Sleepy forest maple 2021

[raptorfan85]

I figured I'd start my own post this year. Added 100 taps this year. All on 5/16 gravity. It's all set up to be vacuum in the future, possibly next year if everything goes alright. That puts my tap count close to 250, with the rest on vacuum.

Got all my taps in today. I honestly thought I was way behind but from the sounds of it I haven't missed much. We had a couple warm days so far but nothing great. My woods is pretty cold anyways. A couple of trees were running when I tapped but not many.

Hooked up the vacuum and it was at 15... got some work to do. By the end of the day it was up to 23. Hard to find the leaks while nothing is running. I'll try and find some more tomorrow.

Got a new set of smoky lake 2x6 drop flue pans this year upgraded from a 2x4 hybrid pan. Still have a few things to set up to get the evaporator up and going. Mainly the flue drain, head tank, and finish the new air over fire setup. Hopefully all the improvements help with wood consumption.

How everyone else is ready for the warm up! Happy sapping.

Jake.

[Goatogether]

Hey Jake,

I would have thought you would have been rocking and rolling being as south as you are down in Richmond. Do you know my friend Jim Mountford? Seems everyone does, he and Heather are great people. We are way up north in Charleston and haven’t had much of anything. We rand 20 gal through the other day to test equipment and practice as it’s our first year, but this week should be what we have been waiting for all year! We have a set up similar to your numbers with 145 on a small producer vacuum system by Mountain Maple. Uses solar to charge batteries. We have some on gravity, but decided to give vacuum a try early since we would end up there eventually like most do. When we first turned on a couple of weeks ago we had 10 in one main, and 0 in the other. Found what we thought was a hollow tree and pulled it and the vac on both lines went up to 10. That was encouraging, but it tells me there’s more to find once the run starts. Do you think we should be up more near the 20s like you are, even if the saps not running? It’s hard for me to know, being new to the whole deal. Here’s to high-reading vacuum gauges, full tanks, and great brix for 2021! Ellen

[raptorfan85]

Not much sap to speak of today... only got up to 38 here but not until late in the day. Last night was cold too. I had 16 when I woke up. I got enough through the vacuum lines to flush them out so everything i connect now is getting boiled. The gravity lines are all new so that's all good to go as well. They didn't produce at all today but they are all deep in the woods so they're going to take a few warm days to thaw out. Found a few small leaks. Got the vacuum up to 24.i think i have a few leaky saddles. I'm using the cdl multi use saddle. I don't have the bolt kits but I think it will be a good investment to get them.

I got the flue pan drain installed and the float box plumbed up. Now just need to move the head tank to the shack and we're ready to rock and roll.

[raptorfan85]

Hi Ellen,

I don't know Jim, but then again I'm a pretty big home body. I don't get out much! We're definitely a lot farther south than you but I'm at 1300 feet elevation and my woods sits in a low spot. It's always cold and goes late in the season. I'll be making syrup well into April if the weather agrees.

[raptorfan85]

The sap finally started running today. I came home to about 100 gallons in the vacuum tank. Not to bad... the gravity line was another story. It was dripping some, maybe about 20 gallons in the tank. Those trees are all deep in the woods so I'm sure they still have some thawing out to do. Got some more minor plumbing things in the sugar house tied up. Also got the manifold for the new air over fire setup put together. All i need to do is drill and tap the holes for the 3/8 stainless nipples that will be the nozzles. Hopefully it will decrease my wood consumption.

I hope everyone is ready for the sap flood coming!

[raptorfan85]

Finally got enough sap to boil. Did my first boil yesterday. Got the pans sweet and ready to go for the season. Just need some more sap now. The vacuum taps are producing but the gravity ones have not. Hopefully after this last warm up they start flowing. Was able to make a short video of the first boil.

https://youtu.be/XhS9hnUz0Ug

[LMP Maple]

Love that video. My first thought was that must be 200 dollars in lumber there, before I heard you got it for free! Seeing that makes me want to upgrade. Have fun, looks like it will be a joy to watch it chew through the sap!

[Pdiamond]

raptorfan, gotta love that corsair arch right. I noticed you didn't leave yourself a lot of room in front of the arch to work when loading. I know with mine it is hot You must get just a tad bit warm. haha

[raptorfan85]

raptorfan, gotta love that corsair arch right. I noticed you didn't leave yourself a lot of room in front of the arch to work when loading. I know with mine it is hot You must get just a tad bit warm. haha

Stacking the wood in front of the evaporator was a bad idea... one that is gone I'll have plenty of room. As it is now, yes it gets quite toasty loading wood lol.

[raptorfan85]

Been a slow few days... I boiled this past weekend and made 4 gallons of syrup. Pretty light stuff, came out as amber but really close to golden. Finished it and bottled up on Monday night. Now just waiting for the next run.

So I've been chasing a mystery leak all year. My releaser would only get up to 23 inches vacuum. I should be able to get 25 easy. Was checking everything i could find with no luck. Finally today I checked the moisture trap. Sure enough the o ring to seal it was rotten and broken. I called bascoms and they don't sell just the o ring, great. Now I have to find one. I have the black cdl moisture trap. Not sure of the exact size but looks to be about 4 inch pvc... I put it back together without touching the o ring because it would have just fallen apart.

[Old County Road]

Took a look at your video of your first boil on your Smoky Lake pans - looks like a nice set up! I have purchased a few things from Smoky Lake as well, and both Jim & Angela are super nice and they are building a great business. I also noticed your collection of boiling sodas - I have quite a few of the same Long Trail Vt IPA and Sierra Nevada Hazy IPA “dead soldiers” (as my uncle used to call them) in my sugarhouse.

Hope you have a great season!

[Russell Lampron]

Nice video Jake. If those boiling soda cans are full you need to move them to a colder place to chill them down. Your arch looks good for homemade and Those Smokey Lake pans look good too. Have you had a chance to calculate the gph? It's starting to look like it's going to be a short season.

[raptorfan85]

Nice video Jake. If those boiling soda cans are full you need to move them to a colder place to chill them down. Your arch looks good for homemade and Those Smokey Lake pans look good too. Have you had a chance to calculate the gph? It's starting to look like it's going to be a short season.

So far I've only been able to boil twice but it's averaging about 42-44gph. I haven't been pushing it to hard until I get a feel for it. The season isn't looking to great, hopefully the weather for next week changes. If not I'll be at maybe half crop of last year, with 120 more taps this year...

[Russell Lampron]

Like you I'm worried about the forecast but it's usually colder here and I'm hoping that trend continues. I got a good freeze last night when the forecast was for a low of 34. I got .7 gpt so far today and the sap was still running good at 7PM. I hope it's the same for you.

Mid 40's is good for a 2x6 and don't be afraid to push it! Get the most out of it and enjoy the sweet ride.

[raptorfan85]

Boiled down 250 gallons Saturday and another 200 last night. Made 10 gallons of syrup. Still making amber. I figured with the warm temps it would go to dark but it hasn't. Looks like it should run good today. The mud outside was frozen this morning, hopefully it got cold enough for the trees. Might be the last run of the year. It's supposed to be 70 on Thursday and no freeze until next week. I might keep the taps in and see what happens if the reds don't go buddy. Finally got a new o ring on the moisture trap Saturday. Vacuum went right to 25 where it should be. Maybe to little to late but we'll see what happens.

[raptorfan85]

To my surprise I came home yesterday to 100 gallons of sap. Went down to check the releaser and sap was flying in. No idea why. It was warm the day before, no freeze overnight, and really warm during the day again. The sap was a little cloudy but on a 70 degree day that will happen. That's the most I've collected in a24 hour period on those 115 taps. Can't explain it. Boiled that down. Came out as dark but not quite very dark. The gravity taps have done nothing for a few days but that's understandable. The vacuum might just keep me going long enough to get me to the next freeze up! The reds are flowering but no buds yet, the few sugars i have are getting a little plump but nothing crazy. Who knows, might turn out to be a decent season after all!

[raptorfan85]

Forgot to add, after a few boils on the new pans I've gotten comfortable enough to really push it. I was trying to see the other night how high I could get the gph. I dropped the level in the pans to 1.5-1.25 inches, kept up on my firing, used all pine, and measured what went in and what came out. I really put the boots to it, so to say. In 4 hours including start up and cool down I went through 230 gallons of sap and drew off 3.78 gallons of syrup. If my math is correct that's 56.5 gph. I feel pretty proud of that considering it's a homemade arch. Obviously a lot of that is in the pans but I'm very happy with that.

[raptorfan85]

I was able to suck in 150 gallons of sap over the last 2 days. It was all buddy. I finished what was in the syrup pan and it came out very dark and strong. Tastes like roasted marshmallows. Should be good on ice cream. I'm bottling up the 8 gallons of syrup i have today and then it's time to start cleaning tanks. I made about the same amount of syrup as I did last year which is a little disappointing considering I added 120 gravity taps this year. The weather just never cooperated. Next year those taps will be on vacuum as well.

[Russell Lampron]

I called it a season here too. I made a little over a half crop which is disappointing but it was actually all that I wanted to make. I hope that you have a better season next year.

[raptorfan85]

Back at it again this year! Trying to get things in order for tapping. This year I'm adding vacuum to 100+ taps. Should make a good difference. The trees are mostly reds and didn't do much on gravity last year. Picked up a lapierre single vertical, seems like a much better design than the older Bernard I have. The Bernard will go close to the house in case it acts up. Got another gast 1550 for the pump.
I just love these little pumps... no oil and they run at 26hg for me all season.
This warmup is tempting but I think I'm gonna hold off until the 20th. Looks like another freeze up and there's still lots of frost deep. Still got some line repairs but they are minimal. Adding air over fire this year as well. Got the manifolds made and the pump ready just have to put it in the arch. Hoping to gain some efficiency to cut down on wood use and also reduce the smoke from the evaporator... it's always "rolled coal" lol, even with the blower.
Hope everyone else is going to be ready in time. It's almost here!

[BAP]

Good to see you back. Sounds like you have have been busy making changes. This weather does make it tempting, but is a short lived warm up. Neighbors down the road from me tapped and has run very little. Everything is still frozen hard and takes more than a couple warm days to thaw them out. I, myself am waiting another week and then reassess the weather before tapping. If it looks promising then tap, if not hold off.

[raptorfan85]

Back in the woods today. Got all 235 taps replaced. Had more line work to do than I thought. Had a couple small trees come down that I wasn't aware of. And the squirrel chews!! My god, the squirrel chews. There were several tees that they chewed the cups right off, the whole thing! They really didn't get the lines to bad, mostly the tees. Not sure why, I don't use bleach or anything to clean. I'm sure I'll find more leaks once I'm tapped in.
Got the woods tank ready, built a new stand for the releaser. Got it all out in the woods ready to go. Just have to hook the pump up. My other tanks are in the sugar house, have to get them out to clean. One problem, the big doors in the front are frozen shut with piled up snow from off the roof. Guess I'll be chopping my way in tomorrow... looking at the weather, looks like I'll reasses next weekend and maybe tap then, we'll see! Everything is coming together well this year, unlike last. I was way behind last year so it feels good to be ready this year.

[raptorfan85]

Good to see you back. Sounds like you have have been busy making changes. This weather does make it tempting, but is a short lived warm up. Neighbors down the road from me tapped and has run very little. Everything is still frozen hard and takes more than a couple warm days to thaw them out. I, myself am waiting another week and then reassess the weather before tapping. If it looks promising then tap, if not hold off.

Hey BAP. It's good to be back! I'm in to deep to go anywhere. Yes lots of changes this year. I try to improve a little each year. I keep telling myself I won't upgrade every year to cut back on prep time, but it never works out that way!

[red maples]

Ha we all say that we won't make changes but we all do it!!! you will definitely find more leaks once you get things going!!!
Good luck

[BAP]

Hey BAP. It's good to be back! I'm in to deep to go anywhere. Yes lots of changes this year. I try to improve a little each year. I keep telling myself I won't upgrade every year to cut back on prep time, but it never works out that way!
That’s every Sugarmakers moto as they are quietly changing and adding their setup.

[raptorfan85]

Got the tanks out and all cleaned up. The head tank is in place and ready to go. Hooked up the pump at the house. Should have checked the moisture trap before turning the pump on. Sounded like it sucked in a leaf or hornets nest when I turned the switch on to make sure it was working. It's a rotary vaine pump, I have to pull the side cover off just to make sure nothing is in there. Other than the incident,
Everything is just about ready, and just in time. Looks like after this freeze up it's go time.
Speaking of the never ending upgrades, I got the air over fire manifold in. See if I get any improvements on efficiency on wood this year. Hope everyone is ready to go. Looks like it's gonna be a good start.

[raptorfan85]

Tried several times to post pictures of the aof manifold but it won't let me...

[BAP]

Tried several times to post pictures of the aof manifold but it won't let me...
There is something wrong with the website software that won’t let people post pictures. It has been mentioned several times that supposedly the owner is going to update to fix it, but apparently it hasn’t been done.

[raptorfan85]

Got 100 taps in this afternoon before it got to dark in the woods. Turned the pump on and... 5hg. Walked up the main line and sure enough, bullet hole right threw it. Looked to be about 22 cal. Guess I'll need to pay better attention to where I'm aiming. No other big issues. 25hg at the releaser when I got back down there. Couple of wet tap holes but not much else. See what happens tomorrow, supposed to be 50 here. I'll try to get the rest of the taps in tomorrow. It's go time!

[raptorfan85]

Came home and checked the woods tank. Dumped 50 gallons of green sap. Everything coming in now is good to go on that tank. Setup the house releaser and started tapping. The releaser was dumping before I was even done. Some trees were running really well, some of the bigger ones haven't woken up yet. I'll dump everything I get overnight and should be good to go. 23hg at the house. A few small leaks to track down. Here we go!

[raptorfan85]

Been a quiet few days. Got the air over fire setup and the pans put on. Been sitting on a 100gal block of ice waiting to boil, hopefully today. got the tank warmer defrosting the tank.

[raptorfan85]

Was able to boil yesterday. Got the pans sweet and just about to draw off and ran out of sap. The air over fire is working great! Definitely cut down on wood use and firing times. I can go up to 10-15 minutes in between loadings. It boils better too. The front pan has never boiled that evenly or hard and the flue pan had a full boil front to back. Definitely worth the upgrade. Hoping to boil again tomorrow afternoon. After that we're getting a foot of snow Friday and unless the forecast changes looks like not much happening for about a week...

[BAP]

That’s good. Ran good here during the night so hopefully you had a good run too

[raptorfan85]

The warm night definitely woke things up. I woke up to 150 gallons. When I got home from work I had another 200. That's 350 gallons from 235 taps in 24 hours. Might have been one of the best runs It's ever had. I added vacuum to 100+ taps this year but overall I've of the best runs I've ever had. I was able to boil about 250 last night and made about 2 gallons of syrup. By the time I was done I had another 50 in the tanks. Pumped that to the head tank leaving about 150 to boil tonight. I put the stock tank heater in to keep it from freezing into a block over night. Shut the vac pumps off for the freeze. Got home today and the head tank wasn't frozen, but was slightly cloudy... maybe the heat from the stock tank heater was to much? Not sure. The feed line was frozen so thawed that with the heat gun. Once everything was loose it was fine. Boiled down the last 150 and made another 3 gallons. Decent start to the season. Now the big freeze... looks like at least a week, with 12+inches of snow tomorrow. Hopefully some warm weather comes sooner than the forecast says.

[raptorfan85]

Made a video of the arch with the air over fire also
https://youtu.be/WJBZ0etRcAQ

[raptorfan85]

Bottled up 6 gallons today. Came out as dark... thinking maybe it's from the cloudy sap after I used a stock tank heater to thaw out my head tank. Lots of sugar sand to start the year. I've also been having to use a lot of defoamer. Not sure if it's just the way this year's syrup is going to be, or because I switched defoamer. I used to use atmos and this year I tried the cdl defoamer. If it's the cdl I'll switch back to the atmos, it worked much better.

[Birdland Sugarbush]

Thanks for the video. It’s great to see what others do, even if I’m running a really small rig.

Reminds me I need to fashion a holder for my filter.

[LMP Maple]

lots of sugar sand here in Hudson as well. It looked pretty light coming off the evaporator but I am canning today and should have a better idea. Sounds like you are off to a good start. I hope to be back at it by next weekend. Keep pushing!

[fisheatingbagel]

Enjoyed your video! Nice rig, looks like the aof is working well. Would be nice to get 10-15 minutes between firings. Do you have auf also?

[raptorfan85]

Enjoyed your video! Nice rig, looks like the aof is working well. Would be nice to get 10-15 minutes between firings. Do you have auf also?

Thank you. I do have Auf as well, but I only run it at about 1/3 of what I did without the aof.

It's 36 and sunny here, so I turned the pumps on. Not really expecting much, but every bit counts.

[johnallin]

Great videos thanks for posting.
What are GPH are getting now with the AOF add-on?

[raptorfan85]

Great videos thanks for posting.
What are GPH are getting now with the AOF add-on?

It wasn't necessarily a huge improvement in gph,I went from high 40s to low 50s. Maybe like a 6-8 gph boost. The main benefit is the longer loading times and the reduced amount of wood. I can easily go 10-15 minutes between firing, and that's with pine. Some splits and some slab wood mixed. If I was using hard wood I could see 20 min. Load times being achievable. The boil is more consistent too. It used to boil real hard after loading then slowly decrease. Now it's pretty much a solid boil from one loading until the next load.

[raptorfan85]

Frozen up... just waiting.

[BAP]

Frozen up... just waiting.
Same here. Might drizzle a little today but nothing promising until the weekend

[fisheatingbagel]

Our season is over now. We tapped January 15, and sap was still running last week (I'm on buckets, bags). Weather turned warm this week, temps near 70. This was the longest season we've had in a while. I could of tapped before the 15th, but being on gravity makes early tapping iffy.

[red maples]

same all over... just waiting... no sleep next week. rest up gonna be a busy week if temps stay at what their saying but somehow they never do!!!

[raptorfan85]

same all over... just waiting... no sleep next week. rest up gonna be a busy week if temps stay at what their saying but somehow they never do!!!

Agreed brad. Looks like it's gonna break loose again this weekend, and if the forecast is correct, hold onto your butts because it's coming.

[raptorfan85]

Took most of the day, but things are finally breaking loose. Was a long cold freeze up. Tanks should be full and ready for boiling tomorrow. Still have ice in the tanks so it will stay nice and cool all night while it runs. Here we go.

[raptorfan85]

Things didn't wake up until Sunday night. By Monday afternoon had 300 gallons. Got everything pumped to the head tank. Boiled 200 gallons Monday night. Made about 4 gallons. Haven't tested the grade yet. Boiled the other 100 Tuesday night. About another 2 gallons. Collected maybe 100 gallons since then. Left some in the tanks to freeze to keep the sap cool this week. Looks like a good week coming up. Hopefully I make a lot of syrup, because the forecast after that doesn't seem promising... hopefully it changes.