November Journal

[DrTimPerkins]

Wow....I get to start the journal two months in a row.

Planning and prepping for the LEME trip at the end of the week. Starting to prepare for the January Maple Conferences (VT). Finishing up some research papers for publication, then starting the editing process on the 2016 North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual.

[madmapler]

That's a pretty tough act to follow but "here goes". Pretty much finished up with the arch mods and set the flue pan on it. Hoping to set up the AOF/AUF blowers along with rigging up a homespun float box this week and giving it a test run next weekend. Then it's time to contend with the ticks for a few weeks.

[n8hutch]

I worked on wood this weekend. Hopefully be done in a few weeks. I know should be done a year ahead but I can never find the time. Might be that 55-60 hour a week Real Job that gets in the way.
Picked up my new air tight arch front from lapierre last weekend. Guess I have a few months yet to get that all hooked up, it has a pipe fitting on it to accept forced air so I need to get that plummet up, not sure if I should hook that up to my under fire , or over fire air because it will be blowing air around the door opening.

Also have a small woods maybe 150 taps to set up on 3/16 if I have time.

[WestfordSugarworks]

We are having tubing installed in both of our sugarbushes this month. About 5,000 taps in one sugarbush, 2,500 in the other. Hiring out both jobs. I'm helping when I can on the 5,000 tap install right now (full time UVM student and 6 weeks out from knee surgery). Kind of wish I had taken another semester off from school so that I could learn to install tubing, but I'll gain a fair amount of knowledge this month. The 2,500 tap install is beginning after the improvement cut finishes up later this month. My father and I did some logging on our 40 acres in Westford but ran out of time when school started up and had to hire out the rest of the job. We have a logger doing a top notch job.
We have about 2,500 feet of CDL 3 inch dry line being installed in our big sugarbush using the hot plate system. I'll be curious to see how that works. We also will be able to hot plate all of our 2 inch tubing. That 3" pipe looks huge, it comes in 50 foot lengths on an 18 wheeler. We have hired out the two installs, but still have to level and plumb 2 tanks at the big sugarbush and plumb 2 new tanks at the little sugarbush. Need to build a 40 foot long roof/cover structure for our tanks at the big sugarbush. We worked into the dark yesterday (Nov 1) trying to get our tanks supported and leveled. Looks like I need to invest in a better head lamp. We would like to do a little bit of sugarhouse renovation to increase working space and also space for friends/guests to hang out while we boil.

We are planning to start tapping the second week of January. I like the idea of coming through the woods before big snows come and attaching spouts and then coming back to tap a little later. As folks have said, it makes sense to get those January runs if you're going to be tapping that early. We are selling sap from our 5,000 tap sugarbush and it would be great if our buyer could boil early season sap. This week I plan on working some nights wire tying and doing whatever else would be helpful for the installation. I took my motorcycle out of winter storage because i can now bend my knee well enough to ride- I had to put it away when I got my knee surgery.

It's really interesting to see how many people are installing or already have installed 3/16 using various systems. I now know of a couple of big producers who have installed 3/16 under high vacuum with about 10 taps per lateral. It's great to hear of new technology in the industry and also have access to research. Steve Childs book on vacuum is super interesting. I'm reading that right now when I have time, and it's amazing how much potential from your pump is lost to undersized tubing diameters. I recommend checking out his book, especially the charts about vacuum and cfm loss, before any new install, although i'm sure many of you have.

Besides work and school, i'll be deer hunting this rifle season and muzzeloader season.

I forgot to put this in earlier, but a couple weeks back I finished the website for our business that i'd been working on. It's not beautiful compared to some professionally done websites, but i'd never done any web design before so i'm satisfied with the end result. Here is the link www.westfordsugarworks.com If anyone has any suggestions for improvements, let me know!

Hope all are enjoying their fall,
Will

[maple flats]

I like the LED head lamps, the batteries last a lot longer.
I became a grandpa for the 8th time yesterday. Beautiful 6#7oz. little girl. They named her Chloe.

[buckeye gold]

Walked my fall woods and scouted taps and made notes on some trail clearing needs. Measured for a possible short tubing run on a steep slope. Then worked on a new steam vent in the sugar shack. I think I may put a new piece of flooring in below my draw off area. Anyone have a suggestion that will make cleaning a little easier? Yes, i have a a few dribbles and spills. I have a double layer wood floor in my shack ( with concrete board under the arch ) and I can just pull a piece of sheeting when in gets worn or looking bad. The wood sheeting is hard to clean around the draw off so I was thinking of doing something else before fall tapping. Here's my thoughts: put down a new piece of sheeting and paint it, put a skim coat of some kind over the floor or install some kind of cleanable flooring product ( tile or vinyl ).

[Tweegs]

Finished up the new flooring in the shack.

My wife wants a deck on the shack, and a deck she’ll get.

Been gathering parts for the R.O., almost ready to start.

Knocked one of the front tires off the rim on the tractor yesterday.
Seems they don’t like it when you’ve only got 10# of air in there and a front end loader full of wood.
Thankfully there was no damage, sure was a pain getting that bead to seat again though. Enough such that I’ll pay a bit more attention to how much air is them tires from now on.:lol:

[WestfordSugarworks]

Congratulations Maple Flats! I was thinking that LEDs may be the way to go.

[unc23win]

Not much maple wise happening with me these days been working on cutting wood for the winter. I just keep looking at all of the maples as I drive by to get my wood cutting spot. Maple after maple after maple and of course it's just about the farthest point on our property, I suppose I might tap over there before I am dead maybe ha. We had a little logging done while both adjoining neighbors had lots of logging done. Neither neighbor wants their tops so I guess I know where all of our fire wood will be coming from for a couple of years.

I am itching to get in the woods or the sugarhouse to get something done maple wise, but we are about 60% done with fire wood and I would rather finish that now than have to do it later.

[wnybassman]

I spent part of the morning yesterday bottling........................cider. :)

[buckeye gold]

I'm still cutting some firewood on days I'm bored, but it is for next year, this years has been done for a while

[billyinvt]

Ran a splitter for about 9 hours on Sunday. Sore as heck. Another day like that and I'll be two years ahead on sugaring wood.

[maple flats]

Lots of work to do, too little time to do it. I have an order of 3/16 coming in. On Christmas break I will be re-tubing one side hill, my only steep section. I'm trying 2000' of 3/16 to start. Likely to get about 150 taps on the 3/16. This should help the vacuum pump on the rest of that bush. I ordered a new HP R.O. pump, old one will be rebuilt for a spare, it needs a seal kit.
I'll be running a new tubing set up in the area around my sugarhouse. I finally got a vacuum pump and releaser to run vacuum there, will need some sap ladders to make the sap all run to the sugar house, but I figure that's better than not tapping those 160 +/- taps because gravity requires the bush to have 7 collection points (too much time to collect).
I'm hoping I can get my help back during Christmas break, they are in college and they are trained.
I've had decent sales and will need to bottle more for my Christmas sales. I still have 40 gal x2 in barrels.

[maple2]

sugarwood all in. 69,4ft bundles of slabwood. Time to start on the house wood.

[ennismaple]

We've gotten 4 loads of gravel delivered over the last few weeks to fill in some rutted and potholed sections of bush road. The new Quick-Tach forks and bucket for the Massey should be here before winter.

We've pulled the 400 taps of semi-rigid that was installed 12+ years ago out of the woods and will replace it with new tubing before Christmas. I am soooooo looking forward to getting it installed properly. I hated how the tubing was done for the last 10 years!

Syrup is also flying off the shelves - we've been emptying a lot of drums lately.

Work safe everyone!

[PATheron]

Kind of freaking out here at Pierce and Sons. Getting close to when I tap and things going good but everyday at work thinking about all the stuff want to do. Have the line maintainance done and am now putting the taps on the drops when its light and working on releasers, tanks, pumps and sugarhouse when its dark. Fixed a lot of stuff that gave me trouble last year which is the name of the game. Trying to improve vacuum setups pretty much everywhere. Usually I have always had a lot of distance between pumps and releasers and this year trying to set them up right at all the releasers with minimum plumbing. Put in some new boosters to make certain spots where I fan all my lines in better. Trying to cool liquid ring vacuum pumps better by installing radiators on them where cool water is hard to keep coming. Should be ready but always seems to be a lot to do. Six weeks to operation EXTREME TAPOFF 2016. Hard to believe. Working on my three larger woods, each one around three thousand taps Wanting them ready to go Jan 1. Tap them in fast for early runs hopefully then concentrate on the rest after that. Lots to do, wish I could stay home everyday but still need a paycheck. Always thinking about R.O. machines during day. Want to upgrade to one new machine but having hard time deciding whether to buy one or make one. Expensive to even make one with the price of all the pumps and such. I could definitely save money but not sure what will do. Want at least an eight post R.O. machine. Would like to match my evaporator with 15% which is pretty hard to do but working full time I don't have a lot of extra time so I need to be fast with everything. Hard to have it easy if your a cheapskate like me. Theron

[ennismaple]

Theron - I get tired just reading your posts! Wish I could see the 4" fire hose of sap that comes into your camp when the monsoon sap comes!

[unc23win]

Theron - I get tired just reading your posts! Wish I could see the 4" fire hose of sap that comes into your camp when the monsoon sap comes!

You can say that again!

[PATheron]

Marty- It is pretty busy and partly because Im pretty good size for being a side gig but a lot of it is Ive always hooked up as many trees as possible without being willing to go way deep in debt. Ive kind of done things on the cheap and then have to go back and make better as I can afford it. I have a lot of used equipment that let me do a lot of volume for not a lot of money. I figure if I spend so much I end up divorced that's expensive too. I never really know how much sap I get because we haul a lot of it and start hauling and roing as it is running. Plus the last two years since ive put more taps in it has been pretty froze up in my woods to really run right. Best run weve had was two years ago we waited and waited for the ground to thaw out and when it did I think we got 25000 gallons on around 10000 taps. That was pretty crazy but I think all the stars were aligned or something because that was way more than normal for a run during the day. My lines are ok but others get more sap per tap than me. I don't care because Im just going hook up however many trees I need to to make the syrup I want. My buddy Scott Pratt does bug me though because he consistently gets better averages than me so Im going to do what I have to do to beat him. This years strategy to do that, lie. Theron

[steam maker]

Day number 2 on the framing of the new addition on the sugarhouse . Should be in the woods but gettin the new tanks enclosed and new ro room built is a touch more important. New addition is 20 by 28 with ten ft walls and metal roof . Two 2000 gallon round bottoms on the floor feeding the ro and a 1000 gallon round bottom up high to feed thru the wall to the evaporater. Be nice to not have to squeeze into them milk tanks anymore!!!! And also have it all under one roof

[wnybassman]

Mid week I spent a few hours splitting the last of the bucked up wood I had piled up. With that done, I am somewhere into the 2018 season for wood.

Today I decided to clean out the inside of my milk tank I bought in the early summer. I thought it would be an easy wet, rub and rinse. I was wrong. The previous owner had last used the tank for honey, and did not clean it out real well the last time he used it. Wasn't awful, but the remaining crud was caked/dried on real well.

I got it clean though!

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s163/wnybassman/milktankclean_zpsmpzqb1ia.jpg

[Revi]

A couple of weeks ago I rented a splitter and we split up all the wood my sugaring partner had gathered this summer. It was just on the verge of rotting, but it will work for boiling sap! We got 'er dun. This weekend I finished up splitting next years wood with my armstrong splitter. It went well, and we are "poised" for the season. There is a lot of stuff to do still, but there is still a lot to do.

[Parker]

Trying to get the last of my wood in the shed,,working on the new r.o room,,,,,have gone thru the woods and flagged the major problems,,



Looks like over 5000 taps this year,,,,,

Still trying to get a decent sap truck going,,,,,,,never a dull moment,,,,

[Finest Kind]

There is a lot of stuff to do still, but there is still a lot to do.

That pretty much sums it up! :)

[maple2]

Had to switch gears to wreath making and christmas tree cutting. Pipelines will have to wait till after christmas. Its always more fun on snowshoes,anyway

[buckeye gold]

Cleaned the shack, filled the inside rack with wood, got tapping supplies. Next week i put bags on PVC holders and wash collection gear. I want to re-plumb my blower. I may put up a run of tubing in the next few days on one slope. Second week of December or when weather is right I put out early/fall taps.....GAME TIME!

[steam maker]

Happy turkey day

[Tweegs]

Aye!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The boy and I, not being turkey fans, just pulled a brisket off the smoker.
Been at it since 3:30 this AM.

Maybe we’ll share, but I doubt it.:lol:

Turkey for the rest of the family will be done in about a half hour.

[fishman]

Poured cement on the other half of my sugar shack. Finished siding shack and put in some light panelsSplit wood for at least a year, maybe two. Dropped about a dozen trees and left them for deer browse and will buck em up next spring. Moved my head tank to a more convenient spot. Wanted to run power underground but looks like it might be an extension cord again next year.

[jimsudz]

Been running tubing in small sugarbush that i purchaced this spring.Ideal set up for 3/16's. Trying to get done before the snow hits. The property drops 75' in 200' so it is step. Seem like I fall on my a$$ at least once a day.2.5 acres and was hoping for 175-200 taps but looks like may be crouding 300. I'll be finishing up all the laterals tomorrow and will start butting on drops.

[ennismaple]

We ripped all the 12+ year old tubing out of one section of woods earlier in the month and we got the new tubing up on the weekend. I hated how the old tubing was installed. The laterals are now much shorter, straighter and we have less than 5 taps per lateral on average. Some have more but only where it's unavoidable. We used the Lapierre ZML (zero micro leaks) tees and end hooks and we liked how they install. Hopefully we get better vacuum everywhere next year.

There was one extremely long section of lateral tubing with about 25 taps on it and several branches. When you washed lines it would barely suck water out of the bucket! I installed 120 feet of 3/4" mainline back up the hill and turned that one lateral line into 5 lines. Those trees won't know what hit them when instead of 12" vac they have 22" next spring! I love how new tubing looks with fresh morning frost!

Syrup sales are going well - we emptied and re-heated 2 drums on the weekend.