Tapping the 2015 Season

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

2015 is here and soon will be the 2015 syrup crop. I am going tot be tapping here this week in southwestern pa. May the sap be with you!!!

Post on this thread how your season is going!!! anybody else charging batteries?

[buckeye gold]

I done some fall tapping and have left those taps out to see what happens. I am seriously thinking of going all in with my regular taps this Friday Jan. 16th. I should really wait but I'm on vacation for two weeks and the weather looks good for Southern Ohio. If the long term still looks good Friday I'll probably take the leap. Typically between January 25th and Feb 1st is normal tapping time around here.

[Dennis H.]

Doesn't look like much activity yet in PA.
My plans are to seriously start looking at tapping after this next cold snap we are getting this coming week.
Now that this week is over I guess I should have tapped already but it is what it is. This coming week the temps are not to get above freezing so I don't feel to bad about not getting them in yet.

I am planning on spending most of this weekend up in the sugarhouse getting all those last minutes things done. I guess I should also get the sap hauling tank onto the back of the truck!

[WernerFarms]

I'll probably be tapping here in the Lehigh Valley this weekend

[unc23win]

I am planning on starting to tap the 5th-6th of February. It looks to be cold here for another week or so. I actually have been charting the accu-weather extended forecast since the Jan 16th (I know kind of nerdy) and it has been showing a warm up of 5-10 days from the 4th-14th it changes some every day, but it keeps showing 5 or more days above 33 in that block so I am keeping an eye on it. Either way I am planning on having them all in by 16th of Feb.

[Dennis H.]

It is looking like I will be delaying tapping again, The 7 day looks to be well below freezing and night times even in the single digits a few days.
Once a see a few days on the forecast that are above freezing then I will decide if it is time to tap.

I always plan to tap the end of the second week in Feb so that I have a time when everything must be done and ready to go. I then adjust the start time as needed due to weather. This season is starting to look like I may actually tap when I planned on tapping.

[Maplewalnut]

Dennis I am holding out another week also. At some point logistically I have to start because it takes me a couple days to tap in but its just too cold this week! I like to get a small run under my belt to work out any kinks, fire up RO, etc. That way I am ready for the real sap.

Vacuum taps will go in first, buckets will be mid Feb or later dependent on weather

[Sandersyrup]

I'm getting excited. I Just ordered my 3/16 supplies. Hopefully I'll be spending next week outside in the cold hanging the lines and prepping everything for the season. Hoping to double my production on natural Vac! :) No More buckets for me!

[Lethalbowman]

Have been thinking about it here in Northern Michigan for a while now but most likely won't even start till late February or even early March.

[aunt stellas gardens]

I put in 14 taps on buckets last Friday. Managed to get 11 gallons of sap in 3 days before the cold weather hit. 2 pints of almost syrup in the fridge! Good way to fix the Winter Inactivity Blues!
This season has the signs of a Banner year. Good luck to all you sugar-makers.

[Maplewalnut]

Well, still havent tapped. One part of me wishes I did two weeks ago when there was 2 inches of snow in the woods not two feet like now. Oh well snowshoes again this year. Plan now is to tap Presidents weekend. Pretty comfortable leaving taps in that long since we have a pretty quick end come April. Hoping for no more snow until some of this melts. Looks like an interesting year again.

[emericksmaple]

Well here we go. Started tapping on sat and tapped Mon ,Tues and wed. Pulled in 1300 gal wed afternoon in to evening. Had a little ro trouble so now we are sitting on a big ice cube. but this weekend looks great!!!!! Dad is going to finish up the last 400 today so we are ready for tomorrow.

[jpcole]

-16 deg F at 1am today, I think Im going to sleep in tomorrow. Wake me up in March.

[Dennis H.]

It is looking like today will be the day to tap the trees.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

Had a little ro trouble so now we are sitting on a big ice cube.

If you wouldn't mind sharing, what was the trouble? We are expecting delivery of a HC2 this month.

[Dennis H.]

Really nice day to be out in the woods. The temps got up in the low 40's and the sun actually came out!

Had a few little problems but by tomorrow I should have them all fixed and the vac will running.
The 1st problem was with a batch of CV's that I had. They were a batch I got about 2 maybe 3 years ago that were dated 2009. I was told that they were before they changed the plastic type. I got a really good deal on them. I had one last bag of 100 so I used them up. I found that the plastic is way more brittle than the current ones. I ended up cracking 5 of them putting them in and I by no means hammered them in hard. SO I had to be extra careful till I used up those 100 taps.

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The other issue was with the moisture trap. I made mine so that it could be taken apart with out any tools but needed silicone caulking to seal it back up when put back together, well apparently at some point I had broken that seal so there went all my vac! Since I had no silicone caulk with me I decided to bring it back home with me and fix it right. I ended up putting in a few SS screws to hold it together now I should not have any issues with that again.

I'll turn the vac on tomorrow when I go back up, by them the sap that was running should have cleaned out the lines.

It looks like I'll get maybe 4 days of good weather before the temps drop back below freezing for a few more days. It seems that this is what this season is going to be like.

[Sugarmaker]

My neighbor called and is chomping at the bit to tap, he said it was 41 degrees. Thought I should at least go out and do something this afternoon. It was warm enough I got the water on in the sugarhouse. Then took down all 31 sets of tubing from the rafters. Loaded the truck with 120 taps and headed to the bush. (which in my case is along the road) The snow was about waist deep along the road in some places. Strung the 6 lines in a hour and was back home for dinner.
Felt good to get started. Just the snow is about as deep as I have seen it. Supposed to get some rain tomorrow. May hang some more tubing as weather permits. Just have to get started at some point. Couple days to hang the tubing, day to take the containers and set them, and day or so to tap. Yea need to get the batteries for the Dewalt hammer drill charged up.
Regards,
Chris

[Springfield Acer]

We spent the morning cleaning buckets, drums, and drop tubes. Then, we spent the afternoon fixing chewed tubing on the tubed section of woods. The weather today and tomorrow made me wish I was already tapped but the upcoming cold spell made me hold back.The next warm spell should be a 'go'.

[Jim Brown]

We will hold off tapping until next Saturday regardless of the weather then off to the hospital. for some some gall bladder repair work (needs to come out) and then watch everyone else work while I watch and heal up!

Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
Hope the surgery goes well. You planned that perfect to get out of making syrup this season.:)
Temps were mid 40's today so I hung the rest of the roadside tubing. Snow was 2 feet deep and solid.
Looks like its going to be cold again this week so we will hold off tapping.
Regards,
Chris

[Springfield Acer]

I tapped last year on 2/15 which is partially due to my wife owning a flower shop. I have to help deliver flowers on the 14th. The sap started running here on the 19th. It looks like I have no worries with Valentine's interfering again this year. In fact, the long range looks like the following weekend may be when I tap. I started tearing apart and cleaning in the shack Sunday afternoon but ended up in bed with a stomach flu thing by 3:30 and am off work today. Fortunately, there is plenty of time. I really need to see some steam flying.

[jrthe3]

i do not think i will be tapping anytime soon if at all this season will need a big thaw got about 4 feet of snow in woods 90% of my tubing in under snow got about a 6 foot bank at end of sugar house driveway heading down to shovel way in and shovel roof off

[3GoatHill]

Gonna don my icegrips and get out there around the 19th or 20th. I was hoping to have a tubing system this year, but it's back to the ole buckets and a couple of dump stations.

[Dennis H.]

1st boil of the season is now complete!!

I went thru 125 gals of sap in 1 hr 30 min from first fire to shut down. Now that is with concentrated sap with my RO, what a difference that makes.
That would normally be at least 5 hrs of boiling time without the RO

[KV Sappers]

Way to go Dennis. 1:30 wow. Time to add more taps at that rate. It really is amazing what your RO did for you. Great job on the RO build. By the way, the sugar shack is complete. Waiting on the electrician to install some lights. Need to get up with Swensons for the hookup yet. To cold for me to tap with the buckets.

[Dennis H.]

kvsapper, I was wondering today how things were coming together for you.

It looks like we will have at least a week now with no sap so that should help getting things complete for you.

[personandy2]

Still haven't tapped in Pittsburgh. Despite the 2-3 days earlier this week of good conditions, weather has been frigid and doesn't look any better until at least next Saturday the 21st, so that's my target!

I tapped on the 15th last year, disappointed to be losing a week but what can you do??

[unc23win]

I have been holding off as well. The forecast for here looks to warm up around Saturday the 21st as well. It might be a good goal although it doesn't look like it is going to stay warm until later on. I will most likely start tapping after work next week and spread it out over a week or two. One thing is for sure the days are getting longer so there is more opportunity for tapping after my day job. My idea is to use weekends for bigger jobs.

[Maplewalnut]

Holding out a little longer also. Not real pumped to tap this weekend in 2 ft snow, temps in single digits and 20-30 mph winds. I'm with Jared an hour more daylight and increasing everyday plays a big part in my schedule this time of year. Even at the brunt of the season my schedule is the same... I get home from work, start RO, go on leak patrol til dark and then fire up evaporator. Best part is my 13 and 15 year old are home by 3pm instead of 4:30 like last year. Thats another 3 hours of help a day. Homework gets done in sugarhouse between firing!!

[Dennis H.]

Got another 130 gals of sap today, well it was from yesterday I just picked it up this morning.
Now that the temps are dropping I will be done now for at least a week.

[emericksmaple]

Froze up now, but off to a start. Boiled Sunday, Monday and Wed and have 144 Gal made. Next warm weather looks like maybe end of next week.

[Springfield Acer]

The weather for Mercer PA says a high of 15 next Thursday and then 42 Friday and Saturday. I will try to tap next week and hope the trees thaw out quickly enough to flow. Here we go (Steelers) here we go!!:lol:

[Springfield Acer]

I don't know what weather forecast I was looking at last night, but I don't see warming temps for two weeks??

[Jim Brown]

My crew will wait till next weekend!
Jim

[unc23win]

I don't know what weather forecast I was looking at last night, but I don't see warming temps for two weeks??

That is pretty much the same here. I have been tracking the long term forecast for a while the longest ahead of time it has been accurate 6 days 1 time since Jan 16th. So I guess there is more time to get ready. At least mine is predicting a warm up the 27th and then 32 or above through the March 11th (as far as it goes) that I think would be one good start. I just came back from Allentown today it was 5 when we left there it was -3 at first stop on the blue route when I was filling the washer fluid then it was 3 @ hickory run and at home -6 @ NOON and sunny. On hold here for sure.

[pennslytucky]

-11 last night and -15 for tonight in fredonia. accuweather says no sap till about feb 28. doubt it runs till march, but then it looks like it will run right into april...if that forecast is close. im not even putting drops out till next weekend. the sun sure feels good but its way too cold to work with tubing still. im afraid our season will be awful short this year with the days being so long now. if it warms up much, we will get buddy sap in a week

[Sugarmaker]

-28 F this morning in Fairview PA. Just a tad cold to be doing anything except going to get the paper for the wife, and throwing another log on the fire!
Regards,
Chris

[unc23win]

I finally tapped about 50 last night while I was waiting for my tractor to warm up. It was beautiful weather for tapping I wish I would have had more time. It is AMAZING how nice 22' and sunny feels compared to the last few days. It was still light at about 6:15 the forecast continues to be all over the place, but no matter what this weekend it is on for me.

[pennslytucky]

me too. going to just tap em this weekend. no matter what, we are close enough. and if it is a short season, i want to be done tapping and ready for it instead of scurrying around while the trees are running

[3GoatHill]

Tapped. Was going to wait till next week, but I had some helpers today.

[cablebandit]

Shooting for Wednesday.

[personandy2]

i tapped on saturday in pittsburgh. temps were around 35 saturday and sunday. unfortunately getting cold again this week but i had a full open day to get out there. Weather is looking up starting this coming weekend. Hopefully it will be running!

[cablebandit]

Got everything tapped today. All the trees were still frozen solid here in Stormstown. Hopefully this weekend will get things going.

[umpwood1]

I am going to wait a week to let things thaw.Chomping at the bit to get started. Over a foot of snow in Port Matilda. Going to be tough collecting. Good luck all.

[Maplewalnut]

Have a couple hundred in so far. Taking my time due to both the snow and my own speed. Man I hate walking in snowshoes!! Dont trust weatherman much this time of year, and sun is definitely warmer even if it is only 20 degrees out. Not much in 10 day forecast but you never know and I will be ready.

[unc23win]

I'm right with Maplewalnut I have about 4-500 in and I'm plugging away at the rest. I don't trust the forecast either. It seems to change a lot and not be accurate much past a few days. I'm thinking I might finish tapping this weekend and get most everything ready to go. Liking the extended daylight and only 1 more week until setting the clocks ahead.

[Cabin]

Have a couple hundred in so far. Taking my time due to both the snow and my own speed. Man I hate walking in snowshoes!! Dont trust weatherman much this time of year, and sun is definitely warmer even if it is only 20 degrees out. Not much in 10 day forecast but you never know and I will be ready.

I have been putting off tapping hoping the snow got hard enough to walk on. But I refuse to go into march without having the taps in. I only do about 45 taps but it is a nice way to bring in spring and produce something during mud season.

[Sugarmaker]

Forecast still doesn't look like much weather for making syrup (Erie area). May be 1-2 days above freezing in next two weeks!
Just feel like I need to be doing something. So I guess I will venture to the cold sugarhouse and see what trouble I can get into.
Regards,
Chris

[Sugarmaker]

Well I found trouble all right! At the back of the sugarhouse I had noticed a spot in the snow where it was bear ground and wet. That was several days ago, maybe a week? I didn't think much about it as I knew the ground wasn't really frozen much under the deep snow. When I went out yesterday I seen that the wet area was getting bigger and like a glacier the snow was calving into the wet area. Very strange I thought. Well I proceeded to take a bunch of stuff to the house to make maple products since it was just too cold and I did not have any water turned on out there. While in the house I kept hearing this humming noise in the basement. Checked and seemed the water pipes were vibrating, and water was running somewhere! Finally dawned on me that the deep freeze had taken another victim. The pipes and or frost free hydrant under the sugarhouse, 3 feet below the cement, had frozen and broke. And we were pumping water under the sugarhouse for several days! Shut the water off going to the sugarhouse and will have to wait till about June to fix this problem. This should be fun:(
Regards,
Chris

[Jim Brown]

Chris;And you wondered what you would do with all your time when you retired! Sorry to hear about your water problem. Ours was that there was 30 plus inches of snow in the woods yesterday the kids only got 300 taps in (on snow shoes)second sugarbush(200 taps) was snowed in and the tractor and blade was working on opening it up yesterday afternoon. Plan on tapping it on Friday. Snowing like crazy right now about 4 inches of new snow this morning already. Predicting 6-9 inches.

Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
Water will have to be piped out with garden hose, I guess. Luckily we are only 150 feet from the house.
We may try to set containers and tap sometime this week. As the temps 'might' reach the freezing mark. Keeping my expectations low. Hope you get your tapping done, We have the same amount of snow plus some where they have plowed the roads 5 feet deep where we walk. If I can get the containers set and tapped we can gather Ok.
Good luck with your open house coming up too!
Regards,
Chris

[Springfield Acer]

We got all of our bucket trees tapped yesterday and today. We lost time when the transmission in my new Ranger locked up. I lost three hours getting it dropped off at the dealer. I'm praying that it's a quick fix because that is my sap hauler. On the other hand, the snow is too deep in places for it. I may be using the tractor or some type of sled and the snowmobile until the snow compresses a bit.
We actually had sap dripping from the sunny sides yesterday when we drilled,
We still have 120 or so taps on tubing to put in but I am waiting for CV2's since I am going with vacuum this year.
Always something!

[unc23win]

Well I had a productive weekend I only have about 200 taps to go, which I can get done after work this week. I think we have a few more days maybe more before we get sap.

[jrthe3]

well i atempted to put out some drums today after having to dig myself out twice i gave up thinking i going to wait till next week to tap 3 to 5 feet of snow everywhere

[Springfield Acer]

With nothing else to do and 40*, I took advantage of the break in rainfall and rode all my sap hauling routes back and forth with the snowmobile trying to beat the snow beat down enough for the Ranger (if I get it back from the repair shop). Otherwise, I may have to find/buy an ice fishing toboggan to haul a tank on and pull it with the Ski Doo.
Tic Toc Tic Toc.....................

[jrthe3]

snow shoes came today i going to start tapping tomorrow get my couple small gravity bushes out of way

[Sugarmaker]

Boyd,
Good to hear from you. Maybe I need to wait and not get to excited. I have 3 to 6 foot plowed snow near the trees!
Went to Wiggers (Clymer NY) today for some tubing supplies and new grade labels. They had several new evaporators ready to go from 1/2 pints, 2 x 6's and a nice looking 3 x 10 drop flue.
Regards,
Chris

[Dennis H.]

What a great day that we had today, The Sun was out all day and the tamps got up to 43 degrees.
I got all the leaks in the lat's fixed and I even managed to replace a fitting in a mainline. I had one of those plastic barb fittings and it was leaking so I replaced it with a SS barb fitting. I found that they can be a pain to replace but once it is in it becomes a non issue from then one.

The releaser was dumping slowly but seeing that we had single digit temps at night the past few days I was impressed that they were running at all today.

[Springfield Acer]

We spent all day in the tubed bush today getting all the taps replaced with CV2's and drilled in.
I got my new vac set up with homemade releaser finalized and up and running. After a little gasket adjustment, it started drawing and was up to 26" in short time.
Still nothing flowing yet.
Maybe tomorrow or Monday but not likely. The rest of the week looks good here finally.
Maybe......I'll boil yet by Wednesday or so.

[jrthe3]

got half the vacuum tuhing tapped and most of the gravity tapped had to fight threw waist deep snow cause snow shoes turn into skies on down hill slopes rest should be smooth sailing on snow shoes hope to finish tomorrow

[Dennis H.]

Sap is flowing!
I picked up about 180 gals this afternoon and will be running again in the morning. This week is looking to be a real good one.

[Sugarmaker]

We are going to start tapping this morning. I would like to get half of them tapped today, The snow is a couple fee deep and looks like we are going to have to wallow through it if we are going to try to get this first run. We don't have any snow shoes. Over the weekend I cut in the 30 collection locations along the road most had 4 feet of crusty packed snow. Sap should stay nice and cool setting in the snow. Sugarhouse is closer to being ready with all of the tractors out of the way. Checked the evaporator and the frost has moved it a little but should be OK to boil on. (About 1/4 inch lower on the left side:(.)
Also digging out of the sap tanks and wood carts. Just cant remember a start where we have had this much snow on the ground!
Good luck to everyone.
Boyd, sounds like you are off to a great start.
Regards,
Chris

[Gary R]

We're tapped and running. Only about 25 gal. of sap yesterday on the vacuum lines. I let that all dump on the ground. Vacuum level is great and I didn't have any major leaks. 3/16 is running a little also. I was cutting trees for firewood yesterday. We still have up to 20" of snow. I noticed that the bottom of the trunks were covered in ice near the ground. I imagine the trunks are still frozen down there and causing very little sap flow. I expect today to be better but probably won't have enough to boil until Tuesday.

[liljohn]

The sap is flowing slowly here in West Central PA (DuBois area).
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[Sugarmaker]

Just finished tapping, all taps 580+ in place thanks to friend I used to work with. Gerry followed me drilling and set the taps. With the snow we tapped at about 100 taps per hour. I was glad to get them in as the weather looks favorable for the next few days. We may have sap to gather on Wednesday.
Gary,
You should be boiling tomorrow.
Regards,
Chris

[Dennis H.]

Got another 100 goals this morning and ran it thru the RO.
Working on boiling it right now. About 280 galls of sap and I'll be done in about 3 hours.
I love my RO.

[mapleack]

Finally started yesterday with 600 gal of sap. Latest start ever.

[personandy2]

So i'm still a relative newbie... how long do you guys think the sap will run this year? seems like the season may almost be cut in half!

[Sugarmaker]

Andy,
Good to hear your right at it! Should have a run every day for a while.
Dennis,
Sounds like the R.O. is reducing boiling time a bunch!
Regards,
Chris

[Jim Brown]

Had 25 inches of vac on both bushes yesterday NO SAP ! still 25+ inches of snow in the woods

Jim

[unc23win]

I got about 400 gallons yesterday lots of slush. I'm guessing things ran a little a few days ago and froze the lines before I had the vacuum going. I had a stuck piston on my releaser and managed to find a few leaks and um 18 taps that I missed. Thinking maybe today will be a bigger run and that will get things started.

[Sugarmaker]

Checked several containers and if we gathered we would have about 200 gallons of sap. Lots to do to get ready so we will wait to gather either tonight or tomorrow. Just checked Accuweather and we will have ran in 101 minutes:) That should start a run if anything is ever going too!
We may be boiling tomorrow after noon. Sap that's out there has a little bit of ice on it so it will be fine.
Good luck to all the syrup producers. Look like its GO time.
Regards,
Chris

[pennslytucky]

my gravity line is slowly running, but the little 12 tap line in the yard with the sap sucker got 4 gallon this morning already. finally

[Gary R]

It was a poor sap run today. We did have 150 gal. and boiled it tonight. Everything is smooth in the sugar house. We had some company and had plenty of beer. Taking the day off and cutting wood. Good luck everyone!

[DASH]

We tapped over the weekend, all on gravity and so far not much is happening! Seems like the trees want to let go of there precious sap - just not ready yet!

Once the run starts I'm thinking we will be running unable to keep up. At least that's what we all hope for! We shall soon see
Good syrup making to all!
DASH

[Springfield Acer]

My buckets on sugars were bone dry this afternoon. My reds on vac ran enough to collect.
I boiled down all 180 gallons that I've collected the last two days after work tonight.
My hydro read 1.8% and by the time I was done boiling I had two draws so when and if it runs, I'm prepped.
Good luck to all who are on the tour with getting some sap to boil.
If it does not run here, we'll come see you! :D

[FunnyFarm]

Sap ran all day yesterday. Let the day before run onto the ground to purge the birch muck from the lines from last year.
We're at 295 taps so far and still have a bit of tapping to do on a steep side hill covered in 3 feet of snow.
Hoping to add those in this weekend and cap off around 350 trees. With the reverse osmosis up and running
and some reworks to the evaporator should be a smooth season. Here it comes!
Good luck all!

[unc23win]

Taking the day off and cutting wood. Good luck everyone!

That's my kind of day off more work. My wife says can't you ever just take a brake? Um No Luckily no wood cutting for me unless another tree or limb falls on my line. I was up to about 1200 gallons of sap this morning. Tested poor 1.7. It sort of seeped in all night long nothing to get too excited about yet probably will fire for the first time tonight. I still have some leaks to find when I get time. I got side tracked last night by a burst water pipe in my barn, it has not been a good year for water for me between my barns and sugarhouse one of them seems to have a problem every day.

[Dennis H.]

Collected sap this morning and the tank was all but over flowing, I figure about 270 gals.

[Sugarmaker]

Gathered sap twice totaling 500 gallons of sap. Sugar content avg 2.4% Not great runs yet. Boiled on the new pans with the pan builder there for the initial boil. Thanks Dave (Creekside Welding and Machine).
I changed three things this year.
New designed AOF (top rail system)
New front and rear pans (with 9 inch drop flues)
New grates.
Well it boils different than the old stuff.
Was not pushing it to much, to learn about the pans, but was only able to get the stack temp to 300-400 F, used to run at about 600 F?? Seems the deeper flues may be lowering the stack temp.
Boil at the front of the flue pan was 10 inches (as high as the pan depth). May have to put in a shield to keep from bubbling into the steam-away over flow?
Friend Gary G was helping and we had noticed that we did not have as good of a boil in the front of the front pan as normal. Started playing with all the draft controls, including natural draft. Finally tried the AOF full open and it took off boiling like crazy. I have slightly larger air outlets in the nozzles. That was a surprise.
Well drew off about a gallon and a half and it was dark! Go figure!
Froze last night, may get a run this afternoon? Tired already:)
Off to get ready for the 12th annual Maple Taste and Tour.
May go and help Keith and Bonnie T make candy.
Regards,
Chris

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Chris if you only have 10" above your flues, you may be in trouble. Probably need at least 15" especially with 9" flues. Mine has 15 with 7.5" flues and would still boil up to top of the pan.

[Gary R]

Boiled 150 gal last night and made about 3 qts of syrup. Looks amber with lots of niter. Sugar content of sap has been 1.0-1.3%. I should have made that RO. We keep chucking wood and not making much:(

Dennis, I thought you fixed that overflow problem with bigger tanks!

unc23win, I think that's how it goes around here. Work harder at home than at work. The loggers just left and we have 1000+ tops left. I'm trying to clean some things up and work on a wildlife improvement project.

[Dennis H.]

Yeah Gary I thought I did to, but I guess I must have been spilling a lot of sap on the ground with my old tank.
I may be adding an overflow to this cage tank and then having that flow into a SS dairy sink that I have used in the past with my Bender releaser. That would add about 70 gallons capacity.

The sugar content for me is not great but it seems that this is what I always get so really it is normal. I have been hovering around 1.5%
But with the RO I have been able to bring it up to 5% in about 1 hour. Reducing what would normally take me 10-12 hrs on my 2x5 to only 2-2.5 hours.

I finished my 1st syrup of the season today and I thought I was going to make some light but in the end it was a very light dark, almost a medium. I also got use my gear pump converted manual filter press and I love it. Took less than 5 minutes to run the 6 gals of syrup thru it.

[pennslytucky]

im getting a lot of niter too. never seen so much. but my sugar % is looking better than most are posting on here. no refractometer but sap in/syrup out= 2.5% so far

[Gary R]

Sorry, it was 200 gal yesterday and another 175 today, all done. It looks like this weekend will be great. I'm hoping for one of those 2 gal per tap runs!

[Springfield Acer]

We pulled in 160 late this afternoon but my vac never made a drop until 4:00 due to an apparent low spot in my main that must have frozen. It's fixed now and I pulled another 55 gallons by 9:30. My buddy brought another 65 to put 280 more in the tank. I did not boil tonight so I am looking at 8 hours of boiling before the weekend even starts. Maybe I'll take off early tomorrow to get a head start. My sap was at 2.2% tonight probably due to more sap from sugars.
Weeeeoooooo!

[Sugarmaker]

Chris if you only have 10" above your flues, you may be in trouble. Probably need at least 15" especially with 9" flues. Mine has 15 with 7.5" flues and would still boil up to top of the pan.

Brandon,
I only seem to be in trouble when the sap is a little deep on start up. After the sap is at a normal 1.5 inch depth the top of the boil is about a 1/4 inch from the pan lip. Dave is going to build me a splash guard.
Yes those 15 inch pans should keep the rolling sap inside.
Hope your season is going well!
Regards,
Chris

[Sugarmaker]

We pulled in 160 late this afternoon but my vac never made a drop until 4:00 due to an apparent low spot in my main that must have frozen. It's fixed now and I pulled another 55 gallons by 9:30. My buddy brought another 65 to put 280 more in the tank. I did not boil tonight so I am looking at 8 hours of boiling before the weekend even starts. Maybe I'll take off early tomorrow to get a head start. My sap was at 2.2% tonight probably due to more sap from sugars.
Weeeeoooooo!

Nice report! Your right into it, and we will be covered up with sap for a few days!
Regards,
Chris

[Sugarmaker]

Sorry, it was 200 gal yesterday and another 175 today, all done. It looks like this weekend will be great. I'm hoping for one of those 2 gal per tap runs!

Gary,
Hit it and hit it hard!
I have to get out there, burning daylight, and Kieth will be calling in a few minutes:)
Jim Bortles and I did make 7.5 gallons of dark and medium syrup last night. Getting the new pans and AOF dialed on slowly!
Stack temp are 425 max!!!! Rear pan is rolling boil at both the front and the back!
300 gallons of sap in about 2.5 hours from cold start.
Regards,
Chris

[unc23win]

Sounds like everyone is getting started. I Got in the first official boil last night. I think today is going to be a good day it froze around 8 last night might run all night tonight. Sugar content was about 2-2.1 so that's better. I have a few leaks to try to find in the morning then it will be time to put in some more line.

[Dennis H.]

The sap is flowing nicely now.
In just over 12 hrs my tank, which holds 275 gals, was overflowing.
I think for us down here the time has come, you better have your swimmies and floaties.

[Dennis H.]

Ran this morning and evening for sap and got a total of 320 gallons.
Total sap so far is 1920 gallons.
Sugar content dropped by .1 Today, not sure if the rain had anything to do with that.

[KV Sappers]

Agree Dennis. Running good past 2 days. This week looks like a good one. I've only put out 8 buckets and I will be pulling them the end of next week. Have some commitments I can't get out of. I'm looking forward to next year already. Will definitely have that new evaporator up and running for next year.

[Sugarmaker]

Our sap qty has not been great? Gathered 350 gallons of sap Friday night sugar was 2.5 -3%. Made 4.5 gallons of dark syrup.
Saturday Taste and Tour was great. I get to talk a lot:) Lots of new folks getting in to making syrup too.
We did not get a run last night so will be boiling the last of Fridays sap tomorrow, pushing it through with water for show and to get a few gallons of syrup for customers.
Regards,
Chris

[Gary R]

Well I had wishful thinking on the sap flows. We did get 212 gal yesterday and it looks like we got another 100 last night. Sugar is about 1.4%. We made about 8 gal. of medium so far and going to filter/can today. It's supposed to be in the upper 50's tomorrow, hopefully that will loosen things up for everyone. Good luck!

[pennslytucky]

My gravity line didn't make a drop yesterday. Vac trickled a little but real slow. With that warm rain I expected it to run....

[DASH]

I'm in the same boat, lot's of taps in trees - nothing coming out!

So we wait

Chris, how did the "Taste and Tour" go for you? We wanted to get over and see your operation but just wasn't in the cards this weekend. We are not far from you, we are on the State Line north of 226

[Dennis H.]

I forgot that this weekend was taste and tour.
I hope it went well for everyone,

One of these days I should host my own open house type of thing.

Today was a day of finishing syrup. I have been boiling so much everyday that I was not able to finish and bottle any syrup.

[KV Sappers]

One of these days I should host my own open house type of thing.

Go for Dennis. I'll come.

[HowardR]

After a late start, I had a couple of good runs on Thursday and Friday. I've been watching the Internet forecast for tonight (Sunday night) all day. Early forecasts were for above freezing, but latest is 31, with a high tomorrow above 60, so I'm expecting the start of a big run. This looks to be a short but very intense season.

[Sugarmaker]

I'm in the same boat, lot's of taps in trees - nothing coming out!

So we wait

Chris, how did the "Taste and Tour" go for you? We wanted to get over and see your operation but just wasn't in the cards this weekend. We are not far from you, we are on the State Line north of 226

Dash,
You must be near Malon Shetler Stateline Stainless?
Your welcome to stop in anytime. Hope your doing well.
Regards,
Chris

[KV Sappers]

Trees barely running today. Guess they don't like all the wind. Looking good for this week.

[DASH]

Yes I know Malon, he's my neighbor and a good friend. He did most of the work on my pans and did great job.

I May take you up on the offer, would like to see how you do sugaring and I'm sure I could learn something.
Thanks
DASH

[unc23win]

Is the weekend over? Not much sap over the weekend, but enough to boil on Sunday so now we have boiled 3 times this season. Sugar content was 2.3 so looking good. My brother is visiting so he helped and we reworked a section of about 90 taps and added on 80 new taps. Today looks to be a good day for sap later on and the whole week looks as well.

[Maplewalnut]

Same out here in the east. Keep expecting more but not getting the sap. Our sugar is still low, still alot of snow to melt, not even any tree base rings showing up yet. hoping it changes quickly, I for run am running out of time...very hard to make syrup past first week in april here.

Mike

[Dennis H.]

Kvsapper, I found that this morning our yard was still rock hard with frost. Now this afternoon it is starting to soften up a little.
This is odd for us to have this much ground frozen this late. My buckets here at the house have done nothing to write home about.

[Sugarmaker]

Last time we gathered was Friday. Today I gathered 500 gallons of 2+% sap. We made 3.5 gallons of Amber. Ran a tank over and watered the yard with some sap.
That puts us at 20 gallons of syrup for the year.
Regards,
Chris

[Maplewalnut]

Any observations from you guys in west part of the state this morning? This front blowing in will either open things up completely for a few hours or shut down the little flow I currently have. Ive noticed I get almost the same observations you guys post just about 6 hours later!!!

Mike

[Gary R]

The sap really flowed well for me in the west. West wind and near 60. 386 gal. collected yesterday. We checked the tanks this morning and I'll have another 300 this afternoon when I get home. Sugar content is at best 1.3. We've made 15 gal so far out of 1350 gal of sap. I've boiled every day since last Tuesday. My father left to go back to Florida. He was a great help. I'll need to take some time off of work to keep up.

[cablebandit]

Just finished my first fifteen gallons of sap. (8 trees on buckets) I boiled it down to almost syrup so I can finish it all on the kitchen stove at the end of the season. The result so far is VERY dark with lots of niter.

[Gary R]

Boy it's pretty quiet on here. No sap or everyone boiling?

Collected 318 yesterday. Got it all boiled before things froze up. I've talked to a few backyarders and their buckets aren't running well. For whatever reason it seems that high vacuum is pulling us through.

[unc23win]

My sap ran pretty good on Monday and actually ran all night and in to Tuesday. Tuesday was not a big run, but added to the overnight from Monday it turned out alright and I was actually surprised by how much I had last night to boil. While I was boiling the wind was swirling every direction. It froze very early around 7 last night and was 18 this morning according to my phone @ 6. Sugar content has been 2 or better. If you can trust the forecast better sugaring weather is still ahead of us.

[doocat]

Here in the northeast corner of the state (two counties over from Jared) we pretty much mirrored his day. Good run Monday into Monday night, slowed up but ran until about 7 pm Tuesday. About 2+ gallons per tap. Making nice light syrup. Cold week ahead.

Craig

[Maplewalnut]

Craig- I was surprised to see our weather forecast this morning..seems to be trending colder and colder, now accumulating snow on Friday again.

[pennslytucky]

my accuweather extended forecast has sugaring season going all the way to the first of may! haha. freezing nights all the way through april. this has been one helluva winter.

Gary, i agree on the vac. without my little aquatec pump, i'd have almost nothing. 33 taps in the gravity line have given a TOTAL 20 gallon. ive stopped and talked to everyone around here with buckets and bags and all but one are wondering where the sap is. the only guy getting good runs has all his bags in his huge yard on the south side of a hill.

high of 40 today, but full sun. the little vac line is already pulling juice through the ice in the lines. i dont expect much from gravity today again.

ive just been evaporating on the big wood stove. kinda glad i didnt follow through with the plan for a large evap and lots of taps this year. id really be wringing my hands, pacing back n forth, wondering how to recoup some cost

[Jim Brown]

Things are froze up We finished off 10gallon of syrup this morning and now we wait again. Temp says 45 degrees but i'll bet a dollar the trees will not run much if at all today!Sun shine or no. My test tree(2buckets) in my front yard is not running .Even with an unexpected trip to the hospital over the weekend Pulled 750 gallon in 24 hours(last run) with 21 inches on vac on 475 taps. Sugar is only 1.5%

we wait
Jim

[Dennis H.]

First off I have to say I am sorry to KVSappers, I posted my last update from my tablet and that dang autocorrect/complete changed their name to kidnapper!!
Did not notice it till now. Sorry.

Now for an update, Monday was a big day for me. Collected about 550 gals in 24 hrs, my biggest ever. I am hoping that the coming cold spell can bring my sugar content back up a little in my sap. I am normally at 1.5% and starting Sunday it started to drop. I was at 1.1% at one point but now I am hovering at 1.3%.
Thank goodness for the RO, Gary R you need to make or get one, it sounds like you are in the same boat as me.

But all told, I am actually happy with this season so far. In only 13 days I have made 1/2 of what I made back in 2013 when I made the most syrup ever and that year went on and on and on. With the weather that the next 10 days show I should have no problems at least matching that year.

[Run Forest Run!]

First off I have to say I am sorry to KVSappers, I posted my last update from my tablet and that dang autocorrect/complete changed their name to kidnapper!!
Did not notice it till now. Sorry.


Thank goodness I wasn't drinking my coffee when I read that! That's hysterical. :lol:

[pennslytucky]

jim, my vac is running almost as hard as it did monday. hope yours is too!

either way, the sun sure feels good. im headed out to cut wood :)

[Jim Brown]

Just came from the woods everything is froze !!! Vac ran the gauge to 26inches and not a drop of sap from 300 taps! Maybe tomorrow!

we wait
Jim

[unc23win]

My weather app still says a chance of 36', but its only 30' now. A day off won't bother me much it will give me time to recharge and clean my pans and get ready for more.

[doocat]

Mike, The forecast shows only two days in the next seven high enough to get sap! Wow...

[KV Sappers]

First off I have to say I am sorry to KVSappers, I posted my last update from my tablet and that dang autocorrect/complete changed their name to kidnapper!!
Did not notice it till now. Sorry.

Now for an update, Monday was a big day for me. Collected about 550 gals in 24 hrs, my biggest ever. I am hoping that the coming cold spell can bring my sugar content back up a little in my sap. I am normally at 1.5% and starting Sunday it started to drop. I was at 1.1% at one point but now I am hovering at 1.3%.
.
Hey no problem. Happened to me many a time. Darn things think they no more then we do. Sounds like you've been busy. Interesting you had a good day on Monday. I had nothing in the buckets. I collected some on Sunday and Tuesday. Today they started to run the best yet. I'll boil down what I have tomorrow. I've been holding at 1.5%. One day last week I went down to 1% but they've come back up to 1.5. With the way the trees are running this year on buckets I really think it's time I switch over to tubing.

[Gary R]

I'm waiting and I think I'll regret it:) I got about 150 gal just this afternoon. I decided to wait and boil tomorrow. Tomorrow should be a little better so I have a long boil ahead.

Dennis, I was going to build an RO last summer. I just though when is it ever going to stop on big spending for this hobby! You know how it feels to boil with low sugar. We keep chucking wood and get little out.

Jim, I hope all is well with your incident over the weekend. Put a gauge on the end of the mainline. Maybe there is a leak and the vacuum is good at the pump. I didn't even start my pump until noon. Things didn't start really running until late afternoon. Good luck.

[Sugarmaker]

Boiled for about 3 hours this morning. Made 10 gallons of amber syrup. Boiled in 280 gallons of 3% sap in about 2 hours. May have to gather again tonight. Weather is bright sand sunny but only about 35 deg.
Keith Talbot made a couple gallons of syrup.
Triple Creek was bringing in sap and has been making syrup right along.
Regards,
Chris

[Jim Brown]

Finally found the leak at a mainline fitting! was holding 22inches this afternoon. Trees didn't start running till after 2;00pm main lines were froze till then. will let pumps run till late as the freeze and SNOW are expected after 10:00pm
Trees were running well as the temp was only 43 degrees. Supposed to get down to 30 overnight.

Jim

[pennslytucky]

mine stopped as soon as the sun went down. doesnt seem to matter what the temps are this spring...when the sun is shining, they run. when its not, they dont.

[Gary R]

Now I know I screwed up by not boiling last night. The last two days I've gotten 425 gal. so far. I'm over 6 hours into my boil and a few more to go. Dennis, please remind me why I should have built that RO :)

I went to pump out my 3/16 about 7:30. The one tank was overflowing and running really hard. I'd better do it again tonight. All of my stock pots are full of syrup. Saturday looks like a big run. I need to filter and bulk first. Get your swimmies on!

[Dennis H.]

Gary, I know how you feel. Every load of sap I collect now I divide it by 25, which is what my evap chugs along at.
And when I am boiling that concentrated sap for only 2 hrs knowing that it would have taken me 10 I go in to where the RO sits and I give it a great big hug!!
Yeah it cost me some money, But think of all that firewood that I don't have to split and stack. I look at it more as a time saver for the summer.

Anyway, Sap is is coming in steady now, I have been getting at least 200 gals each load I go and get, but the sugar content still sucks and has hit 1% yesterday.
I feel that as long as I collect enough to cover the cost of going to get the sap I am good with it.

[Jim Brown]

Collected 480 gallon yesterday before things FROZE UP at 9:00pm Got the ro running this am will check the trees later this morning as it is only 33 degrees now!

Jim

[unc23win]

I didn't get very much sap yesterday I don't think I would have gotten any had it not been for vacuum, although it was a nice day for working in the woods my brother who was visiting from TN helped add on taps. Right now it is snowing and tomorrow looks to be the next good sized run for me. Hoping everyone on the Potter-Tioga Maple Weekend Tour has sap to boil for the weekend. I'm planning on getting out to visit others.

[Gary R]

Another super day for us. Over 2/gal. per tap yesterday. I pulled a Hardy and both of my 3/16 tanks were overflowing:lol: Boiled late and left some sap for today. Bulking and cleaning pans before we get back to boiling.

I have a question for anyone in western PA. I apologize for bringing this up on this thread. I figured I would reach the most of you on this one. I'm wondering if anyone is interested in buying bulk syrup for retail. I have it in 5 gal. and should be able to offer 30 gal. per year. The price of wholesale syrup is falling a lot. I understand the whole business of supply and demand. However, I'm hoping a retailer looking for a few extra gallons would be willing to pay a little better than the wholesale buyers. Bulk prices may fall under $2 per lb. For that it does not pay to make syrup. I have looked at going into the retail market. It costs too much to be fully insured for the amount of syrup I produce. If this doesn't work out I'll just cut back to 20-25 gal a year for family and friends. The rest of the sap can go on the ground. Please PM me if your interested. Sorry for the post and I hope the sap is flow for you!

[Sugarmaker]

Gary,
Nice job making syrup! Continue to have fun and the rest will fall into place.
Things have been moving along slowly the NWPA. Sap qty did not reach 1 gallon per tap run yet. Came close again yesterday with 500 gallons of 3% sap collected. Had sap from previous night also. We boiled 850 gallons of raw sap, made 21+ gallons of nice Amber syrup. Checked the evaporation rate on the new pans and seems to be about 140 GPH. About 40+ gallon per hour improvement!
Puts our current syrup pile at about 50 gallons, or 1/3 of normal. looks to be syrup weather for awhile.
Regards,
Chris

[Dennis H.]

Hey Gary, your message box is full.
Can not send you a pm.

[pennslytucky]

sun is shining! my aquatec sap sukka is already pulling water through the ice in the lines. glad i boiled all day yesterday and got the tanks emptied. gonna be a good day

[Gary R]

Sugarmaker, thanks for the good word. In the last two weeks we've gotten 2850 gal of sap and made 30 gal of syrup. That's about half of a banner year in two weeks. I boiled 8 hours yesterday and still have sap in the tank. Sap has been at 1%:( I think I'll boil for a couple of days and call it quits. Good luck to all!

Hi Dennis, I cleaned it up.

[Sugarmaker]

Small run of 265 gallon last evening @ 3.2%.
Boiled and pushed 10 gallon through the rig before noon today. 60.5 gallon to date. Grade is right at Golden. I may have one of those bad grading kits (2014) that I have heard about, where the light is too light???
Regards,
Chris

[pennslytucky]

whats the problem with the low sugar some of you seem to be getting? i havent checked mine, but it must be decent. im getting a quart out of every 9-10 gallon so far. made 3 1/2 gallon of beautiful medium syrup that tastes better than i ever remember.

saps running some today, but im still scrapin the barrel to keep boiling. pretty slow i think

[Gary R]

pennslytucky, I think mine has to do with tree genetics, soils and they are woods trees. I have tested individual trees both sugar and reds at 2% sometimes. I don't think at has that much to do sugar verses reds. Jim Brown has a red in his yard he showed me yesterday tested 5.5%. My 3/16 tubing has 50 sugars and 10 reds. The best I've seen the sap all together is 1.8%. This year it is lower than normal and all have dropped to 1%. If you had to boil that you would understand our frustrations. A couple of years ago I sent in foliage samples to Penn State to have analyzed. They checked for mineral difficiancies. I even share this with Dr. Perkins for advice to improve them. I limed and fertilized. Waste of money.

Hug your trees, they seem to be working well.

I forgot, as for this year, I think it's because we had a cold wet summer last year. We never had a 90* day here.

[pennslytucky]

i know im kinda takin off topic a bit, but you hit on my theory just now. i really think the bland weathr over the past 2 years has a lot to do with it. plants in a greenhouse with extra heat and humidity do twice as well as plants outside. (up to a point). i think our extra cold winters and cool mild summers the past 2 years is causing a slow production of carbohydrates in the trees, especially in places where the conditions are a little less favorable, like north and east faces, or sandy/gravelly/acidic ground.

anyway, i got 28 gallon from 12 taps on vac today....33 taps on gravity gave exactly 2 gallon of sap. sad stuff even with good sugar. sorry to hear all the guys struggling with 1% sap this year.

[emericksmaple]

Finally get a chance to post. It has been total chaos here. We have made 1400 gal in the last 14 days. At the moment we are at 1600 gal made off of 3800 taps.. The next week still is looking good. Mostly all Amber. Only about 8 barrels of golden. The local guys around here with no vacuum have only made about a 1/4 of a crop. Vacuum has definitely made the difference this year.
Happy sugaring to all I'm going to bed!!!!

[Sugarmaker]

Wow! now that's making syrup! Nice job Matt!
Regards,
Chris

[Turtlecreek]

Hello from Union County! I haven't really been on here all year, just been kinda busy. Anyway, so the season has been pretty screwy here I can finally get my sap wagon in the woods, if it wasnt the snow that stopped me it was the mud. I still have some snow arond here since my bush is on a north facing slope!

Production has been so so I have about 3 gallons do far out of about 150 gallons of sap, thats a bunch of boiling for the little half pint! We got a new dept of Ag guy here and he stopped by the other day to do the ole lookie see, no issues I'm legal again.
What kind of prices are you guys going to be selling for this year? I usually do halp pints and pints, I can do better profit wise that way.

Well better get going i'm getting close to drawing off again Happy sugaring!!

[unc23win]

Waiting on more sap here we had very small runs last Thursday and Friday and a decent run later Saturday boiled it all down Sunday. Yesterday afternoon we got a little and today is one of those days listed as a high of 42 but warming up slow right now its 24.

[HowardR]

Anybody have an opinion on how far we are through the maple syrup season?

Here in Kittanning (about the center of western PA), I usually start collecting sap around February 15 and am done by March 24, but this year the first good sap day was March 5 and I'm still going strong on March 24.

How far are we through in terms of days? How far in terms of syrup?

[Sugarmaker]

Weather in your area is everything! I think we have three more weeks and will be between 75% and full crop for syrup.
Also if you put electric blankets on the trees it can help:)
Spent most of the day working with neighbor Keith Talbot in the woods. He was setting up new 3/4 main line for a new section of woods to bring sap to the sugarhouse. At 83 he pretty much worked me to the point I needed a nap!:) We put up some of the laterals and cut in 60 or so drops and tapped them. He needs to get a tub at the bottom of the line tomorrow:)
Sap was just starting to run at 4:00.
Regards,
Chris

[pennslytucky]

ive grumbled all spring so far about the gravity line doing NOTHING compared to my little sap sucker experiment. today i pulled the pump and stretched another extension cord down to it. spent 3 hours fiddling with weird leaks, a cracked T, and a dry tree that is evidently dead inside that was dumping air in the line. got it pretty well closed up and it ran great for as cold as it was. ran a lngth of 5/16 on a high wire up to the top line that used to have the pump on it so all my taps now have so/so vac and im certain i got double the sap i would have. still have some re-engineering to do, but it'll work for this year. next year it will be all different. 3/16 laterals down to a main along the bottom. probably run the sap sucker on that main line mostly to pump up to a tank at the corner of the yard. seems like im working awful hard for so little sap so far.

bud on the reds are swelling up. sap is fine and it keeps freezing at night, but its almost april. days are getting long and the trees know it. the season could be over any time. if we get a few warm nights in a row, it will be over. hope it holds out a couple weeks more

[Dennis H.]

Turtlecreek glad to hear that you are still kicking. Good luck.

Trees still chugging along here. Got another full tank of sap this morning expecting the same in the morning. I am right now just over 4000 gallons of sap. Sugar content is still low, staying right at 1%. No surprise I am making dark syrup.

KVsappers, how are your buckets doing? The buckets here decided to actually produce an amount of sap worth while collecting. Kind of odd since we have had warmer weather in the past few weeks.

[Gary R]

Didn't do too bad for how cold it's been. I got 221 gal. today. Sap at 1.1%. We're approaching "very dark" territory, I'll be done boiling in an hour. Should be a great run tomorrow. I'll be pulling the plug soon.

Emerick's, that's a lot of syrup in a short time. Great job.

[KV Sappers]

KVsappers, how are your buckets doing? The buckets here decided to actually produce an amount of sap worth while collecting. Kind of odd since we have had warmer weather in the past few weeks.
I pulled the taps last Thursday. I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow and wanted to have everything cleaned up. The trees did not run the greatest. I collected a little over 15 gallons off of 8 taps. Not good. I made a little over a quart of syrup. I knew my season was going to be short so the quart was ok. The trees seemed to open up on Sunday and have been running pretty good. The trees are really starting to bud and I think the season is coming to a close in our area. 50's and 60 temps are really going to push the trees open. Glad your season is going good. I can't wait till next year when I'll have that new evaporator fired up and I'll be tapping more trees.

[Dennis H.]

Sorry to hear that KVSapper, I knew you were excited to give everything a good run this season.
This has been an odd year to say the least.

[pennslytucky]

11359

got home today and find this.... guess putting vac on the gravity line helped!! my wife boiled 4 pans on the big wood stove all day too. this is 4 times as much as any one day ive had so far, and its going to run all night and tomorrow. problem is i dont have the evap rate to keep up now. im off to clean another barrel. guess ill build a block arch this weekend...

[Gary R]

It was a very good day for sap here. I've got about an hour to go to finish the 300 gal. I collected today. The grade seems like it lightened a bit. It should run all night.

[pennslytucky]

dropped the hydrometer in it and its sitting at just over 2% corrected. im feeling pretty lucky. hopefully i can get caught up to it this weekend when it gets cold again. looks like clear sap for the next 2 weeks in the extended forecast. i really hope you guys are doing as well. im never this happy to be so busy haha

[Dennis H.]

Another good day here also. After yesterdays lost sap I will take it.
The releaser looks like it never thawed out before the sap started flowing and sucked it into the moisture trap. Only got about 25 gals, I think it all came by gravity.
I found this this morning when it was like 21 degrees so The moisture trap was frozen solid and the line from the moisture trap to the releaser was frozen solid.
Had to remove it and take it into the truck for a while to get it thawed.

Went back this afternoon to check on things and found that I had 180 gals in about 8 hrs and that was from 21 degrees when I was there. So I expect 275 when I go back in the morning.

[cablebandit]

11376

My first batch filtered and bottled. Not bad for just a couple of trees and a pot.

[Run Forest Run!]

The golden pyramid of victory. Way to go cablebandit!

[Gary R]

Drowning in sap! I'm at 390 for the day and left some in the tanks. It looks like it may be midnight before I get done. I think this will be the last boil for the season other than finishing the front pan. I've been boiling 14 of the last 16 days.

Sugarmaker, save me a milk can. I want to come up and see the new pans boil!

[unc23win]

I got a decent run late yesterday. When I got home from work I decided I better chase down a couple of vac leaks I found a broken valve (didn't like it when I bought it flat the bottom, but all they had) and a few drops popped of the spouts back to just over 25" decided to hold until tonight. Hoping for a decent run today, but who the heck knows these days and it looks to be a high of 30' tomorrow.

[pennslytucky]

didnt run much here today but i got about 110 gallon from 44 taps yesterday and the day before. sugar dropped just under 2% tho. im watching that pretty close now.

[Sugarmaker]

GaryR,
If your really done then plan on coming up some night next week. I will find something for you to do.
We are shut down tight with the 15 degree temps this morning.
The 40 new taps had good yields and are along the current gathering route. So that puts tap count at about 620.
Syrup has gone from dark to golden. Sugar content holding at about 3%. Arch and pans holding together. Really like the new grates!
Wood pile looks good. Boiling rate has been good considering we are still boiling raw sap. Remote sap pump needs electrical work. Had to dump all the 220 gallons sap into 5 gallon bucket yesterday and carry to dumping station. Had 20 gallons of ice slush in the strainer.
On Thursday we made 32.5 gallons of syrup. Had 400 gallons from Wed night and then gathered 800 gallons Thurs afternoon. I think that is a record for our small operation.
Have gathered about 5000 gallons of sap, and produced 97 gallons of syrup total for season to date. Normal season is around 150 gallons of syrup, so we might make it.
We are ready for next week, as the weather looks much better. If you can believe the Accu-weather the week after looks too warm at night. We have folks coming for a tour on Tuesday afternoon.
Talked to Keith Talbot and he is still putting up some 3/4 inch main lines and some more laterals tomorrow!
I have some pictures just need to get them off camera and loaded up.
Resting today:)
Regards,
Chris

[Dennis H.]

A quick update,
The sugar content sucks down here.
My trees are not very sweet to begin with, they normally run about 1.5%. Now they are running at a whopping 0.9%!!:o
If it was not for the RO I would have thrown in the towel a week ago. But it sure looks like this week will be it anyway. The weather is not to go below freezing after Weds.
It is kind of odd anyway, the other day that we had 60 degree weather I got less sap than on a few days earlier when it only got up to mid 40's.
The syrup that I am making currently is Grade B and some very dirty grade B at that. It is making it a real tough time filtering it with out blowing papers on the filter press, and this is only a small 6 gal batch going thru it.

My game plan now is to get my personal syrup stash filled and call it a year. It is looking like I should be able to get to the 60 gal or slightly high point before stopping.

[Gary R]

I am done! I pulled the stacks and acid washed both pans today. Plenty still to clean in the sugarhouse. The tubing will get clean some other weekend.

Our season started on March 10th (a couple of years ago I started in early January). It lasted 17 days and I boiled 15 of those. I got 3686 gallon of sap off of 196 taps. We made 47.5 gallons of syrup, 5 of amber and the rest dark.

Thanks to the guys who got in touch about buying syrup. I'm going to think hard about an RO for next year. Boiling 1% is tough.

[pennslytucky]

the sap in one of my barrels looked a little cloudy this morning. boiled down 10 gallon on the wood stove and its smells off. probably be pig feed. clear fresh sap ran all day today so ill just start there tomorrow. glad i didnt go nuts with the cloudy stuff. its sure been an odd year. it froze hard last night. was 6 degrees this morning. beautiful day after it warmed up. freezing again tonight and it looks like the sap will run every day this week and at least most of next week. if it gets warm like they are calling for, im afraid we will be done here too. im building a small ro this year. even if it cant keep up with all the sap, it will be running water out 24/7 which is less ill have to boil. 2 rough years in a row makes me think about tapping twice the trees and using a good vac system to make sure i can make enough

[unc23win]

Well the sap ran for me some yesterday late in the day and probably a little all night I decided not to go check this morning as I was not to impressed with yesterday. Sugar content was good 2.3-2.4. We shall see what this week brings as it is anything but predictable this season.

[HowardR]

The forecast calls for a freeze Tuesday night, possible freezes on Monday and Wednesday, and a high of 70 on Thursday. That high will end my season.

[Dennis H.]

Brought in another 275 gals of sap today. The sugar content actually went up. It is back to 1%!!!!
I see this as a short term thing, we had 2 really chilly days here and now it is back to warm days.
Sap is still some what clear, so I keep going.

[Dennis H.]

The buckets taps here at the sugarhouse are finally running. I gave up on them this past weekend and figured I would pull them down today or tomorrow.
Well I think I will leave them up. A bunch of the buckets were overflowing and the sugar content went up a little, almost 1.7%.
The sap is still clear so I think I will leave them be.

KVSapper, I wonder how your trees are doing now. I know you had to end it early this year.

[KV Sappers]

Dennis, I don't know I'm up in Maine right now. Before I left however, they weren't crying anymore even though I was. Keep going as long as you can. I'll need to buy syrup from you.

[HowardR]

I just peeked at the Maine tapping thread (http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?24760-Maine-tapping-2015). They're just getting started. This is really late for them.

I got started three weeks later than usual, and it turned into a decent season. Maybe it will turn into a decent season for them, as well.

[Dennis H.]

KVSapper, I thought that you said you had to go away for a little, I just did not remember for how long.
Enjoy your time in Maine.
I don't think you will miss much though, just looked at the weather and tonight maybe tomorrow night maybe the last nights that dip below freezing.

[Gary R]

With no boiling I was able to visit Triple Creek Maple, Sugarmaker and Boylan Farms. All were doing well. Sugarmaker was making some really good Golden syrup. Thanks for all the tastes! Dumped sap today and waiting if my one backyard neighbor wants to boil my sap. I hope to go see the maple baron tomorrow.

[unc23win]

Well yesterday was another quart per tap run for me I have had plenty of those this season, but it all adds up. I boiled it off to make sure I have room for a big run even though the big runs keep eluding me. Sugar is still good 2-2 to 2-5, which is nice and I actually made some light um golden delicate and the rest has been very light medium/amber rich.

[Maplewalnut]

Well yesterday was another quart per tap run for me I have had plenty of those this season, but it all adds up. I boiled it off to make sure I have room for a big run even though the big runs keep eluding me. Sugar is still good 2-2 to 2-5, which is nice and I actually made some light um golden delicate and the rest has been very light medium/amber rich.

Same here in the east. Weather is marginal for sap more often than not. Still snow in the woods and the trees just dont seem like they have let loose. No big runs, tanks have filled full once this season only because it ran marginally all day and all night. Very strange year. Sugar is decent still.

[HowardR]

Wow, this season is going to end with a bang. I'm planning to pull out my taps tomorrow, when the temperature goes up to 70, but after the frost last night and with the sun today, the sap is just pouring out.

[Maplewalnut]

Wow is it fun to see sap run like this!!! Hopefully others have had the flood gates open also

[HowardR]

According to the forecasts, it wasn't supposed to freeze again, but when I got home this evening the temperature was 30. I was going to pull the taps tomorrow, but now they've lowered the lows for the next few nights as well to just above freezing. They've been underpredicting the low temperatures right along this year.

Also, nature doesn't seem to think this is the end of maple season. For example, the flies are usually out when the season is coming to an end, but I haven't seen a single fly yet.

What's going on? Is this the end of maple syrup season or the middle?

[unc23win]

I had a pretty good run yesterday about .75 gallons per tap I'll take it. Today looks to be good with no freeze, but back to freezing Saturday and snow. It froze last night about 10 and I don't think it was forecasted to get as cold as it did.

[liljohn]

Yesterday 4/1 was a good day for me in west central PA, 23 gallons off 15 taps. Just a small time back yarder here but that's 250 gallons to date. Tapped in on 2/21/15

[Dennis H.]

For me it is winding down. We have a lot of flies.

The sugar content dropped back to 0.9% and I only got 180 gals in about 36 hours.
It did get cold last night and today is in the 60's so I am colleting one more day and then deciding weather to turn the vac off.

[HowardR]

Low sugar, dark syrup, only one possible frost in the long-range forecast. I'm pulling out the taps tomorrow.

[molineutu]

I'm with ya guys. Pulling taps tomorrow and hopefully finishing up sap collected this past week. Its time to cut firewood and clean lines.

[pennslytucky]

we are done here too. sugar is hanging around 1% and im out of dry wood. dont mind boiling low % with a big stack of dry stuff, but slow boiling 100 gallon of sap for a gal of syrup isnt why i like sugaring. this year ended up being worse than last year for me. hope for a banner year next spring. pulling taps and rinsing lines tomorrow or monday

[Dennis H.]

This morning I turned off the vac. I had about 80 gals of some nasty looking sap in the tank and not much was flowing in.
Pulled all syrup and almost syrup out of the pans and filled them with water and milkstone remover.
Cleaned both sap tanks here at the sugarhouse.
Took down the buckets and pulled the taps that I had hanging here at the sugarhouse.
I am hoping tomorrow to finish off the syrup and get it filtered and bottled up in mason jars for my own personal supply.
It might be a week till I can get back up to pull the taps and flush out the lines on the vacuum trees.

To say the least this has been an interesting season, I had no really big run days. It just was steady. I am use to it slowing increasing sap output, peak then slowly decline to the end of the season. Nothing like that here this year. The biggest issue for me was the sugar content, man was that painful, those .9% days sucked.

[mapleack]

Up to about 316 gallons, two or three days to go.

[Sugarmaker]

I made a mistake stating high sugar content in previous posts. Found that my floating hydrometer was off a full degree! Correct sugar content has been 2% and slightly above. Which matches the numbers on the syrup we have made.

Andy your getting everything you can from those 800 taps! Nice job.

Dennis sounds like your done!

We will see what this weather brings next. Froze last night and we have a dusting of snow. Should get at least one more run?
Heard the peepers several places, while gathering last night. Also getting lots of ants, and a few moths.

We have been having a lot of problems with syrup being made in the middle partitions. Local sugarmaker Aaron Shultz stopped and he checked the air output on the AOF. Had 3 inches of water, so the flow rate was very good from the air pump. That got me to thinking. I have been running the AOF wide open this year to help the front pan boil. But with the old pans I had the flow restricted. So when I got a good boil going last night I tested the AOF system, and found that the boil was too intense in the center partitions with wide open air flow. Dialed the AOF air back and the center partitions dropped down to a good strong boil, instead of trying to come out of the pan! Made 4.5 gallons of syrup with minimal over temp issue at the draw off port. Much more consistent boil across the entire pan!

Today we are at 8000+ gallons of sap gathered off of 650 taps and have made 183 gallons on Golden and Amber syrup.
Most sap boiled one day was about 1400 gallons. Made 35 gallons of syrup that day.

Really like the Siro filter press! Sure has made filtering a piece of cake! My batches coming off the rig are some what intermittent so the most we got thru was about 15 gallon, prior to the pressure raising and the flow dropping off. Still learning about how much DE to use. I have been putting 2.5 cups in about 4 gallons to charge the press then just a little in small gallon batches after that. i get about a 1/4 inch of coating on the filter cloth.

Still have 2.5 cord of wood left so we will see how the weather holds up. Sap was cloudy yesterday.

Talked to Keith Talbot and he hit the 30 gallon mark on making syrup and was very happy!

Regards,
Chris

[liljohn]

Well today I decided to call it a year. Gathered all the buckets, pulled all the taps. We made 7.5 gallons of sap off 17 taps with about 320 gallons of sap.

It was a good year we had some time managing sap storage. The new pan and burners did a good job. Next year we plan to get a few large barrels to help with storage. Also plan to consider a residential RO. I figure the RO would be a break even to build versus fuel cost.

Hope you all had a nice year and enjoy the fruits of your labor throughout the year.

[HowardR]

After reading here how much syrup Andy Kinter gets out of each tap, I finally drove my CNG powered pickup truck to his farm today. He lives just a half hour down the road from me, so it's about time I made the trip. He was super friendly and I learned a lot, and got some ideas for next year's improvements.

[mapleack]

After reading here how much syrup Andy Kinter gets out of each tap, I finally drove my CNG powered pickup truck to his farm today. He lives just a half hour down the road from me, so it's about time I made the trip. He was super friendly and I learned a lot, and got some ideas for next year's improvements.

Glad you enjoyed Howard, you're welcome any time. We pulled the plug today, buddy syrup and no more freezes. I'll try to post after we boil out and finish up. Looks to be a new record season for us. High vac is the way to go.

[Dennis H.]

Had to toss all the stuff from the flue pan.
I do not know what ropey syrup looks like but that is the only thing I think it could be.
When I was transferring it from the 5gal buckets to the steam pan to boil it had these jelly fish looking things. I tried skimming them off but they just sort of went thru the skimmer that I had. I tried to boil it but it got worse with boiling.
It was kind of gross looking but had no off smell. I gave up and tossed it all.
Now the syrup from the syrup pan looked ok and had none of the jellies in it so I finished it on the propane burner and set it aside to filter later.

[Sugarmaker]

We are done for 2015. Turned out to be a very good season.
Hit 200 gallons of syrup, on 650 taps, 8400 gallons of sap, .3 gallons of syrup per tap, 42 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup. Not bad for a old man and a couple of friends!
Ok I am not as old as Keith Talbot:) Sure hope I am going that strong at 83. He finished with 30+ gallons of syrup.
Stopped at Boylan farms and watched them boil concentrated sap for a hour or so.
Hope the season was good.
Andy shut those pumps off!:) Nice job!
Regards,
Chris

[unc23win]

Syrup went to dark Easter Sunday and lightened up just a tad last night, but still in the dark grade with good taste. It filtered a little slower and the sugar was still 2.0, which is encouraging. We shall see what this week brings us.

[emericksmaple]

We finished up on fri. Second best year ever. Had 3800 taps. Made 2330 gal of syrup. One bush did 34.5 gal per tap and the other did 31gal per tap. Around us if you had good vacuum you made close to 1/2 gal of syrup per tap of syrup. If you had gravity you only made about a pint per tap. Several producers around us with good vaccum made the 1/2 gal of syrup per tap mark.

[HowardR]

The ratio between vacuum and gravity this year was about a half gallon per tap to a pint per tap, about 4 to 1. I guess that's because it was a cold season with a lot of very cold nights followed by highs in the thirties or low forties. What is the average ratio in your experience?

[Sandersyrup]

I pulled the plug last week. Mad about .54 gallons of syrup per tap. On 3/16 gravity. Such a great season here! I really need a new evaporator or an RO next year. I boiled for 20 days straight in 6 hour shifts!


~ John Sanderson

[Sugarmaker]

Matt,
Nice job on your syrup production. Wow that's a pile of syrup!

We ended up with about .3 gallons of syrup per tap on gravity tubing. I would need 35 stand alone mini vacuum systems for my road side trees.

John,
Would like to see some pictures of the round 4 foot dia evaporator.
Regards,
Chris

[Sandersyrup]

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/04/08/2166d51d81bbf97d24a370e182bd431f.jpg

Here is a few photos.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/04/08/404bea325c63895a02e0b88558627b16.jpg

Not the most efficient thing. The SS is very very thick. But it makes some tasty syrup. It's batch cooking so I think it brings out more flavor. I also think 4' diameter is a typo it can't be that big I should measure it. With a hot fire I can do about 5 maybe 6 GPH.

~ John Sanderson

[Gary R]

You guy's in central and south did a great job! Those must have been some long boils over this short season.

Sanders, that is an interesting rig! By the looks of the stack you get it hot enough.

Sugarmaker, if you put vacuum on those 3%:) trees you'd be leaving us all in the steam!

I just ordered some stuff from CDL for next year. I'm going to replace all my tees on the 3/16 to see if I can cure the bacteria problem.

Their still making syrup in north central PA.

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Still boiling here in NE Pa. Gary. Still running semi decent on vacuum over 20", but anything less and gravity is way slow. Sugar is dropping fast also. Ill be boiling from the "second wave" today within a couple hours. Should be pretty much done by the end of the week unless it freezes tomorrow night.

[NE PA Maple]

Hey Clark, Looks like maybe a freezing night Saturday according to NOAA forecast. Probably be time to pull taps after this weekend unless temps take a good dive.

[doocat]

Sugar is not dropping as fast as we thought and vacuum is still pulling in a fair amount of sap here as well....

[Sugarmaker]

Sanders,
That is a very cool rig! Nice and clean and HOT! Yes should make some great syrup!

Gary,
We have to be realistic here! What the heck would I do with 16000 gallons of sap?? Hey those are 2% trees not 3% :)

Glad to here there are folks in the NE that are still making maple syrup!

Off to see Keith and help him get set up to rinse his tubing. I got all my remaining tubing rinsed with clean water yesterday. Will pick them up off the trees when it dries out a little.
Regards,
Chris

[mapleack]

Season Stats:
First Boil March 9
Last Boil April 5
792 taps
347.5 gal of syrup equaling 0.43 gpt
25,570 gal of sap.

This makes a new record season for us, average being 275 gal, previous record being 321 gal.

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Well I'm still going at it while some others in the area are all done. One woods is still running very decent on 24" of vacuum and the sap is still nice and running over a gallon per tap per day with no freeze since sunday. Gravity taps are pretty much done and lower vacuum taps are also done I think. Still hanging in and boiling what I can. Im waiting for the RO as I type this, so it will definatly be a late night/morning. Have about 800 gallon to go through tonight and probably will have 3-500 plus tomorrow again. Gotta want it! :cool:

[unc23win]

Well I finished up on Sunday now on to cleaning and then next season starts. I would categorize this season as just plain weird in quite a few ways.
I actually made more syrup with less sap than last year, but this season was shorter. In those fewer days the average run per day was less with a lot of mediocre runs. So when it ran the sugar content was better than average after the first few days. I had two times where I boiled 3 days in a row and I don't think I had to either time, where as in a typical season we normally would get a stretch of 7-10 days or more in row boiling.
1st Boil 3-12
Last Boil 4-12