Langlade county

[Cozy maple]

Tapped today. Most trees running already. Barrel evaporator all set up. Hope to start cooking next weekend.

[wilfredjr]

20 gallons sap on 10 taps since 3/6, 10 the last 48 hours
If I can pull off this here small scale RO panel, I'l double the taps

[Cozy maple]

Collected 90 gallons of sap last weekend on 30 taps. New RO bucket set up worked perfectly. Ended up with just under 3 gallons of beautiful amber syrup.

[Cozy maple]

Picked up another 80 gallons this afternoon. Going through the RO now. Will start boiling at 6 tomorrow morning. Running good today.

[wilfredjr]

Checked taps after rain day and left so little on the trees to hold the bags in the wind. Ice everywhere.
Leaked about 3 gallons sap troubleshooting no-flow on the new RO housing. Wrong feed elbow order. Who knew the pink one had to go last instead of first? Jill, of course.

[Cozy maple]

Anybody know how they're running this week in Langlade county? Have heard good reports elsewhere.

[wilfredjr]

Gathered 8 gallons this am on 20 taps from yesterday, which was sunny and the snow was walkable, but the bags had a fair amount of ice. RO unit reduction of sap really helping out with storage between boils

[Cozy maple]

Thanks.We'll be up Friday. Hoping for a good run this week. I'd like to see 80 gallons or better.

[wilfredjr]

Chilly:supposed to be 5* overnight
All stop this morning

[Cozy maple]

Got up to the woods around 4:30 today. Picked up a little over 100 gallons. Running through the RO now. Probably will wait to start cooking until it warms up a little tomorrow morning. Sap was down to 2.8%.
Looking forward to some calm during the storm.

[Cozy maple]

Finished a little over two and a half gallons yesterday. One more week and we will pull the taps. It's been nice having our boiling time cut in half with the RO bucket system. Back to cleaning up after the storm when the season ends.

[wilfredjr]

Still frozen solid up in the hills.

[wilfredjr]

3 day run tapering off; storage full of 30 gallons of 6%+ concentrate from 19 taps (one bag bit the dust in the wind); first boil tomorrow. As a first-time RO user, it will be interesting to see what the concentrate will do with the boil duration. All I can say is that the membranes do not like the cold, and for god's sake run a rinse cycle every 8-10 gallons or the rate drops off steeply. But I sure like the sugar boost. Over 6% is insane.

[Cozy maple]

Collected 130 gallons of sap this week. Pulled the taps on Saturday. 21323Boiled Friday and Saturday. Ended up with just over 10 gallons of syrup for the season.
Very happy with the RO bucket system and the modifications to the evaporator.

[wilfredjr]

12 taps 6 active, mostly by the lakeshore. FOMO so I thought I'd better get going before St Tappy's Day or I'd be late. Warmer forecast than anticipated.

[Cozy maple]

30 taps in last Saturday. Running well. Picked up 35 gallons and put in another 10 taps Wednesday. Discovered several taps leaking. Tried wrapping spiles with teflon tape. Will check them today to see if it works. Flushing RO today hope to boil early next week.

[wilfredjr]

12 taps off and running. For the 10 days active, 15 gallons first 3 days, stall, now doubled sap collected since Friday and storage full up. New RO pump still in transit, so I need to boil today, as I expect this week to run with perfect temps predicted. All sap 3%. Spring Forward!

[wilfredjr]

Two 32 gallon boils complete for 3 plus gallons syrup; 20 gallons sap in storage, and 14 taps still running, still over 3%. RO restored by new pump for second boil, and back to back comparison sure shows why you mess around with it. Over 6% means less than half the propane and time. Perfect 40-20 temps now but may not get a fourth boil with predicted temps skewing way warm soon. Weeks ahead this year.

[wilfredjr]

After a string of sub-zero overnight lows, today is sunny and 45•, and the forecast leapt right into range. Two feet of snow is turning to slush; the driveway a luge run. Yesterday, the ice and snow were firm, and it was the day to tap around here.
I, of course, am on hold, remodeling the kitchen. I will keep the St Tappy's Day date holy, by God.

[wilfredjr]

10 taps in yesterday in 50 degrees; warm again today and not one drop of sap

[wilfredjr]

Frozen up for days. No Forties for a week? A week ago it was too warm and raining. Weather's gonna run out the clock again.

[wilfredjr]

all taps go so clearing storage with first boil today 9 gallons @ 7% concentrate, between tossing ice and two-stage 150 homemade RO

[wilfredjr]

Cleaning RO today as the snow falls yet again, all 19 bags still frozen solid from the last few days. Got in 7 small batches this year, to the usual 4, carelessly scorching one, but a good yield for a little guy of 24 pints, enough for gifts and personal use anyway. With the lake still frozen and modest snow cover, I was going to try for one more, but the RO filter smells from being kept inside; the diaphrams likely bad, too, so i'm done. Thursday will be 60•, so let the yard work begin.

[wilfredjr]

So I had to re=assemble everything and do 3 more boils, as cool temps lingered and the bags kept refilling for extra gallon syrup, nice and golden clear. Pulled bags today anticipating seventy degree spike tomorrow; reds still ok; lake ice holding and no peepers yet. season has run from 3/20 to 4/22 and beyond, but i'm done

[wilfredjr]

Tapped ten today, all froze up, probably a week late, but it's been snowing, often, and I was waiting for some footing. Stomped the trail with snowshoes again; they'll firm up. Here we go.

[wilfredjr]

Pulled half the taps down by the lake after those 3 days in the eighties; peepers started and red maple buds swelling, but put two back out when the snow came back to try for a fourth boil, half the usual, despite cleaning being completed. Cut the boils a bit short to increase production, as I'm usually overcooked, 78% and chock full of sugar sand. Three gallons bottled anyway; may get my fourth with this snow again. Jeeze.

[220 maple]

Congratulations, you might be the last camp producing in the USA!
Mark220maple

[wilfredjr]

ten taps in by Groundhog Day; modest accumulation and no gathering; froze up overnight 25* four more today' 40-20 predicted as far as the eye can see, so what the heck? New 30"x17"x9" pan so RO on hold till I get some notion of continuous flow.

[wilfredjr]

8.5 gallons sap on 14 taps in two days; 5 came yesterday afternoon after the bags thawed out; erratic tree performance

[wilfredjr]

7 of 14 bags have accumulated about a gallon each since 2/10; the rest even less. The cold hammer came and shut it down. Today the taps are just thinking about waking up, although the overnight low's back up in the twenties. We saw single digets for a week. Might see fifty and melt the ice-bags today.

[wilfredjr]

Gathered 10.5 gallons of 2.5+% on 14 taps yesterday about midday, and all were running strong in 50° sunshine, a vast improvement on the 1.5% on the 2/1-2/8 opening run. That was too soon to move. Still, this is a month before my traditional St Patrick's Day first tap. Had planned for 3/8, but yesterday was the day. 27° overnight, so taps refroze till about 10 am, and I will probably get another 10 here today; resuming suspended boil this weekend; 1 gallon of 26% sweet still frozen in the covered evaporator; planning a needle-valve drip to attempt my first continuous boil.

[wilfredjr]

Gathered 10 gallons sap yesterday, accumulation since 2/28; 29 on hand, 58 boiled down to 2 gallons 76% syrup with rising sap sugar content now 3.6%, an interesting trend. New pan works well for low and slow boil, but not enough volume here with 16 taps to justify continuous boil. Pan edges never got over 206°; bubbles confined to now seriously undersized burner area. Loving the color, absence of sugar sand and pan crud; same taste and viscosity.

[wilfredjr]

2nd boil completed Friday 3/8; season total 98 gal sap on 16 taps 4 gallons syrup bottled; best ever performance from drip add to new flat pan, cut boiling in half, propane by a third and increased output by 25%; trees stopped since Friday unseasonably warm steady temps, and a rapid, ugly budswell up top and on sunny exposures. Sixties predicted Tuesday and Wednesday; may close me down. Glad I got going early after all.

[wilfredjr]

First six taps in reds down on shore have slowed to a trickle, with red buds swelling overhead. The next six sugars up hill are running like mad today, and show little sign of stopping; another four are . 55• and low twenties; 25 gallons on hand 10 on the trees; 10 more and i'll start my last boil, and likely bottle the most syrup ever. 2 gallons plus 3 gallons plus maybe 3. It's the pan, plus a timely beginning.

[wilfredjr]

Completed 3rd boil yesterday with stored sap after much delay, and to my surprise it ended well. I was waiting until Easter travel was over and for the taps to resume after a prolonged weather shut down to see what it would look like. The upland sugar males are still pre-bud, but the reds by the shore are far gone, and six bags were pulled already. Well, being only the beginning of April, the remaining 10 ran clear like the devil, but the brix was only 1%, less than half than before the shut down, and much of the stored sap was a bit milky, so I dumped the whole mess and pulled the pin. I was able to combine two questionable three gallon kettles of unfinished syrups and take them down to one beautiful 3 gallon set, ridding a faint strawberry odor I had never experienced before from one of them, which was great. It brought my season to 8 gallons, an unprecedented total, and now I can give some to a few neighbors I've had to stiff a few years;>

[wilfredjr]

Looked like a week of forties maybe, so I got out there Sunday (sunny 38•)and tapped 8 maples down on the lakeshore, with no result. Today (Sunny 47•), 3 had less than an inch and 1 about two drops. But I think I caught the wave. I like this early high content sap.

[wilfredjr]

Well, that was bull****. First off, 3 of 8 were ready to drip, but they were unable to keep running in the steady above freezing temps, which persisted a few days. Now, we're back to single digits for a spell. Keep thinking, Butch.

[wilfredjr]

Still zilch. A few drips; maybe two gallons total on 8 taps. Not even tempted to expand footprint.

[wilfredjr]

Yesterday, in record 64 degrees, I gathered 4 gallons on 8 taps from over two days. Worse yet, the stuff is 1.5%, lowest ever. Two days ahead look good, but then the temp will soar back up. Still 18 inches of ice on the lake, but some reds in the sun on the shore popped their little tips already. Gonna get squeezed this year.