12th) and must have ran all monday night and tuesday. Was close to 70 degrees yesterday (yuck).

Gathered 118 gallons from 70 taps. Most buckets were 2/3 full. No time to boil last night, going to make a go at it tonight for a while. Then it is supposed to cool off. Thank goodness. I hate letting that sap sit, but w/ no time and a 5 month old daughter... I've got the sap in a stainless tank, out of the sun. Hopefully it will hold alright.

Sugarmaker must be boiling like crazy, haven't seen him post lately.

[Dave Y]

Jim Brown,
You, boil 14-16 hrs a day !!! you better go look at that 5x16 in the for sale posts. I also am up to my eyeballs in sap. boiled 13 hrs yesterday and still have a days worth of boiling to do! We have be dumping around 900 buckets this week. But that will drop back to the normal amuont next week.
we have been making dark syrup also. And tons of sugar sand.

Don't wear your self out too soon we have a few weeks to go!

[tapper]

Dave,
Is the sap still runnin for you there in the sunny south? Holy cow 900 buckets? There must be a bucket or 3 on every single tree in marienville?

[Dave Y]

The sap stop yesterday, Thank God! Now I can catch up! And its only every other tree, with lots to go.

By the way that dumping station I put in the woods works slik. Only takes half the time and doesn,t wear out my sap collecters. amzingly I have had plenty of help. I didn't collect yesterday but I still got 450 gal hauled in for me to boil. I think I will leave work early and start boiling around 2pm today

[tappin&sappin]

Boiled 118 gallons (sap) last night. Took 6 hrs. Heck of a step up from the 5gph half pint last year. I love it!

Not sure how much syrup I made or the grade. Planning on bottling it tonight. LOTS of sugar sand.

Sugarmaker was over last night for a while. Good company and lots of great tips! :)

[PA mapler]

I think I figured out my trees. They won't run when it's sunny and nice, but like to run when it's cold and yucky. My trees are running like no-one's business right now, faster than any run yet this year. And it's 37 degrees, cloudy, with a fresh coating of snow/ice from this morning. huh.

[tapper]

Beth,

The trees like a storm of sorts. Quite a few years back we came off a short cold snap and went right into a rain storm. every single bucket I had up was running over in less than 12 hrs. time. It was cool and its never really happened since.

[Jim Brown]

Dave Y: We were boiling the days run each day,no sap left at the end of the day. Our son came in from Dayton and ran the evap. for those long days . We tore the rig down last night to clean with Vinegar today hope to get a grade lighter syrup. Sugar sand was 1/2 inch deep in the flue pans and hot sap float box . Looking forward making some more syrup don't have enought yet! Vac. working like a CHARM! Pulling 2 to 1 with the tap with out vac.
Jim

[Dave Y]

Jim, I just finished the last run last nite. Ended up with close to 50 gal of dark syrup. I still have my pans full. I am going to try to get rid of that this weekend. I would like to flush my pans as the sugar sand is really bad. you are fortunate to have some one to help you boil. So far I have been boiling by myself. It has been a little hairy at times. I am going to have to change my evaporator feed line to 1" for next year or maybe larger. when things get really rocking it is hard to keep up. I have had it doing 120 gph but is hard to maintain when you are all alone. Hope you get to make all the syrup you want. I know I am currently over half of last year now, and ithink we will get 2 or maybe 3 good runs yet!
What kind of evaporation rate are you get with your steamaway?

Good luck!

[Jim Brown]

Dave Y. I have help,our youngest son from dayton has been home running the rig. He just called and said that he ran the vingear throught the pans and they are clean as new again. Sure hope this helps get us up a grade or two. We are like you have only been making dark amber syrup. The sugar sand was 1 inch deep in hot syrup float coming off the rig going to the front pan.I have never seen it that bad! The steamaway has increased our GHP about 100%. We could only get around 25-28 last year.This year we are doing real close to 50 if not a little better at times. It help a great deal!
Looking forward to making lighter syrup next week

Thanks
Jim

[tapper]

Dave,
Great pictures!

[royalmaple]

Dave-

Ditto, nice pics. I like how you have louvers on your cupola instead of big doors. That is different.

[Dave Y]

Thanks,
It took me long enough to figure out how to post them . Finally my talened daugther showed me how.
royalmaple,
I didn,t like the idea of another set of moving parts. The louvers are fixed position. I think it is a real nce effect at night.

[Dave Y]

I went out a did a sap check tonite, after work. most of the trees were running. Hope to fill the tanks tomorrow afternoon. Then take thursday off to boil.I had one good run and ended up w/50 gal of dark . If i could get my grade up alittle and get 2 more runs like that we would be in bussiness!

[tapper]

It never got above freezing here today but the sun was warm enough to get a few drips late in the afternoon. I have only boiled 250 gal. from 250 buckets so far and have drawn off 1 gallon of light syrup. looks like it will be at least Thursday before I have enough sap again.

[New Hope Mapleman]

Jim,
have not had much time to check posts, but glad to see you folks are getting more sap with your vacuum. Boy has this one been an unusual season. We haven't had a real run yet. Guess I should have the collection truck fuel topped off so we don't have to stop and fuel once it does come.
Hope you have some more fun!
Dan

[Dave Y]

Jon,
That is amazing! 1 gal of syrup! your season has never started yet and your only 40 miles north of me. we had a decent run last week and hope for one to day and tomorrow! good luck hope things start running for you.

[Jim Brown]

Dan; Nice to hear from you Hope all is well.We are getting much more from the vac, that the natural flow almost 3 to 1. Got the buggs worked out of the system and the old girl is steady pulling 16inches with no problems! The gen is using about 4-5 gallons of gas for 10 hours.We are in the maket for another one just like it if you stumble on to one let me know
.
Hope you have a great season
Jim

[tapper]

Thanks Dave. This is the latest and the slowest start I've had in 11 years. and now looking at the 15 day forcast there isnt a night below freezing for the next 10 days. Geezzz from 1 extreme to the other. All I can hope for now is that forcast is wrong which seems to be the case more often than not.

[PA mapler]

Hi Jon, looks like your in the same boat as me! I got the pans sweetened and drawn off only about three gallons so far this season. Friend of mine over the hill in Duke Center is reporting the same poor results. The sap barely dripped yesterday here. It was 8 this morning on the back patio, so I probably won't get much of a run today either.

I still have 100 gallons of sap from last friday to boil, today should be warm enough that my sap line won't freeze, so I'll fire up later once it gets warmer. There is now about 150 gallons of ice in my tank!

I've been watching the extended forecast for Bradford from several different websites, and one shows some lows below 32 for several days in the next week. Keep your fingers crossed!

[Dave Y]

Jon,
I see in the warren paper there is a syrup judging contest at the sugar grove fire hall Friday evening. You should take that gal of med amber over and enter it in the contest! I would take agal of mine up there but it is to far , plus I plan to be boiling then!

[tapper]

Beth,
I just took a trip off my nountain and it was 40 degrees in the valley at 9 a.m. back home at 11:30 a.m. and its only 34 degrees and the wind is picking up. Its getting warmer now but I'm afraid the wind will keep the trees shut down. I was hoping for a big day tomorrow time will tell.

Dave
That friday evening thing sounds fun. If I can get a big run off these trees by then I might do that. This first run of light is good but I have noticed in the past it gets better with the bigger runs. I had more compliments on the taste of the syrup from last year. It was the 2nd year I've tapped this little sugar bush deep in the woods and I noticed a big difference from the road trees I used to tap.

[Maplewalnut]

We had a good run yesterday in the NE part of the state. Temp was only 35 for a high and windy all day but seems like the sun warmed the trees enough to get them going. The reds in the woods are even getting through the 2ft of snow still left around their bases. Everything is looking up except the warm temps coming up for the next week or so. Make the most of it while you can!

[Dave Y]

I just hauled in 500 gal off of 580 taps and it is pouring out now! I had to go back too one location to replace a coulple of leaking buckets, and checked some others and they had 2" of fresh sap in them. I had emptied them 2 hours before. At that rate they will be running over in the morning.

[tapper]

Dave,
Thats 2300 gallons you gonna be able to handle all that at once? HaHa thats fun when that happens! It happened to me on 200 buckets once with a 2x6 and it was toooooooo much.

[Dave Y]

Jon, That is only 23hrs sraight boiling and 50 -60 gal of syrup . Yea I think I can handle it. If not I'll get a bigger evaporator. Maybe a 5x12 or a 6x16. Then I will need a bigger building.And more trees! ahhhh ! It is a viscuos cycle!

[PA mapler]

Jon- how'd you make out yesterday? My trees finally starting running about 1:00pm, and I just finally ran out of sap, although it's still coming in about 10 gallons an hour. I'm wired on caffiene and can't settle down to go to sleep yet. Made about six gallons of dark stuff today, my sugar is still running low about 1.5%. Sure takes alot of boiling.

Dave- holy cats, must be your area just really hit it right this year! Right time, right place. Is this an average year for you?

[tapper]

Hi Beth,

I checked buckets at 2 yesterday afternoon air temp was 40+ it was still so cold in the woods everything was still frozen but beginning to drip. I checked a few around 11 last night and they were doing ok. Not sure what to expect this morning I'm sure there wasnt enough last night at 11 so I hope they put out some sap overnight.

Do you have mostly reds or sugars tapped?

[Dave Y]

Beth,
I really haven't been at this long enough to now what average is yet. But I do know that I have had similar sap flows in the past. I have found the only way to increase production is to get a bigger rig and more taps. It is hard to believe you and Jon's temps are so much different from here. You probably have more snow pack than we have. Just hang in there it will break lose very soon. I do feel that we will be making syrup in April. I know that as long as sap is running I am going to boil till my wood is gone. I would like to make a barrel of commercial at the end.

[tapper]

With the over night temps for the next 10 days it looks like I will be making commercial real soon if they even continue to run with the warm temps

[PA mapler]

Jon- I've got all sugars. I could tap about 30 reds if I wanted, but they never seem to run good. I've tapped a grove by the house in the past, and they were really dry. Mine are all woods trees, in serious need of a thinning, and I've heard that can be hard on the sugar percentage.

Sap ran slow all night, might be about 50 gallons in the tank this morning. Not sure what this fast warmup will do to the flow, I'm going up to check right now. It never got below freezing last night.

I'm going to drain the evaporator this morning and clean it. The sugar sand is pretty amazing. What a pile of goop. I drew off about six gallons yesterday, all dark amber/B range. Awesome flavor, though.

[Jim Brown]

Beth; We also have been making dark syrup not a drop of light or med. Flavor was GREAT though. We pulled 750 gallons with the vac yesterday looks like a long night of boiling Sap is running on the vac again today . Our sugar is also about 1.5%.Glad for the steamaway today!
Jim

[tapper]

I am finally getting a decent run. Brought in 200 gal so far and there is probably another 100 in the woods yet on 250 buckets. I'm taking a break right now cuz it is raining hard. Sugar content with a sap hydrometer is 2.5%. Should be able to make 5 or 6 gallons this evening.

[Dave Y]

Just Got In from unloading sap. W e got to all but 120 of the 630 and we got 850 gal tonite off of the same buckets I emptied last nite. Boiled off what I collected yesterday today made close to 10 gal. and thats starting with a clean syrup pan. It came off hard today, couldn't keep a consistant boil. I hate humid days. this sap is going to have to hold till tomorrow nite as I can't take off work .

[tapper]

I ended up with 270 gallons of sap today. It took longer to gather it than to boil it off. 4 hours to boil off. Wayyyyy better than the 10 or 12 hours that it took on the 2x6. I took off 7 gal. of light syrup. 10 more days like today would be just right!

[Dave Y]

Im glad to see some one is making light syrup. Ive made 60 gal of dark so far

[PA mapler]

Taking a break too, husband is tending the fire while I get the boy to bed and a few other things done. Finally got a great run, started boiling about 1:00pm after I cleaned the front pan. Sap is still running pretty hard, about 16 gallons per hour off the 300 taps. Only got 3 hours sleep last night, don't know if I can do it again tonite! A 2.5x8 is sure sounding nice about now. . . I'm boiling about 25 gallons of water per hour off with the 2x6.

All dark too, canned 6 gallons while boiling today, still have a few pails to finish off.

[Dave Y]

Beth,
Dont set your sights so low. If your going to up grade. Get a 3x 10 or 3x12.
that way you can tap more trees, make more syrup and be just as tired!

[PA mapler]

Dave- that's what I'm afraid of! I started with a 14"x28" pan, then to a 2.5'x6' flat pan, then the "big" 2x6! It's almost like a disease. . .

Got 300 gallons to boil off today, the sap is still running, but very slow. Might need another freeze to get it going again.

[Dave Y]

Beth
I started w/ a 18x18 pan and 10 taps in the backyard. Look at me now! I dont know when to stop.

[Dave Y]

Beth,
I probably won't stop until I have a 6x18 with a steamaway and two ro's.

[sugarin4fun]

Beth,
I'm sure my boss would say that it's not almost like a desease it is one. I have been taking days off, leaving early and coming in late after those late nights of boiling till 1am. 25 gals/hr would be great, I can't seem to get more than 10-12/hr on my 2-1/2 x 4 homemade rig with a flat bottom pan.

Dave,
I started with (2) 12x18 pans, on cement block arch and 17 taps, know it's a 2-1/2 x 4 homemade rig with 67 taps. My wife is not going to want to read your last few posts. I'm sure she hopes it stops here, just enough for the family and a few gals to give away. But who knows.

Greg

[Dave Y]

Greg,
If you click on my photos links you will see the upgrading I have done in the last 2.5 years. Good luck!

[tapper]

Took off another 6 gallons of light today. Trees are still dripping so there will be a small amount for tomorrow.

I chose a 2 1/2 x 8 evaporator mainly because 300 to 400 taps is about all I have close to home and it will handle that many with ease. If I stay right after it I can get close to 90 gph with this rig. another factor for getting this size was it is a popular size teamed up with an ro and it doesnt require a lot of space. I think I have seen posts on here where guys are doing between 1000 and 2000 taps on a 2 1/2 x 8 and an ro. I may be there someday.

[PA mapler]

Jon- you're getting light? Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Mine has been all "B" the last three days. I made six gallons also yesterday, total of 20 now, plus the 6 or so in the evaporator. Still a great flavor, but dark dark dark. It's almost dark reddish. Any suggestions?

I finally used up the pile of chunky swamp maple we were given, and started using the leftover house firewood from last winter. What a difference! I got my stack temp from 550 to 650, and my evaporation rate from 25 to 32 gallons an hour. It was really roaring last night, and for the first time I had sparks out the stack! I even got a video of it. Another sign of disease.

[tapper]

Beth,

All the reading and studying I have done about maple syrup and making lighter grades always seemed to point to how clean all of your equipment is. I think that is the main factor but other factors come into play also such as how long was the sap over the fire and how long did it sit before you boiled it. The only time I make dark syrup is toward the end of the season when the runs are small and the sap is in the warm sun for even just a short time. I could probably stay a grade lighter at the end by washing all the buckets part way throuh the season but thats a lot of work. If you are sure all of your equipment is as clean as it could possibly be then I'm not sure what to suggest. I know others have mentioned large amounts of sugar sand maybe for some reason that is a factor too. The sugar sand for me this year is the same as always. Maybe at times syrup grade is a geographical thing and different regions experience different results for one reason or another?
Anyhow just keep having fun with it!

[PA mapler]

Jon- it could be the sap. Maybe 150 gallons of what I boiled the last few days was from last week, th15th, sitting in the tank with the iceberg all week.

Also, I need to put some fire blanket between the front and back pans. They separate when it heats up, and the heat scorches the syrup on the side of the syrup pan, above the level of the fluid. Not alot, but it builds up some, and I was thinking about that all yesterday while I was boiling. That probably didn't help either.

The amount of sugar sand was normal.

[Jim Brown]

Season is all but over for us. sap has been cloudy for two days(Friday and Sat) and it turned sour on Sunday. We have 200 gallon of good sap and the 'fat lady has sang'. Not a bad season for us but REALLY SHORT! Three weeks.

Jim

[tapper]

It was just cold enough here yesterday morning and had a small run yesterday but it was so warm the sap is slightly cloudy so I will more than likely be making darker syrup today. No freezing weather till the middle of the week and then not again till the first of next week but i'm going to leave the taps in and see how it goes. I have only made 12 or 14 gallons so far and need a little more to justify the investment.

[Dave Y]

I have made over 90gal so far. It has been all dark. And as long as the trees are making sap and I have wood I am boiling. A barrel of commercial is worth $500. So why stop? everything is set up an dirty anyways. Plus you dont even have to filter commercial. as long as the trees are giving I willl keep plugging away.

[tapper]

Go for it Dave! As late as the season started here I am considering the same. It never got below 45 here last night when I gathered this morning most taps were dry. Now at over 70 degrees this afternoon the red maples are running 70 drips a minute. I took off 4 gallons of really pretty medium today.

[PA mapler]

It hasn't been below 32 for almost a week, and the trees keep running. Not alot, and I've dumped two 50-gallon tankfulls of cloudy sap. I had cleaned the evaporator two days ago, thinking the sap would stop (never did) and don't want to crud it up with cloudy stuff. This weekend is supposed to be pretty foul, so we should have some good, cooler runs coming. Geez, here, the snow just finally left the sugar bush, so it can't be over yet! But, I'm almost out of firewood, might have enough for two more long boils.

Dave, to sell commercially around us, do you need a full barrel? I can scrounge maybe 15 gallons right now, unless the season gets better. And you don;t even need to filter it? Where do you sell yours?

[Dave Y]

Beth,
I have a friend that gets me hooked up. I havent done it before,but I am going to this year. I have way too much invested To stop when there is sap running. If you make commercial we will get it taken care of for you. If you make 15 gal. just put it in 5 gal buckets. Bruce Bascom put in the catalog this year that he would pay 1.60 a pound for commercial. That is 17.60 a gal.and last year I paid 2.00 a pound for light syrup which is 22 a gal . so is it worth making I think so. as I said if you make it I will either buy it from you or get it sold for you. Keep me posted.

[tapper]

Dave and Beth,

Wiggers in North Clymer have one day I believe in May that the bulk buyers come. If you want I can get you more info on that.

[Splashdam]

Brydonson Farms in Coudersport (Bryan Ianson) will buy any quantity you have by the pound and pays as much as anyone else. I took 22 pounds of sour syrup to him from last year when I needed to buy containers for this year. No problem with the price and it wasn't filtered. I was at his open house Sunday and he said he gives a $1.50 per pound right now.

[tapper]

Splashdam,

Can you take syrup to him any day any time of the year? I used to deal with some people in Sardinia NY that bought syrup year round. That made it very convenient because at the end of the year I would trade syrup for the next seasons jugs and other supplies.

[PA mapler]

Dave, guys, thanks. In years past I normally just give away syrup to friends and relations, and just sell a few gallons to some guys in Virginia. But with more taps this year, looks like I'll be making alot more syrup than ever, and I need to start selling more. I was going to put a sign at the road, but most everything I'm making this year is "B", so I'll probably do the commercial thing. Dave, I might take you up on your offer, but I'm going to check with Sprague's first to see if they take partial drums, since he's just 30 minutes from me. I got a note in the mail, they are buying for $500 a drum.

[Jim Brown]

Beth; I'm going to Brian's on saturday would be glad to take any thing up with me if you are looking for a transport person. I travel up through Warren and then to Kane and on to Coudersport Any place along the way would be glad to meet and transfer
Just A thought. Send Me A PM if you need help
Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Hi Folks,
Yea , we have been busy making syrup too.
Smallest run was 175 gallons largest run was 900
Highest sugar content was 3% and lowest was 2%.
We boiled 10 times and made 100 gallons of syrup, some of all grades from light to "B". Form Thursday morning 3-22 to Sat. night 3-24 we made about 50 gallons, Med, to dark, to B.

More detailed stats to come if I get time.

Cheryl broke her ankle March 15 so I lost my best helper for our open house and for the last of the season. Several of the kids and grand kids helped gather.:(

We had several boiling events attended by sugar makers, Jim and Chase Bortles (Father and Son), Jake Zimmerman (Tappin&Sappin), Along with Frank James (Girard PA syrup maker) Thanks guys!
We pulled the taps 3-25 and am in the process of learning how to clean tubing.
Lots to catch up on on the trader. Hope everyones season was good.

FYI My neighbor just tapped on Sat 3-24-07 and looked like he had a couple of good runs even with the warm weather:o

Regards,
Sugarmaker

[PA mapler]

Jim- thanks for the offer! I'm still holding out for a few more good runs, though, before I figure out what I'm going to bottle and what I'll sell commercial. I looked at the Accuweather long-range forecast, and believe it or not next week is looking very good. Lows even in the teens. 'Course it'll probably change by the time we get there, but I'm crossing my fingers. I went for a walk today up the hill, and there were still a few patches of snow, so the trees shouldn't be budding for a while yet.

[Splashdam]

Tapper,

You can take your syrup, any quantity, any time to Brydonson Farms.

[tapper]

Splashdam,

Thanks for the reply. I will definitly look up Byrdonson Farms. Coudersport is probaly as close as the place I was going to. That info is very helpful Thanks again!

[tapper]

Beth,

I was checking the trees for buds today myself no sign of any. I made a little dark grade a today very good flavor. I hope that long range forcast holds true. I have made only 18 gallons on 260 taps so far thats not good.

[emericksmaple]

We had a good year. Had 2500 taps. 1600 on vaccum which produced 31,300 gals of sap( avg of 19.5gal per tap). Had 900 on gravity which produced 11,125 gals of sap(avg of 12.3 gal per tap). Giving us 825 gal of syrup. Biggest run was 3-20 when we collected 8,000 gal of sap Highest sugar was 2.6%, but for the most part we was around 2% most of the season. North of us they only did about 1/2 of a crop just too cold.

Chris sorry to hear about your wife. I hope that she can heal quickly!!!

[HanginAround]

Chris, too bad about the wife's ankle, poor timing too. Hope things heal quick and well.

[tapper]

Chris,
Good to hear from you. Not so good to hear about your wife. Its not fun being hurt no matter when it is. I figured you were awful busy when there were no posts from you the past few weeks.

[andyp]

Not sure if we are done yet.The weather forcast for the next three days is saying it will be in the twentys at night. We might have one run yet .We made 45 gallon on 340 taps.The reds are starting to bud, but I don't see any on the sugars.
Andyp

[PA mapler]

Jon- I was in Olean running errands this morning, so I stopped over at Sprague's. Randy said they were just about done, the syrup was getting funny tasting, and have pulled some tanks out already. He seems to think stuff is starting to bud, but Portville is lower in elevation than us. I don't see any sign here. From what I understand , the red on the red maples is the flowers, but the actual leaf buds really don't start until after the sugar maples. I don't know if that makes a difference.

Randy will take partial barrels, so I picked one up while I was there, as well as some new synthetic cone-filters. I wrote in another thread how some old wool cone-filters I was given had ruined four gallons. I also splurged and bought the new Maple Producers Handbook.

I'm going to keep going until I either run out of firewood or start making road tar!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Beth,

B will sell as good as another other grade retail. Wouldn't wholesale it if you can retail it, a lot more $$$$.

[PA mapler]

Brandon- here's a really dumb question: if your filtered syrup is darker than the "B" test vial in the grading kit, is it considered "C", or commercial? I've got several gallons like that, and it is very good tasting, not off-flavor or anything. Just dark.

I just re-read Sprague's newsletter, and it said only Grade "C" was being quoted at $1.60 a pound. Then would "B" syrup bring more? I wished I'd noticed that before I went there today.

And, if you put a sign at the road, and sell syrup out of your back door, how fussy do you need to be as far as labeling it dark amber, or B or C?

[Breezy Lane Sugarworks]

C=Commercial

[Dave Y]

Beth,
C or commercial is the bottom of the barrel in prices. the higher the grade the more it is worth. however the gap in prices top to bottom is narrowing. Last year I paid 2.00 for medium and c was 1.30 . Now it is 1.60 I dont know what is being quoted for the higher grades yet.

[Maplewalnut]

Beth,

As far as grading, most of my customers in NEPA want what tastes good. They really don't care what grade it is. In fact most do not like light syrup since the maple flavor is lighter. Quite a few even request grade B for pancakes and the like (as long as it has good flavor).

[Sugarmaker]

Folks,
Thanks for the thoughts and words about Cheryl's broken ankle. She is doing well, but just is getting real tired of being not able to drive. She can hop around the house and has a shoe on the cast so she can put a little weight on the foot too.

I got started washing buckets tonight and am about 1/4 through those. The tubing is washed and hung up all over the place! Most of the experience was good with the tubing. So I may consider doing some more tubing to totes next year also.

Well it sounds like everyone is wrapping it up and had good seasons.

Jim Brown,
tell me about that new steam away. How did it handle the amount of taps you had out?

Beth,
I try to grade my syrup per the grading kit. Really dark syrup I would call commercial but if it has good flavor and some one wants to buy it I will can small amounts special for them. I usually don't can any "B" for the stocking the shelves.

I did talk to Bill Phillips of Waterford and he is waiting for at least one moregood run. Maybe tonight will be cold enough to turn it back on??? I may go over and vist with him if he is boiling tomorrow.

Tapper,
Yes I was just to Busy to spend a lot of time on the trader. I did miss it though and should have a little more time to see what all the maple news is.

Matt (emericks maple)
Wow you had a great year! That vacuum is really doing the job. Wow 8,000 gallons in one day is a bunch of sap!

Dave Y,
Whats happening in MArionsville. I havent dug deep enough to find info on your season. I know you had twice the taps that I did. Di you make 200 gallons of syrup?

Regards,
Chris

Off to browse other strings

[Sugarmaker]

I did get time to go back several pages in the Pa 2007 thread,

Couple of comments I see. Lot of dark syrup made and a lot of sugar sand mentioned.

We made all grades and about equal amounts of light, med, dark, but the last two days we made mostly nice B grade. We did make about 10 gallons of B also during the open house by holding the sap and boiling slow also the sap was a little cloudy when we gathered it. but went right back to med when we cleaned the rig and started in on the next run. Fresh sap boiled as quick as possible and clean equipment seems to be the key to helping keep the grade up. I don't think you can turn cloudy sap into light syrup, so if the weather is not cooperating then you may get stuck with making dark. Dave Y, I was surprised that you did not make light syrup on your first runs. Dave I loved the pictures. Wow you have really up graded your operation! Very nice! I can see the pride in even the stacked wood piles!

Beth,
Flat pans tend to reboil the syrup and may cause you to have darker syrup too.

I have never seen sugar sand as several folks described (1 inch deep WOW!)
We switch sides each day and really did not have and sugar sand on the bottom of the pans, So in our sap the sugar sand was a little less that usual.

As far as bulk syrup Try turning it into value added products like maple coated nuts and or maple mustard. I havent sold any bulk syrup for several years since Jan Woods taught me to make these maple products.

Regards,
Sugarmaker

[Jim Brown]

Chris; Glad to here Cheryl is getting around well.The rig did a nice job! We had over over 850 gallons of sap at the sugar house at one time this year. The best we could tell we were getting about 50 per hour at max.(750 degrees in the stack base) but that was hard to hold. I would say to be more realistic 47 or 48 was the number.Still not bad for a 2x6 . The steamaway was a great help.
Our son came home and we ran around the clock for 3 days when the big run came on Wed,thurs.Fri a week ago(Three hour shifts). Vac was really pulling sap we produced over 700 gallons of sap from 300 taps in 24 hours. That was besides the 40 buckets and the 300 on natural flow. Had a good year.we already bought a vac pump to put the other bush on vac for next year and will increase the tap count again. We will be looking for an RO before next year.
Thanks
Jim

[Dave Y]

Chris,
I have kept busy over here in marienville. I havn't made 100 gal yet. I have had a couple of good runs. I collected 325 last night. It was cloudy. But hey its sap. I should break 100 today as I am taking a 1/2 and boiling. I have our 1st grade class coming to visit. They are going to see how the syrup is made, as one 1st grader told me yesterday.
I still have hopes of a more sap yet to come. As I said in previous post I will not be done untill the trees are. My reds are budding fast. but the sugars are not showing any signs of budding. I will take what ever they give me. I will wait for the last dog to die.
Yes I have done a major up grade. with more to come for next year. I am going to look at a 800 gal milk tank here in a couple of weeks.I also am making progress towards tubing for next year. I have found that gathering with buckets limits my boiling time. So I am working my way away from buckets.
sounds like you had aproductive season. Execpt for the mishap with your Mrs.
Tell here not to rush it and let it heal right or she may be limping the rest of her life.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Beth,

You make the decision there. I guess the grading in some other states is that if it is very dark but tastes light, it is light. I tend to agree more with that now than I did in the past but usually grade per the kit. Either way, there is a ton of demand for dark syrup and B brings just as good a price as any other. To me, C or commerical is off flavored, ropey or something like that. I can't see grading good flavored and great tasting syrup C due only to color. You have to follow whatever the state guidelines are for your state.

I should add we have no grading guidelines in WV I am aware of.

[PA mapler]

Thanks Brandon! I was reading my new NA Maple Producers book while boiling today, and according to that, in PA there technically IS no "C" grade. Just two different grades of "B", depending on the light transmission. New York calls the same two bottom grades "extra dark for cooking". Or so the book says. So I guess if I label everything darker than dark amber as "B" I won't be misleading anyone somehow. Technically. I worry about weird stuff.

I boiled today, and it looks like a lighter grade than I had been getting. The sap ran yesterday and today fairly well.

One more novice question- with my new blower I tend to get alot more ash out of my non-airtight doors. Some of this was getting in the syrup pan (I have since solved the problem). Would this ash cause the syrup to darken?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

It might darken the syrup a touch due to the black intermixing into the color, but most of it will filter out and shouldn't affect the color much if any unless there is a lot of ash.

[tapper]

Beth,

Over the years I have had only 1 or 2 customers that knew about the grades of syrup and requested what they wanted, usually light. But for the most part the majority of people have no idea about the different grades. I would almost bet the stuff at sams is b grade. As far as the ash that would happen to me on my 2x6 at times. I kept it to a minimum and it never affected grade or taste but if you were to get too much ash and smoke it will flavor it.

[220 maple]

Beth,
I don't think the ash problem will cause your syrup to be dark, my first boil of the season had extreme leaks around the door, with the blower wide open it looked like a blowtorch, cherry red door and a blue flame, I made some of the lighest syrup I've ever made, in fact I hope it's light enough to get in the Breneman Hall of Fame. Several syrupmakers in the Someset Co. area have left examples of their lighest syrup at Henry Breneman's Store, I call it Breneman's Hall of Fame. Some day I hope I can leave a 50ml leaf there also.
If you are using a flatpan It will be difficult but not impossible. Keep the foam down, Boil as soon as the sap is in, keep everything as clean as possible.
Don't worry about a little ash, Brandon is right it will filter out for the most part.
Mark 220 Maple

[PA mapler]

Thanks for your replies! I wasn't sure about the ash, so yesterday I had kept the spaces between and above the doors covered with fireblanket, and it cut way back on the ashes. But it was a pain to reposition it each time after fireing, although it kept the evaporator less scrungy-looking.

Anybody still boiling?

[tapper]

I boiled Thursday evening made some very good tasting b grade. Its just not getting cold at night very small runs. I'm going to hold out till next weekend. The long term looks favorable but it has not been right even once let alone the immediate forcast. At this point I think I am only fooling myself.

[danno]

I got my new, bigger forced air blower installed yesterday and I had ash flying and the distinct smell of smoke in sugarhouse. With my old, smaller fan, I had no ash, no smoke and a much slower evaporator. I've got to do some serious tightening on my non-air tight arch.

[PA mapler]

I was hoping to get more sap today, but it never got cold enough like they predicted. I boiled about 250 gallons yesterday, but never got the pans sweetened. It's not supposed to get cold again til Wednesday, so I'll probably just dump the evaporator out and finish the sap on the little pan. Hate to have it sit that long.

[New Hope Mapleman]

I made a shield for my evaporator of out plexiglass to help cutt down on the amount of ash and smoke that comes up when I open the doors on my air tight arch. (It is bolted to the suspended hood over the front pan) I also run a reistat to help turn the blower down. Got mine from the electrical supply, just make sure it will handle the amp draw of your blower.

[andyp]

Beth,
You can make light syrup with a flat pan no problem. Almost everything we made last year was light. Not so this year,and I beleive the reason is we were boiling off bigger batches. Double the size we did last year. When we did the smaller batches we cleaned the pan about every other time. This year we got too much sap at one time and kept boiling longer periods before pouring off and cleaning the pan resulting in darker syrup.

Andyp,

[PA mapler]

Hi Andy- I used a flat pan for several years, the first was a small 14"x30". The first year, with 40 taps, I got lots of light amber. Then I got bigger with about 2.5"x6.5" flat pan, still did OK, some of all grades. Now, I have a state-of-the-art Lightning, and I'm having trouble getting anything but dark. It doesn't help that the past two seasons I ran it had been late and warm here. But this year my first run was dark amber, and it went down from there. I even painted my mainlines white this year, and went to a SS insulated milk tank instead of an old bacteria-laden plastic thing.

I know I need to clean my lines better at the end of the season. I have no pressure-washing setup. All I have been doing is carrying a 5-gallon pail of Chlorox solution with me as I pull the taps, and dump a pint down each tap with a funnel.

I cleaned the evaporator once and the tank twice. Is it possible, with my sap at 1.5% most of the season, that it takes so long to boil it that it causes the syrup to darken? And most of the season I was trying to use up some nasty odd chunks of swamp maple we were given, and my efficiency was low until I finally used it up and switched to regular firewood. I went from about 24 gallons per hour to almost 35 gallons per hour.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Beth,

The last two years have had temps above normal and lots of warm, so it would have been difficult to make much light with anything.
Also, if you are dumping a pint down each tap, they are getting plenty clean. That must take some serious time to dump that much down each one.

[andyp]

Beth,
I don't know if having a lower sugar content and having to boil more would give give you darker syrup. I do know that last year we doubled the amount of one boil and had darker syrup.I also noticed the same thing this year.Also with the warm weather the sap doesn't have to set to long to start getting cloudy which will give you darker syrup. I would like to invest in a 2 x 6 or 2x8 but my partner is afraid we may change the quality of the syrup. That sure sounds like a lot of hard work and time flushing lines.Maybe you need to start shoping for a gas powered washer.

Andyp

[tapper]

Beth,

I know a few guys on tubing that never make light syrup and my guess is they dont get it clean enough. Some guys just let the 1st run go on the ground to flush the tubes and others dont wash at all. It takes some serious pressure to get a good scrub on many feet of tubing.

[PA mapler]

We're fortunate because we have a lease road going right up the hill next to sugar bush. I load a 20-gallon tank on the 4-wheeler and re-fill my bucket without too much hassle. I did talk to my technical consultant (my husband) about a tubing washer and he didn't seem very enthusiastic about building one! So, I try to think of all the calories I'm burning lugging my bucket around . . .

Somewhere on this forum somebody had a spring at the top of their sugarbush, and plumbed it into their tubing somehow to clean it. I figure I could do the same thing with a truck and a 55-gallon barrel of cleaner. My trees are in 3 separate bushes connected by the mainline, with the road going right each. I'm not sure about all the physics to avoid blowing fittings apart yet.

Jon- I do the same thing for the first run- let it run on the ground until it's clear of dead spiders, bugs, slime etc. . . . Even in between runs I'll put it in a 5-gallon bucket and keep dumping it until it runs clear.

[Sugarmaker]

Beth,
Sounds like you are doing just about everything right. Next year may be much better from a weather stand point and hopefully you will get back to light. As several have said here if your syrup is good flavor most folks wont care if the grade is dark or "B".


Her are some of our stats:

March 1 - 175 gal. sap@ 3%
March 2 - 175 gal. sap@ 2.6%
March 3 - 175 gal. sap@ 2.5%
March 10- 510 gal. sap@ 2.5%
March 12 - 465 gal. sap@ 2.3%
March 13 - 575 gal. sap@ 2%
March 15 - 200 gal. sap@ 2%
March 16 - 60 gal. sap@ 2%
March 21 - 435 gal. sap@ 2.6%
March 22 - 1060 gal sap@2.3%
March 23 - 470 gal. sap@ 2%
March 24 - 250 gal. sap@ 2%

Total sap = 4550 gallons made just over 100 gallons of syrup. So maybe my sap hydrometer is off a little, since that would be about 45.5 gal of sap to make a gallon of syrup. I know that I do have some syrup wasted during clean up and shutting down.

I did note that on a cold start with fresh sap in the entire evaporator it took only two hours to the first draw off. I thought this was pretty good for a old rig.

Regards,
Sugarmaker

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Amazing as I boiled 4890 gallons and made 92.5 gallons of syrup with very little wasted or 52.86 ratio.

[tapper]

What is amazing also is I am maybe 70 miles to the east as the crow flies from Sugarmaker. So far I've had 1235 gallons sap on 300 buckets and 20 Gal syrup. We were tapped at the same time but, my first run never happened till 3/12. His largest run was on the 22nd at over 1000 gal as was mine at 270 gallons. It is fun to see the differences closeby and far away.

[Sugarmaker]

Jon,
That is quite a difference. But the weather here around the Lake (Erie) can be quite varied. sometimes 15 miles south of us the temps will be several deg. different and it will make the difference in a fair to good run.

I forgot to mention that the 1060 day included 160 gallons if sap from (Father and Son) They didn't think I had enough sap to keep me busy and they were searching for dry wood. Anyway I boiled theirs in for half the syrup, They just need to come and get it out of my freezer!:) So that day we got 900 gallons off of the 425 (taps)


We had 240 taps on Tubing to Totes and 185 on Wheeling style buckets.

Considering going to more tubing and less buckets next year. I have one spot that I can easily convert from buckets to Tubing and totes that has 100 +taps.

Not sure that tubing was a big time saver. but it did save on the back strain. And much easier If I have to gather myself or with a light crew.

I have several sections of tubing that In need to rebuild and redesign this summer as I have learned a lot in 1 year. The tubing and totes are somewhat bulkier to store but this will all work out.

Regards,
Sugarmaker

[tapper]

Chris,
Did you notice if the sap off the tubing taps was nicer than the buckets? Did it stay clear longer than the buckets? Was it worth doing tubing to have cleaner clear sap?

[PA mapler]

With the little cold snap coming this week, I had been debating whether to hold out for one more good run, but the taste of last week's run decided me. It had already gone beyond pleasantly "buddy" to darn-right "unpleasant".

So, it looks like my season is 29 gallons of dark to "C", average 1.5% sugar. 300 health-taps on gravity tubing. Not sure how many gallons of sap I got since most the time I was boiling at the same time as it was running into the tank. My peak sap flow was 30 gallons/hour into the tank last Friday at noon.

For next year, more evaporator-cleaning, better firewood, maybe a few more taps. And some serious chain-sawing to open up my poor trees.

Thanks, guys, for all your advice! This forum is a wonderful place to pick up ideas and ask questions.

[tapper]

Beth,

I was hoping to see you get in on this next cold snap. I made a little very dark stuff Saturday but it still tasted very good probably about the best tasting dark syrup I've ever made. I'm going to hold out and see what happens. It will be the latest I have ever boiled. With this extra warm weather today and tomorrow I am afraid it may end it for me also even though there seems to be no sign of budding.

[PA mapler]

Jon- I have looked at alot of maple buds and haven't seen any sign of swelling, but I can't explain the unpleasant taste of that last batch any other way. The sap was just a little cloudy, and some white fuzzies got sucked off the bottom of the tank when I first filled the evaporator, but nothing seemed abnormal for this time of year. The syrup almost had a burned molasses taste, but nothing burned anywhere. I cleaned the evaporator after and it hardly even needed vinegar. Maybe it was just spoiled?

We're going to Rochester for Easter, and it sure can't hurt to throw the mainline end into the tank just in case. But the way the long range sounds, it might not run til after the weekend anyway. I do still have a cord to burn up!

[Sugarmaker]

Jon,
The sap in the totes was much cleaner, less grit ( road dirt I think), also less moths and fewer ants. It was maybe a little clearer a little longer in the season, so it may have helped keep my grade no worse than nice "B". I liked having the locking lids on the totes. Zero rain water probably helped the sugar content. We placed a wooden pallet down, then the tote and then put a 48 inch bungee cord across the top of the tote and to the pallet on both sides. This was a little more work setting these out but we did not have any blow away or tip over. Also the pallet acted as a snow shoe and supported the tote as the deep snow melted. The sap was cloudy in some of the totes just like in the buckets on the same days.
All the totes were within 20-25 feet of the road and the remote pumping system work good, (when the gatherers remembered to turn the parking lights on:) I had to get new hose for it since the cheap black plastic hose failed twice while we were gathering. I purchased 1-1/2 I.D. pool hose and it seems to be rugged enough to hold up for a while, and will not kink easy.

We took down the tubing and marked the location with a hang tag and placed the bundle in the tote at that location. We needed a small trailer to bring back all the totes (20). The cleaning of the tubing was easy so far, I washed 4 lines at a time using a manifold made from tubing fittings and spouts. We left the rolled up tubing in the totes and set them near the sink in groups of 4 (I used the spouts on the manifold to 'plug' in the 5/16 lines.) I plumbed the manifold to a 1/6 HP sump pump setting in the sink and pumped hot water and small amount of Clorox through all the lines and drops. After running rinse water through them I removed the lines from the tote and washed the tote using the water which remained in them.

Now trying different methods to blow out the remaining water. Tubing is a lot more moves to make than the buckets but seems to be a lot easier on the back. Maybe will have improved systems as I ponder this for next year.

I think the sap was better quality in the totes. Several other things I could have done to improve. 1 take all the sap from the tote a pump wont get to all and a quart or so gets left behind. Totes are not fun to pick up and dump into a bucket to get that last little bit of sap. 2. cleaning the totes and rinsing mid season may have improved the grade?

I think tubing and totes is a good option for anyone considering tubing on gravity at a small scale like our operation.


Sorry for rambling
Regards,
Sugarmaker

[tapper]

Chris,
Lots of very useful info in the rambling Thank You!
I have 2 trees up steep banks that I run tubing into 5 gal buckets. The sap on these 2 trees is always better quality and seems to be better quantity also. I am considering setting up more of the grove this way . I really dont care for all the moths,ants, spiders and worms when it gets warm like it has been.

[Dave Y]

Chris,
Just a suggestion on your pump. Instead of wiring it to your lights, take a16ga. extension cord and wire it to your truck battery cut off the male end to make the battery conection. Then use the end you cut off to wire to your pump. then you can plug it in when you go out and unplug it when you aren,t using it. you can throw a switch in were it is conivenent for ease of operation. I did that with my dump station . It works slick.

[Sugarmaker]

Dave Y,
We do have the pump plugged in to the four prong trailer terminal which was prewired when I bought the truck. I just choose to use the portion ( wire) that is for the parking lights. Anyway, When we had that big run Cheryl was getting her cast on that day and Eric volentered to gather. He hadn't been out with me and couldn't get the pump to work (Because he did not have the light switch on) he figured it out pretty quick. I also did put a toggle switch near the pump so that it can be started while at the tote. Works good. Occasionally the pump does get air locked, could be from the check valve I have in the line near the pump. We just shut it of for a second, let some bubbles come out of the pump and it usually takes off the next time we hit the switch.

Brandon,
You had a good year! That's a lot of boiling hours. And a lot of sap! Won't be long you will be thinking of that next big buck.

Beth,
I noticed the trees weeping more from the tap holes this evening in anticipation of this cold front that is coming through tonight.

Anyone going to re tap and try to make more syrup??

My neighbor still has his taps out so I will be watching those , He tapped March 24 or 25th.

Regards,
Chris

[tapper]

The temperatures for the next week will be colder than it has been in the past 3 weeks since the sap began to flow here. I am looking forward to some good sugarin yet.

[Dave Y]

I still have all my taps out yet. I have a half barrel of commercial i would like to finish filling. I anticapate pulling everything the 14th and 15th.

[PA mapler]

Chris- I'm going to hold out too, if just for curiosities sake! This long of a late cold snap is unusual, and I have wood to use up anyway. And the batch I made the end if last week was just plain half-spoiled, I think, not over-buddy, the more I taste it.

[Sugarmaker]

Dave and Beth good luck in this cold spell. It hit us hard today and the wood fire in the house feels real good!.

I canned 8 gallons of the dark A syrup tonight It almost had a buttery taste to it, ( and I don't use butter as a defomer). Some of the best flavored dark We ever made.

OH yea I am setting here eating a bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with some of this dark syrup poured over top. Not quite sure whether I am having ice cream with syrup or syrup with ice cream. YUM:D

Sugarmaker

[PA mapler]

Chris- I'm still coming down off of a sugar buzz after successfully making Hangingaround's maple cream. Wow, is that good stuff! I couldn't stay out of it last night.

It's 20 degrees this morning, and it looks like a winter wonderland out there. I was thinking of filling all those vinegar containers I have collected with water, to make big ice cubes in case I get a good run of sap next week. Looks like maybe four days here before it breaks the freezing mark again- that should bring a good run of something. Some of the maple buds on the young trees in the yard looked like they were swelling yesterday.

[HanginAround]

Woohoo, another convert :)

[Sugarmaker]

You cant beat a good batch of maple cream!

Some pictures from 2007.
The boards with the names are from the open house, Taste and Tour event in NWPA we had about 150 guests. I will hang these in the sugarhouse. I even had Jesse James sign in right next to Frank James. Humm? (Thought he was dead?).;) This sign-in board idea was from Eric Randal Life member of our Association, He said lot of folks come back year after year just to view their names and buy good syrup.

Sugarmaker

[HanginAround]

Nice pics Chris.

In one of the other ones, is that some kind of tiny model pan you're holding? Looks like just my size, I could tap one tree!

[tapper]

Yes nice pics. All the videos were fun on youtube also. Good way to pass a cold snowy April day.

[royalmaple]

Chris nice pics, really like the sunset one. Hey unless I am seeing things, in the picture where you have the two totes you are emptying, turn around buddy, look across the field. Looks like all maple from here. But I am in Maine and I can't see that far.

[Russell Lampron]

Quit drooling Matt, you have plenty of good trees to look at in Maine. When you get sick of looking at those you can come over to NH and look at mine.

Russ

[royalmaple]

I think I am at the upper stages of the disease.

[tapper]

HaHa I've caught myself looking for maple trees in downtown Buffalo. I am deprived of maple here on my own property and always looking as I'm driving jeeezzz it gets worse every year.

[802maple]

More importantly Tapper did you find any?

[tapper]

Lol always seem to find them.

[Sugarmaker]

Matt,
We have just tons on untapped maples, I am sure those are maples in the background. We need more interested producers in PA,
Thnaks everyone for the comments on the pictures!
I like the sunset/ bucket one also.

Hangin..., Woops you saw the mini evaporator we are developing, TOP secret! It will be next to each tree. Sorry we may have to come looking for you now!:p

Regards,
Sugarmaker

[Dave Y]

Well it finally warmed up enough for the sap to run It started about 3 this afternoon. Dont Know if it will run enough to collect or if the season is over. If it runs i will boil. if it doesnt well the I will probably be in the market for some syrup.

[PA mapler]

It "warmed" up enough today to get about half a gallon of thawed snot out of my pipeline. It's been too cold for six days in a row now for sap, and the forecast for the next several days isn't very exciting either. A few maple buds around the house look like they're swelling, but up on the hill they don't yet. If I get a good run I'll boil, but geez nature sure hasn't cooperated this year!

[tapper]

I had a high temperature of 33.2 degrees here at 2:51 pm. It was at that temp for just a few minutes and started falling. I have never seen the cold set in and stay for days on end like this. Even with the cold temps the grass is getting really green. I cant help but wonder if the longer hours of daylight are having the same affect on the trees and the sap may be no good when it does warm up? There is no sign of bud expansion in the sugar maples and very little sign of it in the red maples. Time will tell. This maple season has made for doing a whole lot of nothing for me.

[Dave Y]

I think I have boiled only four or five times this season. I have spent most of my time standing around waiting. I checked my buckets in my yard this morning, and they have very little sap in them. I can hear the fat lady warming up back stage!

[Maplewalnut]

Did everyone in PA that still has taps out, ream their holes? Looks like it is paying off the farther north you go (Canada especially). I thought about it but decided not to this year as I have a couple of new property owners I am tapping and didn't want to re-hang buckets.

[Sugarmaker]

Tapped 72 new taps ( all buckets) Monday 4-9-07 gathered 130 gallons of nice clear sap on Tuesday 4-10-07. tapped another 45 taps Tuesday 4-10-07. Will cut wood and gather this after noon. Should be boiling again by 7:00-8:00 tonight.
So, do I call this the first April run?
Not really expecting much sap or syrup just couldn't help myself. :confused: I guess I really need some maple counseling!!;)

Regards,
Sugarmaker

[tappin&sappin]

Your crazy! I guess your neighbor really did know something you didn't...?

Won't the buds on the trees make for some poor tasting syrup?

[danno]

Chris - I knew you'd turn over to the dark side of late season tappers/reamers. Find yourself a wholesaler to buy that buddy syrup and boil away!

[Dave Y]

I reamed my holes but I am not getting much sap. I dont expect to collect until Friday and boil saturday.

[tapper]

44 degrees here now and the trees started dripping around noon. I reamed maybe 60% of the taps I have out and put up 20 new taps. The new taps are dripping the best of all but with a south east wind even the new taps are doing very little. Of the taps that were reamed today maybe half still had frost in them some were dripping slightly before reaming and many doing nothing at all.

[PA mapler]

I had put the mainline end into a 5-gallon bucket this morning, and had my husband check it a few times during the day, but it didn't start running much until I got home. I just dumped out 5 gallons of nasty slime, so I'm assuming it's still flushing out the 2 weeks worth of spoiled sap from the lines. It's running about 10 gallons/hour of sap, not too bad considering the weather. I'll check in another hour and see if the sap is clearing up any, and go from there.

Haven't reamed any holes, don't plan to. Too much of a pain this late and on tubing.

[PA mapler]

The sap is clearing now, and the sugar is 1.8%, which is as high as it's been all year here. SO, the mainline got put in the tank. Still not much of a flow, but as cool as it is, it should stay decent in the tank for a good while.

[Dave Y]

Beth, Jon,
Are you getting any sap? I checked buckets last nite and there wasn't much to speak of. However this morninig i checked my yard buckets and some of them will be running over by the time i get home from work. Went out and checked some roadside trees before work and they were all 1/4 to half full and still running. I will be boiling this weekend.

[PA mapler]

Dave- Sap's running, but very slow, my stopwatch/measuring cup test said about 6 gallons/hour of sap. The weather isn't helping. It's 40 and raining, and didn't go below 32 last night. I have about 60-70 gallons in the tank, and am thinking about filling the pans and boiling that little bit, just so it doesn't go bad. The way the forecast looks, the sap might continue to run slow and steady like this for a week. It's either try to collect enough for a long boil, and risk spoilage, or do lots of little boils.

I felt guilty about not giving the reaming-thing a try, so I actually tried a couple dozen trees. I'm not sure what you guys are doing, but I didn't have much luck. I have the 5/16th healthspouts, so I got two new bits, one a 64th larger and the other a 32nd larger. Problem was even the 64th larger bit just about bottomed out the tap heads against the bark, they'll be tough to pull out. I always drill my holes a generous 2-1/2 inches, so I don't have anywhere to go there either.

[Dave Y]

Beth,
Take your 19/64 bit and just run it in the tap hole, then stick your tap back in, It will make all the difference in the world. So what if they hard to get out you have all summer to get them out. you only have 6 weeks to make syrup! get the drill warmed up and start reaming.

[tapper]

Sap is coming in very slow here just as it has all season. I checked at 3 pm of the 300 taps 25% are empty even on taps that I reamed. On the rest of the buckets there is anywhere from just a few ounces to half full with very few being half full. The sap is clear and tastes good all that needs to happen is for the wind to switch around to the west and maybe I can get 1 decent run this season.

[Dave Y]

Jon, I have come to the conclusion that you are not living right. Either that or you need different trees. I collected from 150 of my 600+ buckets and brought in 225. I plan on collecting all of them tomorrow after work. I would not be suprised to have 3 or 400 more gallon. I hope to boil all day Saturday.

[tapper]

Dave,

The thought about better trees has crossed my mind several times but, many of these trees are capable of filling buckets when the weather is right. The weather here has just not been good sap weather. I have access to a group of road trees about 100 taps that I have tapped in the past and strongly considered them this year. They are about 6 miles away and rather inconvenient. I should try them for the next week just to see if there is much of a difference.

[Dave Y]

Jon,
There is nothing inconvenient about road side trees, unless you dont have a truck tank.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Some years you never good sap weather the entire season unfortunately.

[tapper]

Dave,
There you have it! I have a real nice 300 gal gathering tank well it was real nice till I dropped a tree on it last spring making way for the new sugarhouse. The tank was made by Bill Spetz who was my intructor for metal fabircation in vo- tech school. The same tree smashed the fender on the cub cadet and believe me smashing that tank hurt more than the fender.

[PA mapler]

Dave- a 19/64th bit is 1/64th less than the 5/16th of my original holes. So you are reaming with a smaller bit?

Earlier I filled the evaporator and boiled a few hours til the tank was empty, then flushed the fuzzies off of the bottom of the tank and stuck the pipeline back in. I might have gotten a grand total of 80 gallons. Just checked and the sap is still running, maybe a hair faster, about 8 gallons/hour. Clear as a bell. Sugar is nearly 2.0%.

The liquid in the syrup pan is light amber, but smells funny, almost like cardboard??? Is that buddy or past?

[tapper]

Beth,
Taste it even if its not syrup yet. That will let you know for sure.

[PA mapler]

Can sap get "beyond" buddy? Or do the trees quit running before the sap gets too horrible to market? Geez, as clear and sweet as the sap is that's coming in now, I can't imagine it making bad syrup. The stuff in the syrup pan has hardly been concentrated, after just 2 hours boiling, but it just didn't smell like maple.

[tapper]

There are a few posts recently where guys have tried to boil this late season clear sap and the syrup tastes terrible. This has been a very strange season and many of us arent ready for it to be over but mother nature always gets her way. I will find out if my sap is any good tomorrow.

[Dave Y]

Beth, Im sorry I meant 21/64, I get to looking at these bit sizes and sometimes a number sticks in your head. The trees will stop running after awhile. There is no such thing as un marketable syrup. If you think you are goin to make anything other than commercial at this latitude this time of the year you should stop boiling and go fishing.

[Dave Y]

I went out and checked buckets before getting to work. The yard buckets that I emptied yesterday evening are 1/4-1/2 full. Checked buckets that I did not empty the 2gal are running over and the 4gal will be. This could end up being one of the best runs of the season.

[PA mapler]

Dave- I probably won't ream any more trees, since I'm getting low on firewood and time now, work has picked up now that the snow is "gone". I wonder though, for next season, if it would be a stupid idea to drill the new holes 19/64, then halfway through clean them out with a regular 5/16? I haven't tried it to see if the hole might be too tight for the tap, though.

Got another 60 gallons of sap last night in the tank before it dropped below 32, sugar is down to 1.7%. Sap probably won't run today, but tomorrow looks a little more favorable. It'll give me something to do during the blizzard of 2007.

[Dave Y]

Beth,
That is exactly what I was thinking of doing. That way you could ream twice if you wanted or needed to.The way things are going I may have sap next week also!

[PA mapler]

Dave- how are your trees doing down there? I used to do forest inventory plots, probably walked every acre east from Marienville to Owls Nest for the Forest Service, and often you guys were two weeks ahead of Bradford as far as trees leafing out.

[Dave Y]

Beth,
The reds are showing small leaves. But every thing else is in good shape. We normally leaf out around the 10th of may. Sap is running crazy. Reaming may alow me to get a full crop this year. If we get that snow and the temps stay above freezin the sap should pour out. Bring it on!
I too am very familar with the areas east of marienville over into the Owl's nest country. I do alot of trapping over that way. Some deer and goose huntin too! great country. I have tried to buy the house at the Owl's Nest ,but the guy that owns it is not ready to sell yet. Wonder why?!

[PA mapler]

Sap is running crazy. You gotta be kidding! It's been snowing and blowing all day so far, and hasn't gotten over 30 degrees here. The trees are locked up tight. Jon is right- the weather just ain't here this year up here.

I met my first rattlesnake near Big Run, on the border of Forest Service and State Game Lands southwest of Owl's Nest. Just about stepped on it on the edge of a gas well location. Scared the !@&%* out of me. Speaking of beavers, just after the rattlesnake thing I had finally gotten my wits and started working along, when a beaver slapped it's tail down by the stream and I was still so jumpy I just about had a heart attack.

[Sugarmaker]

Experiment with late tapping!


I tapped 72 taps, new trees, Monday 4-9-07
gathered 140 gallons of crystal clear sap 4-10-07.
tapped 45 more (total 117) on Tuesday 4-10-07
Gathered 280 gallons clear cold sap from the 117 taps 4-11-07, sugar content was 2.1%. Best looking sap all season. Sap had a little "FLAT" taste to it.
Quantity of sap was 2 plus gallons of sap per tap which all you can hope for on buckets! Most were running over!!!
(Also gathered 220 gallons 4-12-07.)
started boiling 7:00 wed eve. steam had a faint odor, that continued to get progressively worse (stronger).

Made 4.5 gallons of ULTRA light syrup. BUT the flavor was terrible!! Very woody/ fishy smell and taste. Like Hickory smoked trout!!

Moral;
Don't be greedy!
Make good syrup early!
You cant fool Mother nature!


This will probably be commercial grade syrup.


Disappointed but smarter in NWPA.:(

FYI Our web page is somewhat uptodate with slightly new format, Thanks to Adam!

Regards,
Sugarmaker

[Dave Y]

Chris,
Try making sugar with that off flavored syrup. You may be suprised at the outcome.

[tapper]

I just boiled off 110 gal nice clear sap. Many of my buckets were empty even after reaming. We had a south east wind and maybe 42 degree temps during the majority of the run. My evaporator had dark sap in it from the last boil 2 weeks ago and 110 gallons was not enough to see a color change but, it is still very good tasting dark syrup. 30 degrees and windy at 3 pm no sap today.