Who's BOILIN !!!

[5050racing]

Working on my first batch of 110gal sugar content very low but that's my life here! Will finish Tuesday night just didn't feel like another 2 hrs tonight.

[sweetmoomoo]

just finished off 75 gallons , going to bottle in the morning. sugar content for me this week is just below 2% last week was 2.5%

[5050racing]

Wow good for you,it's a struggle for me,trees are mixed in woods with big mature other trees,not many branches like they are in the open!

[John-NJ]

Tapped here in Hunterdon Cty on 1/31. First boil was 2/2 with 3 quarts+ in the jugs. Right now I have 120 gallons I have to start on tonight. My first batch was right around 1% but that seems to be the story for red maples. New this year I have 72 taps on vacuum. I got tired of the tramping through snow with buckets. I was totally caught by surprise by the early runs, so my RO is still a pile of parts. Hoping with the cold snap, that I can boil what I have then get a break to get the RO together. The homemade vacuum system is working great. Everything homebuilt except the pumps!

My little 2x3 flatpan cant keep up unless I get the RO together.

Good luck and sweet dreams
John

[5050racing]

12946Just finished a 110gal batch ended up about a gal still some coming thru the filter as I type but nice light amber! Lots of work for so little but I have syrup this year!!

[Run Forest Run!]

..... and so it begins 5050. :D All the best for a fantastic season!

[5050racing]

At least I made some but hard freeze coming hope it changes sugar content!!!

[dcast99]

Haven't tapped yet. Will probably tap on the 20th after this cold snap. Tanks and evap all ready to go.

[5050racing]

Tapped 1/31 but was good to get that done but now the snows almost gone would of been easier,made that little bit of syrup but all set now,looks like Tuesday will start up again,still have a few more new trees to reach with the 3/16,I think the vacuum pulls early and you end up with less sugar?? Just my thought?

[jerzeemaple]

Not boiling but we just held an awesome event fo 25 girl scouts. They tapped some trees and hung some buckets for us, cold but good times kids loved it! Think we created 25 more maple addicts! Hope to boil this weekend if my sap ever melts enough to pump.

[dcast99]

Tapped on Fri and Sat. No sap running on Friday. Saturday it was running. Had 180 gals by the time I left. Will collect it on Monday and boil on Tuesday

[highlandcattle]

Ron started up the Mason at 7:30 a.m. he has a 125 gallons in the holding tank to begin with. The bulk tank is filling fast. At this rate won't be able to keep up!

[jerzeemaple]

Sap was only 1.5%, around 180gallons to work with, bottled up 3 gallons of Dark today. Wish the sap was sweeter, but it is what it is, nice to finally make some syrup!

[5050racing]

13231Finished a 120gal batch sat made 2gal it's tough but nice stuff,here are my first batches

[dcast99]

Sap hardly running today. Collected 360 gls. Will sweeten the pans tomorrow and start making some syrup.

[5050racing]

Just in from BOILIN a 140gal batch 60 to go restart Tuesday

[jerzeemaple]

Sap ran a little today, 90 gals I'm boiling it right now but I did not test it, should get thru it by midnight.

[jerzeemaple]

Sorry not 90, more like 60, there is still 6" or so of solid frozen sap in my evaporator feeder tank

[jerzeemaple]

Boiling in the rain with wind with cupola open just stinks:mad:

[5050racing]

Just finished 140gal made little over 3gal still in filter a bit,nice stuff13310 first batch on right

[jerzeemaple]

Last time I was in fog this thich, like in my saphouse right now, can barely reafd my dial thermometer,was on a hike up Mt Verstovia when i lived in Alaska 15 years ago, the steam in saphouse just provoked a memory! Sweet!

[Run Forest Run!]

Nice looking syrup 5050. You've got to be happy with that!

[5050racing]

Yup it's great just had it with my oatmeal n fresh strawberries for breakfast !

[jerzeemaple]

Down to 1.2% sap

[wnybassman]

Down to 1.2% sap


Uhggg. That hurts just reading that.

[5050racing]

What?? 1.2 That's good for me mine is getting better!! I never get much higher

[jerzeemaple]

Sap didn't run good today, boiled all day yesterday and bottled up 4 gals of dark today.

[5050racing]

Was on call had to go at 4am knuckle head took down a 70' pole on the highway didn't get home till late
collected 90 gal one 55 drum overflowing,still a couple buckets I have to get

[John-NJ]

Collected about 90 in the afternoon/evening on Saturday and another 60-70 yesterday - took out 110 on the RO and the rest on the evaporator. If it wasn't for the RO I would be in big trouble.

With this weather, not sure how long we will have sap. My biggest red maple is starting to turn red....

Regards
John

[John-NJ]

5050 - fyi your inbox is full - tried to send you a message. Just curious about what you do for a living because of your post about pole on highway... DOT?

John

[dcast99]

Brought home 230 gls of sap last night. Found a broken mainline fitting on one of my upper runs so lost some there. Don't have a measurement but the sap I brought home on Thursday must have been real sweet. 38 gls sap to 1 gl syrup. I normally average 1.8%. Made 10 gls of syrup so far. Have to see what today's boil will give me.

[John-NJ]

Assume you have sugar maples, right?

My reds make me work harder for the good stuff! 1.2 is exceptional. Usually more like 1.0-1.1

[5050racing]

John-nj I'm a lineman for power company, mail box cleaned up

[jerzeemaple]

Boiled down 60 gals tonight after work, made around 1 gallon, didn't filter or bottle, had to get the kids to bed.

[WoznicaSyrup]

I've had taps in since 1/31 with 800 gallons of sap collected - 135 tonight which will get boiled down this weekend. To date my sugar content has been anywhere from 2 -2.8 and I have 14 gallons of liquid gold to my name with more on the way!

[dcast99]

Boiled down the 230 gls plus 76 more from a friend. Made almost 7 gls of syrup. Makes 17 for the year so far. A good start. Only need 60 more to match last years syrup total. Tapping all sugars. Need to do alot more thinning to get the sugar content up.

[jerzeemaple]

Not a drop yesterday and the extended forecast is brutal, hope it's wrong!

[John-NJ]

Yeah this weather has my trees really confused....

Hope we get another run before the buds break...

[5050racing]

WOW just finished a 135 batch n just about 5 gal !! If it could be like this all year,collected 30 the other day kept it seperate was a little cloudy but started it on it own boil now n smells good so it the ratio says it will be a about a gal of syrup !!! Maybe 1 more run after this cold with 70* on Wednesday heard a couple peepers already!only a couple!

[John-NJ]

Looking at 10+ days of temps in the 60's and 70's

Is it all over? I got another 175 gallons of sap over the weekend and yesterday, but not expecting much more.:cry:

-John

[5050racing]

Same here 150 Sunday,Monday trying to finish tonight but the 3/16 lines were rippin yesterday so there probably some in the tank to add tonight but pull buckets already only 6 of them,it's over after this batch #6

[Run Forest Run!]

Great news on that last batch of yours 5050. Five gallons!! That ought to help soften the blow on your reduced totals for this year. :)

[5050racing]

Yeah that was a surprise,but working on finishing for good tonight 150gal plus today's run that's it 70* out n hot!RFR did u tap yet?

[Run Forest Run!]

RFR did u tap yet?

Yes, I've got 19 in so far but not much is happening. I think I've gathered enough to make 2 quarts of syrup if the ratio is decent. We've gone from below freezing straight to temps in the 60s with no freezing in the near future. If we end up with a really short season, at least I've got an extra 16 quarts in the freezer from last year.

[5050racing]

Went to 1am collected another 30gal added to 150 n made another 5 gal WO HO !!!!! Total of 13gal syrup for a bad year is not bad at all and it's light will take pic later when it's bottled!!! Good luck RFR with the 19 taps hope the weather corporates !!

[jerzeemaple]

I've only bottled 9 gals all dark. 23 last year, 17 in 2014. Pulled my lines out of my tanks, see what i can scrounge out of my pans after i run this last 30 gals thru. Not too good for me this season, sap doesn't run good on reds at 80 degrees I guess. Lookin like clean up season is here!

[dcast99]

It was a sad day in the sugar bush today. At 1pm I was pulling taps while it was still flowing a tiny bit. By 4pm it stopped. 75 today, tonights low 50. Strangest thing was that Sunday night thru today was the best flow I had all year. 505 gals. Luckily my partner in this maple thing has a walk in cooler. One full tote + will go in there until friday. We have 610 gals to cook down. Should bring our totals to about half of last years.

[5050racing]

It always a sad, happy day when the end of the season is reality,my last run really helped make a good season 13 gal way more then I though it would be!

[jerzeemaple]

All said and done, after finishing what was in my syrup pan just now, I bottled 10.6 gallons this season, all dark!

[sweetmoomoo]

all cleaned up and buckets put away. only 9.5 gals. this year. the good thing is i sold all of it and paid for the bottler i bought. (did keep one gallon for family)

[Run Forest Run!]

I'm happy to report that I am boiling to catch up tonight. :D

[5050racing]

That's awesome how much you sitting on?

[Run Forest Run!]

That's awesome how much you sitting on?

I collected 83L today and need to make a big dent in it because my main storage pail still has a giant block of frozen sap in it. If I don't empty out my three sap totes I've got nothing to transport the sap that I collect from my second location. It's finally a nice problem to have. Pretty soon I can toss that ice block, but so far it's still melting off decent sugar content.

[5050racing]

It's fun to have those problems sometimes well have fun me getting some rest n clean up

[Run Forest Run!]

Thanks 5050. Congrats on a salvageable season in NJ. Weird weather eh?

[John-NJ]

Put this on 5050's other thread but if anyone wants maybe 75-100 unused sap bags and homemade holders, I would be happy to give them to you - You just need to pick them up near Flemington NJ.

My total this year 9 gal, 1 pint in the jugs. The whole range from light to dark. (I don't have a grading kit, and didn't order the Hanna meter till the day before yesterday, so I can't officially grade it!)

Half of mine is gone already, I had to tell my neighbor to stop selling, so I can supply my family!

5050, what are those jugs you use (what size and where do you get them)?

Regards

[5050racing]

I bought them from dutch gold honey a big honey maple syrup suppliy place in lancaster,pa and they sell both honey,maple syrup and many other containers also.How many cases you need pm me with your phone number I could give you some just replace them

[highlandcattle]

Ron is boiling. Have 40 gallons of Robust so far. 2525 gallons of sap. Its still flowing and he'll keep going!

[John-NJ]

Thanks 5050, just curious, I am set this year with jugs, but I am thinking some glass might be nice for next year, and those look nice!