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berkshires
02-16-2022, 09:58 AM
Not quite everything that could go wrong did. But...
- On my fifth tap I broke my bit, and didn't have another
- I somehow lost one of the spiles, and didn't bring a spare
- Batteries for my drill started dying almost immediately

So I still have a bunch of taps I haven't drilled yet, and I'm going to have to go back to drill deeper a bunch of the ones I've done (that are only like an inch deep - as far as I could get the dying drill to go). And you know that rule about how you're supposed to drill straight in and out only once? That went right out the window - was desperately trying to coax every mm out of the drill, with pulling the drill out of the hole, removing shavings, and putting it back in to get a little more depth, multiple times. I'm not sure if the batteries have reached the end of their life, or if it's just my fault for trying to charge them in an unheated garage (around 45 - 50 degrees).

Gotta thank Paul Sena of Hickory Hill Farm (a LaPierre dealer listed on the site) for saving my bacon yesterday. I drove up to Worthington where he and his partner Dave had a bit for me.

So I have to go dig out that bit and put a tap and bucket on that tree (I'll get whatever I get - there'll probably be a fair bit of leakage around the tap), finish drilling some of the short holes, and put in four more taps. Wouldn't be as big a deal, except my sugarbush is a two hour drive from my house!

Seems like every year I mess something up. One year I somehow didn't have the lids for a bunch of buckets. One year I ran out of gas on my drive there. And nearly every year I forget to bring my keys to the cabin. Oh well, gotta have a sense of humor about it.

At least my season has begun!

Gabe

Aaron Stack
02-16-2022, 12:34 PM
But that's what make it an "adventure" Gabe! Glad things worked out for you. I'll e-mail you my number in case your in a spot again.

DrTimPerkins
02-16-2022, 02:28 PM
Given the 2-hr drive, it might be worth starting a "tapping checklist" for things to bring/check the day before you hop in the vehicle to head to the woods.

berkshires
02-16-2022, 04:39 PM
Given the 2-hr drive, it might be worth starting a "tapping checklist" for things to bring/check the day before you hop in the vehicle to head to the woods.
Oh definitely! I did actually have one, and checked it twice! It was just stupid not to have spares of everything I needed. I only own one 5/16 bit. I'll certainly make sure I have a spare next year. And I have plenty of older spiles I could and should have brought with me, but didn't. That little blue spile is still out there in the woods buried in the snow! And I didn't bring my toolbox (or even other smaller bits I could use in the drill), so I had no way of extracting the broken bit.

I did bring a second battery, because just bringing one would've been even stupiderer (I know it's not a word) than I usually am. But both of 'em were charged in the garage, and are the same vintage (only about 3 or four years old).

So I had a checklist, and I brought everything on it. I just shoulda had more stuff on it! LOL

GO

berkshires
02-21-2022, 10:17 PM
Drove up with my wife and four year old. Finished tapping, got the broken bit out, and had some fun with the family.

Also collected 30 gallons from the 19 taps I put in last week. Not bad for a first run. Sap was running really well this afternoon. I expect to get another 30-40 gallons this week, and I'll try to do my first boil late this week before all the buckets freeze to big blocks of ice again.

Gabe

berkshires
02-21-2022, 10:40 PM
Also did an experiment. My first "tubing run". It's actually just one big tree, but it would have been a royal pain to try to collect buckets from it on that slope. Two taps on it to a 3/16" line. Must be close to a fifteen foot vertical drop, so I hope a little vacuum may happen too.

Here's a photo: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5vbBkrgaSfi8XDDbA

Gabe

DrTimPerkins
02-22-2022, 08:10 AM
Yup...that's one heck of a "dropline." If the run is good enough, you might see 10-12" Hg of vacuum on it.

berkshires
02-23-2022, 10:26 AM
Yup...that's one heck of a "dropline." If the run is good enough, you might see 10-12" Hg of vacuum on it.

I don't know what that amount of vacuum might do, but I hope it's enough to "suck" a little extra sap out. I've never tapped this tree before, because it would be such a pain to collect from, but I think it's the "big mama" that is the mother tree to all the sugar maples on this slope. It is much bigger, with a big crown. I expect to see high-brix sap from it.

GO

berkshires
02-23-2022, 10:30 AM
When I collected on Monday, everything was frozen blocks, so I just threw them all in my 50 gall barrel and threw it in the shade. This crazy weather is such that if I wait until this weekend to boil, that 30 gallons I collected will be frozen again, and all the sap from this current run will be in frozen blocks too! So I'm taking tomorrow off work to boil. Sigh - mother nature has no respect for my work schedule. :) LOL

Actually really looking forward to my first boil of the season. Just wish it could be on a weekend when my family could join me.

GO

berkshires
02-25-2022, 04:06 PM
I let those blocks of ice melt as long as I could, until the next cold snap started, then I threw away the remaining ice. Netted me 12 gallons of "concentrate" from 29 gallons originally collected.

I also got another 33 gallons from the latest run, of which I tossed ice from the buckets, giving me another 26 gallons of "concentrate".

No idea what the brix level was on all that "concentrate", because it had too much ice in it to get a good reading. But it must've been pretty good. I put it all on the evaporator and did my first boil yesterday. Those 38 gallons of "concentrate" got me 2 draws, and was just starting a third when the sap ran out. So I netted a bit over two quarts of syrup, and have my evaporator all sweetened for the next run.

GO

Aaron Stack
02-27-2022, 09:58 AM
Second boiling session here yesterday and netted 2 quarts on two draws. I don't think that's so bad with 115 gallons to start the season and sweeten the pan. Only about 15 gallons or so left in the tank so I'll finish that today along with what's been frozen in the buckets since Thursday.

On vacation this week so going to take tomorrow cold weather to rinse the tank and pans. Also going to get the trailer cleaned out and ready. I didn't use it last year, but already had to take two trips to collect twice so with 50 taps it might just be a necessity.

berkshires
02-27-2022, 11:29 AM
Nice! That first draw of the season sure is satisfying, eh? Mine was quite light/golden, what about you?

Speaking of cold, looks like this whole week might be too cold for more than a few little drips. :/

GO

Aaron Stack
02-27-2022, 11:54 AM
You know it. I've never seen the light/golden yet lucky you. Mine seemed to be in between amber rich and dark robust and had a great light taste. Weather still looking good Wed onward here.

The addiction is spreading. My brother in NH took home a couple buckets and taps. 15 maples next door to his and permission.

Aaron Stack
03-02-2022, 06:19 PM
3 quarts in the freezer. Was able to boil off everything in the tank by 3:30 today and collected about another 20 gallons which I'll run through the evaporator tomorrow. Stack temp thermostat didn't make it through the second boil on Saturday so using an exterior magnetic gage. It's double wall so targeted 250 - 300 after some google searches. Good boiling rate at that range while dropping the level to 1.5-1.75 in the pan.

Question - My syrup looks red-ish in the plastic tubs I store in the freezer (bottling after the season). Tastes fantastic, and in a spoon you really can't see any color other than a light gold. Is this anything I need to work on?

berkshires
03-19-2022, 11:20 PM
Did my third boil of the season. A few of the buckets were a little cloudy, but I took home a gallon and a half of beautiful dark nearup from 55 gallons of sap.

That was the biggest boil I've ever done. Not the longest, but most sap

Gabe

Aaron Stack
03-20-2022, 04:41 AM
A gallon and a half is a looong day of boiling - congrats!

bigschuss
03-20-2022, 06:55 AM
Did my third boil of the season. A few of the buckets were a little cloudy, but I took home a gallon and a half of beautiful dark nearup from 55 gallons of sap.

That was the biggest boil I've ever done. Not the longest, but most sap

Gabe

Awesome Gabe. How long does 55 gallons take you on your 2x3? Once up to full boil, I can do 55 gallons in about 4 hours on my 2x4. Maybe 5.

Blair

berkshires
03-20-2022, 05:07 PM
I usually average about seven GPH, but it took me eight hours from lighting the match to shut down. So that was only 6 GPH. I have everything ready to add AUF, just need to screw it on before my next boil. That should help.

Blair: you must've been swimming in sap this last week?

GO

RedMapleCreek
03-20-2022, 07:13 PM
I usually average about seven GPH, but it took me eight hours from lighting the match to shut down. So that was only 6 GPH. I have everything ready to add AUF, just need to screw it on before my next boil. That should help.


I also have a Mason 2x3 XL and I typically average 8 GPH without AUF. A lot has to do with how deep you run the pan and what you use for wood. Bill Mason recommended wrist sized hemlock as the best fuel, which is what I use. Actually I use wrist size and smaller, usually without bark, very dry, and it really burns hot. Hardwood does not burn as hot and fast enough and the greater coals would tend to block the grate (limit air). Also firing about every 6 minutes. I run a 1 inch pan depth which boils a lot harder than the 2 inch depth some people use, but does require more attention. Of course AUF will improve your boil rate, but also consider the above if you are not already following those practices.

bigschuss
03-20-2022, 07:29 PM
I usually average about seven GPH, but it took me eight hours from lighting the match to shut down. So that was only 6 GPH. I have everything ready to add AUF, just need to screw it on before my next boil. That should help.

Blair: you must've been swimming in sap this last week?

GO

Thanks Gabe. Thanks for getting back.

Yes, I had a goods run last week and was able to get my pan sweetened....about 150 gallons or so. But, even in Savoy it's been mild even at night. So I haven't gotten anything in the past few days. Got to light the evaporator each day to kill bacteria. The weather this coming week looks only decent. The other issue I have now is that I lost all my snow, and without the snow gathering sap is just a muddy mess. I really hate tearing up my trails this time of year. So getting sap has become problematic. I'll have to see what happens this week.

Are you done, or are you coming back out next weekend?

berkshires
03-20-2022, 10:23 PM
I also have a Mason 2x3 XL and I typically average 8 GPH without AUF. A lot has to do with how deep you run the pan and what you use for wood. Bill Mason recommended wrist sized hemlock as the best fuel, which is what I use. Actually I use wrist size and smaller, usually without bark, very dry, and it really burns hot. Hardwood does not burn as hot and fast enough and the greater coals would tend to block the grate (limit air). Also firing about every 6 minutes. I run a 1 inch pan depth which boils a lot harder than the 2 inch depth some people use, but does require more attention. Of course AUF will improve your boil rate, but also consider the above if you are not already following those practices.

Thanks for the suggestions. I am always looking for ways to improve.

I run my pan right at the edge of safety. Typically just covering the thermometer, or even a bit of the thermometer out. I'd estimate about 3/4 inch to one inch. Good dry wood this year, split pretty small. It is pretty much all hardwood (mostly ash, with a little aspen mixed in), and the coals do tend to build up. I think the AUF ought to help with that. I do have a hemlock I took down this fall, but a pine that the wind took down last spring will be ready before that. I have a lot of bucking and splitting to do before next spring!

I did have to run to collect sap near the end of the boil, and had noone to help, so I brought the level up to an inch and a half or so. It definitely boiled slower until I got the sap back down to the usual level, and of course the fire had died down. So that probably accounts for some of the slow boil too.

berkshires
03-20-2022, 10:29 PM
How do you have the back of your Mason bricked? I have seen some versions where there is a wall in the middle and then it's all open again right to the back, and other versions where the wall starts in the middle and extends all the way to near the entrance of the stack. I did the former last season, and I'm trying the latter this season. I do get a full boil all the way to the back, but it is not nearly as hard a boil as in the front. I assume the AUF will help with that too.

GO

berkshires
03-20-2022, 10:38 PM
Are you done, or are you coming back out next weekend?

I usually wrap up the first week of April. Should be at least one good freeze this week, (Monday or Tuesday night) so I'll have a boil this weekend. I hope to have another the week after that, but Mother Nature will have her own say.

GO

RedMapleCreek
03-21-2022, 06:59 PM
How do you have the back of your Mason bricked? I have seen some versions where there is a wall in the middle and then it's all open again right to the back, and other versions where the wall starts in the middle and extends all the way to near the entrance of the stack. I did the former last season, and I'm trying the latter this season. I do get a full boil all the way to the back, but it is not nearly as hard a boil as in the front. I assume the AUF will help with that too.

GO
I have the wall right after the back of the grate, two flat bricks wide up to about 2 inches to the bottom of the pan and then there is a void space after the wall before the outlet to the stack. You want to force the flame and flue gas up tight to the pan, but without restricting it too much.

Regarding the wood, that hemlock that you took down in the fall would be perfectly dry for next season, if you split it soon and let it dry under cover but well ventilated this summer. Hemlock dries quite fast. Also it is easily debarked once split and without bark it is rocket fuel for the evaporator. Bark on all wood except birch does not really burn very hot. If you do all this and add AUF, be sure not to melt your stack!

I'm expecting a hard freeze tonight (Monday) and tomorrow night and then possibly early next week as well. Have not had any really great runs this year. We usually last until the first or second week of April, but not sure we'll make it this year, our snow pack is going fast.

berkshires
03-26-2022, 02:31 PM
Collected and boiled 27 gallons today. Plenty of moths, and some of it was a bit cloudy, but it made a great tasting extra-dark.

Got my AUF attached and turned on today. All I can say is WOW! I went from about 7.2 GPH to 9.5 GPH, with a very hard boil all the way to the back of the pan. Here's what I bought: https://www.surpluscenter.com/Electrical/Blowers-Fans/AC-Centrifugal-Blowers/160-CFM-120-Volt-AC-Fasco-70639814-Blower-16-1548.axd It's only 160 CFM, but I still closed off the air intake about 30-50%, and it was amazing.

I definitely did not feel comfortable running the evaporator as low as I had in the past. Boil was so hard, foam was approaching the tops of the rails, even with plenty of defoamer. And if I got behind on anything, and the inflow didn't keep up, I was in the red zone in no time. Also almost no coals, so shut-down was a breeze.

And it ran off my deep cycle battery for three hours with no problem.

Drew off a bit over a half gallon of nearup.

I'm probably not going to reach my goal of 6 gallons for the season, but I'm closing in on beating my previous record of 4.5

Looking good for another run this week. Some of my taps are definitely drying up, but many still have some life in them. We'll see what a good hard freeze can do.

GO

berkshires
03-31-2022, 10:50 AM
Planning to head out Saturday for my final boil and cleanup. Aaron (or anyone else) if you're done and feel like swinging by to see my setup, I'd love to meet other folks. Drop me a note and I'll send directions.

Gabe

berkshires
04-02-2022, 06:46 PM
Cooked off the last 41 gallons and pulled my taps. Aaron and his son came to visit too. Great to meet you Aaron! Hope to check out your operation some day.

Now I have so many buckets to wash. Yeesh.

Gabe

bill m
04-02-2022, 09:44 PM
We are not done yet. brought in about 2000 gallons for tomorrow. We are at .4 gallons per tap as of today.

Aaron Stack
04-03-2022, 11:45 AM
Cooked off the last 41 gallons and pulled my taps. Aaron and his son came to visit too. Great to meet you Aaron! Hope to check out your operation some day.

Now I have so many buckets to wash. Yeesh.

Gabe

Also Gabe. Good to put a face to a name. Bottling 3 gallons of dark today using a bottler instead of the stovetop. I'll report back any excitement.

eustis22
04-04-2022, 07:54 AM
Berkshires, I have questions about boiling on your Mason 2X3. A) What kind of maples are you tapping? 2) When you draw off, are you doing it by temp or density? c) What depth do you keep in yours? I try to maintain depth to just over the thermometer stem. I ask because I always produce a dark, heavy syrup (that tastes very good) but I am wondering if that's a function of my sap (mostly silvers/norways at -2%) or my boiling technique. I have never produced a golden and only rarely an amber. I usually draw off when the gauge says 219-220 and then fine finish on the stovetop to density.

berkshires
04-04-2022, 02:12 PM
Berkshires, I have questions about boiling on your Mason 2X3. A) What kind of maples are you tapping? 2) When you draw off, are you doing it by temp or density? c) What depth do you keep in yours? I try to maintain depth to just over the thermometer stem. I ask because I always produce a dark, heavy syrup (that tastes very good) but I am wondering if that's a function of my sap (mostly silvers/norways at -2%) or my boiling technique. I have never produced a golden and only rarely an amber. I usually draw off when the gauge says 219-220 and then fine finish on the stovetop to density.

Hey eustis22. Happy to answer any questions. This is only my second year on the Mason, so I'm sure there are things I haven't quite gotten dialed in yet, but I'm happy to share my current practices.

A) What kind of maples are you tapping?
All sugar maples, but average sugar content in the sap is 1.7-1.8%. And that's only because I skip the many many trees putting out 1.2%!
2) When you draw off, are you doing it by temp or density?
Temp.
c) What depth do you keep in yours?
Generally the same as you - just above the thermometer, which is about an inch, inch-and-a-quarter.

What elevation are you at? I'm at nearly 900', and drawing off at 219 is often too heavy. Usually for me it's in the range of 217.5-218, depending on the barometer. Certainly if you draw off too heavy you'd wind up with darker syrup. But you'd know that when you finish on the stovetop.

Do you boil a lot of cloudy sap? I only get darker syrup from cloudy sap. Does your RO warm up the sap to the point it starts getting cloudy by any chance?

GO

eustis22
04-04-2022, 03:20 PM
I'm only at 106 ft but maybe I am drawing off too heavy. Something to think about for next year. I have another season with these maples but after that I'm off to maine with a lot of sugars on the property. Thanks for the answers. I only get cloudy sap after it starts to warm up. I haven't gotten my RO quite tweaked out yet so its all still raw sap. However I do preheat on a turkey fryer to boiling and then ladle that into the preheater.

bigschuss
04-04-2022, 06:09 PM
Berkshires, I have questions about boiling on your Mason 2X3. A) What kind of maples are you tapping? 2) When you draw off, are you doing it by temp or density? c) What depth do you keep in yours? I try to maintain depth to just over the thermometer stem. I ask because I always produce a dark, heavy syrup (that tastes very good) but I am wondering if that's a function of my sap (mostly silvers/norways at -2%) or my boiling technique. I have never produced a golden and only rarely an amber. I usually draw off when the gauge says 219-220 and then fine finish on the stovetop to density.

I might be wrong about this. But here's my take on amber and golden syrup. The longer sap spends over a fire the darker it comes out. For example, I used to batch boil on a small 20"x20" pan and my sap would spend days cooking until I eventually had enough sap boiled to make syrup. And all of my syrup was dark. On small evaporators that boil 10 GPH...it would take 4 hours to boil off 40 gallons of sap to make your 1 gallon of syrup. On a larger 2x6 evaporators, that same 40 gallons of sap will only spend 1.5 to 2 hours cooking...and thus has the potential to be lighter. On the huge professional evaporators that same 40 gallons is probably cooked in an hour.

I boil on a Mason 2x4 and, like you, I have never made light syrup.

UB29
04-05-2022, 08:51 AM
I went to Mason's 2x4XL a few years ago. Until this year, I have regularly produced all three grades. This year, no Golden. It is my belief that the ending grade of our syrup is more under Mother Nature's control, than ours. I run my Mason hard, with very dry hardwood (wrist size), and about 1-1/2" deep......seeing 12-15 gph evap. My maples are about 75% sugar / 25% reds. Draw off a little heavy, using a Murphy cup and usually need a splash or two of permeate to get to final density at bottling.
Bill

berkshires
04-05-2022, 02:16 PM
Just finished bottling my sixth and final batch. Here's a photo. Hard to tell, but the first three batches are each a tiny bit progressively darker. Dunno if any of them are technically golden delicate, as I don't have a grading set. What do y'all think?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/AX7iz3iGZeboGXm48

My final tally for the year was 5.5 gallons of syrup for 0.24 gallons per tap on 236 gallons of sap for 10 gallons per tap.

It was a challenging season due to weird weather, but I've been through much worse in the last few years. Overall an average season in terms of sugar percent in the sap, and gallons sap per tap. But with more to show for it because I tapped more trees and boiled faster. So I'm happy.

Two trees with four taps that were total duds, one because it produced very little sap, the other because it produced 1% sap. Couple other dud taps too means the taps that were producing did a fantastic job. Glad I tracked that all this year, so next year should be a big improvement as I weed out the duds and add (hopefully) better taps in their place. Also figured out which are my best producers, so I can put the bigger buckets on them, and hopefully not show up to so many overflowing buckets.

Hope those still sugaring (Bigschuss?) have a great end to your season.

Gabe

bill m
04-07-2022, 08:14 AM
We collected and boiled sap yesterday for the last time this year. We will package it today and finish off the sweet from the evaporator tomorrow. We will finish at about 1/2 gallon per tap this year. I have one tree that was still at 2.3 % yesterday.

bill m
04-07-2022, 08:20 AM
So, I just checked my monitoring system and we still have sap. About 300 gallons ran overnight. I may wait and see what happens today. I really need at least 1000 gallons to make it worth collecting and running it through the RO.

berkshires
04-07-2022, 08:55 AM
We collected and boiled sap yesterday for the last time this year. We will package it today and finish off the sweet from the evaporator tomorrow. We will finish at about 1/2 gallon per tap this year. I have one tree that was still at 2.3 % yesterday.

1/2 gallon per tap is great, congrats! What do you usually produce?

GO

bill m
04-07-2022, 07:33 PM
1/2 gallon per tap is great, congrats! What do you usually produce?

GOThat's a tough one to answer. Our production has been going up every year for the past 10 years, maybe longer. Our tap count has not gone up substantially in the past 3 or 4 years. We did add vacuum to one of our sugarbushes a few years ago and I am sure it has contributed to the increase in production. Totals for the past 3 years is:
2020 - 331 gallons
2021 - 420 gallons
2022 - 606 gallons This number will go up after we finish off everything in the evaporator.

bigschuss
04-07-2022, 08:59 PM
Hope those still sugaring (Bigschuss?) have a great end to your season.

Gabe

Glad you had a good year Gabe. I am done too. Not the worst year I ever had, but not the best. The lack of snow shut me down early, which may sound weird. But without frozen ground and decent snow pack, the trails to my sugarbush to gather sap become muddy messes that I don't want to tear up.

berkshires
04-15-2022, 03:45 PM
Glad you had a good year Gabe. I am done too. Not the worst year I ever had, but not the best. The lack of snow shut me down early, which may sound weird. But without frozen ground and decent snow pack, the trails to my sugarbush to gather sap become muddy messes that I don't want to tear up.

That is too bad. Yeah, it got really warm for a while. I don't have heavy equipment or snowmobiles or anything to move sap around (just my arms), but once or twice I did worry about my car going into the mud and not coming back out again!

Just finished making a ton of maple nuts and maple popcorn to share with family at the holiday this weekend. That just about used up the last of the 2021 syrup.

Also did my last "bottling" of syrup. I put "bottling" in quotes because this is the batch I get from harvesting all the dregs from the season, plus what I get from running hot water through the filter on my last real bottling. I don't filter it or hot-pack it. I just leave it in the fridge and let it settle on its own for a few weeks. It got me another two quarts of syrup, which I save for personal consumption. So that brings my final tally for the season to 752 oz, or just under 5.9 gallons. I am very happy with that.

Hope you all have a great off-season, and hope to see you in ten months!

Gabe

bigschuss
04-16-2022, 06:22 AM
That is too bad. Yeah, it got really warm for a while. I don't have heavy equipment or snowmobiles or anything to move sap around (just my arms), but once or twice I did worry about my car going into the mud and not coming back out again!

Just finished making a ton of maple nuts and maple popcorn to share with family at the holiday this weekend. That just about used up the last of the 2021 syrup.

Also did my last "bottling" of syrup. I put "bottling" in quotes because this is the batch I get from harvesting all the dregs from the season, plus what I get from running hot water through the filter on my last real bottling. I don't filter it or hot-pack it. I just leave it in the fridge and let it settle on its own for a few weeks. It got me another two quarts of syrup, which I save for personal consumption. So that brings my final tally for the season to 752 oz, or just under 5.9 gallons. I am very happy with that.

Hope you all have a great off-season, and hope to see you in ten months!

Gabe

Sounds good Gabe. See you in 10 months or so.

Blair

berkshires
01-09-2023, 02:51 PM
A couple of postmortems for this thread.

1 - I mentioned that I did an experiment. My first "tubing run". It's actually just one big tree, but it would have been a royal pain to try to collect buckets from it on that slope. Two taps on it to a 3/16" line. Must be close to a fifteen foot vertical drop, so I hope a little vacuum may happen too. Here's a photo: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5vbBkrgaSfi8XDDbA

It didn't work out. The sugar percent in the sap was good, but I saw very little sap. Only about 5.5 gallons per tap, where most of my trees on buckets did around 13 gallons per tap. I'm not sure what went wrong, and I was never able to get a good look at it while a run was happening (I live a two hour drive away). Whenever I checked it, though, I saw no sap in the line (as far as I could tell). So I'm guessing there was either a vacuum leak, or a blocked line, or both. I'll try again with the same setup on the tree this year.

2 - Timing. In retrospect, my tapping date (2/16) was a week too late. Optimal tapping for me last year based on the season would have been 2/9. There was a really good stretch of weather the week before I tapped. Overall, I lost about 3 to four good days of sap running. Not too far off, but worth remembering next time I think about whether or not to pull the trigger when it feels "too early".

GO

Aaron Stack
01-15-2023, 02:29 PM
A couple of postmortems for this thread.

2 - Timing. In retrospect, my tapping date (2/16) was a week too late. Optimal tapping for me last year based on the season would have been 2/9. There was a really good stretch of weather the week before I tapped. Overall, I lost about 3 to four good days of sap running. Not too far off, but worth remembering next time I think about whether or not to pull the trigger when it feels "too early".

GO

Hiya Gabe. I'm aiming for that early run also this year. Finished up the pans and arch today. Just need to clean the buckets and tank the next couple weekends and I'll be ready for the 1st. Long term weather has a nice couple days mid-week and weekend Feb 1st - 5th if it holds true.