2018 tapping

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Pretty quiet in the Maine forum. What have all the sugarmakers been up to? We will finish line work and drops tomorrow in the big woods. 5400 taps ready to go. About half of them already plugged in. Than we'll spend a couple days checking lines in our bush and be ready to tap by the last week of February.

[Road's End]

Been busy! I built a small sugar shack and moving the evaporator in this weekend I think. Started repairing lines just the other day. Hoping to be ready to tap within a week, then it's just waiting on the weather!

[Atgreene]

Still upgrading mainlines on our largest sugarbush. Probably have another week before we can start thinking about tapping. Pretty sure we've never tapped earlier than Feb 23, but since we've upgraded to CV spouts and vacuum I don't see any reason to wait once our lines are washed and repaired.

[gmcooper]

Started tapping today. Earlier than most years. Still have work to do in smaller sugar bush. Talked with a friend today where several producers typically make syrup early and it appears none have yet. Warm as it was (42) only one tree today had even a drop of sap make it out the tap hole.

[bees1st]

Hope to finish up putting taps in today. Get the pumps hooked up and start chasing down leaks. Looking like steady rain this afternoon. We'll see how far I get.

[Atgreene]

Had a couple friends help today. Despite the rain we wire tied 850' of 1 1/4" vacuum line. Cold, wet and miserable, but we got it done.

[turnerburner]

Looks like temps will hit the mid 40’s a few time this week. Thinking about tapping tomorrow after work, interestered In seeing how the new 3/16 lines perform.

[West Sumner Sugar]

With the warm weather coming this week, trees should start thawing enough to get some sap flow. We are starting to tap next weekend. Still have a bunch of 3/16 to put up after the test run proved to be 100% better than 5/16. The new sugarhouse is just about ready. Next weekend we will mount and plumb the head tank and fill pipe and we'll be ready to make some 2018 syrup!

[abbott]

Looks like its time to think about sap. I'll be getting everything ready to go this week, probably start tapping Friday if the weather holds and plan on being ready to boil by Monday. Assuming the weather forecasts don't take a swing for the colder.

[Atgreene]

Picked up my new tank today. Was supposed to be 3' tall, 4' wide, 8' long. The tank they shipped was 4' tall, 3' 6" wide, 8' long. Throws my whole new releaser setup out the window. Made a lot more work for myself trying to upgrade, and this complicates it even more. We won't be tapping for a week or two yet at this rate.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Agreed, looks like anyone that is plugged in will get some sap next week if the forecast is even remotely close. I'm not sure if we'll make it or not.

[BRL]

We are working on bricking the new arch but I don't see us tapping until next weekend 2/24:cry:

[Winslow]

2-24 is what we're planning for, mostly south facing field maples.

[maineboiler]

Plan is to clean the evaporator this sunday 2/18 and start tapping monday. Should be warm enough and the lack of snow pack should help with tapping

[wurmdert]

Replaced 120 of 150 drops yesterday and tapped em as I went. Will finish installing drops today and start tapping the rest of the bush today and tommorrow.

[bees1st]

Finally finished today. Just checked the pumps and releasers. (8:35pm) sap coming in nicely. 38 right now, should run all night. Expecting to boil Saturday.

[Atgreene]

I won't finish getting my releaser and vac pump plumbed until monday. I'm thinking I may hold off tapping until after the 60° temps. That'll give me time to set everything up, sap house ready to go, ro hooked back up, lines repaired etc... and, keep bacteria in the taphole to a minimum. If I rush to tap monday I won't be ready to tap everything nor will the sugarhouse be ready. Decisions decisions.

[n8hutch]

I am in the same boat over here in Chatham, not really ready so I'm going to miss this first good run. But it looks too cold for a sap run after mid week so I'm just going to hold off. Just moved my Arch into the Sugar house last night.

[twitch]

Well I got arch bricked today . Was thinking about tapping on Monday but now you guys have got me thinking of waiting and saving myself from early bacteria. Done some major improvements in the sugar house and just behind. That's pretty much the way I start every season " behind"!!

[Road's End]

At this point I may start tapping every morning next week until I'm done. (Only have a couple hours available each morning) I will let the old lines run for a day or 2 before going to the tank to make sure any snot is out. Adding around 80-100+ taps depending on time. May be boiling late next week??

[bees1st]

I had a small run between Noon Thursday and end of day Friday. Nothing to write home about, wait, does any body even write home anymore? Ran the RO , boiled Saturday, sweetened the pans and made a smidge of nice light syrup.

[twitch]

At this point I'm holding off drilling any holes till after the heat wave is over.

[hansel]

Me too. Temperatures looking good Friday and beyond.

[abbott]

Finished tapping Sun. AM, ran vacuum and chased leaks Sun. PM. Probably let 100+ gallons run on the ground. Ran some more out this morning, then started collecting just before noon. We'll see what comes... I don't think north side taps are doing anything yet and I don't expect a big run.

[Atgreene]

Went for it and started tapping today. Was going to wait, butweather looks good later this week. Slow going, changing drops as we go, only got 250 or so done today. Vac pump ran good but releaser needs a little attention. Sap was running good.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

All 5400 taps plugged in at the big woods. 2 guys will be there checking for vacuum leaks through the warm spell. Got in the truck at 1:30 and came back home to work on our bush. Got 1/3 tapped in before it went dark. Won't be fully plugged in until next weekend, but will get 1 of 3 lines cleaned out and maybe hjave some sap to boil next weekend.

[BRL]

We managed to get 80 or so buckets out on Sunday. We hung a new 3/16" line yesterday afternoon with 20 taps on it. Got the tank cleaned and put the tube into it at 3:30pm check the tank this am an it had 25 gallons in it! My old man is heading to get more roles!!! Need to finish the evaporator this week.

[West Sumner Sugar]

We got 50 taps plugged in in Lewiston Saturday morning which so far have yielded about 50 gallons. Sunday we got about 60 3/16 taps in and almost 100 buckets. Should have a few hundred gallons to get the evaporator going. First boil in the new sugarhouse!

[abbott]

1100 gallons of sap on 840 taps since yesterday noon. Brix is 2.1% - pretty normal to start. I put 800 gallons of sap in the rig today and saw 11 gallons of syrup come out the other end. Off to a good start!

[Jal-Bear]

Going to start tapping at beginning of next week. Might miss out on some sap but being on all buckets I'll lets this warm weather pass by before I start drilling.

[McKenney Maples]

Hoping to be all tapped before Saturday. It's good to hear some are already making syrup!

[abbott]

Good first week. We're at about 3600 gallons of sap so far, over 4 gallons per tap. Today the sugar was up to 2.5%. Believe it or not, that means we're at just about 25% of an average season. Looks like the week ahead is shaping up to be another good one!

[twitch]

Should be all tapped by end of tomorrow except for a few road side trees . Still need to do a test boil with new to me evaporator. But almost ready. Next season will seem like a breeze with out swapping evaporators and redoing inside of sugar house just before the season starts . Sure will feel good to make syrup.

[McKenney Maples]

Got about 80% tapped today, still have one small bush to go through tomorrow. Hoping for the season first boil by next Wednesday.

[wurmdert]

Delivered first bunch of sap last thursday off 550 taps. Was up to about 700 tapped now. Will add some more tommorrow

[Revi]

We boiled on Saturday and got down to the bottom of the tank, now I'll bet it's filling up again! We will boil all week after work and hope to get it down there!

[Jal-Bear]

Got most of my taps in today. Amazed to see how well they were running for being mostly red maples. Going to finish tapping tomorrow, should have plenty of sap for first boil tomorrow night.

[West Sumner Sugar]

Had out first boil in the new sugar house on Sunday. Gotta say we love having a real deal cupola. Still a few projects to get done. Made up the new head tank fill pipe so we can pump sap up to the head tanks. (Quick coupler outside the building then can pump into either tank by flipping the valve) Also got up another 60 taps on 3/16. Good weekend of work considering the snow, boiled off 225 gallons, pulled out the first 2 gallons of the season. Looks to be a good sap week coming. Oh and we might have gotten an RO as well...
1784417845

[Mitchman]

Just putting in my taps here in Carrabassett Valley, 36 taps on 5/16 line (gravity) and 3 buckets. It was running well till 2:45 pm when a snow squall came through with a cold N.W. air and shut me right down. O well it's expected!! Gonna push into our uncharted sugarbush and use 3/16 for hopefully another 50 to 100 taps, all gravity, we are on a hill so that helps.

[Page Meadow Maple]

Boiled my first 25 gallons of sap from last week's 2 warm days. Made some very pretty light syrup. Yesterday’s 40 degree weather filled my buckets, so I am off this morning to collect! Looks good for the next couple of days here in Lowell, Maine.

17854

17855

[atvridah]

Tapped 30 trees late Sunday, Collected about 23 gallons of sap yesterday afternoon. Hoping to fire up the evaporator Thursday morning.

[sap seeker]

Boiled my first 25 gallons of sap from last week's 2 warm days. Made some very pretty light syrup. Yesterday’s 40 degree weather filled my buckets, so I am off this morning to collect! Looks good for the next couple of days here in Lowell, Maine.

17854

17855

Great looking stuff! 80 taps on the half pint will keep you plenty busy!

[Page Meadow Maple]

Great looking stuff! 80 taps on the half pint will keep you plenty busy!

You are right about that! Collected 48 gallons of sap today @ 2.7 Brix. I will be sitting with my half pint all day tomorrow.

17869

[BRL]

We have 450 gallons in storage right now hoping to finish this thing up tonight so we can run some sap through it!
17881

[turnerburner]

Up to 300 gallons of sap so far off of 48 taps on 3/16 tubing. Going to be a loooong weekend of boiling on my little 2x3 evaporator.

[abbott]

We have 450 gallons in storage right now hoping to finish this thing up tonight so we can run some sap through it!
17881

That's a cute little evaporator you have there! I'm going to have to come take a look firsthand. What kind of arch is that? Gasification or just forced air? I'm looking to upgrade my system to something more efficient in the near future. I might have to go a bit bigger than what you have, but should be able to go smaller than my current 40"x10'.

[Mvhomesteader]

I've got 50 gallons of sap sitting in 5 gallon pails in a snow bank waiting for Sunday's boil. By then I'll have more so it will be a two day event as I will be limited to 35 gpd with my backyard setup. Brix has been between 2.1 and 3 depending on the tree. This will be the second (and third) event this season. The first boil on the 24th was 25 gallons of early sap resulting in 3 quarts of syrup. Small operation, but it tastes just as good!

2016 12 taps, 2.75 gallons syrup
2018 10 taps turned to 14, ?? Gallons syrup
2x4 concrete block arch with three steam trays.

[Page Meadow Maple]

Up to 300 gallons of sap so far off of 48 taps on 3/16 tubing. Going to be a loooong weekend of boiling on my little 2x3 evaporator.

Going to be a long weekend feeding the evaporator!

17902

17903

[Boondocks]

You are right about that! Collected 48 gallons of sap today @ 2.7 Brix. I will be sitting with my half pint all day tomorrow.

17869

I'm down the road from you-you're doing well. We have about 115 taps, buckets and have collected 60 gallons so far. We don't do as well as most people. Not sure what we're doing wrong or if it's the location of our trees. They are not open like yours in the photo you shared.

[BRL]

That's a cute little evaporator you have there! I'm going to have to come take a look firsthand. What kind of arch is that? Gasification or just forced air? I'm looking to upgrade my system to something more efficient in the near future. I might have to go a bit bigger than what you have, but should be able to go smaller than my current 40"x10'.

Its a 2x6, I drew the arch up and had Northwood Stainless build it. Tonight will be our first fire so we will see how it does. Your more then welcome to check it out. Below is a pic of the firebox, it has a squirrel cage blower for under fire and a high pressure blower through nozzles for air over fire. Both fans have a speed switch for separate adjustment.

17904

[crashmjsapman]

If any of you fellow producers are having issues staying caught up with boiling sap i will help you out. I will boil it down and split it with you. Just call me and we can set something up. I live in central penobscot county. Charleston Maine. My number is 207 659 1416. If I dont answer just leave a message and I will get back in touch with you when I can.. Thank you all and am happy to help you out. :) Micheal It doesn't matter the amount. "May the trees let loose the the golden deliciousness"

[maineboiler]

THAT is a nice evaporator--
I have also collected about 440 gallons, 2- 2.25 Brix and we are boiling

[Revi]

I hope it runs a little, but we have been boiling every day for the past 5 days, so I would be okay with letting it pile up for the weekend. I am still at work, and can't check until 3:30 or so, but I think it only ran a little today if at all. It was raining this morning down in the valley, so if it froze it did it before 4 am. Yesterday I swear it froze up at the bottom of the hill, but not at the top where most of the trees are. We have buckets around the sugarhouse and they were doing fine, but the tubing taps up the hill weren't doing a lot. What do you think? Will it run today?

[wurmdert]

I did little over 1000 gals on 750 3/16 taps the two nice days this week. Very little today.

[Revi]

We got a little break, which was nice. I hope we get some today, because we have time to boil it tomorrow!

[sap seeker]

We got a little break, which was nice. I hope we get some today, because we have time to boil it tomorrow!

Very freaky day in the sap world! I'm 20 miles south of you, it's 33 degrees, blowing a buck ten off a lake with 2' of ice, and it's running pretty good! Low pressure? Crazy stuff!:confused:

[West Sumner Sugar]

No sap in Lewiston the past few days. Headed to Sumner today and tomorrow to boil off the weeks run.

[wurmdert]

Im surprised with the sap flow last couple days with the sub par temps. and high wind. Sometimes it just runs when it wants.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Same here in Peru. Good runs early week, not much after Wednesday. 340 gallons to boil tonight and tomorrow.

[Atgreene]

We did 3500 gallons of sap in 7 days last week with only 500 taps +- for 4 of those days. Certainly has tappered off now, but it's giving me time to get another 400 in. Only 100 or so more to go.

[abbott]

A very good week here as well, with about 4,000 gallons of sap. Hard to predict when it was going to come, with most nights right around freezing, but the vacuum pump did its job! The sugar content is not as high as I like to see early in the season, back down to 2.2%. At this point I'm at about 50% of an average season.

[Mvhomesteader]

Boiled off 40 gallons today on the steam pan/arch to walk away with a little over a gallon of syrup. This is a big step up from the single pan operation I've used till now. Couldn't be more pleased with the outcome. The finished product to sap ratio equated to 35:1, which would be a sugar content of 2.8%. I've got 25 gallons of sap saved up so hopefully I'll get 35 to 40 by the end of the week and give it one more go next weekend.

2x4 concrete block arch with 3 steam trays
2016 12 taps, 2.75 gallons
2018 14 taps, ?? gallons

[West Sumner Sugar]

Good weekend for us considering the inconsistent sap this week. Put about 500 gallons of about 2-2.5% sap through the new RO and sent about 230 gallons of 6 to 7% sap through the evaporator and ended up finishing 13 gallons of syrup. Boil time was greatly reduced which was great for us since we are away from home. It was nice seeing the autodraw kick on every 20 to 30 minutes. Still learning the RO but I can see it being a huge help. Also plugged in another 70 or so on 3/16.

[maineboiler]

Only collected 60 gallons of sap today but it is 3%. It’s been kind of slow for sap in the Oxford area. Nor’ Easter coming in soon. Should pick up on the weekend. We’ve bottled 6 gallons of the Golden Delicate so far. I’ll keep on hauling pails of sap when I can

[West Sumner Sugar]

Very little sap in Lewiston this week. Hope the 3/16 in Sumner are pouring sap!

[wurmdert]

Looks like we will have a good snowpack to help extend the season. Got a foot this last storm and calling for 15in on tuesday.:cool:

[Road's End]

More snow? We got hammered, right around 20in of snow but hard to be sure with the drifts. Some drifts were waste high and it was bare ground before the snow came!

[Page Meadow Maple]

Looks like we will have a good snowpack to help extend the season. Got a foot this last storm and calling for 15in on tuesday.:cool:

Is sap supposed to be running Sunday~Monday of this week and then to be followed another big dump of snow? I am 30 minutes south of Lincoln. Trying to figure out when to head back to camp to empty my buckets and fire up the evaporator.

[abbott]

We got 15" or so of snow here the last go round... Maybe another foot this week? The trees finally started letting loose again today, so tomorrow should be a decent run. Today the flow rate was picking up all day... up to 100 gallons of sap an hour at 6 pm when I headed back up the hill for the night. But more importantly, the cold weather brought the sugar content back up to 2.5%. I'm about 2/3 of the way to an "average" season now, so there really is no reason why this won't be the third really good one in a row!

[West Sumner Sugar]

As much as I hate to admit it, the snow seems to be helping. Down in Lewiston we were having a hard time getting things below freezing at which meant no sap during the day. 56 taps pumped out 20 gallons all week. But, today they ran well and should run well again tomorrow. All in all, another good weekend minus the valve breaking off the front of the bottler tank. Finished out another 8 or so gallons of syrup. Even had some snowmobilers stop in a buy some fresh syrup on their way through. Looking forward to a good sap week!

[Jal-Bear]

Collected 220 gallons these past two days. Saturday surprised me, it was around 35-36 degrees, overcast and a stiff breeze and it ran well.

[Atgreene]

Brought in another 1000 gallons today, puts us over 7000 from 900 taps. No complaints.

[maineboiler]

The sap is running in Oxford. I collected 150 gallons today which I am boiling down as I text this message. The sap is clear and 3%. Life is good. So far we have bottled 6 gallons of Golden Looks like a good season shaping up18095

[RuralBrewer]

Had my best day a couple of days ago- 31 gallons on 25 taps. Yesterday another 25 gallons. I'm flirting with my sap processing limits but between my 72k BTU burner and steam pans on my kitchen stove, I can push 3-4 gallons per hour so I'm not complaining. My carbon footprint is definitely high- 72k BTU propane burner, 1800W induction cooktop, 1000W bucket heater stick, 4x standard residential propane stove burners, 20W heat belt to keep my propane tanks from freezing up...

Next year- double the tap count and add RO. ;)

[McKenney Maples]

Sap ran good the last 3 days, just cleaned up the last of it tonight. Niter build up was unreal, started with a spotless pan and ended up reversing flow so I could finish with a little peace of mind. Have some bottling to do now doesn’t look like there’ll be any good runs for a bit.

[Lukie]

Collected 180 gallons on Monday and probably still have a hundred more to collect but this storm is going to make it pretty hard all my 125 buckets on tubing are road side and the heater banks are over my head ! to date I have 12 and 1/2 gallon bottled
My work let us out early so me and my wife sat down to the shack and boiled down 50 gallons.

[maineboiler]

Sounds like a similar operation to what I have Lukie. I have a myriad of buckets on red maples and drop lines to 5 gallon pails for the big sugar maples. 13 gallons of Golden Delicate so far

[abbott]

Decided to go see what was going on at the sap house at around 3:30. Found 100 gallons in the tank and it was trying to run hard... but the wet line was still frozen up and many of my branch lines weren't letting any sap through since they had sections under snow. It was a long afternoon of shoveling. I'm looking real smart now moving the mainlines down and tapping the trees lower since its a low snowpack year. At last count I had 400 gallons of sap - about a half gallon per tap - in spite of it all. Hopefully everything thaws out tomorrow!

[Revi]

We got maybe 30-40 gallons yesterday. Today may be big, but we'll see... Just collecting a few buckets yesterday was like an arctic expedition, so stomping down the mainlines will be really fun. I think I'll do that Friday for my exercise! We're saving sap so that we can boil on Saturday all day and keep the evap warm. It will be a great thing to do on a chilly day!

[Road's End]

We got maybe 30-40 gallons yesterday. Today may be big, but we'll see... Just collecting a few buckets yesterday was like an arctic expedition, so stomping down the mainlines will be really fun. I think I'll do that Friday for my exercise! We're saving sap so that we can boil on Saturday all day and keep the evap warm. It will be a great thing to do on a chilly day!

I was surprised to see 50 gallons come down the mainline around 4-5pm yesterday. It's running decent today though, report from my father was 175 gallons at 4pm from the 355 taps. It stays a little chillier in my neck of the woods though, so it may shut down sooner than I'd like.

[Jal-Bear]

Sap has been running like crazy this past week for me. This is my 5th year sugaring and my reds have never run this well. Sugar content is around 1.3 - 1.5%, which is usually what my red maples are at. But the sap quantity has been unreal, nothing like this in the past and I don't even have all my taps in. I have 170 taps out. Tapped on Feb. 26 and as of today I've collected 1,080 gallons of sap. Talked to a guy who lives a few miles down the road yesterday, who has a little over 100 taps out and he can't keep up with the sap as well. Plenty of boiling for this weekend!

[Revi]

We're saving up for the weekend. Looks like we'll have about 250 gallons, which will take around 10 hours to boil.

That'll keep us busy! It's going to be a chilly, but fun weekend!

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Filled the 275 gallon tank and left 40 gallons in the woods. Will boil tomorrow and get the other 40. Will be cold but should be all caught up by Sunday evening

[bees1st]

After my boil yesterday it appears that I'm at about 50% of a normal crop for me. Ran quite well on Thursday.

[twitch]

Looks like we are going to be froze up for a few days. Been a good season pretty sporadic to say the least. I am about half of my normal season. I have got all 550 on 3/16 line and have been averaging about a gallon a tap hopping for a good 3 or 4 day cycle to really see what they will do. Looks like the end of next week will be the next chance for some sap. I am enjoying the new to me evaporator been a little learning curve but I think we getting it dialed and evaporating around 100 gallons an hour. Sap quality has been very good with this cold weather.

[abbott]

Closing in on 4 weeks into the season now. Totals are 12,500 gallons of sap and 310 gallons of syrup on 840 taps. I would say that's at 90% production for me. The last two years I made over 400 gallons of syrup, and hit about 125% production... but those were my best two ever until now. Looks like there is still a ways to go. I have 5 cord of wood and about 100 gallons of bulk storage left. When the sap has run this year, it has run hard!

[Mvhomesteader]

Just finished my fourth boil of the season-55 gallons of sap yielded 5 quarts of syrup (and a fair quantity of niter). This is the most I've pushed through my 3 pan/arch setup so far. With boiling beginning at 10 this morning and bringing a pot inside to finish at 5 was just a hair under 8 gallons an hour. A far cry from my old one pan stove, which is now the warming stove. Makes a days effort worthwhile. One more boiling for me on Saturday for this year. Maybe I'll go for 60.

[maineboiler]

Way to go Steve. Good season so far. Nothing but golden delicate. The sap pails are still frozen up here in Oxford but I expect a good run into Maine Maple weekend

[abbott]

We've been slow to get thawed back out, with not a whole lot of sap Tues/Wed. Enough to boil today though, and the sap flow was picking up all day right until I headed for home at 7pm. Looks like a good stretch ahead. I'm ready for a final push and then on to planting the gardens!

[West Sumner Sugar]

Same here...well not sure about up in Sumner but down in L-A its been slow all week. Not much sap. My road side trees produced ok but nothing crazy. Hoping the 3/16 gets it done again this week and we have a good weekend. Sunday will be hectic with all the visitors. We usually don't boil much that day anyways...just enough to keep the steam rolling. Everyone and anyone is invited to come on down to visit.

[McKenney Maples]

Same here as well,I think things are finally thawing out. The cold weather was a good break though, stripped the evaporator down for a deep clean. Niter build up has been crazy for me this year. Hopefully the extended forecast holds out and we have a decent stretch of weather.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

We noticed a lot of niter in our early runs as well. More like what we usually get late season. Same here, slow to get going but the tanks should have enough in them to boil this weekend. Next week looks like a gusher.

[abbott]

Update from Sumner: 380 gallons of syrup made from about 15000 gallons of sap. That, I would say, puts me at 110% production or better. Still short of last season by 40 gallons... but give it two or three days. And in two or three days is when I run out of dry firewood. And 5 gallons jugs to put the syrup in. The sap has been good and sweet still (2.6%), but I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to hold out! If I were just looking at the forecast and not my production totals, I would say there's still a week and a half or two left on the season.

[West Sumner Sugar]

Another 22 gallons of syrup in the bottle after this weekend. While we didn't get much sap in the L-A area, we had about 800 gallons from the 3/16 lines in Sumner (thank god for the RO that reduced that down to 300 gallons). Pretty impressive really. At this point we are 5 gallons short of last years total which was about 8 gallons better than the previous years totals. So each year we seem to produce a little more. We are planning for 2 more weeks at this point then calling it good. At this rate we should finish out around 70 gallons which is a huge jump for us. Had a great Maple weekend. Lots of family and friends came to spend the day with us.

[lowryd]

Help...we tapped four weeks ago. we have gravity and lines. Our barrels have been empty for the last two weeks and when I checked the lines everything has stopped. But our neighbours are still going full tilt. Any ideas why theirs are still running and ours are not? They use buckets and lines and gravity as well. Thanks.

[maineboiler]

That sounds strange. Are your lines frozen? Are your taps wet? If your trees are deep in the woods they may not put out until it gets warmer and sunny

[Atgreene]

Did you use new spouts, check valves or drops? Did you use a clean new drill bit? Cautious about sanitary practices while tapping? After we went to disposable spouts, check valves and being vigilant about drill cleanliness, our sap priduction went up and our season lengthened.

[twitch]

Pretty quite on here. What you all thinking . I'm thinking about pulling out what you all thinking I hate to but I'm thinking about it.

[Road's End]

I'm going as long as I can. RO helps now that the sugar is dropping off. This week has most nights into the 20s and even a couple teens so it could be good. Haven't seen any buds even hinting of opening up at my place yet...

[RuralBrewer]

I pulled my taps on maple sunday. Did a 50 gallon marathon to finish after a 5 week run. Made 8+ gallons of finished product on ~25 taps. Very happy with the results this year and just keep improving my methods with every season. I made a video about it... see you next year.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4EQvXTykUg

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Hoping for another run or two next week, not giving up yet!

[bees1st]

I'm hanging on . It ain't over till it's over.

[abbott]

I'm convinced that my taps are drying up in spite of the check valves. The sap is still trickling in on vacuum, but nothing exciting. Finally made some dark syrup yesterday - it had all been golden or amber to that point. Buds look fine, but I went out and pulled my red maple taps yesterday just in case. I'll keep plugging away for a few more days and make a little more dark syrup.

[twitch]

Same here finally made some dark. Beginning of last week seemed like perfect weather but didn't really run that great. The few reds I have are definitely showing sign of budding.sugar maple not showing at all.see what the next few days bring I guess.

[bees1st]

[QUOTE=abbott;353295]I'm convinced that my taps are drying up in spite of the check valves. The sap is still trickling in on vacuum, but nothing exciting.[/QUOTE
I was kinda thinking the same , but last year I was tapped in earlier and I had runs until April 14 or so. So I'm not totally convinced. Yet

[abbott]

I was kinda thinking the same , but last year I was tapped in earlier and I had runs until April 14 or so. So I'm not totally convinced. Yet

Yup, took me a while to believe it too. But we had so much warm weather in Feb. this year, so I think the bacteria got a jump on us then.

I'm at 467 gallons now, which is about .56 gallons/tap, best ever by far. I'll keep plugging away for a few more days if the buds hold.

[bagpiper]

Last boil today down here in Berwick. Buckets stopped producing early in the week and the 100 Reds on vaccum gave up the ghost yesterday. Great year overall, 35 gallons due to hobby RO. Took the pain out of boiling 1.25% Red Maple sap and used only 1/3rd the wood.

[Mvhomesteader]

Great video ruralbrewer! Very enjoyable! You captured the essence of maple season.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Boiling again today. Sap has clouded up some. Weather looks ok for next week. We'll see how the sap quality is though. As Abbott said, tapped and running 3rd week of February might shut us down on gravity regardless of overnight lows.

[n8hutch]

Yup, took me a while to believe it too. But we had so much warm weather in Feb. this year, so I think the bacteria got a jump on us then.

I'm at 467 gallons now, which is about .56 gallons/tap, best ever by far. I'll keep plugging away for a few more days if the buds hold. That's a nice Total so Far, what's your sugar content been like Steve?my CVs are still going strong but I didn't tap until after that warm snap.

[abbott]

That's a nice Total so Far, what's your sugar content been like Steve?my CVs are still going strong but I didn't tap until after that warm snap.

On the whole, the sugar content has been good this season. It peaked at 2.7% a week and a half ago (this highest I have ever had). Today? 1.6% (the lowest I have ever had.) I'll run the pump the next couple of days and see what happens, but I might not even boil it. I'm out of 5 gallon jugs (again) and out of dry wood (again.)

Let me know if it runs good for you the next couple of days - I'm curious to know what would be happening if my taps weren't drying up.

[West Sumner Sugar]

Same here Steve. Yesterday we collected about 600 gallons that was 1.5-2%. Despite the warm weather I was pleased to see that I could see to the bottom of a 330 gallon tank that was full. Sap was still crystal clear. A double pass in the RO and we pulled off about 10 gallons. By far the best season for us as well as we are approaching 60 gallons. We did pull the 100 buckets we had out as those didn't produce much...but the 3/16 is still cranking. Crazy to say but we were talking saying we cant make much more syrup, that will make next years goal a huge step from where we were the past 2 years. Seems we typically jump about 5 gallons a year...this year we might be plus 20 from last year.

[wurmdert]

I collected 330 ish gallons yesterday and it was 2.8. The flow was better than the previous days. Interested to see what today and tomorrow bring after this hard freeze. I did notice the reds starting to bulge a little bit. See what happens

[BRL]

We pulled everything Friday and Saturday. Finished and bottled everything and got the tanks washed! Total for this year was 39.75 gallons of syrup from 75 Buckets and 87 Taps on new 3/16"! We are going to try and be all on 3/16" for next year! Plans for next year are building a steam-a-way, building an RO and going to oil fired.

Steve (Abbott) I completely forgot to get a hold of you, this season was way more hectic then ever now that both my boys are in travel hockey. I'm sorry I completely spaced it.

[abbott]

We pulled everything Friday and Saturday. Finished and bottled everything and got the tanks washed! Total for this year was 39.75 gallons of syrup from 75 Buckets and 87 Taps on new 3/16"! We are going to try and be all on 3/16" for next year! Plans for next year are building a steam-a-way, building an RO and going to oil fired.

Steve (Abbott) I completely forgot to get a hold of you, this season was way more hectic then ever now that both my boys are in travel hockey. I'm sorry I completely spaced it.

Hey, I get it, no worries. I'll try to look you up sometime later in the spring and take a look at your arch. Hopefully I can get one made for next season.

[maineboiler]

Nice work BRL. Your operation sounds similar to mine. I am hanging in there for another week. Collected 40 gallons today between 1.5 and 2.1%. This has been our best year

[twitch]

Its official I'm all done for the season. 400 taps on gravity only produced about 25 gallons yesturday. Should be around 80 gallons of syrup for the season.. After I clean out the evaporator. Not a bad season I missed all the sap in February . Was a ruff start just as I should have been tapping my three year old come down with pneumonia. I stayed home with him for a few days. The evaporator is all set up now next season will feel like a breeze with out totally reworking the sugar house before the season. Number one goal for next season is to get more sap production with out a vacuum pump get 3/16 running future down the hill before going into mainline and find about 300 more taps somewhere. And to have plenty of wood.

[Road's End]

The fat lady is warming her vocal cords, but hasn't started singing at my place. Collected 175 gallons of sap at 1.5% yesterday and it just opened up again, should be a good run today. RO is going to earn it's keep this week I think. Sap isn't cloudy or anything yet. Hope to make syrup right until the bitter end. :twisted:

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Roads End.....where are you guys? We’re in Peru right up the road with taps around Worthley Pond.

[Road's End]

See those ugly windmills on canton mountain? We're on the east side of the mountain, tucked into the valley about 1/2 mile from the windmills. Making some borderline dark/very dark syrup as I type this!

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

See those ugly windmills on canton mountain? We're on the east side of the mountain, tucked into the valley about 1/2 mile from the windmills. Making some borderline dark/very dark syrup as I type this!

Nice! I know certainly know the area and Canton Mtn. I left for Florida but my partner is still home for the final push. Good luck on the end of the season runs.