Loudon 2007

[Russell Lampron]

I have collected 215 gallons of sap so far. Got all but 40 buckets tapped. Going to do that this am when the grand kids get home.

I hope the sun that is out now stays out for a while and gets the sap flowing. I am planning to gather everything up this afternoon and boil. It will the earliest I have boiled in 3 years.

It's time to get away from the computer. Got alot to do to finish tapping and get ready to boil.

Russ

[3% Solution]

Hi Russell,
Grand children, just what the doctor ordered for sugaring.
Not only that but it gives a nice "old-time" feeling, maybe not "old-time" maybe just a "New England" feeling.
Yup like it when they come over to help!
Oh yeah the two big kids , too!!
Have fun today and happy boiling!!

Dave

[royalmaple]

Russ-

That is only going to take 15 mins to process with that ro you got. Hang on for the gusher today. Or wishfull thinking anyway.

[Russell Lampron]

Boiled for the first time last night. Had 350 gallons to boil in. Got the pans sweetened and made some syrup. Not sure how much yet and I haven't graded it yet either. I was so tired after a long weekend that I left it in the canner for tonight.

The grand children had fun as always hanging buckets. It was too far after their bed time to give them some hot maple syrup but they will get plenty later in the season.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

The sap didn't run as well as I had hoped yesterday. I ran the vacuum pump all night last night and will be going down the hill to check the sap tank soon. It didn't freeze here last night but I am hoping that we get a good run today.

Getting the loose ends tied up and things are coming together nicely. Only had 2 buckets blow off of the trees last week out of 143. Considering how windy it was a couple of those days that is pretty good. Got to get to work now finishing off the little things that still need to be done.

Russ

[Homestead Maple]

Hi Russ,
Sap didn't run here Sat. and today didn't amount to anything. Trees are still froze for the most part. I didn't get that panel set up yet. Still finishing up tapping. Thanks again for your help Fri. night. Your very helpful and thoughtful.

[Russell Lampron]

Hi Bill,

I ran my vacuum pump from 11 am Saturday until 8:30 last night. Collected 120 gallons of sap at 5 pm yesterday. Also collected 20 gallons from 45 buckets. Off to a slow start once again but I have made 3-1/4 gallons of syrup so far and today should be a good one.

The temporary repair I made on the valve on my RO worked good enough so that I could use it that way for the rest of the season if I have to. If you have any questions about the RO I will be glad to answer them. Glad you came down even though it is a long drive for you.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

It is Friday night and snowing once again. Where was this stuff in December and January when it would have been easier to deal with. Glad I am on vacation next week. Hope the sap runs better than the 10 day forecast looks like it will. I need to make some syrup for the open house weekend on the 24th and 25th. I only have about 10 gallons on hand now and it is selling fast.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Just got back from Royalmaples in Buxton ME. I was headed to his place yesterday morning but the sap was running pretty good here dispite the low temps and strong wind.

I decided it was best to stay here and collect and boil what I could get before it froze. I left my house at 9:20 after boiling in 325 gallons of sap. I got to Matts house at 11:00 and helped him boil until 4:15 am. I got to run his new evaporator and showed him how to fire it so that we could make lots of steam.

His new evaporator is a pleasure to boil with but I missed my RO machine and the pleasure of boiling concentrated sap.

Russ

[royalmaple]

Russ-

Pleasure to boil, come on be honest. You missed that RO way too much. I could hear you talking all the way home. Holy... I'd never go back to that. It's RO or no go. ha ha ha.

Really nice to have the company and help last night, I'm gonna head over your way and I don't know make sure the Ro is working or the syrup is staying canned. I'd say pitch some wood but you'll only gonna use a wheel barrow full for 500 gallons of sap.

[powerdub]

No post for a couple of days, I hope the RO didn't break down and you have to boil the old fashioned way. ha ha

[Russell Lampron]

I have been too busy to spend much time at the computer. The sap has been running pretty good for the last few days. Had a good turn out for the first day of the open house weekend and I am hoping for a good turn out today. Sunday is usually my best day.

As far as the RO is concerned the last 2 times I have used it have been the first 2 this season that it didn't have a leak some where. When I first run it I found that the high pressure control valve had a crack in the casting and had to jury rig that so that I could use it. Got the new part and installed it and still had a minor leak from where I didn't tighten one of the fittings on the new valve (didn't want to crack the new one) quite enough. Then after that was all straightened out the high pressure pump decided to push an o-ring seal out in the center where the top and bottom halves come together. I took it apart and put the o-ring back into place and stopped the leak. It had a small tear in it so I have a new seal kit ordered and if it doesn't leak for the rest of the season I will install it at the end of the season.

I had a chance to boil raw sap on Royalmaples rig last week and I will find someone who will let me concentrate my sap with their machine if mine goes down to the point where I can't use it before I boil raw sap again.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Had another good turn out today for maple weekend. Made 6 gallons of commercial today. It's too bad that I can't can and sell it retail. It is the best tasting syrup I've made so far.

The sap didn't run as good as I thought it would with the snow we got last night. The season may be over here. I hope not as I just passed the half way mark for what I made last year. I will collect and boil everything I can gather tomorrow and see what happens after that.

Russ

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Russ,

Do you own a filter press, might run the stuff thru it a couple of times and drop it to a B or dark A grade.

[John Burton]

russ dont give up yet 15 day acuweather shows the next 15 days only two nights above freezingdont let the date on the callender discourrage you we may boil into late april

[royalmaple]

Russ-

You are just spoiled with that ro now. You mean you don't like the stone age anymore?

Might be able to come down this week and check you out when you are in your glory. I'll be the guy getting wood or polishing off some boiling sodas.

[gearpump]

Russell, you know where I am if you need an RO. You would also know how to run my machine if you needed too! On Saturday I processed over 1000 gallons sap with it. I am hoping the season is not over as well, but maybe the fat lady might be warming up?!!

Marty

[Parker]

Commercial Already?? I did not boil yesterday-but the sap I got dod not look that bad??was your sap sitting around for a while?

[Russell Lampron]

Brandon I don't own a filter press yet. That is one of the things on the list of things to get after I put an addition on my sugarhouse. I don't have the room for it now. Besides keeping this good tasting C for the family to use I have about 3 gallons of it sold to relatives and friends that know what they are getting.

Marty I hope I never have to take you up on the offer but if yours goes down you can use mine too. It's a little slower than yours but it gets the job done. I processed almost 1200 gallons with mine from Friday thru Sunday with no problems.

Parker I don't let my sap sit for more than a day. The stuff that made commercial ran Saturday and Saturday night. The stuff that came from my parents woods was kind of yellowish and cloudy and was from almost 100% sugar maples. At my house I get most of my sap from 200+ taps that are on vacuum. About 150 of those are red maples. We collected the sap from those yesterday morning and it was nice and clear.

John I am hoping that the temps that are predicted are just a little bit colder and that the sap will flow for at least one more week. I just wish that the color would come back up to a grade A.

Matt I "am" spoiled by the RO machine. When you come down you won't have to lug much wood.

Russ

[chipa]

Russ


I made C as well last night; the sap did run poorly yesterday. I only got 150 gallons off 280 taps ww/ vacuum.

Should run like gangbusters today ; 23 degrees here this morn.

Goodluck to all


Chip

[Russell Lampron]

Chip,

I collected 170 gallons from my taps on vacuum that ran from Friday evening until 8:00 yesterday morning. Collected another 30 gallons at 11 am and had only gotten about 20 gallons more as of this am. The buckets did nothing.

Did your C grade have a good flavor? Mine was the best tasting syrup I made this season. The same thing happened last year. All of my syrup tasted good but the C grade at the end was the best. Needless to say it didn't go to Bascoms and won't this year.

Russ

[chipa]

Russ

Yes the C tastes very good. Made more tonight.

the sap ran well here today (still running)


My sap sugar dropped (1.6)

Hang tuff


Chip

[Russell Lampron]

I made more good tasting C as last night. The first draw was black as a boot and it took a prefilter paper per draw to get it through the filter.

With the price of grade C rising I am going until the trees stop giving sap. I have enough wood for another whole season on hand.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Boiled again for the 3rd night this week and the sixth time in the last seven days. The runs are small but I will take what I can get.

The syrup just keeps getting darker and darker but the flavor is still there. The sap had kind of a sour smell to it and was kind of yellowish so I was surprised at how good the syrup tasted. Should be close to 55 gallons now.

The fat lady is warming up her vocal cords I think. I'm not sure if we will be done after Sunday.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Just did another one of those 2 state boiling marathons. "The RO Pirate" (royalmaple) came over to boil with me Saturday afternoon. "The Governor" also came over and we boiled what sap I had left. We took a walk in my woods afterward and the numbers started flying about taps that I can add to my vacuum system.

RO Pirate and I loaded my RO machine into my truck and headed to his place in Buxton, Maine to boil off the 700 gallons of sap he had in his tanks. Made short work of that. After concentrating enough sap to start the evaporator it only took 3 hours until we were done.

Loaded the RO back into my truck even though the RO Pirate wanted me to leave it there this morning and headed back to Loudon. Got home just in time to put my RO machine back into its heated room in my sugarhouse and then go out and gather todays run. Concentrated and boiled that in and was back in the house at 8:00.

I am pushing the 60 gallon mark now. Not the 80 gallons I made last year but not as bad as it appeared the season was going to be. The amount and quality of todays sap tells me the season is done here but I am leaving my taps in until next weekend just in case.

Russ

[John Burton]

russ two states in one day... and i thought I was sick you should almost set that ro up hard mounted in your truck and make it a traveling show...know what you mean about it being over hovering around 29 gal for the season Im goin to memphis for a couple days well se what it does when I get back

[Parker]

Russ -if you want to go on a shorter road trip with the RO come on over,,should have about 2500 gallons of sap toady,,take at least 11 hours to boil,,,BUT,,with an RO,,,,,,,:)

[Russell Lampron]

John it may be colder in Washington and the sap may run better for you. Mine has been coming in cloudy and yellowish for a week.

Parker at 150 gph it will take a long time to process 2500 gallons of sap. I think you can boil it off quicker with Mighty Marvin. Being just a little farther north than I am are you still getting decent sap runs?

Russ

[Parker]

Still getting decent runs on the north facing bushes,,rte.11 is really suprising me in terms of production,,3rd year after thinning and 22" of vaccum,,Hill is suprising me with how poorly it is running compared to last year,,of course it was a new system last year,,,,,hoit road is really slowing down..south face,,,and putney with no vac. this year has only produces 200 gallons all year!!!!!!!last year I got sevral thousand gallons there with vac.......

[Russell Lampron]

I reamed the taps that I have on vacuum and it seems to have worked. I only pulled in about 20 gallons in my tanks in the woods after running the vacuum Thursday and Friday. After reaming the taps I had 70 gallons in there last night.

I thought that my father had pulled all of the 95 buckets at his house last Tuesday. I was glad to find out that he had only pulled the 11 that were by the road. It took a week to get them there but I found more full buckets yeasterday than I have seen all season.

I have 260 gallons of sap to boil in today and good weather for runs for the next 2 or 3 days. I wish that the sap had run better earlier in the season but it has been 6 weeks now and it is still coming in.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Made 5 gallons of buddy syrup this morning. After the evaporator cooled down I drained and rinsed it all out. Will gather the sap from the sugar maples tomorrow and hope to make some better syrup. The stuff from the reds will sit in the tank in the woods until the sugar maples give up or I will blend it in if that taste crappy too. Up to 67 gallons now and still holding out for 80.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Cleaning out the evaporator and starting fresh looks like it is going to pay off. I didn't have enough sap to get a draw off but the stuff in the pans looks nice and light and if I can get enough sap to boil again tonight I might get some medium amber out of it.

Brought the releaser back up to the house last night and the vacuum pump is getting a much needed rest. The sap from the trees on vacuum is mostly red maple and I made some buddy syrup for Bruce Bascom Sunday. For now all that I am going to boil is the sap from the sugar maples.

Russ

[royalmaple]

Russ-


Is Bruce special ordering that buddy syrup from you? Might be using it for christmas gifts.

[Russell Lampron]

Matt,

Bruce said that he wants all of the commercial syrup I can make. From the taste of it I think he labels it as Medium Amber and sells it in 5 gallon cans.

Russ

[3% Solution]

Hi Russ,
Went out yesterday afternoon and picked up 65 gallons off 93 taps, didn't get the balance on that load. Wednesday's coming!!
Most of the 65 was from two pipe jobs and they were running pretty good.
Took of another 7 1/2 quarts last night. Dark and "B". Got to stop those night boils when I have to work the next day!!!!!
Stopped in Sunapee on the way home from work, sap's running a bit.
Most of the buckets had nice clear sap in them, looked like water (maybe it was, Art may have got the hose out!!).
I'll go around and pick everything up tomorrow and see what we get.
As I said earlier didn't get 30 ot buckets, I'll get them first and bring it back.
The clear stuff I'll get after and hold in the tank and pump it in after.
Had a friend aver to check out the "Still" and he said he likes that "ROBUST" maple taste, yeah!! A bit strong for me.
Have a good boil tonight.

Dave

[Russell Lampron]

3%,

Boiled in 160 gallons tonight. It is the first Medium Amber that I have made this season and it has excellent flavor. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. The temps look perfect for a good run and the sap has been coming in clear.

I would like to make 10 gallons of this syrup or more if possible. Then I will have enough to fill the orders that I have.

Good luck to you and I hope it is clear sap in your buckets and not water.

Russ

[royalmaple]

Russ-

I'll bring down some sap for the weekend to get you up over the 10 gallon mark. Actually I'll bring some more so you can make 11 gallons and replenish the hot **** (typing sodas).

[Russell Lampron]

Still cranking out some nice looking and tasting Medium amber syrup. I am really pleased with the results of this past week. Like the guys in Maine I will keep hammering.

Russ

[3% Solution]

Hi Russ,
I picked up 82 gallons on Wednesday and got a total of 2 3/4 gallons of Dark, nice tasting stuff. This brings us to 28 2/4 gallons so far.
Actually lightened up in the end.
That sap that looked like water, well, it was sap!
Sap was cloudy, but was ok.
I took a guy with me the other day and he was going to dump out some "Yellow" sap and I told him "Naw, dump it in, it'll make syrup".
Love doing that with first time gatherers!!
It's the look on the face.
Going to pick up this morning and boil that down, see what we get.
Let you know!

Dave

[Dave Y]

Russ you guys up north arent the only ones still making syrup the northen tier of Pa and the allegheny National forest is still in the game. There are alot that aren't "all in" yet.

[Russell Lampron]

I started doing this in 2001 and this is the second time that I have made syrup in the middle of April. Both times the syrup lightened up from what it had been in March.

All of you that haven't pulled your taps yet hammer on.

Russ

[Mark-NH]

I just got a call from one of my friends and we've had the best run of the season between the last 2 days. I've been doing this for 17 years and we've never had a run of any volume in April much less the middle of the month. Goes to show you that you will never see it all.

We've had good luck with sugar content all season, over 2%. Wednesday we were over 2 1/4%. We'll see what today brings and what color we can make from it.

Turn on the Sox, crack a beer and boil tonight. Sounds like a great Friday night.

[3% Solution]

Hi Mark-NH,
Yup you got that right.
When I went out to gather this morning, I picked up 40+ gallons from 30 taps.
My first thought was I'm in trouble!!!!
Then I went to my pipelines and BOTH tanks were full (65 gal. tank each), I am in deep trouble now!! Still had 40 more taps to pick up!
Stopped by John Paul Flat and made a little present to Van of 65 gallons of 2.5 %.
Kept 120 for myself, now that's history.
I am running out of wood, guess I'll have to get into next years.
Have fun!!

Dave

[Mark-NH]

Dave,

How was the quality of the sap? I boiled last night but did not get to syrup. Sap seemed to have an odor to it. I won't have enough to sell to Bascom's and I don't want to spend a lot of time and wood on making off tasting syrup.

[3% Solution]

Hi Mark,
The sap seemed to be clearing up a bit, it's cloudy but the bottom of the 5 gal. buckets (gathering) can be seen.
We made 3.25 gallons of nice tasting "Dark"yesterday.
The sap was 2.5%, did get get some in Sunapee that was 1.8% so I dumped it out.
Just moved in enough wood from next years supply to hopefully finish the season.
Picked up all the sap today so when the storm is in motion tomorrow I can boil most of the day.
How's your sap? It doesn't sound good.
We are at 31.5 gallons, **** that's the most we have ever made!!!!!!
Keep boiling!!

Dave

[Russell Lampron]

Got the buckets and the gravity taps pulled Saturday. I still have to pull the taps on vacuum. I should be able to get that done this coming Saturday.

Boiled out the rest of the good stuff that was in the evaporator. I was still making a very light dark amber syrup with good taste. I was thinking I was going to have to buy some Grade A to fill my orders but made enough in April to do it.

I have some sour sap and the buddy stuff that I drained out of the evaporator to boil and by the time I am done I should be at or near last years total for gallons of syrup produced.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Yesterday was a beautiful day to get the rest of my taps pulled and tubing washed. Boiled some nasty stuff that I had drained out of the evaporator 2 weeks ago with 50 gallons of soured sap last night to make some special stuff for Bruce Bascom. I am glad I have a steamhood because the mixture in the flue pan really stunk.

It seems that the RO machine has spoiled me. I find it hard to boil for more than 4 hours now. I am going to fill the feed tank with water and boil out what is left in the evaporator this morning so Bruce can give me some money for it. I could have done it last night but I was tired from working all day even though I finished up at 9:00. I don't know how Royalmaple does it boiling until 2 or 3 in the morning consistently.

Russ

[royalmaple]

Me either, but I think that will be a thing of the past.

Russ if you run your water through your ro, will that help you finish off your flue pan quicker. HA HA. RO can't help you there.

Glad to see you have to do some stoneage boiling during the season.

I'm gonna finish up the rest of my sap today.