Hop Kiln Road 2025

[Hop Kiln Road]

Started Tapping Saturday morning on snowshoes, going to finish today. All the warm sites are dripping. Good frost in the ground and a 2 foot snowpack. Might be boiling Thursday.

[red maples]

hey Bruce... Yeah I started Sunday morning finished my woods yesterday morning. cold woods getting very little sap, warmer sections getting more obviously. should be boiling by thursday here as well.

First year I have tapped in snow shoes in like 10 years. rough going. a little sore this morning.

[BAP]

Started Tapping Saturday morning on snowshoes, going to finish today. All the warm sites are dripping. Good frost in the ground and a 2 foot snowpack. Might be boiling Thursday.
Good to hear from you. Definitely a traditional winter this year which makes sugaring more work using snowshoes than walking on bare ground. Started tapping here in Walpole yesterday.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Boiled Thursday after wrestling with the RO a little. Popped a fuse on a new rebuilt pump. I think the pump is whining but may just be the hearing aids. Time will tell. Have a backup pump so not too worried. Trees are still very slow. Heavy frost in the ground and snowpack iced right to it. Now it looks like the evaporator is going to freeze. Seen better starts and worse starts so this is about average, except the tapping was rough going.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Okay, tapped 2/22 - 2/24 and at 1.7 gpt not including yesterday. Couldn't pump the field tanks before it froze so there is going to be so ice in the tanks. Happens every year. Something is wrong with the RO, concentrate flow meter appears damaged and I think the pinch valve must be dirty and won't completely pinch the flow. Consequently, ended up boiling 5.3% which was slow. But with the temp dropping, decided not to press into the canner and left everything in the finisher. If I didn't have 15 gal to seal a keg, it's easier to reheat in the finisher.