Sap is running

[Lilshot]

Tapped 60 on bags yesterday and 34 on 3/16 tube today. Temps got up to 60F today and bags don’t need to be emptied yet. The tubing ran 15 gal before dark on natural vac. One line is 26 1\2 “ and the other is 25”. First year with tubing and I am sold. Expect 55 gal drum to be overflowing by morning. Awesome. Located in Preston county WV. Any other WV folk out there ready for this warm spelll?

[marylandlinemaple]

tapped 140 yesterday and this morning in preston county. great flow so far, hope it runs through the night. reconfigured some of the lines to try to increase natural vaccum and it seems to be working.

[llew.williams]

I added about 80 taps yesterday and today. Real good flow this afternoon. Every hole i drilled was dripping immediately. Hope it runs through tonight. I've got some sap in "RO" now. Cooking soon. I've got 196 taps in now.

[Lilshot]

Mdlinemaple how are handling your sap. RO or big evap? Home built ro here going to be maxed out with the taps we have this year. Figure I can process 120 gal sap in a 24 hr period. Aquatec and 4 residential membranes. Help me get past this! 2x4 flat pan ro to to 7% process this? We are looking to expand but not sure if better evap or ro is the way to go

[marylandlinemaple]

bought a ray gingerich/deer run hobbysize RO last year. draws out about 1.3 gals of water per minute. We get it down to 10% and then boil on a cinderblock firepit that does 4 gals/hour. Ive never used a “real” evaporator. The RO has been a gamechanger.

The run we just got was a monster. Hasnt been below freezing since Saturday and the sap is still pumping. Running the 3/16 all the way down our hill and adding more taps per line has made a huge improvement.

[WVKeith]

I also tapped half my trees on Saturday. Still getting some lines ready on the other half. Good runs all this past week

[Sugarmaker]

Tapped 60 on bags yesterday and 34 on 3/16 tube today. Temps got up to 60F today and bags don’t need to be emptied yet. The tubing ran 15 gal before dark on natural vac. One line is 26 1\2 “ and the other is 25”. First year with tubing and I am sold. Expect 55 gal drum to be overflowing by morning. Awesome. Located in Preston county WV. Any other WV folk out there ready for this warm spelll?

I would beg to differ. If its 60 F, any sap in the bags or barrels needs to be gathered and made into syrup or stored in the shade or cooler zone. Best to make into syrup if possible.
Leaving the sap in those temps is similar to leaving your milk set out on the counter all day.
Hope you have a good season down there! We have freezing temps again here today.
Regards,
Chris

[Rockport]

An RO is a big game changer I am still boiling on a 2x4 and have 250 taps in on 3/16 and have been keeping up .built it 2yrs ago and now after changing all the tubing to 3/16 its either another post on the RO or a bigger evap

[canaanmaple]

Tapped 80 on buckets on Feb 10th, and 135 on 3/16 on the 17th. Last week it ran like a river almost every day! lost count but well over a 1000 gallons so far collected. Sometimes the buckets are overflowing before I get to them. Glad to see cold enough temps for a few days to be take a break and catch up! Wish I had a vac gauge because Im getting crazy flow rates on the 3/16 with the steep hills and some have 30 taps on them. I have 3 runs with 85 taps that will fill up a 275 gallon tote in 24hrs!?!?!

[canaanmaple]

forecast for canaan valley / davis area the rest of the week looks like another advertisement for maple syrup! Wish I was skiing this time of year, but....

[220 maple]

Canaanmaple,
If I remember correctly you joined the WV Maple Producers Assoc. Can't wait making your acquaintance.

Mark 220 maple

[Lilshot]

1800 gallons of sap into the season. 4x150gpd RO and 2x4’ flat pan sure leaves a lot to be desired. RO is always behind on good runs. I knock out half the volume with Ro and boil the rest. Over 100 hrs on the arch street far and made 36.75 gal of syrup. Going to limp through this season with what we got and try to get 50 gallons of syrup. Dreaming of a 330 you procon with a 1 1/2 hp feeding a 4x40 membrane to get to 8% on the concentrate. Is an elevated feed tank enough or is a feed pump necessary? Hoping to tap 50 more next yeAr and want to allow for expansion on the ro. Any advice? Tired of cutting fire wood. Please help. Or what wood you do? Pun intended.

[Lilshot]

Forgot to add keeping concentrate below 40 *F by freezing 1/2 gallon blocks and adding back to an insulated barrel.

[canaanmaple]

1800 gallons of sap into the season. 4x150gpd RO and 2x4’ flat pan sure leaves a lot to be desired. RO is always behind on good runs. I knock out half the volume with Ro and boil the rest. Over 100 hrs on the arch street far and made 36.75 gal of syrup. Going to limp through this season with what we got and try to get 50 gallons of syrup. Dreaming of a 330 you procon with a 1 1/2 hp feeding a 4x40 membrane to get to 8% on the concentrate. Is an elevated feed tank enough or is a feed pump necessary? Hoping to tap 50 more next yeAr and want to allow for expansion on the ro. Any advice? Tired of cutting fire wood. Please help. Or what wood you do? Pun intended.

where are you at? I fear the season is almost done, not based on temps, but I noticed buds on the big sugars that are out in the open full sun pastures today, and I am pretty much at the highest and coldest elevation :( Ran for weeks in Feb and pretty much no snow, which is very very odd here. No buds visible on the northeast facing hills though, so should be a good week for those

19644

[Lilshot]

We are hoping to get another week to ten days before we call it quits. We have some reds and silvers tapped that get full sun and they are not quite as far along as the buds in your pic. The bulk of our trees are on northerly slope so have a bit of time yet. You definitely have us on elevation. We are just outside of Masontown in Preston county.

[canaanmaple]

We are hoping to get another week to ten days before we call it quits. We have some reds and silvers tapped that get full sun and they are not quite as far along as the buds in your pic. The bulk of our trees are on northerly slope so have a bit of time yet. You definitely have us on elevation. We are just outside of Masontown in Preston county.

awesome! its running good now and looks like a few nights in 20s this week and snow next weekend. I may call it quits at that time because I'm burnt out! need bigger evaporator!

[Sugarmaker]

1800 gallons of sap into the season. 4x150gpd RO and 2x4’ flat pan sure leaves a lot to be desired. RO is always behind on good runs. I knock out half the volume with Ro and boil the rest. Over 100 hrs on the arch street far and made 36.75 gal of syrup. Going to limp through this season with what we got and try to get 50 gallons of syrup. Dreaming of a 330 you procon with a 1 1/2 hp feeding a 4x40 membrane to get to 8% on the concentrate. Is an elevated feed tank enough or is a feed pump necessary? Hoping to tap 50 more next yeAr and want to allow for expansion on the ro. Any advice? Tired of cutting fire wood. Please help. Or what wood you do? Pun intended.

Wow you folks down south are doing good! Lilshot, you have done great with the equipment you have and the amount of sap processed into syrup. Larger faster equipment will surely cut your boiling time and wood consumption too! I have never boiled on that small of a evaporator, maybe someday when I retire!:) So you thinking the bigger RO first?
Keep boiling!
Regards,
Chris

[canaanmaple]

Think I am calling it quits! the temps the next 60 hours wont be under 50 even for the lows. Looks like more sap weather after, but been making syrup for a month now. I didn't keep great stats, but over 25 gallons syrup on my 2x4, and ended up dumping sap sometimes because I couldn't keep up. (I didn't use my RO kit too much, because I just don't think it tastes the same, regardless of what studies may say about mineral content)

Ended up dumping one boil because it started to smell a little sour to me, from sap sitting too long I guess. But a local distiller picked up the concentrate, and a mead maker got the rest for making maple-honey mead, so got to spread the love! They thought it tasted fine, so I guess I am picky.

Found a guy to buy 2% sap at .35/gal though, so will probably do that on the next weeks run!

Time for a bigger evaporator!

[Lilshot]

Sugarmaker, I think our next step is a bigger RO. Makes the most sense to me. Evaporator has to be watched and fed. An Ro set up with low pressure cutoff could be walked away from. As much as I like force feeding the fire I am sure it would be more efficient to concentrate sap to a higher sugar content before boiling.

Canaan, we are going to let it go until Wednesday of next week. Still getting 150 gallons a day and it should freeze up decent this weekend and run good first of the week. Really hoping to get 50 gallons. Getting very difficult to filter with the cone filter though. Almost looks muddy coming off the evaporator. The end is near.

[Lilshot]

Just pulled the pan off the arch. Almost syrup at 216f. Had three pre filters had to pull 2 and barely got the remainder through the third. Brown funky mess! Darkest so far this year. Should make 4.75 gallons syrup if I did the math right. Hope it does and we will hit our season goal of 50 gallons syrup with the next cook. Had the arch cooking hard when we pulled the pan, my kids were thrilled to have a hotdog roast and s’mores. Redneck livin at it’s finest.

[canaanmaple]

Just pulled the pan off the arch. Almost syrup at 216f. Had three pre filters had to pull 2 and barely got the remainder through the third. Brown funky mess! Darkest so far this year. Should make 4.75 gallons syrup if I did the math right. Hope it does and we will hit our season goal of 50 gallons syrup with the next cook. Had the arch cooking hard when we pulled the pan, my kids were thrilled to have a hotdog roast and s’mores. Redneck livin at it’s finest.

No buddy flavors yet for you Lilshot?

It a perfect temperature forecast the next few days for a great run, but I made a small batch of syrup from sap that ran a little sunday, and it has that lingering tootsie-roll flavor to it that spells buddy to me. A little bummed because I was getting a second wind to process the run this week. It's not offensive yet, but it's not good maple syrup anymore. If there is a secondary market for it, I may decide to boil this week for the extra cash...
The season was just earlier this year here, but it was a good one at least!

[buckeye gold]

Make some granulated sugar out of that late syrup and it will transfer flavor into whatever your making with it maybe. I'm new to granualting, but I had about a half gallon like that at the end and it made great sugar. I think the high heat drives off some of the off flavor.

[Lilshot]

We pulled bags and taps 2/18. Warm weather really scummed up the bags. Some had dried up already. I have 34 red maples on 3/16” on a northern woodlot and they are still running well at about 40 gallon per day. Boiled last batch from these down and it is definitely getting buddy! Probably boil another small batch to see if taste gets worse. Still about a quart of syrup shy of 50 gallon.

Bottled some today. Did a light and a dark batch.1980619806

[Lilshot]

Decided not to go any further this year. Sanitized all buckets and barrels today. Did chemical and biological rinse on RO membranes yesterday. 107 taps total. 49.75 gallons of syrup. 4x150 gpd membranes and a 2x4 flat pan. All in all a wonderful season. We will see how it sells through the summer and s e what upgrades are warranted for next year. Time for the vegetables that we sell at market. Glad to hear any input on our operation. Always looking forward o improve. Thanks

[canaanmaple]

Decided not to go any further this year. Sanitized all buckets and barrels today. Did chemical and biological rinse on RO membranes yesterday. 107 taps total. 49.75 gallons of syrup. 4x150 gpd membranes and a 2x4 flat pan. All in all a wonderful season. We will see how it sells through the summer and s e what upgrades are warranted for next year. Time for the vegetables that we sell at market. Glad to hear any input on our operation. Always looking forward o improve. Thanks


I'd say you kicked *** making 50 gallons with your operation! Way to get after it! What kills me is, the weather is STILL going in and out of perfect sapping temps even though the trees are done. What a crazy year! Been like that since January pretty much. I was doing random test buckets as early as late December and making micro batches inside on the woodstove as a natural humidifier since then too. I didn't tap the 3/16 and all the buckets till after first week of Feb, because it's kind of unheard of to do so that early, but in hindsight, i coulda had a few more big runs if I tapped in January. But I guess the endless sapping weather has woken up the trees earlier, because last year I was still making good syrup into April before it got buddy. Record year for WV producers I believe though. (and one nearby in western, MD who beat their 1000 gal/yr average easily)

[220 maple]

CanaanMaple,
The western Md. camp. Would that be the Steyer Brother's on 560 between Oakland and Gormania? Randall and Mike's goal is always 1000 gallon!

Mark 220 Maple

[canaanmaple]

CanaanMaple,
The western Md. camp. Would that be the Steyer Brother's on 560 between Oakland and Gormania? Randall and Mike's goal is always 1000 gallon!

Mark 220 Maple

Yeah! Their 110th year. Cheapest syrup I've seen in the region too. $38/gal from their farm

[canaanmaple]

CanaanMaple,
The western Md. camp. Would that be the Steyer Brother's on 560 between Oakland and Gormania? Randall and Mike's goal is always 1000 gallon!

Mark 220 Maple

The amish folks leasing Dalens operation in Dry Fork have done 90+ barrels this year I hear also.

[220 maple]

CanaanMaple,
Have they quite yet? J. Dalens first season he made his one hundredth barrel on April 1, I was there for that red letter day in West Virginia Syrup History, He made syrup into April the five years he produced.
I told the owner that day that from my research no one had ever made 100 barrels of syrup in a West Virginia season! I stand by that statement until someone comes forward with proof. We celebrated that achievement that day by having a toast of another local made product. Hint: Clear Liquid, Burned from lips to stomach and probably could have been used to get home if we were low on gas!
Mark 220 Maple