Red Roof Maples 2019

[Russell Lampron]

2019 is here and it's almost time to tap. Where did the time go? 2018 was a year of ups and downs.

The downer was starting with the knowledge that something had been missed when I had prostate surgery in 2017. The next steps to get rid of that were hormone and radiation treatments. I got the hormone treatment on January 2nd to start the new year and had the radiation treatments, 39 of them, starting on March 27th and ending on May 21st. The results of the treatments wouldn't be fully known until after the hormone treatment had worn off. I got the first good news in September and then got the confirmation that the cancer was gone on December 21st.

Fortunately there were more uppers than downers. I made more syrup in 2018 than I did in 2017 even though the season never seemed to take off. My son made a surprise trip up from NC for Maple Weekend which made my wife and I very happy. Our youngest daughter who also lives in NC got married in September, bought a house and her and my new son in law are planning to start a family. I also found out on Christmas Day that my step granddaughter is going to have a baby in July. I'm going to be a great grandfather! My wife says that we are too young for this but I say "bring it on". It was a good Christmas for me and my family.

I go into 2019 optimistic that it's going to be a better year than the last two were.

Happy New Year!

[BAP]

Lots of great news there Russ. Happy New Year and hopefully we have a great sugar season this year.

[maple flats]

This is getting to be like a bad habit. (my posts following yours) I also had up's and downs in 2018. I started to prepare for the season just after Christmas 2017, but then in mid Jan I got diverticulitis. That actually proved to be lucky. When the ER did a Cat Scan to verify it, they also found a "lesion" on my left kidney. Tests then proved that to be cancer. I then had to hold off to tap until I got a surgery date. When surgery was set for April 18, I only tapped 225 taps around my sugarhouse. On 26-27" vacuum and the long season I got my best per tap season. 119 gal on those 225 taps, or .53 gpt, my previous best was just over .4 gpt.
Then my 4/18/18 kidney surgery, when robotically they removed 15% of my left kidney was successful. I then could not work for 6 weeks which put me far behind. When I was finally given permission to work I was told to not be on my feet more than 2 hrs at a time and then set down, feet up, for at least 30 minutes. That was because of blood clotting issues. My work speed was far slower most if not the rest of the year. In the middle of all that my grandson who had worked with me from the time he was 7, until he graduated college, in both maple and in my blueberries, went into the Navy. My youngest daughter and son in law took over the blueberries to decide if they wanted to take them over permanently. They have not officially decided yet, but they did hire my brother to cut off 4 of the densest rows at about 6-8" high (this is an approved way to renovate) in late November, after the bushes had gone dormant.
In early Nov I had a follow-up Cat scan and was declared cancer free.
So it was all ups and downs, but in the end all worked out OK. Retail sales were by far my best ever, luckily I had some carry over inventory from 2017. I now only have 2 barrels of dark, of which 10 gal is going into a bourbon barrel to start aging soon, likely next week. The rest will be packed for retail sales, will likely last til the '19 season starts.
All's well that ends well.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Good luck on your upcoming season and your growing family!! I hope your health continues to improve as well.

[maineboiler]

Here's to a healthy and productive 2019. Good luck to all

[Amber Gold]

Russ, Sorry to hear about your downs, and I’m glad to hear you’re on the other side of it. Focusing on ups is what gets us through the downs in life. Stay positive. Best of luck to you in 2019.

Now, to focus on the important things in life…maple :) It’s too early to be starting a 2019 maple season thread…I’m not ready! Looking forward to hearing about your sucking, squeezing, and boiling sodas this coming season!

[NH Maplemaker]

Glad to hear all is well Russ and Flats ! I spent my 2018 maple season in my recliner after open heart surgery on March 27th, same day as your treatment Russ. Had to spend maple weekend looking out the window as customers came and went while family ran the show .My son and son in law do all the heavy lifting now a days anyways. First maple season I have missed in 34 years ! But all is well now and getting ready for the 2019 season.
Stay well everyone . Also happy New Year!s

[Russell Lampron]

This year has started off great so far. The boss called me into his office on my birthday and I got an unexpected pay raise. That evening my wife surprised me by renewing the registration for my truck for me. Happy Birthday to me!

I had originally planned to go to Bascom's today but postponed that until next Saturday. I wanted to get into the woods and finish the install on a mainline that I replaced before the big snow storm tomorrow. Things went well and I got that finished before lunch. At the end of last season the recirculation pump on my RO started squealing and the inside flapper on my releaser broke. I got the parts to fix those last week and got that done this afternoon. There's not much left on my things to get done before I tap list.

I hope everyone else is doing well too.

[Russell Lampron]

I went to Bascom's this morning as planned and got there at the right time. I was able to back up to the dock and unload my syrup without waiting. When the dude was done with me there were three other people waiting to sell their syrup. The line was even bigger when I came out of the store after buying my supplies.

I wanted to buy a case of association jugs but they didn't have any. They said that they were printed wrong and they had to send them all back. The replacements won't be ready until the end of February or early March. I was able to get them this afternoon at Sunnyside.

[saphead]

Russ;was there this morning as well, went with some friends and helped them load up there new 6x10 Max pan and 3-2x6 cross flow pans and a bunch of supplies.Sun was nice but the breeze was cold strapping everything down up on their hill.Was busy with everyone loading up on supplies.Got the flue pan on the arch when we got back...heavy. Good luck with this season!

[steam maker]

eureka thats a big pan for around here !!! must look real nice

[Russell Lampron]

Russ;was there this morning as well, went with some friends and helped them load up there new 6x10 Max pan and 3-2x6 cross flow pans and a bunch of supplies.Sun was nice but the breeze was cold strapping everything down up on their hill.Was busy with everyone loading up on supplies.Got the flue pan on the arch when we got back...heavy. Good luck with this season!

I got there at 8:45 and was on my way back home at 9:30. One of the fastest visits to Bascom's that I've ever had.


eureka thats a big pan for around here !!! must look real nice

6x16's are impressive. I could put 8 of my 2x6's in it!

The guy buying syrup said that he thought it was going to be an early season. My extended forecast looks cold for the next 15 days which puts me at a normal mid February start. What do you guys think?

You guys have a good season too!

[BAP]

You did good getting in and out that fast on a Saturday morning Russ. As far as as season goes, I think that there is still a lot of winter left. Many years we don’t get a lot of snow until February and March, then we end up with a lot of it. Days are still short and Sun is low in the sky.

[Amber Gold]

I'm still planning on tapping President's Day weekend as usual. For now, just tinkering in the sugarhouse and woods getting things ready.

[Russell Lampron]

I'm planning to do my last walk through the woods before tapping this Sunday and planning to tap Presidents Day weekend. If it's still too cold then I'll wait one more weekend. I'm not thinking that it's going to be an early season.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Looking at the 10 day I agree with you Russell. How many taps do you have? I was curious.

Good luck this year!!

[n8hutch]

I'm thinking that , I'd like to be tapped in by the last week of February, I'm in a cold spot here and always finish up around April 15th, last year my last boil was the 23rd.

[Russell Lampron]

Looking at the 10 day I agree with you Russell. How many taps do you have? I was curious.

Good luck this year!!

I have 725 taps. How many do you have?

Good luck to you too.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Hi Russell, I'll have about 300. I hope :-) I still have 1 line to run, but my ice fishing is getting in the way of me finishing it. I'll get it done, just was hoping to be finished by now. Never enough time in the day.

[red maples]

I haven't stated my thread yet. but figured I would check and see how everyone is doing. I have been in the woods. lots to do. it was warm today and will be tomorrow but after the temps we just had its gonna take several days of this weather to get things thawed enough to get things to move and the ground is very frozen under what little snow we have down here. even though its warm still pretty chilly in my woods. sun getting higher but not quite high enough yet.

Good to see your ups far out weighing your downs. Lots of good things for you.

Not the most exciting of games for the super bowl but good to see the pats come out on top. not a real fan of the defensive games I prefer the game against the Chiefs although it was a little rough on the ticker!!!

Good luck this season. looks like after this little february thaw things are gonna freeze right back up I think I will be start tapping next weekend.

9th and 10th. I will be in the woods every afternoon this week getting things fixed up and tighted up. Can't really trust the forecasts they change daily.

[Russell Lampron]

Last night's Super Bowl wasn't the game that I expected to be. I was expecting a lot more offence, not a punt fest. Although it was tough to watch through the first 3 quarters the Pats finally found the endzone and put some points on the board when it mattered the most. The Pats always keep you on the edge of your seat in the Super Bowl. They never come out and put the game away in the first half.

I'm planning to tap this coming weekend too. I wanted to get into the woods yesterday but had to fix my tractor Saturday and plow the snow that I couldn't earlier in the week yesterday. I had to move some wood up to my OWB too and by the time that I got done with that stuff it was too late.

[Russell Lampron]

I was planning to start tapping today but the cold temperature and 30 mph wind with higher gusts kept me out of the woods. I didn't waste the day though. I cleaned out the woodshed and placed and plumbed the permeate and sweet tanks. I also bought a sheet of insulation board and built a box around the vacuum that I use for the bubblemaster. After I got that done I reconnected the pipes to the bubblemaster and put the draw off valves back onto the evaporator. All I have to do in the sugar house is put the membrane back into the RO but I won't do that until I have sap.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Sounds like a productive day Russell. I spent it on Sunapee freezing my a$$ off hoping to catch a $15,000 fish :-). No luck today but will be back at it tomorrow.

Weather will be better this week!
-Scott

[Russell Lampron]

I'm planning to give it hell tomorrow. The drill batteries are charged and ready to go. I don't know if I'll get all 725 done but I'm going to try. The wind isn't supposed to be as strong tomorrow and it's going to be a little warmer too.

[Russell Lampron]

I got about half of my taps in today. I did the hardest sections first because it looks like we're going to get some snow this week. It was only in the upper twenties this afternoon and some of the trees in the sun were running.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Great job!! No $15,000 fish but I did get one to the weigh station at least. I’m hoping to get 75-100 done on Tuesday morning before the snow.

[Russell Lampron]

Great job!! No $15,000 fish but I did get one to the weigh station at least. I’m hoping to get 75-100 done on Tuesday morning before the snow.

I hope that you had a place to get in out of the cold while you were waiting for the tip up flags to go up. Good luck getting your taps in.

It took awhile for my fingers to warm up after pushing frozen tubing onto the taps bare handed. I'm hoping that we don't get the showers that are in the forecast for next Saturday. I want to get my taps in and start the vacuum. I feel like I'm missing out on some sap but keep telling myself that it's still early.

[Russell Lampron]

I finished tapping today and if Leader's count is correct and there is 100 taps in a bag I've put in 727 taps. I had to take four or five dead trees out of my system but thought that I only had 725 taps last year. Something's not adding up here.

I'm going to set up the releaser and make the repairs that I found are needed when I was tapping tomorrow. I'm also going to add taps to the trees that have now grown big enough to take another tap.

If the weather that we get is what the weather liars are saying we are going to get I should be able to turn on the vacuum Thursday to flush the lines. If so I will be able to start saving sap on Friday and sweeten the pans on Sunday or Monday. I'm hoping for Sunday, it's been a long time since I've been able to smell that sweet steam that rolls off of the evaporator.

[BAP]

Hopefully you don’t have too many repairs to make. Sounds like you will be ready for sap if it warms up at the end of the week like they are talking about.

[Kevin]

I had 22 bags from leader. Every single bag was one tap short

[maple flats]

I often wondered. Seems weight and measure should check on them.
Russ, sounds like they got you too.
From CDL, I had 1 bag of zap bac taps 1 tap short. Then the next 5 bags were right. I discovered that because I was making drops ahead and bundling them 20/ bundle. When I came up 1 short I recounted that batch of 5 bundles to see if I had miscounted.
When I do them in the bush I take their counts as correct.

[Russell Lampron]

I often wondered. Seems weight and measure should check on them.
Russ, sounds like they got you too.
From CDL, I had 1 bag of zap bac taps 1 tap short. Then the next 5 bags were right. I discovered that because I was making drops ahead and bundling them 20/ bundle. When I came up 1 short I recounted that batch of 5 bundles to see if I had miscounted.
When I do them in the bush I take their counts as correct.

One time I was making drops like you and the bag had 105 taps in it. The next bag that I did only had 98. I don't put the taps on the drops anymore. I put the tap in the tree and push the tubing onto it when I install the drop. It makes drop making go faster when I only have to install the T fitting. The count has been coming out right on those.

[Russell Lampron]

It was a little cold at first but the sun was warm and the was no wind which made for a beautiful day in the woods. I set up my releaser and was able to run the vacuum pump for a couple of hours. The temp never got above freezing but it pulled in enough sap to see that the releaser is going to function properly.

I made the repairs that I found were needed when I was tapping and I added taps to 5 trees that I found that are now big enough for 2 taps.

I'm ready to go now and waiting for the warm up at the end of the week.

[Russell Lampron]

It warmed up enough today for the sap to run. I got out of work early and was able to get into the woods and fix vacuum leaks for a couple of hours. I started out with 16.5" of vacuum and got it to 22" before I ran out of daylight. All of the leaks that I found were squirrel chews. I won't be able to get into the woods again until Saturday. The forecast looks good for the sap to run tomorrow through Sunday.

[n8hutch]

Sounds like your 2 weeks ahead of me Russell, I think that is pretty normal. Can't wait to get some sap running in my neck of N.H.

[BAP]

Russ, sounds like you were lucky. Never cleared off here today. Eventually got into the upper thirtys but sap didn’t run.

[Russell Lampron]

The sun was out most of the afternoon and it got into the lower 40's here. The sap didn't run very hard but it was enough to find some leaks.

My wife and oldest daughter are driving to NC to visit my son and youngest daughter. Both of the kids in NC were telling their friends about our real maple syrup. They got orders enough to clean off my 1/2 gallons shelf and put a huge dent in my quarts. I've got to make some syrup soon to restock my shelves.

[Amber Gold]

I found the same thing yesterday. Sap barely running, but enough to find some leaks.

That's a good problem to have!

[Russell Lampron]

When I was done fixing leaks yesterday the vacuum was at 22" and today when I came home from work it was at 24.5", go figure! There's about 75 gallons in the tank from today's run which isn't very much. It's going to be about 15* tonight for a low and it isn't going to warm up very fast tomorrow. I was hoping to be able to boil Sunday night but the sap's going to have to run better than it has been between now and then for that to happen.

[Russell Lampron]

I didn't get much of a run yesterday either but got enough to find and fix a few more vacuum leaks. I'm hoping that the rain that we're supposed to get this afternoon will loosen things up a bit. It looks like it could run most of the night once it starts today. I've got one more mainline to tighten up. The other two don't change the vacuum level at the releaser anymore when I close the valves.

[Russell Lampron]

This morning I put the membrane back into my RO machine and some water in my bulk tank The plan was to make some permeate and do a quick hot permeate wash. At the end of last season the recirculation pump on my RO was making noise so I replaced the pump in the off season. I tried to start it and as soon as the pressure from the feed pump got high enough for the recirculation pump to start it kicked the breaker in the RO. I rechecked the connections in the RO from where I had connected the pump and even checked to make sure that the motor itself was wired correctly. That all checked out so I called Lapierre and left a voicemail. I'll find out tomorrow what they are going to do about it.

In other news the sap hasn't run much so it doesn't look like I'll need the RO for at least a week.

[n8hutch]

That sucks Russ, Hopefully it's a simple Fix

[BAP]

Same here Russ. Hopefully they get you up and running fast. At least you have a little time now with the weather and not in the middle of a sap tsunami.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Hopefully an easy fix.

[red maples]

sorry Russ. that sucks. yeah I didnt get much here my trees aren't running good yet. It generally takes my trees a while to thaw. and since things are so flooded in the woods I have a nice 4 to 6 inch ring of ice around the base of most of my trees.

[Russell Lampron]

I talked to Devin at Lapierre USA today and he had me check a couple of things to make sure that the problem was in the new pump motor and not the RO wiring and contactors. It turns out that it is a faulty pump like I had originally thought. He also told me how to take my old pump apart and that he rebuilds them. He's going to call me in the morning to see what I want to do. At this point I have the option of sending back the new pump for a refund and buying the parts to fix my old one or getting a warranty exchange for the new pump. I also have the option of exchanging the new pump and fixing my old one. If you're following me here I'll only have to buy the additional parts to fix my old pump and the parts for another membrane tower to turn my 125 into a 250. I've already spent the money for the second pump and my RO is already wired for the second tower. Devin was saying that because it has two contactors in it my RO probably had two towers on it originally and one was removed when they sold it to me. If the price is reasonable I'm thinking that I'm going to add the second tower.

As far as sap flow goes it didn't run much yesterday. I only got about 50 gallons more and I don't think one of my mainlines ever thawed out. While my RO is down I guess it's a good thing but I'd still rather be panicking and trying to find places to store my sap until the RO is back up and running.

[Maplewalnut]

I always wondered how you would up with a 125pgh machine!!! Good Luck Russ, seems like RO problems are the norm this year.

[Amber Gold]

I'm following. Upgrading to a 250 sure would speed things up. How much are you going to spend on a membrane tower? Can't be that much.

What are you running for membranes nowadays?

[Russell Lampron]

I always wondered how you would up with a 125pgh machine!!! Good Luck Russ, seems like RO problems are the norm this year.

When I bought it I was looking for a 150 and it was sold to me as a 150, not a 125. I wasn't smart enough at the time to know that it wasn't a 150. All that I knew was that it was $2000 less than a Springtech 160 and I could afford $5000 and not $7000. Back then there wasn't much info on RO's available and there weren't many experienced sugar makers that had them. I was the second producer in Loudon to have one and Loudon NH has more maple producers than any town in the state.


I'm following. Upgrading to a 250 sure would speed things up. How much are you going to spend on a membrane tower? Can't be that much.

What are you running for membranes nowadays?

It's going to cost me a little over $600 for the tower and connecting parts without the pump that I already paid for and the contactor and wiring that is already in my machine. That doesn't include a membrane either. Lapierre wants $465 for an NF90. I'm going to call MES tomorrow to see what they get for 4" membranes. I've been using the NF270 membranes for a few years now. They are fast but pass sugar if you push them too hard or run the pressure too high.

[Russell Lampron]

I called MES today and their MS2 4" membranes were only $215 each. MES is only about 20 minutes from where I work so at lunchtime I went over and bought two of them.

Saturday morning Richard and I are heading to Swanton, VT to return the defective pump and pick up the new tower. I'm also picking up the parts to rebuild my original pump. By the end of the weekend if not sooner my RO will be a 250.

[swlyamaha]

MES has pressure vessels for 99$

[maple flats]

You will really like it.

[Amber Gold]

Doubling your throughput...not bad.

You realized now you need to tap more trees...

[Russell Lampron]

You realized now you need to tap more trees...

That goes without saying :)

[Russell Lampron]

MES has pressure vessels for 99$

Yes but the one from Lapierre has the recirc pump on the bottom of the tower and it's a bolt on that is the same as the one that I've already got. No Mickey Mousing to make it work. When my upgrade and repairs are done my RO will be the 250 Turbo that it was originally manufactured as.

[Russell Lampron]

I went up to Swanton today and picked up the parts to fix and upgrade my RO. I thought that I had made a mistake by not turning my vacuum pump on before I headed north this morning. The sun was out up there and it was 37* when I left Swanton. I got home to a temperature of 32* at 2:30 this afternoon. I didn't miss anything! I was surprised by the lack of snow up there. They have less than we do here in Loudon.

[n8hutch]

Yeah Russell that Champlain valley gets snow but it never seems to hold onto it. I have family just a half hour east of Swanton and they rarely have much for snow cover.

[Russell Lampron]

This morning I rebuilt the original recirculator pump on my RO then after I got that done I installed the new membrane tower that I bought for it too. The original plug for my membrane won't fit into the new MES membrane so I have to get one of those but I was able to install one membrane and everything else is connected and plumbed.

19586


The sap decided to run a little today and this afternoon I went out to check for leaks. I did find and fix a couple but the trees in the colder areas weren't running which made leak checking difficult. The last time that I checked I had a 200 gallon block of ice and about 50 gallons of sap on the tank.

[Amber Gold]

Nice!!

Just need sap...

Someday...

[Hop Kiln Road]

Russ - Not sure I've got my head around this move. You added a 2nd membrane and a 2nd recirc pump and plumbed them to operate in a series or parallel? As you know, I two pass with a sweet tank and a head tank but set the RO to whatever expels the permeate at the fastest flow. Bruce

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Can someone explain to me the difference between "in series" and "in parallel" ?

Next season im thinking of adding a 2nd membrane to my system and want to understand how to do it properly.

[raptorfan85]

In series would mean the concentrate comes out of 1 membrane and into another, higher percentage sugar but less gph. In series means it runs threw both membranes at the same time, more consentrate but lower sugar percentage.

[Russell Lampron]

Russ - Not sure I've got my head around this move. You added a 2nd membrane and a 2nd recirc pump and plumbed them to operate in a series or parallel? As you know, I two pass with a sweet tank and a head tank but set the RO to whatever expels the permeate at the fastest flow. Bruce

You've got it right. I've got a recirc pump under each tower. That's the way that Lapierre Turbo professional RO's are built. They're plumbed in series so the first membrane removes more water than the second one. I'm not sure what I'm going to get for permeate flow but do know that the sap will get sweeter faster. A single pass will be like doing 2 passes with a single membrane.

[Russell Lampron]

Can someone explain to me the difference between "in series" and "in parallel" ?

Next season im thinking of adding a 2nd membrane to my system and want to understand how to do it properly.

Plumbing them in series or parallel is the same as with electricity. In series the concentrate goes into the first membrane then the output from that membrane goes into the second one then to the concentrate valve. In parallel both membranes would have a feed from the high pressure pump and a return to the concentrate valve.

Connecting them in series is much simpler but the permeate flow won't be as much as you would get plumbing them in parallel.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Interesting. Your sap will get sweeter faster, but your overall permeate flow might be slower. Seems that the 2nd membrane is going to bog down before the first causing the concentrate to slide over the 2nd membrane?

[Russell Lampron]

Interesting. Your sap will get sweeter faster, but your overall permeate flow might be slower. Seems that the 2nd membrane is going to bog down before the first causing the concentrate to slide over the 2nd membrane?

I'm sure that the 2nd membrane isn't going to flow as much permeate at the 1st one but the recirc pumps are going to help with that. I know that when I was running the single membrane the permeate flow slowed way down as the concentrate go sweeter. I'm hoping that with 2 membranes doing the work that the permeate flow will be higher when I'm at 14% than it was before.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Perhaps. But I suspect it won't be faster because your total flow still goes through a single membrane and your wash cycle will be dictated by the 2nd membrane when there is still production left in the 1st? The production curve of these small units and membranes drops drastically as the brix % rises. But you'll find out next week! And it would be easy, for you, with a couple of valves to switch between parallel and series.

[Russell Lampron]

If the forecast is correct I should be able to try it out next week. I'm thinking it will be faster but not twice as fast as it used to be. I was looking it over and it will take some work to plumb it in parallel. I would need some hoses and couplers and would have to build a manifold off of the HP pump to split up the output. I would then need to connect the outputs together in another manifold to send the concentrate to the control valve. I'll see how it performs as is for this season and work on speeding it up in the off season.

It used to to pretty good with the single membrane. I could concentrate for a long time before the concentrate percentage slowed it down. I normally ran at 250 psi with the concentrate and permeate flow equal. When I had my 600 gallon bulk tank nutted the flows wouldn't change from start to finish on the first pass. When it was time to do a second pass the permeate flow would slow down some as I got to 14%. I used to fool around with flushing the sugar out of the machine and doing a rinse but found that the flow would come back up when I switched back to raw sap. Other than when I started out at 600 gallons I used to do it in batches of about 300 gallons. Doing it like that it didn't bog down much before I was able to freshen it up with the raw sap.

I'm hoping to get to 14% or higher in two passes. I used to do a single pass into my sweet tank and then recirculate back into my sweet tank until it got to 14%. I have no idea how many times it went through the RO to get there.

[red maples]

I just recirculate. until I reach the desired % which is usually about 13% to 16% depending on all the variables. If I have alot of sap so I can start boiling earlier I will sometime send over 25 gallons at what ever it is 9,10% or whatever and just let the rest finish then send that to my head tank. then at least I can get the evap hot through the warm up period.

[Russell Lampron]

I put the second membrane into the RO this morning and then flushed about 100 gallons of water through it to rinse out the new membranes. The RO sure sounds sweet with two recirc pumps running. I can't wait to put the sap to it and see what it will do.

The sap was trying to run this afternoon but the trees were frozen pretty hard. It did run good enough for me to find the big leak I knew was there but couldn't find. Now that I've got that taken care of I'm pulling 25.5" at the releaser. There's still some small leaks out there but the sap's going to have to run better than it did today to find them. I have a 250 gallon block of ice in my woods tank plus what came in today. I'm hoping that it will thaw out and that I can pump it out before it overflows.

[Russell Lampron]

Well the 250 gallon block of frozen sap in my woods tank is now a 300 gallons block of frozen sap. The vacuum pump is on and I'm not sure what I'll find in the morning. It looks like we've finally got some warmer temps on the way so hopefully I can get enough liquid sap in there to thaw the frozen stuff.

I spent most of the day outside in the snow. I brought the pump and hoses down to the woods tank this morning and chipped the ice away from the valve on the tank. This afternoon I put a new belt on the vacuum pump so I don't have to worry about that breaking in the middle of a big sap run. Everything's ready to go here, just need some sap!

[wnybassman]

Well the 250 gallon block of frozen sap in my woods tank is now a 300 gallons block of frozen sap. The vacuum pump is on and I'm not sure what I'll find in the morning. It looks like we've finally got some warmer temps on the way so hopefully I can get enough liquid sap in there to thaw the frozen stuff.

I spent most of the day outside in the snow. I brought the pump and hoses down to the woods tank this morning and chipped the ice away from the valve on the tank. This afternoon I put a new belt on the vacuum pump so I don't have to worry about that breaking in the middle of a big sap run. Everything's ready to go here, just need some sap!

I only have about a 30 gallon block of ice in my bulk tank in the woods, and just pumped 120 gallons out of it. That ice is bonded to the bottom like it was before it started to run a little. I would of thought with that much sap on top of it and it being a round bottom tank that ice would pop right up.

[Russell Lampron]

I only have about a 30 gallon block of ice in my bulk tank in the woods, and just pumped 120 gallons out of it. That ice is bonded to the bottom like it was before it started to run a little. I would of thought with that much sap on top of it and it being a round bottom tank that ice would pop right up.

Mine has been filling at about 50 to 75 gallons a day on the days that it has run for about 3 weeks. There has been temps as low as -11 here between warm ups. Anything that is coming in is freezing almost as fast as it hits the block of ice. It's supposed to get into the lower forties here today but with the snow that we got yesterday I'm not expecting much.

[Russell Lampron]

I was finally able to gather some sap tonight. To my delight most of the sap in my woods tank was liquid. I was able to open the valve on the tank and pump out about 265 gallons. There's still quite a bit of ice in the tank but now there's room for a big run. I'll be sweetening the pans tomorrow night and am hoping that I'll have another 50 to 75 gallons of sap to go with what I collected tonight. The sap is barely trickling in here and it's only supposed to get into the mid 30's tomorrow so I'm not expecting much.

19660

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Glad to hear that Russell. In Merrimack I only got 105 gallons yesterday. Was disappointed in that, but I know better flows are coming. Good luck!

[Russell Lampron]

I was hoping to get 50 to 75 gallons yesterday to add to the 265 from the day before. To my surprise I actually got 175 gallons. I had 440 gallons to sweeten the pans with. I lit the evaporator at 7:10 and shut down at 8:16. I drew off about a gallon of great tasting Amber syrup.

I was able to see what my RO can do now that I've added a second tower. I'm really happy with the results. I was able to get 12% in a single pass without pushing the machine too hard. I normally concentrate to 14% so I now know that I can single pass it and boil when I'm in a situation where I can't take the time to recirculate.

I couldn't find my bottle of defoamer from last season so I grabbed a can of Pam which is canola oil and was good to go. I may continue to use it, it's real convenient to just give a quick spray and watch the foam drop.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Russell, This season I bought just a plain squirt bottle from Home Depot and put Canola oil in that. 1 quick squirt with it does a great job. I have 2 bottles of Defoamer that im not going to use anymore. If anyone in NH needs them, let me know.

-Scott

[Russell Lampron]

Yesterday's run only produced 100 gallons but really I'm not surprised. It was 17* here yesterday morning and even though it got up around 40* there were too many clouds in the afternoon and evening. I was going to turn my vacuum pump off at 1:45 this morning but the temp was still above freezing and the ground was still soft so I left it on. It's 31* right now which will give me a chance to adjust the belt on the vacuum pump which I'm going to do as soon as I finish my breakfast. Then it's off to the woods to see how much sap came in overnight. I may be boiling again tonight or I may not depending on how it came in overnight and how it runs today.

[Russell Lampron]

There wasn't very much in the tank this morning and I collected a disappointing 160 gallons tonight. It looks like we're not getting below freezing again until Saturday night. The vacuum pump is on and pulling 25.5" for the duration. I'll see what's in the tank in the morning and decide if I'm boiling tomorrow night or waiting until Saturday. I really want a decent run so that I can put my RO to the test and see what I can really get out of it.

[Russell Lampron]

I went down yesterday morning and found an upsetting 35 to 40 gallons in the tank. I didn't expect much yesterday after seeing that but came home and was able to collect 230 gallons last evening. That was the best run in a 24 hour period so far this year. Adding that to the 160 gallons that I collected the day before gave me 500 gallons for last night's boil.

I'm really liking the ability to get to 12% in a single pass. It's also nice that I can get it through the evaporator fast. So far in two boils I've sweetened the pans and made 12 gallons of syrup. I boiled for an hour and 6 minutes when I sweetened the pans and an hour and twenty minutes last night. Twelve gallons plus sweetening in two hours and 26 minutes including starting out cold twice is not too shabby with a 2x6 evaporator.

I had the same problem last season too but I couldn't get all of the syrup through the filter press before it clogged up. The rest of the season went fine after that so I'm thinking that it's just the first run sap.

[red maples]

I think my oberdorfer pump is going having issues so slow getting it through the press. even charging it was slow. seemed a little chattery too. I got the press used and this is my 6th year with it don't know how long these pump are good for. D.E. filter aid is very abrasive so I don't know how long the gears hold up.

[BAP]

Sounds like the pump is about at the end of it’s life.

[red maples]

yep. I got a really good deal on this press still looks like new. Wes fab full press with only 1/2 bank of plates. long story but anyway good deal none the less from a guess up in VT that was selling off all his stuff. ordered 1 this morning probably won't be here until tuesday.

Russ looking through your posts... I would love to buy some extra light golden from you for candy. I would trade for dark but I don't make enough as it is to trade. I usually make only make little amber for candy and with value added items selling better and better I have been going through a lot more candy, cream etc.

[Russell Lampron]

Brad I'll let you know when I make some Golden. I'd rather give you a deal on it than sell it to Bascom's.

I didn't think that the sap was going to run today but it finally did start around 2:00 and ran hard until it froze up at 6:30. I got over 200 gallons in that time.

I've been busy getting ready for Maple weekend. Yesterday afternoon I jugged up the syrup that I made last week and got my shelves looking pretty good. I made a batch of maple cream this morning and jarred it up tonight. I've still got to make two more batches and I'll make some maple butter if my wife doesn't have time to get it done. We're both running behind on getting things done because of the late start to the season.

I'm going to boil tomorrow night and then watch the forecast and start saving for Maple weekend. I'd like to boil again mid week but won't if it looks like I'll need the sap for Saturday.

[red maples]

I ended up with 145 gallons in a similar time frame. yeah you can get more if you sell it in bulk outside of bascom's.

[Russell Lampron]

I ended up with 475 gallons from the last two days runs. I boiled again last night and made another 8 gallons of Amber to put me at 20 gallons for the season. The forecast doesn't look as good for the weekend. It's not supposed to be very warm Saturday, 32* for a high with a cold NW wind, and I was hoping for a good run to give me sap for Sunday. I'm saving everything that I get until the weekend now. I hope that all of the tanks are nutted so that I'll have enough to boil all day on both days of the weekend.

[Russell Lampron]

Yesterday was a beautiful day for my first day of vacation. All of the trees in my coldest woods were finally running yesterday for the first time that I know of this season. I went out leak checking and there were only three leaks to be found. One hollow tree and two taps that needed to be seated a little more now that the trees had thawed.

I don't know how much sap I got after that but I had only gotten about 75 gallons as of 3:30 yesterday afternoon. I'm hoping that the trees kicked into high gear and put some sap in the tank. I didn't have a chance to go down and check the level again before dark.

[Russell Lampron]

The sap decided to run here finally. I pumped 325 gallons out of the tank this morning and another 325 tonight. I filled my sweet tank with sap for Sunday and already have 350 for Saturday. It's looking like I'm going to be making some syrup on Maple Weekend again this year.

My screen printer buddy Bernie who owns BC Screen Printing in Laconia informed me today that the yard sign and shirts that I ordered last Friday are ready. Bernie really came through for me on short notice. I'll be picking up my new schwag in the morning. I'll be sporting black hoodies and T's with my 2 color logo on them this year for Maple Weekend. I'll also have a nice professionally made sign that is easy to see and read at the end of my road so that people can find me.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Have a great weekend!

[BAP]

Sounds like you are a man with a plan Russ. Hope you have a great weekend and lots of visitors

[Russell Lampron]

I went down to the woods and brought up another 225 gallons this afternoon. My 600 gallon bulk tank is now nutted too. It was a scramble but it looks like I'm finally ready for the weekend.

Thanks for the great weekend wishes and right back at ya!

[Russell Lampron]

I had record numbers for sales yesterday but not record traffic. It started off slow then picked up really good for a couple of hours and then we had a burst at the end. I started using the square and taking cards this year. I know that some people bought more because they could use their cards and I know some bought that wouldn't have if we took cash or check only.

Syrup sales were better than expected and the value added products were flying off the table too.

I had 575 gallons to boil yesterday and made 19 gallons of syrup, 1 shy of 20 I had made for the season so far. I've got 600 gallons to boil today too. I won't make 19 gallons today because the evaporator isn't as sweet as it was yesterday when I started but I should make a decent amount anyway.

[Russell Lampron]

The turnout wasn't as good as I had hoped yesterday but the people that did come spent some money and the sales total was surprisingly high. It was a record year by almost $200. The conclusion is that I have to make a larger variety of value added products for next year. The funny thing is that when my wife was looking through the records she wrote down "no walnuts next year". They were our second best seller behind cashews which we sold out of.

I had one visitor from Weare that was told by a friend of his that came here last year about how good my syrup tasted. I had explained to his friend the previous year about my 90% red maple mix. He was equally impressed. This guy and his friend make syrup themselves!

I made 10 gallons more yesterday and the syrup total for the weekend was 29 gallons. That puts me at 49 gallons for the season, all Amber. The sap ran good yesterday and it barely froze if it did at all so I'm sure that it ran all night. I'm hoping to find a lot of sap in the tank when I go down this morning to pump the tank.

My evaporator is full of low density sap so I'm going to see how sweet I can get the concentrate up to with my RO to straighten that situation out. Mike at Sunnyside was bummed that he had to boil raw sap yesterday. He said it's like watching paint dry. I was boiling 6% which wasn't bad.

[Russell Lampron]

Phew! That was close. When I graded the syrup that I made yesterday I was afraid that I had dropped a grade but Hanna said "73", still Amber. I may not have been so lucky tonight. I have to check it in the daylight and with Hanna to be sure but I may have dropped a grade to Golden. It was awful light coming out of the draw off and looks very close to the Golden sample in the temporary kit.

I had 775 gallons of sap to boil tonight and was able to get it to 22% in two passes. It only took an hour and twenty minutes to turn it into syrup. I'm at 58 gallons for the season now. There's still a long ways to go to reach last season's total but the short term forecast looks good.

[highway]

Glad your weekend was good Russ. We had record sales this weekend and had a steady stream both days. Your running a lot of sap through that 2x6. You must have it dialed right in. This is my first year with an RO and cant believe the time savings. The nitre buildup in my syrup pan is way more than usual. Need to clean the syrup pan and get back at it after we boil in the last 200 gallons of concentrate today. We are only at 50 gallons produced so far. Last year we were well over 100. Hope the weekend weather doesnt hurt us to bad.
Keep up the good work, I enjoy reading about your operation.
ED

[Russell Lampron]

I'm glad that you had a good weekend too. I was over in your area today when I went to Bascom's.

I do have my evaporator dialed in, I just get it up to operating temperature and have to shut down with these weak sap runs this year. I'm only at 58 gallons this year and was around 130 at this time last year. When you get used to boiling concentrate you won't want to boil raw sap again and you'll wonder why you didn't get an RO sooner. It's the best bang for the buck when you're looking for efficiency gains and fuel savings.

[Russell Lampron]

Something that I had almost forgotten about. On Saturday afternoon one of my customers asked why my sugar house wasn't listed on the NHMPA website. I said that it should have been because I had paid my dues and had contacted the NHMPA to make sure that I was going to be on the list back in January. When I had a chance to get on the interwebs Saturday evening I found that the customer was right. I posted a complaint to the NHMPA via a members only page on facebook. They promptly corrected the problem with their apologies. I was on the list for Sunday but that didn't help Saturday! There were others that were omitted too.

[Russell Lampron]

Even after the mistake of closing the vacuum valve at the releaser when I cleaned the ice off of the flapper and forgetting to open it after and going to work for the day on Wednesday I was able to collect 800 gallons with yesterday's run included.

This may be a record for a 2x6. Last night my fireman tells me that he sweetened the sap to something over 20%. He stopped looking up the refractometer scale when he saw the 20 and couldn't give me an exact number. In an hour and ten minutes from the time we lit the evaporator and threw in the last stick of wood we made 17 gallons of syrup. I'm going to have to check it with my Hanna tonight because it could be the first Dark that I've made in eons.

[Russell Lampron]

After looking at it in the daylight it was clear to see that last nights syrup is Amber. As of last night I have collected 1/3 of the amount of sap that I did last season. If the sap continues to be sweet I'm on pace to make 225 gallons this season if I can collect as much sap as I did last season. I made 191.5 last season. After this weekends warm and rain next week looks pretty good.

[Russell Lampron]

Sadly Richards mom passed away yesterday. She's had heart problems for a few years now and even though we will miss her she's no longer suffering.

I had 600 gallons to boil last night and I had my wife man the draw off. We made 13 gallons in an hour and ten minutes. My back was too sore and I was too tired to try to filter it last night. The syrup is very dirty this year and I had to break down the press twice while filtering to get 17 gallons through it Thursday night. Normally that amount will go through without a problem. It took us longer to filter it than it did to make it. I'll be going down in a little while to see how this batch goes.

Boiling the sweeter concentrate is darkening up the sap in the flue pan and I'm making darker syrup this year. Last night's boil might have produced some Dark syrup which will be a nice for a change. I've always got people asking for dark and it will be nice not to lose a sale because I don't have it. If last night's syrup isn't Dark I'm sure that I'll make some before the end of the season.

Crazy right? Most producers want to make some light syrup and I'm trying for dark!

[red maples]

Sorry to her about Richard's mom. Give him my best please.

yep I am always on the search for lighter syrup!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Will do Brad.

When I measured my syrup last night it was before I adjusted the density. I did that this morning and ended up with 16 gallons to put me at 91 for the season. My grade finally came in at Dark. I think that it has been 4 years or more since I last made Dark.

I don't understand what's going on. We haven't had a freeze since Wednesday and from 2:30 yesterday afternoon until 6:00 this evening I've collected 500 gallons of sap. It was 64* when I collected my first load at 10:00 this morning and it was raining when I gathered tonight. I didn't check the sugar content of the sap tonight but yesterday afternoon it was still at 2%.

[n8hutch]

Will do Brad.

When I measured my syrup last night it was before I adjusted the density. I did that this morning and ended up with 16 gallons to put me at 91 for the season. My grade finally came in at Dark. I think that it has been 4 years or more since I last made Dark.

I don't understand what's going on. We haven't had a freeze since Wednesday and from 2:30 yesterday afternoon until 6:00 this evening I've collected 500 gallons of sap. It was 64* when I collected my first load at 10:00 this morning and it was raining when I gathered tonight. I didn't check the sugar content of the sap tonight but yesterday afternoon it was still at 2%.

Maybe someone at the Fire Department is going around filling sap tanks.lol
I had my best 24hr run yesterday still not great at 550 gallons, but I'll take it, I think that the Trees are just getting going.

[Dill]

It was a vac weekend. I actually had enough sap to boil all weekend for open houses. Heck I was even able to squeeze it to 6%. And now the ground outside is hard, I think we have another week.

[red maples]

yes it was def. a vac weekend!!!

[Russell Lampron]

I broke the century mark last night and am at 103.5 gallons now. It was another batch of Dark too. The syrup filtered better last night, I was able to get it all through without having to break down the press mid filter.

The sap that I gathered last evening was a little cloudy but still tested at 1.8%. I'm not getting the "the end is near" bacteria in the releaser yet which is a good thing. It's 19* here this morning and it's supposed to hit 48* this afternoon. That should clear things up and get the sap flowing again. The weather looks good for another run or two before the warm spell this weekend.

[Parker]

Russ, if you have 2 posts on your r.o now and you get 600 gallon runs and crunch them every night how do you have enough permeate to wash the soap out of both membranes? Dont you need 1000 gal of permeate to rinse 2 posts...what am i missing? The are 8 inch membranes right?

[Amber Gold]

My sap has been cloudy for a while now. Last weekend's warm-up really kicked it into gear. Last night's boil graded out at a 35, so still a solid DR.

Plenty of season left. Haven't made any VD yet, there's ice on the ponds and snow in the woods.

[Marc Duclos]

Parker your not missing any thing. Your getting AOC #s

[Russell Lampron]

Russ, if you have 2 posts on your r.o now and you get 600 gallon runs and crunch them every night how do you have enough permeate to wash the soap out of both membranes? Dont you need 1000 gal of permeate to rinse 2 posts...what am i missing? The are 8 inch membranes right?

I have 4 inch membranes and I don't do a soap wash after every use anymore. If I don't have enough permeate for a soap wash I do a hot permeate wash instead. The flow rates from the MES membranes is fantastic and they clean up easy.

[Russell Lampron]

I collected another 400 gallons tonight and could see that my coldest section was running the best that I have seen it run this season. The other two sections were running good too. I haven't gotten half of the sap that I got last season yet but I've made more than half of the syrup that I made last year.

The ice on my haul road is breaking up which makes getting the sap up the hill a challenge. Usually the ice breaks up in early March and I'm driving through mud in April.

[red maples]

nah don;t need that much perm to wash 4 inch membranes.

[Russell Lampron]

I had another good night in the sugar house last night and made another 16 gallons of Dark. My season total is at 119.5 gallons with a long way to go to reach last seasons total and 1 qt per tap. Thankfully the sap has been sweet and I've been able to make a lot of syrup with what I've been getting. It was at 1.8% last night. The forecast doesn't look good after tomorrow. There's a lot of borderline lows that could turn into freezes here though so there's hope.

The ice on my haul road is breaking up bad and last evening I broke a big hole through it. The tractor dropped down into it when it broke through and I didn't think I was going to get out of it. I did finally finesse my way out and got back up the hill with 275 gallons of sap in tow.

[Dill]

Same here Russ. I've been getting about 4 degs colder then the forecast so I"m hoping another week. Heck I had slush in the releaser yesterday morning. And my trees are just kinda running or walking really.

[red maples]

too bad mine has been spot on except for last night was supposed to get to 32 which could go either way but ended up at only 35. that doesn't work.

[Russell Lampron]

It was 31 when I left for work this morning and the mud by the sugar house was frozen. It probably got into the upper 20's in the coldest part of the woods. I got 325 gallons of sap today and should get a good run tomorrow. After that who knows?

[Russell Lampron]

I collected another 325 gallons last evening and left about 50 gallons in the woods tank. I did the first pass on the sap from Thursday and yesterday last night and will do the second pass this morning. I don't know how much came in overnight but will bring that up and get it through the RO for a boil this afternoon.

Right now it's looking like I'll end the season in the 150 gallon range which will be about 40 gallons less than last season. That's with about 5,000 fewer gallons of sap. I collected 12,660 gallons last year and am at 7,115 right now.

The things that have helped are the higher sugar content in the sap this year and the RO not passing any sugar. I was using an NF-270 membrane to speed things up and there was always about .3% sugar in the permeate. I did that for 5 or 6 seasons and don't know how many gallons of syrup I didn't make because of it. I should have added the second tower to my RO years ago. I was always thinking bigger when I should have been thinking just get faster and worry about getting bigger when the time comes.

[Hop Kiln Road]

.3% sugar would be 35 gal of syrup per 10,000 gal of sap?

[Russell Lampron]

I collected 425 gallons of sap today to add to the 650 that I had collected Thursday and Friday which gave me 1075 gallons for this afternoon's boil. I made 16 gallons of syrup to put me at 135.5 for the season. The sap is still coming ij and the vacuum pump is still on. I'm hoping for one more boil before I call it a season and finish the evaporator.

I finally found and fixed a nagging vacuum leak that I knew was there but couldn't find. It was about six small holes in a mainline that weren't near any fittings. I don't know if an animal did it or if it was from a shotgun blast. This section of mainline is real close to my neighbors house and right behind mine. No one should have been shooting there.

[Russell Lampron]

Just went down and turned off the vacuum pump to give it a little break. It wasn't supposed to freeze here last night but it did.

[red maples]

I have hit tubing before with bird shot(shooting at squirrels) and a few bb's actually stuck in the tubing. and the exit holes kinda look like you would see from a slowed down video of bullet going through say a bottle of water or something to that effect. I was deer hunting and have seen red squirrels walk on laterals since they are very taught. I have had sections that are too high for deer to reach and too far from a tree for a grey squirrel to get to. I have seen grey squirrels try to walk on laterals but fall every time. they will get a foot or so out then the tubing will roll on them pretty entertaining when your not seeing any deer.

but what they do is make little bite marks that are hard to find. sometimes along a 10 to 20 foot stretch of tubing. the only thing you can do is splice and put in new tubing through the area. The other thing is porcupines if you have a lateral going around a hemlock pine or spruce. they will stop and chew the tubing on the way up to the needles.

[buckeye gold]

I shot one of my laterals last year when I shot a turkey gobbler......I didn't mind fixing it LOL

[Russell Lampron]

The line that I found with the holes in it was a 3/4" mainline. The holes looked like bird shot. Maybe someone at the neighbors house was shooting across the road toward my mainline but there's a tree and a stone wall right behind the mainline.

Well the sap keeps coming in here. I collected another 525 gallons today and the buds haven't popped yet. It's looking like the sap could run all week if the forecast holds. The fat lady isn't singing yet but I think she's warming up her vocalizer.

[GeneralStark]

I have seen holes in mainline from wood peckers...

[Russell Lampron]

I'm still plugging away here. I made 13.5 gallons last night to put me at 149. I may be able to make a season out of this yet. The sap was coming in really slow but managed to get 200 gallons to add to the 525 that I had already collected.

The forecast isn't looking great but I've already made 13.5 gallons more than I would have of I had called it a season last weekend like my wife wanted me to. It looks like the temps will get into the mid twenties Wednesday night and the sap should trickle in through Friday. I'm planning a last boil for Friday evening and finish the evaporator on Saturday or Saturday evening.

I dug out the filter rack for my canner which also happens to fit into my draw off pan and was using pre filter papers to get some of the crap out of the syrup before running it through press. That worked as I was able to get 11 gallons through the press before it plugged up last night.

[Parker]

Wow..11 gallons...that sucks...i got 100 gal thru my press yesterday...amazing you are that far ahead of me in the season

[Russell Lampron]

Wow..11 gallons...that sucks...i got 100 gal thru my press yesterday...amazing you are that far ahead of me in the season

I've been having a hard time filtering for most of the season. The nitre is the worst that I have ever seen here this year. Sunday I was only able to get about 4 gallons through it before it plugged up. I normally get close to 20 gallons, which is a big boil for me, without a problem.

There are quite a few producers in town that pulled their taps last weekend. I'm still getting a fair amount of sap from my cold red maples. The reds haven't even begun to flower here and the buds are swollen but still tight. The end is near though, I think Friday will be my last boil.

[Amber Gold]

I haven't boiled since Sunday when I made the questionable stuff. I need to check the woods, but I may be boiling again tonight. If so, and the flavor comes back, I'm shooting for another boil Friday night and then calling it. I'm happy with my season overall.

[Russell Lampron]

I haven't boiled since Sunday when I made the questionable stuff. I need to check the woods, but I may be boiling again tonight. If so, and the flavor comes back, I'm shooting for another boil Friday night and then calling it. I'm happy with my season overall.

I hope your off flavor is gone. Mersh isn't worth much anymore. I'm boiling tomorrow night and again on Friday night and then calling it myself.

[Russell Lampron]

I collected 175 gallons last night and another 425 tonight. The temps have been marginal at best and the sap is pouring in. Finally finding that pesky vacuum leak has helped. I've been pulling 27.5" since I fixed it and the sap flows since have been much better than expected. The old SP-22 is getting a workout but is handling the extra load well.

I'm hoping for a good run tomorrow and another on Friday to finish out the season. All things considered this is turning out to be a good season.

[Russell Lampron]

I made 12 gallons of syrup last night to put my season total at 161 gallons which is only 30 shy of last years total. The sap didn't run as well as I had hoped yesterday and I'm hoping that it will run better today. I'm going to do my last boil tonight and call it a season. The sap didn't smell so good last night but made some good enough tasting syrup for Bascom's. It didn't have any off flavors or leave a bad aftertaste but wasn't up to Red Roof Maples standards. The color was almost Golden.

[Russell Lampron]

I did my last boil of the season last night and made 9 gallons to close out the season with 170 gallons. I'll finish the contents of the evaporator today and that should add another 5 to 8 gallons to the season total. I'll be within 20 gallons of last year's total which I'm happy with. The season was looking pretty bleak for a while there but sticking with it turned it into a good season.

I collected 9290 gallons of sap this year which is 3,370 less than the 12,660 gallons I collected last year. The higher SSC and the RO not passing sugar made a big difference. If we have a good season next year I should be able to break 200.

Now the worst part of the season begins. It's time to clean everything and put it away.

[red maples]

I can;t believe you are were still going. I have been shut down for a week. hmmmm just good sap weather I guess good for you!!! I already have my taps pulled.

[Russell Lampron]

I've had a busy weekend. I finished the evaporator yesterday which added another 5 gallons to the total. The official total for 2019 is 175 gallons. To put that into perspective I made 191.5 gallons in 2018 and 182 gallons in 2017 with the same number of taps. I'd have to dig out my maple notebook to see what I did in 2016 but it was in the upper 170's. I only used a little over 1.5 cords of wood this year to make my syrup. Most of that was on Maple weekend.

I made a lot of Dark this year and had none on the shelves so yesterday afternoon I jugged up 15 gallons to fill my shelves and to fill some orders. This afternoon I coded and labeled the syrup and stocked the shelves. The shelves are full now so I'm not going to have to jug up any for a while now.

I cleaned out the RO room so that I had some room to jug the syrup and stock the shelves. All of that stuff went into the evaporator room so now I've got a bigger mess in there. It will all get cleaned soon though.

I got all of my taps pulled this morning so the trees can start healing. I also started the second wash on the RO when I came in for the night.