Finished tapping

[brookledge]

I finished tapping all of my tubing today except for the 10 buckets I hang.
Turned on the vacuum pumps to check everything out and look for leaks.
ran better than I expected today
For my location the weather channel has some good temps o n the 7 day forecast.
Let the games begin. Until April when I'll be burnt out and tired of looking at the sugarhouse
Keith

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Go Get' Um...

[royalmaple]

Keith-

Looks like you are going to be right in it after tomorrow. You are almost 10 degrees warmer than I am right across the board.

Good luck with everything.

[mcsap]

I'm only 20 miles to the west, but our weather forecast is showing most days with temps only in the low to mid-30's. Got fooled alot last year as I work in Hadley and had many days when I expected to go home and see a good run only to find barely a trickle into the buckets.

Heard you on the radio last week, Keith. Good interview.

[royalmaple]

Did you guys see the episode of This old house, they were in mass and took a tour of a sugar bush, guy had a 2x6 and some tubing set up. I did't catch the whole thing but looked neat. I didn't catch where they were either.

Got the blood pumping, I think it was previously taped from a past season.

[mapleman3]

Keith you were on the radio? darn sorry I missed it. temps are looking up for us this week(end of week) I'll be all tapped tommorrow.

I wonder if that this old house episode can be found on the internet?

[royalmaple]

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tvprograms/asktoh/showresources/episode/0,16663,516206-596442,00.html

[mapleman3]

Yup found the episode


Season 2 | Episode 222

Original Air Date
Week of March 4



Making Maple Syrup



Roger and family visited a wildlife sanctuary to learn how maple sap is collected and turned into maple syrup. Maple sugarmaker James Nielsen showed them how trees are tapped and how water is evaporated from the raw sap to produce syrup. At the end of the visit, they learned how to build a simple outdoor evaporator that can be used for maple sugaring at home.

Back at the loft, Roger showed Kevin how to tap a maple tree using bucket and a spile, a simple metal spout that is driven into the tree to collect sap.

Where to Find It
Roger and family visited the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary, a nature preserve maintained the Massachusetts Audubon Society. This conservation organization runs many public programs, including maple sugaring demonstrations. For more information, contact:

Massachusetts Audubon Society
208 South Great Road
Lincoln, MA 01773
800-283-8266
www.massaudubon.org

Maple sugarmaker James Nielsen built a simple outdoor evaporator using cement blocks, an old smokestack, barbecue grates, a roasting pan, a coffee can with a hole in the bottom, and a candy thermometer.



For more information on maple sugaring, contact:

Massachusetts Maple Producers Association
Watson-Spruce Corner Road
Ashfield, MA 01330
413-628-3912
www.massmaple.org

[brookledge]

Yes I got interviewed on the radio I never listened to it myself but the coordinator of my association emailed me to say he heard it and it was good. I figured that the radio anouncer called a few others but apparently he didn't.

[royalmaple]

Keith-

Did you get the pump on yet?

[brookledge]

Matt
If you mean my vac pumps, yea I let them run yesterday afternoon and this afternoon I got alittle over a 1/2 gal per tap between the last two days. I'm hoping to get a better run tommorrow and then sweeten my pans tommorrow.
Keith

[royalmaple]

Yeah vac pumps is what I meant. hey 1/2 gallon works.

[brookledge]

Well I sweetened my pans. I actually made 10 gallons of light syrup. So I'm on the board I'd be happy if I make 1/2 gal per tap this year.
I took me 2.5 hours to draw any off.
Keith

[brookledge]

I've boiled three times this year and have made 40 gallons from 700 taps. Now that the cold weather is here I can begin on my list of things that I have not done yet
Keith

[Parker]

That is excellant!,,Did you put the 1HP moter on your pump?? Looks like it will be going gang busters next week.....

[royalmaple]

Keith-

Good for you, now you got the pre-game done. Real deal next week.

[brookledge]

Yea I put the 1 Hp motor on it and went with a 1/2" smaller pulley. It will get the vacuum up to where I need it but not really pull much in from the vac. regulator like the other motor did. So until I get another motor its going to work ok
Keith

[saphead]

Finally made a couple barrels of syrup where I work on thurs.Got the sugarhouse all set up on wens.,boy do I hate rigging and installing that monster stack on the 6x16 every year! This will be the last year for the arch,50 ys. old and a little tender.Hopefully the new arch will have a lightening rod on the stack so it will be permanent,the hill where the sugarhouse is located is very prone to lightening!
The flue pan was leaking @ the rear so the owner's wife and I prayed and within a short time no leak! God is so cool! Made very good flavored med. With all this new snow there's 3-4 ft. in the woods and everything is froze,very funky season.

[brookledge]

I'm starting to think that this year is going to be dismal at best. I'm way behind my average for this time in the month and many years I'm done by the end of March. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed though.
Keith

[Russell Lampron]

I'm with you Kieth. This is the worst year I have had so far. I have been doing this since 2001. The temps are either too cold or too warm. There haven't been any days with the right temps yet and on the days that it should run there is a cold breeze or too many clouds. If it weren't for the 200 taps I have on vacuum I wouldn't have done much more than sweeten my pans.

Russ

[saphead]

Boiled for around 7 hrs. today,my arms are aching big time! Made a drum of dark then lightened up to med. w/wonderful flavor,a couple drums of that.Big time bummer around 4:30 this afternoon, the big 80 cfm Westfalia vac. pump blew a vane or something, sounded nasty. Had to rig up an old wimpy pump to keep the sap coming in,3000 taps on the releaser.Should be able to get parts by late morning tomorrow,we almost all got herias getting the pump head up onto a makeshift workbench. Don't know how much we'll have to boil tomorrow,the farmer I work for was heading out to gather tonight.Looks like a busy weekend!

[brookledge]

I boiled on tuesday and thursday of this week with 1000 gallons each day I made about 30 gallons each day but I'm still below average. I will boil again on saturday and hope to make another 30 gallons
Keith

[saphead]

Nice freeze last night,should be a good run today,24 a 0645.Made some medium yesterday then made a drum of dark, but flavor is excellent.Got the vac. pump going ,vanes were ok just stuck w/gooo,put in new bearings and all set for todays run.Talked about relocating this pump,the longest line off it is about a mile long, but @ $1000 for electrics etc. it might stay in the sugarhouse and the dry lines might go up in size. Maple weekend in Vt.,may zip up north for a bit this Am. Ate to much @ Davenports this morning!

[saphead]

Took a run up to Guilford vt. this Am, and visited @ Franklin Family Farm Sugarhouse for a while. Nice little operation,2200 taps on vac. right into the sugarhouse,must be nice no driving to gather.They have a Grimm 4 x 14 w/a 10 or 11 foot flue pan,I like the long narrow flue pans to grab the extra heat out of the flue gases. We boiled for about 4 1/2 hrs. and caught up to the R O,to much to finish tonight so run it through tonight and boil tomorrow.Went to dark but still excellent flavor,hope this rain changes to snow!

[brookledge]

Well as of yesterday I made a quart per tap but that is still lousy for me as I should be around .4 gal per tap. I thought the sap would run good today with freezing temps last night but it didn't run that good. With the high temps I have began making commercial and my sugar content has dropped to 1.8
Keith

[mapleman3]

I picked up only 100 gals in the last 2 days. I think I'm pulling the taps tomorrow, it's not worth the gas to go collect and boil.. very cloudy and buckets are dirty now... time to hang it up. I'll boil what I have today and maybe be around 67 gals made , wonder if it will be B today, I havn't made any yet.... I would keep going if I had the sap but......

on another note, We are going up to Tom's (South Face Farm)this morning for pancakes and check out his new sugarhouse!! I saw it partially done when we had our last Board meeting... what an awesome place... hope to see it in action !

[saphead]

Boiled fpr about 4 hrs. last night,made soom decent flavored B.The farmer I work for was out checking lines yesterday and in the open pastures 3-4" of mud on top then frozen like a rock,in the woods 1" of mud then frozen.We need a good warm rain after a good freezing night to get sap flowing.last 2 days runs have been disappointing.Checked back in the record book @ the sugarhouse,this year mimicks 2003 when most opf the crop was made in April.Cold north wind blowing again today,run or not to run who knows?

[brookledge]

My sap seems to keep running enough to keep me going. Yesterday the sap had a lot more solids in it. I have a 20 micron filter before it goes through the UV light. Well even with fresh sap I couldn't get it to go through. As for the syrup the color came back and was a nice B compared to the commercial that I had. Also I can only put half as much through the press as before.
Keith

[markcasper]

I like the term "solids". Good way of putting it.

[saphead]

Boiled again yesterday,good flavored B, no "pucker" taste @ the finish like last friday's B. Still lots of frost in the ground,I think the drinking roots are still locked up by the frost. Will it thaw before the taps get old??

[brookledge]

Craig
You should get some more good runs in the next few days. I'm not sure if I'll get any or not. I'd like to get atleast 1/3gal. of syrup per tap Time will tell.
Keith

[saphead]

Boiled last night and again today,horrible light colored stuff,but there's a market.I think we made about 4 drums between today and yesterday.Got about 3-4" of snow/sleet, maybe a little more sap from the fresher taps? The holding tanks looked disgusting when we finished tonight!

[Parker]

Brookledge- are you still going?

[brookledge]

Parker
I've started waving the white flag and have surrendered. My last boil was Wednesday. Today I drained the flue pan and filled with water. This weekend I'll finish off whats left in the syrup pan.
How about you?
Keith

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Keith,

Give us a season report!!!

[Parker]

I read somewhere " A good sugarmaker is like a good preacher,,,they know when to stop"

[Sugarmaker]

Parker,
I like that message. ( I may use it some day) Maybe someone was trying to tell me something last night. we had just scorched the pan. Lights appeared at the end of the drive. I looked around and a young man appeared in the door way of the sugarhouse. He introduced himself as the Baptist preacher from several miles away. ( Cheryl and I are Baptist) He had never been here before. Just seen us boiling while driving by and stopped at that moment?
He new my aunt and uncle in Beaver Center where I grew up and was pastor there also. He has relatives in St Albans VT. One of his cousins works at Leader, building Evaporators. He had made syrup in VT (he was a bucket carrier). Still could have been a sign????

Strange, strange season!!!!

Regards,
Chris

[Parker]

Bet his cousin helped build my flue pan,,,,,,

[oneoldsap]

We're still sugaring in Lincoln VT, Making Fancy syrup since last freeze up. Got about 8" of new snow yesterday,sap is running today too. I hope we don't go too far into May.

[brookledge]

My numbers are in
710 taps 701 on vacuum(heath spouts) and 9 buckets
9048 gallons of sap
213 gallons of syrup
39 gal LTA
53 gal MedA
49.5 gal DkA
17.5 gal B
54 gal Commercial
213/710taps= .3 gallons per tap
9048 gal sap/213 gal syrup= 42.48 average to make a gallon of syrup
Keith