New season

[Agb]

Anyone else getting ready for the new season?
Hobbiest 5 gal. Or so /year.
When is everyone thinking of tapping. I know it depends on the weather forcast but last year was crazy I tapped late 2/24 ( I usually tap around that time) but last year I missed a couple of weeks of good flow. After the 24th things dried out for awhile and started again later in March.i'm thinking of tapping around the 10th. Has anyone ever had taps the dried up from no flow?

[dcast99]

I started getting ready a couple of months ago with flushing the lines. This shows where I need to fix them from the animal damage. Still have some tubing to repair. Last year I tapped on 2/12 and untapped on 3/25. The taps had definitely dried out. I tapped a new tree the week before and it was producing but with the warm weather the season was over. I will wait until Feb to start looking at the long range forecasts in order to figure out when to tap.

[John-NJ]

Slowly getting things ready here. Got the vacuum system all together, going out today to check and set lines. Biggest progress this year was helping 5050 get his new RO built. No sugar shack this year - that will happen after this season, but some progress there doing site work and getting wood milled (Thanks Teddy!) I hope it stays cold for a few weeks yet!

Best to all this year!
John

[5050racing]

Yes we have been busy with the RO, and milling your beams Thanks John!!! This week is looking good but no time to dig in now!Hope it hold off a bit???

[jerzeemaple]

I cleaned out the sap house today and ran some water thru the evaporator to get the dust out. Might swap some spiles out this week and tighten up some laterals. Not tapping yet, but the sapsuckers are and the sap is running where the birds got to the few sugar maples I do have.

[John-NJ]

Since the weather looks favorable, I tapped today. May be a little early, but we'll see.

[5050racing]

Plan to reinstall all my lines n tap Saturday looks good? I will see if it was easier to remove n reinstall then to fix all the squirrel chew downs that I had last year.

[sugarwoodacres]

Hows the run so far ?

[5050racing]

Just came in from all day reinstalling lines cleaning totes that went great will remove n install next year n then on way easier then fixing all the chew down n holes!!!! Then tapped all my lines just bucket trees to go only 9-10 of them and its rippin good!!! Checked all vacuum gauges n 2 of 4 full 29" other 22" and one other doesn't have a lot of drop n it was runnin great so that good just have to keep an eye on them the squirrels are bad! The weather looks good some real cold followed by warm its here!!

[John-NJ]

So almost nothing yesterday - maybe 5 gallons.

Run started late today, I thought it was going to be a bust, but at 5pm I had 50 gallons. I looked just now (before 9pm) and I have over 100 gallons (on 91 taps). Gonna leave vacuum on tonight for a while as it is coming pretty fast still.

So lots of work todo tomorrow...

Teddy - get that RO fired up...

[5050racing]

Good for you John on the gallons!!!! Yes on the Ro will be calling you for all the help I need running it,I forget a lot need to wright it down,I have most of it just the cleaning,my chemicals will be here hopefully Monday,will call you later.Im sure I'm looking at a 50-75 going out now to tap bucket trees.

[mickeydafinn]

I just finished putting in my taps for today. It was really fun sloshing around in the mud on a hill!!! They are running pretty good today i was suprised! Im going to end up with about 20 in total this year. I' m waiting for a few more buckets to finish the last 5 or so. Has anyone had luck with the bags instead of buckets?

[Tomahawk]

I'm curious -- I have a question for all of my latitudinal brothers here -- as I understand it, our more northern comrades get about 1 gallon of syrup for every 40 gallons of sap -- my experience has always been more like 1 gallon of syrup for every 60+ gallons of sap.

What's your ratio?

[5050racing]

Average for me as my trees are in a shaded woods with tall tulips is 60/1 but as high as 100/1 low as 35/1

[mickeydafinn]

I'm boiling down the 20 quarts of sap I collected this afternoon now. I'll let you know what it is in a little bit. My backyard trees were really high the past few years. I believe they were around 30 to 1 or so. I can't wait for my hydrometer to show up on Wednesday! So i can test the sap and know what it is for sure!

[John-NJ]

I used to use bags and they work ok - you just need to watch out for pricker bushes in your sugarbush. I have a lot of barberry and multiflora rose - I don't like hauling sap, so I went to tubing and vacuum. If you want to try some bags, I am happy to give you a bunch i never used, along with some holders that I made for them. Just taking up space here.

Decent runs yesterday and today, 120 gallons and 100 respectively. Crap weather to be standing out in the driveway cooking today, but at least it wasn't cold.

My trees tend to run about 1% sugar, so it takes around 80 gallons to make a gallon of syrup. Lots of work!!

Cheers!

[mickeydafinn]

Thanks John! that pot i got from you was put to use the rest of last season. My numbers from this boil were 45-1. Beautiful light color syrup! 5050 did you order bottles through your neighbor yet?

[5050racing]

I will call him,I should be good this year but for sure next so I will get prices for 8-12oz glass.

[John-NJ]

Mickey - glad it is of help. I just wish I had trees like yours for the sugar content! I got what looks like it is going to be 2.5 to 3 gallons of bottled syrup from 200 gallons of sap! Looks real nice though and I got it up to about 60% on the evaporator, so not going to be much finishing.

I have 95 more gallons of sap to run tomorrow...

feels good to be getting into the groove...

[mickeydafinn]

I had jury duty today that started at noon. I collected what i had in the buckets and started to boil before i left. it was only about 10 gallons. i ended up with 40 ounces. I believe that is around 32-1. I'm going to buy a barrel stove this weekend to lessen the cost of the propane. Although it is nice not having to tend a fire, but the price on the stove is totally worth it! I'm not sure if I will need the bags John I just got a few more buckets from Shoprite. I do appreciate the offer though. I may be at the max amount of taps i can put out on known maples. I'm going to have to do some more scouting this summer to find more deeper in the woods behind my house. I also found bottles from Leader Evaporator. 12 ounce 12 count cases for a dollar a bottle! And only $8 shipping!

[John-NJ]

So 200 Gallons made 2.5, plus a little extra left over. I call it 80:1. 56% Transmittance, so that's Grade A Amber (on the darker side of amber) according to the checker.

Those figures are about normal for me here. I never get anything the checker calls Golden.

I was thinking of boiling the 95 gallons from Monday today, but it is a solid block of ice in the bottom of the tote.

[5050racing]

Nice John, I'm sick bad sick so maybe I will finish my 118gal batch Saturday,glad nothing running till today maybe?

[sugarwoodacres]

Nice John, I'm sick bad sick so maybe I will finish my 118gal batch Saturday,glad nothing running till today maybe?
I still haven't tapped. Everything is washed and lines are all there, just debating on the weather. I was thinking this weekend but cold again next week. Good luck to you

[5050racing]

Well was feeling a little better so finished around 1.5gal + nice light,didn't jar yet but it looks n tastes great!

[Tomahawk]

Thanks 5050racing -- mickeydafinn and John-NJ for that info on your ratios. Even though I haven't participated in a few years, it's good to see people in my area maple-syruping. For the longest time, I felt like I was the only one.

Good luck!

[John-NJ]

Well I am surprised that in NYC you can even find a maple. I heard that "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

[mickeydafinn]

Anyone’s taps not running as welll as they would hope? I would have thought I’d be getting a lot more sap than I have. I was expecting to see the buckets overflowing!

[dcast99]

Mine aren't running too much either. I think there is too much frost in the ground for the trees to get any water to make sap. From Sunday to Thursday night I only got .8 gallons per tap. I've seen this happen other years.

[5050racing]

Things were slow the buckets were not doing much till Tuesday Wednesday but then they came on and the tubing was rippin and still is as of Saturday night.im putting 300gal Thur RO as I type and 150 or something still in woods,busy night and Sunday,glade I have this magic machine!!!