Tapping 2008 [Archive] - Page 2

emericksmaple

03-05-2008, 08:03 PM

Sorry to hear about all you guys up north waiting for sap. Been very busy down here this week. We have boiled every day since sunday. Made 160-70 gal so far this week and looks like a good days tom and Fri.

Monday was our biggest day making 88 gal. Vaccum, I LOVE IT. With out it we would not have boiled that past 2 days. Sunday night was the last it froze, till right now it is 28 outside. Anyway, tues vaccum pulled in 2200 gal off of 2200 taps. The 900 taps on gravity only 300 gal. Wed 1400gal from vaccum, ZERO from gravity. We have decieded next year the 900 go on vaccum too!!

Totals so far 425 gal on syrup made all fancy. And 17,050 gal of sap from the 2200 taps. We are having a ball. Hope you all get the biggggsappp soon!!!

Sugarmaker

03-05-2008, 09:13 PM

Matt, (emericksmaple)
Nice job on the syrup! Thanks for the update. Might have to buy a truck load of sap or some good syrup from you if it doesn't kick in soon:) You made about as much in a day as we make in a season! Those numbers on vacuum are impressive! Wow and all light too!

Regards,
Chris

Sugarmaker

03-05-2008, 09:15 PM

Beth,
Maybe you will get the run on Thursday to get some syrup off! Nice when the kids are involved!

Regards,
Chris

PATheron

03-06-2008, 04:14 AM

Emericksmaple- Your officially my BIGSAP hero at this point. That vac is unreal isnt it? Ive never seem sap like this in my life. Im just letting my pump run. If it goes over 32 you will have sap. Not maybe there will be sap, theres sap. Hoping for BIGSAP today. Still trying to get my act together but I think we are doing great. Our season is really just starting and Im hoping to be at 200 gals by weekend. I think I keep making medium though. Im not really sure. I just put it in barrells and keep a sample from each barrell. Gotta let you go heading into work so I can quit at 1430.

PA mapler

03-06-2008, 06:18 AM

Morning guys! Matt, wow, that vacuum sure does make a huge difference, doesn't it, now I won't rest until I have it too. . . . . but unfortunately my technical expert (husband) who humors my weird hobbies, will NOT be thrilled with yet another project. . . . . ; )

Chris, I have my fingers and toes crossed for today, but the best forecast I could scrounge up was cloudy, 40 degrees, and chance of flurries. I couldn't squeeze out a "sunny and 60" without heading south out of the state. And now, if today doesn't pan out, next Tues. or Wed. is where I'm looking.

Andy- we're trying to survey over here too, with lots of jobs poring in already, but the ice in the woods is impossible right now. We haven't been out since Monday. It's like a huge, thin, icy glacier everywhere. I wiped out twice yesterday just walking up the yard to check the chickens!

PATheron

03-06-2008, 07:42 PM

Beth- Here we are supposed to be pretty warm tonight. 27 or 28 degrees. Tomarrow its supposed to be mid to upper 30s after lunch then stay there and rain till late sat afternooon. Maybe it will be a sleeper run and fill your buckets full. Theeron

PA mapler

03-06-2008, 08:41 PM

Nope, Theron, it's all a big bust, I got about 5 gallons of sap today, it never warmed up enough. I looked up the hill as the sun was setting and could see the ice still hanging on the twigs up top. And tomorrow we're supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow. I guess I didn't cross my toes hard enough. Next week for sure!

Dennis H.

03-06-2008, 09:58 PM

I made my first batch of syrup!!

The temps were in my favor today. I collected a bunch and bolied it down along with some semi-concentrated sap that I boiled down last week.
I ended up with 1/2gal.

Now don't laugh.

It did take me awhile to get it to the right density. I wanted to take my time. The thing I did notice but I am not sure if it is my thermometer or hydrometer. I had to boil it to 219 to get the density. I had a pot of water boiling to check the boiling point and it was 210.
So on my next batch I will have to see if the hydrometer and thermometer act the same way as this time.

I also used 13" coffee filter to filter out the sugar sand when I was done boiling on the evap. Worked great. Now when I had it to syrup I will now use the felt cone filter.

I guess I will have pancakes or waffles for breakfast in the morning!

sweetwoodmaple

03-06-2008, 11:06 PM

Beth - I know the feeling of needing a few more degrees. At least you have a little more time to rest up! :-)

Ahhh...the days of only a 1/2 gallon of syrup. My rig back then only boiled 4 gph maxed out, so that was a big deal!

My wife had a doctor's appointment today that ran long, so the pump and releaser did not get turned on until 4 pm. It was 42 degrees and sunny by then.

Well, between then and 8 pm when it started to freeze, I got 500 gallons of sap. The releaser was hitting every 3 or 4 minutes with 7 gallons.

Got a little over half boiled tonight as I didn't start until 8 pm and I had 2-1/2" of sweet in the evaporator that had to get boiled before the new stuff.

Have to get a flue brush made up again. I'm down to 80 gph, and that's with forced air!!!

tapper

03-07-2008, 05:50 AM

I was finally able to gather Mondays sap run on Wed. Had a small job to do on Tuesday which would have been the better day for gathering before the ice storm. I brought in almost 400 gallons from 300 buckets. 2% sugar content on the woods trees and 3% on the road trees. Sugar content is up slightly from the 1st sap run in Feb. The Marcland worked perfectly after getting it dialed in and was taking a draw every few minutes just before running out of sap. I took off around 4 gallons of medium and it seemed to be getting lighter before being done.

I am ahead of last year at this point as the 1st boil was on March 12 and didnt have any syrup till the 22nd of March.

PA mapler

03-07-2008, 07:54 AM

Wow, Brian, 500 gallons in 4 hours! That's amazing. I didn't realize what a difference vacuum makes. I'll have to start paying more attention to the vacuum threads here, since I really have no idea how it's set up. Then I'll have to submit the idea to the CEO. . . .

Yesterday's run depended on what side of the hill you were on. A guy not two miles from me had an awesome run, but his trees face south. Made all the difference.

The forecast doesn't look good here until next wed or thursday, so I'm sure not if I should empty the evaporator into buckets or not. I have a heat lamp in the arch when it gets cold, but how long would you guys leave the stuff sit?

Jim Brown

03-07-2008, 09:26 AM

I guess being on the right hill was the difference yesterday. Like Brian I didn't get to the trees until 4:30pm and had to replace a start capacitor on the 3hp pump motor. Looked at the releaser and sap was running in from one of the main lines. Started the pump( new capacitor worked great) and for the next hour releaser was tripping at a every 1 1/2 minute rate! Then it calmed down to once every 4 minutes and ran 125 gallons before trees shut down at 8:00pm
Sap was crystal clear

Wish I had 1000 that ran like that yesterday.
Sure won't run like that today or tomorrow

Jim

emericksmaple

03-07-2008, 01:11 PM

Theron, Yesterday was another big sap day. My dad saw our releaser dumping every 18sec on 2200 taps. Ended up making 120 gal yesterday, and will have to boil tonight. we are tired!!! looks like a little break Sun then back into it.

Dennis H.

03-07-2008, 02:25 PM

Well today is looking to be a good day for my small operation.
Boy is the sap running!
I don't know if it is the temps or the rain but it is running and I don't care as long as they are running.
We are in the low 40's right now and last night was down to 28 and they are saying it will be in the low 30's tonight with a high in the 40's tomorrow, so it looks like tomorrow might be the same as today! I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I also have some trees possibly lined up to tap next year, I need to go and visit the gentleman and talk to him more in detail what I would like to do.

PATheron

03-07-2008, 06:32 PM

Emericksmaple- Thats pretty cool. Id like to have a stream like that. Ran good for me today. Think with yesterdays sap and todays I might make 50 gallons tonight. Made 25 gallons since 1 and have a full headtank with 9% in it. Thats 400 gallons I think. Im thinking that will put me at 180 so far. Two barrells A and rest I think is fancy. This is pretty darn fun. Looks like next week is a good runner. Gotta get back to work, dont want dad to fire me. Beth, Did your buckets drip good today? Weve got to get you some vac then those reds will run like heck. Theeron

sweetwoodmaple

03-07-2008, 08:27 PM

Hey, I've got an extra pump that will do the trick. Beth? :-)

PA mapler

03-07-2008, 09:23 PM

Not a drop today, just the five gallons from yesterday still sitting frozen in the bottom of the tank. . . . . maybe I'll thaw it out and boil it on the stove. . . . it might be enough to cover a waffle for breakfast! Nope, it's been snowing since lunchtime, and looks like a winter wonderland out there.

And don't temp me with that vacuum. . . . 400 gallons, 9% sugar, barrels and barrels of fancy syrup . . . . . OK, so where are you Brian? I'll be over in the morning! And boy am I going to be in trouble when I get home and say, "here, dear, this is a vacuum pump, I have no clue how it works, but can you get it hitched up by next week?" :grin:

Sugarmaker

03-07-2008, 09:29 PM

NWPA report,
Making small (real small) batches of syrup from real small sap runs. (Don't laugh) I gathered 65 gallons of sap tonight and boiled it in and drew off about a gallon and a half of syrup. It also warmed the room enough to make it more comfortable to can about 8 gallons of medium in plastic. Sugar content tonight was 3% since there was a lot of ice in the containers.

So to date we have made 20 gallons of Medium and Light syrup. Great taste just not much of it yet! Pancakes in the morning!

Not sure I would be able to handle large amounts of sap:)

All systems seem to be working in our backwoods operation.

New items added this year include the Marcland Draw off, New dumping station for the draw off, and new 2 cone filter station.

Starting to think about our 5th annual Maple Taste and Tour next weekend. Starting to stock the shelves. A dozen sugarhouse open their doors, We would like to have a lot more too!

Also Jim and Chase came over last night, Chase boiled for me and he made about 4 + gallons of nice syrup using 175 gallons of 2.7% sap to push it through. (no ice in that sap) Boiling rate was right on 85 GPH. That Draw off is going to be hard to pry away from me if we ever get some syrup to run through it. I was up stairs checking a tank and when I came back down I had syrup waiting for me! NICE! I found I had a large temp difference in probe locations. Moving the probe to the "HOT" pot in the pan seemed to do the trick. Thats really where the syrup is being made. Draw off qty is now in small quart batches, and temp drops quickly and shuts off.

Chris

Sugardaddy

03-07-2008, 10:44 PM

Taps here in Sussex County have done well th elast few days. I have 100 taps in, all going to buckets. We gathered about 120 gallons today and could have pulled another 20 or so at the end of the day. it won't dip below freezing tonight, so tomorrow should slow down.

5 gallons of med. dark syrup settling out before we filter it, plus another 3 or 4 we should be able to make from the sap we have on hand combined with tomorrow's haul. This is almost like work!

PATheron

03-08-2008, 07:29 AM

Beth- Youve got to get you a little vac pump. It does make a big difference. Matt says the reds he tapped didnt do that great with the buckets but with the pump they run real good. Just finished up with my boiling. Worked till midnight and then got back up at 0430. Made, I think around 55 gallons, Im thinking that puts me a little over 180 so far. Forecast looks like great runs all next week. Good luck to all. Theron

sweetwoodmaple

03-08-2008, 08:40 AM

Beth - I'm about 5 hours from you...Road Trip!!!! Actually, I have two extra pumps. One 6 cfm and one 20 cfm.

Chris- You make a good point about the location of the probe. I think that applies to most evaporators, not just auto draw offs (you lucky dog).

If we could come up with a way to get the thermometer in the middle of the last partition with my parallel flow pan, that would be great.

Case in point...waited until the therm read correctly and started to draw off for the first time the other night. Ended up with drawing off most at 1 degree over done and had probably 70 brix syrup in the hopper. This was due to exactly what you are talking about...syrup being made in the center of the pan.

Gary R

03-08-2008, 03:41 PM

Dennis H. - Congratulations! I take it that it was your first ever syrup. If so, I know the feeling. I made my own first about a month ago. You probably needed a cold shower after that one! I hope those pancakes were terrific.

I have the same situation about boiling temperature. I have only made syrup a couple of times and I don't trust the thermometer yet. As temperature hits about 218, I started checking with the hydrometer (calibration checked by local maple assoc. prez.). I ultimately went to about 221. The syrup read about 61 brix hot. A couple of daysblater when I opened a jar I cold tested and it read 69 brix. I wanted a little thicker syrup. If we ever get any sap weather around here we'll be able to get some more experience.

As for around here, I've visited Jim Brown a couple of times. I also visited the Forest County Maple Barron himself Wed. and Thurs. He was boiling on Thur. Looks like he's ready to go full steam ahead!

I have made 2 1/4 gal. of syrup so far. But we have less than a quart in the house! I've given most away and eaten alot. Last weekends mini run I boiled down to 2 gal. concentrate and made wine with it. I still had to add a quart of syrup to the concentrate to make it to about 26% sugar for a potential alcohol of 15%. This past run that didn't live up to it's potential was boiled last night and left in the pan. When the next one comes I hope to stock up on my supply for my addiction. If we don't get BIGSAP soon I may have to tap more trees (HaHa)!

Good luck to all, hoping for better weather.

royalmaple

03-08-2008, 04:48 PM

Beth-

Those red maples on buckets or gravity tubing are very very finicky. I tap almost exclusively red maples, only cause they are around in thick groups and I have access to tons of them.

I have put buckets on some, but I really only suggest great roadside reds. They can be finicky too but will run better. Even tubing in the woods is marginal. But I will say this, if you get a pump on them and can deliver good vacuum to them, your all set. You'll fall back in love quickly.

They are still no sugarmaple but I've gotten good results from them with vacuum. We'll see how they do this year with 24-25inches on them. Might suck the buds right in!!

OGDENS SUGAR BUSH

03-08-2008, 06:40 PM

Probably wont be any leaves on them this year

RICH

sweetwoodmaple

03-08-2008, 06:48 PM

Us guys pulling 20"+ will just have to put 20psi pressure on them for a while.

That should bring the leaves back! :-)

I have 17 gallons drawn off as of tonight. Light amber and clear as glass.

Have about 15 gallons of 40 Brix sitting in buckets. 1300 gallons of sap so far through the evaporator.

Gary R - Just left you a PM. Stop by any time. I'll try to get up your way.

Dennis H.

03-08-2008, 09:27 PM

Gary, yes that was my first batch of syrup ever!
I have to say that right now it is a blast making syrup. It is quit relaxing hanging around the evap chucking in wood every couple of minutes and listening to the roaring boil.
Now when I was finishing the syrup, now that was a different story. That was edge of your seat stuff there. I can now see why everyone says that you need three eyes. Stuff can go wrong real fast, but that is what is nice with using a stove or propane burner, I just turned down the heat and took my time.
I am excited with this weeks forecast, 40's during the day and 20's or low 30's at night.

I keep hearing about the direction of the wind can effect if it runs or not, which direction do we want?
Does weather fronts effect sap running? which is better a low or high passing through?

Anyway hoping for more sap the next few days. Good luck to everyone.

TapME

03-09-2008, 08:59 AM

Dennis,
sap flows best in a wind from the west.
sap flows least in a wind from the east.
Low pressure is best for the sap flowing, Just what a vacuum does at the tap hole. It creates a low pressure area.
These saying come from the book of making maple syrup. and there are many more sayings to go with them.

Dennis H.

03-09-2008, 09:50 AM

Thanks for the info. We do have a wind from the west today, but I think it is to much of a wind for the trees to run, around 20mph.

That shouldn't be hard for me to remember.
best from west, least from east.

tuckermtn

03-09-2008, 10:24 AM

if all else is in line, you would be surprised with even a stong breeze...we had one of our best runs last year on a 25mph day...and it was on;y about 38-40 for most of the day...

one of the best things about sugaring is that it reminds me that despite all the research, etc.. that things sometimes happen with out an explanation...not to be too philisophical, but its just humbling to know there is still s*&t we don't understand...

Dave Y

03-10-2008, 09:14 AM

Sounds like everyone is off to a good start. I hope we get into a good freeze/thaw cylce. I have got things moving here in the wilds of Forest Co. Things did not get started with out a glitch or two. I have collect 3200 gal of sap so far. I still have about a 1000 of it to boil yet thanks to supply lines freezing. there is still around 500 still in the woods. I have made 45gal of some real nice flovored DA. It is dark due to about 1000 gal of ice I had for two weeks. I hope to get the rest boiled by Wed. and then flush the evaporator. that way i should be able to bring the grade up. This year I wanted sap to wait on me. and not me waiting on sap. So far the plan is working.

Sugarmaker

03-10-2008, 11:39 AM

Dave Y,
Nice job! that DA syrup will be just as good as any and your customers will by it and love it. We have not made much light but the medium is really tasty!

Regards,
Chris

Gary R

03-10-2008, 07:13 PM

Dave Y - I forgot to say thanks taking the time to talk maple with me last week and for telling me about this site. I've been learning and asking questions.

Big weekend coming up for NWPA. Taste and Tour for the public. The maple gods are coming through with good weather finally. Thanks and good luck to those opening their doors. I'm sure everyone is impressed with all the hard work and effort you guys put in.

I spoke with Sweetwoodmaple today. I'm hoping to see his setup later this week. We could be too busy boiling which would be a good thing.

I've been using plastic buckets from the bakery. I was too cheap to buy real ones but they've been working well. I have been tearing up my fingers trying to get the lids off so I've been spending some time thinking about building a tool to get them off easily. Then I had a better idea. I went to the store and spent 98 cents for a real tool and it's comfortable too.

Things have been quiet on the PA thread lately. Everyone must be boiling. Hey Jim Brown got sap?;)

pennslytucky

03-10-2008, 07:57 PM

saps been runnig the past few days, but it should really run the rest of the week... i hope... 20 every night and 40 every day... got about 35 gallons today buut they ran all afternoon after we gathered, so hopefully we didnt get enuf to split buckets.

jim, i sent you a pm a while ago, did you get it?

Dennis H.

03-10-2008, 08:29 PM

Gary I know what you are talking about with those 5 gal buckets, luckily I only have a few with the normal lids. The rest of my buckets have a different style that is very easy to take off.
I still like my milk jugs better though, much faster to pour the sap out, as long as it is not frozen!

Sugarmaker

03-10-2008, 08:29 PM

How come the sap runs when its not supposed to? And this work thing is really getting in the way of making syrup:) Neighbor, Keith called and said he had 28 gallons of sap on 40 taps. It was 6:30 and I went to look at my containers. it had about 10-15 gallons so I will wait and gather tomorrow. It sure wont get warm since most of the containers are covered on packed snow!

So I froze in the sugarhouse while I thawed the hot water line and made some candy which turned out to be carmel. I am going to stop trying to make candy! I think Father and son are going to fire their new rig tonight. I just cant get there. They need some quality time alone with the new unit anyway. Darn work thing tomorrow. Will try to gather tomorrow afternoon if I can get out of a 2:00 meeting:( Should be a good run if we get some warming sun in the morning.
Just having one of those days! Thanks for listening.

Found an nice web site by accedent in Maine. They have a similar website as mine , and had web name listed rather than theirs. Wierd? They have similar sugarhouse and bees also!

Chris

sweetwoodmaple

03-10-2008, 08:55 PM

Well, yeah, I know about that work thing getting in the way.

Wasn't suppose to be warm OR sunny today, so I didn't set up the heater on the vac pump before I left for work.

Guess what? Warm and sunny. When I got home to turn the pump on at 5:30, the was already 75 gallons that ran in on it's own (up through the ladders).

I turned the pump on and by 8 pm, there was 300 gallons. I think I missed some today by turning the pump on late, but what can I do?

Crazy days.

PATheron

03-10-2008, 09:58 PM

This is an update from the emergency BIGSAP system. Be prepared for heavy sap flow in northeastern Pa. Next two weeks are looking like go time. Warm days, cold nights. Its going to thaw out and start running and it isnt going to quit till april. Get anything that will hold sap stuck under those lines and be ready to empty buckets on a regular basis. BIGSAP! BIGSAP! BIGSAP! Theeron

Dave Y

03-10-2008, 10:06 PM

Gary R,
You are welcome to stop by anytime. we can talk maple or colon scopes it dont matter to me. The company is always appreciated.
Just came in from boiling ran off another 500 tonite. made about 12 gal. I am starting to get to know this rig better than last year. At one point tonite I was doing 165gph just if i could maintain that I would fly through this sap.The rig was shaking and the steam hood wanted to lift off. so I poured the wood to her again. We were havin fun!:)

Parker

03-11-2008, 03:28 AM

When the rig starts to shake is when you know you have the hammer down,,,,I can get Marvin shakin' a littel with the right wood,,,,,,,,and I hope do it agine soon,,,,,,,

PATheron

03-11-2008, 05:30 AM

DaveY- Glad to hear your season is finally underway over there. Thats some serious gph your running. Im kind of a poke with mine but Im just learning. Were getting it done though. Keep me posted with all things syrup. Hope the temps get to running right so you can get your 400. Im coming over one of these days to inspect you and Jacks facilities. Ill do my BIGSAP raindance so youll definitely get sap this week. Theeron

Dave Y

03-11-2008, 05:47 AM

Parker,I do have to be a little careful, as my sugar house is attached to my house. wouldn't want to burn it down.
Theron, If you didn't have that RO you wouldn't be poking along. you would have the pedal to the metal, or you would drown in sap! when you are done making a record crop come on over we would be glad to have you.

Jim Brown

03-11-2008, 05:54 AM

GaryR.: no sap just a little(50gallons) as we got the pumps on late just like Brian.Today will be different we hope to start them at noon.The reserve team(our youngest son-and business partner) will be arriving from Dayton Ohio this weekend and will be here for the duration)

Pennslytuckey: Sorry i didn't respond I got your PM Stop over any time!I have been busy with getting everything ready and like some of the others the day job thing keeps getting in the way!

Thanks
Jim

PA mapler

03-11-2008, 06:34 AM

Still no sap up here in the refrigerator of PA! I ran to Sprague's yesterday for some more tubing, and they only boiled once so far too, so I don't feel as bad.

It was sunny yesterday, and I got some more taps up, but it wasn't enough to thaw things out, and this morning it's 12 F out, with highs expected in the upper 30s, so probably no sap today either. 15-day forecast looks worse and worse, so maybe after Easter things will let loose!

I still have 5 5-gallon pails of stuff from the evaporator from over a week ago, and am not quite sure what to do with it if this weather keeps up. I actually thought ahead, though, and brought it to a boil before I drained it it out of the evaporator.

Maplewalnut

03-11-2008, 08:00 AM

Have made 18 gallons so far here in the east. Not bad for that little rig. Still have about 250 gallons of frozen sap blocks but there in the tank ready for some sap to join them starting today. Have had some good runs already and pulled some late nights coupled with some vacation days from work to boil it all off. Got a neighbor back into sugaring this year and he has taken about 200 gallons of sap off my hands. Oh well, gota do what you gota do. Believe it or not I am already starting to worry about my wood supply and I figure I still have another 2-3 weeks left. Yikes, better start eyeing up pallets on the way home today. See you next week, this looks like a busy one coming up.

Gary R

03-11-2008, 05:41 PM

pennslytucky, If your tap count is right, that puts you at over 10 gal. per tap hole.:) Please send some of those trees our way. By the way, where are you located in PA?

Dennis, the bakery buckets I use hold about 3 1/2 gal. This is my first year but I've had a few taps run more than 1 gal. per day. I would hate to lose such a precious commodity.

Maplewalnut, that is excellent! I have the same size rig and 40 taps (how many do you Have?). I am boiling right now and will probably finish up my 3rd gal. for the year. I've been tapped since the end of Jan. That's how slow it's been over here. This cold spell just won't break. I came home early, as I'm sure a lot of other folks did. Sun was great this morning but soon clouds arrived and never got above mid-30's. Only gathered about 20 gal. to add to the sweet that was in the pan.

PATheron

03-11-2008, 07:12 PM

DaveY- Ill be over one of these days. Parker- I want to come up and run mighty marvin but I probly cant this year. All out of vacation pretty much. One of these years Ill come up becouse I shouldnt ever have to take this much vaca again like this year and our season will be done before yours. Next January Im going up to Matts for a week and help him get his tap count up. Gonna try to get him up into the multiple thousands where he belongs. Im not allowed to expand for a while or Sarah said I better be a fast runner. She can be mean that way. Gathered sap today( went out and checked releaser during commercial) have probly 13 or 1400 gallons. Ran pretty good part of the day. I had maybe 300 from the other day. Its still running. I think tomarrow might be pretty good becouse they thawed out today. Looks like thursday through sunday is the big run though. Hope everybody is making lots of syrup. Theeron

PATheron

03-11-2008, 07:22 PM

BIGSAP ALERT FOR NORTHEASTERN PA- This is not a test, this is an actual spring sap run event. The sap will be a very heavy flow from thursday of this week through saturday of this week. Could possably be all night running events. Please be sure to check all buckets. Make sure all vaccuum systems are running at maximum vac levels practicle. Repeat this is not a test, this is an actual alert. Stay tuned to this thread for further updates. All participating producers stand to make serious amounts of quality maple product. Theeron

Jim Brown

03-11-2008, 07:37 PM

Threon ;I hope your right I'm ready. Got the pumps running today at noon in the small bush and pulled 160 gallon there today. Put another pump on our large bush today now have two(2) 6 cfm pumps hooked in tandem and now pulling 20 inches steady!.Pulled 150 in the large bush but only had the pumps hooked up and running about 3 hours total. We have 150 gallons from sunday and 310 from today and we are going to "baptize the RO tomorrow" This will be the first time it has ever had sap in it and my first experience with one.
Tomorrow will be a learning experience for me for sure!!
If we get BIG SAP as is predicted we will need it!

Getting ready for BIG SAP!!
Jim

Dennis H.

03-11-2008, 08:14 PM

Yeah Theron down here I think we are seeing your bigsap.
I had to go collect twice today to keep my taps with milk jugs from overflowing.
I ended collecting right around 30 gals today and boiled it down.
It got too late to finish it tonight so will do that tomorrow, maybe, I mean hopefully I have a bunch to add to it.

sweetwoodmaple

03-11-2008, 09:27 PM

Don't know why you guys are still waiting for Big Sap...IT's Here!! :-)

I have 800+ gallons now waiting to be boiled from the last two days. Got 500 gallons today before I shut the pump off at 8:30.

I had to default to putting 125 gallons in some extra barrels.

Thursday looks like the motherload. I'll have to get the 425 gallon pick up truck tank cleaned for that one. The problem is...I have to boil too!!!

Yorkholomaple

03-11-2008, 10:05 PM

Well it sounds like everyones doing good so far even though we have not had much sap weather. I have made two gallon or so but noticed i have a leak in my flue pan. we sodered it tonight so im hoping it does the trick because if Therons right i could be in trouble but a fellow sugar maker did say i could bring my sap over to his place. Well i hope everyone has better luck then me. Tom

emericksmaple

03-11-2008, 11:07 PM

Report from a very tired southern Somerset County. As of today we cleared 769 gal of syrup made. We made 109 gal today. Boiled 7 days last week took Sun off (too cold)and have boiled the past 2 days. Next 2 weeks looks good for us. Vaccum is the cats meow!!! At the moment we have collected 30,000+ from 2200 taps, close to 14 gal per tap. While are gravity has only done 6.5 gal per tap. ( if this doesn't make much sense it is 12:05 am and was ready for bed 3 hours ago) Hope you all get the big sap this weekend.

PATheron

03-12-2008, 04:23 AM

Brian- I think today is going to be better than I thought. Sounds like you guys have been doing good with the weather. Its only 31 here right now and were going to have a west wind. I didnt really think wed get much till thursday but now it looks good every day for a while. Jim- I hope the ro goes good for you. I was very apprehensive about running mine but it was the best thing I bought other than the ring pump. Its really a great machine. Once you get the hang of it its easy to run. At this point I would never go back to not having one. It is unbelievable how much work it saves. Ive gone through very little wood. Im not real fast with my evap but I still take syrup off left and right. Tom- Your woods will start running now, the only reason Ive been making syrup is the vac. The temps are going to be such now that the gravity will start working. Beth- Is your cold sugar bush starting to wake up? Theeeron

PATheron

03-12-2008, 04:28 AM

BIGSAP ALERT FOR TODAY- Sap flow looks like it could be much heavier than anticipated. Early warm temp and west wind could bring massive sap flows to the commonwealth. Be prepared for serious running of the sap. Have all tanks clean and at the ready. Check your woods for leaks. Be ready. Theeeron

Dave Y

03-12-2008, 05:39 AM

theron, It does look like the season will be in full swing starting today. I have yet to find the bottom of all my tanks yet. I have 800gal at the house right now and will probably collect tonite the start a 4day boil tomorrow. Iam taking the next two days off. Everyone should get rest while they can ,as the 15 day looks very favorable for sap every day!!!!

PA mapler

03-12-2008, 03:13 PM

Oh, will you guys stop already! I'm going to quit the PA section and join the Canada syrupers. The suspense and let-down is killing me up here!!!

Sap ran a little yesterday on the sunny sides of the trees, got about 30 more gallons (of SAP) ,and some of the ice from last week's storms was finally falling of the twigs on my head as I was tapping a few more. Today is cloudy and 30, down to 13 tonight, maybe 40 tomorrow, depending on which forecast you check out.

That half-finished syrup from last Monday is still sitting in buckets, half froze. . . .. that stuff should be nice stuff when I get it boiled finally someday.

Think of me as you're happily boiling away!

TapME

03-12-2008, 04:02 PM

Beth, We haven't put our taps in yet, so you are ahead of us. Give it time it WILL flow. It's just a cold March, like last year for us. Keep the faith.

PATheron

03-12-2008, 04:11 PM

Beth- The BIGSAP is coming. Im sure of it. All your buckets will be full. You must always be posative. If you say it it will happen. What I do is tell myself that crap so often I even start believing it myself. The power of optimism. Theeeron

PATheron

03-12-2008, 04:17 PM

BIGSAP UPDATE- Looks likes today could possably have been somewhat of a letdown for some Pa producers but Im pretty sure there could be some BIGSAP coming tomarrow. Please remain alert for large sap flows. Ive been tracking these trends for years and every year about this time there is a large sap flow event. So it could definitely be tomarrow. Of course it could be two weeks from now too but Im doing the best I can here to keep us all optimistic. Better than bitching? Theeeeron

jemsklein

03-12-2008, 04:30 PM

Theeeeeron at least you are doing a better job then the weatherman.

TapME

03-12-2008, 04:34 PM

Always great to read your predictions. Brings a smile every time. PMA makes you live longer.

PATheron

03-12-2008, 06:09 PM

BIGSAP ALERT, BIGSAP ALERT- This time im not messing around. Tomarrow is serious GO TIME. Six days nonstop run. Whole season of production in one weeks time. GO TIME!!!!! Sap out the ying and the yang. Quality product everywhere! This is the biggest of BIGSAP ALERTS. Do not forget to empty your buckets. Sap could be lost to the buckets running over. Be ready to process vast quantities of sugar water. Dont say I didnt warn you. I just got in from the woods. Line is TIGHT. Vac levels are INSANE. Im off work till next week. Im not going to stop boiling till I hit 400 gallons minimum. I know you guys think I havent been taking this stuff seriously but I am now. Theeeron

mapleack

03-12-2008, 09:44 PM

Well, it wasnt a BIGSAP day, but we got 285 gallons of sap, not bad since it was still 32 and snowing at lunch time today. I was quite pleased to get about 90 gal per hour tonight out of the 3x10. Prior to today I was running with only 18 feet of stack, and knew that I needed more, but just hadn't got around to it. Today before we started I added 8 feet of stack, which bumped my average exterior stack temp from 460 to 520+ and added at least 10 gal. per hour. Boy does that make me feel stupid for not having it on last year. I think I'm going to add on another 4 feet at some point in the next couple of days to see what happens! If I could squeeze 100 gal per hour out I'd be grinning for sure. Good luck everyone tomorrow!
~ Andy

sweetwoodmaple

03-12-2008, 11:33 PM

Well, it's been good sap the past few days. Got another 300 today, making a whopping 1100 waiting to boil tonight when I got home from work.

I got through 400 before quitting at 11:30. Had to get more wood thrown in the wood shed from one of my many piles to get ready for BIGSAP tomorrow. Don't want to be getting wood in the rain!

Well, Jim, Chris? Any good boils?

Gary R stopped this evening to chat. Good having him here and I didn't even put him to work (too much, anyway)! I'll have to stop by after work some time to see his rig.

By the way, Theeron...I just looked at the forecast. If it holds any where near true, I'll be peeling boards off the side of the sugarhouse for fuel. I have about 3 or 4 more cord left, and only 1/3 of it is dry. Might have to get another load delivered.

PATheron

03-13-2008, 05:58 AM

Brian- Looks pretty good doesnt it? Weve got the third grade coming out today to do a field trip. Ive got to go out and finish cleaning the sugarhouse. Were going to do a little tree identificationa, tapping demonstration and dad is going to be boiling. Should be a fun day. If this weather is what they say I hope to run 2400 gals by midnight. See what happens. Have a lot of sap right now, probly close to 2000 gallons to boil. Have to give her heck all day. Good luck to all. Theeeron

Dave Y

03-13-2008, 06:02 AM

I went to the woods last night to check lines, found everything in good shape. sap was running. It was barely 32 deg. I also checked buckets and most of them were dripping. If it gets to 46 today as the weather is asking for , it will be big sap. I am off work until Monday in anticipation of the run to come. I have 800 gal waiting on me. It is 20deg here now so I have to wait till day light to get things thawed and rolling for the day. I hope to have the most of it gone by the time the collecting crew gets here around 3pm. Good Luck to everyone! Beth , patience every thing in its own time.

Jim Brown

03-13-2008, 06:12 AM

We again it did not own up to all the hipe! We only got 200 gallon yesterday. Was snowing at noon. .
Brian; if you keep the vac at 23' on those "swamp trees" you should be able to walk thorugh on dry land pretty soon!They must be thawed out.

Jim

Gary R

03-13-2008, 08:54 AM

Yesterday I finished the sweet in my pan on the turkey fryer. Made almost 1 gal. of probably fancy. Was suprised like most when I checked buckets. Was only 36 at 5 o'clock and had about 1 gal. per tap on buckets. I have noticed that the few trees that I have that aren't seeing a lot of sun are still froze and haven't put out much.

Jim, I hope your's unthaw soon. Glad to se your son is coming home. Looks like you might need him in a few days. I still need to see that RO working:cool:

Sweetwoodmaple has one fine looking rig. Stainless arch too! I got to see my first sap ladder also. I've only seen a few rigs under fire but I'll tell you, he was really pouring the coals to her. He even had his small children carrying firewood for him:)

Hope to be off work early this afternoon so I can boil! I don't have alot of storage for BIGSAP!

Russell Lampron

03-13-2008, 11:48 AM

Jim,

Have you used the new RO yet? I haven't gotten a pm so I am thinking that you did with no problems or you haven't yet.

Russ

sweetwoodmaple

03-13-2008, 01:25 PM

Just called the wife. All sap ladders are firing! Releaser is hitting every 3 min or less.

That means....My tanks will overflow before I get home. So, I'll have to shut the vac off at 4 pm or so and try to get another tank cleaned ASAP.

Just called reinforcements...Dad is stopping up this evening and 4 cords of wood are showing up tomorrow AM.

PA mapler

03-13-2008, 04:25 PM

Theron, thanks for the positive thinking reminder! You're right, I reread my post and wow was I a crab. No more of that, the sun's shining and the sap is coming. . .. not quite BIGSAP (that's me!) yet, but I was starting to think maybe I'd tapped beech trees or something : )

Happy boiling!

Gary R

03-13-2008, 06:00 PM

well today wasn't as good as I thought sap wise. Only a good 1/2 gal. per tap. Ground is still frozen here. The best thing is that my wife and I are eating pizza and drinking beer right now as I boil! Luckly with my small time operation I only have to fire and add sap about every 10 min.:D The taps were running good though when I collected at 5pm.

Beth, I used to travel through the iceburg of PA every so often. If our's are still frozen, I imagine yours are below frozen (is that possible?:) ). I hope things warm up for you. A little rain could help.

Have to get more wood ready. I didn't know how much I'd use. Thankfully it is on the pile for the house.

Dave Y

03-13-2008, 10:32 PM

Well I found the bottom of my tanks tonite 4000gal later. Just in time too. I finished boiling at 10pm and went to my tubing bush and pumped off 500 gal so the tanks wouldn't run over in the middle of the night. I will have to pump a small tank at daylight. The sap is pouring in . I may even dump my road side buckets in the morning . That way I will have a 1000gal to work on till the gathering crew arrives at 3pm. I have made 73 gal of finished syrup so far. with about 10 still on the evaporator. I guess things are only going to get better for a while. Hope everyone is having fun!

PATheron

03-13-2008, 11:08 PM

Beth- I know it sucks when you hope your taps are going to run and they dont. It definitely will eventually once things thaw out. Your probly in a cold spot. I am too but the vac helps me a lot. Dave- Sounds like things are kicking in good now there. Make tons. We boiled this morning and made 30 gallons from yesterdays sap. It didnt start running here till around two. It is running pretty good though. Ive got probly 1400 gallons now Id say since two and its still running. I think tomarrow will be real good by the looks of the weather. Im probly going to just boil most of the day. Thats what we want keep it coming. Theeron

PATheron

03-14-2008, 04:44 AM

Just checked my tanks. All four are pretty well full so its run between 2000 and 2400 gals since about 2 yesterday. Not bad for 14 hrs on a just warming up day. Guess I know what dad and I will be doing today. Theeeron

mapleack

03-14-2008, 06:38 AM

Yesterday was pretty good, ended up with 470 gal sap from apprx. 600 taps. Considering I tap alot of reds and dont have vacuum, I'm not complaining. Finished boiling at about 9:30, finished bottling and cleaning at about 11:50. Pretty tiring after a 12 hr day at work! Hopefully today will be even better!

PATheron

03-14-2008, 06:38 AM

BIGSAP ALERT!!!! BIGSAP ALERT!!!!! At 0715 Tioga County is experiancing the biginnings of a SERIOUS BIGSAP FLOW EVENT! At that time ALL pipes into releaser went heavy stream for an extended period of time. Currently sap is running fairly strong. Releaser is dumping pretty regular. It is very early in the day for this type of production. Flooding of entire sap delivery system could happen. Dont let this happen to you. Use common sense and dont tap too many trees. Also TURN DOWN THE VAC PUMP! Your INSANE!!!! Good luck, Theeeron

Jim Brown

03-14-2008, 07:24 AM

Well guys I can't boil, run the RO and post on'The Trader" Trader has to wait!
Things opened up yesterday and we got about 800 gallons .500 in the garage and 300 still in the woods! Pumps are ON! sap running alittle slow this am gassing pumps at 5:00am
We got the RO running and boy ya GOT TO LOVE AN RO !!
150 gallon per hour-.75gpm into the con.tank and 1.75gpm into the rinse tank. Was running at 8-9 percent! Makes sap go away REAL FAST!!

Jim

T

sweetwoodmaple

03-14-2008, 07:58 AM

Well, thanks to my Dad coming up last night, was able to multi-task.

I got the front pans scrubbed with Milkstone Remover (good stuff from TSC). Also got the 425 pickup truck tank plumbed in and finally pumped sap into it at 8 pm. So, the vac pump was off from 5 to 8 pm. :-(

Started the fire at 7:30 pm and quit at 12 am. Polished off 400 gallons, but still have 800 left in the tanks, plus another 150 in the woods and still coming.

Sap in the tanks is going a bit cloudy, and I'm making medium syrup now. I still can't see the bottom, as Dave Y would say.

Easly cleared 3000 gallons with yesterday's run of 600 gallons.

I'm tired...and I still have weeks to go.

pennslytucky

03-14-2008, 01:52 PM

we gathered about 300 gallons this morning on 126 buckets... almost every one was full. we gathered yesterday at lunchtime and left it all night, so we go that in 18 hours.... its sweet stuff too...

back to splitting wood :)

TapME

03-14-2008, 02:15 PM

Pennslytucky, Wow!!!!!!! that's a lot of sap from 3 taps???????? just kidding. I see you have increased the # of taps that you use to have. Have fun boiling.

PATheron

03-14-2008, 05:04 PM

Glad to see everyone making syrup. Boiled all day and made around 55 gallons. Cleaned the ro and finished up. Sap still running pretty good. Your right about the RO, gotta love that thing. Ill never make syrup without one now. Running the ro at 300 gallons per hour which is about half of its ability and boiling at exact same rate. Little slow for my equipment but seems to be perfect for my father and I so were going to stick with it. Taking off about 7.5 gallons of syrup an hour. Pressing and barrelling as we go. Just shy of filling our eighth barrell. Most fun thing ive ever done. Hoping the sap keeps coming. Going to try to hit 300 gallons tomarrow. Theeron

Dennis H.

03-14-2008, 09:24 PM

Had my second boil in 3 days. Tuesday was an awsome day and yesterday wasn't bad either. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to boil today or not, I got what ever is going around, last night if I wasn't hugging the porcelin god I was sittin' on it.
Gathered 16 gals yesterday alone which works out to be about 1/2 gal per tap.
Today was a let down for us, last nights temps never got below freezing and it looks like tonight will be the same. The rest of the week looks great for sap running though.
I was getting worried today temps were in the mid 60's, I thought I heard buds popping up in those trees!
I had a friend of my father over today to watch m do a boil. He told me that all he ever used was an old cast iron kettle and it took him from sun-up to sun-down to boil down 50 gals, wow, an I thought my little set up was slow at around 7 gals/hr.

PATheron

03-15-2008, 06:16 AM

Dennis- Nice job on the syrup. You must be a lot warmer there than I am here. They were saying 60 today? We got a good run yesterday and it ran through the night. We didnt even get close to freeze last night so today should be a dud. Maybe with the vac Ill get some more. Id say last night might have got 1500 gallons. Ive been worrying about my tapholes but im getting a lot of sap for not having good freeze thaws so they must be real good yet. DaveY- Come in Dave, Weve lost total communication. You must be drowning in sap. When you wake up give us an update. Theeron

gmcooper

03-15-2008, 08:05 AM

Theron sounds like you are making the most of a less than ideal season there. That vacuum has got to be the big difference for you. Just think how much sap you'll have when you get a perfect day for sap! I found a few years ago when we had several nights never go below 32 that if I kept the vacuum running I kept getting sap for 2-3 days. But if I shut down vac for more than a few minutes I could not get hardly any sap afterwards. Keep those drums coming in you don't want to run out!
Mark

PATheron

03-15-2008, 08:17 AM

Mark- This is how it went last couple days. Wednesday night hard freeze. Thursday started running hard at around 2Pm and by yesterday morning had say 2000 gallons so it never froze thursday night. Ran not quite as hard yesterday all day and we boiled all that. Last night was warm and it ran all night slow and this morning actually now I have about the same amount maybe close to another 2000 gallons. So that sap I really should never have gotton. Its running steady although slow right now. So I havent had a freeze since wednesday night and it still runs. Tonight it will freeze so I should be back in business. VAC gotta love it. When I put in the lines it seemed very expensive to tube it right like that but I think you can definitely make more money at this spending the big dollar and doing it right. Gravity is fine if you get the temps but our area here hasnt had a real good gravity year in years so You gotta do what you gotta do. Theeron

PATheron

03-15-2008, 09:44 AM

BIGSAP ALERT!!!!! BIGSAP ALERT!!!!!! Currently running at garden hose status. Dont write the day off. Maybe stuff was so froze up it took a couple days to fully loosen up. Theeron

PA mapler

03-15-2008, 10:43 AM

Sap finally came, maybe 400 gallons between Thursday, yesterday and last night, still drizzling in at about 5 gallons an hour now. Sugar is the best I've ever had at 2.5%. I've drawn off about 8 gallons so far, including the stuff from almost two weeks ago.

Gary R

03-15-2008, 01:17 PM

Theron - after weeks of pesimistic views, I will stick my neck out of the sap and say that everyone over here has drown:) !

The last few days have been good. I not sure how anyone can figure out their trees. I collected about 1 gal. per tap yesterday after work. Great. Today I did expect it to be slow since it hasn't froze for 2 days. True I got about 1/4 gal. out of almost all of my taps 20hrs. later. But, 5 trees in one group put out over 2 gal. per tap! I could not imagine being someone with 100 taps and a small flat pan. It must be grueling.

Hope everyone is enjoying the flood;)

PATheron

03-15-2008, 05:10 PM

Beth- Nice job on the syrup. Your off and running now. Things are loosened up. Next week should just run and run. Had a couple opportunities today but got through them. Boiling now and should break the 300 gal mark in an hour or two. Gotta keep keeping on. Thinkin about turning the pump off. Getting tired trying to wheel full syrup barrels back to thee garage in the mud. Just kidding. God, forgive me for that and that thing about the people down in New Guinni (larry the cable guy). Make tons of syrup everyone. I told you guys my BIGSAP ALERTS would pay off. Gotta be right eventually. Theeron

Dennis H.

03-15-2008, 05:33 PM

Temps today in the low 60's again and last night temps never got before 38.
Went out to check and empty all buckets and jugs and brought back around 2gals. All the taps into jugs were bone dry not a bit of moisture on the tap itself. The ones into buckets weren't any better.
The forecast for tonight is right at freezing, so I am hoping that since we tend to stay to the low side of forecasts we might actually get below freezing.
Now after tomorrow the weather is looking better. Wednesday they are caling for rain with temps above freezing, but before and after that it looks good.
I sure hope the season isn't over for me already! I was hoping for more that 1 1/2gal of syrup.
My father may have a person from the local newspaper stop out next week when I get enough for a boil, I guess I could always just use water. I figure it can't hurt and get my name out there, maybe it will make it easier to get more trees to tap next year.

Jim Brown

03-15-2008, 08:27 PM

Just a quick note guys We had every thing working as planned and we made 25 gallon of light today. The RO is amazing!!!!!. we processed 1000gallons of sap built the fire in the rig at 10:00am pulled it at 5:00pm and was pulling 4 gallon + per hour off of our 2x6.

Russ Lampron; I sent you I PM need to talk to you!!
Had enough fun for one day. Trees only ran about 250 gallon today

Jim

PATheron

03-15-2008, 09:48 PM

Gary and Jim- Glad things running good for you guys. Just finished up with things. Ended up making 60 gallons. Most weve made yet. Had to completely clean the front syrup pan. Was getting a little hairy. Working good now. Think tomarrow is a day of rest. Think things are going to be good for everyone next week. Get rested up for the big one. Dennis- Hope things pick up. Weather is a fickle thing. Just depends where you are I think. Theeron

Dave Y

03-16-2008, 01:17 AM

Jut came in from boiling! The last two day I brought in 2500 gal of sap. I still have 500 In storage at the house and probably another 500 in the tanks in the bush. The sap has stopped running and tomorrow I may find the bottom of my tanks. If I do I will go to work on Monday and rest up for the next run. I have made close to 120 gal of syrup so far. I am currently making some real light med.
Looks like everyone is having fun and making lots of syrup. Keep up the good work. As this won't last forever!

PATheron

03-16-2008, 08:49 AM

MAYDAY!!!!!! MAYDAY!!!!! BIGSAP ALERT OF THE HIGHEST LEVEL!!!!!!! Maple syrup season will officially start in the commonwealth as of tomarrow. Any quality product previously made is just bonus. BIGSAP run days next 15 days straight. You need to prepare yourself now mentally and physically. Have everything clean and ready. Massive storage will be required for this volume of sugar water. Have all available firewood dry and at the ready. Have plenty of barrels around for syrup and most importantly keep those vac levels HIGH. Theeeron

maplecrest

03-16-2008, 12:28 PM

hey theron, got my new set up going, r/o running as i type. drawing off 50 gallons an hour.

Dave Y

03-16-2008, 09:59 PM

I used to think I was nuts! And I still do, But Theeeron I am not half as crazy as you. Keep up the good work. I don't Know of anyone that's having more fun than you!!!
I had a slow day only brought in 500 gal today never started boiling till 2:30 pm. still have 500 gal left. got to work tomorrow. looks like we will be collecting in the afternoon. The 15 day forecast couldn't look much better. I hope to go to the middle of April if the wood holds out.

sweetwoodmaple

03-16-2008, 11:17 PM

Today was a little surprising. Spitting snow showers, but still got almost 200 gallons of sap.

I'm barely keeping my head above water, but gained a little today. Boiled down about 700 gallons. Running about 1.8 or 1.9 percent.

Still have 500+ waiting for me and it looks good for a run tomorrow.

I noticed just a slight green tint to my sap. Ever so slight. So, I did my usual bud test (break one off and smell) and the trees are showing signs of waking up. A few more 50 degree days with no freezing nights and it's commercial syrup. Oh well.

I have about 50 taps on red maples, so I think I'll pull them on Tuesday just in case. Got caught one year when they woke up early and ruined a batch of syrup.

I am suffering with a severe lack of dry firewood. My tarps were too low to the ground, so the wood picked up moisture and stayed wet. Fighting it every step of the way by having to split almost every piece smaller. The way I figure, I have about 4 boils left @ 400 gallons each. I am getting more slabs delivered tomorrow, but they will likely be only 6 month or so aged as they are straight from the sawmill. Not sure what to do...definitely a miscalculation for this year.

Maplewalnut

03-17-2008, 07:03 AM

Have now finished almost 30 gallons of syrup! I hate to say it (I need a break for a day or so) but no end in sight either. If anyone comes across a good condition 2x6 let me know, I'll probably be out the next day to pick it up. My help (6 and 8 years old) have threatened to retire after this year if I don't upsize!

Gary R - I have about 130 taps this year, was going to shoot for 175 but glad I didn't. With all the sap I have this year and no other 'sap buyers' around, I surely would have dumped some.

Brian - I hear you about the wood. I am dangerously low also and seriously shorted myself this year. spent half a day yesterday cutting some standing dead pine. Look for some pallets in your area, its a great supplement to semi-dry wood.

PA mapler

03-17-2008, 07:28 AM

Had the one good run there last Friday, and am hoping for another the middle of this week. I made 8 gallons, all dark amber, but the taste is the best I've had in along time. Far better than that road tar like last year. And I'm really surprised at the high sugar % - the highest I've ever had at 2.5%. Maybe the reds here are higher than the sugars! : ) I'm usually about 1.5 - 1.7%. It was kinda neat to draw off syrup as fast as I was.

tappin&sappin

03-17-2008, 08:42 AM

Finally found the bottom of my tanks yesterday afternoon. 130 taps w/ a 2x6 @ 20gph. Boiled 8 hours friday night, 10 hours saturday and 4 on sunday. Went through 430 gallons of sap. Will find out how much syrup I made tonight when I go to bottle it.

There were times this past weekend when I asked myself "why did I jump from 70 to 130 taps"?

Now that it is all boiled in... I know the answer to my question... To make more syrup! :)

Looks like another busy week.

-Jake

Dennis H.

03-17-2008, 08:47 AM

We had a nice freeze down here last night, 28 over night and high 40's today!! So I am hoping to get a good run today.
The forecast is looking better for this week, now they are calling for only one night above freezing but still in the 30's.
So maybe my season isn't winding down quit yet.

Sweetwoodmaple I will have to try your bud smelling thing out. The other day when I collected, just in my milk jugs the sap had a very faint yellow ting. I was thinking I got some rain water in from that night because the sap in my buckets were clear. I will have to go and check my buds.

Gary R

03-17-2008, 07:22 PM

Maplewalnut - Do you have a day job or are you that crazy:p ! That's impressive, glad to here you've made lots of syrup. 130 taps on that size rig sounds too much for me to handle. My measily forty taps haven't been bad. Season's finally come to life around here and I've spent no more than 8 hours at any time in the sugarhouse. Good luck and hope the kid's are rested up!

Jim Brown

03-18-2008, 09:40 AM

Sweetwood; You need an RO! Cuts the wood pile consumption by 75%. We boiled 25 gallons on Saturday and we only used about a large wheelbarrow of wood. We ran the RO last night -processed 350 gallons of sap while we were out gathering-brought back 200 gallons more and our son Doug was going to start the rig this am with 50-60 gallons of concentrate in the stock tank and then start the RO. Rig should run about 2-3 hours and then be out of sap. and the RO will finish before that.
I know one thing for sure -I sure would not be happy going back to boiling raw sap!! Got to Love That RO!! Will love it even more this summer when I don't have to cut-split and stack 7 cords of wood!

Jim

PATheron

03-18-2008, 08:55 PM

Jeff- Thats a lot of syrup your taking off an hour. How are you set up to make so much. The second membrane make that much difference? Theeron

sweetwoodmaple

03-18-2008, 09:39 PM

Yes, Jim this year I'm wanting something more as I'm boiling till 1 am.

Though, honestly, everthing would be much better if I had more dry wood. Just messed up.

No, I don't need an RO. My back pocket is plenty light from this hobby, I have to know "when to say when". $4k pays for a lot of firewood.

That being said, I'm sure I'll have one in a few years. :-)

I gathered another 250 gallons of sap today. With my boiling tonight, that means I only have about 700 gallons left to boil. That puts me about 4300 gallons of sap to date.

I'm also down to about 1.7%, and that doesn't help my firewood situation. I figure that I have enough for one more good run, so I might be done by this weekend. As long as I clear 5,000 gallons, I'll be content.

I could pay for more seasoned dry wood at $225 per cord delivered. That would be crazy to do that as I pay $300 for 4 cords of unseasoned wood.

I could do $40 a truckload if I go get it, but I don't have that kind of time. I burned up my vacation getting ready for the season.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Dave Y

03-19-2008, 03:38 AM

Big Sap day yesterday! brought in over 1500gal and I left an other 800 in the woods. If this keeps up I should be at 200 gal of syrup by Monday! Hope everyone is still having fun. Gotta go boil!

Jim Brown

03-19-2008, 10:47 AM

Well guys the trees have turned on ! we are running between 5-700 gallons of 2% sap every 12 hours.(we even have 39 buckets that ran3% yesterday) We ran the pumps all night last night as the temp climbed over night and pulled 275 gallons from11:00pm till5:00am. Just fueled the gens and kept the pull on. RO was squeezing at the 8-9% range and we are still making med syrup. Just for my own satisfaction I tested the sap coming off the steamaway. tested 10.5% feeding the rig.Sap is still clear even on the trees we tapped on the 26th of Jan. We will keep the pressure on the trees until this evening when the temp is supposed to drop to the mid-upper 20's right now just 'hogging' the syrup off will finish and put in 5 gallon smurfitts tomorrow.
Got good help or would not even be able to post on the trader!

Jim

Dennis H.

03-19-2008, 10:48 AM

Its raining and last night never got below 40. I am in a holding pattern once more.
From Fri on it looks very promising, I just hope we haven't had temps to high for too many days. We'll see.
I checked the syrup that I have made and are in mason jars, the stuff that I did not filter out the first time has settled to the bottom. Once I wrap up for the season I will reopen the jars and take off the good stuff and re-pack that and then refilter the stuff from the bottoms of all the jars.

It sounds like all you guys up north here in PA are doing good, Good luck.

Gary R

03-19-2008, 10:52 AM

I stopped at Jim's house yesterday. Met his son Doug who was running the rig. Jim was paying some bills by staying at this day job till noon;)

I boiled for a good 8 hours and have over a gal. to can soon.

I got in touch with Sugarmaker last night! We haven't seen a word from him in nearly a week. He sounded out of breath. I think he's been spending alot of time with his girlfriend (3X10 King):p . Sounds like he's been making syrup every day for a while.

Made some maple cream the other night. Used Hangin' arounds recipe. It turned out great, but it sure takes alot of time to make cream and my arms are still tired. Making nuts tonight for Easter!

Good luck all!

Dave Y

03-20-2008, 08:45 AM

This last run has been a decent run. I have brought in 2300 gal to this point and still have about 500 left at the tubing bush. the buckets have realy produced !I just wish the tubing would run like buckets. w/o vacuum that wont happen. I have made somewhere around 160gal of syrup with most of it being medium.I am off the next 4 days and hope to get more sap before the weekend is over . Yesterday was a terrible day to boil. He air was heavy and couldn't get the steam off at all. I struggled half the day to get going. When I finnaly did I made 30 gal. By 8pm It was raining in the sugarhouse, and I have hoods!
It will be better next time.

sweetwoodmaple

03-20-2008, 09:51 AM

Yeah, Dave I feel your pain. Add heavy air on top of 1.6% sugar content and wet wood and you have me "wishing upon the thermometer" last night.

Just couldn't get cooking....

Dave Y

03-20-2008, 10:09 AM

Brian,
If you quit boiling before I do you can come up and throw wood in the evaporator for me some day. I still have 10 or 11 cords of wood left. I plan on burning every last stick! How much have you made so far? I Have brought in 9800 gal of sap. thats more than last year all season. and by the time I get it all boiled I should have more syrup than last year. And I am lookin for at least 3 more weeks of boiling!

mapleack

03-20-2008, 11:29 AM

Dave Y, if you're still boiling on a weekend after my trees have quit I'd like to stop up and see your operation. I've never been to Jack Flaherty's place either.
-Andy

Dave Y

03-20-2008, 11:50 AM

Mapleack,
Come on up ! I plan on boiling till the wood runs out or the sap stops running!
Last year those occured at the same time April 24.

PA mapler

03-20-2008, 02:39 PM

I've made 26 gallons of syrup now, all dark amber. It's got a wonderful flavor this year. The sap ran slow, but steady, from Monday afternoon until yesterday. No great whooses of sap, since the temps ever-so-slowly oozed from 32 on Monday to almost 40 yesterday. The sugar is holding at 2.2%, and I'm still doing cartwheels every time I draw off syrup! The reds on buckets have even decided it's maple season, and are starting to hold their own. Things are frozen up now, and I'm not sure if it'll run here this weekend. I'm draining everything anyway, and am going to flush the evaporator and maybe even work some vinegar thru it before I boil next.

Dave, looking at the long-range forecast, we might be boiling well into April again. My last boil last year was April 15, when I ran out of wood too. I've got stacks and stacks this year, so it shouldn't be an issue. Good luck!

Dave Y

03-20-2008, 04:01 PM

Beth, Glad to see you are finally making some syrup. You just have to be patience in the ice box of the nation. I have had lots of sap. I currently have 1600 gal waiting on me. sop you Know what I am doing tonite and tomorrow. good luck to every one.

PATheron

03-20-2008, 06:13 PM

Beth- Nice job on the syrup. Your cold spot finally warmed up. Thats terrible when your all pumped up to make syrup and it wont run.
Theeron

TapME

03-20-2008, 06:16 PM

Theron, how are you making out this week?

PATheron

03-21-2008, 07:49 PM

Tapme- We are having fun and making quite a bit of syrup. Hope things start picking up up there. How are you making out with your evap setup? Theron

PATheron

03-21-2008, 07:51 PM

Beth, DaveY, Brian- How you guys making out? Theeron

sweetwoodmaple

03-21-2008, 08:35 PM

Boiled another 500 today. Scrounging around for wood, but that was ok.

I'm still low on sugar content. I don't see that improving.

I have made 65 gallons of syrup in sealed buckets, plus 10 gallons in the tank and what's in the evaporator.

I have 300+ gallons waiting in the woods. That would make 4,600 gallons YTD.

The season will probably end for me next week as it will not get below freezing. My prediction is another two runs, which would get me to 5,500 gallons and around 100 gallons of syrup. My ratio is usually 50-60/1, so that makes sense.

Funny...never did tap the trees on my property. Just could get the time to do it with boiling 12 times in less than a month.

22" of vacuum made a huge difference this year. Even today, mid 30's and still get a run.

tapper

03-21-2008, 08:39 PM

Doing good in Warren county. On a much needed break for a few days while it is frozen here again. Although I would like to see enough warmth to get rid of some of the snow here. Still 8 to 10 inches of hard pack in the woods. I have never had a season with so much snow and mud all at the same time.

tappin&sappin

03-22-2008, 08:49 AM

Welcoming the cold snap for the next couple days. Needed a break here in NW PA. As of 3/16 I had made 12 gallons off of 130 taps. Boiled Wednesday and Thursday, haven't bottled yet, so I'm not sure what I am up to total.

Glad to hear everyone is making syrup. I'm getting a little bit low on wood, but should be okay til the end of the season. I'll probably go strong for another week or so and then I might think about wrapping it up. Will have to see what the weather decides to do. Need to get things cleaned up so I have enough time to prepare for spring gobbler season! :)

- Jake

pennslytucky

03-22-2008, 08:58 AM

my weather site shows 20's every night thru next thursday, and high 30's or 40's every day... brian, if that turns out to be reality, u may be burnin more green wood than you thought

i had my sap tested 3 different times over the past 2 weeks. this tree in my yard is 4%-4.2% each time. i knew it was extra sweet.... im going to take cutting off it this summer. i believe may-june is the right time to do that? anyone know for sure?

sweetwoodmaple

03-23-2008, 04:43 PM

GRRRRRR...Scorched my pan during startup today. Still recovering with acid and scotch brite. Stupid..... :-((

Gary R

03-23-2008, 07:30 PM

Started out the day by recanning the syrup I canned last night. Learned that you must refilter if you reheat the syrup:oops: I don't quite have enough syrup for my big appetite. So I plan on making maple for the rest of this week:) My buckets have been up since late January. I don't think there's any problem with sap flow. I still got 1 1/2 gal. per tap the last 48hrs. I didn't even expect it to run in this cold weather. I did have mold spots show up in many buckets. I emptyed and washed all my buckets today. Pulled 10 of my worst producers. Then tapped 30 Birch trees. Hoping for another gallon or two of maple. Then it is all Birch. Wine and beer. May make a little syrup just for folks to taste. Probably be at that for at least 3 weeks.

Things are quiet so everyone must be boiling. Good Luck:)

sweetwoodmaple

03-23-2008, 08:53 PM

No boiling here this evening, just scrubbing. 3 hours of scrubbing to be exact.

I start out every boil by dumping in some of the concentrate from the previous boil in the syrup pan, but plug the port between the flue and syrup pans.

This is always a risk at the start as the front pan can get away from you but gets the gradient a real head start.

Well, it did get away from me and the back cross flow pan burnt the entire way across the partition. Put a 1/4"+ bulge in the metal, plus about a 1/8" thick coating of sugar.

I also lost about 5 or 6 gallons of dark amber. I was fortunately able to save what was in the flue pan.

Moral of the story...with a D&G cross flow pan, put your thermometer in the middle partition at first startup, then move forward to the normal position. I would have seen the rising temp this way, instead of missing the problem by seening the low temp in the first partition.

Just collected another 500 gallons of sap between yesterday and today. That puts me at 5,100 for the year.

Needless to say, after scrubbing until 8 pm, I called it quits for this evening.

Hope everyone had a better day.

PA mapler

03-23-2008, 09:18 PM

Brian - bummer on the scorched pan! That scrubbing really gets old after a while. I did it once, with that little pan I started with my first year (I think I have a picture of it on the photo link). I fell asleep, and didn't pour more sap into it, and had an awful black mess of burnt syrup. I scrubbed forever, it seemed! I use that pan now for finishing, and there's still some impossible dark stains on it.

Despite the frigid air, the sun was warm, and the sap ran a bit today, the first time since last Tuesday. I got 80 gallons or so in the tank now. The evaporator is drained, and I'm waiting for a better thaw so I can flush it out with the hose without freezing everything up. The weather looks iffy this week, but it seems like the sap really wants to run, and doesn't need sunny and 40 to do it.

Dennis H.

03-24-2008, 01:39 AM

I got a few minutes hear at work!
The trees started to liven up a little Sunday but I don't think it will last. The buds on the trees at my parents place are already open. Being on the north side of the ridge is helping my trees.
It looks like we have 1 or 2 more days then the taps will be pulled. When I walked to check the buckets I have several that are dry so I am thinking the end is near.
I should be able to make a gal with what I have sitting in my tank.

Maplewalnut

03-24-2008, 06:48 AM

Quick update from the Poconos

Tasted a little bit of woodiness in the sap yesterday for the first time. Even with temps in the mid-30's as highs the sap was a running pretty well with the west wind. Took Easter off, except for collecting of course, and plan to fire up the monster rig again today. Have segregated yesterday's sap as I suspect I may be making B grade for a little while before the tree's stop. I am not sure who is going to say 'uncle' first this year, me or the maples!

springhills

03-24-2008, 08:27 PM

We're definitely having the season of a lifetime. We made our quart per tap as of Thursday, and the sap just keeps coming. We're poised to blow away all our records. Dave Y, I concur about wishing the gravity lines ran as well as the buckets. They run 10 maybe 20% more than the lines. I suspect goop building up at the fittings. Yesterday, we ran around cutting wood until 11:00, then burned it all and made 55 gallons of grade A dark. Today we rubbed a hole in our polyethylene collection tank with the wagon tire, but luckily noticed the hole before we parked it full for the night. We only lost a few gallons before pumping it to another tank. Anybody have experience fixing one of these tanks?

Dave Y

03-24-2008, 08:37 PM

springhills,
Glad to see you are back at it! You need to change you signature that 3x12 moved west!:) I have all I can handle with your old rig. I find my self wanting more boiling capacity. Hope you are having a good season I know I am.

springhills

03-24-2008, 08:49 PM

There's the new signature. At 2 a.m. last night, I was wishin' for more gph as well. Five gallons of syrup per hour, though... hard to complain too much.

mapleack

03-24-2008, 09:34 PM

We gathered 270 gallons of sap today, more than I expected with the temperature. My 50 buckets contributed about 40 gallons of that, the 550 to 600 on tubing the rest. Another good observation was that one patch of trees that's still on 5 or so year old health spouts has pretty much quit. Everything on new replaceable plastic or stainless taps is still running hard. Every remaining old 5/16 tap I've got will either be replaced with new replaceable plastic or stainless next season. Boiling was frustrating tonight, the woods getting low, less than a cord of dry, so I started mixing in some newly split wet stuff. Figured out to be about 67 gph, which is pretty frustrating after running at 100gph or so for the last couple weeks. Temperature was down to 28 at the sugarhouse, so it looks like tomorrow could be a pretty good run!
-Andy

sweetwoodmaple

03-25-2008, 12:31 AM

Turn out the Lights...the party's over. Boiled 500 tonight. Smelled some wood in the steam. Probably my soft maples coming alive.

But, with the wood supply about 20 paces from my sugarhouse and not seasoned (only got 70 gph tonight), rain and no freeze in the forecast, I'll forsake the last run and call it quits.

Just made the 5,000 gallon mark. Would have been close to 100 gallons of syrup if I wouldn't have toasted 6 of it last evening. Probably end up with 90 gallons.

Hope you all get a few more weeks. Take Care.

Dave Y

03-25-2008, 05:49 AM

Brian,
It always amazes me that you are done this much sooner than I am. My forecast shows at least two more weeks of good surgaring, before the commercial season starts. I brought in 1100 last night and left another 300-400 still in the tanks in the woods. I am boiling to day as soon as it gets light.
Springhills how do you like your new rig? I see that I have almost as many taps as you have . I bet my boiling sessions are longer than yours. Your tank that you rubbed a hole in I sent you a pm.

sweetwoodmaple

03-25-2008, 06:16 AM

Dave - I could potentially run a little more by pulling my reds/silvers.

From years past, I need to be tapped by the end of January to have a full season. I could not do that this year as I was still getting ready.

I'll have to really plan ahead next year as there are TWO "buns in the oven" due in October!

Gary R

03-25-2008, 06:56 AM

Brian, if your calling it quits, give me a call some time. I'd like to show you my humble operation. I also have technical questions to prepare for next year. I'm still collecting and boiling for the next week. Once my Birch trees that I tapped on Sunday come alive I'll quit the maple.

Dave, that's great your getting so much sap. I'm suprised since it's been pretty cold for almost a week. You must have some good sunshine up there!

Good luck all:)

Jim Brown

03-25-2008, 07:48 AM

Good Morning All; We will ream our 350 tomorrow morning in hopes of a good run later this week end. We tapped them on Jan 26th and they ran good till last week before the freeze. We didn't turn the pumps on since Saturday(way too cold) will start them today around noon after the thaw! (was 19 degrees at my house this am) Sunday and Monday our test trees on buckets didn't run at all and they were only tapped a week ago and were running 3% sap at that time. Hoping to get one or two more runs before we call it quits on a good year!( we matched our -07 total yesterday)
We finished 4 gallon of Med last night and the rig is full of 10% sweets.
We intend to run the pumps around the clock until it freezes again looks like Thursday night(cost of gas for gen power is $4.00 per hour)
Some where on this forum some one asked 'when do you stop making syrup"
The answer was' when the syrup is about the thickness of molasses and the color of a black rubber boot'
We don't intend to run that long but?????

Jim

springhills

03-25-2008, 08:11 AM

Dave, Our 4x14 is working out great in general, but I think We should be getting more gph from it. One drawback is that it has a HUGE 6 foot syrup pan. The Back of the grates are still three feet from the start of the flues. Its very efficient with the steam away, making about 50 gallons syrup per cord (normal sugar content). With great wood and an attentive fire tender, it'll do a little over 2oo gph, but we're averaging a little under due to the wood quality. I wish I could find a mill that had slab wood around here. The 3x12 we sold you would peak out at about 100 gph, but 80-90 were common. How's it running for you?

Dylan

Dave Y

03-25-2008, 10:08 AM

Dylan,
I have been able to get 100 gph most times there was a couple of boils that i had less but i think that had more to do with the weather than any thing else. one night i did run through 165 gal in one hour but have not been able to achieve that again. hope you get your tank fixed.
GaryR, I have some good trees but with the right wind a drip will run off an icicle . and we have had the right wind.

PA mapler

03-25-2008, 05:37 PM

Still waiting for the season to really get going up here. I have now about 100 gallons of sap in the tank, from four different marginal days, and it's ORANGE. Not cloudy, but clear orange. I did a search, and some people dump it, and some people boil it with no problems. One person mentioned that small runs can result in orange sap. Maybe it's just some chemical reaction of sap sitting frozen in the lines for too long. I'm not sure what to do with it!

There's still a good snow pack on the hill, so hopefully I still have alot of good runs ahead of me.

PATheron

03-25-2008, 08:27 PM

BIGSAP UPDATE FROM TIOGA COUNTY PA- Sap didnt start running till afternoon but is currently running HAAAARRD!!! Gonna get up at 0330 and kick on the ro or I think all 4 tanks will run over. Should be around 2400 gals I think. Should go over the 600 gal mark in the barrells and still making pretty light syrup. The gallon tally doesnt include free samples or what Brother and I have put on our pancakes which is a lot. Gotta hit the sack. Gonna try to do 800 gals and make the all elusive half gallon across the board. Make lots of syrup. Used not quite 6 cords so far to make 500 gals. Gotta love the ro. Theee(bigsapzar)ron.

Valley View Sugarhouse

03-25-2008, 09:30 PM

Theron is my idol!!!!!!!

gmcooper

03-25-2008, 09:51 PM

I lost track of who had the hole in the poly tank.
I put a hole in my 425 gallon pickup tank about 12 years ago. For a quick emergency patch I cut a 4" square piece out of a plastic barrel. I used Geosil (sp?) adheasive caulking that we use doing metal roofing to glue the patch on. The temp patch is still there and holding. The hole was about 3/4" roundish and only 4" from the bottom of the tank.
Hope this helps!

Sugarmaker

03-25-2008, 10:08 PM

Wow! great reading!
Were we supposed to be making syrup?
Just found some time to post. With a lot less help in the sugarhouse this year I have been keeping up with syrup making but not the trader. Some things just have to be set aside.
Theron, Beth, GaryR DaveY and Jim Brown, Brian & all Nice job on the syrup production!
One of those new fangled R&O 'thing a ma bobs' sounds like it really puts a dent in the sap you need to boil.

Having the most fun in years in NW PA! Thanks for all the folks that keep in touch over the phone to keep each other going through the not so great times!
The season is nearing the end either from the weather and or the dwindling wood pile.

Thanks to Jim Bortles for setting up the tour to Sugarbush Creek farm north of Middlefield OH. The is a AWSOME 2000 tap operation to view when in full production (Owner Jim Cermak)

Oh yea! We have made a little syrup also. Highlights and some stats to follow within a week or so. Currently at 103 gallons and no dark syrup yet!

I have been making syrup a long time and have never seen a spring as cold, the sap so clear, the sugar content holding above 2.3 so long and the syrup grade stay so consistent between light and medium.

The new draw off is working well and has found a home.:)

More syrup weather coming, so get ready to ride the next sap wave!

Regards,
Chris:)

PATheron

03-25-2008, 10:59 PM

Chris- Its the luck of the Theeeron. Remember when I said if you say it it will happen. I just woke up and checked the tanks, all four full. Thats since noon. I think 2400 gallons, I know its over 2000. If I hadnt woke up then they would have run over by 0330. Im pretty sure theyll fill them at least once more by noon tomarrow, maybe not but well see. Going to go start the ro and the coffee pot. Its go time. 2 hours sleep ought to be enough for anyone. Cant sleep your life away. Theee(bigsapzar)ron.

PATheron

03-25-2008, 11:00 PM

Forgot to tell you guys how its running. HAAAAARRRRD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maple Hill Sugarhouse

03-26-2008, 06:51 AM

Here it is the BIGSAP update. I was looking on the tapping links page. Glad to hear you still got your swimmies on.

sweetwoodmaple

03-26-2008, 07:56 AM

Chris - glad to hear you are still alive and well. :-)

I agree with the all the sap stats except the sugar content. Mine has dropped to 1.3 or 1.4. Swamp trees with small crowns. Not my bush, so I can't thin.

That is the main reason I hung it up for the year as the boils are too long for 50% less syrup. It's a shame as trees are still running pretty strong.

There might be a bright spot...my Dad may want to buy the property. Then I can actually manage the trees and get the production up.

Father & Son

03-26-2008, 08:17 AM

Frustrating and rewarding at the same time. Still trying to get a handle on this new rig and I think the only thing left to try is more stack. I put a stack thermometer on the other day (thanks to sugarmaker) and my stack temps run between 440 to 480 degrees. Boiling a little better than 40 gph. More room for improvement. Some of the frustrating nights might have been the weather.

Passed the 35 gallon mark last night in seven boils, not alot when you listen to everyone else, but ties the gallons we made in 2006 in 13 boils. I do think this rig is easier on wood as I have only burned a little more that 1 cord so far.

I have spent alot of time on the phone picking Chris Casbohm's brain and he even came down to help tweak this evaporator trying to increase the GPH. I still haven't found that magic switch, but I WILL find it!

Next few days look good for more sap so we'll see what happens.

Jim

Jim Brown

03-26-2008, 09:00 AM

Jim; you may have to put a bit of a fan under the fire box to get the temp up in the stack. Last year we had a small cage fan and could only get 650 degress in the stack base and about 45 gallons per hour. The duct was just through the ash door and we directed the air flow up with fire brick in the ash pan. This year we have a radon vortex fan w/ variable speed switch and we took a heavy "tee" and drilled3/4 holes in the upper side and laid it in the ash pan. This directed the air straight up and we can push the heat to 800+ in the base and also we increased our boil rate to 51 per hour.
Hope this helps

Jim

Father & Son

03-26-2008, 10:24 AM

Jim,
I have tried a few things. I kept the blower off the 2 x 6 I sold and cut a hole in the back of the ash pit and blow in in there. With that I have limited results, I put a damper in the duct and have to restrict it down or I blow ash out the front. I also have tried it with the blower off and the draft door open with limited results. Seems to work best with the draft door wide open and the blower on but dampered back. That would seem to me that the airflow is restricted but that is not the case. I think my next option would be more stack. I'm on top of a hill but alittle over the peak. More draft might be the answer.

Thanks,
Jim

Maplewalnut

03-26-2008, 10:53 AM

Brian - I have the same experience with swamp trees. I have a portion of my property that is perpetually wet. These trees run like heck but the sap is often 0.5% or lower than the same trees not more than 20 ft off the edge of the wet area. They are all red maple with same size diamater and crown. Quantity does not always equal quality!

Mike

Jim Brown

03-26-2008, 10:56 AM

Jim We found that if you push the fire back about 2-3 inches from the doors you don't have the ash out the door problem as much. We still have some since we are not air tight. Also we stop the fan every time we fire which is every 7 minutes. By keeping the damper on the stack closed you are stopping the heat from traveling to the back of the arch as much hence pulling the heat with it. We have a damper in our stack also and we keep it wide open all the time.
What size stack do you run?ours is 10 inch.and we are only 6 feet above the stack base. we also found that a bigger fire is not better. small fire(dry wood) with draft produces more heat.
Just a couple of ideas that happen to work for us.
Jim

Father & Son

03-26-2008, 12:46 PM

Jim,
The damper isn't in the stack it's in the plenum between the blower and the ash pit. It's a 10" stack with no restrictions I just think it might need more height. Right now it is the base stack and 3 sections 5 foot each.

Jim

sweetwoodmaple

03-26-2008, 05:47 PM

Not to restate the obvious, but since I screwed up with wood this year I'll comment in that area.

(checked my sap tonight and it's 2% as I let it run on the ground!!!)

Anyway, % moisture in the wood makes a big difference. I only had about 1/4 of my wood that was dry (as in 5 years under a covered wood shed).

I had to purchase "dry and seasoned" wood this year that was in the wood pile for 18 months (supposedly). Stuff was hard to get going. Had to chop every stick down to 3 x 3".

Last year, by comparison, the guy I purchased my evap had #3 kiln dried oak boards. Let me tell you...there is no comparison. You could practically melt the doors off the front.

I also know a "blower" is no comparison to a "wood saver". My blower this year kept an even boil, even with wet wood, but I used 6+ cords to make 90 gallons of syrup.

Dave Y

03-26-2008, 10:51 PM

Wood can be a real problem when it comes to your boil. For you rig Jim, your wood should be no bigger than your wrist. Your stack should be 1 and 1/2 the the length of your rig. if you have those two in order it should boil as hard as you could ever imagine. My old 2.5x10 would belch fire out of the top of the stack and it had no blower. It had old pipe grates. I would make sure my grates are clear and start a small fire and work my way into a good boil.

sweetwoodmaple

03-27-2008, 05:39 AM

There is a balance here, though, betweet efficiency and boiling rate.

Small sticks are great, but with a blower you have to fire every few minutes and it consumes wood like gasoline. Yes, you gain a few gph, but all those flames up the stack (I've been there too) is heat going to waste.

With 5 year old wood that has been covered, it can be 4 x 4" and still burn well and get away with firing at a normal pace and not feel like you are running a marathon.

In my opinion, The ticket is stock piling dry wood. And, if possible, as Dave said, make it as long as your fire box. You want to feed under your syrup pan and about 1/4 of the distance of your flue pan.

Jim Brown

03-27-2008, 07:45 AM

Our wood is 2 years dry under tarps and we split down to 3x3. We do not load the box full only three sticks at a time. Makes great heat. We already have -09 wood split-stacked and covered .

Update-Our trees ran 850 gallons yesterday of cyrstal clear 2% sap. Doug was pulling beautiful med and dark amber last evening. Haven't had a season like this for a long time!
Ran till 11:30pm and shut the RO and rig down with about 100 gallons of the clear sap to finish(out of 850) and 350 gallons of 2%- 1 day old slightly cloudy sap to run through. Every thing is froze up here this am. Doug was in the woods to start pumps at 6:45am and said releasers are froze. we chose not to run pumps today as we will not be able to pay for the gas.Not supposed to get to 40 degrees until 6:00pm Give us a chance to filter and bottle syrup from yesterday.
Tomorrow is another day!
Not making "B" or comm syrup yet!

Jim

tappin&sappin

03-27-2008, 11:20 AM

Update from Cambridge Springs... Gathered last night and brought in about 260 gallons of sap (best run of the season). Work keeps getting in the way and because of it, wasn't able to boil last night.

Will boil tonight, Friday night and most of saturday.

All this talk of boiling 40, 50, 90 and 200 gph is making me jealous... :)

Good luck all.

- Jake

PA mapler

03-27-2008, 04:59 PM

Like I said before, that sap really wants to run! It was 25 last night, and got up to maybe 35 this afternoon, with a mix of snow and rain, and the sap is running like crazy right now. The 80 or so gallons of orange sap from before was kinda diluted from yesterday's small run, and I boiled it yesterday with apparently no bad things. The sugar is still holding out at 2.2%.

PATheron

03-27-2008, 05:22 PM

Beth- Your sugar is better than mine. I just dropped a line under 2.

Gary R

03-27-2008, 08:09 PM

collected and boiled about 30gal. Monday night. I'm down to 30 maple taps and collected and boiled last night. Probably over 70 gal. I had some buckets with 4 gal of sap in them in 48 hrs. My taps have been in for 9 1/2 weeks! Last night was the first time I actually had to draw off while I was boiling. My front section got up to 219F so I drew about a gallon off and kept boiling. Will boil again Saturday.

My 2 cents worth on the wood thing. A year of seasoning is enough. It is all about the enviroment that it is storred in. I'm having issues now because I have plastic over my wood piles, trapping moisture. This year one of my project is to build a wood shed of sorts. Tin roof a few feet above the wood stack for good ventilation. Attached is a document from the feds on firewood. We pay these people to figure this stuff out.

Birch holes still dry. I guess I'll keep making Maple while I can:)

sweetwoodmaple

03-27-2008, 08:56 PM

All you mid PA'ers, watch your soft maple buds if you have any of them tapped.

Yes, the sap is still clear on the sugar maples and I have no dry wood.

Bummer....

Father & Son

03-28-2008, 04:48 AM

Gathered and only got 90 gallons of sap last night. Was a litle disappointing. Made 2 gallons and hit the 40 gallon mark. Syrup lightened up and is a real light medium. I thing alot of my problem is not completely dry wood. It was under cover in the wood shed but was stacked mid summer and pretty damp when it was stacked. I'm going to try work on getting alot more wood stacked and covered this summer for the upcoming years. Have enough wood left for maybe this weekend (3/4 cord) if the run is good.

Jim

tapper

03-28-2008, 06:51 AM

I gathered 200 gallons from 200 + taps woods trees yesterday with a sugar content of 2.75% and 150 gallons from 90 taps road trees with sugar content of 3%. The Marcland was hitting temp and dumping syrup just every few minutes when I ran that 3% sap thru at the end of the evening. Made around 10 gal of light yesterday.

It is still really cold where the woods trees are and many of them did not run at all. With all the snow that is still in that valley it is just like a freezer and it is only 1/2 mile from my hilltop taps which ran fairly well. It has been horrible gathering sap this year the worst I have ever had. I have never gathered so much frozen sap for as long of a period but, After yesterday it is starting to be fun again.

Maplewalnut

03-28-2008, 10:13 AM

The end may be in sight. Looks like a string of temps in the 50's coming up mid next week here in the east which will probably shutdown my taps for the year. One final week push to get everything boiled. Gathered another 250 gallons yesterday, woods trees are still running, roadsides are starting to slow. Stopping at a 'pallet distributer', (alright, it is a warehouse with them stacked out back like everyone else) to stretch my wood supply which took a serious beating this season. I had even started a pile for next year over the summer and thats almost all gone. What a year!

Jim Brown

03-28-2008, 10:55 AM

We finished off 17 gallons of beautiful dark amber yesterday afternoon. Trees ran alittle yesterday afternoon .Pulled 300 gallons of 2% clear sap.
no off smell or taste. Hope to get a couple of runs this weekend need to make some "B'. Northern bush is not showing any sign of buds opening.South bush of 350 has a red cast in the tree tops, got to watch them close.

Brian; Running 2% on the ground has to make a fella cry!

Jim

PA mapler

03-28-2008, 02:53 PM

Hi Tapper! Glad to hear that you're getting some good runs! It's opening up over here also, and the next week or so look great. I just finished boiling off about 350 gallons. My syrup is all dark amber, and the taste is still phenomenal. The sugar percent still holding at 2.2%. The sap is still running slow but steady, since our temps still haven't gotten past the mid 30's yet, and the sun refuses to shine. But one of these days it's going to let loose.

tapper

03-28-2008, 04:02 PM

Hi Beth,

The lightest sap run so far this season was way better than most of the best runs from the past few years. The cold weather has been hindering good sap so far this year. We have always had warm weather to mess things up by now. I have felt all season at some point we will be swimming in sap an I still feel that is yet to come!

PATheron

03-28-2008, 06:54 PM

Guys- My bush faces east and is in between a couple hills. Ive got mostly sugars with a few reds. Should I pull the reds do you think? Looks like ive got one more good week too. What do you guys think? Thee(curiousbigsapzar)roon

WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER

03-28-2008, 08:26 PM

If the sap is still good and they haven't budded, I wouldn't. It would be easy to lose vaccum if a few of the spouts got out of their cups.

tapper

03-28-2008, 08:54 PM

If there is just a few I would be awfully tempted to leave them in. Once you get to the point you are making commercial would it matter? Or could the few reds turn it to commercial before it's time? Hahaha lots of help I ammm!

springhills

03-28-2008, 10:32 PM

thanks for the various advice on plastic tank repair. We ended up carefully "braising" the hole back together with chunks of itself (thanks Dave Y), then filling up the bulk of the hole with hot glue. Works great so far.

We're up to 26,000 gallons sap from 1900 taps on gravity! This is making up for a few lousy years, past and future.

We usually take our droplines off and boil spouts pre-tapping. I neglected to do this to about 100 of the last buckets we tapped (we put buckets on the ground with a dropline going in). These taps are now drying up, while most others are hanging in there. I'm even more convinced now that sterilizing spouts is worth the bother.

Dylan

sweetwoodmaple

03-28-2008, 10:35 PM

Sorry guys, but from experience, it does affect the sap.

I have to pull mine (reds), otherwise it is commercial when I could be making dark amber.

I have the new cup tee's and they stay in pretty well. No worse chance than a fitting coming loose, etc.

tapper

03-29-2008, 07:16 AM

If we have a warm winter I stay away from the red maples altogether. In the past during a warm winter we are lucky to even get sap from red maples and if we do it is poor quality. I have had winters though that gave me nice syrup on reds even late in the season.

My property is all red maple and I tap very few of them. I have found a few that produce more sap than sugars and they last just as long. The problem is I have just a very select few that are like this. Last season I put taps in 2 really nice reds with big diameter and full healthy crowns. Alltoghther they gave maybe 1 gallon of sap for half of the season before I pulled them. Now this year I tried a few different reds and they are producing very well but is is a cold winter.

PA mapler

03-29-2008, 08:14 AM

After a slow start, my reds on buckets seem to be producing very well, as well as the other few sugars that are in the same spot behind the sugar shack. But they are all forest trees. I have five sugar maples on buckets up on the hill, in a small old field. I take the snowmobile up there with 2 five-gallons buckets strapped over the seat to get the sap. It takes two trips. They have big open-grown crowns and produce like crazy.

The reds on the tubing I'll probably just leave in the line unless I really think they're spoiling the sap too much. This is the first year I've had them, and am not sure what to expect.

Gary R

03-30-2008, 06:29 PM

Well the plan for today was to boil what I had and pull all my Maple taps. Well I boiled about 60 gal. of sap today. Problem was it froze last night :o . I knew it would run good today. So, I reset 7 taps and buckets that I pulled a week ago. The sap was pouring out of those holes. They ran 1/2 gal. each in 4 hours. TOMORROW will be my last day to boil. I hated to see that sap run onto the ground and me actually doing some work around the house;) . One more day!

PA mapler

03-30-2008, 09:07 PM

Sap finally started to run this afternoon, after a cold start, but won't be enough to boil until tomorrow. It was nice out, so I drained the evaporator and boiled vinegar thru it and cleaned all the scum off, good as new, and ready for the second half of the season.

tapper

03-31-2008, 05:56 AM

With this cold weather I like to wait out the run and gather it all at once so I am not wasting time gathering small amounts of sap. Yesterday morning everything was froze solid so planned on gathering today. Late yesterday I had to rearriange and empty many buckets that were about to run over. I am guessing 600 gal of sap today on around 300 buckets?

PA mapler

03-31-2008, 06:30 PM

Best run of the year last night and today, probably 400 gallons+ and still running in. Sap still at 2.2%, already beat last year's syrup volume. I never thought I'd burn thru that huge stack of firewood, but looks like it's going to happen. Tapper, the syrup fairy finally came!

tapper

03-31-2008, 08:07 PM

Yep guessed that one right 600+ gallons today. Every tank I own is full. I was too beat after gathering all that to boil. I always thought gathering that many full buckets at once would be fun. It kinda was till at the end of the day I figured I had handled close to 5,000 pounds of sap in 8 hours TWICE. 80% of the road tree buckets were running over and most were empty yesterday afternoon. It will be an all day boil tomorrow and probably gather again Wed. Some of the buckets emptied this morning were half full again by this afternoon.

WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER

03-31-2008, 09:13 PM

Jon,

Starting boiling around 6 and you will be done by 2 in time to gather again. Don't want to let that precious liquid all run on the ground!

Glad you got a great run. It has been a couple of years for you.

tapper

04-01-2008, 05:07 AM

Brandon,
Yes it has been a few years. I am now at the amount I made last year before I boil today. The difference is this tear is all nice light and medium where half of last years crop was c grade. I better get to cooking before this run turns to c grade. It's 55 degrees here right now but supposed to be 26 tonight.

PA mapler

04-01-2008, 06:55 AM

I boiled until midnight last night then hung it up, and there's already 150 gallons in the tank this morning and still running in. And like Tapper it's going below 32 tonight, then sunny and 40's tomorrow. My syrup has all been dark amber this year. I was thinking I'd get some light or medium, but maybe that's the difference between buckets and tubing?

tapper

04-01-2008, 06:05 PM

Took 15 gallons of light syrup off the evaporator today. The road trees are still running 3%. I gathered another 250 gallons today and there is still 100 to 200 gallons in the woods yet. I think the end is very close because the 53 fresh taps this weekend were a little cloudy today and they were crystal clear yesterday. Which was the very 1st run on them.

Gary R

04-01-2008, 07:33 PM

finished and canned 1 1/4 gal. tonight. Sticking it out this last week gave me an extra 3 gal. to eat:) . Still probably medium. Total for the year was around 8 gal. Didn't keep track of things:oops: . Buckets rinsed and taps washed. Checked half my Birch buckets. Some were dry, but some ran. probably 6 or 7 gal. Should be firing the evaporator back up in a couple days.:) Can't wait to make some beer!

Heard from Sugarmaker today! He ran out of wood:( . Said he was eyeing up the furniture

PA mapler

04-01-2008, 09:36 PM

Boiled another 200 gallons today. The sap was a hair cloudy, and everything I drew off between yesterday and today was grade "B", dark but very tasty. I'm up to 56 gallons total, which beats the socks off anything I've ever gotten. I still have enough wood for 3-4 more good boils. Should get a good run tomorrow if the trees can recharge enough tonite!

Jim Brown

04-02-2008, 07:20 AM

Well our trees gave up yesterday! We will be running the last of the concentrate throught the rig today. Should only take about 1 hour and then we will feed and boil water to push the rest of the sweet out.Today will give us the total for the year. It should be a GREAT year!.Well over 100 gallons as of yesteday and NO 'B' . As dark as it got was dark amber!
More to come
later
after we rest up!

Jim

PA mapler

04-02-2008, 05:57 PM

Sap started roaring in about 2:00 this afternoon after last night's freeze, as fast as I've seen it, about 35 gallons/hr. It'll freeze again tonight, then tomorrow/Friday might be the biggest run of the year, if the forecast holds out. I'd love to fill a drum with "B" if the trees hold out. There is still snow on the ground on the upper half of the bush, so maybe a few more weeks?

emericksmaple

04-02-2008, 08:43 PM

Well it's all over down here in the southern end of the state. What a year!!! Everyone down here had a good year from what I am hearing. We finished the year out on sat boiling the pan out. Here are the stats: 3100 taps. 2100 on vaccum producing 64580 gal of sap Avg = 29.3 Gal per tap. 900 on gravity producing 13,250 gal of sap Avg = 14.7 gal per tap Total amout of syrup 1444 gal. Talked to two other producers with vaccum and one of them was at 27 gal per tap and the other was at 20 gal per tap. 776 gal was fancy the rest was med or dark, only made 2 barrel of B. Defentily looking for a bigger RO for next year and vaccum on the other 900. Also looking for a one ton truck to hual sap. This year we use a pickup w/a 450 gal tank and ended up making almost 200 trips to gather. Hope everyone had a great year!!!

Sugarmaker

04-02-2008, 09:48 PM

PA Folks,
More great reading of all the PA posts I had missed.

Matt ( Emerick) Wow that is impressive! Bigger R.O and bigger truck next year sounds like they will fit nicely with your operation.

some early stats from Casbohm Maple :

- finished with 138 gallons of light and med syrup
- 450 taps, 400 on gravity tubing (mine), 40 (neighbors Keith Talbot) on juice jugs, and 10+ buckets in the yard, Mike's (our grandson)
- gathered 960 gallons of nice sap after we finished boiling last Thursday.
- Only had to dump 120 gallons of sap on the ground, that I just couldn't find anyone who wanted to boil it.:(
- syrup per tap .31 gallons for 2008 but would have been .36 gallon per tap easy, with more wood!

I have to get the total gallons of sap tallied and run the numbers on the sugar content. Always seems to be some tank shrinkage:)

Looking forward to a good year in syrup and value added maple product sales.

Gary, I stopped just short of burning the furniture:) But it was very, very close.

The road side tubing made gathering a LOT easier for 08. example: I gathered 770 gallons of sap myself ( about 3 hours of gathering) and boiled almost all of it right after gathering. about 9+ hours of boiling! I was pretty whipped after that.:) But I would not have been able to gather and boil, without the tubing.

Still removing tubing, about 240 more taps to take down, this week.

Regards,
Chris

Dave Y

04-03-2008, 05:37 AM

Well it does look like it will be over very soon! I have 2000gal of sap waiting on me at the house and probably that much still in the woods. I did get o every thing yesterday. looks like every one had a great year. Mine has been good so far. I have had a few growing pains, but nothing that cant be over come. burned all of the wood in the wood shed and my slab wood that I had covered got wet. The trap I had covering it failed. So I am scrounging wood to boil with> My brother is tearing down and old house and I am actually burning some of that. I have made 320gal so far I hope to hit 400. don't know if I will or not. we have hauled in over 18000 gal of sap. and expect to get a couple more thousand before it is over. Got to go get some lines thawed so I can boil.

Jim Brown

04-03-2008, 08:36 AM

Well the season is over for us and what a great season it was! finished off 121 gallons of beautiful light,med and dark amber syrup. we did not make any "B' this year. Got educated on a couple of thing and will be making some changes for next year. Will be adding more taps for next year.(approx 500) RO was a terffic time and wood saver this year! We discovered that with the RO we were having down time and getting enough sleep for a change.We are washing it today and putting the membrane to bed for the summer.
I want to thank all who responded to any and all questions we posted this season and for all the phone calls returned
We hope that all have a banner year!
Jim Brown
Brown' Pure Maple Products

PA mapler

04-03-2008, 04:39 PM

Sap running like crazy, biggest run of the year. I got a late start because of frozen lines (forgot to drain the long line from the tank!) so it got ahead of me. It's been running in 36 gallons/hour all day, and I couldn't keep up. Now I have to shut down and go bowl. . . . . we're in second place, and if I miss tonite the girls will kill me. There is a real possibility that I might overflow the tank for my first time ever.

PATheron

04-03-2008, 07:28 PM

Beth, Beth- DO THE RIGHT THING AND CALL IN SICK!!!!! LIE!!!!! LIE!!!!! Dont compromise the mother of all runs. You cant lose the sap. Thats wrong, wrong!!! Thee(bigsapzar)roon

Sugarmaker

04-03-2008, 08:36 PM

Sorry to report a local sugarmaker had a bad accident Tuesday afternoon.
Mark Sherman (neighbor to the west of me) was seriously injured when he jumped from a wagon drawn by his team of Belgians. Mark and his son Adam were gathering up sap buckets and the last of the sap. The team ran away with them on the paved road and both men bailed out. Mark hit his head on the road and is currently in the Hamot Hospital in Erie. Mark his wife and the two boys run a dairy farm. Marks son Alan is the sugarmaker and Mark has been helping Alan get the gathering done.
Regards,
Chris

PA mapler

04-03-2008, 09:38 PM

Wow, that really terrible about your neighbor, Chris. I hope everything turns out well for him, and for his family. This sure is a wonderful hobby, and we tend to forget how dangerous it can be, what with the chainsaws, fires, boiling liquids, and stumbles across ice and snow with 100 pounds of sap. My thoughts are with him and his family.

Bigsapczar, I should've stayed home and boiled for all the good I did the team! What a lousy performance. But I think it'll be OK. I just got home and checked the tank, and I have six inches to spare, and the sap has slowed down enough that I think I can make it to dawn. But I'll be boiling 450 gallons tomorrow and then some.

Tapper, did you get the big run too?

tapper

04-04-2008, 05:43 AM

Beth,

My big run came on Monday and I emptied everything again Wed. over 1000 gal from Monday to Wed. I had to catch up on other business yesterday but the few taps I checked late yesterday showed a moderate run. My road trees are so far away I havn't had a chance to check them since I emptied them Tues evening. I will give a report later. I have to bowl tonight too and have to go its the money night. Looks like no more freezing nights and my woods trees have turned cloudy made dark syrup from them Wed evening while the road trees were still light.

Chris,
Thats a bummer hearing about anyone getting hurt like that. I hope everything turns out well.

Gary R

04-04-2008, 06:18 AM

Chris, sorry to hear about Mark Sherman. I hope he comes through well.

Well, my last boil with maple was Monday. Last night I fired up the evaporator again. Had about 17gal. of birch sap from 30 taps. Half the buckets were bone dry. Sugar content on two different buckets was .7 and .8 the temperature out was 54 and mostly sunny. If someone has a conversion factor for a long stem hydrometer calibrated at 38 please let me know. I would feel better if I was starting with over 1%:) . Now that most of you local guys are done and cleaning up, stop by sometime and try some birch beer!

tapper

04-04-2008, 03:33 PM

I just came in from gathering everything that has run since Wed. I brought in 265 gallons from the woods trees just under 2% content on them and not quite as cloudy as it was Wed.

300 Gallons from the road trees just under 3% content and slightly cloudy I can't boil this off till tomorrow so I hope it cools off some overnight.

PA mapler

04-04-2008, 09:22 PM

I got halfway thru my tank today, and had to shut down early again to go to a dinner. Darn, how stuff interferes with my leisure time! Anyway, will finish this batch off tomorrow, and looks like more promising weather coming in the next few days. The sap is still clear, but slightly colored, and is hanging in at 2.0% now. The problem is, I'm going to have to scrounge for wood soon. I can't believe I went thru most of my wood, but I realize now that I actually split it too SMALL, and half of it was basswood. Burnt up like toothpicks. Live and learn.

TapME

04-05-2008, 07:34 AM

looks like anything in the woods standing dead has a problem. Been there and done that.

Father & Son

04-05-2008, 09:06 AM

It ended for me yesterday. The trees quit running and I used the last of my wood. Worked out better than a plan. Made 55+ gallons on 146 taps. 50 gallons of light amber. Not too bad since we didn't tap until March 10-11. All that is left to do is boil what is in the pans in the turkey fryer and the dreadful clean up. What's left in the pans should yield a couple more gallons. Of course then there is getting ready to tap in 10 1/2 months. I hope everyone up north has a good year also!

Jim

Sugarmaker

04-05-2008, 08:17 PM

Some info that may or may not be of interest,

Tapped Feb 15 and 16 2008
First run Feb 18, 620 gallon of sap
Last boil March 27 535 gallons of sap
Had 450 taps
400 taps on gravity tubing
40 taps on Juice jugs (Kieth's)
10 taps on buckets ( Mikes)
Gathered 17 times
Burned 13-14 cord of pallets and 3/4 cord of split maple
Drove about 650 miles to gather, ( probably about the same to visit other sugar makers:)
Drank 24 diet Pepsi's (at least)
Gathered 5600 gallons of sap to boil
Made 140 gallons of syrup
Avg stack temp about 700 deg F
Boiled 16 times
Smallest run 65 gallons In a blizzard, (am I nuts or what? Dont answer that)
Largest run 770 gallons
gathered 960 gallons of sap that I did not boil ( Some to Father and Son some to Pat Schmidt) and 120 gallons back to the earth
AVG 12.5 gallons of sap per tap
AVG .31 gallons of syrup per tap
gathered 6570 gallons of sap total
All syrup light or medium
.735 gallons of sap per tap per run
Number of times I dozed off while boiling (several)
Number of times I came back to find the Marcland had drawn off syrup while I was else where ( several!)
Number of times I scorched the pan. ( once)
Drained the evaporator 3 times due to cold spells.
Cleaned the evaporator once during the season.
Number of visitors to the sugar house, about 400
Amount of fun I had, Unimaginable
Still canning syrup and trying to keep the orders filled:)

Hope all had a great year!

Regards,
Chris

Sugarmaker

04-05-2008, 08:33 PM

Beth and Jon,
Sounds like you are still at it! Great to hear that! Beth did you get back to some light syrup? Looking for wood was my problem also. I squirreled away enough for about 23-30 extra gallons and could have used another 2-3 cords of pallets to boil all the sap.

Gary R.that sugar content at less than 1% is about what I have read about birch. I heard 90:1. You need to find some hard birch not those soft birch:)

Jim ( F&S) finally pulled the plug huh! Well you did great at 55 gallons and hit the high point of the season just perfect! That new rig is real easy on the eyes! Use some vinegar and let it soak it will reduce the clean up by 50%.
BTW I have the electrical box from Keith at my house.

We went to my cousins south of Conneaut Ohio today They hung 950 buckets and were pulling them today. Not sure when they tapped but were only around 100 gallons:( Boiling on natural gas on a 5 x 14 Leader) Cement arch, and brick chimney.

Off to browse the trader for a change.

Neighbor Mark Sherman is still far from being out of the woods. He suffered a stroke yesterday and is still in induced comma, I think?

Chris

PATheron

04-06-2008, 06:38 AM

Chris- You had a great season. Changing to that tubing really worked out good for you. Good feeling to be done isnt it?

Gary R

04-06-2008, 06:57 AM

Wow Chris those are some stats!

The trees I tapped are Sweet Birch (Betula lenta). From everything I've found, these should be the best. Even my Suger Maples only ran 1.8. You know the saying " You have to boil what you got":) . Well, boiling again in about an hour. Worst case, I throw more taps up and spend more quality time in the Sugarshack!

PA mapler

04-06-2008, 09:35 AM

I was making a nice medium/dark amber yesterday, when son got me distracted with one of his fort-building projects, and I scorched the pan AGAIN. I'm not used to the intense baby-sitting that 1" in the syrup pan requires! I'm thinking that I'll be re-thinking the fluid level, maybe a happy-medium at 1.25" to 1.5". I'm struggling with the draw-off, as my dial thermometer barely worked at 2" of syrup. Does anyone use a digital thermometer?

There was a light frost last night, so I'm not sure if it was enough to re-charge the trees. If not, I might be out of business for the season. The whole week is supposed to be above-freezing and gorgeous, so I might cut my losses and clean up, and start eying a good spot to start wacking down more basswood for next year!

Sugarmaker - nice job on the report! Good reading. : )

andyp

04-06-2008, 06:56 PM

We're finished in SW Pa. We had a good run. We started the first week in Feb. and ended the last week in March. We got 50 gal. which is 8 gal. more than last year with less taps. Not too bad for a 30X60 flat pan. We made some beautiful fancy in the beginning, then changed to medium amber, then dark amber and finished with grade B with a good flavor.
Everything is cleaned and put away till the bug bites again next year. This was an extra hard year for me because of a painful leg from a past injury years ago. Carrying the 5 gal. buckets didn't help much either. Glad it's over for another year.
Looking forward to next year with more labor saving improvements such as tubing and totes and a lot less 5 gal. buckets.
Now it's time to concentrate on the farming and garden with a little fishing and turkey hunting.

Andyp

Sugarmaker

04-06-2008, 07:59 PM

Beth,
OUCH to bad about the scorched pan! Your about the last hold out in the area. But I know Bradford is a cold spot.
We have three digital thermometers that read in tenths the work great. I use them all the time for making candy and cream. (using the Marcland Auto draw off temp probe for the syrup.)
You should not have a problem with sap 2 inches deep and the thermometer reading it????
Tell us again the thermometer type and placement location and distance from the bottom of the pan.

Gary R. Just kidding about the birch trees. You are the expert in that area!
I am not sure if I know enough to tap a birch tree. Please dont get me started on another hobby Cheryl would disown me.

Theron,
I give all the credit to you this season in spurring us on. And prompting mother nature to give us some great sap and weather for maple syrup production. You must be having a great time! Waht a year for you to get your systems set up and proven out! How much syrup did you make at final count?

I NEED A CREAM MACHINE!!! Just made about 16, 1/2 lb jars and seem like it took a week! I really dont make too much cream but like other things if you have the right machine it can make things a lot easier. Just add the cream machine to the list of toys I want.:)

Made another batch of HOT Maple mustard today to fill a order.

Also began rinsing/cleaning tubing in the sugarhouse. I have the bundle of tubing rolled up (about 20 taps plus line) and in the tote when I bring it from the trees. I then use a small sump pump with a reducer down to a 5/16 line which I connect to the tubing outlet. I pump warm water with just a little Clorox back through the tubing, taking out each tap and letting it flush.
Then I move to the small air compressor to evacuate the lines. I have it plumed to a 5/16 line also and blow clean, filtered, compressed air, back through the lines and remove every tap to allow the water to blow out. This seems to work well and the lines look very clean. I will hang the bundle of tubing which is marked with the location, in the rafters of the sugarhouse till next season.

On the road side trees I did use black spray paint to mark the elevation of the lines to aid in the set up next year.

Also I did not have one tubing connection failure using the 30P stiffer tubing and a one hand tubing tool to install the fittings. The time I spent rebuilding all the lines this year was well worth it!

Brandon, Several times you have mentioned stack temps at 1400, I really did not know what mine were till I added a stack thermometer this year and was surprised that the rig seem to run best at about 700 deg. F. It would drop quickly if I was not firing evenly.

Andy P, Nice work on making 50 gallons of syrup! Thanks for calling.

Attention NWPA SUGARMAKERS! Andy P suggested we meet for dinner some evening at the IRON Bridge INN near Mercer, Any one interested can Contact Andy P On the trader to get this set up.

Regards,
Chris

PA mapler

04-06-2008, 08:06 PM

I'm done for the year too. The sap ran slow today, maybe 50 gallons, and no break for a week. Some neighbors of mine are going to play it by ear, and wait to pull the taps and see what the weekend brings. There's actually still snow on the tops of the hills in places!

I'm using a dial-thermometer that came with the rig, and even with 2" of fluid it's touchy. With 1", it wouldn't read at all, even though the end was immersed. I ended up using a lab thermometer to give me an idea what was happening. If I had a probe, could I just stick that anywhere in the pan and get a good reading? The temp is always lower at the draw-off, and it'd be neat to put a probe right where the syrup is forming.

Sugarmaker

04-06-2008, 08:21 PM

Beth,
What you describe is what I found by listening to another old sugarmaker. He noticed that the boil was 15 inches in front of my draw off box I moved the probe there and have made syrup there since. I built a simple formed bracket from some scrape stainless steel sheet drill holes for the thermometer (now the probe and it allows me to move the bracket along the pan if required. Lead sells this in there catalog.

I would find a thermometer that will work at any depth ( within reason) and get it where you can move it, Might solve some of your problems??

The digital thermometers we use are about $40 and I think you can get them on E bay? or a web site? Not sure of the site? Maybe www.cooks.com?

Chris

tapper

04-06-2008, 08:47 PM

Gathered 100 gallons from the road tree buckets today and took the buckets down. Boiled the 100 gals. and it made medium syrup. I will work on getting the 200+ woods tree buckets down during the week. With no freezing weather in sight I am done.

Beth,
Bummer about the scorching. I have tried to run as little as 1" and if there is the least amount of foam 1" is not enough. I can run 1 1/4" with no problems but everyones equipment is different.

Dave Y

04-06-2008, 08:57 PM

I glad to see most of you are wrapped up for the season and making value added products. I am still boiling and expect to be till the middle or end of the week, I am currently at 375 of syrup and 19000 gal of sap. I still have sap in the tanks and my buckets are still out. I hope to get them in this weekend and finish up on Sunday. I haven't been to work since a week ago Thursday. I have run out of wood twice and spent yesterday afternoon cutting a bout a cord and a half. I think i will make the 400 gal goal that I set for myself. Got to go back to work tomorrow. I get to put on clean clothes and talk to normal people. That's going to be a shock to the system. I will give a final report when I finish for the season.

tapper

04-06-2008, 09:06 PM

Hahahaha normal people. Guess i better go back to school so I can see what normal people are like?

Gary R

04-07-2008, 05:42 AM

Chris, expert I am not. I do know that this weather is hurting. 60's and sunny. I got sun burnt yesterday boiling and gathering more wood. With all this heat the "bugs" are turning the sap cloudy in a few hours. Another thing I didn't take heed of from my Alaska info. is the sap is acidic. My pan had some brown stains from the maple. Not any more, it is shiney:) No need to clean the pan from here on out. I've taken 43 gal. to 2 1/2 gal. and it is only at 9%. I might be cutting the forest down and be a major gobal warming contributor by the time I'm drinking beer;) Well, off to visit some normal people.

PATheron

04-07-2008, 06:06 AM

Chris- I wont be able to give you guys the final numbers till maybe the end of the week. My pump is still running and im still getting sap but its about done. My tentative numbers right now are 800 gallons on 1570 taps. Im probly going to be a little over 800 and I need to recount the taps to be totally accurate but im pretty sure the 1570 is close. Im glad you guys enjoyed all my BS. Ive had the best time of my life this year and it was a great experiance. I am tired of it now though. Im going to boil whats out there tonight or tomarrow and then boil whats in my pans and ill have a totall figure then. Sounds like everyone has had a real good year in Pa. Ill have some neat stats for you guys by the weekend. Thee(bigsapzar)roon

Maplewalnut

04-07-2008, 06:59 AM

Well, we're all done here. It was a very long year. In fact we shut down last Wednesday and just finished the sweet that was in the rig yesterday on the turkey fryer. Banner year for us. We finished with 53 gallons and gave away another 600-800 gallons of sap to a neighbor's son so he could try his hand at sugar making. Ran out of wood and left about 300 gallons in the woods. So our theoretical number if we would have processed everything ourselves and had a little more wood would have been about 70 gallons. Not bad for 128 taps (all buckets)! Clean up is just about done also. Filled the gathering tank with some diluted bleach and will let it slosh around for a couple days in the back of the truck other than that and only have about 30 buckets left to wash and then start looking for a 2x6.

Garlic is popping through the dirt, there are wood ducks on the pond and red wing black birds a calling....must be spring!