Tapping Central Pa 2021

[Paddymountain]

Well, it's getting closer to go time! I spent a little time today in the woods getting ready. I have
one bush about ready to go. Installed new spouts and re-tensioned some lines. Sugar house is just about ready . I need to finish
putting the evaporator together, and a little more cleaning up. Looking to start tapping Feb 1! We will see if the weather
cooperates!

[Paddymountain]

I spent a little time in the woods at the house this morning. Replaced a two pipe sap ladder with
a star sap ladder. I'm thinking it will thaw out quicker. Also had a mainline connection that was
just about ready to pull apart. Fixed that and replaced some spiles. Still have a lot to do but hopefully
put a good dent in it this week end. In the sugarshack I need to put my evaporator back together, and wash
up all my receiver parts. Outside, need to get the head tank up on the roof and figure out some plumbing
to get sap to it. I bought a 400 gallon bulk milk tank to replace a 275 gallon cage tank. Mostly just some minor adjustments
to the process.
Feel free everyone to post on this thread!
Hopefully you Central Pa folks will help contribute!

[Openwater]

I'm planning on tapping this Saturday, 1/30.
Pretty much got everything ready.
Putting a few final touches on homemade evaporator: new AUF intake/blower install and putting it on wheels (repurposed AV cart bases) so I can just roll it out of the garage to boil and roll it back in when done.
Finished building shop-vac vacuum filter over weekend
Making sure drill batteries are charged

[minehart gap]

All of my laterals have been cleaned with chlorine. That cleaned stuff out that I couldn't see was in there. Black gunk came out of drops and laterals that I thought were clean. I used vinegar and hot after season last year but that is no comparison to what came out with the chlorine.

Trees are tapped and waiting for sap flow to flush the lines. I washed my tanks this evening. Need to wash the transfer tanks, RO, head tank and evaporator then I think that I am ready to go.

I was talking with a bigger producer about tapping frozen trees. I always thought that they did it so that they could have all of the taps in in time. Turns out that there is an additional reason. He claims that holes clean better with the tapping bit in frozen wood and the spiles seat better, so I tried it. Not sure how to compare but shavings definitely were pulled out more than I remember from past years and no questions that the spiles are seated better.

I have a few trees that I am not tapping because of location and the woodpecker has decimated so I put taps in and when I tried to pull the taps out, they broke off before they came out. I had to use vice grips and hot water to get the rest of the tap out. Never was able to get the one out.

[Manada Hill Maple]

Threw a few taps in on 1/16 to see what the flow was like. Had a few good days of 1.8-2.2%. Will be tapping the rest of my trees this weekend before the snow hits.

[Billinpa]

Running lines tomorrow morning then tapping in on Sunday in Northumberland county. Next week looks like it should be a good one!

[Paddymountain]

With the impending storm on Monday I am planning to get as many taps in tomorrow as I can.
I have two 100 tap bushes I want to do for sure. Regardless of how much snow we get I was planning to tap anyway.
It looks like late next week should be good! I spent some time today getting my head tank in place and figuring
out how to pump sap up to it. I bought a 400 gallon ss bulk tank last summer to put in place of a 275 gallon cage tank, so it took
a different plumbing scenario to work. Just a little to do in the sugar shack, put the float box on the flue pan, and run a new rope to open my steam stack.

[Openwater]

Gonna be a cold one tomorrow for tapping; hopefully my "crew" shows-up. Putting out 50 taps on buckets.
Happy tapping to everyone else starting this weekend!
Billinpa - HWW?

[Sugarmaker]

All of my laterals have been cleaned with chlorine. That cleaned stuff out that I couldn't see was in there. Black gunk came out of drops and laterals that I thought were clean. I used vinegar and hot after season last year but that is no comparison to what came out with the chlorine.

Trees are tapped and waiting for sap flow to flush the lines. I washed my tanks this evening. Need to wash the transfer tanks, RO, head tank and evaporator then I think that I am ready to go.

I was talking with a bigger producer about tapping frozen trees. I always thought that they did it so that they could have all of the taps in in time. Turns out that there is an additional reason. He claims that holes clean better with the tapping bit in frozen wood and the spiles seat better, so I tried it. Not sure how to compare but shavings definitely were pulled out more than I remember from past years and no questions that the spiles are seated better.

I have a few trees that I am not tapping because of location and the woodpecker has decimated so I put taps in and when I tried to pull the taps out, they broke off before they came out. I had to use vice grips and hot water to get the rest of the tap out. Never was able to get the one out.

Matt,
Thank you for joining us today for our annual Northwest PA Maple Producers Meeting (Zoom) Had a good time!
Good luck with that new evaporator! We need pictures too!
Regards,
Chris

[Paddymountain]

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! Today I managed to put in almost 300 taps!
Everything is tapped except a 3/16 line along a road with 17 taps on it , and 50 buckets to put out.
Trees tapped on the sun side were dripping rather well. I want to let my tubing run on the ground for awhile.
Temps look good for a run maybe Fri/Sat. Hopefully collect enough to boil on Sunday.

[Billinpa]

Decided to hold off on tapping in with the forecast change. Maybe next week now.

Openwater don't under understand the HWW?

[Openwater]

collected 13 gallons of sap this afternoon from drops into buckets

[Openwater]

Collected 18 gallons today. 2.0% sugar on both the walnut and maple sap.

[Billinpa]

Maybe I should have tapped LOL

[Paddymountain]

I think I made a mistake! Thursday I checked my one main line and it was running fairly well.
The forecast here for yesterday wasn't too promising, although it turned out to be really sunny and nice.
I hesitated and didn't hook up my tanks in the morning, thereby loosing a pretty good run. This morning
I set out my barrels and hooked up my cage tank that has 100 taps running into. It will run some today but
after that, it looks like a week of Antarctica here. Whatever runs in the tanks now will keep until we get into serious
sap weather.

[Openwater]

Good day today - collected 27 gallons.
Got 18 gallons black walnut and 40 gallons of maple, total, to boil tomorrow.
First attempt using the RO5 and first burn in the evaporator. Hoping to be done by gametime.

[Paddymountain]

Caught between a glacier and an iceberg! Looks like favorable weather starting next Friday.

[HowardR]

Got out into the woods today to start preparing for tapping. I'm planning to start drilling on Thursday and finish on Saturday with the help of my son, grandson and some friends.

I'm near Kittanning which is right in the middle of the western half of the state. The forecast here calls for highs in the the upper 30s every day next week, starting on Monday, and I want to be ready.

[Muddy Bottoms]

North Central in Tioga County and we are getting more snow and ice. Probably another 15 inches of snow by this weekend. I won't be able to tap till this weekend at the earliest. Only had 1 day over 32 this month so far and most nights in the teens.

[cjf12]

Just over the hill from PaddyMountain. We spent monday tapping our mountain Red Maples. We still have our lower woods of Sugars to tap and hopefully can squeeze that in Saturday. Got home from work a little early today and hiked up the mountain to fix some leaks. Four wheeler has no interest in getting us close to the teees. Went from 8" to 21". Alot of mainline still under snow. That crust was a bear but that was a great time in the woods. Ice falling off of trees as the wind kicked up and rolling 100s of yards down the mountain on the hard crust. Occasional limb falling kept you alert. I haven't had that good of a time in the woods in a while.

[Paddymountain]

Spent the weekend digging out woodpiles, tanks and mainlines. Also put
out about 45 buckets on Saturday. It was about 30 degrees and really windy, but the sun was out. Some taps actually
were dripping. Got all the plumbing figured out for transferring sap from my new bulk tank to my head tank.
Looks like Tuesday will be the start of the season here.

[minehart gap]

I think that I finally have my vacuum pump where I am comfortable with it. At least until I know more about vacuum. Everything in the woods is cleaned up, thawed out and as ready as I know how to get. I just need to do a soap wash on the RO, wash the head tank and sweeten the pans.
It's quarter till Go Time

[Paddymountain]

Tonight was the first gathering of the season! We got 120 gallons of 2.5 percent. I have a cage tank with about 110 taps running into it.
This morning it had about 4 inches of ice and just a little sap that run in yesterday. Tomorrow I'll pump it in the morning and start
our first boil. Got the vacuum up and running at the house; only getting about 18" of vacuum. I'll have to go on a leak finding
expedition after I boil. Not sure but this might be the latest I've ever started! We will see how it goes this year. I'm thinking
the next two weeks are gonna be great. After that; who knows.

[Openwater]

Good run yesterday. Collected about 30 gallons of maple and walnut sap combined. Running into cold storage issues with the warmer days. I have 5 gallon water jugs of sap packed in what's left of the snow and RO'ed some yesterday to free-up space in the tank; put the concentrate in fridge in buckets.

[Ocelotsden]

I have dozens of black walnuts around be and never thought about tapping any of them. I'm tempted to tap a couple of the big ones and see what the brix level is on them and if decent, what it tastes like finished. I've never tasted it, or even seen it for that matter.

[Openwater]

you won't get as much sap from the walnuts as the maples, so for alot of people, the extra labor doesn't justify the decreased production. I don't have many trees, so it's not that much more trouble to collect from the walnuts at the same time as the maples. Plus, we like the extra flavor the walnut adds to the maple syrup. The walnut sap collected yesterday was only 1.8%. But the earlier run beginning of Feb, it was 2.2%.

[sbedilion]

i've tapped a couple big walnuts in the past and they ran really well. do it. haha

[Paddymountain]

Boiled about 200 gallons Thursday and 160 on Friday. Made about 3 gallons
of syrup so far.

[Ocelotsden]

Is a bunch not finished yet or is that 3 gallons from 360 gallons of sap?

[Paddymountain]

My evaporator take about 225 gallons to sweeten the pans!
From now on I’ll pull a gallon for every 40 gallons I boil. It all works out in the end.

[Springfield Acer]

We finished tapping Saturday the 20th.
Today, we finished our first cord of wood, 900 gallons of sap, for 19-1/4 gallon of nice light syrup.
Sap does not seem to be breaking any record but this might be the quickest to 20 gallons for us.
Won't go below freezing until Monday PM so it will slow a bit here in Mercer, PA.
Running right abour 2% max.

[Paddymountain]

As of yesterday we have boiled around 700 gallons of sap, and made close to 8 gallons of syrup.
No big tsunami yet , just regular runs. Maybe Wednesday when it goes to 50 it will break loose.
Looking good this weekend for our open house, with River Valley Maple Assn. Saturday/Sunday 10-5

[HowardR]

Looks like a busy week this week! If the forecast holds up, the maple sap should be pouring out for about a week starting this afternoon, once the trees recover from last night's 15 degrees. And that's not all that will be happening:


My wife and I are getting our first COVID vaccine shots this afternoon.
Our friendly Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture inspector is coming out for second time to inspect our maple syrup kitchen on Thursday - I'm his only maple syrup producer.
And my wife has invited a girl scout troop out on Saturday to learn how maple syrup is made. I'm planning to take some photos when the girl scouts are here and share them.

We haven't had so much excitement around here in months!

[Turtlecreek]

All tapped in and ready for the good run this week. Have to do a little repair on the RO since I busted a fitting the other day, but other than that I think I’m ready.

Stopped and saw Paddymountain on Saturday and he reminded me I haven’t checked in here in a while, so figured I’d make my mark for the year.

Oh and looking to update my collection so at the end of the season if anyone is getting rid of sap sacks let me know I’m thinking of going that route.

[Openwater]

Hey Turtle Ck. I'm hoping for a good week as well. I thought after the freezing temps Sunday and Monday night that Monday and Tuesday would produce a decent amount of sap, but my buckets barely had anything in them. Hoping today thru Friday is better to get enough to boil on Saturday.

[Openwater]

Any thoughts on this forecast? Our season isn't ending already next week, is it?
22118

[HowardR]

Any thoughts on this forecast? Our season isn't ending already next week, is it?
Here, right in the middle of Western half of PA, we have five days of warm weather starting Monday with highs in the 50s and 60s and lows above freezing. During that first warm day, the sap will be running like crazy. During the next it will tail off, and by the third it will be down to a trickle.

After those warm days, the long-term forecast says that we'll be getting back to great maple syrup weather. If the trees bud during those warm days, then our season will be over, but I doubt that that will happen. So I'm expecting a resumption of maple syrup season after the warm spell ends.

About 5 years ago we had a similar season. I made about 3/8 of my syrup before the warm spell. Then after the warm spell, the holes of most of my trees had healed over. So I re-tapped and had a record year.

[Openwater]

I made about 3/8 of my syrup before the warm spell. Then after the warm spell, the holes of most of my trees had healed over. So I re-tapped and had a record year.
When you "re-tapped", did you drill new holes, or just ream-out the same holes?

[HowardR]

I drilled out new holes about 3 inches to the right or to the left of the old holes. In order to minimize damage to the trees, I only drill my holes 1.5 inches deep and have stoppers on all of my drill bits to prevent them from going deeper.

By the way, my forecast just got a lot better because the temperature Monday night is now supposed to go below freezing. Hooray!

High Monday 50, Low Monday night 31
High Tuesday 60, Low Tuesday night 35
High Wednesday 64

The sap flow on all three days could be huge! I'll probably have to to run my ROs 24/7 to keep up. I'm going to put them both through the lye wash cycle on Sunday to get them ready.

[Paddymountain]

Openwater: It depends on where you are at in central Pa. I'm at the western end of Union County up against the mountains;
it's easily 5 degrees cooler here than along the Susquehanna River 20 miles east of me. Like HowardR is explaining , it could be warm for a few days, but
as long as it goes back below freezing you should be able to recover from it. I believe the year he is referring to, here we had about 3 days above 60 in early
February. I didn't drill any new holes ,but re-drilled some and saved my season. It's definitely a late start here, but I looked at my notes and one year, 2015
we started in March and went into early April and made about 70 gallons of syrup. hth

[Openwater]

Thanks for the reassurance, Paddy. I'm south of you just across the river from Harrisburg; only 5 miles west of the Susquehanna but our temp is usually at least 5 degrees cooler than the east side of the river.
I've only done 2 batch boils so far and feel like I finally have the boiling process/routine dialed-in. Would hate to think the season's end is in sight already. I'm only collecting with drops into buckets (no vacuum), so assume my tap holes are probably only good for 4-6 weeks from what I've read, and I've already been tapped for over 4 wks.

[Turtlecreek]

This will be perfect for me. My bush is on the north side so these temps won’t bother me one bit.

[Paddymountain]

We had a great Maple Open House this weekend! We made lots of steam and had about 75 people each day. We were really surprised
that we had a lot of people right up until 5:00 this afternoon when we were done.
All in all very pleased at the turnout.

[HowardR]

We had a great Maple Open House this weekend! We made lots of steam and had about 75 people each day. We were really surprised
that we had a lot of people right up until 5:00 this afternoon when we were done.
All in all very pleased at the turnout.
What sort of demos did you do? When we had a girl scout troop come out on Saturday, they tapped a tree (with a brace and bit), tasted sap and syrup, and hand-pumped a bit of syrup through my filter press. I was worried that they would be cold as our maple syrup kitchen is not heated and the temperature was around 32, but nobody complained.

[Paddymountain]

HowardR: Yeah I usually let the kids tap a tree and hang a bucket! It was so cold on Saturday I didn't think it would run.
And yesterday I just plain forgot. I can hardly talk today from talking nonstop all weekend. We always treat people to waffle strips
and hot syrup in a dixie cup. They seem to really like that. This year I made maple glazed walnuts and set them out to sell.
They were gone both day by noon! We run out of sap on Sunday about 2:30 so we just explained how the evaporator worked, but it also warmed
up enough to fire up the vacuum pump, and they got to see the releaser in action. Also filtered some syrup yesterday and bottled a little
so they could see that process. Had a few people say " now we know why maple syrup costs so much". Glad we could educate more
people about the wonderful world of maple.

[HowardR]

Paddymountain, You put on a great show for your visitors!

My sap is pouring out today. This will be, by far, my biggest run of the year. It's going to be a challenge to keep up with it.

[Paddymountain]

Just came up from boiling. We collected about 450 gallons today: I started at six, but couldn't get through it all.
Looks like 30 degrees here tonight so I believe tomorrow could be as good as today.
Went over the 30 gallon mark last night, and may hit 50 after we get this run all processed. The warm days are going to hurt,
but if we make it until Friday next week looks good.

[HowardR]

Just came up from boiling. We collected about 450 gallons today: I started at six, but couldn't get through it all.
Looks like 30 degrees here tonight so I believe tomorrow could be as good as today.
Went over the 30 gallon mark last night, and may hit 50 after we get this run all processed. The warm days are going to hurt,
but if we make it until Friday next week looks good.
Paddymountain, Your experience and mine are very similar:


My syrup numbers this season are about the same as yours.
I also didn't get through all of the sap last night.
I also got a nice frost last night, so the sap is again pouring in today, and with a warm night forecast for tonight it will keep pouring in all night.

And to think, just a few days ago we were complaining that we weren't getting enough sap this season!

[HowardR]

My RO's have been running 24/7 for about 48 hours now. My wife and I bottled 12.5 gallons of syrup yesterday, and my guess is that we'll have about the same amount to bottle this evening. I am staying on top of things, but just barely. I built my first RO after a season like this which ended with me pitching hundreds of gallons of sap because I coudn't process them before they went bad.

On another note, the ticks around here are bad right now. I picked up one yesterday. A friend of mine says her boys were playing outside yesterday and they picked up several. This afternoon, I'm going to be spraying my maple bush clothing with Sawyer's Premium Insect Repellent. It really works! Here's the link (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sawyer-Permethrin-Clothing-and-Fabric-Insect-Repellent-Trigger-Spray/19887389?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222222016955202&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=e&wl1=s&wl2=c&wl3=10352706459&wl4=pla-1103058676513&wl12=19887389_0&wl14=Sawyer%20Premium%20Insect%20Repllent&veh=sem&msclkid=4bde2d4e382e1290e0fb4d04238795e1).

[Paddymountain]

I’m with you Howard! I have about 500 gallons to boil today. Tomorrow I want to wash out all my tanks and wait for the next freeze!

[cjf12]

We processed about 3500 gallons the past 3 days with some still in the tanks. Looking forward for things to slow down for a day or so.

[HowardR]

We processed about 3500 gallons the past 3 days with some still in the tanks. Looking forward for things to slow down for a day or so.

The lull is not going to last long! We've got a frost coming up Friday night and normal maple syrup weather for the week after that. But normal will feel like a lull after that sap tsunami that we handled this week!

[Paddymountain]

13 hour boil yesterday! Have almost everything filtered and bottled.
Today is clean up day! Glad I am semi retired, it would be tough to get up
and go to work, as tired as I am. Not sure how much our sap total is,
but next boil should get us over 50 gallons. Mostly dark robust with one
day rich amber. Hope everyone was able to process all their sap before it spoiled.

[HowardR]

Paddy,

Your prediction that you would be over 50 gallons for the season turned out to be true for me as well. My wife and I just finished bottling, and our total for the run was a bit more than 27.5 gallons.

[cjf12]

We are about 500ish less taps this year but have made 108 gallons already as of today. Last years total was 180. We may make that yet this week if temps do what the weather man is saying. Not sure I have ever been this consistently busy with boiling. We usually get a few breathers here and there.

[Paddymountain]

We really took a beating Thur/Fri with the heat. It was 21 degrees
this morning . If we don’t get a run today we will be done.

[Openwater]

Yeah, it was hot down here end of last week as well. Got some mold in the bottom of some of the empty buckets on Friday, so I pulled those buckets, did some switching around so now I only have buckets on just maples. Pulled all the black walnut taps. If the buckets are empty today and tomorrow, I think we're done as well.
I wonder how things are running up at Minehart Gap outside Lewistown.

[Openwater]

Buckets were practically empty this afternoon. If they're still empty tomorrow, I'm pulling my taps and cleaning-up.

[Paddymountain]

We managed to scrape up about 50 gallons tonight. I don’t think
it really started running too early today. Re- drilled the taps on
my buckets and and they seemed to take right off dripping fairly
fast. Gonna gather again tomorrow night and boil, hopefully get a little more tomorrow.
But the end is definitely in sight.

[minehart gap]

Sap is flowing here. Not the flows from last week but good sap. It's been getting below freezing in the gap every night since last Saturday. Red and Silver maples down by the river are starting to bloom so the reds up on the mountain only have another week to 10 days and the sugars will go about a week longer so we are nearing the end but make what you can. Odd year for sure. Not a drop in February. I'm retapping starting tomorrow evening.

[HowardR]

I'm done. The sap I was boiling yesterday and this morning smelled good. The stuff that I am boiling now smells buddy. Fortunately, I've largely got the two separated. Tomorrow, I'll make the syrup from last night and this morning, then I'll start putting everything away for the season.

[Paddymountain]

I’m still in the game! Right now boiling 180 gallons before I go to work. 50 degrees today, I think I’ll make it to the weekend.

[Manada Hill Maple]

Looks like my season is done here in Harrisburg. Most of my trees are in a tree line and close by a stream... Just a few in the woods. It looks like the buds will be popping open this weekend after the rain is gone.

I tapped fairly early this year and glad I did. Had pretty solid run of sap since mid January (minus the frozen week we had late January). Time to clean the buckets, RO, and pull the taps this weekend.

[Openwater]

I'm done. My reds quit running last weekend. Clean-up this weekend.
Made almost 3 gallons of maple walnut syrup this year.

[Paddymountain]

Still making syrup here! Just got done going through about 150
gallons of sap. Need to filter and bottle after I get something to eat.
Looking good here for the weekend, Possibly into Monday.
After that it will be time to pull the plug. Might hit 60
gallons, we will see!

[Manada Hill Maple]

Meanwhile, in Harrisburg...

22276

[Ed R]

Looks like the flower buds are just starting to open. I have made perfectly good syrup when in full flower. The issue is if you have viable taps or not or if it just stops running. My reds and silvers here at the Ohio/ Mi. Border are not far behind that. I am boiling today, just only on half the taps I started on. To warm for to long. Taps with a more northerly aspect are running strong. I will be done on Monday, no cold on the horizon.

[Paddymountain]

Just finished boiling, probably made another 3 gallons.
Looks like tomorrow is the last day. We are going to gather late
and get it by boiled. After that its finish out what’s in the
evaporator, filter/bottle, and then start on tubing and buckets.
It seems like we just got started, barely a four week season!
Would have liked to make more, but got all nature allowed.

[cjf12]

Lost a third of our tap count this year. That being said we have almost made what we did last year. Upgrades to vacuum system has helped.
Boiled 2x today. 1st thing this morning and just finishing up now by cleaning ro. Hoping to get a couple more boils till mid week. As always, looking forward to finishing up but also have grand schemes for next years improvements.
After 15+ years of talking about it my wife and I are finally gonna head to tioga county for open houses. Boys are old enough to get the chores and manage the littles while we leave for the day and the sap can wait till Monday.

[upsmapleman]

If you stop by Millers introduce yourself. I will be in sugarhouse boiling.

[Paddymountain]

Last night was it for us! Boiled about 150 gallons of sap. Sap total for the year is around
3500 gallons. We will go over 60 gallons of syrup, but won't know for sure until
we boil what's in the evaporator. Kind of a mediocre year, as I always have a goal of 75 gallons.
Syrup sales have been brisk to say the least; probably sell out by July for sure.

[Paddymountain]

Got the last of my syrup filtered/bottled today. Total of 63 1/2 gallons for the season. 3500 gallons of sap on about 390 taps.
The evaporator is soaking in vinegar until next week. Mostly cleaned up at the sugarshack, and have the tubing at the house
flushed. Tomorrow it's bucket washing time and hopefully flush more tubing. Got a couple ideas for next year, we will see if I
follow through. Syrup sales have been excellent, as we only have 17 gallons yet to sell.