Spring Harvest 2022

[Amber Gold]

Late getting my first 2022 Maple Season post, but then I’m tapping a bit late…maybe. It’s hard to say. Last week, there might’ve been 1-2 days worth of some kind of run. This week about the same...but how much sap was really collected?? Getting started late because my grandfather’s health took a sharp downturn after Christmas, and he recently passed away. Also, the weekends have been frigid, and I never thought it’d turn around as quickly as it did…kinda. Last week and this week, it’d be 50/60, but then have nights in the single digits…what gives??

Started tapping Friday and finished late yesterday. Friday, I tapped solo and got in the 200+ on the back field line. Saturday, the wife/kids joined me after lunch, and we tapped all of the sugar line. Sunday, the wife/kids joined me after lunch, and we tapped the backyard line. Monday, wife/I tapped the field and swamp lines and walked the entire woods getting it up 25.5” at the releaser by the end of a long day. Current tap count is ~885 taps with a few more to add in. I think tapping took a bit longer than usual because my pre-tapping prep. wasn’t as good (had to do more repair work while tapping than usual) and later starts in the morning.

When I was walking the woods, I lost vacuum and found out the releaser pump didn’t kick on…moisture trap works…check. Turns out I didn’t turn the breaker on for the pump…took me about 10 min. to figure that out…

Closed the valve on the tank when I left and this morning there was 100 gal in the tank with it getting cold enough to freeze the lines. Lines were mostly thawed out by 8am and starting to run. Picking a load up from the woods this afternoon and will process everything tomorrow night. Speaking of tomorrow night, going to love boiling when the temp drops from 60’s to <20. The high winds, and cold temps, keep things interesting.

Based on the long range forecast, we'll be lucky to boil again within a week.

[Russell Lampron]

It's good to hear that you're tapped in. I hope that everything goes well when you RO and then boil for the first time. Sorry to hear about your grandfather.

Good luck with your sugaring season

[Pdiamond]

Josh - Sorry to hear about the loss of your Grandfather. Keep Him with you in the sugar house this year.

[BAP]

Sorry for your loss. Glad to hear that you were able to get tapped out to catch this run. Give you a chance to get all the kinks worked out before sugaring really sets in.

[Amber Gold]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the thoughts. He was almost 95 and had a good life until the end.

Hauled a load of sap home late yesterday and left a bit in the tank. New truck, even though it's a dually, doesn't have the same suspension as my old F350 c/c. I'll haul sap with it today, by I may need to add air bags to get clearance between tires and bottom of flat bed.

Sap ran all night and more trees are waking up. Went to bed with the vac at 27" and got up and it was ~18"...a leak or two thawed out in the overnight. Should be a quick fix this afternoon.

[red maples]

Good to get the kinks worked out early before we really get going. I have a few of those freeze/thaw vacuum issues too. Got mine up to just shy of 27 but was back down to 25.5 when it was really warm so gotta find those but its tough to get in the woods when you got sap to process. hope the first boil went well!!!

I think I told you in an email but sorry again to hear about your grandfather. even though you know its coming its still very difficult to deal with.

[Amber Gold]

I do like the early season runs to get the bugs worked out. Everything in woods went well and same with the sugarhouse. Most trouble free first boil I think I've had yet. The good thing with the long break is it should give me time to install air bags on my truck to beef the suspension up.

Thanks Brad. Appreciate the thought.

On my woods walk the other day, I did find a couple trees untapped (source of leak) and fixed some smaller leaks. This afternoon, I'm going to the woods to add in a couple new taps for trees that are now big enough.

[red maples]

Oh no you said it!!! don't jinx it. I said the same thing and **** if it didn't go sour the next day.

[Russell Lampron]

The same thing happened here. We got all of the woods tapped and bubble patrolled and all of the kinks worked out and then the problems started. They were minor but took a little time to fix. We've got the train back on the tracks and are hoping that everything goes smoothly now. We got sap runs Tuesday and yesterday and the big freeze today and tonight before it starts running again tomorrow. The weekend and beyond looks good here and we should start getting the bigsap.

[Amber Gold]

I shouldn't have jinxed it because the first big thing happened the other day. Glad it happened on a freeze-up. Tuesday night, I showed up to the shed and vac. pump was off. All pump oil on the shed floor. More details on the vac. pump thread I'm starting. I don't know what happened, but it's been running since Wednesday morning. Crossing fingers and will see what happens.

Not much to report on otherwise. Just cold. Getting a bit of sap every day. Maybe Sunday we'll be back in business??

[red maples]

oh man... sorry. if you figure it out let me know so I do the same thing!!!

[Amber Gold]

Still don’t know what happened to the pump. It’s been running fine ever since. No drop in oil level (still full), and since yesterday evening, it’s been pulling 27-28” with the sap running. I guess it's all set??

The trees took most of Saturday to thaw out…not much sap in the woods. Spent the day making sugar and installing air bags on my truck (huge difference BTW this morning hauling sap). In the spring, I like to make what I need for the year, so I’m not trying to make it in the summer when it’s more challenging to get it to come out right. A friend let me borrow their sugar making setup, and I’m now able to make 2 gal batches…huge efficiency improvement in the process.

Things didn’t really start running well until mid-afternoon Sunday. I got to the woods around noon to start my leak check and took care of the two mainlines that had a drop line come off. Brought vac. From 15” to 22”. I spent the rest of the time until 5pm walking the woods and finding all the small leaks. Finished with the woods with 27”+ at the releaser. Two of the mains have leaks that I can hear at the booster but can’t find the leaks. Hauled ~500 gal out of the woods and left a big block of ice in the tank. Trees were really pumping sap out at this point. JP dropped off 30 gal, and it tested at 3.5%...I did a double take…JD has big shoes to fill now!

This morning, I hauled another 700’ish gallons of sap out of the tank to make sure there’d be enough room to get through the day. Vac. Levels now at 27.75” at the releaser.

[Amber Gold]

Haven’t boiled since Monday night. Because of no freeze since Sunday, Tuesday it ran OK, and I hauled home ~500 gal of sap. Tuesday night was cold, and Wednesday was cool, so it didn’t run much on Wednesday, so I let it sit. Today, sap is running well, but vac. at 18”. I probably have two drops that fell off which I’ll fix at this afternoon’s haul.

Through Monday night, syrup produced is ~60 gal. Through Tuesday night, sap to the sugarhouse is 4477 gal. SSC has been 1.7% all season.

Boiling tonight. It should be a good night since it’s been a while.

Been making maple sugar every chance I get. It takes about 4 hrs to make a 2 gal batch from start to finish. The process is greatly improved this year when I borrowed a mortar mixer from a friend.

Vac. pump still running good.

Next week's forecast is looking a bit warm...

[red maples]

yes worried about the forecast and lack of freezing nights. glad your pump is running good.

[Amber Gold]

Quick update before I get ready to head out.

Sap is finally running well. It took until late Wednesday for that to happen, but it ran hard. Collected 1400 gal yesterday (700 still sitting on my truck because no tank space at sugarhouse). Sap SSC is at 1.7%, so typical. Produced ~130 gal of syrup so far.

It actually froze last night, but no freeze until early next week. However, unless it's a mid-20's freeze, does it really matter if the temp falls to 31F vs 34F?? Just a thought.

It's been a mad scramble getting things ready for maple weekend. Spent a couple nights bottling, made 70 lbs of cream Sunday, 100 lbs of sugar last week (this is my supply for the year), 2 batches of candy, maple nuts, and maple kettle corn. Hope we have a good turnout and it sells. Three season's since we've had one, so who knows. Next year, I need to do a better job of getting product that I can make before maple season, made before maple season.

[Sugar Bear]

Quick update before I get ready to head out.

It actually froze last night, but no freeze until early next week. However, unless it's a mid-20's freeze, does it really matter if the temp falls to 31F vs 34F?? Just a thought.



Perhaps not so much for generating a decent sap run the next day. But for bridging taps to the next substantial run, if there is to be one, yes.

[Russell Lampron]

Quick update before I get ready to head out.

It actually froze last night, but no freeze until early next week. However, unless it's a mid-20's freeze, does it really matter if the temp falls to 31F vs 34F?? Just a thought.

The way that my woods was layed out there many times that the temp at the house was just around freezing and everything down at the releaser was frozen solid. This season at Theron's there was as much as a 9* difference from one releaser to another. He has 5 of them. So 31* vs 34* can mean 24* to 27* in the woods. I hope that you get the freezing temps that you need and have a good turn out for maple weekend.

[red maples]

I got a jump on making stuff in February so I am pretty good shape as far as that is concerned. bottled 20 to 25 gallons back in Jan. and bottles another 25+ gallons last weekend.

sap still coming in but I think its only because there is so much ice in the swamp its been over cast and frost o the ground. not much sugar in the sap anymore either.

So I have a theory on your pump oil dump. after using this pump for a bit under different conditions now.

So what happens is when the pump is running under warmer conditions any suspended moisture that is in the air (that you can't see) and is not caught by the moisture trap ,which really only collects liquid moisture, Is heated and is evaporated by the pump and is sent off through the exhaust hence the white vapors that come out of the exhaust.

now when its running under cold conditions and the pump is running cooler its gonna take in that same humid air moisture but since the pump isn't running hot enough it collects in the oil. this type of oil doesn't mix with the moisture for the most part it stays separated because thats what it is designed to do. so the oil level will climb and when it gets too high (above the top oil mark) it will seep out of the seals at the back of the pump since the oil floats on water only oil is coming out. it will push all the oil out if there is too much water in the oil. Then once it starts to heat up it evaporates the water over heats the pump and hopefully doesn't f-up your pump.

thats why you had oil on the floor and nothing in the pump. luckily it shut down or it could have been a real problem.

[Amber Gold]

Maple Weekend went really well. I held Friday’s sap to boil (about 1400 gal) and held Saturday’s sap for Sunday (~1000 gal), so I was able to run the RO both days. Downside is both days, I misjudged concentrating and ran overtime on both days. Saturday’s crowd was surprisingly good (pancake breakfast does help for sure) but it was still pretty good post-breakfast. Sunday was dead in the morning, but really picked up at lunch and stayed busy the rest of the day. Our Maple Weekend team (friends and family) did a great job talking with people and running the sales table. One of the greatest things about this weekend is now that it’s been 3 years since we’ve had an open house, the kids are now older and seeing how much more their involved in the weekend...pretty awesome! Made about 47 gallons of syrup over the weekend, 45 of it went into kegs. Even with the hot temps, and slow boil, the weekend’s grade didn’t drop that much(45% TC to 33% TC)…really surprised. It makes me wonder if more goes into syrup color than what I thought. Last week’s mad dash, and maple weekend, left me exhausted by Sunday night.

Because of the heat wave, and no freezing nights, sap flow is poor. It took 36 hours to get 0.75 gpt. I was able to haul a load out yesterday evening. Hopefully last night’s freeze (barely) gets sap moving again. This week’s forecast is looking pretty good.

Yesterday, I got a surprise…the vac. pump decided to dump its oil out again. Fortunately, I caught it before it ran out, but I have no idea what’s going on. Since the first time, I’ve been checking it daily, and it’s been running with no issues. I had enough oil to get it up to the min. level and ran over to GZ to get some more vac. oil to top it off. Brad, that’s an interesting idea, and it may be right. Yesterday was warm though when it dumped oil.

Sugar Bear, that’s a good thought on temp’s.

[Amber Gold]

Saturday, we took advantage of Maine’s Maple Weekend being on a different weekend than ours and was able to visit sugarhouses to see how others do things and chat with them. Had a good time. One sugarhouse had a great selection of maple taps and buckets.

Been puttering along here most of the week. Started the week getting 0.75gpt of sap per day and the past couple days have been 0.5 gpt. Sugar is holding steady at 1.3%...not great, but not terrible either.

As of yesterday’s haul, we’re at 15,700 gal processed this season, 14,400 of which is from our woods which is 16gpt of sap. Goal is 20-25gpt. If this freeze-up kicks the trees back online, we should reach our goal, but if they continue to putter, I doubt it. A theory I have is when you get extremely warm temps during the season, it permanently affects the tap hole, and they never run well again. We’ll have 3 days of nights around 20, so if this doesn’t work, nothing will.

With all the warm weather, sap is getting harder to boil. Foam is harder to control in the pans and using a lot more defoamer to keep it in check. For next season’s upgrade, I’m considering an auto-defoamer to control defoamer use.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Josh, yeah, curious to see what's going to happen. Just over 10,000 gal here and I think we'll get a couple .5 gpt squirts. Bruce

[Amber Gold]

With as cold as it is, it's going to take a bit to get the trees running again.

[DrTimPerkins]

A theory I have is when you get extremely warm temps during the season, it permanently affects the tap hole, and they never run well again. We’ll have 3 days of nights around 20, so if this doesn’t work, nothing will.

Not a theory at all. It is the basis of why maple producers should use the best spout/drop sanitation approaches possible. The more you can do to keep the taphole free of microbes the better (short of using paraformaldehyde or other "taphole sanitizers"). Use good spout/drop sanitation, use good vacuum, limit sap backflow events, and hope it doesn't get too hot during the season.

[DrTimPerkins]

With as cold as it is, it's going to take a bit to get the trees running again.

The warm rain we're supposed to get on Thurs afternoon will help to thaw the trees out. Hoping we get a nice run from that. Looks like some decent sugaring weather in northern Vermont over the next week...perhaps a bit too warm down your way.

[Amber Gold]

Tomorrow night's low temp is going to be 52F! Where's the transition to 20/40's? The extended forecast shows nighttime lows in the low 30's, so not terrible.

I use new CV2's every year, and the vac runs 24/7 once the season starts, and is kept as high as I can get it. I think I'm doing what I can, within reason. I'll need to talk to Mother Nature to tone down the 60/70 during maple season...

Just checked the camera, and sap is coming in real good. No freeze tonight, so I hope this keeps up.

[Hillcrest Maples]

Your trees haven’t budded out yet? I’m two towns over from you and we shut down on the 19th. Sap was flowing, but didn’t want to spoil the batch with buddy syrup.

[Amber Gold]

No buds yet. Syrup still tasted good last weekend, and they certainly haven't budded since. Most of the reds I have are in a colder section of the woods, but they'll still bud before the sugars do.

[Amber Gold]

Sap ran pretty well all night. Picked up 700+ gal this afternoon...probably going to calc. out to about 1gpt. Thought the trees were going to run harder, but it's better than 0.5gpt that I was getting. Today's sap looked much better than yesterday's.

[red maples]

your dam magic trees!!! good for you. I shut down last weekend didn't make the freeze up budded and flavor changed before it happened. oh well!!!

[Amber Gold]

Sap flow is way down...about 1/3gpt/day. Hauled 700 gal out yesterday, and will bring home whatever's in the woods today to boil tonight. This is likely it. SSC yesterday was still at 1.4%, which is good for us at the end of season. Sap is cloudy, but expected this time of year.

Yesterday, I found a vac. leak that I've been struggling to find all season. Since the tree cells are drying out, the vac. leak was audible and whistling pretty loudly. About 2" below the tap hole, there was an 1/8" dia. hole in the tree that was sucking air in. I gained almost 1" vac. pulling that one tap.

[jrgagne99]

I generally don't hesitate to pull taps with internal leaks. Kink the drop right next to the tap and wrap with electrical tape- done. With my small operation (150 taps) sacrificing 1 tap is a 0.67% hit. But if it improves vacuum by 1 inch, it is a 5% sap gain overall-- a good trade I think.

[berkshires]

I generally don't hesitate to pull taps with internal leaks. Kink the drop right next to the tap and wrap with electrical tape- done. With my small operation (150 taps) sacrificing 1 tap is a 0.67% hit. But if it improves vacuum by 1 inch, it is a 5% sap gain overall-- a good trade I think.

You could always put a bucket on it. Win-win! :)

Gabe

[jrgagne99]

Funny I never thought of that. But they're generally too far up in the bush to check often enough to make worthwhile. I will keep that in mind in the future for ones that are close to the gathering tank though. Get back to my roots. :-)

[red maples]

I have done the kink with electrical tape.

[Russell Lampron]

Electrical tape is the fastest way to fix leaks and take taps off line in season. Use a good electrical tape like Scotch 33 or 88 and go back in the off season to make permanent repairs.

[Amber Gold]

Great idea, but I refuse to collect a bucket :)

I hadn't heard about the kink/tape method, but I need to start using it. I put the drop line back on the tee, but sometimes during the season, they'll pop off...no idea why. Learn something new every day.

Friday's syrup had a different flavor, but I wouldn't consider it an off flavor. Monday's boil definitely had an off flavor, and the pans were boiled off last night. Season's over and vac-vroom is off.

Season sap/syrup totals to follow.

[Russell Lampron]

Great idea, but I refuse to collect a bucket :)

I hadn't heard about the kink/tape method, but I need to start using it. I put the drop line back on the tee, but sometimes during the season, they'll pop off...no idea why. Learn something new every day.

Friday's syrup had a different flavor, but I wouldn't consider it an off flavor. Monday's boil definitely had an off flavor, and the pans were boiled off last night. Season's over and vac-vroom is off.

Season sap/syrup totals to follow.

I just started doing the temporary repairs with electrical tape this year working with Theron. With over 12,000 taps fixing every chew or other leak the right way would take too long. You can cover a lot of ground and fix a lot of leaks that will last for the season with a roll of electrical tape and a tap puller.