Tapped in Leicester

[Worcester]

Yesterday put on snowshoes and got sixty 5/16 taps all tuned up.
Was going on 3/16 lines and cut my finger enough to call it a day.
Still have 120 more tubing taps to install, a pipe uphill to pump through, and two totes to wash and drag back into woods.

Probably will put up 100 buckets.

Some of the sugars were just starting to leak yesterday in the sun.

Looks like the next few days will be good to work in the woods, with snowshoes of course.

wunderground says no, but accuweather says this week coming is the start.
maple moon on the fifth!

[SeanD]

I've been liking weathertrends360 as another weather source someone here recommended. If the trees aren't ready for this first little warm up, you'll at least be in for the big one coming next weekend.

Good luck!

Sean

[Maplesedge]

Hi Dan. You might as well start, all those holes will take time. But don't expect much, even if it warms up a little, with all this snow on the ground.

[Worcester]

I finally broke down and got my own snowshoes this year!

I prefer working with snowshoes to working in the rocky swamps post thaw...

Got some more of my tubing ready today. 75 3/16 taps ready to drill strung on 3 lines.

The forecast for tomorrow gets colder everytime i check it.

Finally going to wash out the two totes with some baking soda tomorrow, I have been dreading it but it will really be no thing.

[Maplesedge]

Once you get started, it rolls right along, it's getting started that's half the battle. Soon you'll be swimming in sap. Still no sugar house, huh? Maybe rig some lights out by the rig? Was nice of Ian to remember my steel door thing, but already took care of that, thanks. 3/16 taps? Didn't know they made them.

[Worcester]

Well I got started, it wasn't so bad- once the power washer came out!

Jerome I hope you and Ann can make it down this year for a few boils! I hope to have some kind of "open house" this year where we will bake potatoes in the arch and have a bunch of people up.

Still no sugar shack. probably will revise the "hut/cage" around the evaporator, maybe get a nice piece of plastic for a wall...
Had to put my energy into collection and liquid handling improvements this year.

Lights would be great, hopefully we will figure out something, otherwise we will at least be upgrading to headlamps this year haha.

Going to be hanging buckets and tapping everything out this weekend!

forecast is looking pretty good for next week, no?

Glad you got that piece of metal figured out, my apologies for not getting to you on that, after building the arch last winter i stayed out of the metal shop until last month...

I hope you are right that I will be swimming in sap!
I would really like to produce 30-80 gallons of syrup this year!

[Maplesedge]

Yeah next two weeks look pretty good. I'm going to tap Sunday. Can't even see my little evaporator. Have to dig it out of the snow. Sure to have plenty of snow to keep my sap bags cold this year!

Sure, we'll come to your sugar party. A potato should take about three seconds to bake, in the ashes of your arch.

[Maplesedge]

Here's your pics:

1139411395

[harrison6jd]

cool pics.! I had a similar setup for years but your shelter is way bigger than I ever had. looks like fun and she's steaming away, thats all that counts.

[eustis22]

what's on the inside of your doors? ceramic blanket? How do you prevent the wood from tearing it up?

[Worcester]

thanks for posting Jerome!

we ran out of sap today, drew off five gallons brining us up to 8.5 for the season so far, plus whatever is in the pans.
the picture is of the evap. cooling down, when it is really going I can't see across it!
Having a lot of fun!

The door just has ceramic blanket glued onto it. it is getting a little busted in the second season, but it still insulates and seals pretty well. I try not to have wood hitting it, but even if it does it hold up alright. Next time I will either clamp it in with metal bars or use something else. What do people typically use? I never really inspected a commercial arch before. Didn't even really get how they worked until I buit one and run it!

[eustis22]

you glued it? with what?

[harrison6jd]

I did something similar with the blanket on the door. I ended up welding several bolts(head on the door), putting up the blanket and then fastening with a nuts and washers. has held up well for a couple of years now. you just cant use the door to squeeze the wood in. but I would like to fins some glue that can hold up to the temps also.

[Worcester]

it is some kind of refractory glue. its almost like a putty, it just barely works, it was already on hand.
I wouldn't recommend it. I will mechanically fasten when necessary.

Today had a good run, as the sun went down all four lines were going full stream into the tote at bottom of hill.

about 75 gal in tote, curious how much more 3/16 tube will pull out. one of the lines ran for almost 36 hours, very slowly, on the too warm days a little back.

seems as if some parts of the woods are just now getting the bases of trees thawed.
Some trees still seem to be opening up! Crazy! Forecast looks great this week!

I will be boiling for much of the day tomorrow, should be drawing off around eight gallons!
My worst projection for the season is now my best case scenario, but I won't be complaining to see thirty gallons of syrup at this point.
Temps only forecasted to 29 but the wind and snowpack should help. Tomorrow should be an even better run

Looks great until thursday night. Do you think that could be it for our season? hard to believe when i am still knee deep in snow and the woods feel so cold.

[Maplesedge]

I think you'll be going into next week easy. Only one way to find out.

Isn't there a wood stove adhesive for high best applications, for fire brick, door seals and such?

[Worcester]

had some good runs in past days.
one nice boil day with 250 gallons in tote at evaporator.
Made some nice amber syrup.
probably around 25 gallons made so far. looks like we will hit the 30 gallon mark once we clear the pans and boil up the last of it tomorrow. I had projected a harvest of 30-80 gallons this season. Ah!
Yes jerome, it is fire brick adhesive i used, but i think the stuff is kinda pricey and it doesn't work well the way I need to use it. Next time it will be bolt on blanket with two big "washers" made of flat stock to hold blanket down.

Sugar maples are running ok today, i collected just the sugars.
the 3/16 tubing lines were all running decently with about 40 gallons of sap in tank at one.
The reds on buckets were doing next to nothing, with the exception of a few good runners.
reds on tubing producing ok, but we will see if they add buddy taste or not. My research indicates reds will not put out even a drop of buddy sap, but we will see!

Seems like it wont be getting too cold again after tonight. Forecast is just on the edge of freezing but it seems to dip a few degrees lower in the snow packed parts of woods (still almost a foot in some of the knolls and northern parts of woods.) and may run a little more tomorrow.

Either way, tomorrow will most likely be the last boil and collection. Then on with the cleanup and tear down, should keep me busy until I go up to Colrain Friday to help a guy 10X bigger than me for a couple days! Then I will focus on packing the rest of my product and sales.

if I keep going north I could be sugaring into may!

[Worcester]

ok so i filled back pan with some very cloudy one percent sap and water and covered it with pine slab to slow evap rate. I also kept throwing buckets of snow in to kill boil in back pan. and took about 23 gallons of 5.5% sap from back pan and slowly added it to the front pan to finish. I lit a BBQ style fire with coals. once all the sap was in the pan and it was closer to finished, I opened the door and ran the evap at lower boil so front pan would mix. When it was within a point brix of finished syrup I pulled out the coals and started draining the pan. somewhere around 4 more gallons of nice syrup. I will cook a portion of this down into the traditional maple blocks for my own stash, easier to transport and store than syrup and I like the intense maple flavor shaved onto food.

hoping to get a couple days rest and do all the cleanup and washing in one VERY long day this sunny and sixty degree weekend!

Good season, I made around 35 gallons of syrup off of mostly reds. But with a 10:1 tap to gallons yield I will be looking for a new sugarbush in future seasons. Just too many woods trees and reds. However the 3/16 worked great with the reds and yields could improve if less buckets were used.

A lot of the cemetaries around here have hundreds of taps on monster maples. Time to start writing letters!

I have moved on to sales, I keep the product in my car and mention it to everyone I encounter, and offer a sample.
The reviews I get when people taste my swamp maple syrup (almost) make it worth it!
Had a lot of fun, good times with good friends, and am now feeling much stronger than before the season's start.
But with my current sugar bush this operation remains more of an insane hobby than an economic venture.

[Maplesedge]

Congrats. Good season.

I can introduce you to the Colbys, I won't be tapping their trees anymore, never did more than 6-8 of them and they've got a lot more. I only reserve one tap in the king tree in a couple years from now. There's more across the street that his father used to tap, all sugars I think. I wouldn't want you to do the multiple taps in a small tree thing, but then many of these trees are at least two feet diameter.

Cemeteries have good trees, but some are against tapping.