West Virginia Mapler 2016

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Put in 470 taps Thursday 02/04 before dark and another 235 Friday evening. Sap started running a little on Friday and little more saturday and then increased some on Sunday 02/07. Fixed about all the leaks on saturday and collected 825 gallons today and RO'd down to 120 gallons and boiled it off. Not start was hoping for but able to get all the bugs worked out of everything today and drew off 3 or 4 gallons of light syrup.

No sap weather for next 10 days and praying hard we don't have a repeat of last February. Below zero this weekend but we are getting some snow and hopefully enough to insulate the ground and keep it from freezing as the last couple of weeks had gotten it mostly thawed out on the south side. We have 300+ to put in on the north side probably first of next week.

[Russell Lampron]

I was wondering when you were going to start your 2016 thread and if you had tapped yet. Good luck with the new season.

[Sugarmaker]

Brandon,
Good to hear you are right at it.
Some days the RO sounds like it would be a good thing to have? After two back to back 7 hour boils, Makes you wonder why I don't have one of those too? When I did start up after the second boil the concentrated sap in the pans was 14 %. Made about 7-8 gallons of syrup and it was very consistent during the draw off.
Regards,
Chris

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Been in a sit and wait holding pattern here since February 8th. Finished up the 300 taps on the north side this week and are fully tapped with just over 1,000 taps. Supposed to get up in mid 30's today, 48 tomorrow and in 50's until Monday and then cool back down. Hoping to get a good run this weekend as we are well behind where we should be normally. If it opens up and runs good, it will be hard to keep up with working full time. Been cold last 10 days and -8 saturday morning but the ground isn't froze. We got enough snow on it to keep it from freezing other than a small frozen crust on top. About 6 to 8 inches of dense snow and sleet in woods now with rain coming this weekend. Hoping to get above 100 gallons in February and get about 4 weeks in March.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Boiled 550 late Friday night(02/19) and another 1,050 yesterday afternoon(02/20) and 660 more last night. Ground isn't frozen but trees still haven't woken up good yet it seems. Sap still running some last night and today as it hasn't frozen since Thursday night. Not really any sap weather in sight for next couple weeks according to the forecast. Sugar is low but syrup is great. Kinda of the same temperature pattern we have seen the last 3 season, goes from very cold to very warm in 24 to 48 hours. Can't seem to get the good 20s and 40s temps like we have in years past.

1,710 is most we have processed in a day and we boiled for probably 4 hours total on a 2x8, so that was nice.

[Russell Lampron]

Looks like you are off to a pretty good start. Gotta love that RO! It's a real energy and time saver. Boiling concentrated sap is fun too. The weather here has been finicky too. We didn't get a freeze last night and the vacuum has been pulling in sap since yesterday morning. The next 3 days look to be at or just above freezing with rain and 50* on Thursday. Then it's supposed to get cold again for the weekend. Like you no real sap weather in sight.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Yes, RO is a huge time saver. I spent about 6 to 7 hours on Thursday and Friday evening chasing leaks on all of the 3/16 and got it nice and tight just in time for the sap to flow. Little slower finding leaks on it vs regular vacuum, just have to have a little different mindset. Longer you do it easier it gets and I like to have everything perfect.

[Russell Lampron]

I like to have everything perfect too. I spent the weekend in the woods fixing every leak I could find. I started out with 21" of vacuum and ended with 25 1/2" Lapierre fittings suck and I'm trying to get them out of my woods. CDL and Leader fittings are much higher quality and I don't get the micro leaks that I do with the Lapierre's.

[Rockport]

Brandon, have been pondering the 3/16 tubing ,I have all 5/16 now and thought about putting in a new section on 3/16 . What kind of adapter do i need to use the cv clear spouts on 3/16 . Also I have a 350ft run at a steep slope (not good on figuring ) but it drops almost 100 ft can I run 3/16 all the way and how many taps could it do ? Thanks for any info

[Super Sapper]

If you run 3/16 run it the whole way. If it is new tubing you do not need the check valve spouts. The second year you can to with a 3/16 by 5/16 fitting added to your drop to use the check valve spouts. You will be glad you went with the 3/16.

[wvsugarshak]

Hi Brando Having Same issues up here in the eastern Panhandle as you with the weather . Hope the season straighten out for all of us.

WVsugarshak

[wvsugarshak]

Also forgot to say thanks for the advice on the preheater I think it's working pretty well most times i have checked. it is dumping in sap at 195 degrees thanks

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Brandon, have been pondering the 3/16 tubing ,I have all 5/16 now and thought about putting in a new section on 3/16 . What kind of adapter do i need to use the cv clear spouts on 3/16 . Also I have a 350ft run at a steep slope (not good on figuring ) but it drops almost 100 ft can I run 3/16 all the way and how many taps could it do ? Thanks for any info

CDL has a 3/16 T that has a 5/16 drop barb on it.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Boiled 840 yesterday about 1.35 sugar. Ran down to 100 through RO and took about 1.5 hours to make 12.5 gallons of syrup with startup and shutdown. Left at least 200 to 300 in field and all 4 properties still running in spite of no freeze since Thursday night. That put us over 3gpt without a freeze and hoping to get to 4 or more before it quits. Weather looking better for another run first of next week.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up 835 yesterday and boiled it off. Sugar down to about 1.2 to 1.3 but still making light to medium syrup. 460 taps on 2 adjacent properties on the south quit running but other 235 on the other south property and 300+ on north still running today which is day # 6 since freeze. Hoping to get maybe 500 gallons more sap before it quits running. So far over 4 gpt on this run since freeze. Supposed to get colder tonight and hoping for another run starting Sunday. We are about 25% of what we are hoping as a minimum crop in a bad season 4760 sap and 75+ gallons of syrup so far. Will keep praying weather will hold out for another 4 to 5 weeks, been strange weather the last 4 months.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up right at 600 gallon thursday 02/25. Sap finally stopped running sometime early thursday morning. That was day # 7 since freeze and we pulled in over 4500 gallons since last freeze on 1,005 taps. Sugar went down to 1.2 but still made very good medium syrup. Somewhere around 85 gallons so far and looking like another good 2 to 3 day run starting tomorrow.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Had 2100 gallons by 11 pm which was about 3 hours ago at this point. Hauled in 1460 of it and took 1100 of it down to 150 and about finished boiling it. Try to get a little sleep and then later this morning in the early am do it again and probably tomorrow evening. Hadn't seen sap run like this in about 10 years. It was the mother load run. Sap still running pretty hard at 11 dropped to 33 and now back up above 40 with rain coming in, so unsure how much there will be by tomorrow evening. This run may get us to 50% of what we hope is minimum crop of 300 gallons. Sugar really low on this about 1.3 to 1.4 even after 2 day hard freeze. Haven't seen this much moisture in the ground in a long time and more rain coming this week and then snow which is likely contributing to the low sugar and huge sap.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

We got close to 3 gpt in 24 hours which was best sap run I've had in 10 years. Ran until last night which was about 36 hours without a freeze and probably 3600 gallon of sap and then got down to 24 last night and up to 62 today, so should get another big run until sometime in the night when the cold and snow moves in. Long range forecast looks really bad past first of next week supposed to be in 60s and 70s with no freezing. Normally we make probably at least 50% of our syrup after March 7th, so it would be bad if it ends then. We have boiled in April the last 3 years so praying hard forecast changes. So far 8500 gallons of sap and around 128 gallons of syrup as sugar content is worst I have ever seen it. This seems to be the what I am hearing from others too. We had 3 boils of approximately 2 hours each in less than 24 hours to process the 3100 gallons.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Ran through another 1,050 gallons tonight. Grade went back to light yesterday from medium. Should run some into the night until the high winds or freezing temps with the snow coming in shuts them down. Supposed to get a freeze next 2 to 3 days and then 60's about all week next week. So far over 4.5 gpt since sunday morning, so a great run in 2.5 days.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Another 575 gallon is sap boiled today. Froze last night around midnight and cold until Saturday or Sunday. Forecast here looks bad like everywhere else. Showing anout 10 days starting Monday in 60s and 50s with no freezing. Hoping and praying it changes but will see what happens. We are at about 151 gallons which is about 50% of what we hoped to be a minimum crop. Made syrup in April last 3 years but may end 3 weeks early this year. Got about 4.75 gpt in 2.5 days so a great run even with 1.2 To 1.3 sugar.

[Russell Lampron]

I'm nervous about the weather up here too. Big freeze starting now and warming up into the 60's with no freezes next week. I'm at 63 1/2 gallons of syrup so far and need to make 175 to be at 1 qt per tap. I was hoping to make 200 this year but time will tell.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Russ,

I'm just over .15 per tap, I was hoping to do .3 in bad year, .4 in normal year and .5 in a great year. Sugar lowest I have ever seen it but sap has ran better than I have ever seen it over 9,000 gallons in 12 days and all of that in February except few hundred gallon March 1st. Normally we make majority of our syrup March 1st to 21st, so would be tough if it ended March 8th but it could have been worse. We can just pray things change.

[esetter]

Over down here. Getting warm and trees are budding some. Im a hobbyist. Ended up processing 50.5 gallons into about a gallon and a pint. Really enjoyed it. Id like to see some of your guys operations sometime! Hope you get the weather to hit your goals.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Over down here. Getting warm and trees are budding some. Im a hobbyist. Ended up processing 50.5 gallons into about a gallon and a pint. Really enjoyed it. Id like to see some of your guys operations sometime! Hope you get the weather to hit your goals.

You are more than welcome to come down anytime.

[esetter]

Thanks for the invite , Id gladly trade you a couple days of free labor for knowledge. I just build an arch this season. Way better than propane! Are you still getting some sap?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Thanks for the invite , Id gladly trade you a couple days of free labor for knowledge. I just build an arch this season. Way better than propane! Are you still getting some sap?

Not much work to do here but you are welcome to come up sometime and I will help you all I can and show you as much as you want. I have people come here quite often and I help and train them as much as I can.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Thanks for the invite , Id gladly trade you a couple days of free labor for knowledge. I just build an arch this season. Way better than propane! Are you still getting some sap?

Not much work to do here but you are welcome to come up sometime and I will help you all I can and show you as much as you want. I have people come here quite often and I help and train them as much as I can.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up 580 yesterday(Saturday) night and boiled it off late to keep from running on ground. Picked up another 1,040 today and left several hundred in field. Get up at 4 in morning and boil it off before work. Already down below 28 just after 10 and looks like a good freeze tonight. Tomorrow may be the beginning of the end but this freeze should get us maybe 2 more days. We are over 12 gpt so far and this is normally halfway point of season.

[Sugarmaker]

Brandon,
Nice job!
You might nod off at work a little today!:)
I am going to go out and check the containers in a little bit. My guess is there is several hundred gallons to pick up today and be ready for a good run the rest of today and into tomorrow. So very similar weather as your getting. For some reason it just doesn't feel like we should be at 1/2 the crop. I think the rest of the crop will be out there if we could get through this warm spell?? Maybe I am wrong? My taps will be 6 weeks old March 19. Not sure I will wait or pull the taps prior to that? Its all about the weather now.
Regards,
Chris
Regards,
Chris

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Boiled 1040 early this am and 1260 tonight. Took about 2 hours each boil. Got down to 23 last night and had a good 12 hour freeze. Syrup went back to light tonight after doing acid wash on evaporator before this run and steamaway after early boil this morning. Picked up 2175 today and already have 915 in sugarhouse for tomorrow early am. Sap is 1.2 so sugar is terrible but making up for it with tons of sap. Guessing we are going to be about 14 gpt in 19 days before this ends probably by tomorrow. I have never seen 3 runs of 4 to 5 gpt in 19 days like this. It has been almost unreal even though ratio has been around 70 to 1.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up another 1,445 today and boiled this morning and again tonight and boiled off 2,370 today. Temperatures hit 70 yesterday and 73 today and sap just kept on pouring without a freeze last night. Over 5gpt on this run in 3.5 days and over 15 gpt for season. 14.25 gpt in last 19 days, it has been unbelievable how the sap has ran. Only downside sugar has been 1.2 to 1.4 throughout the runs but it is making up with a massive amount of sap. Boiled 4,670 last 2 days. About 54% of full crop so far and looks like we will end up somewhere between that and 60%. Extremely warm temps showing for next 15 days so season will end about 3 weeks early unless weather changes very soon.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Picked up 500 more gallon yesterday and it mid 70s. Pulled lines out of all the tanks and they are washed and ready for the next run. 70s the rest of the week and warm all week next week so unless the weather changes we are done. Would be the earliest season would have ended that I can ever remember by a lot. So far 15,850 gallons of sap and about 225 gallon of syrup. Ended up with 5.75 gpt run in 3.5 days on this last run and just over 15 gpt in last 19.5 days.

[Russell Lampron]

The sap has been running good up here too. I hope a cold front comes through for you so you can keep going.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Looks like we are done for good here. No sap since March 9th and it has been in 70's most days since the 7th and when it hasn't it has still been in 60's. Never seen it this warm this time of year as normally this is peak production time for us. We basically had a 19.5 day season from the afternoon of February 20th until the morning of March 9th. We got just over 15 gpt in those 19.5 days but sugar was terrible. If sugar had been normal, we would have been at 325 gallons of syrup instead of 225. Syrup quality was tremendous with most being light with about 35% medium and about 15% dark. No real freezing forecasted all the way to the end of the month and I don't think trees would run if we did get a freeze this weekend. I have made syrup in April the past 3 years, so hard pill to swallow. Shortest season we have had and similar to 2010 season. Could have been a lot worse had we not gotten 3 incredible runs during the 19 days and it may be many years before I see that much sap per tap in that short of a period of time.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Saturday March 19th is the first annual Mountain State Maple day. We will be open from 9 to 4 and boiling water some since we have no sap. We will be educating people on how maple syrup is made and have some for people to sample. This event is sponsored by the WV Dept of Agriculture, the WV Dept of Tourism and the WV Maple Syrup Producers association and is scheduled to be an annual event every year with sugarhouses across the state participating.

Cold weather is forecasted this weekend for 3 or 4 nights, so will see if the sap will run again. Today is day # 10 in a row of temps in the 60's and 70s and some of the taps have been running on the ground now for a week. They are still running in spite of 9 days without a freeze but with these high temps and such slow run, it would ferment and spoil before enough to be gathered to run unfortunately over the last week.

[Russell Lampron]

Good luck with your Mountain State Maple Day. It is always fun to educate people about the syrup making process.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Finally cooled off some Friday and got to 29, but not enough to get things going again. Got a little better freeze Sunday night and everything flowing some yesterday after 12 days in 60s and 70s. Got to 24 last night with good 10 to 12 hour freeze, so hoping sap is still good for table syrup and we can make little more syrup before trees are done for good. Weather better this week and next, just 2 weeks too late.

Guess we will find out syrup quality this even. Evaporator is completely clean and ready to go.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I finished up 2016 season last Wednesday 03/23. Got 1,285 sap in a couple of days last Monday and Tuesday and it was loaded heavy with yeast. Made 14 gallons out of it and pulled out lines. Ended year with 239 gallons, so we got to 60% crop. Been 2 tougher years here in a row so hopefully next year will be better. We the extreme temps for 2 weeks that came in on March 8th, we lost half our our normal season like last year, except last year was 23 days of arctic blast that killed first half of season. There is always next year if the Lord blesses me with another year.