Mid-Hudson Valley Update

[Ghs57]

After a late start, things are moving along here.

Collected about 150 gals from 58 taps and had first boil yesterday. Sugar about 2%, which is the same as last year. This was my first firing on my home made masonry arch. It has a few problems, but managed to boil about 12 gph. It's also my first continuos flow pan. Hope to get the hang of it soon. I started too late yesterday, so didn't get down to syrup, but it looks like it's going to be light in color. Boiled about 60 gals down to what's is in the pan (about 15 gals).

Everything froze up overnight. I have more taps to put in today to get to my of total 75 (or thereabouts) for this year.

Gary in Woodstock

[Ghs57]

Very little sap last two days. All lines frozen, sap tanks full of mushy ice, transfer pump iced up in no time, though I keep it inside. Even feed line from head tank iced up. Resorted to buckets to boil for a few hours last night.

[Ghs57]

Has a great boil last night. My home-made arch, despite its problems, is running pretty well. Either that, or I am slowly learning how best to fire it. It was windy last night though. Wish I had the walls up on my shack. At least I have a roof, even though not all the roofing is on, so there is also a tarp. I'm working on it, but this winter did not make it easy to accomplish much on outdoor projects. It's not even up to 30 degrees here at noon today. And its still windy.

I'm up to 78 taps, with a few more to go.

[adk1]

Way to cold up here in s asks haven't had a good run yet and haven't run since last Tuesday much at all

[Ghs57]

I heard the adks could see zero tonight (3/23) in spots. Not conducive to good sap runs in March, unless it sets it up for a warmer day later in the week.

Spent the day chasing down some sap related odds and ends. What a waste of time. Did get a tote for collecting in the truck that is easier to handle than a 55gal drum. The bush behind the house usually produces 20-30 gal a day, so this 28 gal tote will handle that most of the time. My other location requires the 55.

Snow is still deep, so I'm afraid I might get stuck if I push the truck too far into the woods. So that means hauling sap out in buckets. My least favorite thing to do. Next year, a main line to an accessible point will be the priority.

[Ghs57]

Sap seems to be running again. Most of the ice is gone, including that in my drums (which I removed). I collected 70 gals today, for a total of about 100 ready to boil. Tonights boil went slow however. Seemed like the wood just did not want to burn. The finished product is a little on the dark side, but its been concentrating in the pan for a few boils. next boil will be a one shot for a good portion of the latest sap. Might be a lighter grade.

Added another line of 10 taps today. Thats the last of my tubing. Totals taps is now 88. I will find a way to add a few more so I can hit the 90 mark.

Gary in Woodstock

[Ghs57]

Yesterday's production.

11448

1.5 gals out of about 60 gals of sap or so. Sugar reads somewhere around 2%.

[Run Forest Run!]

That's a lot of syrup! Great job.

[Ghs57]

Thanks Karen. I like your light syrup. I produced some light last year. Things are a bit darker this year.

It was a long boil yesterday. I'm sure many others were doing the same thing. It was so long that it was raining inside the sap house. I didn't think that would happen because the walls are not closed in; plenty of ventilation.

Total production this year so far is just under 4 gals, surpassing last years total.

[Run Forest Run!]

Thanks Karen. I like your light syrup.
Total production this year so far is just under 4 gals, surpassing last years total.

You know, in the four seasons that I've been making maple syrup I have never made anything other than light and extra-light. Weird isn't it? Your total-to-date for 2015 is fantastic! Keep up the great work.:)

[mikerabbit]

Gh57,
When are you going to remove the taps? This is my first year and i am not sure when to stop collecting sap. Some other tree species in the area are starting to bud.
Mike

[Ghs57]

Mike,

It's all weather permitting. I want to run until the 10th, but we shall see.

If you notice a change in the sap, color or taste, you will know you are done. Any extended above freezing temps will hasten the end. I just keep watching everything and stop when the change is obvious. Maybe someone else has a sure fire way to tell. But here we are not there yet. This extended cold will help extend to season a bit.

Got a good boil going now. Hoping for two gals today.

[Ghs57]

Sap ran like gang busters today. Nearly all buckets were overflowing. I should have collected earlier in the day, but didn't expect this much. Just under 100 gals for the day, plus holding another 75 or so. I'm glad I picked up an IBC tote a couple of weeks ago. Boiled about 50 today. I guess I'll be boiling every day this week if this run keeps up.

Now have: 20 taps on 3/16, 49 on 5/16, 19 jugs/buckets.

Gary in Woodstock

[mikerabbit]

Thanks for the advice!

[Jonnie Maple]

I am going to start pulling taps today. Reason #1, my sap hauler crapped out last night, #2 I am running out of storage space and #3 I am running out of fire wood. My goal was 300 gallons of sap and I will have that by today.

[Ghs57]

I hear you on the firewood. Don't like how fast mine is disappearing.

I'm over 600 gals of sap harvested as of today. I would have had a 100 gal day but for the holes chewed in one of my 3/16 lines. All the sap leaked out before the bucket. Did a quick repair, and should be back in business for tomarrow. My 275 tote was full to the 225 mark this afternoon. I have since boiled off a few gals.

There is still plenty of snow in the woods, and I still can not access some of the trees I planned to tap. But, 90 taps are enough for my evap setup. I want to look into a home made RO system for next year. Got to cut down this boiling time.

[Maple88]

Firewood = down to the last few worm-eaten sticks. I figure to burn pretty much everything that's been lying around by the end of the coming weekend. About 1/4 of my taps are out now (budding tips is the indicator I use, but that method is far from foolproof). Overall a great season despite the late start.

The late season refrain of all Sugar Makers "I gotta get a bigger/faster/fancier/automated rig so I don't have to spend so many hours boiling." Then, they go out the following year and stick in more taps! :lol:

[stoweski]

Headed out tomorrow with the RTV to gather dead wood for the evaporator. Problem is I probably need 3-4 loads in order to boil down the sap I have. Collected 1600 gallons so far and have another 300 in the tanks waiting to be pumped out... Problem is I have no room for it right now. That's on what turned out to be 233 taps this year.

Hoping for another freeze on Saturday and Sunday night to give me my last boil of the season. if I break 2300 gallons I'll be happy.

Happy boiling!!,

[Ghs57]

The late season refrain of all Sugar Makers "I gotta get a bigger/faster/fancier/automated rig so I don't have to spend so many hours boiling." Then, they go out the following year and stick in more taps! :lol:

That's true. I would probably tap more trees this year if I could, despite have a backlog of sap which will take days to boil. (btw, this is my first year with my bigger/better rig-but there really is no limit on what that means, or what that costs) I'm within reach of my goal of enough sap for 10 gals of syrup. I've collected over 700 gals do far, and over 100 today alone. The IBC Tote and the head tank are full. I will start boiling in the morning and go as long as I can through the weekend. I will probably start pulling the taps with buckets this weekend.

[Ghs57]

Color difference between first batch and fourth batch:

11539

[georgelineman]

Pulled taps today here in Cornwall NY Orange County. Still have 275 to boil off before it goes bad. dont have the numbers yet but it looks like a pretty good year.

[Ghs57]

George, I'm not far behind you. Boiled all day and noticed tonight that the sap in my tote has gone cloudy. I was surprised. The temp was below freezing Thursday morning, so I figured there was no near term issues. It smells and tastes the same though, and sugar content is good (2+/-) so I will continue to process it. I will also do a small batch boil to check the tastes and smell. Anyone have any comments on cooking cloudy sap?

Trees were pretty quiet today with the temp range 46-62. I have about 50 gals in the field to collect, but no place to put it yet.

[georgelineman]

Gary, My friend Matt Longyear (Longyear Farm Woodstock) is pulling the plug also. 06:00 boil started It will be a long day...

[Ghs57]

Some long days here also at the end of the season. Boiling until 10pm every night, then finishing inside. Another 100 gal day for sap, but most of that was probably from Friday's run. I'm probably going to dump the 225 gals of cloudy sap in the tote. It has an off smell when boiling, but the syrup does seem OK. But, welcome to the dark side. It has a robust flavor, deep caramel color, and I have several gallons of it already. I have about 75 gals of fresh sap left to boil.

We may see temps below freezing here tonight, but that looks like it for the week ahead. We'll see what happens Sunday, and probably pull the taps on Monday. Last year ran right to April 10. At least thats the last entry in my log.

[Tidajo]

The trees that flowed well all season started putting out cloudy sap yesterday. Many of my 60 taps never quite flowed too well at all.
I got about 450 gallons of sap, barely enough to sweeten my 2X6 drop flue.
With a continuous flow, in this weather, I guess it's time. I can't risk ruining the potentially 10 gallons of syrup in the pans.
Will be pushing it out with water the next few days. At least that's what I read here I need to do! lol.

[Ghs57]

I'm sorry you didn't have better results. I would have been disappointed if it were not for the past week. Unfortunately, I could not keep up with the flow, and now may dump over 200 gals. I'm finding that extremely hard to do. Sounds like I had too many taps, and you not enough.

I must have misread my sugar content because if it were 2%, I should have more bottled than I have. I'm guessing it was more like 1.5%. I'll have a more accurate number when I finish up.

I'm curious about how pushing out the syrup with water works. My pan is continuous flow, but flat. I could never get the concentration high enough at the draw off to actually draw anything off. Short of running all night long, I have been drawing off a few gallons and finishing stovetop.

Well, will talk about lessons learned after everything is finished up.

[Ghs57]

Pulled my taps on buckets today. I will get to the tubing later this week. Still collected about 50 gals today, which is now in process. The 3/16 lines just won't quit. I need one more day to finish up the last of the unspoiled sap. I'm sitting on 9 gals bottled, with a few more in the evaporator. My goal was 20. Running low on seasoned wood, but made it through.

[Ghs57]

Final finished syrup: 13.5 gals, ranging from amber to very dark. Avg sap sugar content was 1.75%. From March 10 through April 6, Collected 850 gals sap from a max of 90 taps, but lost 240 gals due to spoilage. (It may have been salvageable, but I didn't want to spend all that time and fuel only to find it was not. My small test boil was borderline. It would have taken days to boil it down, plus new sap was flowing in fairly strong)

Home made arch was OK for the most part, but actual performance of the pan was less than the anticipated 10-12 gph. For the most part, it averaged 5-6 gph. With 8 square feet of surface area, I would have liked to have seen 8 gph at a minimum on a 2x4 continuous flow pan with a float chamber. This may be due to the arch design and performance, but I was fairly diligent at maintaining a constant boil with well seasoned wood. I was also boiling in open air, although under a roof, and wind may have been a factor.

For next season, I will be looking to improve upon this year's results, and will be making improvements to my set up. I will be checking the home built equipment forum for a steam hood, preheater, RO, and arch improvements. Hope to finish the shack also. There will be plenty of new things to work on, but I will not have to build another shed in the winter cold, so long as I finish this one in the milder weather.

How did the rest of you fair this winter?

[Jonnie Maple]

Ended up with 350 gal of sap from 30 taps over 3 weeks. Boiled 7 times. Averaged about 6 GPH w/ 3 hotel pans on a block arch. Finished bottling today. Final count 7 gal. of syrup.
Next year .... need to get to about 10 GPH, more sap storage, better method of filtering and a snowmobile.

[Ghs57]

There was about 75 gals of perfectly good sap in the tanks/buckets after I shut down, which was returned to the earth. We have had two freezes after I pulled my taps. Trees have been weeping quite strongly from the open tap holes. Probably could have kept running a few more days.

I'm still cleaning up. I have to take down all my lines at the end of the season, which is a real chore. It will be fun sorting it all out next year. It will never be put back up the same way, but that's ok because I want to change the layout.