Central Wisconsin

[Trapper2]

3-28 Shawano county. Pulled close to 250 gallons yesterday off of 90 taps. Starting to run out of banking snow by the storage containers. But I know where there are some piles from plowing. ;-) :lol:

[Dave Puhl]

3-28. went and collected about 120-130 gal had a little left over from yesterday cook..got the 2x6 fired up and ran for a few hours. all went well a nice day to cook but with a swirling wind made it hard to see in the pans at times. ended up with 4gal.scrubbed and rinsed the bulk tank and collection barrels out..time to bottle and wait to see if we get another run.

[Trapper2]

4-1
Cooked all weekend long. Finished 9.5 gallons off of my 90 taps. Looks like another cooking coming up this weekend but I will be pulling taps on Sunday the 7th. No where's close to last years season. I experimented a little with a 15 tap gravity line.
19911

[Dave Puhl]

4-1. collected about 190 gal. it just is not been a good year here yet .will cook in a few days ..might be done.

[Dave Puhl]

4-3.collected.got the 2x6 fire up about 11am cooked till 6:30pm .a fair day some wind the sweet from last cook looked and tasted fine. as the 2x6 got up to temp there was a off smell for a short time. the syrup taste was good so the sweet must of been close to getting bad. had some company for most of the afternoon. Short of 7 gal I think I have enough to fill orders. Last cook of the season. second shortest season that I can remember. 4-4. pulled all of the taps but left the lines hang.trees were dry. picked up collection barrels and now the start of the clean up process.

[Trapper2]

4-5
Boiling today thru Sunday. Probably another 10 gallons finished. I'm not expecting much sap flow this weekend but it looks good at my location for next week.. I may not pull everything after all on Sunday like I had planned.

[Trapper2]

4-8
I ended up with 20.75 Gallons for the season off of 90 taps. I did have 55 gallons of sap that I dumped, not sure if I had to or not but it was getting pretty cloudy compared to the rest. The last 6 gallons that I finished off was very foamy and quite a bit of Niter. It took every prefilter that I owned to get thru those 6 gallons. The previous 10 gallon boil only needed 4 prefilters for the entire batch. Cleanup gets finished tonight.
I hope everyone had a successful season, although it wasn't as long or as good as in the years past.

Trapper

[Wannabe]

Running good here in Clark county yet on bags. Sap I hauled yesterday was at 3.4% (mostly red maples).

[Trapper2]

2048120482
This will be the first time in 50 years of cooking that I will have a roof over my head. 14X20.

[Chickenman]

2048120482
This will be the first time in 50 years of cooking that I will have a roof over my head. 14X20.
You will enjoy the feeling of being out of the elements and wonder why on earth it took so long to get a roof over your head.

[Trapper2]

Tigerton area: I will be tapping in on Sunday March 1. I was up to the woods on Tuesday and plowed the woods roads the best I could. The 14" - 18" of snow is like sand it just flows back into the area that you drove thru. Lines have drops cut in to them. Buckets are ready to go, Collection tanks have snow banked around them right up to the top. New Sugar Shack is waiting patiently for her inaugural boil.
21065

[Farmalcrazy]

Looks awesome

[Dave Puhl]

3-1. My friend Paul tapped some yesterday.those were on the south side..he said they were dripping. I will wait yet for mine..they all lay to the north

[Trapper2]

4-3 I tapped 150 on 4-1, 1/2 on gravity tubing and 1/2 on buckets. Most spiles were dripping constantly. Trail cameras that I have watching 3 bags show that they are 1/3 full. I will make the 80 mile trip on 4-5 to collect and boil. Great looking week.

[Dave Puhl]

3-2.. some reports from others here that they are getting some sap but not much..will work on getting lines up in a few days for me

[ChasinSmoke]

Tapped 25 on buckets Saturday Feb 29. Collected about 45 gallons last night after work. South slope, mostly silvers and a few sugars.

[Dave Puhl]

3-3..put two drops in... to a bucket. they were dripping ...still a bunch of snow on the north side..shoveled out three areas and paths for collection barrels..windy and cool..

[Dave Puhl]

3-4..cold wind blew today.. the test taps were dry..got the 5 lines up but not tapped..along with the four 55gal collection barrels..lotsa snow on the northside.

[binski]

tapped last weekend- 150 taps on 3/16. 300 gal in the tank so far :)

[Trapper2]

3-9-20 I boiled about 300 gallons over the weekend. 7.75 gallons. Tigerton/ Wittenberg areas. Sure didn't run as expected for it to do on Sunday with the 50 degree weather.21174

[Dave Puhl]

3-7..worked in the woods this aft. tapping and adding some trees to a line.trees dripping but not allot..3-8.. hot today temp 61. trees locked up..worked on washing up equipment and getting stuff ready..3-9 rain today put out rain gauge..snow going down on the north side where my trees are..end of the day the rain stopped a good 1/2 inch of rain..will finish tapping in the am..

[Trapper2]

3-7..worked in the woods this aft. tapping and adding some trees to a line.trees dripping but not allot..3-8.. hot today temp 61. trees locked up..worked on washing up equipment and getting stuff ready..3-9 rain today put out rain gauge..snow going down on the north side where my trees are..end of the day the rain stopped a good 1/2 inch of rain..will finish tapping in the am..

Do you still have much snow on the ground? I have 16-18"21202

[Dave Puhl]

3-10..Just some snow on the north sides the rain knocked it down real good..finished tapping this am temp a cool 25..by afternoon trees were running but not hard...a friend brought over 50gal of sap he had all the syrup they could use just short of three gal...more rain coming this eve.

[Dave Puhl]

3-12..a cool and rainy day.around a 1/2'' of rain again..3-13..froze here this am ..cutting wood for next winter.trees running ok by noon.seen some air bubbles in two lines and walked them one had a chew hole near a tap so just took my jackknife and fixed that one..next one was a 4' section was bad so back home for supplies and fixed..so it does pay to check lines when the sap is running..trees ran ok till 3pm then it cooled down with some light cloud cover...still not much going on for me

[binski]

My first year with an RO. I should of got one years ago. Love it!:D

[Dave Puhl]

3-14..ground froze up this am..back at cutting wood..then collected for the first time this season... still on the cool side but trees are running some..3-15 lines still froze at noon cool in the shade all day...worked on setting up the 2x6 got the neighbor to help set up stack and pans put the wood spliter up on blocks so easy on the back..went out and collected... two lines running well but its cooling off fast..will cook Monday

[Trapper2]

3-16 Finished off and bottled another 6 1/2 gallons today. Sap ran pretty good Sunday afternoon. I will boil again Wednesday and Thursday.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Hi binski. Just wondering what RO did you get for your operation? am looking for a good one on a small budget.

[binski]

I built mine. I was pretty intimidated when I started but it is very simple. I cut 12 hours out of my cooking last weekend. Got my first draw 2 hours after lighting the fire and got super consistant draws.

21256

[Dave Puhl]

3-16..went and collected then fired the 2x6 up..cool in the shade but a nice day all went well...got all the sap cooked but 40 gal or so..3-17.. drained and lightly cleaned the sugar pan..pumped the bulk tank dry and cleaned that out..went and collected.. sap running good..a late start..my dad almost 90.. had a flat tire on his car..fired up.. a very nice day to be outside.. evap.rate real good.. several people stopped by..

[Diesel Pro]

I built mine. I was pretty intimidated when I started but it is very simple. I cut 12 hours out of my cooking last weekend. Got my first draw 2 hours after lighting the fire and got super consistant draws.

21256

Good to see the dolly concept is still going and interesting to see the lay down concept.

[Dave Puhl]

3-18...Went out in the am and started to drain the 2x6...rain coming and then cold...had to go to the store to get some vinegar..just a short drive to a small town...just got two gal. and a some beer..some of the spaces on the shelves were empty..rinsed out the flue and syrup pans.. took alittle over a gal. of vinegar in the syrup pan to do the soak for a few days..went out and collected..3-19... rain late in the am rained the rest of the day 1.25''of rain in the gauge...a muddy mess..3-20... all white here this am 1/2-3/4'' of snow..will have to get ready for the cold snap coming..they are forecasting in the low teens... stay well...

[Trapper2]

3-18 I pulled 510 gallons off of 150ish taps. Started RO immediately and boiled till 8:00 pm on 3-19. Thank God for the little RO bucket that I bought. Finished off just over 10 gallons. (my biggest ever). Predicting next boil 3-25.
21277

[Dave Puhl]

3-24..last cook of the season for me ..sap is starting to get cloudy..it seems that the sap will only keep a few days.. has not been that warm..been draining and rinsing out tanks and barrels but it is not keeping well... all taste good and no bad smell coming of the 2x6..a good 10 hour cook long enough for me...3-25.. pulled taps and started to clean up ..still have not bottled yet..there is a chance might get to use a filter press..stay well

[For_the_kids]

Boiled our last boil today. We had 100 taps on drop lines to pails, we got a total of 883 gallons sap. I will finish boil the last of the concentrate on Saturday to know just how much syrup. We'll clean up tomorrow before rain and put things away for another year. Hopefully everyone stays safe during this crazy time. Enjoy you time with your families.

[Trapper2]

3-26 Pulled 694 gallons over the past 3 days. Boiled down and bottled another 12.5 gallons. Over 36 gallons for the year, just short of my 40 gallon goal.
Taps still in, looks like a run early next week. Far surpassed last years 17 gallons.
21310

[Dave Puhl]

3-26..Filled the flue pan with sap for cleaning.. trying that for the first time...now I don't want cold temps..Called to order quart jugs from Roth's ..I was told that hey have not made a price on bulk syrup and won't be buying till May...stay well

[Trapper2]

4-1
Pulled taps and collected 220 gallons. Finished the season with 41 gallons bottled. Just over a quart per tap. Tapped in on 3-1, so actually a pretty short season this year but I doubled finished product, but I guess that will happen if you double your tap count. First season boiling inside, boy did I love that.
Stay safe everyone with the Covid 19 floating in the breeze.
Till, next year,
21382

[Bgreisch]

We pulled our 25 taps last week Monday and ended with 7 3/4 gallons of syrup this year, was a great year from the start on March 1st tapping but short, maybe could of squeezed a few weeks out yet sound like it is going to be cooling off next week. But we decided to pull since with the safer at home order they do not want you to travel and we live 3 hours from our cabin where we tap, and we also were running short on firewood, so probably a good time to stop. So now time to plan and dream about what to upgrade for next year. My property has a gentle slope to where we boil so wondering if you can run tubing without a vacuum and just depend on gravity to get it to a collection point, can you use 5/16 lines to the collection point or do you need to use 5/16 line for laterals and run a 3/4" mainline. Also would love to upgrade from cinder block arch and 3 buffet pans to SL Dauntless evaporator, just need to come up with a way to talk to the wife about that.

Bryan

[Dave Evenson]

There's a ton of info here on the "tubing "section- look it up. For a modest number of taps you can run 3/16 for all of it, in fact you should, because you'll get a bit of vacuum boost by running the tubing full. No pump, just weight of sap making vacuum. I had a couple of short tubing lines in 2019, 9 taps and 13 taps, and I liked them very much- they were the only place where I had adequate grade, but it was nice after carrying buckets from other taps to come to two collection points at road side and lift bucket loads out at those two sites. Unfortunately the July 19 windstorm decided that I shouldn't be running those lines, took out some maples and also dropped a lot of other trees to make a challenge of walking. I think I discovered a new route this season that I will incorporate next year to get back into at least 1 line. Dave Evenson

[Bgreisch]

I thought for 3/16 tubing you need a fairly good drop in grade, not sure what my property is but it is more like maybe 5% slope, so I was thinking 3/16 probably would not work, maybe I am wrong.

Bryan

[Super Sapper]

The total elevation change is what is important, the slope is less of a factor.

[Dave Evenson]

I'm far from an expert, but 5% grade should work. I got a little more grade on my lines by tapping high, over my head while on snow at the top of line, and about 3 feet off ground at lower end of line. I stretched them tight, tried not to have any sag. Talk with your local maple supplier, that's where I got my advice (at my supplier, not your's). Dave Evenson

[Dave Puhl]

4-11..colder temps coming so I drained the flue pan today that I had filled with sap 3-26..been putting a 100 watt light bulb in the arch on cold nights..took the pressure washer to it and I was happy with the sap cleaning it up in that short of time ..I was going to leave it in longer but did not want to take a chance of the pan freezing up..I did get the use a filter press also for the first time..It worked allot nicer than the cone filters...but they are pricey..stay well

[Dave Puhl]

4-17..I am so glad that I drained that flue pan with the upper teens for lows here...the neighbor wanted to tap his two yard trees for some sap to drink and make tea with..I had given him some from the trees that I had tapped during the season so he didn't tap his two yard trees then... he asked with the cold weather would them two run..I said lets see... it got cold now its warming up so I brought over some stuff and he put in a few taps...the sap was nice and clear and tasted good but not too sweet..I checked it with a wine making hydrometer and what I could tell it was only 1-1.5%..he got plenty to use and freeze up..oh ya I forgot to say the two trees were hard maple..

[Trapper2]

I got started on my hobby Jan 8th. Installed another 500 feet of line and 55 more drops. Planning on adding about 125 to the 2020 count. With only 3" of snow on the ground it sure is a joy to get around.

[Dave Puhl]

3-2.. first post for the 2021 season.Our winter was not too ruff on us...we did have a cold two weeks in Feb. with a fair amount of snow over the course of the season...Dec 13th. the wife and myself came down with Covid..no one else in our circle got it...we were lucky... just very tired and not much energy, aches and weird pain with some lasting effects for me but not bad...So today I got 3 of the 5/16 gravity lines out late today no tapping...3-3.. Worked on getting the two longest lines up this afternoon.. I had a long time on one ..could not get the route right...miss one tree throws it all out of wack..no tapping..nice and warm...

[Dave Puhl]

3-4...Did not get tapping till 1pm..off brand 18volt battery died...every hole was dripping slow to real good.all 5/16 runs just 4 buckets out with double taps.. some tweaking on the lines the next few days not as warm today but no wind and strong sunshine made the trees open up

[mdm1]

I taped in Clark cty last Thursday. Went up today to check the bags. Not much going on yet for me. I only tap 24 trees so I consider myself a micro producer. We tap at the cabin which is 2hrs from our house. Good luck to all!

[Tommoore30]

Hi Dave, love reading your reports. Hope you folks recover 100%. I'm similar - 30 trees, 3 hours from home (for now). Good Luck, keep the reports coming, Tom Moore Vernon Co.

[Wannabe]

I taped in Clark cty last Thursday. Went up today to check the bags. Not much going on yet for me. I only tap 24 trees so I consider myself a micro producer. We tap at the cabin which is 2hrs from our house. Good luck to all!

I'm in Clark too. I Tapped 125 (mostly reds on bags) early this morning and only gathered 40ish gallons of sap tonight. We'll see what this upcoming warm spell does to them.

[Dave Puhl]

Thanks for all the well wishes and comments 3-5...started out to being a good sap day but right afternoon time it clouded up and got windy...trees slow way down to nothing..went out and collected for the first time this season..pump,hoses and tank all worked with no leaks...125 gal..not great but its the first day right...3-6...another great morn froze last night should be good for sappin..got to the woods and had less than yesterday.. ok need to check the lines for leaks.. got stuff together and found out I left the hot water/thermos at home back for that..by the time I got started fixed two leaks..the dog tipped over the thermos...then found out I had no more tees in the bucket..it was getting into the aft. and the trees were shutting down..collected got about 80gal..wow where is the sap???

[Dave Puhl]

3-7..a Very nice day..out ice fishing in the am... went and checked the barrels..not much..took this time to walk the lines and check and fix leaks and check any animal damage on the lines..did not collect..3-8...another great day...too warm...collected late in aft. when I got back from ice fishing. ice is going fast..brought in around 180gal ..sap very clear and staying that way, unlike last year. Should have 800 +gal by now...

[dj59red]

Hi Everyone, I enjoy this information for my little back yard operation but have a question. The last couple of days have been around 60 degrees and although the trees didn't run much there is some sap in the bags. My question, is the sap still ok to use since it has been out in the warmer temperatures. Only making a few gallons of syrup I hate to mess it up with a few bad gallons of sap. Thanks for your help, DJ

[TwoSaps]

Hi Everyone, I enjoy this information for my little back yard operation but have a question. The last couple of days have been around 60 degrees and although the trees didn't run much there is some sap in the bags. My question, is the sap still ok to use since it has been out in the warmer temperatures. Only making a few gallons of syrup I hate to mess it up with a few bad gallons of sap. Thanks for your help, DJ

That seems awfully warm for bags, which will likely reach air temp before long, and especially if it was not very cold at night. Supposedly it behaves like fresh milk, as far as food safety.
I don't have a lot of experience with using bad sap (we usually have the opposite problem - sap sickles), but I'd probably toss it and go with fresh sap that you can keep from getting too warm.

[Dave Puhl]

My 2 cents on the bags/sap.Yes it got to dang warm with the bags out in the open it got warmer than if you had collected it and kept it cool even just in the shade..cloudy sap is one thing but if it tastes sour/smells bad pitch it

[Dave Puhl]

3-9..Was going to go ice fishing but with the hot temps I pulled the plug on this season..of course the trees have slowed way down to almost nothing. 3-10. Half day with my Dad for Doc. visit, he will be 91 this year. The rest of the day smoking crappies that I have been saving up for awhile.. rainy day was inside a shed so we were dry..fished turned out good...3-11.. worked on the 2x6 setting stack and the pans put the wood spliter up on blocks to help save from bending over so much.. checked the lines and barrels not much going on..did not collect..ready to fire up for the first time..sap is not as clear time to cook it up..

[Dave Puhl]

3-12..It did not get cold enough last night here. trees did nothing during the day.as for my first cook the swirling wind and cool temps did not help...got the bugs worked out and set up... after noon was allot nicer... several people stopped in..got what I had cooked up... 4.5 gal not real light but it was syrup..had to drain and put stuff away for it supposed to freeze up tonight..Forecast not looking good.

[Dave Puhl]

3-13..Just 5 degrees colder than the last morn...but the trees were running good at 9am.. I thought it was going to be a gusher but by noon wind and clouds came in made the trees slow down.One 5/16 line had a full barrel and I pumped the three barrels that were at that spot..took this time to split wood and put vinegar in the sugar pan. smoked some salmon from Alaska that was a few years old..but it turned out ok..wife had some yard work for us to do with the nice weather today

[grahamcreek62]

Went out in the morning. Nothing happening Then by 1:00 it was dripping like crazy. Some 4 gallon buckets were nearly full. Tomorrow morning we will be boiling up a storm.

[Dave Puhl]

3-14.. 33 deg. this am. went and collected...trees not doing much at 9am..emptied all the barrels and 4 buckets some buckets were full..fired up the 2x6 cool out with an strong east wind,no wind break from that direction...slow start..but it warmed up after noonish ..a few people stopped by ...some even split a little wood for me! all went well... drained and put everything away cold temps and snow coming.

[Dave Puhl]

3-15.. Froze here this am, but it was a raw and windy day...covered up wood pile and some other things getting ready for the snow thats coming today..helped Clyde out by cutting a huge double red oak tree over 24''..had a split in between them.. first one notched and it was solid..tree was leaning hard so I bore cut to the outside just got going through to the other side and it heard a pop and down it came before it should of .. was lucky.. so I knew the other side might be bad and it was but came down with a some fight...snow coming down and we quit for the day..3-16 ..we ended up with2.5'' snow not melting yet a 9am..a cool day nothing going on with syrup making.

[For_the_kids]

Looks like the season might be done after this weekend. Its getting pretty late in the year to have 6 straight days above freezing with rain. What are your thoughts, should a guy pull taps next week?

[Dave Puhl]

3-17..Light snow here this am..29 deg. took off this am for a town run.. a list of stuff to get..got back in the afternoon went and checked the barrel's was surprised to find two of them full..pumped a little over 200gal all together.. it had a light yellow color..hard to believe this early in the season? trees slowed later in the day..split wood..As for pulling taps... I am pulling this weekend..warm temps and rain coming..very windy again for Thursday.

[Dave Puhl]

3-17.. Very windy today mainly from the N.east... split the rest of my wood pile, some of it has been in the for 3-4 yrs. so this season I will be out of wood...will cook Friday and Saturday.. Went and collected late in the afternoon brought in 170-180 gal..Wind was getting stronger..was hearing this cracking noise from a white cedar tree by the house went over to see a crack opening and closing with the wind..got a log chain and binder put that on one tree and to the one that was cracked..then found a piece of house roof shingle on the lawn..dang wind..good weather coming for two days...Oh ya forgot to mention that the quart jugs that have been on back order since Jan...came in today!!

[Dave Puhl]

3-18..Very still morn..first thing this am was to deal with the tree that is cracked . my friend Clyde came over and we got a rope on it 20ft up but then we noticed a branch from another tree hooked it to this one..we went for it anyway almost cut through it and both of us on the rope ..just brushed the house sort of..wife heard a loud thud and came out to see the damage..nothing but a few scrapes...on to cooking what a very nice day to cook all went well 5 1/2 gal ..after cooling down went and checked the barrel's surprised to see some only half full.. one last cook Saturday..

[Dave Puhl]

3-20..Went and collected this am..trees must of run during the early night. one barrel was full and the rest 3/4..there was ice coming off the lines into the barrels..one run is giving off color sap...this one has a red maple on it..pulled the buckets as I went...and pulled taps on one run..brought in 180 ish gal..drained the flue pan cause it was moved over to one side alittle.. the other day when it was empty the east wind must of wiggled it over..I did not clean the syrup pan..should of... was windy right off in the am..wind gusts made the smoke puff out the bottom a few times,but it calmed down some and ran ok allot of sediment in the prefilter when drawing off...last cook of the season for me..running out of wood..shut down and brought in and cleaned up the barrels..

[Dave Puhl]

3-21..After listening to our church service on the radio I headed out to the woods.. the wind was really rippin this am ..heard a large tree go down up the valley from me.. pulled all the taps and taped the drops back on to the main 5/16 lines..always had a problem taking up the lines they just did not want to coil up right..this year I carried the coil half way.. laid it down on the ground and pulled the rest to me and coiled it up like a garden hose it helped some..next year will be new tees, drops and taps for each tree.

[Trapper2]

1-26-22
Replacing taps and drops on 100 trees tomorrow as its supposed to be 25 degrees. Hanging 50 rope nooses on 50 new trees for supporting buckets.

[Trapper2]

1-30-22
Cut up 3 trees that fell on my 5/16 gravity lines. End hook pulled out, but other than that no visible damage. 10" of snow in the woods.
Nice enjoyable 20 degree day in the woods.

[Trapper2]

3-21-22
Finally pulled the first sap of the year 3-16 thru 3-20. 343 Gallons. Unbelievably late. Last year at this time I had processed over 2000.

[Trapper2]

3-24-22
Went and checked buckets and lines just to confirm my suspicions that the trees didn't give much in the past 4 days.
Looks like a 2 quart average per tree for the past 4 days. Dang, hate when I'm correct,

[T Hugo]

Trees running like crazy since last Tuesday. I've collected more sap in 5 days than I usually have in past full seasons. 5 gallon pails overflowing every day. Pulled taps last night. I've got more than I can handle.

[T Hugo]

Finished 3 Gallon on Friday afternoon 4/8. I also still had 22 pails that I was going to dump. About 85 Gallon. Decided to check with the local Amish to see if they would want it. They took it. They tested it at 2.9 sugar count, and were very happy to have it. I finished the year with about 9-1/4 Gallon of finished syrup. My best year ever, on 25 taps. Until Spring 2023........

[T Hugo]

Anyone tapping yet in central WI? I'm waiting at least another week yet.

[mdm1]

I was down around Cashton Tuesday. Talked to an Amish guy and he said his brother and dad had tapped 4000 trees and were boiling. Saw some tubing around but not much else.

[ratshack]

I put in 85 taps today, a few were dripping. Very deep snow yet.

[MajorWoodchuck]

I tapped 70 trees 3 weeks ago. Last weekend collected 90 gallons (about a dozen 5 gallon jugs were overflowing) and put in another 25 taps. This weekend collected about 70 gallons of "solid" sap. All ice - no liquid. Turned our cabin into a de-thawing hut so we could boil it off. Added another 37 taps (total 132). Still 12" of snow on the ground. Weather forecast looks perfect for sao the next 2 weeks +. (lets hope they're right for a change).