Red Roof Maples 2020

[Russell Lampron]

Might as well start the year off by starting my 2020 thread. I'm just about ready for the new season. The woods are ready and the new filter press is waiting for some syrup to filter. The high pressure pump for my RO is torn apart and sitting in pieces on the table in my RO room. Lapierre is going to let me know this week or next if they can get the obsolete impellers for it. If not I'll need to buy a new pump.

[Maplewalnut]

Have a great season Russ

Mike

[3% Solution]

Hey Russ,

We are getting ready here too.
Using two 4" membranes this year … MES
Added a few more taps … should be near 300 …

Have a good year .. keep us posted …

[Pdiamond]

Russ, That's good to here. At least they're trying to get them for hope for the best. Good luck this season. Keep us posted on your progress.

[Russell Lampron]

Like they said, the impellers for my pump are no longer available. I ordered the new pump and am planning to go pick it up on Feb. 1st. I went to Bascom's on the 11th and sold them my bulk syrup. I also bought the spouts and some containers that I needed. It's almost go time!

[Russell Lampron]

I went to social security yesterday and signed up. I'm officially retiring in March and start collecting benefits in May. I was going to file for disability because of the side effects of my cancer treatments. The nice woman that I talked to told me to wait and do that when I stop working. She seemed to agree that I will qualify for the disability.

That date in March does happen to coincide with sugaring season for a reason!

[Pdiamond]

Russ, Congrats on your upcoming retirement. You won't know what to do with all your free time. Good luck with the disability claim, it took me two years to get mine approved. Forgive me for being nosy, but what have you done all your life for a career?

[BAP]

Congratulations Russ on your retirement. Should make sugaring more enjoyable this year having more time to devote to it.

[Russell Lampron]

Russ, Congrats on your upcoming retirement. You won't know what to do with all your free time. Good luck with the disability claim, it took me two years to get mine approved. Forgive me for being nosy, but what have you done all your life for a career?

Thank you, I have more than enough projects that need to be done to keep me busy. I don't think I'll have much free time for a while.

I'm a flat rate auto service technician. I've been working on cars professionally since 1977. I've been working on Volvo cars since 1986 and am one of the few that have earned the Expert rating.

If you don't mind my asking and you can send me a PM. What do you have for a disability? Just trying to get an idea of what kind of fight I'll have.

[red maples]

Hey Russ, Congrats on the retirement!!! and yes that is good timing. Its always a busy time right now. but think of all the extra sleep you can get by doing just maple!!! I assume you are like the rest of us cant sit still too long you find something to fill that time with!!! Hope your Cancer isn't kicking your *** too much. I haven't started my thread yet too busy a lot of projects in the works not ready to tap yet Probably not for another maybe 2 weeks we'll see. although this little warm spell has be chomping at the bit(drill bi that is) Good luck on your season!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Thank you Brad. Sugaring season is going to be a lot more fun now, not that it wasn't before. The cancer isn't kicking my ***, the treatment is. I can deal with the side effects from that a lot easier when I'm not working.

I've got plenty to do here but can pick away at it and stop and rest when I need to. The first thing that I need to do before I stop working is clean out a space in my basement for my toolbox. That is, after I get my RO put back together. I'm going up to Lapierre to pick up a new high pressure pump this Saturday.

[Russell Lampron]

I went up to Swanton yesterday and picked up the new high pressure pump for my RO. I'll be installing and testing that today. If that all checks out the RO will be good to go and the sugar house will be ready. I'll be bringing my releaser down to the tank and setting that up too. The plan is to tap next weekend. If things go well I'll have the pans sweetened and some syrup made on or before Presidents Day weekend.

[Russell Lampron]

The weather kind of sucked so I didn't tap yet. I'm tapping tomorrow and Monday If I don't get them all in tomorrow. I just worked my last Saturday today! Three more weeks and I'm retired.

[BAP]

Congratulations on working your last Saturday Russ. Was just looking at the 7 day on NWS for my exact location and not very warm this week.

[Russell Lampron]

Thank you Bruce. It feels good to know that I don't have to work Saturdays anymore and in 2 weeks and 4 days I won't be punching in anymore either.

My helper and I put in about 500 taps today. We did all of the hard ones today and have a little over 200 to do tomorrow. Most of the trees were running this afternoon, even some of the big ones. The forecast doesn't look that great until next weekend but I should be able to pull in enough sap Tuesday and Wednesday to flush the lines.

[Russell Lampron]

I'm now officially tapped in. I fixed some leaks that I found when I tapped and added a couple of new taps. I turned on the vacuum pump this afternoon, 19", I've got some work to do when the sap runs good enough to check for leaks.

[Amber Gold]

Hey Russ, Glad to hear you're sugaring another year. Good luck this season.

Congrats on being retired too! That'll make sugaring season a lot easier.

[Russell Lampron]

Thank you Josh and good luck to you too.

Yep one more season after this one and then I'm moving to NC.

When I'm finally not working anymore sugaring is going to be a lot more fun. Maybe I can go out visiting more.

Did you sell your Lapierre 250 or trade it in? I'm trying to get an idea about how much mine is worth. There's nothing for Lapierre 250 turbos in the classifieds or on craigslist.

[Amber Gold]

You realize you can't sugar in NC...right? It's a shame you're only going to get 1 season as a retiree. Sugaring should be a breeze this year.

I sold it, but I forget what I got for it. It was a while ago. I don't think there's much money in them because of the 300gph hobby machines are pretty cheap...sorry, cost effective.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Russ, I may be interested in that RO when you’re ready to sell it. Let me know if you don’t have others in mind already. And congrats on retirement, enjoy the time off!

[Russell Lampron]

You realize you can't sugar in NC...right? It's a shame you're only going to get 1 season as a retiree. Sugaring should be a breeze this year.

I sold it, but I forget what I got for it. It was a while ago. I don't think there's much money in them because of the 300gph hobby machines are pretty cheap...sorry, cost effective.

The hobby RO's and the homemade RO's are cutting into the 250 professional RO market for sure. You are right, they are pretty cheap!


Russ, I may be interested in that RO when you’re ready to sell it. Let me know if you don’t have others in mind already. And congrats on retirement, enjoy the time off!

I'll keep you in mind.

[Russell Lampron]

It's a beautiful day here with plenty of sun and it's currently 42*. The sap is trying to run but trees need time to thaw before it will run good. I started out with 19" of vacuum and was able to fix some leaks and it's now at 25". I've still got to find about 2 more inches but the sap wasn't running good enough for that. It looks like it should run for most of the week. Hopefully it will good enough to find some leaks tomorrow.

[raptorfan85]

Same here Russ. 40 and sunny most of the day. The trees are still frozen though. The releaser dumped twice I think... Hopefully it runs this week.

[Russell Lampron]

Same here Russ. 40 and sunny most of the day. The trees are still frozen though. The releaser dumped twice I think... Hopefully it runs this week.

It looks like it should run this week. It's supposed to be warmer tomorrow and Monday and it's not supposed to be as cold overnight tonight. I think my releaser might have dumped twice too.

[Russell Lampron]

It was another beautiful day yesterday but the sap flow was still weak. I went out late yesterday afternoon in hopes of finding some leaks. Most of the trees in the section of woods that I really need to check still weren't giving a drop. It looks like things are finally starting to let loose and I should get some sap today.

[Russell Lampron]

The sap finally started to run today and I collected 250 gallons tonight. Sap was coming into the releaser from all of the lines, even the cold woods which hadn't started running as of yesterday. The vacuum is holding at 25.5", hopefully it will stay there when things finally get completely thawed. I may be boiling Wednesday night if I can get enough sap tomorrow.

[Russell Lampron]

I collected another 250 gallons of sap tonight. Slightly better than the previous 24 hours but not great. I'm planning to do my first boil tomorrow night. The vacuum is holding at 25.5", I'll take it!

[Russell Lampron]

Well my first and second boils of the season are done. For the first boil I had 500 gallons of sap and never got a draw off. The temperature only got up to 3* over boiling. I didn't check it but there had to be almost no sugar in the first run. Normally with that much sap I would get the pans sweetened and have a 3 or 4 gallons of syrup in my finisher.

For the second boil I had 650 gallons of sap and now have 10 gallons of heavy syrup in my finisher and still need to correct the density. I couldn't do that because when I turned on the thermometer on my Accu Cup the battery was dead. My ph tester takes the same batteries and it was working so I tried the batteries out of that. The thermometer would only turn on then go dim and shut off. I really wanted to try out my new filter press too.

It's going to be cold this weekend then if the forecast is anywhere near correct the sap will start flowing again on Monday and continue through the week.

One week and one day until retirement!

[buckeye gold]

I hope you'll see the same thing I did. My season started out the same way then the dam broke and it was a flood. My season is over now and it was my best in 10 years. If things transfer North east you better get your rest now.

[BAP]

Keep our fingers crossed for next week Russ. Looks a little iffy on wether it freezes the first few nights next week.

[red maples]

Weather looks good for here but they are calling for very cold nights towards the end of the week that was last night so who knows. the sun is very warm though. I do hate the wind anyway but especially after rain and warmer weather soft ground and high winds equals damage in the woods.

[Russell Lampron]

As far as weather is concerned anything more than 2 days out is an educated guess at best. Anything longer than that is just speculation. If the weather liars are correct it isn't going to freeze again until Friday after Mondays warm up. With the vacuum I say bring it on! I'll get sap all week again like I did this week.

I don't want to jinx myself but the soft ground and wind and rain don't screw up my woods very much.

[Russell Lampron]

Brad, aka red maples from Willow Creek Sugar House stopped by for a visit this morning. I showed him my set up and we had a good time talking about our favorite subject, maple. Now it's my turn to go see Brads set up. We'll have to plan it for some time after maple weekend.

The freezing temps have shut down the sap flow but it gave me a chance to do some cleaning and organizing in the sugar house. Tomorrow I'll heat up the syrup in my finisher and finally get to use my new filter press. The syrup has an excellent flavor and looks like it will be Amber when I grade it.

[red maples]

Yes I Got to have a Boiling soda with the "legend" Russ... was a kind of a morning soda but I couldn't pass up the opportunity!!! good talking with you Russ. yeah we'll have to get together after the season.

[Russell Lampron]

The "legend"? LOL. You've got to start in the morning if you're going to drink all day!

Yesterday I put a new battery in my Accu Cup thermometer, heated up the syrup in my finisher and adjusted the density. After that I was able to finally try out my new filter press. This thing is a beast! I started filling a 5 gallon jug, took a slug off of my boiling soda and a sip from my shot of hot syrup and the jug was almost full. With my old press I could have gone up to the house, cooked a chicken and went back down to an almost full jug. I ended up with 10.5 gallons of dark with excellent flavor. Not a bad start to the new season.

The sap started running again today and the temps look good for most of the week. I'll probably be boiling again Wednesday night.

[Amber Gold]

I got a new filter press too. Upgrade from an old CI press. I ended up with a 10" press. You don't realize how much bigger the plates are until you take it apart...they're huuuge. I also got a 1/2" pump. Pumping cold syrup, I wasn't too impressed with it over my 3/8" pump, but filtering the syrup/flue pans, it's way faster. it was a good move I think.

[Russell Lampron]

The sap is finally flowing. I collected 125 gallons last night and another 465 today and it was still coming at 7pm. I got home from work a little after 3 this afternoon and found the vacuum at 24". I hit the woods and fixed some leaks. The vacuum is now about a needle width under 26". I ran out of time and daylight but the woods are pretty tight now. It's amazing what a dead tree and a handful of squirrel chews will do to the vacuum level.

I've got a Wilden 1/2" air pump on my new press and I'm using 3/4" ID hoses on it. I had a 1/2" pump on my old press too but it didn't move syrup like this one does.

[Russell Lampron]

I had just under 1200 gallons for the boil tonight and I made 18 gallons of great tasting dark syrup. The boil was a little weird at first but smoothed out when the new sap came through. Besides what I had collected yesterday I brought up 325 this morning and 250 this afternoon. The sap didn't run as good as I had hoped today but ran good enough to fix vacuum leaks. I walked the rest of my lines and found 2 more leaks. Got those repaired and the vacuum is now at 26".

I don't know what's going to happen with the temperature tonight. The thermometer said 37* but the mud was starting to freeze when I came up from the sugar house. Maybe I'll get a freeze that wasn't in the forecast.

[red maples]

same thing happened here last night I knew we were getting a freeze but they kept saying 30* got to 24* when I woke up this morning.

[n8hutch]

Hey Russ , glad you are making some syrup. I tapped 225 today, some were running pretty decent. Probably make my first syrup next week.

[Russell Lampron]

Brad I got a good freeze here last night and a decent run today. It's still running right now but will freeze soon. The weather for next week looks good.

It's good to hear from you again Nate. I was going to send you a pm to see of you were still alive but now I don't have to. Good luck with the new season.

Today was a day of lasts. It was the last day that I had to deal with the morning traffic on 106 and the last evening too. It was the last time that I have to punch in and out of work and the last day that I have to wear a work uniform. No more cold meat sandwiches either. I'm officially retired! From now on it's all paid time off.

[Parker]

Congratulations Russ.

[buckeye gold]

Congrats on the retirement, you got this part wrong,
From now on it's all paid time off.. I thought the same thing when I retired and now I have more irons in the fire and work harder, but it's all for me. I also have a harder boss..... the Mrs. :lol:

[BAP]

Congratulations Russ

[red maples]

hey Congrats man... when my Dad retired I don't think it sank in for a bit. he said it was like being on vacation for a while then he filled in the time. I am sure you will too. have fun!!!

[Mark-NH]

Congratulations Russ, I know you will enjoy your hard earned retirement.

[Russell Lampron]

Thank you for the congrats. My first day of retirement was a good one. In the morning I collected another 220 gallons of sap from my woods tank. that put the total for yesterday's boil at 1,035 gallons. The valve on my woods tank was giving me trouble so I bought a new one and changed it out while the tank was empty. I was able to boil in the afternoon which is the way that I want to do it now. It went great and I made 17 gallons of syrup. I also had some visitors which is always a good thing. One of them was my 96 year old father. He got to taste some of the hot near syrup which something he always did when he made syrup himself.

As a bonus the sap ran pretty good yesterday despite the cold wind and high temp in the upper 30's. At 4:00 I had over 300 gallons in the tank and it was still running good. I decided to leave the sap down there so that I can wash my storage tank at the sugar house before I bring it up.

[Russell Lampron]

Congrats on the retirement, you got this part wrong, . I thought the same thing when I retired and now I have more irons in the fire and work harder, but it's all for me. I also have a harder boss..... the Mrs. :lol:

What I meant by that is that is that I'll be getting my monthly benefit from SS and my IRA while I'm doing work for myself, basically getting paid to stay at home. I'll be able to control how much I do and when I do it. I can drink on the job too! So far the wife has only requested that I stay out of the house between 2 and 4 which is her time to watch her afternoon shows. That will be easy to do this time of year but will be a challenge when it's stormy or too cold to be outside.

[red maples]

Yes Day boiling is nice!!! but you have to have everything cleaned up so its not a mess when people visit!!!

[Russell Lampron]

I went down this morning and found 400 gallons in the tank from yesterday's run. The sap is running good today too. I've got my 600 gallon tank full and the 325 on my sap trailer is full too. The sap is still coming in and it looks like it isn't going to freeze tonight. I'll start ROing first thing in the morning and boil tomorrow afternoon. The ssc is testing at 1.6%.

[Russell Lampron]

I saw the sap coming into the releaser yesterday afternoon faster than I've seen it come in in a long time. It was dumping every 12 minutes at 25 gallons per dump. It was pretty exciting to see.

This morning I turned in my uniforms and brought my tools home. I've been so busy since I retired that it hasn't really sunk in yet. I went out a 5:15 this morning to start the RO. The first pass finished in time for me to start the second pass before I had to go get my tools.

I made another 15 gallons of syrup this afternoon to bring the season total to 59 gallons. The sap is still running and it's not going to freeze tonight. I emptied the woods tank tonight and hope to find a lot of sap in the morning.

It was 70* here this afternoon. I'm hoping that we get some cold weather soon. Too many more days like today and the trees are going to bud.

[Russell Lampron]

Like with any new piece of equipment there's a learning curve. I replaced the 1 cup mason jar that I used to measure filter aid with a 2 cup scoop. I'm filtering along and all of a sudden with 3 gallons to go the pressure spikes and the air pump stops. Before changing measuring devices I figured out that 24 cups was the max. I quickly took the press apart to change papers and found that it was packed full of filter aid and that's why it stopped. It looks like I need to use a couple of scoops less!

[red maples]

I still con't seem to get the amount of filter aid right and I have had this thing for 5 years now!!! sometimes too much sometimes too little... usually as soon as I get right the season is over!!!! then have to learn all over again the next year!!! :lol:

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

I also struggle to get my filter aid correct. Same issue as Red Maples, I either put too much or not enough. I have this stainless cup I got from some fair I use as my filter aid cup, and I started using a full cup, now im at 3/4" and I think I may need to start just trying to get half a cup in. Im doing only about 8-10 gallons at a time on my small Maple Guys Jet Press, but it works well for me.

[Amber Gold]

Sometimes I struggle with the press too. The other day, I my draw-off tank was backed up because the canner was heating to pour into a keg. I didn't put enough DE in when I filtered the drawoff tank, and the press slowed down for the rest of the night. Not sure how you get the flow rates back after a layer of DE plugs up. I usually mix in enough DE until the color of the syrup looks "right". I find it usually works well. The lighter, early season syrup needs less DE, and the darker, late season syrup needs more...this generally works.

I got a new 10"' press this season. You don't realize how much bigger the 10" plates are until you go to clean them like you used to clean the 7" plates...they just don't fit in a 5-gallon bucket.

Russ, Can you run through the directions on how to do an acid wash? I have to head north Friday afternoon/evening, so I can't boil anyways...figured great time to let it sit for 24hrs. I already have the citric acid from CDL. At best, I figure the RO is down 1+ gpm from where it should be...more like 1.5-2 depending on the day.
I know the basics are:
rinse
wash
rinse
acid to a pH of 2, but how much citric acid is that for an 8" membrane? it sits for 24 hrs. Does it need to reach a certain temp. or do you just recirculate for a bit to get it well mixed, and then let it sit?
rinse
wash
rinse

Am I missing anything?

[Russell Lampron]

Josh- you've basically got it right. Wash and rinse first. Fill the wash tank, add the acid and let it circulate through the RO long enough to get an accurate ph 2. I don't know how much acid you'll need just add a little at a time until you reach ph 2. Shut the machine down and let it sit for 24 hours. After that rinse it and do a soap wash and then flush it with the rest of your permeate. With the acid you don't need to reach a certain temperature. It works while it's sitting. With my RO I use 100 gallons to rinse it with between cycles. If there's still some acid that didn't rinse out, the RO soap will neutralize it. Check the ph of the final wash and add more soap if you need to.

It took awhile to figure out how much filter aid I need with my old press which took 9 cups. I wrote that on the top of the bucket that I use for filter aid so that I wouldn't forget. On my new press I thought I had it figured out to be 24 cups. When I changed over to the 2 cup scoop I went with 12 scoops which turned out to be to much.

This warm weather can cool down anytime now. I'm starting to get a little worried.

[red maples]

thats a good place to write down the amount of DE. I don't thunk I am using enough right at the get go and its plugging up to quickly. My Press is a wes fab full bank 7" press but with only a 4 plates. (long story) I got it used. but I think its time to purchase the remaining plates.

[Russell Lampron]

I've been boiling every other day and getting around 1100 gallons of sap for each boil. Today was no exception. I had 1150 gallons of sap and made 18.5 gallons of syrup. That puts me at 77.5 for the season, not quite half a crop. It's supposed to get down to the mid 20's tonight and I sure hope so. Even with the bubbler I'm making dark syrup and struggling to get it lighter. Like last year there is a ton of sugar sand. I'm glad I've got the new press because I'm having trouble getting the syrup through it. I barely got the 18.5 gallons through it this afternoon. If I still had my old press I would have had to break it down and repaper it 2 or 3 times.

[Amber Gold]

I'm a grade lighter this year too, and also noticing the high sugar sand.

[red maples]

Josh you are a grade lighter??? hmmm I am struggling with trying to keep it out of the vary dark. part of the problem is I am having trouble drawing off at the proper density don't know why... I am usually spot on or at the very least 1 or 2 over. I figured out I am drawing off 5 or 6 over. probably why I am having issues filtering too thick combined with niter plugging things up quickly. So everything I have up before tuesday will lighten up a bit once I thin it out. not a whole grade but will lighten up none the less.

[Russell Lampron]

This is the first time since 2013 when I built the Bubblemaster that I have struggled to make light syrup. It's all been dark or very dark and very hard to filter. I have some borderline syrup that I want to check with my Hanna grader. I was going to do that this afternoon but can't find my tester.

I got a good enough freeze to recharge the trees last night. The sap is coming in clearer today and there weren't any moths in the tank. So far I've collected just under 6000 gallons of sap which is about a 1/2 seasons worth but haven't made a 1/2 seasons worth of syrup yet. If things continue the way that they are now I should break the 100 gallon mark in 2 more boils. I'd like to make 200 gallons of syrup this year but I don't think that's going to happen.

[Amber Gold]

Thanks for the directions Russ. I set it up for an acid wash tonight and added about one time to citric acid for could only get the pH down to 2.5. CDL sells it in 2.2 lb containers and after the acid wash it did last year, there's about half the container left so I figured that's what I should use. I'll let the acid sitting there until Saturday morning and then rinse it out followed by the soap wash

Sorry red, I meant to say I'm making a great darker this year overall. I'm still making it dark, but barely after tonight.

[Russell Lampron]

Glad to help Josh. I hope that it works for you.

I want to get down to see you and Brad after Maple Weekend. I've never to Brads sugar house and you've made a lot of changes since my last visit.

[Amber Gold]

Do you think a pH of 2.5 is low enough to open it back up?

It's been ages since you've been over last...like when I got my first RO I think...a Lapierre 250. Things are a bit different now... It'd be great to have you come over...def. after maple weekend.

[Russell Lampron]

Do you think a pH of 2.5 is low enough to open it back up?

It's been ages since you've been over last...like when I got my first RO I think...a Lapierre 250. Things are a bit different now... It'd be great to have you come over...def. after maple weekend.

The pH 2.5 is low enough I think, it's pretty close to the target number.

I think the last time that I was over there was when we put the membranes into the Lapierre 250 and hooked it up. I don't remember when you were here last. It might have been for a trip to Bascom's or the NHMPA annual meeting. Either way it was before I did my remodel and expansion.

[Russell Lampron]

The way that the sap was trickling in yesterday afternoon when I pumped my woods tank it didn't look like I would get much sap overnight. Wrong Again! I went down to pump the tank this morning and it was overflowing. I don't know how many times the releaser dumped after the tank nutted but it looked like more than once. I had 1050 gallons of sap for a boil tonight. Lit the evaporator at 5:15 and walked out of the sugar house at 7:28. Sap all boiled and syrup filtered and jugged. I'm at 91 gallons, all dark, for the season now which is about half a crop. It looks like the much needed cold weather is going to be here tomorrow and will stay for most of next week.

[Russell Lampron]

I got up at 2:30 this morning to see if I needed to turn the vacuum pump off. It was still 35* when it was supposed to be below freezing by midnight. It was supposed to get down to 26* overnight and didn't happen. Why can't these weather liars give us an accurate forecast?

I know there are some guys out there that would say leave the vacuum pump on 24/7. I'm pulling 27" with an old SP22 and I like to give it a rest when I know the sap isn't running. Needless to say but it didn't get it's much needed cool down.

[BAP]

Same here Russ. Was supposed to be be 20 this morning, still 36 at midnight and finally got down to 28 and mostly cloudy. Don’t know if there was enough time below freezing for the trees to freeze enough to recharge.

[red maples]

Same here. Was supposed to get to 28 here left the vac on all night. I was up at 6:30 and it was only 33.5 it did get down to 30 but it was overcast last night not sure what time it finally cleared our should be a good freeze tonight and a freeze every night until Thursday.

[n8hutch]

Good freeze here in Chatham N.H., froze up solid for about 8hrs, releaser just thawed and sap is coming in good. Its only 36° at 12:30 but the sun is warm.

[Russell Lampron]

After the marginal freeze I did get 250 gallons of sap today. It's going to be really cold tonight and may not thaw enough to get much of a run tomorrow.

I'm over the halfway point now. I made 10.5 gallons today to put me at 101.5 for the season. I'd like to make 200 gallons but probably won't.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

:-(

I really hope we get a bit of a cold spell, but I am not seeing it after today.

[Russell Lampron]

I just got the news that the NHMPA is canceling maple weekend and the rest of maple month. I'll be around and will be open if anybody wants to stop by to buy syrup and value added products but I won't be setting up the sales and sampling table like I usually do. I'll boil in the afternoon if I have sap but won't boil all day and won't save sap for the weekend.

The NHMPA is talking about trying to do something in the fall. They tried that before and it didn't work. The people want to see a sugar house in operation, which means boiling and making syrup.

[n8hutch]

I am going to do the same, I'll be Open and I won't turn anyone away. But I'm not going to advertise or do soft serve icecreams or anything like that. Might do a couple Sugar on snow/ice , for a few die hards.

I did an open house 2 days over Labor day weekend a few years ago, I still had a pile of syrup, I had some customers and people that came but overall I didn't make but maybe 100.00$ after I paid all my expenses. So I decided that my holiday weekend was worth a little more than that and don't do it anymore.

[red maples]

I do fall open house anyway. Usually the begining of november, same weekend as NH OPEN DOORS. withe the NH league of craftsmen. We have since steered away from then as they have done stuff this past year we didnt agree with. It's about a 5th or less of the crowds that come out for spring maple weekend. I sacrifice a 1/2 gallon of syrup on the front pan and just us a stopper to control water flow from the back pan to the fro t pan to get the aroma. Works well. With advertising from the NHMPA and people understand we lost big money being open for maple weekend I believe they will come out to see us and support the locals.

I am at a solid 1/2 crop. 50 gallons finally. But with super low SSC and crappy sap and short boils I am back into VD. Very little sap in yesterday but we only to 36* after 20* low. And forecast is not favorable. I hope I make through next weeks without buds popping. 73* on Friday maybe but a freeze up for the weekend. Hope we get big sap when things start flowing again.

[Russell Lampron]

They're predicting 66* for a high here Friday and after the cold weather this week I'm sure that my trees will survive that. I brought up 285 gallons tonight that has been coming in since Sunday afternoon. I'll see what I get overnight to determine when I'll boil again.

I'm willing to give a fall open house a try. I think this weekend will be a flop. The good thing is that the people that come, if any do, will be looking to buy stuff and the ones looking to fill up on free samples will stay home.

Our special friends will still get samples when no one's looking.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Russ, I wonder what kind of crowd you would get if you advertise a free roll of toilet paper with each purchase?

[Russell Lampron]

Russ, I wonder what kind of crowd you would get if you advertise a free roll of toilet paper with each purchase?

I didn't think of that but it would probably work. The problem with that is that I didn't hoard TP like all of the idiots that did and would run out of my own supply.

[Russell Lampron]

The sap ran pretty good today. I had 285 in the tank that I collected last evening. I got another 525 today which gave me 810 for tonight's boil. I made 13 gallons to bring the season total to 114.5 gallons. It looks like I'll be saving the sap from tomorrow and Friday for Saturday. My north facing trees decided to run today which was nice for a change.

The shop vac that I use on my bubbler died tonight. Looks like I'll be replacing that tomorrow. I hope that I can find one that will be a direct fit and not have to screw around making it work.

[Russell Lampron]

The sap ran good overnight and not to bad today. I decided to boil tonight and made another 10 gallons. It's Very dark and very tasty.

I bought a new shop vac and got the bubbler fixed today.

[BAP]

Good to hear you got the shop vac. I bet that was one item that the stores were not cleaned out of.

[Russell Lampron]

Good to hear you got the shop vac. I bet that was one item that the stores were not cleaned out of.

They had plenty of them in stock. The new one wasn't the same size as the old one but I only had to put a piece of 3/4" plywood under it to make it fit where the old one did. I had visions of having to go to the hardware store to get fittings and stuff to make it work. That would have turned a 20 minute job into an afternoon project.

I should be able to come out some day next week. I've got to go to Bascom's and to pick up my kegs and MES to get more prefilters for my RO I'll send you a PM when I figure out what day.

[Russell Lampron]

I don't know if anyone else has this problem but you probably do. When I first logged in this morning I had a PM so I went there first to read and reply to it. When I was done I hit the What's New tab and only got the post from 6:30 on. What happened to the ones from about 10:00 last night until 6:30 this morning? This isn't the first time that it's happened! Mods?

[Russell Lampron]

I don't know if anyone will come for maple weekend but I'm going to be open anyway. I won't be giving samples but am going to boil in the afternoon.

The sap is still running pretty good but it's getting a little cloudy. It looks like we might get one more week before it's done. I haven't done anything as far as vacuum leaks are concerned but the gauges keep climbing. The vacuum has been at 26.5" most of the season and it has climbed to a needle width over 27". I know it's not a gauge problem. I have gauges in 3 spots and they are all reading the same.

[Russell Lampron]

Everything has been going so well this season that I was wondering when something was going to go wrong. Well it happened! My bulk tank that had 560 gallons of sap in it fell off of the cribbing that it was on sometime during the night. Needless to say, I lost the 560 gallons of sap and have to get the tank back up and cribbed.

I don't know yet how much sap I got overnight but I'm not going to have as much for an afternoon boil as I thought that I would.

[BAP]

That stinks Russ. Like you said, when you think everything is going well, something happens that throws that out the window.

[Russell Lampron]

I went down to the woods this morning and brought up 255 gallons of sap to boil this afternoon. I ran it through the RO at 50%C 50%P and planned on boiling for 3 or so hours. I got a late start on that and didn't light up until 2:10. I ran out of sap at 4:00. That was 125 gallons +/- of 3% concentrate gone in under 2 hours. I thought I was getting about 60 gph out of my evaporator and it looks like it's probably better than that.

I got the bulk tank in place with better cribbing underneath it but need to pick up a couple of pvc fittings and a Fernco connector to repair the broken pipe to the RO. It's a good thing that I have a dedicated concentrate tank. I'm able to use it for raw sap while the bulk tank is down.

I didn't have many customers for the first day of maple weekend but did better than expected. I knew that the turn out wasn't going to be good and am happy with the way it turned out. It felt strange not giving samples though.

[n8hutch]

Hey Russell, I know what you mean about hitting your stride, thinking everything is going smooth and then you realize that your R.O. is sending something down the drain but both valves are directed to tanks. So you look a little harder and discover that you left your wash loop valve open so whatever your feed pump cant handle is going through that valve and running dow down the drain. Sure that doesn't sound bad until you realize that the R.O. has been running for an hour.
Also had to use the Oooo-SHI_ bucket on the first Draw because you have the float set in the wrong groove.
Something about Thursday night's maybe I shouldn't boil on them.

Glad you got your tank straight.

[Russell Lampron]

I hear you Nate. I've made enough mistakes with the RO to take my time and double check everything. Even if I know that everything is going where it's supposed to I go look to verify that actually is.

You can imagine my surprise when I went down at 6 this morning to open the valve on the bulk tank and start the RO. The end of the bulk tank was on the ground and the pipe was broke off of it.

I've had my share of Oh **** moments too and I've got the scorched and warped pans to prove it!

[Pdiamond]

Russ,
Sorry to hear about your tank. Glad it wasn't any worse than it was, and that you were able to get it reset. Good that you had some business and customers. Kinda surprised, there is hardly any traffic on the roads around here.

[Russell Lampron]

Russ,
Sorry to hear about your tank. Glad it wasn't any worse than it was, and that you were able to get it reset. Good that you had some business and customers. Kinda surprised, there is hardly any traffic on the roads around here.

Money wise it's not going to cost much to get the tank connected to the sugar house again but the potential syrup I lost hurts on a low sugar year like this.

There was only one new customer yesterday, everyone else had been here before. I have some good regular customers and they needed their maple syrup fix.

[red maples]

well Sh*t happens I guess, it does suck though especially in a bad year... Glad you had some people out yesterday.

[Russell Lampron]

I'm glad that I've got a tractor with a bucket loader on it. It made moving the bulk tank a lot easier. I wasn't happy with the way that it was sitting after I got it back up yesterday so I picked it up and reset it today. Now I've just got to get to the hardware store and get the pieces that I need to fix the pipe to the sugar house.

Reports from one of the big sugar houses in town was that their sales were at 30% of what they were last year. I ended the weekend at about 30% too. Most of the people that came this year were friends, relatives and repeat customers. The one new customer was someone that moved into a house down the street last summer.

[red maples]

I didn't add things up yet. worked yesterday making bagged bfast and lunches for kids. the number are growing on that stuff every day we are up to 230 meals or (460 meals a day with bfast and lunch combined). I want us all to do good but at the same time I really want people to stay home too. tough stuff right now.

[Russell Lampron]

My wife runs the kitchen at the Penacook Elementary School. She went in yesterday to make breakfast and lunch bags for the kids that get free lunches. At this time the parents come to the school to pick them up. I don't know what will happen if the state goes into total shutdown. Where my daughter is in NC the cooks are making the lunches and the school bus drivers are delivering them.

I boiled again today and made 4 gallons of very dark. I didn't check the ssc of the raw sap but the ratio was about 100 to 1. Glad I've got an RO. The syrup looked dirtier than it has all season but it filtered easier than any of the syrup so far.

[Russell Lampron]

With the news of the executive order that the state is shutting down all non essential businesses I decided to call it a season. They are doing the same thing in NC and my wife wants to go down to be with our kids through this crisis.

My season was good enough and my trees are about to bud so calling it a run or two early isn't breaking my heart. The sap was smelling sour in the bulk tank even though I had just pressure washed it. The steam smelled a little off and the foam was hard to control. Last season on the next to last boil the syrup had an off flavor and it stunk so bad that we could hardly stay in the sugar house. Processing grade syrup is worth next to nothing so "no thank you" on a repeat of that.

I'm at 151 gallons and should be close to 160 after I finish the contents of the evaporator this morning. Not a great season but it could have been much worse.

[BAP]

Looks like the last freeze here tonight. Didn’t freeze last night but ran good yesterday. See what it does today and tomorrow but will probably call it quits too. It certainly has been a crazy year. Stay safe safe Russ in your travels south.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Russ - stay safe on that adventure. Bruce

[Pdiamond]

Russ, Stay safe in your travels to NC and enjoy your time with your kids.

[red maples]

Stay safe in your travels Russ and enjoy being with family!!!

[Russell Lampron]

I finished the contents of the evaporator this morning and got 8 gallons more to put the season total at 159 gallons. If I hadn't ost that 560 gallons of sap when the bulk tank fell I would have been closer to 170.

The buds popped on some of the reds near the house today. It looks like it wasn't a mistake to call it a season last night.

I'm bringing nitrile gloves with me for when I need to get gas. We're bringing a cooler for drinks and we're bringing food with us so that we don't have to try to find a place to eat on the way down. The traffic shouldn't be bad with everyone staying home.

[red maples]

170 gallons, not too bad!!! good to be cautious!!! safe travels

[Russell Lampron]

Thanks Brad, I'm taking all of the precautions that I can. I know that taking a trip like this is probably foolish at a time like this. We want to babysit our new granddaughter while our daughter and son in law go to work minimizing the times when she actually leaves the house. Hopefully when it's time for us to come back home this pandemic will be under control and things will be getting back to normal.

Yesterday was a busy day. I got the taps pulled in the morning, the plastic tanks washed in the afternoon and made a trip to the dump. I jugged up some very dark which I have to label this morning as well.

I did the final wash on the RO overnight on Friday and ran the permeate through it while I was pulling taps. It's unbelievable how well these MES membranes flow and clean up. The flow rates were still at the benchmark at the end of the season just like last year. I haven't needed to do an acid wash since I put them in at the beginning of last season. In those 2 seasons I processed 20,855 gallons of sap, most of it got 2 passes and was concentrated to the mid to upper teens.

This is the fastest that I've gotten this much stuff cleaned and ready for the offseason. I have to thank my son in law, my wife and my cousin for helping out. I couldn't have done it without their help.

[red maples]

actually as long as you minimize your stops bring your own food etc etc you should be pretty good!!! who knows how long this thing will last!!! good to family that helps....

[BAP]

Russ, are you sugaring this year? I haven’t seen you post anything yet? Are you doing ok? Has anyone heard from him?

[white mt]

I Was wondering about Russ myself always enjoy fallowing his thread . He’s always about a week ahead of me for starting and finishing the season .

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

I have not heard or seen anything from him either. He is on my FB page and his last post was thanking people for his Birthday wishes. I hope he is doing well.

[GeneralStark]

Maybe he stayed in North Carolina?

[BAP]

Maybe he stayed in North Carolina?
That’s what I was wondering. I hope his health is ok, I know he told us that he had been treated for cancer.

[red maples]

I haven't heard from him either. Went up to see him last February before everything shut down and he was doing very well. Got to enjoy a boiling soda with him. I was messaging him a few months ago and I know he was looking forward to be sugaring this this year. He's probably just busy is all. I will hit him up on facebook and see what he's up to.

[red maples]

yeah he's fine!!! just busy with projects and getting ready for the season.

[BAP]

yeah he's fine!!! just busy with projects and getting ready for the season.
Thanks for checking and letting us know.

[Russell Lampron]

I'm finally getting around to checking in. I'm starting my 2021 thread tonight. Thanks for the concern.