Red Roof Maples, gone but not forgotten!

[Russell Lampron]

Well look at that join date! December 31, 2002. It's been almost 20 years since I joined this forum. Many producers have come and gone in that time and I've met a lot of good people on here.

I'm doing maple the best way now. I'm currently in PA working with PATHERON getting his 12,000 taps dialed in and ready for the BIGSAP! I'm having a lot of fun tapping trees and fixing vacuum leaks and doing other things maple. When I'm done here I'll go home satisfied that I helped a good friend that I met through this forum get his vacuum up to snuff and get some barrels filled. Best of all I'm getting my maple fix without spending a dime on equipment and supplies.

I met a friend of Theron's yesterday that remembered me from the mapletrader. Like Theron and many others he doesn't come here anymore but remembers Red Roof Maples from his time on the forum.

I hope that everyone has a great maple season this year.

[Paddymountain]

Way to go Russ! Hope retirement is going well for you!

[BAP]

Good to hear from you. I was just thinking about you when I was boiling for the first time Friday and wondering if you were still on the Trader. Sounds like a fun way to get your sugaring fix.

[Russell Lampron]

Thank you Bruce. I'm living my best life now and really enjoying retirement. It truly is a fun way to get my maple fix. Theron is a great guy and really appreciates my help. It's a new experience to work 12000 taps compared to the 725 that I had. I missed the first boil but we'll be boiling again later in the week and I'll be here for that. It's turning out that I'll be his main man in the woods which is where I want to be. I've always enjoyed bubble patrol and the satisfaction of a high vacuum gauge when I was done.

[red maples]

Hey there he is!!! Sounds like you are having some fun! and you said it best part is lack of stress and spending money. Glad you are getting your maple fix and still get some time in the woods. have fun!!!

[Amber Gold]

Hey Russ! Great to hear from you. Glad to see you're still getting your maple fix. It's hard to let it go after 20 years.

[Russell Lampron]

The temperature has dropped below freezing here in PA and will stay that way for the next 5 or 6 days. We've been out on bubble patrol and have 11000 of his 12500 tight. We've got 800 tapped and ready to go online as soon as we get a warm day. We've got another 700 to tap and that will get them all online.

Making syrup with that many taps is a big change for me. We just finished a 3 day run yesterday and had 12500 gallons of sap to boil. After that was done we collected another 1200 gallons and have that at the sugar house for the next boil.

My friend concentrates to 15% and at the 420 gallons per hour that his evaporator does we boiled for about 3 hours and filled 3 55 gallon barrels. In that time we made almost as much syrup as I made in a whole season. It was a lot of fun!

Now on to the filter press. He has a 10" full bank press with an air pump on it. Through the years he figured out that what worked best for him was to run the pump at about half throttle and to control the flow into the barrel with the bypass and to change the papers when the flow was too low. I had been telling him beforehand that I didn't even use the bypass controlling the pump with the air valve and that I opened the valve just enough for the pump to run. When it was time to change papers he let me show him how I did it and we got another half barrel through it before we had to change the papers in a much quieter sugar house. He changed the papers and then had me take over on the press from start to finish. I showed him how to charge it without the bypass too and he and his father who runs the evaporator were both amazed at how fast we were getting the syrup through it and how fast the draw off tank was getting emptied.

[n8hutch]

Great yo hear from you Russ, always liked PAtheron as well. Enjoy the season!!

[ennismaple]

I was just wondering on the weekend how PATheron was doing! Wish him well for me. Lot of good people have come and gone through this board over the years.

[Russell Lampron]

Theron is doing great. We've got his woods all bubble patrolled and he's made almost five 55 gallon barrels of syrup so far. We've got a 5 or 6 day freeze up going on right now so we can slow down and take a breather. The early season stress is gone and we're ready to set the cruise control and enjoy the season.

[lew]

I have wondered myself what had happened to the 2 of you. I never post much, but did have some discussions with you both. Theron and I are equally sized operations and often shared common frustrations. One being ro sizing. We finally traded up to a 2 x16 inch post machine followed by 4 8 inch. BIG game changer. Only had it fired up once so far. Let Theron know if you could. I think he should remember our conversations on that. I'm jealous of the both of you. You for being able to get your fix without the stress, and Theron for having someone who is enthusiastic about chasing bubbles.

[Russell Lampron]

Thank you lew, Theron says that's hell of an RO. He wants to know how many taps you've got now and how you're doing. We're heading out to the woods now to get the last vacuum pump on line. It looks like we could get a little sap this week. It's good to hear from you.

[lew]

I've got 11,000 and buy in another 2,000. That new ro eats 70 gpm. 11 gpm of 15% from 1.4 sap. Only had 14,000 gallons to play with our first boil. Made about 100 gallons of golden. Only had 8500 tapped for that run. We're all tapped now. Just have to syart chasing leaks. Looks like another 7 or 8 days until it thaws out for us.

[collinsmapleman2012]

Lew, is that your woods on CR3 in Greene/smithville flats? been wondering whose that was for a couple years, looks like a nice woods.
whereabouts around smithville flats are you? i'm in that area a few times a year, kind of curious if i've been past it.

russ, glad to hear you're still in maple. i do miss PATheron's updates, they were quite entertaining and hearing about his growth and changes and challenges have definetely inspired my own growth when i jumped in to more than 30 taps.

[Russell Lampron]

Theron has about 12500 now and 2 D&G RO's that are in the 2000 gph range. We've boiled twice so far and made almost five 55 gallon barrels. We had all of the big woods tapped and finished the bubble patrols on those last week. We tapped an 800 tap woods last week and will bubble patrol that when it runs again. We've also got about 400 tapped in his other 800 tap woods and will finish that this afternoon. When those are done everything will be online.

[Russell Lampron]

We finished tapping the last woods this afternoon. It wasn't planned that way but I had the honor of tapping the last tree. Theron says that if he makes 5000 gallons this year I'm coming back every year. It looks like it should start running again tomorrow. I can't wait!

[Sugarmaker]

Russ,
I didnt know a person could retire from making syrup:)
Glad your having a good time and still in the hunt on bubble patrol too.
I am not on as much as back then.
Regards,
Chris

[Russell Lampron]

Russ,
I didnt know a person could retire from making syrup:)
Glad your having a good time and still in the hunt on bubble patrol too.
I am not on as much as back then.
Regards,
Chris

Hi Chris it's good to hear from you. Retiring from work was an easy decision. Retiring from making syrup took a lot of thought and soul searching. Most of my family moved to NC and family won out over making syrup. It was hard to do but I feel that it was the right decision to sell out and move to NC too. Luckily I was able to come up to PA and help my good friend Theron make syrup. I get my sugaring fix and he spends the money!

[Russell Lampron]

The sap ran pretty good here in PA on Wednesday and Thursday and we'll be boiling that tomorrow. It was 7* here this morning and everything froze up pretty hard so even though it got to 35* today we didn't get much sap. It looks like it's going to let loose this weekend and we'll be boiling everyday for awhile if the forecast is right.

[Russell Lampron]

The sap ran good over the weekend and we made a lot of syrup. We got a good freeze last night and had a better than expected run today. It's supposed to freeze again tonight with 35* and snow showers in the forecast for tomorrow. We're hoping that we get a good run out of it but time will tell.

I've been given free reign to do what I want when running the filter press and have been able to fill 3.5, 55 gallon barrels on a set of papers. I always did batch filtering with my own press which was a walk in the park compared to continuous filtering but with a little experimentation I was able to get the hang of it quickly. With all of the problems that Theron had with filtering in the past he and his father are really amazed with what I've been doing.

[Russell Lampron]

It's been a busy week here at Pierce Maple. Just as the run stopped on Tuesday one of the vacuum pumps went down. Theron is an electrical engineer so with his capacitance meter we were able to test the capacitors and found that one of the run capacitors was bad. He checked the local supply houses and found what we needed a few towns over and off we went in the middle of a snow storm to get it. It took most of the morning to get there and back but we made it safely and were able to install the parts and test the motor. It was toast. Luckily Theron had a spare pump ready to go so we swapped it out and had that woods back online to catch the end of that run.

The trees loved the new snow and the sap ran the best that it has so far this season. We're geared up for another big run today so it's time for me to get out there and move some sap around.

[maple flats]

Russ,
I didnt know a person could retire from making syrup:)
Glad your having a good time and still in the hunt on bubble patrol too.
I am not on as much as back then.
Regards,
Chris
It is possible, I also retired from making it, but I'm still in it. I now buy bulk from a friend who retails almost nothing and pack it into retail to keep my customers satisfied. Worked well last year and so far this year. I just bought the first 40 gal barrel of Amber this week, will buy a dark as soon as he makes some, so far he's just Golden and the one Amber.
I tend to like this retirement. I now bottle on my schedule.

[red maples]

sounds like you having fun and learning some stuff too. I assume its all similar just bigger!!! and of course more expensive but also better its not your money!!!

[Russell Lampron]

sounds like you having fun and learning some stuff too. I assume its all similar just bigger!!! and of course more expensive but also better its not your money!!!

I'm having a lot of fun and I have learned some new things. We all do the same thing but everyone has their way of doing it. The way that they were filtering down here was a joke but what they did worked for them. I showed them how I ran my press with an air pump on it and it spread like wildfire. Everyone was struggling and since I've been down here they're learning how to do it.

I've found that there isn't much good information out there on how to run a filter press. There's a lot of vague information on batch filtering and none on continuous filtering. None of the manufacturers give good information on how much DE to add and when. I've got it to a point where I can get three 55 gallon barrels through it before a paper change when they could only get one through before.

[red maples]

yeah running the press can have its challenges. I find one of the tricks in batch filtering is doing your best to keep the press as warm as you can. I don't see how those new plastic press plates stay as warm as steel or aluminum. I need to write it down so I don't forget I have to relearn every year...

[Russell Lampron]

Brad do you have a way to heat your syrup before you filter it? If so filter all of your syrup for the day at once. That's batch filtering. Filtering as you draw it off is continuous filtering. For continuous filtering the press cooling between draws isn't that much of an issue. I let mine sit for a day once and was able to start filtering again the next day without changing it. The pressure was high at first but quickly came down as the hot syrup went through it.

[red maples]

I can but its a pita. nah it works for me the pressure will start high and once things get back up to temp the pressure quickly comes down and goes right through. the press stays pretty warm. most of my boils are rarely more than 2 hrs anyway and once the sugarhouse warms a bit its not an issue. more so when I draw too heavy or don't add enough DE. then I have issues.

[Russell Lampron]

Well my vacation if you can call it that is coming to an end. I'll be heading back to NC tomorrow morning. Keeping 12000+ taps leak free is a large task and at times my body just didn't want to climb the hills to check for leaks but I did it anyway. There were many long days that turned into long nights keeping everything in working order for when the bigsap comes. As tired and sore as I was I had the time of my life and will definitely be back next year for my annual maple fix.

Theron is a great guy and we work well together. We had only gotten together a couple of times before I came up to help, the last time was 12 years ago. We were both a little nervous about weither we could work together as we both work alone most of the time. It turned out that we worked great as a team and that made those two man jobs easier.

While I was here I became a celebrity of sorts. Everyone down here struggled with the filter press and when I put my skills to the task I was able to show them how to do it. A couple of the guys boil and do everything alone and making that task easier made life in the sugar house easier for them. One guy has his kids and dog constantly coming in and out of his sugar house while he's boiling which adds to the stress. I would have a melt down if that was happening when I was boiling especially when things were going wrong.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Russ,

It has been nice to keep track of both of you in a single thread. Theron is a great guy and has bailed me out on numerous occasions. Glad you worked well together. Tell him hello from me and if he needs a maple conversation at 5AM, I'm always available.

[Russell Lampron]

Russ,

It has been nice to keep track of both of you in a single thread. Theron is a great guy and has bailed me out on numerous occasions. Glad you worked well together. Tell him hello from me and if he needs a maple conversation at 5AM, I'm always available.


I'll do that Doug. Theron speaks highly of you and I'm sure that he's available if you need maple conversion too.

[Russell Lampron]

I've been home for a couple of days now and am enjoying the warm weather here in NC. I'm sure that you people in the maple belt are upset with the weather forecast and I'm feeling your pain. Theron had produced about half as much as he had made the season before when I left to come home. He's made more since but I'm not sure how much. I hope that you all get some freezing nights soon and somehow have an average or better season.

Good luck to all of you that are having open houses this weekend.

[red maples]

glad you are getting some rest. Maple weekend here in NH. so we ALL have been doing the Maple Thrash as my wife calls it. Saturday was a dud... for the first time weather kept people away it was not nice. on and off heavy rain. but today supposed to be 60 gonna be busy I hope so I have to pay for this new vacuum pump and need to turn all the stuff I made green!!! The weather is a rough I will say but there are 2 freezes coming and I haven't turned off my vac pump all week except to drain moisture and top off oil. and its been holding a steady 27" gotta keep those sap columns open!!!

[Amber Gold]

Where are you draining the moisture from?