South Central Ohio early taps in sap running

[buckeye gold]

I put out 38 taps on my fall line this afternoon. They were running good when I quit. As I tapped I let sap run out on the ground for a couple hours and then put lines in the tank. It took about an hour to get 5 gallons, so I should be able to sweeten my pan a little tomorrow. I won't do my main woods until Late January or early February, but this will give me some early bonus syrup. I guess it's game on.

[bmbmkr]

Thats Great! My buddy tapped down in Paintsville KY this past weekend, has close to 400 taps, he's already boiled a couple times. I will be tapping in the next 10 days or so, cleaned out the sugar house today. Goin to rain Friday but supposed to be 60F so that'll be powerwashing day. I've got a mile of tubing to run yet, have the laterals ran with twine already, just waiting on tubing to get here. We should have around 425-450 taps this year! Hope your sap is sweet and plentiful this season! Ben

[buckeye gold]

Collected about 30 gallons of sap and sweetened my pan a little. My AOF modifications seem to really add to my boil intensity. Finished putting new taps on my main woods today. Ready to rock and roll

[Sugarmaker]

Collected about 30 gallons of sap and sweetened my pan a little. My AOF modifications seem to really add to my boil intensity. Finished putting new taps on my main woods today. Ready to rock and roll

Wow it seams early, but your down south a ways too. Good luck with your season. We need some pictures boiling that 2018 sap!
Regards,
Chris

[bmbmkr]

[QUOTE=Sugarmaker;361067]Wow it seams early, but your down south a ways too. Good luck with your season. We need some pictures boiling that 2018 sap!
Regards,
Chris

Chris, we are usually finished boiling down here before some of our northern friends tap the first tree. If I have any gumption and wood left, I'm goin to tap some river birch in March.

I ran another 3000' of 3/16 Saturday, got the drops t'd in. These trees are all between 700'-800' ASL, the 400' mainline runs from about 620' to 600' ASL where the tank is. My help didn't how up Saturday so I have another couple of laterals and 100 taps on the bench to run, then start running tubing down the steep tying those laterals to the mainline. Have another 50-75 trees down in the holler closer to the main, haven't decided whether to use 5/16 on those or 3/16. More than likely goin to put a 12V pump on the main. Right around 175 taps in this woods, and I'm goin to have to haul the sap a mile and a half to my house. I have a 330 IBC for the collection tank, goin to have to use 2 275's to haul or one and make two trips. Last year and the year before I got well over 2 gallon per tap on my woods here at the house with a lot less drop and a lot more mainline on a lot less grade.

I have my new drops on, (70) and new spiles (240) on my woods here at the house. I put up another 600' mainline on the lower end of the property that over lapped part of last years main put in 70 new taps and ran some of last years laterals further down the hill to it. Then I ended up taking down a few hundred feet of last years main, AGAIN! Will use it for a pump line from the new tank up the the old main. The new tank is collecting 175 taps, and about 800' from the house, plan on pumping it up to the old mainline which carries 125 taps and empties into a 330 IBC, that gets pumped the last 300' to the sugar camp- 800 GL bulk tank that I bought from Buckeye Gold's cousin last year. Lots of pumping and hauling this coming season, will be between 450-500 taps.

I upgraded my Deer Run 125 to electric and a second post added with 2 brand new XLE's. She's goin to earn her keep with this many taps and my small evaporator.

It's pouring rain today, but supposed to hit 65F, I'm about to don the rain gear and go fire up the pressure washer and do a final rinse of the pans, corny kegs, milk cans, bulk tanks, head tank and IBC's.

Lord willin, I'm going to tap next week.

[buckeye gold]

It's been a little slow starting but the next week looks good. I'd like a little colder reset for a couple days , but the forecast is 28-32 at night and ~45 days, so hoping that gets sap flowing. I have cooked 50+ gallons of sap, but have not finished any yet, just sweetened the pan. I hope it runs today so I can build a fire and keep the sweet sterile. As Ben said they are forecasting 60+ degrees today. I have not checked sugar content yet. I'll stay with these 38 taps until mid January then I'll tap my other 80 in. This may be the year we cook all through January. It was like that a few years ago and I made 80% of my syrup before Feb. 15th and the early taps saved my butt, as season was over by the last week of February. If I see that trend all my taps will go in by January 20th.

[jdircksen]

I'm just north of Columbus and I think I'll tap a few trees tonight. I have silver maples and they bud early anyway---but it seems like this weather is going to put an early end to my season. The forecast for the next 2 weeks is lows below 32* and highs in the 40s.

[buckeye gold]

Man it stayed warm last night. The sap is not running and the forecast now says warm for a week solid. Maybe I should have waited a week to tap. Oh well, it'll run sooner or later. I just fear the bacteria load that comes with warm days. At least it's only a few early taps. It done this last year and these same taps ran until March, but slowed up. I'll have to build a small fire today and keep my sweet from spoiling.

Thought I'd come back and update. I went down to the sugar shack to light a small fire and keep my sweet, but I decided to take a taste and man that sweet seemed good. So I drained the pan and finished it on propane. I was right it is good medium dark syrup. I made just short of a half gallon. So I have my first syrup of 2019. I only prefiltered it, but since we'll most likely keep it for home use I'll just let it settle and use it.

[netsplitter]

I tapped a little early this year - kind of went with the trend (a lot of Kentucky farms seemed to be getting started early, and thought I would follow).

Looking at it now, wish I would have waited. I caught a good couple days, got around 40 gallons, but everything has stopped wiith no good freezing tempts in sight.

Hopefully in the next couple weeks the weather improves :).

This is my first year using 3/16th gravity tubing, I remember reading that the taps do not dry up as fast with tubing as with buckets - am hopeful I will get through Mid/late February.

[buckeye gold]

you'll be fine netsplitter, The taps will run longer on the 3/16th. I ran a couple lines from Christmas till March 1st last year. It slowed a little, but in the end more runs equaled the same amount of sap.

[bmbmkr]

Netsplitter, were you at the Ky Maple School? I brought the "tap tree" that tree was tapped Jan 15th last year, uprooted in Feb, and still pulling sap on March 26th! 10 weeks ! 3/16 is great!

This ten day forecast is changing way too soon, every 4 days out is seems to change from 20/40's to 30/50's it's makin me crazy, but I'm still not ready, bright side is it's giving me more time to get my expansion finished , been sick the last 3 days, didn't get anything done monday and tuesday , headed out here shortly to finish the pipeline in the new woods on my dad's place.

[netsplitter]

No, I really considered going, but just couldn't carve the time to go. I think it would have been helpful.

Yeah, I keep hoping the forecast will change towards the cold :) - Like you, I keep noticing the freeze temperatures disappear from the forecast.

With the 3/16 tubing, When the sap quits flowing for over a few days, do you all dump the sap that comes out after it starts flowing again? (maybe the first hour or so?). I notice several spots where sap just sits in the tubing due to no flow, cannot imagine it will taste very well after being in there for several days or even over a week.

I bet I know your buddy in Paintsville KY. Don't really know him, but I have been following a guy on facebook that has a big maple operation there (Maple D Farms) - If I go bigger next year, I think I will ask him if he would let me see his operation.

[buckeye gold]

I never worry about that sap, it is so small amount when it does run it shouldn't matter. I guess you could, but I haven't. If it worries you pull the drop off your highest tap and it'll drain, then push it back on.

[bmbmkr]

I am praying for this weatherman, hope he is RIGHT! https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/willow-wood-oh/45696/month/19636_pc?view=table

[buckeye gold]

We can only hope....this is too warm

[netsplitter]

Yes indeed. This weather has been crazy, we had a thunderstorm here in Eastern KY last Friday.

Wednesday is hopefully the start to better sappin days :).

[newman_maple]

I am still prepping for tapping, but may pull the trigger late next week. I need to get out in the woods to make sure the paths are clear. I have three days of VA appts. to deal with next week first. Some of you are not too far from me - makes me wish I had prepped sooner.

[buckeye gold]

I don't think you have missed a thing Newman, I have only boiled twice and they were short boils. I have made 1/2 gallon of syrup when in past years my early taps would make me 3-4 gallons, at least. I think when I get the first good run of weather I'm going to put all 110 in. I smell a warm spring coming. I'll probably be all in by 3rd week of January.

I'm just up the road from you about 30 miles

[jetdoc]

Well finally snow and cold temps. I just hope it stays like this for a few weeks.

[buckeye gold]

I put the rest of my taps in last weekend and had one small run I didn't cook. I walked the lines today and they are starting to run. Found some small leaks I had missed and fixed them. It should be full go by tomorrow. Season is here. I have 114 taps, the most I have ever had. All on 3/16 tubing.

[Redbean]

The sap is flowing in Athens county. Made 13 pints out of 92 gallons of sap so far. That is 52 trees tapped on 3/16. I am hoping to make more than 14 gallons this year. Last year I had 50 taps. I am hoping the sugar content is higher this year. Hope everyone has a grateful maple season!:cool:

[buckeye gold]

The sap train is running here too. Mine are just picking up strong, but the tank already has about 30 gallon in it off 114 taps and I know it's going to pick up. I would cook a little today, but I decided to wash my pan and head tank. I had made a little early syrup and the pan set for 3 weeks so I felt like it should be taken down and washed. Now I don't want to start this late for a couple hours cooking. Tomorrow I ought to have a good long boil. I also hope sugar content is up.

Looks like your sap is right around 2% redbean

[Redbean]

Thansk for the info buckeye. Made another 9.5 pints from 65 gallons of sap. Already boiling down this morning.

[jdircksen]

I collected 15 gallons of sap from 28 taps between Sunday 4pm and Monday 7am. Hoping to do my first boil tomorrow!

[buckeye gold]

Your doing good redbean, I had 73 gallons of sap this morning and I drew off 6 pints, but I started new with no sweet. I am done for the day but I have a bunch of sweet in the pan and sap is running well. So tomorrow I'll have more syrup.

[bigrick_2u]

28 taps in on Saturday, 20 gallons of sap this morning. Woohoo! It's here baby.

[newman_maple]

173 taps out. Some are in poor trees, but a little bit is better than nothing. 185 gallons so far. The hillside is getting messy - gonna be a difficult season getting to it and getting it out. It is still fun! Good luck all

[jdircksen]

I'm just north of Columbus and my taps have stopped. We're supposed to get 2" of rain over the next couple days with 60*F temperatures. I'll probably bring my buckets inside so they don't get dirty. And cross my fingers that my silver maples don't bud.

[buckeye gold]

he last two days have been pretty good runs. I boiled off 140 gallons yesterday and today. My sugar content is a little better than last year, but still not great at 1.5%. Tree almost quit today with this warm spell. We need a reset. I will have to drain my sweet and refrigerate.

[buckeye gold]

It's was a tsunami in more ways than one today. It rained like Biblical proportions. I have never seen so much water during sugar season. I think we have had 10-12 inches of rain in the last 10 days. I could not even get my truck and collection tank back up to my main line. I had to go to the hardware store and buy a roll of water line and run my mainline down to where I could get the truck, which is now parked in the creek bed crossing. If I was still doing buckets and bags I would just be sunk. I made huge ruts just getting my sap to the back of the shack where my inlet pipe and pump are. The trees also exploded with a sap tsunami. I only boiled 50 gallons, but tomorrow will be a big day. All lines are running hard. It's supposed to get down to 25 degrees tonight so maybe it will tighten up some. What a freaking mess. Wouldn't you know it does this the spring my tractor blows up. They are supposed to have it overhauled the first week of March.

The good news...lots of sap and my sugar is up. what I checked today was 1.6 -1.8. That is good for me. Tomorrow looks to be a long day. The next week looks like solid sap weather. I am really happy with my modifications to my evaporator. I think I got her set up pretty good right now. I been running about 15+ GPH in my little S.L. Hybrid. I tried to attach a video but it wouldn't upload...it may be too big a file.

[Maplefarmall]

I got 750 gallons of sap today and as of 1 hour ago it was still running decent

[bmbmkr]

My RO broke down the other night, water filter imploded, went through the 330 Procon and blew the top off one of the membrane vessels, broke the Permeate tube on the membrane- $270 membrane, $200 Pump and $100 for a larger, higher flow filter and cartridges- got everything back together late last night, working down 1200 gallons of sap right now! SO far sugar has been 1.5% . Sugar dropped this week for my neighbors in KY, but ours is still holding steady.

[buckeye gold]

bmbmkr, sounds like a tough break down. John B. stopped by my sugar shack today and asked if I had heard anything out of you. I told him you had expanded and going full bore and putting his milk tanks to good use. That pleased him that you are getting use out of them. The wind killed my run last night, but I still cooked off 60 gallons today. My sugar is holding good at 1.6. It is running some now, but probably won't be a lot. Tomorrow the flood gates should open back up. Looks Like a solid week of syrup making. Hope you can keep the gremlins away from your operation from here on.

[Redbean]

Made over 2 gallons of syrup the past two days. The sap stopped running this morning but after 3pm today it started to run again. Its looking like a good year. I know to most, two gallons of syrup in two days is nothing. But for a small producer with 50 taps its going pretty well. Thats over 8 gallons for the year so far. I might just break my record of 14 gallons on 50 taps.

[bmbmkr]

bmbmkr, sounds like a tough break down. John B. stopped by my sugar shack today and asked if I had heard anything out of you. I told him you had expanded and going full bore and putting his milk tanks to good use. That pleased him that you are getting use out of them. The wind killed my run last night, but I still cooked off 60 gallons today. My sugar is holding good at 1.6. It is running some now, but probably won't be a lot. Tomorrow the flood gates should open back up. Looks Like a solid week of syrup making. Hope you can keep the gremlins away from your operation from here on.

Buckeye,

It has been a season lol. I'll keep all the gremlins here, I'm gettin used to em. I made a little over 16 gallons of Syrup Wed-Thurs, was worried about some of the sap being a couple days old, but that 800 gal tank I got from John kept it at 36-38F even though it was 50 somethin outside. Sap was still sweet and every bit of the syrup was good. The end was mighty dark, my poor pans is pretty nitered up, I'm headed up now to put some pan cleaner in it. Ran all the sweet out with permeate yesterday morning.. Now that I've got everything back together, I'm hoping to get back to boiling a couple hours instead of all daggone night. Looks like we should get a couple a good runs this week.

Ben

[RaisingKFarm]

We put out 30 taps Monday, collected about 55 gallons Thursday. Put in 10 more taps and will finish another 20 today. I'll be firing up the ole Leaders 1/2 pint today to get the season "rolling".

[buckeye gold]

bmbmkr, It's been a good week for sure. You ever feel like you wouldn't be too upset if the sap didn't run a bunch for just one day? I have filled all my holding containers and had to start getting into my wife's canning jars. Gonna have to be a bottling day tomorrow. My sugar is holding great and actually going up to 1.8%. I may just call it quits early this year. If next week is as good as this I'll have enough syrup to fill all the bottles I bought. If I can get that done before it starts getting hard to filter I'll be happy. If what we're seeing is any indication of what the northern syrupers are going to see there should be some happy campers.

[bmbmkr]

Buckeye,

I had a good slow day yesterday, cleaned up everything, got my very nitered up pans soakin in cleaner- moved some stuff around in the shed, neighbors came down and we squeezed 45 gallons of their bucket sap to 9.4% in the RO. I went up to Dad's and was surprised to find 250 gallon in the tank, hauled it down and had another 250 in my woods tank, didn't think it would run yesterday. So now I'm squeezin this 500 down and https://www.saptapapps.com/flowcast/ is showin a good run for today, tomorrow and Tuesday. This website has been pretty accurate. My trees are on the north side of the hill, they don't start til about noon usually and sometimes run through the next day. A couple weeks ago with the warm weather and my gremlins, I thought this season might be a bust. I still have trees right here behind my house that I haven't tapped yet. Hope it keeps this up for a couple a weeks. I have enough retail containers for 60 gallon. 9 Soda kegs, and a 10 gallon SS milk can will hold 55 more. Goal is 100 this year.

[bmbmkr]

We put out 30 taps Monday, collected about 55 gallons Thursday. Put in 10 more taps and will finish another 20 today. I'll be firing up the ole Leaders 1/2 pint today to get the season "rolling".

Sounds good RaisinK, Were are you located? I'm in the heart of Lawrence County, Willow Wood, OH.

[RaisingKFarm]

Far northern Perry Co. Up on a small mountain. Boiled till 2 am this morning, ran about 50 gallons in 6.5 hrs, roughly. I have a 2x3 Leader 1/2pint supreme setup. have another 80 gallons waiting.. Sap is just pumping out. We’re stopping at 40 taps this year. Sugar content is avg above 2.5!

[bmbmkr]

Far northern Perry Co. Up on a small mountain. Boiled till 2 am this morning, ran about 50 gallons in 6.5 hrs, roughly. I have a 2x3 Leader 1/2pint supreme setup. have another 80 gallons waiting.. Sap is just pumping out. We’re stopping at 40 taps this year. Sugar content is avg above 2.5!

2.5%!!!! That's awesome! Our trees are up on the hill too, north side, takes em a while to thaw out, but they run good. Lack of sun due to competing with the oaks, Ash, Beech and hickory, we were very thankful to have 1.5% this year- last year 1.1%. Working on thinning the wood lot to get some a these maples some more sun, it's goin to be a slow process. You aren't supposed to thin too much too fast or the trees will actually suffer. Keep up the good work, hope we keep winter here for a bit longer. We are up to 29 gallons, hope to make 50 more!

[esetter]

I believe Im done down here but really envious of you guys who are just getting going good up there. I ended up with about a gallon on my homemade arch and tube to buckets system. If anybody has any good sap left over , give me a shout!

[buckeye gold]

I'm thinking about pulling the plug today. I might wait for a chance to boil a couple days next weekend, if the weather cooperates. I'm sure it's over by the 10th of March as we have tulips up and daffodils with flower heads. I'm only a couple gallons shy of my goal and I've had a really good season with higher sugar content and low nitre. My regular season has gone very well, but my fall taps failed miserably. If I had made anywhere near my normal fall syrup I would have had my best season ever. I only made 54 ounces of syrup off 38 fall taps, that is one short boil! My goal was 18-20 gallons and I'm at approximately 16 gallons (I have to drain and finish my sweet for a final). I had a lot of damage in my 3/16 lines this year and I had constant leaks and trees falling on them. My production of sap was half what I got last year off the same lines. I'm sure that having them so broken up hurt my natural vacuum, sanitation and flows. Next year will be a year to replace at least 2/3 of my lines. If this is a trend I will rethink my use of 3/16th. I am hoping that I just had an abnormal year of damage.

[bmbmkr]

Buckeye, I'm holding out til the end of the week, we'll be freezing up tonight and I'm hoping for some decent sugar when we thaw out. I haven't boiled since last Tuesday, have collected some sap this week but it's .8% and contaminated with some buddy sap. I have been out cutting the reds out of my tubing, figure next year I am going to have all of them on the same lateral. These are right behind my house, I missed a couple last week and bottled 5 1/2 gallons Tuesday night, 1/2 pints and pints, every drop of it was buddy! I was so disappointed in myself- tasted good out of the pan and filter. My daughter wanted a taste Wed morning when we were cleaning up and I gave her some out of the filter can, she loved it, I tasted it and sweet for a second then taste like licking the bottom of a hot coffee pot. I Liked to never got that taste out of my mouth. I only had two reds in my dads woods, and 12 or 13 here behind my house and 2 in my lower woods, I guess it's like one bad apple. I checked almost every one of my 400 sugar maples with binoculars, they have buds but none are swelled or open. If I can get on more boil I'll be happy, if not, my pans are soaking in Permeate and oakite right now. 37 Gal of Good syrup so far. I just ordered $400 worth of frames and foundation for the bees, already shifting gears just in case it really is over.

[buckeye gold]

bmbmkr, I done the same thing one year, then I learned to taste syrup cold. Hey I have the number of a guy who wanted some Grade b or commercial grade syrup. I won't have any dark I'll send you his number if you want to see if he'll buy it. He called me last summer, so I'm not sure if he will still be in the market. Other than that you can try glazing nuts with it. depends on how bad it is. I think I'm going to finish my sweet today and I have a few gallons of sap I'll hold to see what happens this weekend. If I don't boil I'll dump the sap in the pan to ferment for cleaning.

[bmbmkr]

It's so bad the bees were flying Wednesday, but they weren't interested in it. I'm just going to chalk it up to experience. I'll see if it will vinegar up, might just dump it. It's bad, real bad.

[buckeye gold]

bmbmkr

Yeah if it is that bad there's nothing you can do, just dump it. I dumped what I had the time I did it. Feel free to call the guy I sent you the number for if you want to see if you can sell him some syrup. All mine is spoken for I won't be calling him.

I did drain my sweet and finished it, so I'll see what come later this week. I may be done.

We have bees in my wife's old homestead house. it abandoned and I been thinking about trying to get them out of the walls, but it's been years since I messed with bees and i have no gear left. I never tried to move any, I just got swarms.

[bmbmkr]

I've enjoyed the break the last few days, catching up on other farm chores, happy the mud has been frozen enough to get around on a little easier. It's been 12-20 hour days the last month. I'm at a pint per tap average so far, finally figured out that it's my low sugar content that's hurting my production and not my sanitation or sap per tap average. Squirrels have definitely been a pain to deal with this year, they are always chewing a hole at the top of a lateral. This coming year maybe I can get some more 3/16 in 1 ft rolls to go between the splices instead of the 800' rolls I've been buying.

We should have a good run tomorrow and Friday according to the weather, I doubt they'll start running until noon, so I plan on boiling Friday morning and Saturday morning. I've got everything clean and ready to go.

I'm sure I'll have plenty of bees visiting the sugar shack Saturday as it is supposed to hit 58F.

I ordered a couple hundred frames and some more foundation this past weekend, it's gettin time to transition to the other sweet production here on the farm. Still looking for a sorghum mill too.

[bmbmkr]

Lessons learned this year"

Draw off syrup a little heavy and thinning with boiling permeate is easier than drawing off light then finishing on gas and filtering again.

We put up some gauges this year and laterals with 15 trees do not pull near as much vacuum on 3/16 as laterals with 25-32 taps. A few extra feet of tubing is more productive than saving tubing and putting less trees on a lateral- our hill sides are strewn with ravines and hollers. Our Sugar maple density is pretty low, sometimes 100' between trees, even traversing laterally across the hill to another tree and back again pulls more sap than splitting and making another lateral.

Tubing is cheap enough to put the red maples on their own lateral. When I started this venture 3 years ago I literally put every nickel I had into it and tried to save some $ by not doing it right the first time. Red's budded last week and I missed a few, boiled and bottled 5 1/2 gallons of buddy syrup, not to mention contaminating the 15 gallons of sweet that was in my pan. I had went out and cut the red maple drops out of the lateral and spliced the tubing back together- wasted splices, time and added further restriction to the tubing system, not to mention the 24 half pints and 32 pint bottles.

Due to our wide temp swings in southern Ohio, and after watching a buddy a mine draw off ropey syrup after leaving his sweet in the pan too long- I started running my permeate into my flue pan after my concentrate all went through. Takes an extra hour or two of boiling, but we have tons of wood- and pushing that permeate allowed me to reduce the loss of any sweet by pushing it to the syrup pan, so I could drain it into a soda keg or two and keep it cold until the next boil.

Check and double check valves and cam locks on everything, RO, pumps, and pump lines. We are pumping sap 1100' from the collection tank to the dairy tank in the sugar camp, I pumped about 87 gallon of 1.5% sap onto the ground a few weeks ago- a little over a gallon if syrup, when one of my cam locks- wasnt cam locked!

Check and double check your tubing system- went two weeks before I found two tees in the lateral that didn't have drops on them- in my best lateral, 32 taps- well 30- with 100' drop after the last tree. That lateral was dumping sap into the mainline at the saddle every time I checked it got out and walked the lines and found those 2 tees just a hissing, could have got a lot more sap from that line I'm sure.

Just a few things that might help someone new out, from someone new!

[buckeye gold]

well I held out for one last run and I think I'll get to make a little bonus syrup the next couple days. I had a good run last night and the sap was good. Since I had drained my pan I had to rebuild my sweet, but I still made a little over a quart of syrup. To my surprise the sap tested the highest sugar I have ever seen from my trees as a combined lot. It tested 2.5%. So if that holds I'll get a couple more gallons of syrup made the next two days, providing the quality holds up. It's 58 right now and I'd say this ole boy is rounding third and heading home on this Maple season. I'm shutting down no later than Wednesday anyway. If all you Northern sugar makers do as well as us southern boys did this year you'll be happy campers.

[bowhunter]

i had a monster run Saturday night. It looks like a good solid 2 gallons per tap, unfortunately I'm done so it's all going on the ground when I pull the taps later this week. i've never quit this early before and have never, ever dumped this much sap. i soap washed and stored my ro membrane today, also emptied the pan. I haven't filtered anything yet but it looks like I've got a good 17-18 gallons of syrup. More than enough for us and our family this year.

[buckeye gold]

Done 2019, I pulled the plug today. Sap was still running, but it was starting to discolor and I didn't want to get into making slimy stinky syrup. I cooked off my last run from last night and made a little shy of two gallons of bonus syrup. It was a really rich dark syrup. The wife has already tagged it as Momma's Cut. It's the best flavor of the season, but my flavor profile was great all year. Also this was the easiest filtering year I have ever seen. I have never boiled past March 10th and most years I am done between March 1st and 7th. I did not get as much sap this year off the 3/16th but my sugar was up from an overall average last year of 1.4 to 2.0 this year, so I still made about the same amount of syrup. I finished with 16.5 gallons and was shooting for 18-20, so close enough. I will now flood the pan with this discolored sap and let it set for 6-8 weeks. In the next day or two I will pull taps and flush lines with Calcium Chloride. Tomorrow I'll finish breaking down the gear in the shack and washing the head tank, pump lines ad anything else.

For all you old sugarers just starting I hope for you a great and blessed season.

[bmbmkr]

We finished up Sunday night, 52 gallon for the season, pretty much sold out already, have 13 gallons left to filter and bottle, going down to Paintsville KY to borrow a filter press later this week. Dana, my niter has been TERRIBLE this year then again I'm concentrating 600-800 gallon at a time and running in a little bitty pan- I've been pluggin my cone filters and pre filters so fast-drawing off over a gallon an hour this year. The last 13 gal I've drawn off straight into 5 gallon kegs.

It's been good talkin to all a y'all this season, Dana, Dave, Rick and the rest- Thanks for all the info, inspiration and conversations. First time I've boiled in march! Very happy about it. Lots of lessons learned and some insight for the upcoming years!

Ben