Prepping for 2008 Season

[Russ]

Well, we usually until after January 1 to start getting excited about sap season, but with the impending rise in gas prices, some spare vacation days at the end of the year, and materials in hand, we put together 900 bag holders on 12/29. We have a hunting cabin on the same 40 as the sugar shack, so we heated up the old wood furnace, clipped the DC-to-AC converter to the truck battery, popped in a comedy DVD, and spent 4 hours (me, two brothers, and Dad) putting bags on the holders. A lot of reminiscing about past seasons and what this season may be like... there is already more snow on the ground than past years, so we may have to dust off the snow shoes.

The day before, we worked on cutting up a huge pile of pallets that brother Ryan had hauled over the past several weeks. If we can double what we currently we have, supplemented with some slabs and round wood, we will be in great shape. We're ahead of where we were at for wood at this time last year, so things are going well so far.

We'll likely cut down on retailing this year and sell more as bulk. I don't think we can raise our retail prices as much as it will take to make out with rising bulk prices and container costs, especially plastic. It's tough getting more than $10/quart retail. Time will tell.

[Parker]

How was your season last year?

[Russ]

Parker, last year was one of the strangest we've had since starting in 1989. In April we had a warm week, which really shut the flow down, followed by a very cold week, which basically did the same thing. I think halfway through the cold week we were at 1/2 of a normal crop; many producers in WI were already pulling taps due to the warm week. We are in a low, cold spot and didn't have significant budding, so we decided to re-tap our trees as the tap holes were several weeks old and had some build-up in them. My two brothers did approximately 3000 of our 4,200 trees; the week after the cold spell we had several very good runs and ended up with a full crop. Our uncle did not re-tap his 800 taps, so he came up a bit short on his crop (we boil for him). Many folks that pulled earlier had anywhere from 25%-50% or a crop. We learned that we need to hold back our tapping, given that we are in such a cold spot, and not to get excited when others are tapping 50 miles away.

[fred]

russ if you can get to the twin cities try to sell wholesale out there, my uncle lives on the west side and he said he has alot of trouble getting syrup. alot of times he will stock up when he comes to visit. i need to hook him up with riley.you should be able to get a pretty good buck as he said the economy is pretty good where he is.

[jemsklein]

russ we had the exact same problem last year. in 2006 we had 80 taps and ended with 80 liters of syrup 2007 we had 150 taps and ended with 60 liters of syrup this year we are at 350 and hopefully get 350 liters of syrup if theron's forcast is right

[Parker]

Russ-how many gallons is an average year?

[Russ]

Parker, it is disappointing but normal for us not to average even close to the "quart per tap" rule of thumb. Last year I think we produced, along with my uncle's sap, a little over 500 gallons. For close to 5,000 taps, this is pretty pathetic. I attribute this to: 1) Low sugar count... 2.5 is probably the highest test we get, and that is rare. 1.9 to 2.0 is typical. We tap a blend of hard and soft maple. 2) Low sap production per tap... based on observations of the bags, I doubt we get 10 gallons of sap per tap. We have eliminated the vacuum on almost all our networks, due to the price of gas, distance to start the generators, etc. 3) Location... As I mentioned in the past, we are in a low, cold area. Many northern slopes. It's been a long time since we've had what we refer to as a "Magnum Run".

What I don't think are the causes include 1) Tapping technique... we use sharp bits, disinfect the holes, etc... 2) Waste... we seldom, if ever, have containers running over. We faithfully look for and repair leaks.

I'd like to know other peoples yield per tap to see what the group averages and what the variance is.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

RUSS

dont feel alone i dont get the quart per tap either. never have always something goes amuck, short season, low sugar content.

RICH

[TapME]

Russ, we had only 7 gallons on 80 taps, going for 200 and maybe we will get 20gallons.

[Parker]

I am really going to count how many taps I have so Ill know my average better but last year I would guess I had around 1800-1900 taps and made 447 gallons,,,but I have vacuum on almost everythin,,the one lot I did not put vacuum on last year (250 taps) never ran enough to gather!!!I also boil till the trees are no longer giving,,making alot of commercial towards the end of the season I would not try sugaring without vacuum,,,,last year my neighbors that usually make 200 gallons made 80,,,no vacuum,,,do you have any big lots on tubing? I was blown away by how much more sap I was getting at 20" of Vac. compared to 14-16" at Rte.11,,( of course we thinned out those woods 4 years ago and that has to make some diffrance -and the tubing there is a wet-dryline system and tight, or it was),,,,,I can send you some pics (or anyone interested) in how the SP-22 I got last year is set up with a 5hp Honda,,5 gallons of gas=18 hours run time= one hell of a lot of sap,,,lower sugarcontent to be sure but well worth it in my opinion,,,seems like running a genorator to run the elec. moter on a pump would burn alot more gas (genorator WFO) compared to a 5HP honda chugging along,,,,,,This year I will be running 2 sp-22's and a BB-4,,I hope to have 20" vac.everywhere this spring,,,,,high vacuum=lots of sap,,,sounds like you could handel it with the evaporator,,,how many GPH will that rig do?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Russ,

How did the monster evaporator do last year. I know you were going to do some more tweaking on it??

[Russ]

When things are going well, we estimate we're doing just north of 300 gph. This fall we took all the pans off and had the bottoms sand blasted; 4 years of soot had built up. Flue brushing helps, but now we have bare metal showing on all the pan bottoms. We have some additional tweaks to do in terms of adjusting the ramp in the arch and looking at more air injection. Hopefully we'll get higher and more consistent performance. We pipe the "near syrup" to a small, channeled flat bottom pan on a separate arch; it gets to the point where we need a full time person to draw off. We're going to pipe the finishing pan arch's chimney into the main arch's chimney to take advantage of the induction fan mounted at the top of that chimney.

I'd like to find a flow meter for the 2" feed pipe so I could get an instant reading on sap consumption. I'm concerned about the stickiness and cost. Anyone have any ideas?

Parker, could you send your SP-22 pix to me at: thebergs at centurytel dot net?

Thanks.

[jemsklein]

well we spent another 8 hours in the bush we got the main line done we also got the barrels in place and hoked up we also got some more 5/16th line up and we tapped a re test tree a week ago and it ran very good to today

[Sugarmaker]

Russ you asked about avg yield. 2007 We had 400 taps and made 100 gallons of syrup all grades. This was gravity tubing and buckets on all road side sugar maples.

Chris

[tuckermtn]

Russ- we have a mix of buckets and tubing- 350 taps- only minimal vac. on 140 taps. we made 102 gal last year...but that was almost 2x what we have made in years past per tap...so not a real good indicator...

-tuckermtn

[Ahnohta]

Do any Wisconsinites know of any upcoming tubing seminars in northern 1/2 of Wisconsin???

[lpakiz]

Do you know about the one near Cadott, WI (Roth's Sugar Bush) on Jan 31, Feb 1 and 2?
Feb 1st is tubing by Glen Goodrich of Vermont @ 1PM.

[Russ]

I'll be going to Roth's on that Saturday for their Open House, held the first weekend in February every year. We usually get our containers from them at that time.

[jemsklein]

now i have a question can i store bulk syrup in plastic 55 gallon drums or can it only be store in stainless steel

[Chemist]

Hey Russ,

Nice to see you Sunday. I am about a month away right now, unless it stays cold.

Might go up to 32 taps.

[ennismaple]

now i have a question can i store bulk syrup in plastic 55 gallon drums or can it only be store in stainless steel

I know some of the manufacturers make a plastic drum with a disposable bag liner. Otherwise I wouldn't store syrup in plastic for any length of time. A stainless steel drum will last forever.

[peacemaker]

well looks like i am gonna need to go to some place like bascoms for some used pans any one have and exp with them good or bad .. or any other suggestions ... i have made my own arch and had flat pans but my back pan is probally got lead and is flat and my front i had made is 3 sections but no float box . i am gonna use it as a pre heater on a 50 gal drum stove and want to get a nice set of raised flue pans for the back and 2x2 rev flow for my front with floats man 5 years without them is enough it will be so nice ... and on top of it all i am pulling out of where i tap now and boil and moving to a amazing new sugar bush to once again temp shack ... next summer sweet shack at the bottom of the sugar bush all 300 running right in gonna go for vac i have everything but the vac motor old milk house set up from and friend and brotherin law old glass ball and vac pump less motor from brotherin law he sold his cows and wants to sell his back up vac
so hows sound for fun my day goes like take down lines run them home strip them off the wire re role wire cut out all the taps and fittings wash re roll all the wire and roll up the tubing (i know anal but i been measuring my lines and tagging each roll so when i am setting them in the new bush i have some idea what lenghts ) i also am taking all my older style purple 4 season wicked flexable stuff i got last year for a great price at new england farms in granville good guy if u all dont know him .. and making new 30 inch drops and tees ...man if i dont have a shack next my wife is gonna kill me she says no more sugaring stuff in this house lol i have all the main line wire strung and and the line losely up still got to tie in the mainfolds and such there is about 900 ft of 3/4 and 250 or so of 1/2 temp its gonna be spring water running to the shack next year and another 3/4 will run next to it but money wise the 1/2 is great and i dont need to buy any this year
re winding all my 5/16 wire today and gonna run my laterals tom not sure how many ft of tubing i have yet still have to tally it shooting for 300 on tubing and a nice no really nice gravity pitch at some parts sight level straiht out to the grounds is like 10 ft up and down it all days is fixing this winter waist band for shore ..looks warm this weekend probaly get the main lines flushed and strech all the laterals ... still have to build the shack and move the arch and yes find pans ...lol well i guess with all that said and yet all that still to be done back at it feed and energized ..lol as far as one asked about a chat room maybe if anyone wanst to chat we aall could ad yahoo nicknames or such..

[super sappy]

I know what you mean about newengland farms. That guy is full of sh%t. Where are you in North Bennington?I go over there once a month or so and Ive seen a bunch of tubing on the white creek road is that yours? -jeff moses

[peacemaker]

where on the white creek road are u seeing the tubing johnny wiallimson is got a amazing operation on state line road he has the big tanker on the side of the road just bellow his old cabin anyone want to see a great operation check his out he has one awards for his sugar house design ...
now jeff tell me about this billy where did u get him i sold a very big very stinky billy 3 years back wow what a animal had 3 two does and Bill
i do miss the cheese and icecream the sure loved the old sap though he once got out and drank all my skim bucket ...

[twigbender]

Here in north central Minnesota (Beltrami County), otherwise known as Greater Minnesota, we aren't in what you'd consider "maple country" by any means. When we tap, we usually have one person running the drill and two people out ahead scouting for the next maple tree. Maybe it isn't quite that bad, but we do not have "stands" of maples. They are just incidentals in hardwoods stands.
Our yield per tap is very low. In 2006 we averaged 3.3 gals per tap and a 45:1 sap to syrup ratio. In 2007 we had a very dismal 1.9 gals per tap, but the ratio was an astonishing 23.2:1.
Our first run at the end of March was terrible. I got 63 gallons out of 170 taps and it was dark and yielded a 53:1 ratio. Then it got warm, then it got cold and we had a blizzard. I was ready to pull everything and an oldtimer told me to hang on for a few days. He was right! When it began to warm up again it started to run. We got about four days of decent flow (for us that's about .75 gals per tap per day) and the ratio dropped down to 23:1.
So, you never know what to expect -- that's the fun for us that do it for a hobby. Can't wait to see what this spring will bring.

[Chemist]

My records show that I tapped last February 19th and was done by the 29 of March due to the early spring here.

Well, it was 9 below zero last night, but I am getting ready! The 7 day forcast has 3 days over freezing. Just the mid 30s, but maybe enough to get an early run of light grade A Amber!!

[Chemist]

Well, I drilled a few holes after work tonight. Last year it was Feb.19th, this year the 28th.

I hope to put the other 25 in tomorrow.

[Russ]

Chemist:

How are things going in SE Wisconsin? You've been quiet since tapping. The calendar is making people want to tap here up north, but the weather forecast says to wait. We will likely first tap starting late next week, maybe Wednesday the 19th. My family will be coming down this weekend; maybe they'll see you at church?