North East Ohio 2019

[johnallin]

One year ago today we were looking at a big warm-up coming and getting out of single digit temps - not so much this year. Looks like we're finally getting some snow this weekend. Is anyone tapped yet, or about to?

Have replaced all drops on 3/16 lines with 5/16 tube and zapbac spouts, and am waiting on an air injection system from H20. Also going with full vac on the 3/16 lines. Going to be a busy few weeks around here.

[kjc]

Not tapped yet. Keeping an eye on the weather. Thinking we've turned the corner on the 50 degree days.

Hobby Maple'r

Kere Cawley

[heus]

I really think this season will start late. (Hoping anyways ha ha)
I am excited about my downsizing this year. I have 250 or so taps all on sugars coming right to the releaser in the sugarhouse. I also have a new small hobby RO on the way from May Hill Maple. Its a Leader Micro2. I also switched back to wood from fuel oil. I will have the luxury of tapping a different section of woods if I have a section go dry early since I am leaving my mainlines up from my 1000 tap operation. Replaced most of my drop lines. 150 of my taps will be on zap bac spouts, with the rest on my leftover unused cv2s.
Sill have to brick my arch and finish some plumbing.
No more bulk syrup only retail.

[johnallin]

Heus, been watching your posts regarding downsizing and think you'll really enjoy the quiet of wood fired vs. the roar of an oil burner. With a new Airtech L25 vacuum pump and CDL vertical electric releaser we'll be on hi vacuum for the first time ever....they keep telling me I'm going to need an RO. Although I really enjoy boiling and firing, I may want to check out your Micro RO if it gets too crazy. I too am using zap bac spouts this year.

Think you're right about a late start, this is a different winter than last, and that's just fine with me also...lots to do over here with setting up the vacuum system and air injection. I must be nuts, but it's better than sitting on the couch.

[heus]

John I am looking forward to seeing how your air injection works out.

[Sugarmaker]

Jason, Folks,
Just across the line to the east of you. Hoping to get things in order and weather is right by Mid Feb? I guess its time to start looking forward a few weeks on Accu Weather! If you can believe it Mid Feb looks about right.
Hoping I also get in the mood to make syrup. Just haven't been to enthused yet!
Regards,
Chris

[forager]

Hey folks - not tapped yet here, 3/16 lines are up with 5/16 drops. Spoke to several larger producers in the last week and they are all thinking mid to late Feb. That's good to hear, I'm busy getting ready!

Glad to be here, first post, long time observer.

Brad

[heus]

Welcome Brad

[Sugarmaker]

Brad,
Welcome! Good luck with your season! Sounds like your doing it right!
Regards,
Chris

[miboss]

Brad,

Can you tell me about your Smoky Lake Head Tank with auto level? I haven't seen that advertised from them.

Thanks,

Mike

[forager]

Thanks guys!

Mike, sure thing - Not sure I used the right terminology for the "auto level", it's just a float valve with a power module that actuates the pump in my holding tank to ensure a constant level. They do not advertise this unit. You can see Jim at Smoky Lake reviewing the unit in this video - https://youtu.be/HQPYXBiGheM?t=798 - I believe this is a 50g version in the video, I went for a 15g due to the size of my shed and had two stainless shelves added. Photo of mine during setup > http://prntscr.com/masl56

Brad

[johnallin]

Hey folks - not tapped yet here, 3/16 lines are up with 5/16 drops. Spoke to several larger producers in the last week and they are all thinking mid to late Feb. That's good to hear, I'm busy getting ready!

Glad to be here, first post, long time observer.

Brad

Welcome Brad. You will find that there are lots of long-term and knowledgeable folks on Trader. It's the only board I visit and I can spend hours reading old posts whenever I am looking for insight and opinions on a maple question.

As you may know as a long time observer; the opinions can be worth the price of admission at times ...and there can be some whopper dust-ups... but it all seems to settle down once sap starts runnin'..."grin"

[fred]

large amounts of liquid collected today. stop by john we'll still be boiling tomorrow

[johnallin]

large amounts of liquid collected today. stop by john we'll still be boiling tomorrow

Thanks Fred, if you had an RO... you'd boil it all in one day. I really like my Leader clear filter press.

[fred]

I do John we run many many membranes and a double 20" cast press it's great!! Lucky for you you don't have to use your plastic one they tend to crack.

[johnallin]

I do John we run many many membranes and a double 20" cast press it's great!! Lucky for you you don't have to use your plastic one they tend to crack.

Ah, you're just jealous..Jen told me you wish you had a Clear Press, and that I should tell you how much I like mine! <big grin>

hey, are you really boiling over there, or just being Fred. Can't tell if it's a poke in the eye, or a poke in the rib, but if you need a good press, you can borrow mine !

[woodburner]

Looks as if we should be tapping this weekend , next week looks like a big start if it holds. It will take some warm days to get going after this cold.

[bigrick_2u]

Looks as if we should be tapping this weekend , next week looks like a big start if it holds. It will take some warm days to get going after this cold.

I'm thinking the same thing. Going to try and have all my taps in before Friday.

[fred]

still better to wait till mid February. you will make better and more syrup when its actual season

[Kh7722]

I Agree with fred, its just barly February this weekend and yes some syrup can be made but better to wait a couple weeks to see what the weather does

[CrossBroMaple]

Ed,
if you tap this weekend let me know ill come up
Matt

[johnallin]

I don't know about next week, but in another week it'll be mid February and the typical start of the season. Sure is cold out there this morning! Still have lots to work on setting up new CDL vac and H20 bubbler systems ..so another week or two is fine with me.

Hey Kevin, try not to agree with Fred too often...<grin>

[heus]

I agree that its too early.

[johnallin]

Anyone tapping this weekend?

[woodburner]

Yes , we are looking to start late today and finish tomorrow. Some of our best years have been on early starts especially over the last 10 years. I like to sugar in the cold early runs but that doesn't happen much anymore. I always fear the warm spikes we seem to get in Feb and early March that kill the season.

[David Wayne]

I am getting ready to head out and put in 50 taps. If its too early and they dry up in a couple weeks I still have other trees I can move to. Way more than I can tap and keep up with.

[johnallin]

I'm spending this weekend setting up the new high vacuum pump and an electric releaser. Hope to have that all set up by tomorrow night. The H2o bubbler was delivered Wednesday. Once we get some piping figured out and delivered, it's next.

[Pete Cerup]

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need to put the finishing touches on my new sugar house and clean up some line damage and then I'll be ready. Hoping to tap next week!

[heus]

Working in the sugarhouse this weekend. Got the pans set on my new arch. Dry bricked the arch. Going to leave it like that for this season. Ran electric for my new ro. Almost done with everything at the sugarhouse. Will probably wait a couple weeks for basketball season to be over before I tap.

[WaybackAcres]

Tapped @ 1/3 of our available trees in northern Ashland county today (not sure if NE forum thread is appropriate, or maybe I should be posting in central). Sap is running fast and tasted sweet. Haven't checked gravity yet. Hoping for a good start to the season!

On a side note, this will be my 2nd year on 3/16 (gravity vac) tubing. The deer were ruthless with the tubing this winter! It was almost as if they were being vindictive. Not just a nibble here and there but thorough chewing of many taps and lines (into bits). Is this typical for the tubing off season? If so, any solutions? We thought maybe getting out ladders and raising the tubing to an appreciable height might help...

Anyone else tap today or am I flying solo?

Hope y'all have a great season.

[woodburner]

Hello way back, I had chewing and a lateral destroyed like that but it was coyotes. I guess it was their territory and they were not happy. Never had deer bother the tubbing. Finished tapping at noon and had a good run. Test buckets ran almost full. Sweeten the pans and hope to boil some tomorrow. Great day in the woods today.

[WaybackAcres]

Coyotes makes a lot more sense now that you mention it. I probably jumped to conclusions with the deer.

Even during the season we still get a good deal of chewing. I'm thinking of coating the problem area tubing in Vaseline and then sprinkling Cayenne Pepper on it.

[Jen4jas]

Went ahead and put my twenty taps in today. I was debating but decided to go forward with it. Mainly because we have majority of our trees are silver maples and they seems to bud earlier than the sugars. Also bought a new continuous flow pan today looking forward to using that on my wood fire homemade evaporator! I know I am significantly smaller then most of you but I sure do learn a ton from you all so thank you for posting!

Heres to a great maple season!

Jason Moore
Ravenna, Ohio
Year one 5 taps - two quarts
Year two 10 taps a gallon
Year three 20 taps - 4 gallons

[maplehick]

Finished tapping Friday. Boiling today!

Sent from my SM-J727P using Tapatalk

[karl evans]

I have about 1/3 of my taps in. Still not running great but steady. Alot of the trees I tapped today we're not running or barely wet. A few running good. Rain is to start soon. That might kick it in.

[johnallin]

As of this weekend, I have the vacuum line run from the shop to the sugar house and the new Airtech pump has a dedicated 220 circuit. Vac pump is setup in the shop with line going out to sugar house. Pretty happy with the way it turned out. Next is setting up the releaser and moisture trap in the sugar house and booster in the woods. Fingers crossed hoping the weather gets cold so I don't miss any thing.
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[Kh7722]

Well decided to pull the trigger (even though I previously said it was to early) and tapping tomorrow. This weather is definitely weird here, and the forcast looks good for the next two weeks. Hopefully it will last until the actual end of the season but time will tell, got alot riding on this year so hopefully not shooting myself in the foot.

[kmlibben]

In southern Ashland Co. here, thinking about tapping tomorrow....seems a bit early and some of the locals with more experience say to wait, but forecast looks ideal for at least the next week. I only tap about 15, so the idea of tapping half doesn't seem worthwhile at the point. Advice?

[christopherh]

Sitting on the fence right now, I’m sure I’ll be tapping very soon. Eager to get this season started!

[heus]

Like John said I hope for colder weather. Don't plan to be making syrup for a couple of weeks.

[WaybackAcres]

For those of you waiting to tap, is it because you are not ready or don't think it's time yet? I imagine it's always a combination of both, as I, despite my best intentions following the previous season, usually kick it into high gear right as I'm drilling holes.

My season usually looks like this:

1) repair the tubing as my son is drilling tap holes;
2) setting tanks and stands as the lines are flushing out with sap running;
3) getting R/O set up (and troubleshoot) as sap is collecting
4) getting arch prepped (and this year new one built and tested) as R/O is filtering; etc....

You might call my approach: "Just in time maple!"

So, what percentage of your decision is based on "Not ready yet" vs. "It's too early"?

[Ed R]

If your on vac it probably doesn't matter when you tap from now on. I am mainly on buckets and won't tap until after this next cold snap is over with. I hate just getting started and having to deal with freezing evaporator issues right away. I don't like to start out with warm rainy weather which runs down the tree and starts microbial action in your taps and your buckets. The weather isn't right for good runs anyway just all warm or all cold with no up and down weather. Back in the old days you could get away with tapping early with buckets and use the paraformaldehyde pellets. Now you have a 4-5 week window at best. I'm in the Toledo area and would like to tap early if possible since I help out so much at the family farm in mid Michigan. It would be nice if I could stagger my seasons which I have done in the past, just not going to do it without the right kind of weather.

[fred]

the trees are not even producing yet. those that have tapped by now are pulling water from the trunk not the roots. therefore sugar content currently is running from .8-1.2%. I have not heard of anything higher so far

[forager]

the trees are not even producing yet. those that have tapped by now are pulling water from the trunk not the roots. therefore sugar content currently is running from .8-1.2%. I have not heard of anything higher so far

Interesting, thanks for the share. What is the natural event that causes the change from pulling from the roots vs the trunk? (guessing the ground thaws)

Everyone talks about when to begin tapping, but if you were to look back on your maple history, when do you normally have your final boil and pull your taps? Would love anyone's feedback on this.

Many thanks -
Brad

[johnallin]

the trees are not even producing yet. those that have tapped by now are pulling water from the trunk not the roots. therefore sugar content currently is running from .8-1.2%. I have not heard of anything higher so far


Interesting, thanks for the share. What is the natural event that causes the change from pulling from the roots vs the trunk? (guessing the ground thaws)....Everyone talks about when to begin tapping, but if you were to look back on your maple history, when do you normally have your final boil and pull your taps? Would love anyone's feedback on this. Many thanks -Brad

For me - this year anyway, the time to begin tapping will be when I get all my new "stuff" plumbed in and wired up!
My final boil is determined by the quality of the sap I bring in. If it's milky looking, and makes smelly syrup, think dirty socks, it's time to clean up and put everything away 'til next November...

[kmlibben]

For those of you waiting to tap, is it because you are not ready or don't think it's time yet?

I just started last year, so I'm not too experienced yet... I'm ready to tap, but a few with far more experience are waiting so I figured I ought to follow their lead.

[fred]

trees will always produce sugar. the last couple of years weather has allowed us to produce sooner, but as some have found out they shut down sooner generally. by waiting till a more "steady" flow when you tap later sugar will generally be higher and much bigger volumes of sap. while doing so you produce more syrup in a shorter time frame.

[DrTimPerkins]

Next is setting up the releaser and moisture trap in the sugar house and booster in the woods.

Nice clean looking setup John.

What is your CFM at the pump and how long and diameter is the vacuum line to the sugar house? Just wondering what your line loss is?

Best to keep the moisture trap in a heated space if you can. Releaser too, but that is often harder to do.

[miboss]

I was originally going to tap this Sunday 2/10, but the forecast doesn't look too good, not sure what to do...looks like maybe one or two runs a week till the end of Feb. I'm afraid of waiting till end of Feb in case March warms up too much, need a crystal ball, lol

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[johnallin]

Nice clean looking setup John.

What is your CFM at the pump and how long and diameter is the vacuum line to the sugar house? Just wondering what your line loss is?

Best to keep the moisture trap in a heated space if you can. Releaser too, but that is often harder to do.

Thank you, I can get real fussy about neat and tidy.

The pump is an Air Tech L25, rated at 21CFM. Although the intake is 1¼", I ran 1" to the sugar house, distance is 75'.
For this year the releaser and trap will be in an unheated space, will have to keep them both drained if temps go too far south.

[woodburner]

Results of first run. Sap started at 2deg and went to 2.25 half way. Made 18.5 gal. All hard maples. Good start.

[forager]

Results of first run. Sap started at 2deg and went to 2.25 half way. Made 18.5 gal. All hard maples. Good start.

Great to hear, thanks for the update.

Test boiling some water tomorrow on the new evaporator - Looking to tap our 150 on vac Sunday, looks like we'll likely have potential light runs Mon-Tues-Thurs-Fri next week then hopefully we continue the warmup into the week of the 18th. I considered waiting til next weekend, but eh - my patience has run out and these reports sound positive. Spoke to the folks at Gingerich yesterday and they have about 4300 of their 6000 tapped at this point and producing well (middlefield).

[johnallin]

Results of first run. Sap started at 2deg and went to 2.25 half way. Made 18.5 gal. All hard maples. Good start.

Curious if that is higher or lower sugar than normal.

[buckeye gold]

I am way south of you guys, but my sugar content is up .3 percent from last year. That is still only 1.5. I never get high sugar content, if I got over 2% I'd be beside myself.

[woodburner]

We had 2deg at best last year. We have had some very sweet runs over the years , our best was a run after a cold spell that ran better than 30 to 1 for the whole day. Never had it that good again. We thought we were in heaven, we were getting a batch off every fire up. We usually start better than 2 and end a little below. It is a bad year when we start below 2.

[johnallin]

By the looks of your sugar content, and your history, this should be a better year than last.

I spent today poking away at setting up the new releaser...made and installed a bracket mount for it on the outside wall of the sugar house.

Tomorrow I hope to get the moisture trap put up and get it all plumbed into the vac line I installed last weekend.

[jetdoc]

Never fails. First day I want to tap and we get a fresh blanket of snow.😁 We will be going out in about an hour and start tapping about 300 trees today. Vacuum is all hooked up and ready to go. Pump out lines are all ready to go and I'm hoping the sugar house is already to go. Thanks to H&M we have a another new addition to the sugar house. It's a 15 gallon water jacket bottler. Can't wait to use it. Also this will be our very first year to boil our own syrup on our new Smoky Lake 2x8 evaporator.

[miboss]

Got the majority of 530 tapped yesterday and finished up this morning. Lines and trees still froze, but vacuum is hooked up and on, so maybe we'll see some run tonight.

[johnallin]

My new tank is ready to be picked up and almost finished with plumbing up the vac system.

I hope to be ready to tap by the first of next week.

Did any of you, who are tapped, see any significant sap this week?

[heus]

I will be tapping probably this weekend in Ashtabula County. Looking at accuweather after seeing Chris' post on the NW Pa thread, I don't see a whole lot of good sap weather until mid March. A day or two here and there but that's it. Of course, extended forecasts are usually wrong anyways.

[christopherh]

I’ll be tapping this weekend.

[miboss]

Tapped this past Sunday/Monday, collected about 1400 gallons between Tuesday and last night, first boil tonight. Sugar was 1.5% on Tuesday, Since yesterdays run mixed with Tuesdays, it looks like yesterdays was a little up from that, the mix is reading about 1.6 or 1.7. Should be a long boil tonight.

[Sugarmaker]

I will be tapping probably this weekend in Ashtabula County. Looking at accuweather after seeing Chris' post on the NW Pa thread, I don't see a whole lot of good sap weather until mid March. A day or two here and there but that's it. Of course, extended forecasts are usually wrong anyways.

Jason,
Yes I agree it looks like maybe a couple days each week where it might run over here on the other side of the line.:)
Boiled in 180 gallons of 3.5% sap last night (dumped about that much slush ice). There is another 300 - 400 gallons waiting from last night.
Looks like the year for things to break. Blower for steamaway overheated and stopped. Broke a old fitting which had been soldered and spewed 200 degree sap into the room.
Just normal syrup stuff.
Hope your season is good. I did have the good fortune to help set your old oil arch down closer to position with Jim. Nice unit!
Regards,
Chris

[heus]

Glad to see you are off and running Chris.
I am only tapping sugars this year so I am curious as to what my sugar content will be. With about 45% reds in the past it was always low (1-1.5%). It would be nice to see 2%. Plus its been a few years since we had our woods select-cut so I would think that should have a positive impact on sugar content in the near future.

[johnallin]

I will be tapping probably this weekend in Ashtabula County. Looking at accuweather after seeing Chris' post on the NW Pa thread, I don't see a whole lot of good sap weather until mid March. A day or two here and there but that's it. Of course, extended forecasts are usually wrong anyways.

Heus - Amen to the inaccuracy of extended forecasts...

I raced sailboats on the Great Lakes for over 33 years. Always said they should put the weather gurus in a room that had some windows - so they could at least look outside!

Unless there's a real "daisy cutter" charging across country, I don't trust much past a day or two!

[DrTimPerkins]

Of course, extended forecasts are usually wrong anyways.

And if you want that explained a bit more scientifically.... http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/Weather.pdf

[woodburner]

Nice run last night and some today. Finished off 11gal. Sap at 2.4deg. Syrup getting lighter with each run.

[miboss]

For first boil last night, I made 11 gallons of very light amber (Hanna reading 73) I thought for sure it would be golden, but very good amber/rich taste. I drained pans (about 25 gallons) because it looks like we won't boil again till the middle/end of the week, so I'll have plenty of sweet to start the next boil.

I only had one small problem, where I forgot to drain an outside line from a couple weeks ago when I thought I was getting things cleaned and ready, and it had cracked, thankfully it was a quick fix and I was up and running.

[johnallin]

Getting closer. Got the tank in place on Saturday and the booster set up down by the creek yesterday.

Fought for over an hour last night trying to get a 1" hose barb connector fitting into the blue vac line, to transition to flexible hose at the booster, with no luck at all... Not sure what anyone else does, but there is no way it was going together.

I am dead set on getting this all finished by the weekend so we can tap!

1947019471

[heus]

All tapped here and 98% ready to go.

[johnallin]

Jason, here's hoping your sugar maples give you the 2%+ you're looking for.

Good friend in Perry taps all hard maples, and is consistently in the mid 2's, even hits 3's at times.

[agreb12]

All tapped here as well. 16 taps in total, might go back and add another tap to a few of the trees.
Second season. Got about 1.5 gallons last year! Looking like a good end to this week?

[christopherh]

I’m ready to go!

[Sugarmaker]

Jason,
That last 2% can get you!:)
Good luck with your season across the line! I think you will get the sugar content up without the reds. About Thursday it should start to break loose!
Regards,
Chris

[karl evans]

I will tap about 75 more in the morning & be all tapped. Just a little over 3500 taps. Tubing damage was very bad this year. Looks like some very busy days & sleepless nights coming.

[Sugarmaker]

Karl,
Good to hear you folks across the line are ready to go!
You need to spend some quality time with the dog and .22 in the woods this fall! I assume it is a good squirrel dog?
Regards,
Chris

[johnallin]

Any syrup or sap reports? Must have been running strong yesterday and today.

[Kh7722]

Good run in the past 24 hours, boiling tomorrow probably be close to 2000 gallons here

[heus]

Lots of sap here since about 4pm yesterday in Ashtabula County.

[johnallin]

Should have new vac system all hooked up and ready to tap by the end of today.

[miboss]

about 900 gallons since yesterday at 3 PM, but sugar down to 1.25%

[CrossBroMaple]

We boiled in around 700 gallons of sap at 2%

[heus]

Over 2.5 gallons of 2-2.5% sap per tap in less than 24 hours on 262 taps. Boiled around 750 gallons.

[johnallin]

Finally got the new vac system all connected.

Ended up re-routing 1” dry and 5/16 wet lines to sugar house yesterday.

Today was spent setting releaser and water trap in place and making connections.

Turned the pump on, and we’re holding 28 1/2” at the releaser and 27 at the booster!

I’m all fired up now! Finally...
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[johnallin]

Jason, 2 1/2 GPT is awesome and looks like your sugar is up to boot.
Sure hope to be boiling over here by next weekend.

[heus]

John it's certainly a new experience for me to not be boiling 1.5% or less. Good luck on your season.

[heus]

I'm afraid to see what my woods looks like after last night's winds.

[miboss]

Here's my season so far...

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19521


I have some cleanup to do for the next two days after the storm took out a number of laterals. Luckily the fallen trees missed my mainline by a couple feet.

19522

[woodburner]

We dodged a lot possible damage this weekend , but came out in good shape , no damage and few limbs down accept on the white pines along the west line. We finished up an 18gal batch Sunday and are now up to 58.5gal. All light. Sugar is holding at 2.3 and syrup is nice and creamy. Looks like a cold March for a change, hope they bump up the temps a little for a run later this week. Nice rest I need today.

[johnallin]

John it's certainly a new experience for me to not be boiling 1.5% or less. Good luck on your season.

From the reports coming in; it looks like sugar is running higher this year.

Thanks and the same to you.

[DLong]

I am in Waterville/Grand Rapids area....I must be lucky because all my sap is 3 to 6%!!...I only have about 25 taps each year, but avg about 4% ...dont throw away my ice either because when melted it is 2%...the only thing i can figure is the trees are all out in the open on a golf course. I used to tap the woods at the back of my property, but no longer since the trees on the course give more sugar. Two in my yard as well are always 3+. Have 3 gallons of nice bright yellow since i tapped feb 20th. Boiling again tomorrow, though i can only do small batches...about 40ish gallons per boil usually...good luck everbybody.

[heus]

I will be tapping probably this weekend in Ashtabula County. Looking at accuweather after seeing Chris' post on the NW Pa thread, I don't see a whole lot of good sap weather until mid March. A day or two here and there but that's it. Of course, extended forecasts are usually wrong anyways.

Other than 24 hours of lots of sap last weekend, this long term forecast has pretty much proven to be correct, at least for me.

[bobsklarz]

Collected 600 gallons of 3% sap last w/e. Made 11 gallons of delicate, grade A. First time ever at 3%. Shut down till next w/e as weather not co-operating now!

[johnallin]

Jason, sounds like you guys have made some nice syrup in the past week or so

I'm finally ready to tap this week. Sure glad I replaced drops and spouts back in December and January - it was warmer! Installation of vac pump, releaser, water trap, wet and dry lines, booster, new tank and the air injection system just ate up a solid 4 weekends (and nights in between) for me.

Just need to figure out supply pipe for the air injection system and get it plumbed in. I placed the blower outside to the back, under a box cover - but it still roars like a 747 on take-off! I'm looking for soundproofing to put around the box....other than the sound of the boil, the fire and maybe some Eagles or other 70's classic rock in the background; it's normally quiet as a church in the sugar house - I hate noise.

Looking forward to just standing by the rig and firing.

[heus]

Thought I would get a flood of sap last night but just a decent steady run so far. About 200 gallons from 262 taps which isn't bad. Running well right now.

[Sugarmaker]

Jason,
It has been so cold in our area, I think its going to take a few hours to get going. Anyone on vacuum is going to do better than gravity this year I believe. I havent gone and looked yet. Should run all night too.
I was second guessing myself while cleaning up the small amount of sap yesterday. Maybe should have left the ice in there to keep the sap cool? All done now on to the next thing. I need to get my high brix sap boiled in today too!:)
Good luck.
Regards,
Chris

[johnallin]

Tapped with the grandkids here yesterday -had them hang some bags then went into the back woods and got 130 tapped on the 3/16 which is now on high vac. Had a little more than 120 gal in the tank this morning and it's still coming in. Fred stopped by to check everything out and ended up helping get the Gould pump on-line and plumbed in.

Next on the list is to run some hot water through the head tank, float boxes and pans, pump up the had tank and light a fire!

Will work on tapping the rest later this week, for today, I the remainder of today, I want to boil and that's all I want to do.

From the looks of the sap racing up from the booster to the releaser - thinking we'll have sap to spare over here this year.

[johnallin]

So far I've got 5 boils in. Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday and Thursday last week and another yesterday. The vacuum is working great except our sugar content is horrible... Yesterday was 118 gal to 1 gal of syrup! So far all I've got bottled up is just over 5 gallons, also so far, I've gone through a sh*t load of wood!

Is anyone else seeing the same? Man, I don't mind working hard or long, I just like to see something out of it. Going to pick up a CDL Hobby RO tomorrow to ease the pain.

The Air Injectionfrom H20 is pretty neat. Been playing with the settings between the flue and syrup pans and think I've got it just about right, we've made nothing but light syrup so far. There is still nitre in the pans, but as has been said before, it's much lighter in color.

Cleaning up Saturday, I did notice some nitre sticking to the pans. Russ Lampron at Red Roof Maples (one of the gurus on injection -with his Bubble Master), says he keeps his blower going until the pans have cooled off. That makes lots of sense to me and is something I had failed to consider - hence the nitre issue. I have since kept it going until everything is cool enough to touch. Will see next weekend how it works.

Hope everyone is doing better than we are.

[heus]

John I have averaged 2% sugar but I am on all sugar maples now. 1-1.4% sap was the norm for me when I was also on reds. Cant get started boiling the next few nights until 10 pm or so. Going to be some late nights I think.

[miboss]

My sugar is down the last 2 days. Tons of sap, around 800 gal a day for yesterday and today, but only 1%. Still going to be a big boil tonight...

[DrTimPerkins]

The Air Injection from H20 is pretty neat.... we've made nothing but light syrup so far.

It's likely to stay that way until the last day or two. Hard to make dark syrup with air injection

[woodburner]

Great year so far here, sugar still at 2.1 and making some dark syrup. Up to 92gal so far but getting close to the end. Taps have been in since Feb2. It sure has been a dry season, only rained once while boiling and then not for very long. Hope everyone is having a good year, we sure are.

[Kh7722]

So far so good on our end, made some great light syrup early, and is all amber and dark now, but great flavor. At aboit 80% crop so far and the next 7-10 days look good on the forcast but we all know how that goes. Average is about 1.3-1.5, not great but cant control that anyway. Time will tell when the season ends but anything past the next few days is going to be great for us. Hope everyone’s equipment is running well
Kevin

[christopherh]

Great season so far, I’ve seen 1.6 on my stand of reds and 2.5 on the sugars. Today sugars were 2.1. So far all light syrup.

[johnallin]

Fred helped set up the new CDL Hobby RO tonight. It yanked about 120 gallons of water out of the 300 in the tank. I can’t wait to boil, even just, 2-4% sap. I now see how those of you with Hi Vac and RO’s don’t mind 1%. Sure will make a difference in wood and time over here.

[johnallin]

It's likely to stay that way until the last day or two. Hard to make dark syrup with air injection

It's hard for me to make syrup period, when sugar content is below 1% !

We weren't boiling sap, I re-named it "sip".

The new mini hobby CDL RO is going to change things.

[johnallin]

John I have averaged 2% sugar but I am on all sugar maples now. 1-1.4% sap was the norm for me when I was also on reds. Cant get started boiling the next few nights until 10 pm or so. Going to be some late nights I think.

Jason- you had an RO back then, right?

How's the Leader Micro RO working out for you? Just fired up the mini hobby CDL 100 last night and went from .9% to over 2%- I'm doing handstands.

[Kh7722]

Well finally pulling taps this weekend, (probably) had a heck of a season about 140% of a full crop for us, with many things to look forward to next year. Made a retainer deposit on the framing for our new sugarhouse. Is it to soon to think aboit next season?

[christopherh]

kH, congrads on the sugarhouse, I’m going to hang in there and see what next week brings. Having a great season here to! Never to early to think about next year!

[johnallin]

Well finally pulling taps this weekend, (probably) had a heck of a season about 140% of a full crop for us, with many things to look forward to next year. Made a retainer deposit on the framing for our new sugarhouse. Is it to soon to think aboit next season?

That's awesome Kevin, and congrats too, from over here on Little Mountain.
Been playing with the new RO this past week, it's pulling 50 gal of water an hour out of the collection tank. For me, with sap at <1% this year, it's a game changer.

I'm definitely staying in until at least end of next week. Too much time lost early and mid Feb and lots of catching up to do.

The air injection has also been a plus, everything so far has been just a tad above delicate, and the syrup pan seems to be easier to clean with no burnt-on sand.

[heus]

Jason- you had an RO back then, right?

How's the Leader Micro RO working out for you? Just fired up the mini hobby CDL 100 last night and went from .9% to over 2%- I'm doing handstands.

John the Micro2 has been ok. Its hard going from a "pro" RO with all the bells and whistles to a minimalist one such as the Micro. I average about 180 gallons processed per hour going 50/50. The painful part is waiting for the wash cycle. It doesnt have a high temp shutoff so many nights I am done boiling but have to wait around for the wash cycle to finish.It is what it is, a very inexpensive hobby ro.

[johnallin]

The CDL 100 is my first RO, so no issues with bells and whistles here. It's a great setup for what I'm doing and a good friend just picked one up yesterday after seeing mine.
In two 3 hour stretches yesterday (I had it on a timer while at work) it removed over 300 gal of water leaving me with about 80 gal at 6%. In my excitement, while pumping it up, I forgot to close the drain valve on the head tank...I guess you known the rest of the story. Another RO plus, is having 160 gal plus of permeate for washing concrete floors.

By the way; my hat's off to Fred in Chardon for his level of service and response to calls, even if he's jealous of my Leader Clear press.

[Honey maker]

Watch it! Fred’s ego is big enough! But the service him and Jen provide is outstanding!
How do you like the air injection?

[heus]

Went through about 400 gallons of real cloudy sap this morning. It still smells good while boiling, which tells me that I am good to go for this next run. I have been making dark but it still doesn't have the old grade b taste that I like. I always make some real nice very dark syrup at the end of each season where the steam stinks. I have not got to that point yet.

[johnallin]

Watch it! Fred’s ego is big enough! But the service him and Jen provide is outstanding!
How do you like the air injection?

You're right about those two. Fred is first class when it comes to answering, or returning phone calls. I could not be happier with the service at Richards.

The air injection is working as advertised...so far all light syrup and pans clean up easily.

Now if I can only remember to close tank valves I will be able to make more syrup.

[heus]

Had my last boil of the season tonight. Turned the vac pump off earlier in the evening. I need to filter and bottle a little more syrup but I should be close to 90 gallons made on 262 taps. Seems like nothing compared to when I used to make 300+ in a season. Syrup was still smelling and tasting good, and really dark which is how I like it for my personal use.

[Sugarmaker]

Jason,
Good job squezzin those 260 taps! At some point I am going to scale back just not sure when. My neighbor had a small syrup fire in center pf syrup pan last night. I stopped to see how he was doing and he was hoping to be back up and running this morning. The older style Marcland head was not down on the stem and the plunger valve would not operate. Syrup got a little too hot. At 87 he is planning to redo his vacuum next year. Maybe I have a few more years in me after following him around for a couple hours!:)
I have to boil a couple hours sometime today. Plan to pull the lines out of the tubs today and begin to gather up tubs and pallets. Heard the peepers really strong last night! We will be near 180 gallons for the season and made some very dark syrup last boil. All in all I was very happy with the results. Hoping to get my new gears for the oberdorfer syrup pump today. I would like to get those in for the last syrup filtering.
Regards,
Chris
(just across the line)

[johnallin]

With the time spent setting up new the new vac system and air injection; it was a short season over here.
Although I did get about 275 gallons in since Wednesday, I will be turning the vac off tonight.

Still have about 100 gallons of concentrate that I will boil off tomorrow. I've made nothing but light syrup so far (a good thing) but I'm thinking of boiling without the air injection tomorrow - just to make some darker. I'd like to experiment to see if it's real dark, as I would expect, or just a tad darker due to the air injection.

There is no dark nitre anywhere to be found in the pans. What is there is more of a light tan color. I've been draining, cleaning and filling the syrup pan with permeate after each boil , so there's nothing in the syrup pan at all. In previous years I was not so meticulous....

The CDL Hobby 100 GPH Reverse Osmosis is turning out to be one of my favorite new toys. Named it "Ralph" He's a real hard worker, just turn him on, set a timer and can go in to work or go about whatever I need to do. When I return - he's filled a 165 gallon vertical tank full of water! He's really stingy with the wood too...fact is , I don't think he has used any at all!

Between vacuum pump, releaser, booster and air injection system (topped off with a late dash to CDL New York for "Ralph the RO") it's been a whirlwind 3 weeks. Did not have the time to put out the taps I had planned, but we made good syrup and learned more this season than any of the past.

[heus]

Final tally for me: 91 gallons on 262 taps. About .35 gal per tap. Not the best I have done, but surely better than last year's miserable figure of .15 per tap. Didn't make any off-flavored syrup. Sugar content never dropped below 2%, which is a first for me, but I tapped 99% sugars this year as opposed to 60/40 sugars-reds in the past when I had 1000 taps.

[johnallin]

All cleaned up over here with 18 3/4 gallons made off of 178 taps - not too good... as this year was all on the 3/16 lines with mostly reds and about 25% sugar maples.
A late start didn't help anything.

Sure would like to have all sugar maples like Jason and some of you, but our syrup is always good and with the new RO, boiling is now closer to 18 to 1 instead of 100 to 1!

There are and additional 140+/- taps in another woods on our property that I didn't get to, with another 50-60 in a ravine area I've never tapped.
Those areas are closer to 50% sugar maple. With the vac I hope to reach all of those and should do better next year.

It's been a good winter/spring - now it's time for boat "stuff".