Tapping in Belchertown

[mapleman3]

Well I'm getting closer to the day, still working in the sugarhouse, taking tomorrow off from work to try to finish up the major cleaning and tank washing... maybe start taps mid week.

[mapleman3]

Set out about 150 taps today... sap was starting to run, should finish up tomorrow. had a brain fart today which cost me some $$ although not as bad as I thought.
I was boiling some 5/16 leader taps(metal) in the sugarhouse on a burner... did the bad thing and forgot them.. boiled the water out of the pan and MELTED the taps.. looked like a big pile of raw liquid metal.. around 30 taps.. I thought I had more in there but thankfully I didn't.... So I had to run to the maple supply house up the road and Will opened up for me so I could buy more taps. Dang things are over 2 bucks each now... I better be all on tubing next year oh well live and learn.. good thing I caught it when I did.

Well I should have the woods all tapped tomorrow and vacuum on.. hope to have a boil on monday evening. I should have full tanks by then, The weather looks good from tomorrow on, some rain and a few nights above freezing should really get things going by next weekend.

Going to the Maple kickoff on friday the 7th??.. Anyone else going?

[saphead]

Jim are you going to hang that blob of metal on the sugar house wall with a sign that asks, "What is this"? Good conversation piece! Thank God you didn't burn the place down!

[mapleman3]

Well Saphead I will credit you for the new conversation peice over the door... great idea !! show my stupidity with a smile ;) it's kinda cool I might add :)

[Russell Lampron]

Nicely done Jim I like it.

Russ

[super sappy]

. It might make a great Ghetto fabulous necklace. Hook that thing up to 3/4 " steel cable and wear it around your neck. Do not feel bad about the taps , I think something was in the air yesterday. It seems like everything that I touched went wrong. At one point I was nailing with the pasload gun over my head and the battery shot out the end and landed right in the toilet.........I hope things turn out better today. When life serves lemons make lemonaid.-SS - keep up the good work

[mapleman3]

MAPLE BLING !!! Hmmm maybe I have a new thing here ... Maple Bling on ebay !!! ;)

The battery???I'm sorry but I'm still laughing at that one.. in the toilet eh? I had that happen with a beeper years ago.. stepped up to the.. well "John" and it slipped of the belt and right into it.. yes had to fish it out with the hand.. funny it didnt work after that... (didnt want it after that anyway)

Yes this week has been that kind of week hopefully that will change with the sap flow...:)

Finished on the roads today.. I'm down about 35 taps due to a few tree that have taken down, a person that moved and I have to see the new owners.. a few trees I didn't tap that didnt do so good last year etc. so into the woods I go and finish repairs on the lines. I'll go see roadside people later in the day.

I'm just checking the site while filling up a few buckets with hot water to rinse the sap holding tank. they do get dusty quick!!

warmer weather is just a day away.. should run like gangbusters!!!! Bring it on !!

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
Glad you caught the melted spiles in time. I really like the picture of the spile glob! You will get a lot of comments about that!
Hope your season is good.

Regards,
Chris

[mapleman3]

Thanks Chris... Hey Good luck on your season too ;)

[Mike]

Jim! Put it on E-Bay......Ya may get big bucks for it....LOL.....I hope to start tapping this week......Wanna try a little later than last year....I added 15 taps 2 weeks later last year and they ran like crazy........Will see if this pans out...Good luck to you Jim......Mike

[mapleman3]

oh if thats true I will be in good shape.. I feel like I'm a day late and a dollar short this year.... nothing seems to be clicking or falling into place, seems like a struggle this season for me... I almost called it a season before I started and was thinking of holding off for a year. but you know how that goes... I'm sure every sugarmaker has had a season that he just wasn't ready for or didnt work out as planned.

Heck watch it be my best year yet LOL

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Mike,

That is usually the case, the later you tap, the harder they run as the weather is more condusive to sap flow later in the season vs earlier.

[mapleman3]

Well they ran great, I only have out 175 so far and collected about 320gals..so now I'm sweetening the pans... BUT another wrench in the season from hell... the evap is emiting a certain odor from underneath at the upsloap of the arch... I know that smell anywhere and hopefully it will burn out by nights end..... MICE STUPID %$#@%$^& MICE I HATE MICE...they must have made a nest in my ceramic blanket, and now the nest is roasting... serves them right the little disgusting vermin that they are. one thing I recently bought a plug in pest control(rodents) and it has worked awesome.. no droppings anywhare for a week... usually I will clean a surface and the next day I will see sign of them.. so it has chased them away but until that odor is gone I will hate them to no end!!
Hopefully I get my oil tomorrow or I will be out!! at 3gph it goes fast.. I have been waiting for the right price but!!!
I will buy in the summer next season OR start making my own LOL


well it should be a late night but wont draw off too much so it's a sit back and relax and tweak kind of night.

Sap should run through the night again !!

[mapleman3]

drew off maybe a gallon ... then..... Ran out of oil.... good night, wait for the oil truck tomorrow and boil late (hopefully)

Yawn

[hard maple]

Hey Mapleman
I love my woodfired arch...
Looking at my 2009 wood supply all set to go
Don't you know dry wood is half of sugaring??????
good luck!

[mapleman3]

ahhh fresh tank of oil.... around 200 gals today and whats left from last night and the sweet smell of maple in the air tonight!!!

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
Grill some of those chickens and make some maple mustard for dipping sauce!
Gotta love that wood:)
Glad you have maple coming!

Chris

[mapleman3]

Just ran 5 gals thru the filter press... sure is better than the flat filters on the canner screen..... still boiling maybe a few more gallons tonight.

[themapleking]

Jim;
Save that mouse syrup and sell it to pet-smart. Them cat people will pay $100 a gal for their fury friends.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

If they like cremated ones??

[mapleman3]

Got back from the Maple Kick off and went and picked up jugs.... then collected, got another 250 gals still off only 175 taps.. this is better than last years daily take on 322... I'm holding 330 gallons for tomorrow, and canning up 11+ tonight.

sure hope this keeps up :)

[hard maple]

Jim
are you putting out any more taps this year???
11 1/2 gal= not too shabby
I've only made 12 gal, after tomorrow I should be up around 25 gal

[mapleman3]

Yep more taps.. I went out to the woods tonight and tapped near 90, it was around 9:30pm when I was finally walking out, lots of water/ice to manuver around.. it will be fun taking out taps and cleaning with waders on :( thats usually what happens back there.

I'm at 23+ gals now things are going great still, although the wind was terrible last night.. left the buckets full yesterday so they wouldn't blow away .

[mapleman3]

Too windy and cold past few days... trees are saying brrrrr.... they only gave me around 100 gals yesterday, boiled for around 2.5hrs... drew off another couple gals, I'm at 25 gallons now. This week should be good sap running, looks like it will be warming. I have our 4th(i think)annual pack 57 cubscout/boyscout pancake breakfast this weekend, where all the familys and scouts come and gather for some of the good stuff, expecting around 100 people. looks like a warm day Sat , last year we had just got 8+ inches of snow dropped on us which made for some great sugar on snow.... no chance of that this year, oh well. I'd like to be near 40 gals by the end of the week(hopefully the weather will cooperate.)

[mapleman3]

Still hoping for the trees to give a good run again, last weeks run was great.. just around 130 today with the woods just started up... needs to get just a bit warmer tested the sap from the woods and it was 1.5% but I am sure there was still water in the lines from last weeks spring flushing.. so if I get 2% from them I'll be ok with that. hopefully tomorrow they will POP !! Going Friday to look at several big bushes to bid on.. gotta figure out how far I am willing to drive to pick up sap.

[mapleman3]

Trees starting to POP again.. collected appx 290-300 gallons. boiling now and figure getting around 8 gallons tonight putting me hopefully around 37 gals... doing much better than last year !! loving this !!

[mapleman3]

Sittin Pretty in Sap Land !! full tank yesterday which I held to today , boiled off 3/4 of it, then collected another full tank(310 gallons) everyday has been about perfect, with the wood giving my a lot too on top of that. so right now have about 450 gallons to boil tomorrow during our scouts pancake breakfast.

Went and looked at 3 sugar maple lots to bid on... So I should know by wed if I'm adding appx 400 on tubing :) :) :)

[mapleman3]

All I can say for todays update is...WOW !!!

[Maxfields Maple]

I have to agree,the trees are flowing.I couldnt empty my buckets till early afternoon,Had no buddy to watch the fire.I was kicken myself ,About 3/4s of them were spilling over on to the ground.After collecting and boiling my tank looks like i havnt touched it.looks like its going to be a good year.Making all light syrup so far,but its still early.

[mapleman3]

it almost got away from me this morn.. doing too much at once and forgot to open the valve to my float box on the syrup pan... ouch started to smell it... off with the burner switch and flood the pan.. dark syrup the rest of the day actually didnt have but 100+ gallons today to boil so....
emptied the evap when boiling was done, filtered all the sap in the sap pan and then the near syrup in the front pan... scrubbed the syrup pan. Dave Maxfield(Maxfields Maple) stopped in and caught me in the cleaning :)

Hoping to get a better grade tomorrow, was about B today but good taste.. whew caught it early enough.. had the "official taste tester" My wife check it and she still said yummy !!

[mapleman3]

Barometer is high today.. water boiling at over 213.. have to check % to see how it will be tonight.. just around 200 gallons today...

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I thought if your were president and scorched a pan, you had to be demoted to private.

[mapleman3]

Ya read my Vacuum problems.. demoted again......

[mapleman3]

Got good news today, I won a bid on a 400 tap sugarbush for a 3 year lease... so I will be all on tubing for the next 3 years around 500+ I may look at another place also and maybe even get more.... Hmmm RO? may have to for sure, Wife told me get a few side jobs and go for it !! gotta love her !!

[mapleman3]

Yesterday was a crappy rainy colder day, I was tired so didnt think I would collect sap and boil... give myself a night off. Of course still had to check the buckets just in case, yep 3/4 full, so I still collected about 200 gallons. so I will boil that tonight. Made some cream last night, have had some folks asking for some.
todays weather maybe 47deg partly cloudy and a bit of drizzle on and off.. probably get good sap today.. start playing catchup by the weekend again...

got some glass mapleleafs in yesterday so will bottle those tonight also along with the other n ights syrup.

as of right now I'm just about 60 gallons give or take a quart.

at about what I made last year... the weekend and much into next week looks good so I should be hitting over 80 gallons before I'm done... maybe more if I can hold out ;)

[Mike]

Hey Jim!! Sounds like your on a roll....Pretty slow here...9 gals so far...Our bush is in a cold spot.....I know you'll love a RO.......Makes life a lot easier....Keep up the good work......Mike

[Russell Lampron]

Jim,

Listen to your wife. You will love an RO! You will wonder why you didn't get one sooner.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

...and a new sugarhouse to hold the RO. Careful, Jim is one of the few that are making a profit at this.

Hmm, I might make a small profit this year.

[themapleking]

500 taps on a 2x6 plus work. You'll need help. A steam away is cheeper and less to maintain.
I'm running 760 taps with 20" vac and haven a hard time keeping up. Even with the new max pan. Also thinking a steam away or less taps.

[sweetwoodmaple]

Yeah, I did 450 taps on vac with a 3 x 10 this year and barely kept up since I have an 8 to 5 job that is 1/2 hour away.

If you are keeping your 2 x 6, go with an RO.

IMHO...A steamaway is not worth the price vs. the extra output for that small of an evaporator. It is practically the price of another 2 x 6!

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

post edited

[mapleman3]

I will definately be "looking" at RO's in the future, I'm working on boiling off 350 gallons tonight, it's alm ost midnight, going for broke... hit the 72 gals still have maybe 3-4 gals worth of sap left. trying to stay up and finish but doubt I will get it all done. gotta love this season!!

edit:update
Ok it's 1am and still 55 gals sap left to go.. should have that done in just over an hour.. boiling rate has been great.. about 43+ gph she's a hummin!!! come on 75 gals tonight.... whats that??? yes I know RO !!!!!

[mapleman3]

Ended the evening(morning) about 2am with still another 40+ gals of sap left in the feed tank.. figured I had better get some sleep. 74 gallons made as of then. hope to get close to 80+ gals made tonight.

Hey how cool is it that it's opening day for THE SOX !!!! GO RED SOX
tied up right now in the 9th...

[hard maple]

Jim
great job on your production this year!!!
BUMPER CROP!!!!!!!
I still think the "GILL BILLY'S" are gonna give you a run for your money.....
Take that PREZZ!!!!!!!!

[Russell Lampron]

With my 2x6 and RO I regularly process and boil 100 gallons an hour. The other night I did the longest boil in 2 years. I started with 650 gallons of sap and 7 hours and 15 gallons of syrup later I was done. I don't have a blower on my wood fired evaporator and If I did I could pick up more gph there. I know that I couldn't get this kind of production gain by adding a Steam Away or Piggyback. Your money will be spent more wisely by purchasing an RO even if it double or more of the price of the Steam Away or Piggyback.

[mapleman3]

Gabe, I'm at 79 gallons and mostly on 174 taps on buckets.. I used the 100 on vac for only a week and a half till the vac pump broke. so heck I am having a super year for that, I do believe 100 gals is obtainable...You too are on fire man !! Keep up the great work!!! I am hoping to get more than 100 gals of sap each day ... I'd like to be 82 gallons syrup tonight... thats my 2006 production, last year was only 67gals... so I'm already going to be the highest yet real soon.

A HAPPY SAPPER !!!

I still am amazed my wife thinks RO is in the near future... She is also saying she... yes SHE still wants to do some buckets next year, she and the kids mostly do the collecting now, it's unreal, she has my truck everyday and collects while I'm driving home from work. I can't say enough praise for her this year. She figures(and she's right) that the north bush that we will be tapping will be weeks after our normal running time so she wants to tap the best bucket trees we have.. so maybe 80+ on buckets and 500 on tubing.... We are Crazy ;)

So Russ and Kevin, I will be picking your brains in the future with a barrage' of RO questions :)

[mapleman3]

Well you know when you have one of those days boiling?? yep tonight was that. started boiling around 6:30pm... hadn't had the first draw yet and here comes a customer, got to talkin and started to draw off and it climbed super quick. dang into the pot of good stuff. oh well filtered it for a while and taste seems good now when more good syrup was drawn into it... then again it almost took off when my wife was in . guess really my head wasn't into it tonight.. don't think i
I'm tired just not clicking... so hit the switch and called it a night with 100+gals sap left... hey sometimes you know when to stop ;)

Charlene said don't give up yet but I know it wouldn't go any better so here I am in the recliner.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh hey where's the remote?

[Russell Lampron]

Jim,

Bring on the RO questions. I have helped many other Maple Traders make the decision and all of them, like myself, are glad that they did it. You will be able to add more taps and comfortably handle the extra sap. The increased production, fuel savings and less time spent boiling will pay for the RO real fast.

I have sweetened my pans twice this season and have made just about 60 gallons of syrup on less than a cord of wood. In the old days I would have used 5 or 6 cords to make that much syrup.

[mapleman3]

Will do Russ... Will Do !!

Well today spent all day repairing the "sugarin" truck... fron CV's and rotors on the 4X4... Wife is out collecting with the kids. I'm boiling lasts night leftover sap.

We did the deed today and registered the "business" with the town and started a DBA no more "hobby", guess it's all business from here.

Hmmm now what can I write off.....;)

hoping for good sap haul today.... ohhh here she is !!!

UPDATE 8:30pm..... 100 gallons syrup is only 15gallons away... I will make it this year oh yes.... I will make it !!:) :)
this has been a goal of mine for many many years.
more info to come........

[mapleman3]

It's Sunday at 7:45 "PM" and just started boiling... I boiled yesterday until 1pm then went hiking with My sons boy scout troop and my family.. was great to "get out" for a while, since it was real cold I wasn't worried about collecting, so I didn't boil today... instead did some family visiting, it was a nice day and we new we would be collecting at the end of the day. Still got 150gals so I'm boiling now !! tonight I will be over the 90 gallon mark.. closer to 92 hopefully!!

Looks like this is the last week, I'm into my 5th week tomorrow, lets see how we do, it's boil till the oil is gone, I'm not buying anymore. as long as I hit my 100 gal mark!!!!!!!

Also yesterday I took the family up to the new bush, there is STILL 6-8" snow, what a difference 1/2 hour and 20+ miles north make.

The guy who taps it now is selling me the tubing system once we agree on a price, as I GPS'd the main line and some trees, came across a good sized tree that came down on the mainline but I couldn't move it. it will be interesting to see if the season for that bush is maybe a week or 2 after down here....

probably will collect from there every other day to make it easier....

I took a few pics and will post them soon.

[mapleman3]

Cut the night a bit early last night, I'm over 90 gallons now so I'm on my last leg, will I make 100 with the fuel I have??? I sure hope so, I will squeak as much out as I can!! we'll know tonight how close we will be!! Heck of a year boys... heck of a year, 2008 will go in the books across the country as the best in many years for most of us I'm sure.....

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I guess it will all depend on how our northern sap brothers do that will determine how good of a year it was. Seems like it was good for Ohio and Mass, not so good so far for a lot of other places and those 2 states are very small players in the US picture.

[mapleman3]

NY saying it's been good... I'm sure we will hear more.. not sure about upper VT and NH, hope it opened up good... I know my north b ush still is cold.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

You're going to have a hard time waiting on that bush to thaw next year when everyone else in Mass is cranking right along.

[mapleman3]

Yes true, I have the 100 out back maybe we will do 100 on buckets, then the 400 up north, that should have me boiling 6+weeks... if I can do 5 gals a day? hmmmmmm should be making a goal for 150+ gals syrup next year?? all depends on how I hold up.

it's warming up , was 30's today with some snow, then rain in the 40's now it's 50 , may get near 60. I imagine the sap will be flowing a lot through the night. tomorrow is most likely my last night.....unless I buy more fuel... hmm maybe throw some wood in ha ha ha ha

[brookledge]

jim
My season has been unbelievable. I'm at 652 gallons plus I sold sap today that would have made another 18 gallons so about 670. I got around 38 kegs filled now plus what I've put up in containers.
At 100 gallons you have done well also.
What has been your ratio for oil to make a gallon of syrup? My neighbor has spent around 5,000 on oil and has made less than 500 gallons. Not sure exactly on how much he made or what his ratio is.
Keith

[mapleman3]

Keith I Ran out of oil at 10:10pm. I was right around 100. Maybe a hair shy. I'm now finishing what was in the front pan on the canner/finisher. That will put me maybe a gallon or 2 over 100. My syrup to tap ratio is around .58 so that's sweet I have boiled for 107.9 hours acording to my hour meter on my oil switch. Around 330+ gallons oil, that's appx 1400bucks of oil maybe less I have to figure it out. Cleaning starts tomorrow

Anybody want some sap?? my buckets are still up :) may start tomorrow removing some....theres another guy near me I havn't met yet, I noticed today his buckets are pulled also.

[brookledge]

So you used around 3.3 gallons of oil to make a gallon of syrup.
Most have told me that 3 gallons is the average so you are in the ball park
Keith

[mapleman3]

early in the month I was less than 3 gals per gal syrup, that was with 3% then as we went on down to 1.8% near the end, I haven't checked it in the last few days... but most of the time I was right at 3 gals/gal so in the future we will see about RO or a good steal on a steamaway or........ trade in the evap and go bigger??? time for a 3x10??

[mapleman3]

Started pulling buckets and I don't feel too bad, couple of warm days and the sap is looking very cloudy, some yellow(it rained) but all definitely not as clear as it has been. I did some cleaning, running water from the sap tank to the feed tank and through the evap and out, also rinsed out the gathering tank. but need to powerwash and store everything.

[Mike]

Great job Jim!!!! Ill take your extra sap.....Some one dumped 500 gals of my sap this past weekend!!!!!! Opened the tank valve an shut the pump off....Good thing they didnt open the tractor tank open which had 600 gals in it.......&**R%*R%...............Go for the RO Jim........At 8% it should take around 13 gals of sap to a gallon of syrup.......Ya gota luv it.......Im up to 112 gals..... This has been a bad year where we are......Oh well.........Next year will be our year..............Later.............Mike