Willow Creek Sugarhouse 2023

[red maples]

Well Its finally time to start the 2023 thread!!!

Wanted to finish a few things in the woods yesterday but my son's Track meet had a delayed start so didn't get into the woods at all yesterday. Our washing machine drain pump went (still under warranty) but they didn;t have the right pump in stock. So had to run to the laundry mat saturday AM. And ended up running to the hardware store this morning, So much for an early start in the woods today. a few more branches down with the wind from the CYCLOGENESIS what ever the hell that is we had Friday night. It was nasty I will say that. -15 about 2:30 am here and the wind was whipping!!! I got up to add more wood to the fire just burning it a little hotter to keep the house toasty.

So finally finished up the new section of mainline and got about 110 taps in this after noon. couple of fixes here and there but all in all that section went pretty smooth. I got back to the sugarhouse about 5:50 turned off all the other valves on the other sections on the way back and started up the vacuum and got about 5" of vacuum. So something aint right. so that will have to wait until tomorrow after noon. I am hoping I can get my woods all tapped in by wednesday. Hit it hard as soon as get home from work. after I check things to see what I missed. guessing I missed a taps is all. hopefully its not a bad valve somewhere out in the woods.

Hope everyone else is getting things done.

Good luck to everyone this season,
Brad

[Amber Gold]

Good Luck Brad. You're at it early. I'm still shooting for Presi Weekend.

[red maples]

Hey Josh.... you are missing some great runs!!! perfect sap weather!!!

So wanted to make sure I was boiling by this weekend. missed a day tapping set me behind. (Washing machine fix it dude was really late like 3 hours late ruined my afternoon in the woods) so wednesday after work went to the hardware store got a powerful head lamp and tapped until about 11PM. dragging *** at work on thursday!!! but never did that before but it was great had to finish off about 30 taps and a few fixes with a couple more trees down from last weekend cold shot but all done thursday.

So this year I tapped a little different. So by now I am sure you all have heard of the Precision tapper, that Glen goodrich designed... Well not gonna spend the $400 for the adapter but I did drill my holes straight this year, buckets still need to be angled or sap runs backwards out of the tap( made that oops last year) but anyway I haven't even really gone to check for leaks and I am at 25.5" at the releaser. with my woods completely tapped. MUCH better seal it seems doing the straight hole as opposed to the angled hole. So we'll see if this is the way. I will trust a guy with as much experience as Glen has and with as big a of operations he has too. I think he is up to 160K taps in the north east kingdom there he calls Eden!!! along with his place in Cabot.

Anyway. after getting all tapped in and letting some nasty nasty sap run on the ground I started collecting Thursday night and it ran straight through until saturday evening when everything froze up by about 7PM. getting just shy of 1GPT each day. which is always impressive with my reds!!! and sap was crystal clear even at freeze up.

Spent the day yesterday cleaning the sugarhouse and rinsing stuff running RO on 800 gallons. Got it up to 16 and the filter didn't fail so that was good. It was quite green when I changed it out though. Had an almost flawless first boil just had to get the blower dialed in still not perfect yet but getting there had some strong and slow boils turned it up too high once blew ashes/sparks in my face once oops. but pretty good towards the end made a few gallons of high side Dark/robust good for slightly green sap.

I wanted to get taps in across the street but not there yet. Have to go up to Dartmouth today since my son Qualified for the indoor Track state meet in the 4x400 they are seeded 2nd in D1 and 3rd overall. He missed the 300M by less than 1 second He is very excited about today and if they finish in the top 6 they can compete in New Englands in Boston in early march. He is quite excited about spring track too. I am sure sure he will get it in for the 300m next year. Then I wanna watch the superbowl tonight. So those 75 taps will go in monday after work.

Got a new "sap siphon" for across the street too. no more pumping the tank. and has a vacuum release so it doesn't freeze. Got a deal on 2 used ones from bascom's.

[Amber Gold]

Still not at it. Man this sucks. Going to start my thread tomorrow. More detail there. Trying to balance work, home, family time.

Congrats to your son. Good for him. I got into running about 5 years ago, so I'm following indoor track now, then will go to outdoor track and road racing.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Nice jump on the season Brad! Thought I was good to go until I blew an RO fuse Sunday morning... now everything is backed up.

[red maples]

Thanks Josh, I got into running back in my mid 30's was out of shape bad was running 12 to 15 miles a week but had to stop after a few years, plantar fasciitis, hip problems, lower back problems, sucks just hit 50 in october. I didn't go to the gym during covid but got back into it un until maple anyway just not enough time in the day. Was just getting back into lifting somewhat heavy heavy again too. but will restart when I have off days. but going strong except this headcold that's kicking my ***. Covid was easier than this head cold!!! it happens every year I get run down and only a few hours of sleep and I get sick. Its always tough balancing work and kids and maple its a little easier now that Griffin is driving and has a vehicle and my daughter is in college. but still there is work that I have to get up at 4am for. ah the life of a lunch lady(kitchen manager/chef)!!! and our director is throwing me some good stuff at me but its alot of work. we have alto sham combi ovens at the highschool and one is smoker too did 180lbs of Beef Brisket so kids got house smoked beef brisket. smoked them for 5 hours and wrapped in foil finished for another 3 hours and they were DELISH.... so good!!! ever have house smoked brisket in school? yeah me either.... its fun though.

Ah Bruce that sucks. sorry hopefully you are back up and running!!!

SO been super busy. already up to 24 gallons since my first boil. you'd think I would write down how to use my filter press but nooooo I never do. oh and don't miss a filter paper either that doesn't work at all. but stuff like that happens when you are running on a few hours of sleep and sick to boot!!!

all in all having fun. When the temp dropped like a stone friday night with the wind it cracked a PVC elbow on my new sap ladder had it happen before on an elbow on my mechanical releaser from the manifold to main chamber I guess its called, when the temp drops that fast combined with the wind it cracks stuff. when it slowly freezes I never have issues.

All the Tubing taps are in but only about a 1/4 of it is leak checked. and running now about 26.5" still alot of lines to walk but will get some done today after I run out and get a treaded fitting for the sap ladder and put that back together. and have to redo the fitting on the side of the RO they are dripping really bad when pressure gets high. no good. Have a clean bucket to catch concentrate don't want to loose the sweet!!!

I did redo all my plumbing in the RO room a project that I wanted to do after my first year with the RO how ever many years ago that was. SOOOOOO much easier to use now. and all new valves and just so much more user friendly.

Well happy sapping everyone. Getting some breakfast and off to it!!!

[Amber Gold]

I used to lift weights a lot when I was younger, but then I just got too busy with life, so I gave that up. I was getting out of shape and looking for something to do out of the house and didn't cost much. Running fit the bill perfectly. I got into it in my mid-30's and haven't stopped since. Averaging 60 mi weeks for the year and enjoying it.

I never, ever had brisket for school lunch. Lunches are way better now than they used to be.

I hear you about there never being enough time in the day. I'm in the same boat.

Good luck this season.

[red maples]

frozen up for a bit like everyone but been visiting colleges We went to Uconn on saturday for my son he's a jumior. what a campus. he loved it. We are heading up to dartmouth today...yes hes friggin book smart, way smarter than me as far as book smart and the ability to remember stupid crap facts and figures with a photographic memory like his mother. but both of them lack common sense and that engineering figure it out and build it gene I have that.

But with this freeze up I can work on confection stuff for maple weekend and I already have half a crop in the first 2 weeks. was able to boil off everything except for 10 gallons of sap when I cleaned out the releaser. thursday night just stuck it in buckets and let it freeze up. looks like just when we will get back in business there is another freeze and snow storm on friday, saturday. 5-8 or 6-10 by Saturday. but that can change to nothing by the way the weather forecasts are this year.


its a nice rest though and actually getting to the gym heading out now!!!

[red maples]

Well its been a while since an update!!! not much sleep between boiling, making all the maple stuff, trying to spent more time in the woods which has been paying off, finally got my 30 something buckets tapped last week a week later than I would have liked need to make sure the tubing was as tight as I could get it first. couple of really late nights boiling more sap then I expected to have. I am sleepy but happy. I wish the sugar was a little higher been averaging between 1.25 and 1.5 closer to 1.25 most of the time so a little more processing time before boiling. goal this year was to spend more time in the woods and its paying off. I still have a few micro leaks that I can't find no matter what I do. found a cracked spout 1st time for that. had a tree that snapped off in the fall and turns out it was hollow anyway. I figured I'd tap it anyway why not right... had a few branches come down and pulled the lines off 2 spouts. but have been maintaining 27-27.5" for more than 2 weeks now. sap flows have slowed for some reason not sure if its atmospheric pressure or snow around the base of the trees keeping them colder and partially frozen. but the season aint over and I have collected more sap than I ever have. I think changing out 2 of the 3/4 inch lines had something to do with that as well. need to get more of that done. still have quite a bit of 3/4" inch line to change out but its a start. I wish it was as syrup as sap but with mostly 1.25 sap it aint but still way above, should be a record year for syrup for me as well. Also lightest syrup I have made. got up to 48 TC but can't have only made D/S but its really nice syrup, niter seems to be a bit lighter than past years as well which is nice for filtering I wonder if that has anything to do with color... I never make A/R so its only a bonus if it gets that high.

Got candy made yesterday, first batch was a a degree or 2 over what I normally do and it was setting up too fast. lost of waste and white spots. took it 2 degrees cooler and second batch was great. funny what a couple of degrees does. started the soak on those last night. I always crystal coat my candy now. have for a a few years just better product and longer shelf life I tried freezing it but that just made it even harder. its nice and creamy now. but have everything but nuts done just need to do labels. making nuts in a bit.

Sales have been crazy already as well. having trouble keeping the farm stand stocked.

My Cream I think I was a degree or 2 too low when I was boiling it down in the past because it was separating too quickly I have always used the recommendations from the CDL that was what the directions said to do anyway. so this time I upped it by 2 degrees and it seems to be holding up better. just have to work a little faster bottling and takes a little more work to clean the machine since it sets up quicker.

All in all having fun... the time change hurts a bit and snow on the way its gonna be like shoveling concrete so that should be cost me a few hours of snow removal!!! not really looking forward to that.

Hope everyone is doing good and getting some sleep and most of all having fun!!!

[red maples]

Well I found out the safety solenoid that I got with my Vacuum pump works perfectly. I cleaned out my releaser and then I do I turn the switch from auto to off... so I don't trip the float switch when I am cleaning it. Well of course tired and beat I forgot to switch it back and came back after collecting buckets and it was full but the sensors tripped and no sap made it back to the vacuum pump!!! excellent.

SO sap ran pretty bad last week I think we just didn't get cold enough nights to keep things going here. but had 600 gallons for saturday but wanted to boil all that off because I was able to keep the room below 40 but I was holding it for longer than I like so I enough to boil on saturday and ended up with 200 gallons gallons of fresh sap for saturday and ran it through the RO to remove exactly half of the water so I ended up with a 100 gallons for the day on sunday. was a slow start and I usually light the evap when people get there so waited until 10:30 to light things up (we open at 10am) good crowds both days. cold and windy on sunday took a bit to warm up but a hot shower and some chinese take out and I was falling asleep on the couch. above average sales by about $300 and $500 over last year. So no rain and snow this year!!!

didn't get as much sap as I thought monday but its really coming in good now hasn't been running this good in over a week. but sadly its the last freeze in the forecast here so I don't know how long it will last buds are still tight but turning brighter red (on the reds of course) sap was very cloudy yesterday too finally clearing up today. sugar getting lower too a hair under 1.25 so hopefully the buckets will be a little higher they usually are.

alrighty off to it.

[red maples]

Well still going not much sap coming in only had 1 good freeze in Friday night. sap flow has really gone down to about nothing. Vac is running. after the slow maple weekend boil I had about 7-8 gallons that went into very dark/strong. So mid week I drained the flue pan and did a quick vinegar solution and heat and a quick scrub there was ALOT of niter buildup back there I was well overdue for a cleaning anyway. and ran that through the Filter press its thin enough and was about 25 brix goes through the press easy even cold. everything was nice and clean and sparkly, Grade went up to amber/rich for Thursdays boil (I never get amber) had 275 gallons of sap to boil off today and it dropped back down to a hair into dark/robust.

getting hard to keep things clean trying to clean the releaser everyday and run a rag through the pipes every other day. don't know how much longer I can keep going. I mean I can keep going but trees are petering out and bacteria levels are killing me. I just don't want to loose the evaporator to ropey syrup. gotta try to boil everyday or every other day if I can even if its not much sap.

[red maples]

just limping along here. trying to keep things as clean as possible. longer freeze coming tonight. but after this I am thinking I am gonna call it sometime this weekend depending on how the next 2 days go. pretty favorable weather for sap but its just not coming in and have been able to keep the vacuum levels between 27" and 28" which has paid off. I am almost at 8 weeks since I first started tapping. today was much cooler not much of a freeze last night or this morning anyway, and only got up to 38 degrees. sap is quite cloudy but still making pretty light syrup its at the upper end of dark like 44-48 where its been most of the season for me. sugar is around 1% give or take but RO getting it done.

[Amber Gold]

Same over here. Just keeping things moving and will also probably call it soon as well. It's just not worth it when you get such little sap...and with the low sugar.

[red maples]

well thats it. I noticed on what I was cooking down the other day it wasn't smelling good anymore but didn't filter yet and didn't taste the syrup. reheated last night while I was boiling filtered everything and its pretty bad so 4 gallons of merch. Just gonna dump the evap which is only 3 to 4 gallons completely finished off I usually use end of season off flavors for BBQ sauce mixing it with molasses, spices, tomato puree and liquid smoke the end of season off flavors help the flavor I have 3 to 4 gallons left from last year too. I don't need anymore than that. and don't want to waste the wood. Just happy I was able to keep the ropey away!!! thats just heart breaking it only happened once and never want it again so I am diligent on cleanliness and keeping the evaporator freshened up at the end of the season and even if I have a little sap boil anyway even if its just to get it to a boil for a short time and kill anything growing in evap. which is what I think it was evap spoiled to too many warm days in between boiling.

So with my reds and swamp reds which is mostly what I tap I have to recount when I pull taps but I know am below 600 taps now lost 5 or 6 trees from storms this past year found 2 or 3 hollows and swamp reds are notorious for going hollow and getting rot etc.

I know it was a GREAT sap year this year and most of us if tapped in early february made 20 to 30 % of our syrup crop in those 2 weeks. If I were just 1 week earlier it would have been even higher. but drilling straight holes instead of angled holes and spending more time in the woods keeping things tight and tubing upgrades(more to come this off season) new Vacuum also contributed to numbers I am sure. was able to keep vacuum above 27" almost this entire season which isn't easy.

collected 8808 gallons of sap. My little swamp reds never produce that much. its just over 2900 gallons more than they have ever produced thats roughly 15gpt I will know exactly after I pull taps and count. counting my evap and will be dumped I will have made 120 gallons of syrup and even made a little amber which I never do either. if the sugar would have been a hint higher that would have been even better but a record year in every aspect. Some of the best tasting syrup I have ever made. As long as I get all the other stuff correct I think I might finally have a good chance at a carlisle this year. I still like to play that game. (even though I always think there are things that aren't taken in to account when judging cream, or honey but anyway...) Sugarmomma got it this year.

So this is the first year I used the VFD for the Vacuum pump. WOW what an electricity savings. I ran it most of the season and the heat it gives off is plenty to heat the pump room which also has the electric releaser in it and ended up being way cheaper than using a space heater. I think it is actually about half the electricity I have used in the past. I think it already paid for itself and then some.

oh anyone hear from Russ this year. gonna reach out see how he is doing.

So to everyone who is still slugging along and those way up north good luck. keep boiling. and Josh I wanna taste that bourbon aged syrup sometime!!!

[red maples]

Been working on getting things cleaned and put away. Pulled a few taps gonna hit that part hard this weekend. Peepers are hit or miss depending on how cold it is. down the street about 1/2 mile or so they are super loud but they always start down there first.

Reached out to Russ Lampron the other day he went to work for Theron again in PA. He helped tap in about 4000 taps and beginning of Feb. and worked in the woods chasing leaks and fixing lines helped to boil and whatever else. He's doing good definitely got his maple fix in this year he said they had tons of niter in the beginning and was changing the syrup pan out after every boil. and thats a 5x16 oil fired evap I think he said so its a job emptying that out every boil. but he had fun is now back home and getting some rest. I asked why no Trader this year he said after 20 years he decided it was time to leave the trader behind.