2015 Season West Virginia Mapler

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Starting tapping this afternoon in the cold, wind and the snow coming down. Looks like we may get some sap later in the week and into next week. This is about the normal start time for us somewhere between the 1st and 10th of February. Put in 295 taps today and hoping to be 675 to 700 south side taps in by Thurs even. Forecast shows 47 on Wed so I hope to leak patrol everything that is tapped by Wed afternoon and there is no frost in the ground on the south side and the snow we got today should keep it out. Praying for a good season and hoping my back gets better so I can make it through the season without the constant pain. 270 taps on the north side won't likely go in until sometime towards end of next week. Good luck to each of my fellow sugarmakers, may your tanks overflow!

[PATheron]

Hopefully itll be a good year so you have lots of sap to play with your new ro machine. First draw youll be seeing dollar signs everywhere!:)

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Hope to do same day boils now. In the past, I seldom ever boiled sap the same day it ran, it was nearly always the next day. Pushing 1000 taps this year with close to 400 on natural vacuum 3/16 so hoping to have plenty of sap. RO is a little big for my size operation, but rather too big than too small and I like one membrane instead of 2 or 3 smaller ones, less things to tear up.

[Russell Lampron]

Good luck this season Brandon. I think that you will find the the new RO isn't too big. It's about time that you got one. You're going to like it.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Russ,

Thanks and I knew you would be the first to say it was about time. In past I had 3 retired guys that did a lot of the boiling the next day while I was at work. One has retired on me and the other 2 are getting older. Figured if I was going to expand, my woodshed wasn't going to be able to hold enough wood and I like the idea of only cutting about 20% as much wood as before. Besides, since I built my new house I heat it with wood and I get plenty of enjoyment cutting the wood for it now too. Hoping to run it to about 12% to maybe 14% on heavy flow days before it hits steamaway.

[Sugarmaker]

Brandon,
Hope your season is good.
I have been out of the maple loop for a while. I see you have expanded your tap numbers and also have a R.O. from Deer Run.
We are about a hour from Rays place.
Hope the back gets better. I somehow recovered from siatica this summer. Ice lots of Ibuprofen and just kept moving.
Regards,
Chris

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I did get in 702 taps on the south side earlier this week. Weather looks good for a big run next 48 hours. Already have 200 to 300 gallons in the tanks and supposed to be 50 today and 57 tomorrow and day or 2 that it should run again middle of next week. I had a massive amount of deer damage on the new 3/16 tubing in woods of my one of my sugarbushes and almost all of it is on new trees. Probably had 50 places it was chewed completely in two. Guess they didn't appreciate this new stuff suddenly showing up in their play area. Hoping they will leave it alone through out the season. Tried to keep hands scent free and sweat free while installing it, so not sure why they damaged it so bad other than they didn't want it blokcing their paths. The other 2 areas I put up about 50% of the 3/16, they only chewed it in two in 3 places, so not sure why they are tearing it up. Dont normally have hardly any problem with deer. Back after last season and before this past fall, in the same area they probably chewed up 50 to 75 of my droplines on tubing that has been there for over 10 years before I put up the new 3/16 this year. Some of the drop lines were least 5' off the ground.

[mountainvan]

I had the same issue this winter, but the tubing was very close to a stand of hemlocks that the deer bed down in. I raised it 6 ft up and the deer leave it alone.

[darkmachine]

Hung the first 79 buckets 2/6. Hope to hang the rest tomorrow and get started on tubing asap!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Good start to the season but after Wed, it is supposed to get very cold as far as long ran forecast shows. I have ran 1230 gallons of sap through so far and should probably have a few hundred more by Thurs. Got up to 64 yesterday which is crazy warm for this time of year and shut down the sap. Lot of single digits after Wed.

[Edward Howell]

How to liking the ro ? It sure cuts down on the boiling :lol:
It is a white out here with 40 mph winds , went out and cut some wood for the boiler , glad i did that this morning :o

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Like the RO because it really does cut down on boiling. We have boiled about 5 hours for almost 1600 gallon of sap on my 2x8. Still getting used to it as I have only used it 3 times and trying to get everything working correctly. Weather is horrible here too and forecast shows bitter cold until March. Only about 15% of full crop, so I am a little concerned with the bitter cold temps is going to freeze everything up really deep and going to take a few days to get it thawed. Season usually ends here somewhere from March 15 to 25th. Pretty cool drawing off 6 gallons of syrup off of a 2x8 in 30 minutes. I try to start drawing just before 7 and keep a steady draw going continually so I dont have any big spikes. Running good 1.5+ inches deep and that helps keep things smoother too.

[Russell Lampron]

If you're going to have a sap flow stoppage it's better to have it be because it is too cold. You will get your sap and it's going to come all at once. I'm glad that you are liking the RO. This will be the 11th season with mine if you can believe that. It doesn't seem like it has been that long. It sure is fun drawing a lot of syrup off in a short amount of time isn't it! I've been using about a cord of wood to make 100 gallons of syrup. I don't count how many boiling sodas it takes.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Russ in with you there and glad it too cold and not warm. I have seen both and when it stays too cold too long season is usually short and not good. One year in 1970s last 2 weeks of February is was in 70s every day. Getting a lot of snow now and below zero temps.

[Russell Lampron]

We just had our second blizzard of the winter here. Now that the snow has stopped the wind has taken over and it is supposed to get to -8* by morning. With the wind chill it feels more like -30*. Last season here we didn't get any sap weather until the end of March when we are usually all done. The sap ran until April 10 and we made a good year out of what could have been the worst season ever. I think we're in for a repeat of last year though and I think you will make your syrup too.

[Edward Howell]

Brandon ,
Ck my records last nite , 2014 first boil feb 20 , last boil march 28 , still made 140 gallons .
After this long rest the sweet that first comes out of the RO may be sour , let that run to waste for 2 to 5 minutes and that should clear the feed nicely . If you are real worried do a wash with just water be for you start up to clean the membrane .
Very glad to here you like the machine , my syrup buddy in ohio bought one last year and he is very pleased.

ED

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Ed,

Thanks for the tip. I have been flushing my line going up to the feed tank about every time I use the RO with permeate running through it very fast to keep it nice and clean. I know you had mentioned it got pretty yucky. I figured running about 20 gallons through it every time would keep it pretty clean. I was planning on flushing the membrane about every 5 to 6 days it hasn't been used for about 5 minutes with some well water. It is pretty soft water and hose is within a few feet of the permeate tanks. I am hoping we have a good March, we are going to need it. -14 thursday night not including wind chill. Not used to seeing all of these below zero nights last 2 weeks in February, usually we are on the warm up cycle.

[Edward Howell]

Brandon ,
One last little puzzle , I run a 2 inch deep front pan on my 3x12 and some times the markland will start to pull and the syrup temps starts to rise .
Some wave is normal ie +1 deg above set , this is different , the temp starts to rocket up , meaning +10 deg above set !
The pulls are always large 4 to 7 gallons per draw off , but when this happens the syrup just keeps pulling ie 10 , 12 gallons and the temp keeps climbing .
I call it run away , like a freight train out of control .
When this happens I have to open the front doors and let machine cool down to stop the run away . as you know candy is 236 deg , spread is 232 deg hard sugar is 252 deg
Don't if this phenom will happen on your 2x8 but if it does, be on the alert to shut the machine down to stop a disaster .



ED

[unc23win]

Brandon ,
One last little puzzle , I run a 2 inch deep front pan on my 3x12 and some times the markland will start to pull and the syrup temps starts to rise .
Some wave is normal ie +1 deg above set , this is different , the temp starts to rocket up , meaning +10 deg above set !
The pulls are always large 4 to 7 gallons per draw off , but when this happens the syrup just keeps pulling ie 10 , 12 gallons and the temp keeps climbing .
I call it run away , like a freight train out of control .
When this happens I have to open the front doors and let machine cool down to stop the run away . as you know candy is 236 deg , spread is 232 deg hard sugar is 252 deg
Don't if this phenom will happen on your 2x8 but if it does, be on the alert to shut the machine down to stop a disaster .

ED

It sounds to me like your syrup is mixing after you shut down? I had some big first draws a couple of nights then a friend told me not to let the syrup mix after shutting down for the night. If it mixes it will all be the same density in your entire front pans and you will get a big draw much more noticeable with an RO your auto draw is correct, but can't keep up. I have plugs that separate the two front pans I put them in a shut down and I leave them in when I start up and pull them out when it gets to boil. Also you might want to try less than 2" in the front I like mine @ 1".

[Edward Howell]

I also place the plugs at shut down , this run away always happens well after the first 2 or 3 pulls , it is not a start up event . I do not have the courage to run a 1" front pan with these kinds of pulls . The ro completely changes the way the machine behaves .....

[unc23win]

I see in my opinion I think the issue is the depth. I know guys who run 3/4" myself I like 1". You are getting a big draw because it is all syrup at the same time actually some of it is probably past. You want to get smaller draws more often. I will admit it can be a little scary the first time or two.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Ed,

I am running about 1.5" but I have a drop flue and level is same all the way through the evaporator. By the time it gets to the drawoff point, it is probably closer to 1" as it is the farthest point from fresh sap entering. I thought I would probably go to auto draw after RO but after 3 boils, I like manual better because I start drawing a little light and as temp starts going up I increase the drawoff speed. This seems to work really good and may be helping prevent problems you are having. By starting to draw at 6 with a pretty good stream, it gets the thick stuff running through the syrup pan towards drawoff too. I still end up with syrup being a little thick as I finish soon as I get done boiling and washing RO and have to thin it a little to can. You might try this next time when boiling instead of auto draw and see if it works better.

[Russell Lampron]

I run my front pan about 1.25" deep and start my first draw at 5* and it will climb to about 8* before coming back down. When it gets to 7* I slow the draw down to a trickle and then watch the thermometer and open or close the draw off valve to maintain 7*. The only time that I have the temp spike is if I don't start the first draw fast enough. I concentrate to 14% most of the time.

[maple flats]

I also like a continuous draw. I have an auto draw I got as part of a package deal but I never felt the need to hook it up.
For the "run away train" it sounds like you are drawing too fast and at shut down the flow surge upsets the gradient in the pan. Then as it boils more, you get far beyond syrup by the time the sensor at the draw off registers. I suggest you slow the draw speed (close the valve partially) to find a good balance. You likely want it to draw slightly faster than the boil will make syrup. As you go you can tweak the draw speed.
On my "continuous" draw it is not truly continuous, but once I get to syrup, I open the valve a little, if the temp rises I open slightly more. After a little while I find a good balance. I think my longest draw without further adjustment was somewhere about 90 minutes. My wife actually got that, she tends to make finer adjustments than I do trying to find the perfect flow. Then at the same time, you must fire the arch fast and at the right time intervals and must add defoamer everytime you fire the arch.

[Super Sapper]

I had the same issue with mine last year. It was never the first couple of draws. I found that I needed to run just a tad deeper and start drawing when it gets to about 7 and 3/4, it will climb to about 9 over and then come down and I stop about 6 and 1/2 or 7. It will sit at 7 for a while and then start to climb and if you do not get it at 7 and 3/4 and wait until about 8 it will climb to over 30 over (hit 45 over once the "Oh shist" pail came in handy).

[Edward Howell]

Ok , my original intent was to give Brandon the heads up about( run away ) since this is his first go around with the RO.

Mission accomplished

Brandon , with you doing your manual pull , it sounds like the( run away ) will not occur do to your draw technique ,
ahh Yess there are draw backs to technology ( the auto draw off )

Since I work solo and can 90% of the syrup as the boil is in progress the drawoff is a must .

The Oh S.... sums my fears about the (run away ) + 40 degrees , glad to hear someone else was the guinea pig :lol:

This whole thing started me to doing some math
A 3x3 finish pan @ 2 inches deep is 2592 cubic inches or 11.22 gallons of sweet .
When the ( run away ) develops all of the sweet in the front pan goes thru to the canner .

I am not a chemical engineer , (my background is mechanical design and tooling) but I believe this is more than just sap being reduced to syrup , too much happens to fast and once it begins it continues to convert the whole pan at ever increasing rate . i always open the front doors and stop the boil @ about 10 degrees over syrup .
The +40 is would be hard sugar when the liquid cooled to room temp .

I have a real nice float system on the dallaire , I think i will experiment with some of these ideas ....

I thank all of you for the input , i wondered if i was alone with this , it is good to hear others have had the same excitement:o

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

One thing for sure Ed, you are a very intelligent individual and always enjoy talking with you. Your engineering background and expertise is way above my little mind. I am only boiling 1 to 2 hours usually, so I go at it hard and get it done and then can once it is done and RO is washed. I dump syrup in the reheat pan in the kitchen and keep it on low so the syrup is close to boiling when I am ready to can and it uses little propane. I don't want to take a chance even with Auto drawoff trying to can boiling 18%. If it is 12% going into steamaway, Leader says it comes out at 18%. I try to keep a constant draw off going about all the time except when I stop it for about 30 seconds to dump out of milk can into reheat pan.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Today is day 9 of no sap and extreme cold temps. -10 this am and next 10 days shows about the same and no warmup and lots more snow. Never seen it this cold this time of year as yesterday it struggled to get above 0 with -20+ wind chills. This is close to peak production time where I am and last year was first time I ever got sap in April. Hopefully this year we can go into April, but usually half of the days in March are in 50's and 60's, so tapholes can't take it and seldom ever see any good freezes after about 21st of March.

[Edward Howell]

Brandon .

My last real run was feb7,8 , had one 45 gallon dribble after that , -15 degrees here this morning , ground is rock hard . It will take 2 to 4 days of 40 deg to unthaw these conditions .

Same problem here ,past mid march the temps zoom , my tapps do not die but the syrup goes to crude oil status .

Lord we need some divine help here .......

ED

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Ed,

I don't have problems with crude oil syrup, usually can make good syrup to the end. Just quits freezing much past 15th to 20th of March. Been praying for couple of weeks and will continue that we can get a long cold March into April.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Spent about 4 hours this afternoon trying to plow out a half decent road to each of the 3 sugarbushes. Snow was too deep for tractor in several places but kept moving it out with bucket. Trying to get it out of the way before next 12" or more tomorrow and maybe more next week. The ground was so full of moisture before all the snow hit, we got a couple of extremely cold days and nights and the ground is like a big chunk of ice under the snow and tractor wanted to spin on almost level ground. Going to take forever to get ground thawed with all the snow on it.

[Russell Lampron]

Those are all good signs that the sap is going to flow once we get some decent weather as long as it doesn't get warm and stay warm. The cold in the woods will make for some good runs with marginal freezes.

[Edward Howell]

Hey Brandon ,
You did another one of your scientific post with exact times , dates , facts and figures , not the product of a (Little mind) as you posted
Mental note ( be careful playing poker with Brandon ,( he is a sandbagger )

In ohio what you struggling with was every day , I do not miss tapping on Snowshoes ! Or taking the tractor with the snowblower on the front to get to the sugarhouse

Or pulling the canner on a sled to the sugarhouse , maybe the global warming will turn Quebec to the arctic region and we will be the new sugar central :o

ED

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Ed,

You are funny. They changed the 8 to 12 inches today to 1 to 3 inches and we probably got 8 to 12 already today and still pouring. 10 day into first 2 days of March shows no warming, just more cold and snow. Never seen this in my 25 years since I started making syrup for the last 2 weeks in February. 3 years ago when we have over 150 inches of snow, it stayed cold until March 6th it was 10 degrees and on the 8th it was 60 degrees with 3' snow on the ground and we got one run and that lasted about 3 days and that was it just about it. Similar back in 2004 too when first 8 days of March were 60+ every day with no freezing at night.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

We ended up getting somewhere around 16 to 18 inches where I live and a little less than that at the farm. Actually got above freezing today for first time in 11 days and back cold tonight. Shows a little warmup next weekend if it holds true. Hope to get in another 270 taps on north side this week likely with snow shoes and hopefully I can get roads open enough to be able to get to tanks to pump sap. With sun this week and couple days about 33, hopefully at least the south side will settle and melt some.

[Edward Howell]

Brandon ,
If the forecast holds looks like we may have a little sap monday . was -8 here last nite . The woods is freezing cold !

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Took close to 2.5 hours to put in 126 taps on north side with snowshoes. It is really steep and snow drifted. Had to pull lot lines out of snow so really slow going. Not much of crust so still sinking 8 to 12 inches every step. So steep it is difficult to stand when there is no snow. Still not much sign of any sap in next 10 days here. Going to take several days to get things thawed out because everyone froze deep.

[WV_ironman]

Things were starting to thaw here today. I little sap moving And I mean a very little sap. supposed to freeze back up the next couple of days. Still snow covering our access road up the hill to the woods almost couldn't get a kabato up it to check lines and barrels this evening. Looks like the start of a warming trend early next week with rain.
We are looking forward to boiling on our new used evaporator if we ever get some sap. We waited to long and got our taps in at the end of the last run right before temps went south and froze everything up.

This will be our second season and first running tubing

Good luck and be safe.. let's hope for some good weather and big runs!!

Rich

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Rich,

Good to hear from you and will be following your post. Managed to get in another 137 taps on north side this evening so we are all tapped except a few buckets. Extremely difficult tapping on the very steep faces with 2 to 3 feet of snow on the ground and snowshoes. Did see a few drips come out of the taps, but that was it. More snow tonight and supposed to start warming up a little this weekend with 3 to 4 days of rain starting sunday, so I guess now we will have a big flood. Couldn't get the Kubota up the north side road due to the ground being like a big ice cube, so hoping the thaw will also thaw out the road so the sap won't run on the ground. We have 965 taps in on tubing, aprox 400 are on 3/16. Few buckets to come once snow gets down some. Hoping to be able to walk the other 700+ taps on the 2 south bushes and pull the lines out of the snow between now and weekend.

[220 maple]

Brandon,
If that forecast holds looks like sugaring weather next week. Time to catch up!

Mark 220 Maple

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Was able to get about 99% of lines dug out of the snow this week and all the mainlines that were under snow. Today makes day # 17 in a row without sap which is unbelievable for the last 17 days of February. Supposed to start thawing a little today and hopefully sap will start running some tomorrow. Some warmup the next 10 days forecast, but not a very big one. Hopefully this is the start of the best March on record.

[WV_ironman]

We were hoping today was going to be the day, no such luck. 100 taps and maybe got 10 gallons of sap. All tapped on north slope almost couldn't get the rancher back up the hill 4-5 inches of snow/slush on top of frozen ground was not a
Fun evening (will not put barrels on steep skid road next year but we never get any snow that sticks around here).
On a plus note we Did get our homemade steam hood pieced together so hopefully if we do get some sap to boil we will can see our hand in front of our face.

Let's hope things break lose soon or we'll be waiting until next year to try out our evaporator

Rich

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Finally getting some break in the extreme cold for a couple of days. Started thawing a little last couple of days and got to 37 for a little while this afternoon and sap ran good for a while. Still a lot of snow on the ground and some frost still in the ground. Probably had 300 to 400 gallon of sap in woods as of dark this evening counting some ice still in tanks. Lots of rain for next 48 hours and a flood watch in effect. 10 day forecast is looking pretty good other than bitter cold thurs and below zero thurs night which is set things back a couple of days.

[Edward Howell]

Brandon ,
1 dribble run of 20 gallons 2/12 and 80 gallons yesterday , basically I have been locked out for 22 days . The ground is rock hard and this 38 deg and rain the trees do not like . These taps are 35 days old , gonna see just how good the cv1 really are :-|

till we get some true thaw and sun , not looking good .
ED

[WV_ironman]

Things are getting a better 100 gallons yesterday 110 gallons today out of our 100 taps. Lines seemed to be really moving this evening while we were emptying barrels almost 60 degrees (3/16 tubing full of sap is about the coolest thing I've seen in a long time). Supposed to get heck of a rain tonight and tomorrow followed by snow and a hard freeze. We will battle the rain tomorrow if the snow hits who knows when and if we'll get back to our trees

Rich

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Boiled off 1,335 gallons today. Picked up 725 early this morning and ran it through RO and boiled it off and canned it and another 610 tonight and boiled it and canned it. About 3 hours boiling time for the 1,335 gallon of sap after it went through RO. Down to below freezing tonight and lots of flooding and near zero tomorrow night. No freezing in forecast after monday or tues, so hopefully that will change. About 25% of crop so far and time is running out. Hoping to make another 25% with the next run.

[Sugarmaker]

Brandon,
Your right into it now!
Wow 1300 gallon run. We haven't taped yet!
Sounds like that R.O. is working good. a 3 hour boil is nice. Do you run the R.O. at the same time as boiling?
What do you think the concentrate % is going into your evaporator?
Regards,
Chris

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Chris,

I did start evaporator up 20 to 30 minutes before I was done recirculating both times yesterday. I run all the sap through the first pass into the head tank and then start recirculating it.

[Parker]

Brandon..glad to hear you got an r.o.,,,that last run you had was inpressive! What is your weather doing down there now? Good luck! Parker

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Guys not to be a complainer and thankful for what sap we have gotten this year but we are taking it on the chin and between he eyes bad this year. It was single digits 2 nights ago and got to 45 yesterday and only 35 last night with tons of snow and frost in the ground. Skies were clear and only supposed to get to 40's today. No more freezing in sight rest of month and praying that changes. This run will hopefully get us to 40 to 45% of full crop. In 4+ weeks we haven't had one good run. His will be third run that lasted about 36 hours and 2 little mini runs that produced small amount. Been a struggle since day one with extremely cold temps and huge amount of snow. Will pray harder things change and take what we get.

[wvsugarshak]

Hi Brandon Yes it is a same. just taking what little come out and hopes that the the forecasts are wrong. was hoping to get to the end of the week and rite now will be happy to get sap tomorrow. But as always already planning for next year. Hang in there all my WV syrup friends.

WVsugarhak

[bix]

Hi Brandon, my name is Ray and I am a producer of maple syrup on the pa/NY border. I recently bought an Ro from Ray and was wondering if I could pick your brain with a couple of questions that I have? My number is 15705293350. Or you could private message me your number. Thanks, Ray Bixby

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Ray I called you back tonight and left you a VM with my phone #.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

We are still getting sap in spite of warm temps and no freeze since Friday night. Boiled 595 Saturday night and got up before 4 this morning and ran through 625 before work and 625 more tonight after work. Still no freezing in sight and lots of rain next 48 hours and probably more bad flooding. Still a lot of snow on and the there is most moisture in the ground I have ever seen by far. It is a horrible mess. My roads that are normally good are getting bad. We have boiled 4760 so far this year and should have another 600 to 800 tomorrow to boil. The 3/16 has saved our season for sure. We are around 38% of full crop so far and hoping to get to 50% before this ends, but not likely. I doubt we would have gotten to 25% if all on 5/16 gravity. My best producers are 262 on the north side and they usually run like crazy on gravity and they aren't hardly doing anything. Still too much snow and ice in the ground especially on the north side. Will pray hard that we get couple more decent runs but forecast doesn't show any freezing for next 10 days. This would be the earliest end to season I have ever seen in 25 years if it doesn't change.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Boiled 580 yesterday and still getting sap from 400 on 3/16 and no freeze now since Friday. Hoping to boil another 400+ today and maybe another boil tomorrow. No freezing reset still in 10 day forecast. 3 nights below freezing next week but not enough to reset so hoping that changes. Tap holes should still be pretty good as they are all new taps or check valves. Over 100 gallons as of yesterday and about 42% of crop. Not throwing towel in, just hoping weather changes and we can go into first week of April.

[WV_ironman]

Pulled our taps and barrles yesterday the combination of snow/rain/snow/rain (flood) made our access almost impossible add on the hot weather we are calling it an end to our second sugar season. At least we got to boil our evaporator some . Hoping to improve our woods setup next for next year

Good luck to all and stay safe

Rich

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Boiled 420 Wed, 580 yesterday and 550 again today. So far 6,880 gallons of sap and 125+ gallons of syrup. 400 on 3/16 has saved me for sure and has run 2 to 3 times as much as other 570 on gravity. Just over 50% crop so far and hoping for a couple more runs. Not really any freezing in sight until next weekend, so we wait and see what happens. Hope to boil out evaporator tomorrow and get it cleaned up and ready to go if sap takes off again.

[Russell Lampron]

Once a run starts it will keep going for 2 to 5 days without a freeze. Vacuum has save my season every year since I have had it. The 3/16 tubing is doing that for you. Very nice to read a real life report on it to show that it actually works. Good luck with the rest of your season.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

3/16 ran for 7 days with only one little mini freeze of about 30 and still running some yesterday when pulled lines out of tank. I don't think a vac pump would have gotten any more sap.

[psparr]

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/03/14/3a79b77e8384f85baa9f23b50db0ed5a.jpg
3-16 is amazing!

[Parker]

Brandon, you still going?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Yes still going here. Lines been out of tank since Friday night. Got unexpected mini freeze lay night and stuff ran in ground for while today which helped clean snot out of lines. Got to 70 today and sap kept running. Probably quit by morning or noon tomorrow but 3/16 was cranking this afternoon. Hope to have 500 or so to boil tomorrow afternoon and a better freeze forecasted for tomorrow night and much cooler rest of week. Showing mid 20's Sunday night too so we keep praying hard and hoping for the best. All taps are leader seasonal on new 3/16 and check valves on all the 5/16 so hoping they hold out until April. Not very much warm weather as mostly cold days other than last 10 days.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Boiled 560 gallons today and supposed to be in low to mid 20's tonight, so hope it gets the trees re-fired tomorrow and off to the races again. Snow nearly all gone and frost should be about gone too. Showing freezing 3 nights in row starting sunday, so hopefully one more run maybe after this week.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Boiled 460 more today and sap running good. Majority of it is coming from 3/16 tubing. Hoping to get small freeze tonight and sap will run couple more days. Got down to 24 to 25 last night for several hours. Started with clean evaporator and raw concentrate yesterday and syrup is a light dark which is good since we are in week 7 since we started. 7900 gallons of sap and Aprox 140 gallon of syrup so far about 57% of full crop.

[tuckermtn]

good to hear you are still at it Brandon. hope you have a good finish to the season and get closer to full crop.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Boiled 415 more gallons on Thursday 03/19. Sugar was down to .75 by Friday so dumped sap since not very much. Been tough year here as February was way too cold and March went from cold to warm and only had one deep freeze which was first week since sap started flowing on March 3rd. Went up to highland county Virginia yesterday and stopped at 11,000 tap operation on vacuum and they had made 250 gallons and season just about over. Visited another camp about 15 miles away and they were only at 1,800 gallons on 18,000 gravity taps. Needless to say hey had experienced Same weather and been very tough year especially for 11,000 tap producer on vacuum.

[220 maple]

Brandon,
The 11000 tap operation is having a bad year for sure! There is two camps in WV within 15 miles, both are over 1000 gallons made, one camp has 5200 taps the other 4200, both have tubing system installed correctly with high vacuum. There is only one properly installed tubing system in Highland County, it is located 1 mile from the 11000 tap operation, it has 2500 taps the second hand info I heard that he was over 500 gallons two or three weeks ago.

Mark 220 Maple

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Boiled another 550 gallons of sap today. It was around .7 sugar from the 3/16 lines that don't ever quit running. Normally wouldn't have fooled with it but since syrup is way down this year, it only took 4.5 hours to gather and run it through RO down to 60 gallons and boil it. Showing deep freeze 2 nights in row this weekend, so hoping and praying for one more run before it ends. This is week # 8 taps on south side have been in, so hopefully they will hold out. They are all either Leader seasonal on the new tubing and clear check valves on the old tubing. Taps on north side only in 4 weeks, so they should be fine. About 62% of full crop with 4 to 5 gallons I made today and hoping to get to 70% to 75%.

[Russell Lampron]

Those 3/16" lines are amazing. I wish that I had enough slope here to make it work. I hope that you reach your goal Brandon. If your forecast is right you could.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Russ,

I think they will perform as good or better than mechanical vac with right slope and set properly. I will probably be around 20 gallon per tap this year not including what I let run on the ground and the weather hasn't hardly cooperated at all.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Supposed to get to 22 tonight and 16 tomorrow night with no thawing tomorrow. Hoping to get sugar back up and one last run before season is done. Monday will be 8 full weeks so hoping the new spouts and check valves hold up.

On side note, Daniels Maple Products is the new CDL dealer for WV to compliment being a Sugarhill dealer. I won't mention this again or solicit business out of respect to Chris and Kim as they have always been great for me to deal with.

[mountainvan]

When your done down there you coud come up and help me. Good luck on the last run.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Van I wish I could as it would be a lot of fun. Hoping to make another 50 gallons but doubt the holes will give up that much but never know. Least can hope and pray they do.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

530 gallons yesterday and another 680 today. Got to below 27 last night so everything running today even with it 66 degrees and 25 mph winds. Tomorrow will probably be it and that will be at least 3 years in a row I have boiled in April. Sugar low but sap pretty good quality and still making good Robust A syrup.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Pulled the plug today. 8 weeks and 1 day since I started and boiled again in April for at least third year in a row which is really crazy. Picked up another 325 gallons of sap toady and put season total to 10,400. Should be somewhere around 167 to 168 gallons of syrup as I hope to boil out evaporator tomorrow. From weather standpoint, about second worst weather I have ever seen but a very good year with the hand we were dealt. Be around 69% of crop which is tremendous as bad as weather was. 400 on natural vac saved season for sure as I probably got about 20 gpt from them in spite of all the tough weather. 262 on north side on gravity always run 10 to 15 gallons per tap usually in 3 weeks didn't produce but 3 to 4 gpt. Strangest year about I have seen and they sap wouldn't run on gravity when it should.

[Russell Lampron]

I'm glad that you had a good season. It has been unusually cold here this year too. The sap is finally running here after the worst start in 15 years. I only boiled 4 times in March and none in February which makes this worse than last season when I boiled twice in February and 5 times in March.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Big thumbs up to the RO. We processed 10,400 gallon of sap with 1 cord of wood, that would have normally taken 8 cords. Norrmal sugar content we would have made about 200 gallons of syrup on 1 cord of wood. Even that will make you proud Russ. Won't have much to do in the off season now but hopefully I will use the extra time to sell a lot of equipment and supplies and walk a few prospective sugarbushes for new customers.

[Maplewalnut]

Congrats Brandon, sounds like you definitely made the best of it and then some. Have to be flexible in this fine world of maple!

Mike

[sapmaple]

Big thumbs up to the RO. We processed 10,400 gallon of sap with 1 cord of wood, that would have normally taken 8 cords. Norrmal sugar content we would have made about 200 gallons of syrup on 1 cord of wood. Even that will make you proud Russ. Won't have much to do in t
he off season now but hopefully I will use the extra time to sell a lot of equipment and supplies and walk a few prospective sugarbushes for new customers.
Brandon
Glad you salvaged your season I've ignored the 3/16 so far but the results that people are having are intriguing If you want to hone your wood cutting skills (since you don't have much to do) take some vaca days and visit up north I'd be happy to have a little help filling my wood shed back up :lol: We travel south at times with the camper perhaps we could drop in and visit your digs sometime
Kevin

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Kevin,

With a Vortex with steamaway and a 2400 CDL RO, would guess you are getting a tremendous syrup to wood ratio also. Mine hits the steamaway at 10 to 12 percent and should be coming out about 16 to 18 percent. I heat the house with wood, so I will get plenty of exercise doing that. If you are down in my neck of the wood, give me a shout.

[Russell Lampron]

Big thumbs up to the RO. We processed 10,400 gallon of sap with 1 cord of wood, that would have normally taken 8 cords. Norrmal sugar content we would have made about 200 gallons of syrup on 1 cord of wood. Even that will make you proud Russ. Won't have much to do in the off season now but hopefully I will use the extra time to sell a lot of equipment and supplies and walk a few prospective sugarbushes for new customers.

I remember a few years ago when I was preaching the benefits of adding an RO that I posted a reply using your set up as ideal for an RO. At the time you were thinking Steamaway and didn't want to hear it. I am real happy for you. I knew you would like an RO if you had one. It is the best energy and time saving piece of maple equipment you can buy.

As you know I was one of the first smaller producers on here to get an RO and was quick to start spreading the word about how great they are. I was a little scared when I bought mine because of all of the myths that were floating around at the time. All of those have been proven false and even the smallest producers are jumping onto the band wagon now. Just look at all of the threads on homemade RO's. I went from using 1 cord of wood to make 10 gallons of syrup to using 1 cord of wood to make 100 gallons of syrup. Gone are the nights when I used to boil until 2am for days in a row just to get caught up. I'm sure that you don't miss the weekends when you spent the entire weekend boiling sap.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Russ,

You hit the nail on the head. I am glad I bought the steamaway and no regrets there. It really increases the boil rate to and probably adds another 50 to 60 gallon of syrup to a cord of wood. Costs almost nothing to run it, so they both have their place. It works great with the Deer Run because I have all the hot water off of it to wash it with every night, so it is a huge plus with it. Maybe one of these days you can get a good deal on a used steamaway. It just about cleans itself and is a big energy enhancement. Dollar for dollar, yes RO is best investment as far as rate of increase. Likely go to a CDL 600 RO in a year or two since I am a dealer for them.

[Russell Lampron]

I didn't know that you were a CDL dealer. If I were to become a dealer that is the company that I would want to hook up with. We already have a CDL/Leader dealer in town too so I'm sure that they wouldn't let me sell their stuff.

I was thinking of becoming a Lapierre dealer but don't really have the time or a place to store the supplies that I would want to have in stock. I'm not happy with the Lapierre fittings that I have been using either. The seam on the barbs doesn't line up correctly and leaves a place for a vacuum leak. It's a PITA to deal with and I am changing over to CDL and Leader fittings because of it. I love my Lapierre RO and like some of the other Lapierre stuff that I have though.

[Russell Lampron]

I didn't know that you were a CDL dealer. If I were to become a dealer that is the company that I would want to hook up with. We already have a CDL/Leader dealer in town too so I'm sure that they wouldn't let me sell their stuff.

I was thinking of becoming a Lapierre dealer but don't really have the time or a place to store the supplies that I would want to have in stock. I'm not happy with the Lapierre fittings that I have been using either. The seam on the barbs doesn't line up correctly and leaves a place for a vacuum leak. It's a PITA to deal with and I am changing over to CDL and Leader fittings because of it. I love my Lapierre RO and like some of the other Lapierre stuff that I have though.

Oops! I should have looked at your signature. I see the CDL and Sugar Hill dealerships listed there.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Just tired of paying to have everything shipped or driving 4 hours each way for supplies and equipment. Lot of small producers down here and everyone about in same boat. I have capacity to carry inventory and things just worked out last month for it. WV is really starting to make some syrup and more producers all the time. Just going to take time to build customer base and get word out but working hard already.

[Russell Lampron]

CDL makes good equipment and supplies so you hooked up with a good company. I'm sure that the producers in your area are happy to have a local dealer. I'm thinking that it won't take long for the word to get out and you have a regular clientele.

[802maple]

Good to meet you yesterday at CDL, I don't care what people say about you, you aren't that bad a guy. hahaha


Looking forward to someday meeting up with you in your stomping grounds.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Hopefully no one will say I'm a bad guy. Lol. Great meeting you too Jerry. Wish I could hang around you for a while. You have so much knowledge it is amazing.
Always have enjoyed talking to you nice to put a face with it. Enjoyed meeting your wife also as she is a really nice lady.

855 miles up to ST. Albans but worth it to go to dealers meeting on Thursday and at open House all day Friday and most of Saturday. Was able to finally meet Adam and Rachel Taylor from WV. Wonderful couple and they have a nice operation that is expanding. CDL really going in the right direction and making major changes to make sure the customer is takeN care of. Look forward to working with them.

[Russell Lampron]

Hopefully no one will say I'm a bad guy. Lol. Great meeting you too Jerry. Wish I could hang around you for a while. You have so much knowledge it is amazing.
Always have enjoyed talking to you nice to put a face with it. Enjoyed meeting your wife also as she is a really nice lady.

855 miles up to ST. Albans but worth it to go to dealers meeting on Thursday and at open House all day Friday and most of Saturday. Was able to finally meet Adam and Rachel Taylor from WV. Wonderful couple and they have a nice operation that is expanding. CDL really going in the right direction and making major changes to make sure the customer is taken care of. Look forward to working with them.

I was at CDL yesterday morning. I wish that I had known that you were there and that we could have met. Did you go to any of the other open houses? The only other one that I went to was Lapierre.

CDL is really going in the right direction with great products and an emphasis on customer service. When I have dealt with Lapierre in the past the customer service wasn't up to par with CDL and Leader but they have made a big improvement in the last couple of years.

My only complaint with CDL and Lapierre is that they should have had the burgers and dogs ready first thing in the morning. By the time that I had gotten there I had been up for almost 6 hours and would have rather have had a burger or dog than a doughnut.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Think they started serving about 1130 yesterday. Had bbq, hot dogs, hamburgers and other stuff last 2 days and it was good. I think I put it on here couple times couple weeks ago. Hoping to meet more of you guys. I was there all day Friday and left there about 2:40 yesterday. I didn't make it to any others got to meet some of people that I knew were coming up.

[220 maple]

2015 a great year for West Virginia Maple Syrup Producers. Certified Maple Assoc. formed with a growing membership. 10 Big fun filled days promoting Maple Syrup at the State Fair of West Virginia. Tim Wilmot presented two workshops on 3/16th tubing one at my location and the other at WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER's location, both events were well attended! We attended the International Maple Meeting at Seven Springs, and are in the process of completing our membership in the North American Maple Syrup Council. Planning on having West Virginia's first ever maple Weekend next March, the best news for producers in the southern regions, Maple Boot Camp will be held in West Virginia next summer, instructors Steve Childs, Mike Farrell an others. More info to follow on this event!

Mark 220 Maple

[sapmaple]

Hey Brandon looks like a Big storm headed your way Are you all tapped out ? What are they predicting for snow totals in your area?
I remember in 2007 we had a Blizzard that dumped two and half feet of powder you had to almost swim though it It was the hardest tapping I've ever done

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Sorry just seen this post. We got about 25" from storm at sugarhouse. No I haven't tapped yet. Prob could have got a big run from Saturday through this Wednesday but temps pushing 60s. Will get rid of most of the snow and help get the ground thawed. May start tapping towards end of week.

[sapmaple]

Yeah that's a bunch of snow but with those temps should melt most of it, if not though, it will stiffen up and if cold enough you can walk on top of it.
I really love that just enough to cover up all the ground clutter sticks etc. bare ground is nice as well that's what I have here right now, going to start tapping
this weekend the 6th it will be the earliest I have done so Hope you have a great season!