CT 2018 - How's it been running?

[Stiets]

Put out my very first 3/16 gravity line yesterday with 25 drops. Thank you Matt!! Going to tap it in a few hours this morning. Just wondering how things ran yesterday for folks that are tapped?

[Person25]

Put in a few in Durham yesterday morning, then put 30 in Somers yesterday mid-day. All due South taps were running before I could put in the pull the bit. Spent the rest of the day prepping the shack. By 6pm had a few trees give a half gallon or more but the majority gave about a half to a quart each. Only directly due South really ran. Ran a little less in Durham through the day. But not bad for the first day of this warming trend. good luck out there!

[BSD]

Put out my very first 3/16 gravity line yesterday with 25 drops. Thank you Matt!! Going to tap it in a few hours this morning. Just wondering how things ran yesterday for folks that are tapped?Start warming up that drill finger!

[valleyman]

Put in a few in Durham yesterday morning, then put 30 in Somers yesterday mid-day. All due South taps were running before I could put in the pull the bit. Spent the rest of the day prepping the shack. By 6pm had a few trees give a half gallon or more but the majority gave about a half to a quart each. Only directly due South really ran. Ran a little less in Durham through the day. But not bad for the first day of this warming trend. good luck out there!
Nice report, thanks !

[markgm]

Surprisingly low (to me) production Saturday, considering the amount I collected last week. About 3 cups per tap into today; there's still a good blanket of snow on the ground here in Plymouth, so I'm guessing the trees are still thawing. It didn't get to below freezing until around midnight, which is good. I can hear things slowly dripping when I walk around outside.

[Cjadamec]

So far this weekend I'm looking at around 60gallons out of 51 taps. Both my lines are a steady stream still going into the barrles.

[DaveB]

Put in a few in Durham yesterday morning, then put 30 in Somers yesterday mid-day. All due South taps were running before I could put in the pull the bit. Spent the rest of the day prepping the shack. By 6pm had a few trees give a half gallon or more but the majority gave about a half to a quart each. Only directly due South really ran. Ran a little less in Durham through the day. But not bad for the first day of this warming trend. good luck out there!

Nice to see someone else from Somers! I live in Stafford and collect from Woodstock over to Somers and still have my sugarhouse at my parents house in Somers. Good luck with your season!

[Stiets]

I picked up 22 gallons from 25 taps on 3/16 gravity. Tapped them yesterday at 12:30pm had 22 gallons this morning at 5:45am. It was still running this morning when I collected. Hopefully it keeps running, Might fire up this afternoon to start sweetening the pan.

[Person25]

Nice to see someone else from Somers! I live in Stafford and collect from Woodstock over to Somers and still have my sugarhouse at my parents house in Somers. Good luck with your season!

Oh hey would you look at that, Somers brothers! I opperate similar to you, I spend most of my time in Durham, close to work and collect some there but maintain my residence, a majority of taps and the sugar shack at my family farm/compound in Somers. Good luck to you as well!

[tri-mountain maple]

All tapped in Durham. Sap’s running well, content is in the dumps though. Just a hair under 1%

[Mike Van]

I picked up about 90 gal yesterday, started boiling at 4:30 AM, done at 9. Sugar was just under 2%, I checked one bucket by itself, that was just over 2. I forgot to bring a match to light the evap. Found a book in my shop, got down to the last 3 before one lit, everything was so damp. Done for now, weekend looks promising though.

[mhovey]

Put in about 130 taps this past Saturday and collected for the first time today. Only got about 60 gallons. Saturday and Sunday it was flowing pretty decent then dropped off Monday and hasn't picked up since. Hopefully this weekend it will pick up again.

[Woodsrover]

Pumped 300 gallons up into my milk tank tonight. Digging the new system. Hope to have 600-800 gallons to boil by Sunday.

[Cjadamec]

I collected 100 gallons over the weekend and another 50 yesterday afternoon. Thanks to the 3/16 tubing I've already collected more sap in one week than I did all of last year on buckets. Today and tomorrow have a nice freeze and it should be back in the 40s over the weekend. That should make for another nice run.

[Calycanthus]

Started tapping on Saturday. About 230 taps in. Averaged about a gallon per so far, right at 2%.

[Cjadamec]

Got another nice run yesterday into today for another 70 gallons so far. Should have been more but a deer bit thru one of my lines last night. Got that repaired and everything is still flowing nice and steady.

[CTsap]

Put 100 taps on 3/16 yesterday at 9 am. Currently have about 160 gallons. About 2 percent. Think I'm going to hold off another week or two for the buckets. Got enough sap to keep me busy for a bit

[Cjadamec]

No shack yet so I had to improvise so lights for sugaring in the dark. Gotta love LED lights.

[BSD]

No shack yet so I had to improvise so lights for sugaring in the dark. Gotta love LED lights.I boiled most of last year using my M18 Tower LED light. 4 hours on a battery on average.

[Woodsrover]

Sweetened the pan today and still managed to draw off 3+ gallons of syrup.
The coming week of weather looks mixed.....

[Cjadamec]

I've got 110v power out to the arch for the blower fan so I can run the lights off of that. I used some cheap LED flood (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZ9TDGX/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)lights from amazon for lights. All the light you would get from dual 500w halogen work lights and the LEDs only use 30w.

[Mike Van]

I think we're done running here for a bit, colder weather on the way - good start though, I was collecting a few hours ago, most every tap had an icicle hanging off it -

[BSD]

I think we're done running here for a bit, colder weather on the way - good start though, I was collecting a few hours ago, most every tap had an icicle hanging off it -fine by me. I need a week or so to get the shack finalized, arch rebuilt and lines strung still. We did the get the roof closed up today, so that's a huge relief.

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[Cjadamec]

Nice looking shack. Was that a kit from somewhere or stick built onsite.

[BSD]

Nice looking shack. Was that a kit from somewhere or stick built onsite.it's a Jamaica Cottage Shop kit.

[CTsap]

hey Guys, for those of you who have tapped on 3/16 tubing in mid January, did your sap run through the end of the season? How many weeks we talking, 8? First time tapping this early for me. I got a ton of sap but wondering if I can keep it going through end of season. still have 50 or so trees I'm holding off on until mid Feb.

[Stiets]

hey Guys, for those of you who have tapped on 3/16 tubing in mid January, did your sap run through the end of the season? How many weeks we talking, 8? First time tapping this early for me. I got a ton of sap but wondering if I can keep it going through end of season. still have 50 or so trees I'm holding off on until mid Feb.

Great question. Wondering the same thing here. First year using 3/16 as well. From what I have been told and read is it will last longer than buckets during these cold spells and over the season. How long not sure yet. The important thing is how clean are your taps. Using new disposable taps each will keep your lines running longer. Would love to hear other people's experience with 3/16 as well.

I am also holding off on tapping my other trees with my buckets. I will wait till mid February for them. Right now I am loving going to two collection points for 42 taps.

[killingworthmaple]

I don't think it makes a big difference if its 3/16 or 5/16 the weather plays a big part I have had good luck with the check valves in the past. I think the 3/16 is a great idea if you have the grade.

[Mike Van]

fine by me. I need a week or so to get the shack finalized, arch rebuilt and lines strung still. We did the get the roof closed up today, so that's a huge relief.

17343 Nice job Matt! I don't know how you guys do the outdoor boiling, it must be a real pain in the butt. This morning I had 60 gal to boil off, it was 14F outside when I started at 5 AM, all I could get the barn up to was 38. Funny, late in the season i've had it 100 in there. Actually, it's not funny, it just sucks.

[Cjadamec]

I just ordered a kit from Jamaica Cottage shop as well. No hope of having it ready for this year but it sure will be nice for next season to have an outbuilding finally. How was your experience will putting the kit together?

This is my first year with any type of tubing so I really don't know how long to expect my taps to stay running. I have collected over 250gallons (I lost track of exactly how many gallons after 250) of sap on 50 taps since I tapped in mid januray. That's more than double what I got on buckets for the entire season last year. One of my runs is 60ft elevation top to bottom and the other has a 90 foot drop with all but 3 of the taps on the very top of the hill so 3/16 was a perfect fit for my trees.

I just wish my trees had better sugar content they so far its been just over 1%. All of them are in a mixed mature forest, most are reds, and none of them get full sun. The syrup still tastes great tho.

[CTsap]

BSD, looks like you and I have similar buildings. I used Jamaica Cottage shop plans to build my 16x20 sugar house. I modified the plans a bit, moved the cupola off center, made the walls 9 ft, and added a large front swinging door. overall I like the plans. good luck with your build.
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[BSD]

I just ordered a kit from Jamaica Cottage shop as well. No hope of having it ready for this year but it sure will be nice for next season to have an outbuilding finally. How was your experience will putting the kit together?

This is my first year with any type of tubing so I really don't know how long to expect my taps to stay running. I have collected over 250gallons (I lost track of exactly how many gallons after 250) of sap on 50 taps since I tapped in mid januray. That's more than double what I got on buckets for the entire season last year. One of my runs is 60ft elevation top to bottom and the other has a 90 foot drop with all but 3 of the taps on the very top of the hill so 3/16 was a perfect fit for my trees.

I just wish my trees had better sugar content they so far its been just over 1%. All of them are in a mixed mature forest, most are reds, and none of them get full sun. The syrup still tastes great tho.

what size did you get from JCS? overall the kit from JCS is good, but we had a hell of a time figuring out the cupola even though it comes in panelized sections already. I think because i ordered it with windows it wasn't a standard size and didn't match their directions. in the end we got it, but it chewed up hours of time I didn't have to spare. putting the frame up itself is very easy, once you get to the roof it gets really slow. you're going to want 3-4 people for the roof work. my advice would be to find/rent/borrow scaffolding to work off. it will make the job MUCH easier. We had nice aluminum planks for working down the side of the building on the outside but we really should have had a scaffold tower on casters on the inside too. the cuts for all the angles and lengths are very good. For the whole building i think we had to trim/cut or make less than dozen pieces.

[BSD]

Nice job Matt! I don't know how you guys do the outdoor boiling, it must be a real pain in the butt. This morning I had 60 gal to boil off, it was 14F outside when I started at 5 AM, all I could get the barn up to was 38. Funny, late in the season i've had it 100 in there. Actually, it's not funny, it just sucks. this year will be a hell of a different story for me, i didn't actually mind boiling outdoors too much last year, but the wind would really cool my evaporation rates. but moving indoors, everything will also have a permanent home too. right now i've got stuff tucked away all over the place. i'm wondering if i'm going to end up putting a little heater in the shack, since i'm planning on going to an insulated arch this year.

[BSD]

hey Guys, for those of you who have tapped on 3/16 tubing in mid January, did your sap run through the end of the season? How many weeks we talking, 8? First time tapping this early for me. I got a ton of sap but wondering if I can keep it going through end of season. still have 50 or so trees I'm holding off on until mid Feb.last year i tapped 2/16 and it ran through march ( i don't have notes about last collection days though). if you run check valves i wouldn't doubt 8 weeks is possible. without CV's 8 might be a stretch. i would wager that the bottom trees would dry up, but the real up-hill ones will keep producing

[Cjadamec]

I'm putting up a 10x16 hobby house. It's gotta be dual purpose shed and support for this maple sickness I caught. I really like the looks of their buildings it's nice to know someone had good luck with one of their kits. They had one heck of a sale about 2 weeks ago. I got the kit for 4600 out the door . Only catch is I have to drive there to pick it up. It's going to max out my truck and trailer for weight but that's what they are for. It's going on 5 years now since I finished the house and I finally got the shed before the money got set to another project.

[BSD]

I'm putting up a 10x16 hobby house. It's gotta be dual purpose shed and support for this maple sickness I caught. I really like the looks of their buildings it's nice to know someone had good luck with one of their kits. They had one heck of a sale about 2 weeks ago. I got the kit for 4600 out the door . Only catch is I have to drive there to pick it up. It's going to max out my truck and trailer for weight but that's what they are for. It's going on 5 years now since I finished the house and I finally got the shed before the money got set to another project.I picked my kit up, just shy of 10K lbs. don't buy any windows from them, they're a rip-off. the buildings (when they're on sale) are a great value though

[CTsap]

I likes strafford window up in NH. Custom size to your needs. I always picked up orders so not sure how shipping is. Their prices are the best I found and very good quality

[Cjadamec]

That's a bummer about the windows. My kit has them included as part of the standard kit. Either way still got a great price on the kit.

[mspina14]

I had a very good experience, buying, building, and using my JCS sugar shack.

It's only 8X12, but sure beats boiling outside.

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Mark