Deja vu

[huxta]

Is anyone else experiencing Deja Vu when looking at the forecast? I'm seeing the same thing as last year. No long deep freeze (other than the past week) and warm weather coming already. Jan 17 & 18 are supposed to be in the 50's in southern Indiana. Anyone pulling the trigger soon?

[Mitchell tapper.]

Yes I will be tapping mine in the Mitchell,IN area this weekend. The weather looks better than last year. Not as warm for the extended forecast. Probably take a few days to thaw out. Overall the season in this area is generally short so I get while the gettings good. I do use tubing and change my taps every year and drops every two. I only have 30-40 taps so every drop counts.

[jmayerl]

Your weather might be a bit different down there, but here it looks nothing like last year. Last year no real frost and decent snow cover. This year we have almost 5 feet of frost and avg snow. Going to take a lot of days in the 40's just to thaw them out.

[PoseyCoMark]

Huxta, what part of IN are you tapping? I'm around Mt. Vernon and not sure if tapping is happening yet. Will be running lines over the next week though.

[Andrew Franklin]

I've learned the last few years it seems smart to get tapped early, but I'm also no fan of spending the day in 0 degree weather putting in 100 or more taps by myself on my hill that rises 300' over the course of 700' (6 runs running from the top of the hill to the bottom). I am also hopeful the serious cold will allow me a couple of days in the 40's to tap while things thaw...I'm going to need it to replace all my taps and many sections of my 3/16th tubing that has mold in it. Wishful thinking...

[Russell Lampron]

I've learned the last few years it seems smart to get tapped early, but I'm also no fan of spending the day in 0 degree weather putting in 100 or more taps by myself on my hill that rises 300' over the course of 700' (6 runs running from the top of the hill to the bottom). I am also hopeful the serious cold will allow me a couple of days in the 40's to tap while things thaw...I'm going to need it to replace all my taps and many sections of my 3/16th tubing that has mold in it. Wishful thinking...

I don't replace tubing that has mold in it. I let the first run go on the ground to flush the lines and then start saving the sap. The heat from boiling will kill any mold spores in the sap and filtering gets the dead mold spores out of the finished syrup.

[huxta]

PoseyCoMark, I am outside of corydon.

[Andrew Franklin]

Thanks Russ! That will save me some time!

[TonyL]

I put out 50 taps this afternoon, will hang buckets tomorrow. Will probably put another 30-40 on 3/16” tubing next weekend. If the forecast holds, I think we may get a run mid week. This is the earliest we have ever tapped, but only been sugaring 4 years, so not exactly a wealth of experience under our belts. Here’s to hoping Indiana has a great season.

[dsaw]

I'm heading out to my patch this weekend; but I'm not remotely ready for the season. I'm planning on adding about 5 more gravity runs; but don't have the tubing for them yet. I did finally get my homemade RO working for the last run last year; but don't really have much experiance running it yet. I have other issues to deal with at my bush (1:20 from home, Crawford Co.) in that my water was frozen last weekend and I may need to dig up and repair a line; so I'm not sure what I'll get done. That said, goal will be to get one gravity run installed. My plan is no buckets this year (to which my 5 kids are extremely happy to be off bucket washing detail).

[markcasper]

Your weather might be a bit different down there, but here it looks nothing like last year. Last year no real frost and decent snow cover. This year we have almost 5 feet of frost and avg snow. Going to take a lot of days in the 40's just to thaw them out.

Kind of hard to believe the frost is down 5 feet already!? I think thats a bit of a stretch. I know its going down, we only have about 2 inches of snow on the ground over on the west side of the state and the above zero days have been pretty scarce since Christmas, but I really don't believe its down 5 feet....at least yet and for sure not in the woods. Another 2 solid weeks of this and it would be believable, but from what I hear temps are forecast to moderate.

[jmayerl]

Kind of hard to believe the frost is down 5 feet already!? I think thats a bit of a stretch. I know its going down, we only have about 2 inches of snow on the ground over on the west side of the state and the above zero days have been pretty scarce since Christmas, but I really don't believe its down 5 feet....at least yet and for sure not in the woods. Another 2 solid weeks of this and it would be believable, but from what I hear temps are forecast to moderate.
Well that's how deep the water line was that we had to dig up and repair because it was frozen, so you can believe whatever you want to I guess. We also just had our swamp woods logged out and they had no issues breaking though with skidders or log trucks so I just guess our weather on this side of the state has been more extreme than yours.

[kharper]

Here in Haubstadt, Gibson County Southwest Indiana. Cleaning buckets and working on my arch today. planning to set taps tomorrow. I figure it will take a few days to thaw out enough to start flowing. Looks like its supposed to be mostly dry for the week. It would be nice this year to not have to slop through the mud with full buckets.

[TonyL]

Actually had one tree starting to drip. [ATTACH=CONFIG]17016[/ATTACH

Sorry it’s orientated wrong, wasn’t paying attention.

[dsaw]

I got 32 taps up today on 3/16. Nothing was flowing. Caught me off-guard this early. I hadn't even ordered my new tubing and taps. Used some left-overs from last year. Had to split time between that and fixing my frozen water system. Next weekend will be a full work session. I've marked out 4-5 new runs; but don't have the tubing yet to tap them.

[Tapping Wolf]

I'm up here in Laporte Co. just getting all my gear set up for the season, I plan on tapping between the last week of Jan. And 2nb week of Feb. watching the temps really close though.

[huxta]

I'm tapping today

[Andrew Franklin]

I put in 116 taps yesterday and it was really flowing. I'm letting it run to clear the lines and then will start collecting after this next cold spell.

[dsaw]

Another 1000' of 3/16 tubing showed up; so be seeing how many more runs I can get set up. I think I have trees for 5 more runs; but the 1000' won't cover that. However, I just realized a critical error in my planning. I should have purchased another 3/16 fitting tool. I'm going to have lots of helpers since the whole family is coming out; but they can't really do much if I only have one tool. Oh well, lesson learned; order another tool. I think I'll grab all my vice grips and see if I can jury rig semi-useful tool.

[Andrew Franklin]

Funny, dsaw...Yesterday when I was putting in my taps I was wishing I had the family to help, lol! I was worn out by the time the sun went down. Maybe I'll pick up another tool in the hope that next year I tap on a day the kids don't have basketball practice or games...not likely though. Good luck this season!

[dsaw]

Andrew, good luck to you also. I checked my two runs, and one was dry (on a north slope), and one has about 40 gal (east slope). I need to rig up the tank on the ATV before that freezes. I have other repair to do today, but will be tapping tomorrow.

[TonyL]

Collected 80 gallons, first boil tomorrow!

[TonyL]

First boil of the season went smoothly, 80 gallons reduced to 3.5, will finish on propane. great day to be in the sugarhouse, had sun, snow, cold temps, and steam rising from the cupola through it all. Felt good.

[Mitchell tapper.]

Boiled 75 gal sap today also. Made 1 gal of finished syrup. Same sugar content as last year.

[TonyL]

Boiled 75 gal sap today also. Made 1 gal of finished syrup. Same sugar content as last year.

What are you seeing for sugar content? Our sap went 3.25% on the refractometer, but that seems high to me so not sure I trust it’s accuracy.

[Mitchell tapper.]

Tony, I don’t have a refractometer. Rule of 86 has it at 1.14 if I figured it correctly. Be great to have 2 gal rather than 1 but I’ll take what I can get.

[dsaw]

I’m up to 106 taps all on 3/16. Still have trees for a few more runs; but the bottom of their run would be on a tough trail; so we’ll see about those. My 40 gal of sap was freezing back up in my collection barrel yesterday, so I let it freeze and figure it’ll probably be an ice cube for the rest of the week.

[Tapping Wolf]

I'm up here in Laporte Co. just getting all my gear set up for the season, I plan on tapping between the last week of Jan. And 2nb week of Feb. watching the temps really close though.

Change of plans? If the current forecast holds I might start tapping by next week. Here in laporte county, hate to be late to the dance.

[dsaw]

I've got 106 up so far, all on 3/16. Nothing was running for me. I let the 40 gal freeze from last week. Figure it'll be an ice cube all week. I set up 4 new runs, re-tapped 3 old ones, with one old one to go. I also have several more possible new ones, but the trail they end on is dicey getting up; I had to use the winch today.

[Andrew Franklin]

I'm going to trek down to my property and put the lines in the storage tanks to start collecting tomorrow evening, then hoping for a lot to accumulate over the rest of the week and weekend. Plan on going back down Sunday and Monday to boil...then things look good for the next week as well!

[dsaw]

Up to 143 tapped, all on 3/16. Decided to stop tapping (I have a few more preplanned runs on hold), and go back and check for leaks on the already run lines. Found a few. Installed a few vacuum gauges. Figured I’d try to maximize yield on the runs closest to my homebase. Everything was running good. Hoping to get enough overnight to fire up the RO and knock the cobwebs out of it tomorrow before what’ll hopefully be a killer next weekend.

[dsaw]

Got around 125 gal sap from Sat. when it started running until Sun about noon when I collected. Gotta love 3/16. I had 29" of vacuum on one run. Ran it through the RO and it worked like a charm. Took it down to about 10 gal at 12%. I only finally got it going for a small run at the end of
last season; so 1st real serious run with it.Fired up pan and ended up with about 5 gal of 25% when I decided to call it a day because it was getting late. Brought that home and plan to concentrate it on my propane finishing pan at home. All in all, a great warm-up weekend. Got all the equipment out, got everything clean and hooked up. Figured out a next round of improvements. Hoping for a killer run next weekend.

[Andrew Franklin]

I went down Sunday at noon thinking I would fire up the ro while I rebricked the evaporator and all would be good. Had all bubbles in my lines, so that led to a 6 hour splice session...over 20 squirrel bites and fallen tree limbs. 5 or 6 falls worthy of Americas Funniest Home Videos if anyone had been filming, and I'm pretty sure there are some more leaks out there.. Oh, and I forgot the ro filters...duh. Woke up to rain and too much wind to fire up the evaporator, and was pretty dejected. Dug up my buckets, washed them and loaded 65 gallons and the ro into my vehicle and came home. All in all, not too bad. Ran the ro while I had dinner and watched the IU game, then started on the turkey fryer...1:30 am and I'm down to just under 3 gallons at 30%. Beats fighting the rain and wind...I'll finish tomorrow.

[Mitchell tapper.]

I decided to tap a few trees at my daughters home. I had purchased a 1000’ roll of cdl 3/16 this year. When I went to tie in the drops, my home made tubing tool would not grip the tube to push it on. Packed up and headed home to grind on the grippers. Went back the next day to finish up. The tool worked fine. Then I went to hook up the pump which I use a sharkbite style fitting for the tubing. They would not hold the tube. Had to shove a tapered punch into the end of tube and apply a little heat to swell the tube. Got lucky there. Apparently cdl made the OD of the tube smaller causing all my issues. Nothing is ever easy.

[dsaw]

I use Leader Max Flow 3/16 tubing, same as last year; but they changed the diameter on me this year so I had to adjust my tool several times depending if I was working on a new line or old one.

[PoseyCoMark]

Mitchell Tapper, if you have any 5/16 and can't get 3/16 tubing to grip, take a 1" piece of 5/16 and cut in half length ways. Put each half in the grip of your tool and clamp down appropriately. Works like a dream.

[Mitchell tapper.]

Mitchell Tapper, if you have any 5/16 and can't get 3/16 tubing to grip, take a 1" piece of 5/16 and cut in half length ways. Put each half in the grip of your tool and clamp down appropriately. Works like a dream.

Thanks Mark. Good to know. And I had some 5/16 with me.

[Andrew Franklin]

What a disappointment. I boiled everything down to just under a gallon, and to me it has an off aftertaste. Kids like it, but they would eat dirt with sugar on it I think. I think the leaks kept me from flushing out all the mold (much of it due to said leaks). So, that leads to my question:

If I continue to boil down to candy or sugar can I hope the mild aftertaste will lessen...or will it intensify? I've never made candy or sugar before.

Thanks!

[Mitchell tapper.]

Andrew, My experience with it is that it intensifies. I made some maple cream with it and ended up throwing it out.

[Russell Lampron]

It depends on the off flavor. Some off flavors will go away or lessen with heat and others will intensify. The only way to tell would be to make a small batch of cream or candy and try it.

[dsaw]

It flowed this week. I had about 130 gal in the 4 of my 9 barrels I checked. They’re down a steep slope, so I gathered about 90 of that in the dark tonight before the rain sets in tomorrow. Fairly confident I’ll be over 200 gal of sap, my largest run ever.

[Andrew Franklin]

Thanks Russell and Mitchell, I'm not going to eat it as is, so it's currently boiling to 263 and we'll see...not holding out hope Good news is I went down to my property yesterday at 2:00 and thanks to a homemade ro and really good dry wood I processed about 150 gallons to just over 2 gallons of 65%. Since I only slept 3 hours I'm going to reheat and bottle tomorrow, but this batch tastes great and is worth the effort.

[dsaw]

I had a good weekend. Ended with 4.5 gal of syrup; by far the most I've ever made. My yield was low since I started with 400 gal of sap at ~1.3%. I think I need to run permate through my RO when done and collect it until it turns clear. I also think I need to do the same with my filter press, then save the filter wash in the freezer for the next weekend. My equipment is oversized so I can run fast (I took the 400 gal down to 13.5% in 3 hrs); but I need to work on minimizing loses. I'm still learning and working to optimize. I have the WesFab short stack with the hand pump. I didn't understand why you needed an electric pump; until today. That hand pump got old fast. Something else to research.

[Russell Lampron]

I have the WesFab short stack with the hand pump. I didn't understand why you needed an electric pump; until today. That hand pump got old fast.

I have one of those too. I put an air operated double diaphragm pump on mine. I have to use double papers on the end plates and tighten the nuts with a pipe wrench to keep it from blowing syrup all over the place but it works great.

[TonyL]

What a weekend. Finished off the sweet from four boils, ended up with 7 gallons of syrup, coming from 370 gallons of sap. Boiled another 80 gallons down to sweet today, and my wife has another 55 gallons to boil tomorrow. I spent 26 hours chucking wood into the evaporator this weekend, and another 15 hours boiling on Wednesday (took off work to boil!). We've never had sap come this hard and heavy.

[dsaw]

I have one of those too. I put an air operated double diaphragm pump on mine. I have to use double papers on the end plates and tighten the nuts with a pipe wrench to keep it from blowing syrup all over the place but it works great.Russell, funny you responded, when I did a search for "wesfab short stack pump" your's was the only post that came back. From that, and other posts, it seems like an air pump is a good option; and I have installed an air compressor at my remote sugar farm; so as long as the cfm's align, I should be ok. A few questions: What exact model do you have? What output liquid pressure does it have? (when I ebay searched a few models, then tried to look up the specs, Yamanda talks all about the air specs; but doesn't mention the liquid psi specs, only output gpm). What PSI/cfm do you operate at?

[Andrew Franklin]

And the maple sugar tastes like crap. Oh well...

Good news is I got 2 gallons of syrup from what I ran through the ro and evaporator starting Friday at 3:00 pm through about 4:00 am Saturday, and it is very good. I always seem to get darker syrup, but great flavor. The next week or so looks tricky, since I am usually free to only boil on weekends. I'm sure it ran yesterday and today, so I'm hoping the cold temps forecasted hold it until I get down there next.

[Russell Lampron]

Russell, funny you responded, when I did a search for "wesfab short stack pump" your's was the only post that came back. From that, and other posts, it seems like an air pump is a good option; and I have installed an air compressor at my remote sugar farm; so as long as the cfm's align, I should be ok. A few questions: What exact model do you have? What output liquid pressure does it have? (when I ebay searched a few models, then tried to look up the specs, Yamanda talks all about the air specs; but doesn't mention the liquid psi specs, only output gpm). What PSI/cfm do you operate at?

My pump is a Yamada but I don't remember the model number. It is a 1/2" pump with Teflon diaphragms. I know other producers are using 3/8" pumps on bigger presses with no problems. I'm running mine with a contractors compressor and will have to look at it to see how many cfm it is. It provides more than enough air though, these pump don't need much. As far as pressure goes, it starts out low and gets higher as the press gets dirty. I never have to run mine with the air valve more than 1/2 way open. With the air pump slow and easy works best.

There is such a thing as light duty and heavy duty filter press papers. I got a case of the light duty papers with my press when I bought it used. When I put the air pump on it I was constantly blowing papers. When I bought a case of replacement papers and the box said heavy duty filter press papers on it and they were much thicker and stronger than the light duty ones. I have gone through a case and a half since and haven't blown any papers.

[dsaw]

I got my air pump, went with an ARO since it was the cheapest I could find. I did what I could at home without the filter press to pre-plumb it and will hopefully finish it while the RO runs tomorrow.

As for sap; I checked my 4 far barrels tonight and had about the 2/3’rds of last weekends amount. I thought it’d be 1/2 or less without a several day freeze; sometimes it’s nice to be wrong. 6 more barrels to check tomorrow.

[Andrew Franklin]

Driving to work today I realized I didn't turn off the water at our lake cottage (heat is off). Drove down in a panic, and it must have been divine intervention because it was 11 degrees and no frozen pipes. What WAS frozen was about 120 gallons of sap. May try to get down tomorrow, but with a high of 39 late in the day and then back into the deep freeze I may just let it be a big popsicle and wait for the next thaw.

[dsaw]

I realized when I got out here that I forgot to disconnect my outdoor hose after cleaning up last weekend; so I probably need to rebuild that faucet yet again. My sap had ice on the top of the barrels, but only about 1/2” thick, so I easily punched my pickup tube through to empty them.

[dsaw]

My new pump worked like a charm, so filtering was much easier this weekend. Ended with 3.75 gal. of syrup; better then I thought I'd get.

[Andrew Franklin]

dsaw, I didn't make it down this weekend...watching the forecast for my next window. How much flowed on Saturday (if you were there)?

Thanks, Andrew

[MunsterMapler]

I'll almost hoping I didn't tap to early with this cold snap were having now. Didn't tap everything yet, only about 30 on tubing and another 10 or 15 on bags. Gonna hold out a few more weeks for the rest of the bags. Although I did make a gallon and a half from that early run, hopefully it doesn't come back and bite me in the but from the tap holes trying to heal up

[dsaw]

Andrew, I checked a few lines late Sat afternoon and they were flowing; can't really say how much. I managed to puncture a tire on my 4 wheeler so I didn't make the rounds like I wanted to on Sunday (yet another thing I need to buy, a spare tire for my 4 wheeler).

Munstermaple, not sure how much behind us southerners you are; but I think we're probably starting our downward slide towards the end of the season. Next week barely gets below freezing at night down here on a few days.
I've made syrup the last three weekends, and only got amber syrup on the 1st one; so I think I timed it correctly. I've still got trees to tap, but right now I'm leaning towards passing on more tapping and focusing on getting my equipment in-line to handle these, for me, greatly increased amounts of sap I'm getting from 3/16 tubing. If the long range forecasts change, I might do more tapping.

[achesser]

In Fulton county we collected 1030 gallons of sap in the 4th week of January on 141 taps but it has been froze up with only 1 day a week above freezing for the last couple weeks. It looks like only 1 day next week above freezing. It is interesting the difference from southern IN to northern IN. I am curious to see how good the vacuum tubing works after no runs for 3-4 weeks. It is a new tubing system this year so I hope we catch some more big runs with it. I hope to hang some buckets when we come out of this freeze.

[Andrew Franklin]

Thanks for the info! I think I will head down on Friday - supposed to get up to near 50.

Lol, the similarities continue..my electronic shift is locked up on my four wheeler so I've been on foot this season...haven't had time to get it looked at because every minute I've been down I've been running the ro and boiling. Hoping for a good haul Friday!

[dsaw]

I'll be almost out of action without my ATV. I don't know if I can get my tractor to any of my barrels. I can add building roads to my summer to do list. Apparently my tire size is really odd because no-one has the tube in stock and they had to order it. Supposed to be in tomorrow. I tried to order a spare one myself; but of course it's delayed. Plan is to head out tomorrow; but may get delayed waiting on a tube.

[achesser]

I have had good luck with tire plugs. Maybe that could get you going till you get a tire or tube. I carry a plug kit in the gator tool box because we have poked holes in the tires going through the woods. The tire patches for the inside work good on radial car tires but don't seam to stick good on inside of the atv tires.

[dsaw]

I carry a plug kit in my truck; but the tear was over an inch long, no plugging that. I could hear whatever punctured it rolling around inside it. Luckily the tube came in and they got it installed today. I smeared silicon over the tear to somewhat seal it, but they advised I get a new tire due to the size of the tear. I might do that, pick up a spare rim, and make this my spare tire. More likely, I’ll buy a used rim/tire combo on e-bay (~$70), then ride this till it fails. Then I can bite the bullet and buy a new tire; but already have a spare. Seems like cheap insurance compared to loosing a weekend of syrup if I were to loose a tire early on a weekend.

[Andrew Franklin]

Not what I'd hoped for, but a bit over 100 gallons of sap today. Ran the ro for 6 hours then decided the wind was too strong, it was too muddy, and I wanted to get home to watch the IU game, so I packed my concentrate, the ro, and 40 gallons of sap and rolled home. Ran the rest through the ro then realized how slow the turkey fryer is...should have stayed. Still, down to 14 gallons that I will finish tomorrow.

[dsaw]

I had almost no run through yesterday, so I let it run overnight and collected in the rain this morning. That wasn't really fun. Ended with about 2 gal of syrup. I did take the free day that Sat. became to run another line with 8 taps. I also installed more vacuum gauges and checked all the runs for problems. One of my best runs wasn't flowing, fixed it by hooking up a hand pump to and and forcing water through it. Figure some old mold broke loose and was stuck in a tee. While troubleshooting; found one tap just leaking air, so cut it out leaving me with an evan 150 taps.

[Andrew Franklin]

After Sunday we are forecast for 5 straight days in the 50's with lows in the 40's...I think the clock is ticking for me in southern Indiana.

[Mitchell tapper.]

It ran very heavy today. No R/O so probably take me 3 long evenings to keep up.

[TonyL]

Agreed. Buckets overflowing and tubing running a stream. We’ve got 200 gallons of sap in storage, gonna’ try to keep it till the weekend. If successful, this will be our biggest season to date. Incredible year.

[huxta]

Sap was flowing very good the past 2 days for me in southern Indiana. Like Andrew said, after Sunday doesn't look good down here. Saturday is the last day in my forecast with temps dropping below freezing and they are predicting a high of 70 on Tuesday.

[Andrew Franklin]

We went down to the IU game last night so I swung by my property and had about 150 gallons in the tanks. Loaded 60 gallons into buckets and brought home in case the rest doesn't keep until Saturday. Ran the ro and turkey fryer and took it down to 55% in 6 low stress hours. Hoping to boil through the night Saturday.

[dsaw]

I’m overflowing with sap. Must be 400-500 gal. Most of my barrels were running over.

[dsaw]

Record run for me. Started w/almost 600 gal. Knocked it down to about 30-40 gal of 13% with my RO. Ended with a bit over 8 gal. Unfortunately, that's probably it down here in the southern part of the state. This run had low sugar content and was getting cloudy. Looks too warm for the next two weeks. Probably be pulling taps if we don't get a cold spell in next 2 weeks.

[Andrew Franklin]

Wow, dsaw...that's a haul! I saw your earlier post and had high expectations, but only had about 150 gallons. I think I'll run down tomorrow and load what I can into my car to bring home and process since I don't have time to spend the night. I'm pulling my lines and rinsing tanks out tomorrow, but not pulling taps just yet. Weather forecast has me thinking we'll be seeing buds though. Oh well...it was a good year, and if I leak check better and put in vacuum gauges next year I'm sure my volume will go way up.

Just curious, what ro do you use? My is a homemade with 4 185 gpd cartridges, and it's been a game changer, but I get around 8% and it's only pulling out about 10 gph of water...thinking about upgrading.

[dsaw]

Most of my barrels were overflowing, I probably could have had a lot more if I had more catch capacity. Of course, my poor runs have 15-18” vacuum, while my good ones are in the high 20 in’s of vacuum. I learned my lesson last year to recheck lines as soon as they start running. I also rechecked last weekend and found a few new problems (mold broke loose and was clogging one run). It’s a lot easier to know at a glance if you have a problem with a vacuum gauge. I did a better job getting vacuum gauges up this year, about 50%, but plan on 100% for next year. The 1/4” npt gauge ports also make great cleanout ports to pump into. My RO is also homemade, 2 4” x 40” membranes, 600 gph. Overkill, but my goal is speed so I’m willing to sacrifice some losses for speed. You’re welcome to stop by and check it out.

[Andrew Franklin]

That's awesome! Vacuum is my goal for next year. My hill is so steep I haven't walked it enough and critters have cut my volume...not next year. I processed another 60 gallons tonight that I ran down and grabbed this afternoon - like yours a bit cloudy. Can't make it tomorrow, and it will be so warm it will spoil so I pulled my lines and rinsed out my tanks but left taps in. Killed me to pull them when running so hard, but I'm guessing that will change quickly with temps hitting 70. Still hoping for one more run, but not holding my breath.

Thanks for the offer...I may take you up on that. Getting to 13% vs 7 would be nice. I have 4 150 gph standard size membranes and an aquatic pump and a feeder pump..I run it at 130 psi and get out about 10 gallons of water per hour and around 3 gallons of concentrate. I have extra membranes, so may look into adding them into the mix but I don't know if my pump will keep up the pressure to give me any gain. Do you use a protec pump?

[dsaw]

Andrew, I'm using a 3/4 hp multi-stage booster pump to push it through my prefilter, then it's going into either a 1 1/2 or 2 hp multistage high pressure pump. I think the booster puts out about 60-70 psi, while the pressure pump adds another 250 psi or so; but my housing are limited to 300 psi so I normally run it 250-275 psi. I got the high pressure pump (it's a Meyer) from an online surplus shop, so it was relatively cheap (since sold out). Normally those are expensive pumps; but you can get deals on E-bay or searching the web if you're not in a hurry. Also, to clarify, I'm not using vacuum pumps, I just have great slopes to generate those vacuum numbers (although it sometimes makes collecting a chore).

[Andrew Franklin]

I'll definitely need a higher capacity pump than my little aquatic...it maxes out at 140 psi. I'm the same way...nice steep hill, no vacuum pumps. But with my lack of checking I have a lot of air in the lines and if I eliminate that I think i can really step up yields. Finished and bottled just under 2.75 gallons tonight and have the same amount to do tomorrow. I pour it through some prefilter papers and a basket filter into an insulated 6 gallon container with a spigot, then quit when the temp going into the bottles drops below 180 or the filter clogs. The filter clogged on me first tonight...not surprising given the temps - it was rather cloudy sap. Took forever to rinse the filter out. So next year..getting good vacuum in my 3/16 lines and upgrading my filtering process!

[TonyL]

Pulled all our taps today, and finished off the sweet from last weekend. Still have buckets to wash, and a couple tanks to clean, but that's basically it for this season. Ended up with 795 gallons boiled, and just over 16 gallons of syrup made. Our biggest season to date, and a lot of work for batch boiling on a 2 x 3 flat pan. We had 55 trees on buckets, and another 30 on 3/16 gravity tubing. Plans for next year call for partitioning off the sugar house for a couple rooms, one for the RO we hope to add, and a dedicated finishing room. Also hope to add more trees on tubing and do away with buckets.

I'm convinced tapping in early greatly helped us this year. Seemed crazy at the time, but it worked.

[PoseyCoMark]

Agree with you Tony, tapped earlier than usual and it made a big difference. Pulled all taps except for one line, 16 taps, which is still running clear. Now for the clean up, put away and planning for what to do better next year.

[Mitchell tapper.]

I also pulled the taps a few days ago. 42 taps on 3/16 with a diaphragm pump. Batch boiled 876 gal sap made 13 gal syrup. What a great year. Some changes this year, purchased a 110v shurflo pump and 100 feet of clear tube to make a hose to transfer sap from ravine up to the house. Saved me carrying 5 gal jugs up the hill. Also my quest for a harder boil rate resulted in my second batch a little dark from scorched sap where the foam rolled to the back of the pan that sits close to the stack. A piece of arch blanket between the pan and stack took care of it. Hope the guys up north have as good a year.