Hop Kiln Road

[Hop Kiln Road]

First run March 4th - March 8th of 3.4 gal/tap of 2.35%. Thought it was kinda sandy and a little dark for the first run. Think the second run is going to start this afternoon through the weekend, but it's 1:30 PM and 30 degrees...

[Russell Lampron]

Bruce,

Your evaporation rate coming up any? I boiled in 305 gallons last night and it was dark amber. Excellent flavor too.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Bruce,

I have been making just about all of my syrup from the 200 taps that I have on vacuum. The temps have been just cold enough so that the gravity and buckets aren't running much. I am glad that you are getting the bugs worked out and getting your evap rate up. How does your Father in Law like the hood?

Russ

[NH Maplemaker]

Bruce, very nice set up!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Bruce,

I have been keeping the RO pretty busy this year. Maybe we can squeeze you in around 2 am. LOL. Be careful, if you get a chance to boil some concentrated sap you won't want to boil that raw stuff anymore just ask Royalmaple and Theron. I know I will find a place to get mine squeezed if my RO should fail me.

Russ

[NH Maplemaker]

Bruce, I know what you mean about preheater temp! Had mine at 205 all day yesterday and dial only moved when evaporator called for sap. Went though 840 gal in just over 8hrs!! This is the first season with it, so still on the leaning curve! Now all I got to do is let Russ talk me into an RO!!!

Jim L.
________________

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

alls you have to do is travel 30 minutes north and I will have you headed to buy one.. I processed 800 gal of sap into 22 gal of syrup in just under 2 hours yesterday with a 4x10, no pre heater, no hood no nothing just open pans a ro and some good wood..

Andy

[Russell Lampron]

Bruce,

If it was this morning 2 am would have been the time. I finished about 1 am. Actually finished boiling at 12:30. I started at 5:30 and processed 650 gallons of sap into about 15 gallons of quality product. Love that RO!

Russ

[NH Maplemaker]

Bruce, When you see Carroll, tell him Frank Hawkins said Hi ! Frank is my next door neighbor that worked construction with Carroll years back!! I was one off the guys that set at your table at this years maple meeting in Lebanon,NH.!!
Glad you guys are getting sap because as Matt would say" we did'nt get pecker".It tried to run in the after noon some ,but not much.only have had one good run here so far and that was not great.

Jim L.
_______________

[Uncle Tucker]

Bruce don’t worry about us up here. There is still 2-3’ of snow on the ground. Temps are still low, the season has barley starter here. I think even if it warms up a lot during the day the nights will be cold with all this snow on the ground. This week is looking good for temps. Keep on going!

[mapleman3]

Sounds tough up north.. Lets just hope it doesn't do a quick warm up for you guys.... Good luck to all of you :)

[325abn]

Bruce
The ten day looks good with high temps only in the 40s. Why do you think its going to sut down?

[Mac_Muz]

I am over in TAMWORTH and am just not getting much run. So far about 4 days there was run from March 2nd. Of that I got with 15 buckets, 41 gallons of sap total, and Easter Sunday boiled it to 1 gallon 24 ounces of grade fancy according to the bottle color tester.

I had hoped to make 5 gallons if syrup total, but I wonder now?

The nights here are more like 6', 7', and 9' degrees. Is this too cold for trees to warm enough to run? Should I find other trees, or wait?

[white mt]

Not much of a season so far in the white mts. I m starting to worry now .People are starting to talk about when the season will end ,and im still wondering when it will realy open up and start. lots of snow still and cold. Mabe I should get into making home brew beer. I have a brother in maine that dose this and he could care less about the weather. Just a bit frustrated some one talk me off the ledge. ha ha. Dan

[NH Maplemaker]

Hay Dan if your coming to the ledge ,take a number because there is a long line here already!!! If you think your worried. What about us guys way south of you? Hang in there she is coming soon!!I HOPE!!!!

[Mac_Muz]

Dan, You are not very far north and west of me.. Tamworth is about 15 miles south of the east end of the kanc. Pretty slow run here. Yesterday and today seemed like sap should run, but I didn't get a drop, and havent since before that big blow we had.

I got the idea our season hasn't begun, but i do wonder if I should drill new holes and plug the old ones just the same. I am holding off on that a bit more, to wait for the right weather. My guess on that will be after this coming Sunday.

I don't know Thornton well really, but if you ask me most of it is valley with steeper walls. Over here i am in the shadow of the Ossipees. They are dead on straight due south of me.

These guys don't know how close to the edge you live, so step back from there! LOL

[NH Maplemaker]

Ok Bruce I will tell him!! Hang in there what else you got to do this time of year!! I may be wrong ,but I think the best is yet to come!!! But I have been wrong before.

[white mt]

Now that I think of it ,isn't the ledge for those folks on wall street ? To be a real sugar maker I guess you have to be a long term optimist when it comes to the the weather. Ill just drink my brothers home brew he made and waite for the next run . Dan

[NH Maplemaker]

Dan, If that works send me down a case!!!

[white mt]

Its better than the stuff that MR Sam adams of boston puts out. No kidding . Allways helped me in the past. I'm sure It would help. Ill put in your order. Dan

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Just be ready when it starts because you might make a full crop in about 10 days or less. Season might not last that long, but with all that snow, it should run like crazy once it starts.

[Russell Lampron]

I understand the frustration. I had to hide all of the rope and wire the other night at Matts. I think we have got his problems under control now. The weather will break soon and the BIGSAP will come. The coldest weather is behind us now and the extended forecast looks good.

[Mac_Muz]

I dunno in tamworth it is just froze.. All week in 15 taps I got 10 gallons of sap. Not a thing dripping here today, and it never broke 29 degrees...

Seems like it has gotta run somethime???

[Fred Henderson]

Hang on to your hat because next week its gonna start big time.

[Mac_Muz]

I sure hope so. I have a 5 gallons of syrup as a goal, but if I could make more all the better. I got the rig, the wood and the time, I just need sap...

I can boil off 41 gallons maybe more in 7 hours.

I am learning how to run my new rig, and found it can boil like mad with 4 inches of sap in the pan.

[white mt]

This is maple weekend in nh I had advertised opening from 10-4 each dayat the sugar house this weekend . I may have to rethink advertising next year.I saved sap from tuesday-thursday and had about 3hrs worth of sap to boil . That was sat. sunday I just told folks spring just has not started up north yet. mabe in april I know of some guys up hear who have yet to put steam through the roof.I remain hopefull for a big week. Dan

[Mac_Muz]

I checked at 3:30 pm and had one tree dripping like mad, but it handn't been dripping very long. This was maybe 4 drops a second, which seems fast!~

I didn't collect over 2 gallons from 15 buckets total though. It was 14 degrees here last night. I might have 11 gallons of sap for the whole week past.

My taps have been set since March 2nd, and are older Canadian made alloy.

Is there any reason to pull these and plug the holes, and redrill new ones?

I still have 3 + feet of snow on the level field , never plowed.

[white mt]

I dont think you need to redrill.Its ben to cold for much Bac-growth in the taps you drilled. Could you add some taps To help on over all total of sap you get.This week should start to run.Dan

[Mac_Muz]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes i could add more taps and buckets, but the 15 was based on other years and a 24" x 24" pan that didn't work as well as this new design over all rig does now. I have no need to collect more sap than I can boil before it goes bad.

I had a few problems with this rig on the trial run. One thing that happened was the damper plate came undone from the rod. I have no idea if this is common in sugar stoves, but mine, like any home wood stove has a 6 inch cast iron damper in the smoke stack.

That helps hold some heat in the stack, and gets the preheater boiling. My pre heater isn't gravity fed after the copper tubing contacts the stack.

So I had to allow time for the fire to die down some before I could pull the pipe and braze that damper on it's rod.

I lost about 1 hour letting that come to where I dared lift the pipe off.

I lost time in other parts as well, seeing how this rig works. I checked out a new baffel design I made, trying to see if it was doing what hoped it was doing, which was force flame into the pan bottom.

I was also checking out a fire craddle made from the barrel the stove is made of. This craddle was designed to stay cool and hold the wood closer to the pan.

I lost time as the wind came up and I had to rig light chain I had on hand from another project to the smoke stack, as I feared thw wind was going to take it down altogether.

SO in all it was 9 hours to boil off 41 gallons of sap, but I think it was more like 7 if I hadn't had shake down problems.

In fact I believe i didn't have as much fire as i should have, and am sure I didn't have nearly as much sap in the pan as I could have.

So maybe I can cut 40 gallons to 6 hours, which for me is a vast improvment.

[white mt]

Sounds good to me I have 33 deg all night and its reached all the way to a high of 34 at 9am. And by noon I am all the way up to 36 deg All the trees covered with snow from yeterday. sap,? 60,deg ?today Not up hear.This just not the year for us up north .Dan

[white mt]

I think its now safe to say this is the strangest weather season i have had .At noon it was 36 deg on aday when it was soposed to be 60 and the news 9 reported at noon 40 miles to the north in whitefeild it was 57 deg.At this point I would call this maple season a complet bust Its april 1st and I have made about 1/4 of what I should have. Completly frustrated at this point. mabe next year.

[TapME]

white mt, the temps never got abouve 36 here yesterday and my buckets were running over. You will have the sap it may take a little longer. Be ready when it comes for it will be fast.

[Revi]

This season is a very strange one. We are way down in our production, but that's ok. I am really glad we weren't doing anything for Maine Maple Sunday. We are going to try to make some for ourselves now. It's time to put some away. I think TapMe is right. The season isn't over. It's just getting started.

[325abn]

Bruce
What is your sap sugar content at?

[Russell Lampron]

Nice pictures Bruce. I am going to boil off what I have left in the evaporator this morning too. The taps are going to stay in for one more week hoping for a little more sap. You did alot better than I did this year on the gal per tap ratio. 15 or 20 miles made a big difference.

We'll get together and talk numbers after the taps are pulled and everything is cleaned up. After I get my bike out it will be a nice ride to come down and see you and your set up.

I know an RO is a lot of money but if you were to make the same amount of syrup with a 1/4 of the wood in 1/4 of the time It would begin to pay for itself real quick. You will still have a piece of equipment with a high resale value too so you only have to justify the depreciation. Operating expenses are low and a new 4" membrane can be had for less than $300.

[Russell Lampron]

Hi Bruce,

Do you have all of your trees tapped? It should run good this weekend and most of next week. I got enough to sweeten my pans and make a gallon of syrup last weekend. Yesterdays weeping got me 80 gallons of bonus sap. It was way too cold the night before and it wasn't supposed to get as warm as it did yesterday.

[jtthibodeau]

Bruce, I travel Roberts Rogers/Dunbarton Center Road from time to time. Any of those lines yours or are you tapped closer to home?

[Russell Lampron]

Bruce there are greenhouses in a couple of different directions from here. I don't have 3 phase here yet so that wouldn't have helped. I am helping Public Service out quite a bit though. You would love vacuum. It gets you sap when gravity won't. Sounds like you are off to a good start down there. I have been too busy to get away but I would like to see your set up.

[ccowenc]

First timer here ... Checked my main tank this evening coming home from work at midnight (3/10/09). What a joy to see 40+ gallons of clean, clear sap!!! That's better than any run I had last year ( though I had many fewer taps).

Last year was my first and started with 20 taps, ended with 75 taps. This year I have about 170 taps in. 75% Reds, 25% Sugars. 2x4 1975 tin evaporator. New sugar shack; that is, I converted a small garden shed by building a cuppola and moving the evaporator inside. Yellow Lab is a big help.

--Charlie in Wakefield, NH

[Amber Gold]

Pretty fortunate with your dog. Unbelievable. I have heard syrup production peaked in mid-1800's. Didn't realize sweeteners were expensive. Good information.

I'm tapping 75% sugars and 25% reds and averaging 1.8%. Not sure why it's so low. I've had one batch that was almost a medium and another that was between medium and dark.

[Amber Gold]

Bruce, that's what I'm thinking. I collected 200 gallons this morning and just tested it at 1.4%. I'll need to check my 300 gal releaser tanks. I hope the sugar is better in those. If it is my truck tank gets dumped, and I'll boil those tomorrow. If I'm going to be running low numbers like those during the season I"m going to start testing every batch to make sure I boil the best stuff.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Send him out somewhere and tell him not to come back unless he has the auction dump truck full of sugaring wood! LOL!

[Russell Lampron]

So I'm not the only one making NH Fancy. You are right it is a crime that we have to put a grade B sticker on it. At least we can put a grade B sticker on it. Everywhere else it would be commercial. People think they are getting an inferior product because it doesn't say grade A on it. I think that the grading system needs to be changed. I have a lot of customers that come to me seeking the darkest stuff that I make. This year I have made a ton of it.

[Russell Lampron]

Bruce you're killing me here! I didn't know that there were different grades of NH Fancy. I too have been making a lot of that NH Fancy Ruby. It has a beautiful red shade to it. The last batch that I made is darker. Would that be a NH Fancy Crimson or Garnet? We'll have to get together over a couple of Boiling Sodas and set the standard. I have plenty of sample bottles on my sugar house window to go by. We can put them in a VT temp grading kit box for comparison purposes.

[TapME]

Russ; are you sure its not Killian red that you made? I have some of that fancy here too but it's red pine for me. Boy does it taste great.

[Russell Lampron]

Bruce you should be boiling again (with your evaporator) soon. The weather looks pretty good after today. I know what you mean about the product of Canada blended dark amber crap. It gives us real producers a bad name. The feds want to regulate the hell out of us when we probably make the cleanest product out there. They cant import maple syrup from China though.

Lou I've been drinking plenty of the Killian's Red while I've been making the NH Fancy Ruby.

[SWEETSAP]

Bruce, we are in Dunbarton just a bit south of you at 650 feet. Our taps have been a bit better running than yours but not much. We are still hopefull that there will be a few days of good flow. So far we have never had a flow start earlier than 11:00am or last past 5:30 pm. Good Luck! Dan

[Russell Lampron]

Still making that NH Fancy here too but it seemed to lighten up some towards the end of the boil. Gotta make some quality product to buy the doodlebug a new starter drive!

[SWEETSAP]

Bruce, we are south of the village by about 1 mile right on rt 13. You cannot see us from 13 though. We had a pretty good run yesterday for us. The sap started the season at 2.3 and has been going generally down, todays was 1.7 all NH fancy syrup from todays batch. Our bush definatly needs vacuum!!! So far we have about 1,000 gallons from 250 taps, not good.