february Journal

[PATheron]

Getting to be pretty much go time. Going to be warm here today and then its up and down next couple weeks. Typical Feb for us. Hope everyone is getting pretty well ready. Guys up north seem to be usually a month later start than us but soon everyones gonna be getting sap. Be fun to see how everyones hard work this year pays off. Ive been bustin getting ready and Im pretty close. Made a decision last couple days that makes me feel pretty good. All done expanding for a couple three years probly so the setup I have now is the setup Im goiing to have for a while. Im pretty happy about that becouse Ive been full bore for two years and looking foreward to a break. Once this year is over all Im doing is a bunch of wood. Ive got a lot down in the woods and want to get a couple years ahead. Then next year all Ill have to do is a little mending in the woods and drill and make syrup. Ive got some property Ive bought. Its real nice with a good part of my sugarbush on it and also with a real nice pond on it too. I want to take my syrup money and pay down on it as much as I can especially with times being tough. Other nice thing about this year is no house projects to do. So once I make syrup the kids and I are full time fishin and huntin. Hit the wood hard in the fall and syrup time again. Hope everyone starts gettin the sappin weather. Keep me posted on all BIGSAP. Theron

[Russell Lampron]

Theron you beat me to it. I was just going to start a February journal and you already have it started. It's pretty hard to keep ahead of you.

Got some tinkering and tweaking stuff to do but if the weather turned favorable it wouldn't take me too long to start making syrup.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Hey Russel,
Only one thing I can stay ahead of Theron on and that's my age. Unfortunately that can be a drwback, not an advantage.
Doug

[PATheron]

Guys- Heading out now to hook up the 1.25 to the releaser and system across the road. Wish me luck. Were going to see if anything is tight over there. Theron

[3% Solution]

Good day all,
Well here it is February 1st already, time sure flies now doesn't it Doug!!
PA he's off and running like a rabbit this morning!!! :-)
Russ and I are looking at the clouds thinking "what the .........??"
Doug he's figuring his advantages and disadvantages.
Me, I'm thinking "Doug's right", but I feel great and that's what matters!!!!
Well anyway, got to go get some supplies Thursday so we can get everything set up and going in the sugarhouse, pans and EEU set ready to go.
Then we're waiting on Mother Nature and she can be grindy at times!!!
Soon we'll all be saying "I wish this sh*# would just slow down for a day!!!!
Stay safe guys!!!

Dave

[Dave Y]

I haven't got much done last few days. I have been south for the last two days. Went to Cumberland/Frostburg Md. Family matters. I am going to go hit the sugar house today and maybe walk my last mainline. I still need to put up some pipe I took down last year and put my bucket collection system backup in the woods. While i was away I had my truck in the shop. ball joints ,bearings and rotors. heavy duty trucks can be a bear to work on.

[maplekid]

3%- it kinda funny what this hobby does to you.we wait all year for this and then in the middle to the end of the season we cant wait for it to be over. well less than a week till i tap so i got to get some jugs and fill the propane tank. everybody a great season.

nate

[brookledge]

Feb journal is my favorite, cause I know I'll be tapping this month. It may be late Feb but I almost always tap in Feb
Keith

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

3%,
I feel great too! I love what I'm doing and when I'm busy, it is relatively easy to overlook the aches and pains. Kinda nice now to be able to blame my age for not getting something done (always have been a procrastinator). I sold my cows in May (Great move) and it has been nice to focus my energies on the woods and sugaring. February is a great month in the woods here. Days are longer and the sun is warmer. Daytime temps usually stay cold enough so I don't get wet and the roads are usually frozen in pretty good. My Grandpa loved it too, always said it was the bast sledding of the year.
Doug

[mapleman3]

Right there with you Brookledge... it's almost go time! I was out in the woods today and it's starting to get that "sugaring time" feel to it... it has a certain smell to the air when it gets a bit warmer like today... you go out , take a deep breath and say..... MMMMMMM Smell like sap season " !!!!!

[dano2840]

kind of a blaaahhhh weekend, starting to get sick of tubing, had the logger whos logging the property next to the sugar woods winch a couple logs i couldnt get to, finished the lats, on the 3/4 lines, now i only have to do the lats on the 1/2, about 100 taps left to go, ran out of lateral line today, gunna have to get some, need to go get the tanks from my uncles, gotta go see if i cant get a 300 gal tank from a guy i know, need to poor a slab for the evap, need to get an evap, need to go fix the wind damaged lines in my little bush, need to finish my tank shed in the big bush, need to run a line from the tank to the drive way of the nieghboring piece of land, need to go take some wire and tighten up any sagging lats, or mains, money is running out fast and i still dont have an evap.
sugar house is all built and done with, the only thing i dont like about it is how the guy did the coupala he didnt put any over hang on the roof so it just looks like a freakin box on the roof........... too much to do, i dont think im gunna make it, i might just have to miss the once in a life time opportunity to go to florida and disney world, and all that, maybe i will go any way and just skip a day or two of school, i really hate to because i would rather use those skip days for staying home when ive got BIGSAP to boil in, idk guys, it might not come together,

[Russell Lampron]

Went over to Acer's place today to help him get the stack up on his new evaporator. We walked a small section of his woods and found about 200 or so taps for a mainline that he wants to run and also found some other spots that could be tapped and run into totes to get that number up to 300 or so.


Acer helped me figure out how to swap my vacuum pump motor over from 115v to 230v. I tried it out when I got home, it runs great and still has all of the smoke in it. Thank you Dean.

Don't give up DanO it will all come together. You've worked too hard to give up now.

[Sugarmaker]

Maple guys and girls,
Couldn't take it any longer ( 40+ deg outside) had to hang some tubing; only got about 40 taps strung, (two locations) but its a good start. Making adjustments as I go to fine tune the system. and add in the adjusting LOOPs at the upper end of each short run too. This will allow me to stretch from both ends and keep the taps on the center trees in a more central location.

Cheryl and I went out for a nice steak and when we got home I went out to put up another 20 taps but found that the folks across the road from these trees has piled snow 8 feet up 3 of the trees. :(

So instead I went and visited Keith to see his new 10 inch smoke stack and roof jack installation on the 3 x 7. He may need another length of stack to get just a little higher above the roof peak. He just needs his pans and a storage tank and he will be all set.
The weather lady (Cheryl) says next weekend is going to have the potential for BIG SSSAAAPPP!! I may have to get some more tubing up!

Chris

[Dennis H.]

Well I did it, I pulled the trigger and put in a few of my buckets to see how everything goes. With temps today right at 50 amd tomarrow in the high 30's I just couldn't wait any longer.

It looks like after a 2 day cool down Tues and Wed the temps are to just go back up.

I got my self one of those fancy drill bits this year and I have to say that they are worth every penny. Quick and clean hole.

[Sugarmaker]

Dennis,
You just reminded me that I have not found my fancy drill bit from last year yet:(

Chris

[dano2840]

i bought one at the hard ware store, it is a metal drilling bit, and it has a "self starting tip" so it wont draw on the metal, i used that and its fast and clean, i paid 20 for it and am satisfied

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

DanO,
Heads up man! We all have those days. Just ask Theron or Royal Maple or 3% or anyone else who hangs out here. When I make a list of the things I need to do, it scares the bejesus out of me but somehow, every year I make syrup. You will too. Look at the stuff to do and prioritize. What are the must do's vs the should do's. I'd get a line on an evaporator real quick. Just do something maple everyday. If you are sick of tubing, set up some tanks. The days are getting longer so you will have more time after school. I came out of the woods tonight at 5:45. I only headed out at 4:15 but had to do something maple today. I'd been plowing snow and doing things for my folks. Like you I started listing the things to do this morning but hey, we aren't in Pa. We have a month yet at least. Maybe closer to 6 weeks.
Doug

[Clan Delaney]

Temps got up into the 50's here today. Couldn't help thinking that if I had taps in, I'd be collecting sap. But I don't want to jump the gun.

Whadda ya think Jim? Here's the 10 day forcast for B-town (http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/01007?from=36hr_topnav_undeclared). Looks like some real nice weather next week....

[Sugarmaker]

Dano,
As last resort do you have some one that would boil your sap on shares? Good way to get your collection systems working the first year. We hauled sap for several years when or evaporator was toast.

Yea try not to look at the list. concentrate on these.
1. get the evaporator.
2. tap the trees
3. collect the sap
4. the rest will just seem to happen.

Chris

[mapleman3]

Nope. Not yet Clan! Too early if we go till april that means taps in for 8 weeks. I'll wait till the end of the month. Wait...and it will come !!


WAHOOO just won 150$ so far for the superbowl pool!! come on.... stay 17-7.... I have 7/7 for a square!!!

[3% Solution]

DanO,
Take a deep breathe, let out, take another, let it out!!!!
Now as Doug and Chris said .............. concentrate, prioritize!!
How do you eat an elephant??
One bite at a time!!!!
The thing not to do at this point is to get burned out or discouraged.
It's too close.
I've done some things this past year that is going to help us with our evaporation rate and you know I can't wait to try this stuff out, but there are some things I have to do before we get there!!!!
But, as I would tell the new guys coming into the fire department, you can't get off the truck until it stops!!!
Easy lad, easy!!!!
:-)

Dave

[dano2840]

steelers up 20 -7 im making drops and watching the super bowl, pathetic?

[gmcooper]

Dano,
Did you call on the evaporator I pm'd you about the other day?

Did I read you have chance to go to Fl and Disney? Go, Have a good time. In the long run it really won't make that much difference. You're only 16 once! Every year you get older the harder it will be to get away.
Mark

[MaplePancakeMan]

Take the trip Dano! Twice during sugaring season near the end i took a nice spring break trip. Its really rewarding after all the hard work. So i missed a few runs. To me the trips far out weighed the money i could have made off the runs, and as others said it just gets harder as you age. I'm 23 and i hardly have enough time anymore to do anything! Too many things need to be done and when you think you're done... you're not even halfway there!

[Haynes Forest Products]

Ya your still young enough to wear the funny ears on the plane ride home.

[Acer]

Went over to Acer's place today to help him get the stack up on his new evaporator. We walked a small section of his woods and found about 200 or so taps for a mainline that he wants to run and also found some other spots that could be tapped and run into totes to get that number up to 300 or so.


Acer helped me figure out how to swap my vacuum pump motor over from 115v to 230v. I tried it out when I got home, it runs great and still has all of the smoke in it. Thank you Dean.

Don't give up DanO it will all come together. You've worked too hard to give up now.

Thanks for the help Russ,

Probably won't get that line up this year. After you left I cut my finger to the bone making Guacamole. Going to see a surgeon today to see if they can reattach the nerve so I can get the feeling back in it.

Dean

[Amber Gold]

I've got 300 drops installed to date and should be adding another 50+ on existing mainlines and adding another 1-2 short mainlines to get another 50-100. Weekend went well, got my evaporator bricked and the pans on and will be running the piping to it from my feed tank this week. I should be able to test fire this weekend. Still have electrical to do in the sugar house, but should have that straightened out in a couple of weeks. When installing tubing over the weekend I lost my one-hand tool at the end of the day and in the snow. I know about where it is, but the snow’s over 2’ deep. Currently trying to track down a metal detector to aid in the search. The way it’ll probably work out is I won’t be able to find it; I’ll buy a new one, and will find it in the spring. Only benefit to that is I’d have an extra tool.

[TapME]

acer; what the heck are you doing making something other than maple..... LOL. hope all goes well and you get the felling back in that finger. I know that it hurts and that you can't do certain things. A speedy recovery to you.

[mapleman3]

Acer, make sure your wearing good gloves on that hand when your firing!! we don't want you smelling a burnt finger before you feel it burning !! :p

Hope it gets better soon!!! sounds like a nasty injury....

[Haynes Forest Products]

Man I hope you have insurance. I cut the tip mostly off on my middle finger and they stiched it back on and put a big bandage around it and told me keep it ELEVATED................all the way home in the truck.

[maplecrest]

cut my ring finger like that had to have the nerve put back togather took four months to heal.never worn a ring since. i was 26 when i did it 24 years ago and that finger does not like to cold and never was straight again. i hope in the last 24 years finger surgery has come a long way and you get a complete recovery of that finger and sooner than i did jeff

[hholt]

Hope you guys all had a good year!

I looked at the 10 day here in Southern Illinois and went out and set my first 20 taps......drip drip drip. Our season here is real short and the silver maples I tap already have buds swelling up. I think last year I started tapping on the 23rd of January.

On the way into the timber my wife found a buck that I had been hunting this fall. I never got a shot at him but someone (or something) did. He was a real nice 14 pt but he was only 3.5 years old.

All in all it was a pretty darn good day.

[Cardigan99]

Tuckermtn gave me and the Reverend a first class tour of one of his bushes and Parkers Rt 11 bush. I've got some good ideas. It really does pay to look around and see how others are setting up their tubing etc.

Parker, impressive set up on Rt 11. That's a really nice bush.

Eric, Thanks again for the tour and the vermiculite.

I appreciate it!

Todd

[Russell Lampron]

Dean sorry to hear about the finger. You gotta be careful with sharp knives. Hope you had good luck with the surgery and that you have a speedy recovery.

When you are ready to get that line up we can get a crew together and get it done. Another excuse to have a mapleholics meeting.

[dano2840]

so i went to bake some of those cookies you get ready maid at the store, (these ones have the heart on them for valentines day) it said heat oven to 350 i happened to look over at my wood stove to see that the stack thermometer read 400 i took the pan and put it on the wood stove, 10 min later YUM! just gotta watch the ones in the center the bottoms burn easily, YUM YUM YUM, NOM NOM NOM, GOOD. IDEA!!!!!!!!! IM GUNNA COOK THOSE ON THE BACK PART OF THE EVAP WHERE THERE IS A TINEY BIT OF ROOM NEAR THE STACK WHERE I COULD PUT A 4" PIECE OF METAL AS MY "COOKIE SHEET" IM SO SMART!!!!!!!!! they will go great w/ the steaks in the sugar house

[maple flats]

Last year I made a shelving unit that is open backed andis chained to the back side of the base stack. It has 3 shelves and a door that hangs on one end. With the door hung it reaches 350 in fairly short order. I made it to pre heat my glass bottles before bottling. I can take cold glass, set it in this "oven" and in a few minutes it is at 200. This would work well for making cookies etc. It cooks all of our meals while boiling. If I remember right i made it 24" wide x 12" deep and 30" tall. I made it out of 24 ga galvinized. Love it.

[jrthe3]

did not get any thing maple done this weekend spend time FISHING!!!!

[jrthe3]

don't take your tractor ice skating

[Jim Brown]

Now that's! going to be hard to explain to the insurance company!!

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Last winter I took my Kubota RTV for a drive through the ice. We were loading wood and put on 1 piece too many. Pulled it out with the 3 pt hitch skidding winch. Put it in the barn overnight, drained and refilled the fluids, ran her for an hour and changed the fluids again. Had some problem with moisture in the fuel for about a week but has been fine ever since.

[dano2840]

ohhhhhh snap that sux boyd, i would call up the dealer and see what they recomend

hey look theres the CAPS BUTTON AGAIN!!!!!!!!
SO GUYS SUGARING SEASONS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER, I STILL DONT HAVE A RIG BUT HAVE KNOWN OF A 3x8 ABOUT 1 1/2 MILES DOWN THE ROAD FROM MY HOUSE FOR A WHILE, A LITTLE SMALLER THAN I WOULD HAVE LIKED, BUT IT WILL DO FINE FOR 450- 500 TAPS WORTH OF MY SUPER MAPLES, JUST REALL LONG BOILS, BUT I CAN DEAL W/ IT FOR YEAR ONE OF THE BIG TIME SUGARING,
I GET OUT OF SCHOOL A PERIOD EARLY AND DRIVE HOME NOW THAT I HAVE MY LICENCE, I GET OUT AT 2:10
I AM GOING TO MEET THE GUY AT 2:15 TOMARROW, WHISH ME LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CANT WAIT FOR MY FIRST EVAPORATOR THAT HAS FLUES!!!!!!!!!!! WHISH ME LUCK ON GETTING A GOOD DEAL,
DaNo

[jrthe3]

the tractor was in the middle of the pound about 80 feet of chain and a 315 cat track hoe and it was out

[danno]

"IM GUNNA COOK THOSE ON THE BACK PART OF THE EVAP WHERE THERE IS A TINEY BIT OF ROOM NEAR THE STACK WHERE I COULD PUT A 4" PIECE OF METAL AS MY "COOKIE SHEET" IM SO SMART!!!!!!!!! they will go great w/ the steaks in the sugar house[/QUOTE]"

Nothing keeps a pizza warmer/fresher than leaving it on top of the evaporator hood with a cold six pack stuck in the snow right outside the sugarhouse. Now that's a dinner! That would be a six pack of cola for you;)

[dano2840]

of coarse, if your under 21 you cant have a 6 pack, wild parties where us teenagers get into trouble have nvr been alchohol related;) .........nahhh not in my sugar house no need for that with a hot expensive piece of equip like the evap well no alchy for me any way

[3rdgen.maple]

How much snow does everyone have? I have a 48" chain link fence in the back yard that is probably covered with 6" of snow. Started plowing the road to one sugarbush this morning with the JD loader. Snowbanks at the road are over my head just from the snowplows and they cut the banks back 3 times this year. Hard hauling sap in that. Was thinking about tapping next week we got 6 days coming up in the high 30's Think I will wait and let the snow melt down. Would need a ladder to pull buckets at the end of the season. Tired of the snow but can't make syrup in Florida.

[3rdgen.maple]

Hey Danno2840 wish my kids had the ambition you do. Hard to believe you are doing all this on your own KUDO"S to you. Farmers are raised right both my granparents were farmers and they worked me hard. But I loved every minute of it. Good luck with the evaporator deal. Let us know how you made out.

[Gary R]

Weather shows 6 days in a row of above freezing temps starting Friday. I may tap Friday or Saturday. Test tap had a slow drip yesterday and it was 33. Put my stacks up and shoveled of the sugarhouse roof yesterday. Will sanitize buckets and taps tonight.

[Maplewalnut]

Gary- I am with you. One, two, three days above freezing is a tease, a week above freezing is time to make syrup. Good Luck everyone considering the amount of work I still have, I may not be on line for a while. Taps going in Friday.

[dano2840]

Hey Danno2840 wish my kids had the ambition you do. Hard to believe you are doing all this on your own KUDO"S to you. Farmers are raised right both my granparents were farmers and they worked me hard. But I loved every minute of it. Good luck with the evaporator deal. Let us know how you made out.

thanks, i will let you guys know how the evap. goes, its only 9:45 and 2:15 just cant get here fast enough, atleast when i get to metals class today i will be excited about learning how to gas weld, our teacher teaches us how to gas so we learn the motion, and use of a filler rod before we learn tig welding because tig is so expensive, so that excitement willl help take my mind off the evap for 42 minutes, then its pe activities, we are playing badmitten, uuuhjhhhhhgggg that is going to go by sooooooooooooo ssssllllloooooooooowww, that ends at 2:05 sign out drive to the guy w/ the evap about 2 mi away from school and take a look

[mapleack]

It looks like Friday is going to be go time here in Western PA. Saturday through Wednesday look like all nice sap days. I'm planning on taking Friday off and getting as many taps in as possible and into tanks for Saturdays run. Of course I'm not ready, but if the evaporator doesn't get washed and going until Sunday at least I won't miss out on much sap!

[dano2840]

OK SO I LOOKED AT THE 3X8! ITS An OLLLLDDDD LEADER. ITS GOT THE OLD STYLE L ON THE DOORS, ITS ALL TIN PANS> DROP FLUE, FLUE PAN IS IN GREAT SHAPE, SYRUP PAN HAS A LITTLE TINEY DIP IN 2 OF THE SECTIONS, BUT STILL VEERRRRRYYYYYY USABLE, COMES W/ EVERY THING> SYRUP SCOOP DIAL THERM> PRE HEATER (JUST THE LITTLE TRAY THAT SITS ON THE FLUES) COMES W/ BRICKS AND STACK AND 400-450 GAL TANK, HE PAID 1300, BACK WHEN HE BOUGHT IT ALONG TIME AGO, WHAT DO YOU THINK I SHOULD OFFER? $800????????????????????????????????

[Dave Y]

DanO
Offer him what you are comfortable with!

[Haynes Forest Products]

I would go $600.00 and he will counter with 750 and yada yada. You wont make lite syrup with the pans so your going to need to change your selling stratagy. Remember you cant filter out the dark. Make sure that when you go to make the deal you show up with a pocket full of old twentys and only what you plan on offering keep the rest in the car and make sure you tell him you have to ask your mom and dad for the rest. It helps to sit in the car for the next 10 minutes and offer less. Dont get caught up in the excitment of the deal. Ask him why doesnt want them first.

[paul]

dano
make sure the fluepan doesnt leak. check out evaporator thread nymapleguy just had a very bad experiance with an english tin fluepan. i cant beleive you guys forgot to metion that to him
Paul

[Russell Lampron]

DanO,

Paul is right, ask if he will fill the flue pan with water to check for leaks. English tin pans were notorious for that. I was reading a post just yesterday about a Small Brothers stainless pan that was full of pin holes.

[Jeff E]

Dano, if it doesnt leak, and is in good working order, anything under a grand is a good deal.

Be GENTLE in transport and cleaning.
What does the arch and grates look like? is it solid? If so, it'll work well and pay for itself pretty quick.

I just finished a great morning with Pete Roth and Nick from CDL. The did the final electrical hook up of my SIHI pump, 50 CFM and 26" of vac, with the option of tightening up the reclaimer by adding a valve to breather tube, I will probably get to 29". I put my hand over a section of pipe to feel the vacuum...WOW! look out trees!

We had minus 8 degrees here last night, and are still several weeks out from tapping, which buys me time. I want to get more trees on line.

Thanks to the Roths and CDL for a great morning and super service.

[WMF]

Dano,
If it has the small preheater tray on top of the flues it's a Leader special. It probably has several partitions in the flue pan. This float system was horrible, the float sits inside the flue pan and when the level gets low and you have a good fire it will boil under the float and keep it from letting in sap. You can convert it to external float boxes pretty easy.

Check the bottom of the flues especially where the flue stays are soldered on for thin metal.

The arch and stack without pans would be worth $500 if the castings and grates are in good shape.

Tell your shop teacher to leapfrog the class to soldering rusty metal as that will be a very handy skill for you.

[dano2840]

ok so the arch front cracked and was repaired, the grates are all there and in good shape, the flue pan only had 1 partition as i recall just like normal, i have an old set of 40"x12 pans where the flue pan is partitioned and there is a tray that sits in it, must be they are leader specials, i think they are leader come to think of it, but every thing looked to be in good shape i will go up tomarrow and check the flue pan over more carefully, if it is a float style like that couldnt i just take some solder and wieght the crap out of it to keep the float box down? or will theboil just lift it up any way?

[3rdgen.maple]

Danno2840 if it checks out okay it make him an offer your comfortable with. You are getting some good stuff that goes with it is the tank water tight too.
Check her over close you can always get new pans for the arch in the future. Sell the tank if you don't need it. Good luck young one.

[dano2840]

the tank has a little rust near the drain but not too much, what tank doesnt? its nothing a wire brush wont solve, this was all used 5 years ago, the pans were taken out of the arch and flipped up side down, tank is always under cover

[maplekid]

well the 2009 season started today for me put in 20 taps and tapped the tubing. will throw out 80 more on saturday and sunday.

[PATheron]

Guys- How long you think itll take to thaw these trees out? Going to be 2 degrees here tonight. Supposed to warm up this weekend. Seems to me with the roots thawed they might go to running pretty quick. Think its going to take a pretty good "wake up time"? I think Im smelling some BIGSAP. I know 2 degrees seems a little on the cold side but Ive just got that feeling. I think maybe Ill put a few in and see what they do. You guys are probly right. I probly am genetically defective and the end result of years of inbreeding but I may have to go with my instincts. Zar

[Dennis H.]

This is the coolest time of the year.
All the chatter that starts up, when should I tap?, Is it too early?

All I know is that come Friday morning those trees better watch out, I will be heading for the woods with my Dewalt! The forecast for the weekend just keeps getting better and better.

I hope everyone is ready or just about ready, me I am as ready as I can think of, I'll just have to deal with the stuff that I forgot about when it happens.

[PATheron]

Dennis- Go get the BIGSAP. I want to hear some numbers this weekend and Ill let you know how the test holes do up here. Theron

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Guys, I am several hundred miles south of any of you in PA, so just because it may be time for me to tap Sat, don't mean that it is for you. It is about the normal start of the season for me around this time of year. Normally, season is over year by March 21st, so if it goes that long, it would give me 6 full weeks.

[benchmark]

Last year here in MN i didn't tap until march 25, i think my first boil was April
1st. Not saying it's going to be that late this year to warm up but..... I don't know you guys are making me anxious.

[Maplewalnut]

Got the drill charging and the older boys on standby. I am leaving the buckets go another week or so but everything on this new fancy vacuum system is getting drilled tomorrow. Already saw another potential two laterals that can pick up 15 more taps between them. My son's baptism on sunday, think my wife will mind if I'm a little late. LOL Sunday they should be running well!

[mapleman3]

Mwalnut, I can't wait to here how Alice does for you! Especially since she's back on wood! She will enjoy the attention every 8 minutes!!

I miss the ole girl!

[tapper]

I tap every year at this time. My best years have started during early Feb. The worst years have been the years that were frozen until early or mid March. The weather report looks like a possible 6 or 7 days of sap run. If it freezes up for a few weeks after that so what? The season starts all over again.
I have found over the years as long as we have lasting freeze thaw pattern the taps keep flowing. The only factor in ending the season for me has always been a prolonged warm spell. 3 or 4 days of warm day and night without a freeze and the season is over.

[Maplewalnut]

Jim-she is shined up and ready to go. Haven't test boiled like I wanted to but I'll probably wind up taking off the steam hood for the first few boils until I get comfortable enough where I don't need full visibility in the flue pan. (if you know what I mean!!!!)

Keep your blackberry on in case I have nay frantic last minutes questions?!?!

Mike

[mapleman3]

Mike. Leave the hood on and go for it! As long as your level is good there's no worry. Its the front pan you need to watch. Keep the level in back an inch above the flues, mark the sight glass and just a drop or 2 of defomer in the drawoff when you fire. Open the door to the hood to check often but boil away! Start your front pan higher at the beginning maybe 1.5 inches then lower to an inch when your comfortable. She'll make you some nice syrup!! You'll see about 180-190 deg at the preheater outlet for sap. If you want more put a damper in the steam stack.

Blackberry is always on- typing on it now!!

[Dave Y]

I think that there are a lot of factors to be considered when it comes to when you tap. Tapper is about 40 miles north of me and I wouldn't think of tapping this early with the set up I have. First off I am not ready! It is easier,I think to tap early with a smaller operation. the more taps and the larger the evaporator the harder it is to deal with small runs. Also elevation can play a big part in when you tap. The orentation of your bush can be a factor also. If your bush is on a south or west facing slope it would warm sooner than a north facing bush. So I guess what I am saying is if you see some sap weather in the forecast and you are ready to tap, go head and set the taps. Although, I have heard at least for our area, you do not tap until after the full moon in febuary. That is the 9th.

[Dennis H.]

Brandon you are in no way making me change my mind when to tap.
I had my mind set for the end of Jan since last year. I would have them already in but when the day came the weather changed and it has just finally got just right for me to tap.

Besides I am not all that far north of you anyway, unlike DaveY and Theron and those guys.

I think what happened to me last year is just what Tapper said, I had a few good days and then several warm day and nights. The next good days did not run as good as the 1st and then more warm nights followed by even worse runs and so forth. The season was all over then. This year is looking to be an awsome one for me, at least 6 days of perfect BIGSAP days.

[dano2840]

YAY! it froze up hard again!!!!!!!!!, i didnt like it when it was betwoone 32 and 40 here the past few days, that smell was in the air and i was installing laterals, and i just was thinking no no no no no no no!!! it smelled like sugaring weather, it felt like it to, when i take my coat off in the woods, it means its getting close and i was in a sweat shirt, and a vest and my wool pants, and was warm, its like 6 right now with a wind chill of -25
still got lots to do, went and looked at a couple of tanks yesterday, a 204 gal stock tank and an old tin 250ish gal, the drain plug was siliconed on, so i think i will buy the stock tank and figure out some way to connect that one to my 100 gal one for my 175 tap bush,

[3rdgen.maple]

Hey danno2840 did yo end up getting that evaporator?

[dano2840]

im going to go take alook at it tonight, and look at all the stuff you guys told me to and if its all good make him al offer of 750$. i will offer it tomarrow and let you guys know

[Gary R]

I'm tapping Saturday morning. Weather.com shows starting friday, 31, 41, 37, 33, 42, 46, 41. Two of the nights won't go below freezing. Pittsburgh tv weather shows all mid 40's for days. We usually run about 5 degrees colder. Hope for sap to boil Sunday evening. If not I'm sure I'll have it mid week.

My thoughts are, yes we little guy's have it easier. No pumps or lines to freeze up. Worst case, just dump the ice out of the bucket if you have a long freeze up. Also, I have no intrest in making "C" grade syrup. I give mine away to family and friends.

Good luck to all! It's time to get busy:)

[ennismaple]

We're still a long way from tapping on Eastern Ontario. It was -22 C this morning and only Saturday is supposed to get above freezing. I need a couple warm days to help knock down the snow so I don't have to shovel out all my mainlines again this year!

[PATheron]

I agree with tapper and Dave Y. I think that your specific location means a lot. My trees run when 30 miles west of me they dont even think about it. I think its how my bush faces etc. I figure for me sugaring season is feb- march and I dont even consider april really season for me. Last year I tapped in early and was still running when I turned the pump off. I think this season looks good. Ive got a confession to make to you guys. Im trying to get ready and Ive decided to pull in some pros to really make some things start happening. Right now Ive got two of the foremost sugarmakers in Maine and New Hampshire barrelling down the highway towards Northestern Pa as we speak. Ive got Mr. Russell Lampron for R.O. consultation and sugarhouse expertise and Mr. Matt Roy for high vac work and handing Mr. Lampron tools. Im going to stop for supplies on the way home, four wheeler gas, Killians beer, Captain morgan rum and some marlboro reds and were ready to make some things happen. Ill keep you guys posted on the progress. Zar

[Brian Ryther]

I had to dig up my septic today. The good news is that there wasn't 1" of frost in the ground. Sap should flow as soon as the trunks thaw out.

[mapleack]

I'll second the frost observation, was out surveying today and only had to drive the stakes about an inch to get through the frost. I'm going to start tapping my tubing tomorrow, hopefully i'll get 550 or so in by the end of saturday. I'm waiting on taps for the other 200 on tubing, some for a new expansion and some for an old woods that I want to switch to stainless this year. I'd ordered the stainless straight from the manufacturer and they haven't showed yet, so today I ordered them from Bascom's. I also ordered 50 flat lids for aluminum buckets i've had for a couple years with no lids to be able to use them. If I keep pushing I'll hit 850 taps by the time it really runs!

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Dano,
I plumb stock tanks together by removing the plugs (3/4 inch), inserting 3/4 inch male-male adapters to connect black plastic, and connecting with said black plastic pipe. It is easy to put together and easy to dismantle for storage.
Long term, try to get stainless storage tanks... but you know that already.
Good luck getting that evaporator!
Doug

[jrthe3]

i going to drill a hole tomorrow what do you NWPA people think

[PATheron]

Jrthe- What do you think about the warm spell where you are? Do you think they may start to run? Theron

[Dave Y]

In North west Pa spring comes once a year and this ain't it.

[jrthe3]

my dad and i were talking that if i tap now we mite get a few runs and the taps will still be good when spring come will see what happens

[Jim Brown]

We are going to wait and tap as scheduled on valentines day.

Tapped early on one bush last year and had to retap later.
not this year.
We wait!

Jim

[Dave Y]

Jrthe3
If you tap now be prepaired to ream towards the end. You may not get much sap with this warm spell as there is to be a south wind.

[jrthe3]

i prob just wait just kinda wishful thinking

[3rdgen.maple]

In North west Pa spring comes once a year and this ain't it.

Dave y, That's Funny stuff.

[Dave Y]

Hey what can I say the truth is the truth. You have to control youthful exuberance.

[Sugarmaker]

Dave Y,
I agree still seems a little early, Boys if I am i my shorts by tomorrow afternoon we will consider tapping soon.:) I really don't think it will happen and the trees will need a several days to thaw. Gary B about two miles north has tapped and I will watch to see how he is doing over the next few days.

Andy 800+ taps Wow! Hope you get a run! You are a lot farther south than us. We have a good base of snow pack like, 20 + inches!

One group of trees still has 8 feet of plowed snow around them!

Serious getting "ready time" is upon us. Syrup season is almost here.

Chris

[PATheron]

Im smelling $$$. Theron

[Gary R]

Well guy's, it is time. Will be tapping in a couple hours. Test tap had a very slow drip at 33 deg. yesterday when I came home. Woke up today and it was already 35 deg. All the trees in the woods have a melt ring in the snow around them. Trunks must be thawing out. I think BIGSAP this coming week. If your looking for something to do some evening, come watch the new rig make syrup::)

[Parker]

I dont care what the calender says,,,If I saw a melt ring around my trees I would be tapping!!!

[3% Solution]

Parker,
No melt ring up this far is there!!
Got to get above freezing first!!

Dave

[Gary R]

And I did. 68 taps. It's 50 in the shade right now and it's mostly sunny! Almost all hole ran some sap. Even the north facing ones. It is better than I expected! Will be jumping to a PA tapping thread. I wish everyone the best of luck!

[maplekid]

well im completly tapped. pretty exuasting work hanging 100 or so buckets. saps flowing good here all the buckets are running and should be boiling by the end of the week. hope everyone has a good season. nate

[jrthe3]

chris keep me posted on them taps

got almost all tubing up today got big tank at sugar house set and hooked up now watch weather and see what happens looks like now it will cool down next week

[Sugardaddy]

We put in 15 taps today in Sussex County, NJ. One ran immediately, but the others weren't looking to wet. 50 tomorrow and 40 or so all week, so I'm hoping to see the beginning of the run here. We have another 100 taps and buvkets, but we'll wait to see how the weather goes.

[mapleman3]

Well, I am not tapping ;)
But I did get most of my stack up through tonight... I had a Pinewood Derby for the scouts today so that was most of the day. So finally when I got home around three, I got to working on the Barrel/roof jack. I have to admit it works and looks pretty good!!(pictures tomorrow) And for 24 bucks it was worth it. I only have a 4 foot section with the top on it to put up....then do some flashing work. it's supposed to be close to 50deg. no I'm not tapping! Spring comes once a year to Belchertown... And this aint it !!! ( Right Dave Y ? )

I should have the drops in the woods next weekend and tidy up any loose ends there

Maybe by tomorrow evening I will be plumbed up, wired up and almost ready to fire the evap for cleaning !!! OK I'M EXCITED!!!

No I'm NOT Tapping yet!! ;)

[mapleack]

Hey everyone, I was too tired to post last night, so here's the update. When I left the woods at 6 pm tonight I was up to 659 taps in on tubing, about half yesterday and half today, most were running moderately this afternoon. Checked tanks at 7:30 and a steady stream was still running in. Tomorrow morning I'll get the evaporator shined up and hopefully we'll get enough sap to light a fire tomorrow night. I'm still finishing an 80 tap tubing expansion that should be online next weekend and hopefully 150 buckets will go out as well. With luck I'll close in on 900 taps before I'm done drilling this year. Good luck to everyone!

[Dennis H.]

Holy cow is the sap ever running.

I just finished up doing the first boil of the season. I went out and collected around 5pm and went right to firing up the evap.

When I was collecting the trees were still running really good. It still is amazing how one tree will behave differently from another. the sugarbush that I am using the upper part is running like crazy and then the lower part is running but a good bit slower.

[Sugarmaker]

I am still in get ready mode. Not sure if it ran much here I need to check with others. We had a lot of wind and sometimes that holds the sap a little. A lot of the snow was gone at the tree bases. and the reds look like they are ready to pop already!

No I don't think I will tap tomorrow either, more tubing and containers to get out. Maybe Monday if the forecast looks good????

Regards,
Chris

[PATheron]

We have two releasers dumping simultaneously at less than 3 minutes each.

Spluuushhhh, splusssshhh

Oh yeah baby. I should have waited!!!

[tuckermtn]

the power of the sun today pulled me into the woods...spent 3 hrs setting up a new 50 tap roadside tubing run...nice 10-15in trees along a fence line, nice slope, etc...trying them all on 5/16 to see how it will run...main concern is there are goats and a llama in the field on the other side of the fence- hope the tubing is too far for them to reach..

spent a few hours this morning digging out galvanized stock tanks- the one I crunched last season with the loader leaks along one seam...will try some food grade silicone but TSC has 100 gal rubbermaid tanks for $75 so might get a few of them.

my metalsmith guy fixed the solder bubble in the syrup pan so I think the evap. is almost ready for a cleaning boil...

is 42deg out as I type but I still think I'll wait a couple more weeks...or not...

[Parker]

THE(THEEARLYBIRDGETSTHEWORM)RRROOONNNNN- How much have you made? Your sugaring brothers and sisters are going to need a littel more detailed update. How is the new bush running,,,is the old one running like last year? what are you holding for vac. DETAILS MAN!!! Got to feed that sugaring monkey on my back....
Eric- I like the "or not" I am thinking of tapping my southern bushes,,looks like monday will be the only cool day this week,,,,and with wood prices.....Do you have a drill bit for bucket spiles? I need to hang a bucket on the tree in my yard,(and mabey a few hundred up the road from me)

[Dave Y]

For those of you who couldn't control your selves and tapped I hope you do well. For those of us who are still getting ready pick up the pace. Time is a wasting. You would think I would be ready to tap, after all I did start in June!
And yes mapleman3 spring only comes once no matter where you are.

[Gary R]

I have a new thermometer coming that has a remote probe. planning on using it in the evaporator to get me close to syrup temp.

I also bought a new sap refractometer. About $40 off of Ebay. I'm not to happy with it. I think I have pretty good eye's, but the scale is so small you can't see the .1 increments. I calibrated it with distilled water. I checked a couple reds, there running just over 1%:( I checked a couple sugars and they ran just over 2%. I'll try comparing the results with my long stem.

For those who did not tap. No need to rush. I just watched the local news. This week will be close to 50 every day. By next weekend it turns back cold and will remain cold all the way to the end of the month.

[mfchef54]

Thanks dave y. I'm at work right now, hoping that there's going to be big sap. temp is in the mid 40's right now. and your so right I just couldn't control myself. lol

[Father & Son]

Gary R,
I am waiting to tap till next weekend unless the weather changes to very cold and then I'll wait longer. This week will be for cleaning equipment and putting up some tubing. Keep a close watch some of those days next week. Some of my best days for sap run last year the temperature was in the mid 30's. Keep us posted!

Jim

[mapleman3]

OK Who turned up the wind?? I'm up on the roof trying to finish up the stack and wammo the wind picks up!! NOT FUN !!

Had to take a tree down that was growing too close to the sugarhouse, I feel the 14" stack may have lit it up on fire if I didn't

So I still have another part of the tree to finish up, then get back up and finish sealing up the roof.

[Father & Son]

Jim,
Glad to hear everything is coming together with the new rig. Changing evaporators is alot of work, but the time saved boiling will be nice. Be careful on the roof. Mine has almost done me in twice.

Jim

[PATheron]

Dave(crazy bucket dumpin sugarmaker)- I brought your barrells back here to my house last night becouse we were concerned someone might take them by mistake at Richards so you can get them anytime there fine. This is the update for you guys at Pierce and Sons Maple. Test taps are starting to run pretty good. These numbers are approximate but pretty darn close. Got a little under 3400 test taps total out now. My new bush across the street is working very good. We started the pump a few days ago to work on leaks and could only get around 18" of vac. Pump is a 60 and thats quite a few taps and a lot of line. We have it now to 25" everywhere now. Started running pretty good last night. By tonight Id say we will have processed 4000 gallons. Sugar is low on this first stuff but still thats a lot of sap and thats a guess kind of becouse its running now and the R O is putting 420 gallons of water outside an hour so its hard to say exactly. Weve been pretty dang busy and Matt and Russ have helped me so much its hard to thank them enough. Nothing is running up to normal levels yet I dont think but its starting to do pretty good. Couldnt suck the tanks across the road up to the sugar house and found have to pump it to get it there. Thats about it for now. Ill let you guys know how much syrup we make tonight. Going to try to take off 20 gallons of syrup an hour off my 3 by 10 tonight. Updates to come. Good luck to everyone too no matter when anyone taps. I hope everyone makes a ton. Theron

[caseyssugarshack93]

Sounds like things are going pretty smooth there 3400 taps? you really added the taps this year theron,. i have a other 2 weeks before i start tapping, been cleaning the sugarhouse out and getting all the junk out this weekend and will wont get done till probably tuesday r/o should be in pretty soon. ordering my pump monday and releaser hopfuly.

[Dennis H.]

I don't care what the weather is out side, man did the sap run today. Temps were in the low 50's and last night the temps never got below high 40's.

I thought the trees would stop over night but no way, they just kept running.
The next few days look even better than the past 2, I am excited!

Have I ever mentioned that this is fun!!

I think if you are down this way, lower PA and didn't tap yet you missed a good opertunity for some big sap!!

[Maplewalnut]

All tapped in the woods and got about 300 gallons of sap today and that was without vacuum half the day. Don't even have my 3 gallon a day roadsides tapped yet but they will be this time next week. Going to experiment on some roapdsides with some 7/16 spouts into buckets on one side of the tree and some 5/16 into buckets on the other side. Makes sense you will get less sap from 5/16 but I am not completely convinced it will be that much less. No time to boil today but will be tomorrow that is for sure. Sap is a coming hot and heavy! This week looks great

Theron-FYI..my sap also tested very low this run.

[dano2840]

EVAP UPDATE:
OK SO I CALLED THE GUY TONIGHT AND I GOT THAT 3X8 (leader, tin pans drop flue, and dial thermometer, and 450 gal tank) TALKED HIM DOWN FROM $1300 to $1000 FOR ALL OF IT!!!!, almost all of my line is up in the big sugar woods, ran out of lateral, should be able to finish it all up on one more roll, and one more roll to add the rest of the taps to the little woods behind the house, hopefully 175 taps down there total, got the 2 tanks from my uncles today, got his sugar house plowed out, need to solder one of them,

[andyp]

Hi everyone,
Its been quite a while since I've been on here and I thought I'd let you know what's going on in south western Pa. It has been a tough year because I have had a leg problem with a lot of pain. I didn't know if I would be making syrup or not and didn't want to talk about it, I was pretty bumed out, but the maple disease has finally won out over the pain in the leg. It was tough going but my friend and I put 100 taps out friday and sat with more to go. So far we have about 60 gallon of sap but have not boiled yet. I guess it just goes to show when the maple bug bites nothing will stop you. Hope everyone has a super syrup year.

Andyp

[andyp]

Hi everyone,
Its been quite a while since I've been on here and I thought I'd let you know what's going on in south western Pa. It has been a tough year because I have had a leg problem with a lot of pain. I didn't know if I would be making syrup or not and didn't want to talk about it, I was pretty bumed out, but the maple disease has finally won out over the pain in the leg. It was tough going but my friend and I put 100 taps out friday and sat with more to go. So far we have about 60 gallon of sap but have not boiled yet. I guess it just goes to show when the maple bug bites nothing will stop you. Hope everyone has a super syrup year.

Andyp

[mapleman3]

Well I didnt get as much as I wanted to get done, I went to the hardware store to get supplies... then My front hub on the truck went, started to grind... that at the same time as my wifes van is in the shop with engine trouble. Well my Dad came and drove me around for parts, I worked on it early evening and all is well now.
I did get a little electrical work done in the sugarhouse though, that with the stack being up it wasn't a total loss today.

Got a few calls today from guys wondering about the warm weather! and tapping.. told them to wait!!!

[Sugarmaker]

More getting ready today placing containers to gather in and rounding up more taps. If I'm not careful I may be near 500 taps next year. Hoping that the tubing saves the day in the gathering area. I need to get a nice trailer to haul all this stuff around.

Chris

[peacemaker]

well all my tanks got washed today and mother nature is washing my sugar house floor

[PATheron]

Update from Pierce and Sons. Been R.O.ing all day and going to boil in the morning. Not going to be a lot of syrup for the amount of sap becouse of the low sugar but thatll be fine. Having a lot of fun playing around with sugar concentrations. Not going to be much sap left when the R.O.shuts off. Looks like a nice light amber in the flow meter on the R.O. Think we might of accidently took it right to density in the R.O machine. Hoping to see what a constant draw off looks like in the morning. Got my main men from up north showing me how things are supposed to be done. Have a happy. Report in on syrup in the morning. Theron

[3rdgen.maple]

Danno2840 gotta be a relief to finally get an evaporator. Congrats. Just gotta finish bricking the arch and Im ready to go. Well when spring does get here anyways. Did not tap this 6 day teaser we are getting. Trees I think would be idle for a couple weeks after this warm spell. Letting the snowpack melt for easier travel into the woods with the john deere. I bet we lost a good 12 inches of snow pack this weekend, just about 36inches to go. I gotta admit though jealous of you guys watching the sap flow.

[Sugardaddy]

Danno2840 gotta be a relief to finally get an evaporator. Congrats. Just gotta finish bricking the arch and Im ready to go. Well when spring does get here anyways. Did not tap this 6 day teaser we are getting. Trees I think would be idle for a couple weeks after this warm spell. Letting the snowpack melt for easier travel into the woods with the john deere. I bet we lost a good 12 inches of snow pack this weekend, just about 36inches to go. I gotta admit though jealous of you guys watching the sap flow.

Hey 3rdgen,

I'll be up your way next weekend to fish the Salmon River. Your location caught my eye.

We had just a trickle on the test taps and buckets we put out. We'll see how the week goes down here, but I think it's not quite time yet for full swing. We tapped the first few days of Feb. last year and I think we paid for it with low production in the early taps due to low temps and then early closing of the tapholes.

[3rdgen.maple]

Sugardaddy, Steelhead fishing has been AWESOME I thought last year was good. 12 fish in 4 hour days is the norm. Yesterday slowed down a little. Cold runoff puts the fish down for a day but there are still willing fish to be caught. I am a fly fisherman by heart but I use a 11 foot spinning rod for the steelies. 6 lb main line, 4 lb leader. I dead drift flies just bouncing them on the bottom. #12 and # 14 black stoneflies with chartrues tail fibers is the ONLY fly I use for Steelhead. I tie up dozens of them. Use to be able to get them at Fat Nancy's Check there they may still have them. I have used alot of other fly patterns and nothing produces for me like those stones do. Browns are still in the river too so you got a good chance at getting one of them. Happy Fishing. If you see a guy on the river with sap buckets and fishing gear stop and say Hi.

[PATheron]

PAARRRRRKER- Just went out to the shed in my shorts to see what my R.O. did for me last night. Started with maybe 4000 gallons of 1.5%. Now just looking in the head tank looks like theres about 300 gallons of 21%. How would you like to boil that stuff in Marvin. Boil time. Time to earn my money. Should be about 3 hours and well have some syrup. 4 gallons of sap in the evap one gallon of syrup. Oh yeah baby, Oh yeah. Im telling Russ to take it a little easy on the firewood. Theron

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Theron,
Looks like you guys really squeezed that stuff. Did you just keep recirculating or were there pressure changes at the RO? I gotta see this thing in operation. Jeeez, I haven't ever even seen an RO in operation and here I am thinking about how much I might be able to squeeze the stuff down. Congrats on the early syrup. Hope it gets sweeter as the week progresses.
Doug

[PATheron]

Doug- Just kept recirculating it. Easiest thing in the world really. Not too sure about boiling the stuff but well see. Should be coming off over a quart a minute by my calculator. Thats not bad for a 3 by 10. Theron

[maplwrks]

You're starting to catch on now!! Line the barrels up, it'll come fast once it starts!!

[Dave Y]

I didnt tap or concentrate any sap or boil any sap this weekend. I spent the entire weekend working on getting ready. I plumbed the new tanks at the sugarhouse, cleaned the evaporator and scrubed tanks, 5 in all. three are in the woods. All in all a real fun time. Friday evening was even more enjoyable. I went in to clarion for some plumbing supplies, we are 25 miles from anywhere. Blew a brake line on my truck and ran into the back of a car. couldn't stop, nowhere to go. Fortunatly no one was hurt. the car took a beating though. Note to every one, if you see a heavy duty pick-up coming down on you fast, get out of the way. You will get the worst of it if you don't.
My mechinac spent the better part of the day replacing all of the brake lines.

[802maple]

It will be the easiest thing you have ever done, let Russ put the wood right to it. Don't get cold feet on us now.

[TapME]

Theron, i hope that you are getting pics of this operation and maybe a video. Good to see that you have some boiling to do and syrup at hand. Russ put another log on for me. Make some steam and have a boiling soda, and a little capt too.

[Amber Gold]

I got another section of mainline up over the weekend, which should get me another 75 taps. I also got my vacuum line from my sugarhouse to my releaser in and my tank and releaser setup at the collection point. Just about ready to go. I also found my one-handed tool! Pretty psyched about that. Just enough snow had melted that I was able to catch a glimpse of the red handle. I still need to plumb my feed tank up to my evaporator and run electric to my sugarhouse so I can run my vacuum pump and blower. Also need to install more laterals. I'll be doing that into the season I think.

[jrthe3]

put another 300 feet of mainline today got all tubing up just have to put lats up on the new main line tomorrow also ordered another 100 bucket taps today with all 200 buckets up it should put me right around 1100 taps going to make for long nights of boiling on the old 3x8 flat pans can't wait

[Sugarmaker]

Boyd, Hope you have the RO on order? Wow I didn't realize you had that many taps running across you 3 x 8 Hope yo got the old girl tuned up and ready:) I have too many at 400 + for my rig. Hope to be gathering about 3:00 tomorrow. We will see what mother nature provides. Rain in the forecast may make for a good first run?

Dave Y,
Glad you or the other folks were not hurt in the accident. My son blew his brake line while setting in the garage several weeks ago. He never moved it and replaced all the brake lines. They were severely rusted away.

Now go out and get all those trees tapped and make us proud!
Some of the others in NWPA must be to tired to type:)

Chris

[Dennis H.]

Just finished up a really good boil this evening, I had to stop to get ready for work.

I figure I had the old barrel evap just a rolling, about 22 gals thru it in just 2 hrs, thats like 11gal/hr.

There was a few time that the preheater/sap feeder wasn't able to keep up with the evaporation rate! I had to laddel in a little.

So it looks like bricking the evap and making the preheater/feeder has really improved it over what I was able to do last year, 8gal/hr.

It looks like I should get a buch more sap tomorrow before a 2 day warm up. I am thinking I might finish what I have in the pan now, it should give me about 2 gal of syrup, and save the sap for Wed when I figure I won't get any because of the weather.

Now that I think about it I will almost make in just 3 boils that I made all last year!!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Chris,

I am running 500+ on a 2x8, so Boyd can do 1,000 on a 3x8 as it is about double the evap rate. He's not getting soft yet!

[Dave Y]

Chris, I am planning on tapping this weekend. I may not start until Sunday though. I have Monday off and I may go see my daughter in Wilkes -Barre on Saturday. I haven't seen her since July. Once I start it will take about all week to get every thing in. I should be around three thousand when all said and done.I won't have a final count until all the buckets are hung.

[Russell Lampron]

Just got back from a fun filled 4 day weekend at Therons house. We got a lot done getting Theron all set to go. It was exciting to turn 4000 gallons of sap into about 400 gallons of 21%. His dad, Gary, and I ran the evaporator while Theron and Matt ran the filter press. Boiling that 21% gets my seal of approval. Gary liked it too. Without pushing the evaporator too hard we had it sweetened in an hour and were all done boiling in 3 hours. Gary got to experience what a constant draw off was and enjoyed sitting there watching the thermometer while I tossed 3 or 4 sticks in the fire about every 10 minutes or so.

We got a lot of things done for Theron and got his vacuum down to 25" where he wanted it. Matt showed me a trick to finding leaks in 5/16" that works real well and I can't wait to run my RO like we ran Therons. I liked the 21% well enough to try it in my rig and it will be a lot easier on my RO.

[mapleman3]

Guys?? Guys?? Aren't you getting greedy at 21%? I would love to taste test that against regular good ole boiled from raw syrup! I can see going to 10% maybe 12% but holy cow!! is that for sale out of the jug or all for bulk??

[TapME]

glad to have you back in New England Russ and Matt. Thought that you may get hijacked there for a while. lol How did that syrup taste in your opinion Russ against what you make?

[royalmaple]

Kinda glad to be back, just for my wife and dog. That's about it.

Otherwise you wouldn't see me for at least 1.5 months.

That syrup tasted like a cross between diesel and vinegar.

I DO NOT recommend anyone try that. You will regret it dearly. Keep pounding the wood / oil to your rigs. You will be way further ahead.

Good thing it took 4 wheel barrow loads of wood to boil 4000+ gallons of sap, that was the only good thing about it.

You could put that stuff against anything that took you 6 weeks to boil and you'd never know the difference. It was perfect.

If the flow meter on the RO was open ended we could have floated a hydrometer right in it.

[3% Solution]

Matt,
As your typing the first few lines your laughing like hell aren't you?????
Now your really laughing at the end result.
So, are you going to try for 30%??????

Dave

[royalmaple]

Basically my ro is going to turn on here pretty soon, and won't shut off till mid may sometime when I do the final rinse and wash for the season.

It is just going to be concentrating, or washing. Off setting won't get used too much.

I might have had a smile on my face. But you've met me before Dave so you have the upper hand.

[peacemaker]

mapleman3 where u at bascoms friday ?

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Matt,
When you're running that creek water through in mid May, it won't matter how long you circulate it, It'll still taste like Smersh!

[802maple]

I told you guys it would be easy and that you would get hooked, now didn't I.

I know that I couldn't go back to boiling that low concentrate stuff say,10% or lower. Now that you have them boiling 21%, I can't wait til I am down there Saturday and really do some concentrating and put the heat to that rig.
I think I will bring down a 10 inch fliter press just to have in the back of the truck, it could be a good sales tactic. See you saturday Theron.

[Jeff E]

There seems to be a shift in the Force- a pulling of energy from north of the border to somewhere in PA....Yoda is smiling.

OK, give a summary of what is happening at the SapCzar RO machine. I am assuming the CDL 600 has been tweeked with Nitrus and a Blower over the carberator...

Sound great guys, I look forward to a quick and dirty summary, as a fellow 600 CDL owner...

[Amber Gold]

Matt, without an evaporator are you planning on making syrup in your RO machine?

[Russell Lampron]

Lou I am going to have to try the 21% in my own evaporator. I didn't get a chance to taste much of Theron's, he was being stingy with the sample cups. The stuff I did taste had a first run with new tubing flavor to it that someone else might think was good.

Jeff the CDL is bone *** stock. The only modification was to add a concentrate line that went back to the main sap storage tank. The RO runs a lot longer but not very hard.

[PATheron]

Guys- Im not going to be on here for a little while. If I dont answer messages dont be affended. Its running pretty good and Im kind of struggling getting kinks out of things. Gonna boil again tonight. Still not up to a full hard run but seems to be adding up. Im pumping stuff and countering freezups and just trying to get in the groove. Update soon. Looks like its going to run steady till thursday night and as the ground loosens up it just keeps picking up. Theron

[Jeff E]

You go man. I hope in a couple of weeks I won't have time for this either!!!

[Jeff E]

I forgot this is the Feb Journal, not the watch and see how far below the sap line Theron gets!

In NW Wisc we are having a major thaw right now, 3-4 days of above freezing and rain. The snow is going down fast. Next week is suppose to get back to normal, highs in the mid 20's to 30.

I am done with one side of my woods, finished connecting one big releaser and securing the vacuum line. I have about 100 more trees I can get to on this side of the woods, though they are widely scattered so I am not sure if I am going to push for them right now.

I have started working on releaser/pump house #2, with is below perhaps 1000 maples on the other side of my woods. My goal is to have 300 or so on line by March 1, and keep working at adding to it until I run out of trees. I would think by the end of the season I could get maybe 5-600 going to this pump house, all of them by next season.(push push!)

I am going to initially shoot for 12% sap coming from the RO and if I can, try the recirculation to the big tanks and push the % up. Pete Roth thought I should go easy with standard concentration until I get used to boiling on the 3x12, then try experimenting from there. Good Idea!!!

Getting the itch big time. The plus side is I hope to be making syrup when some of you south easterners are writing away the hours complaining about clean up!

Good season to all!

[Sugardaddy]

Out taps have been dripping verrrrrry slowly since they went in on Saturday afternoon. I think the trees are just now starting to truly thaw out. Temps have been around 40, but with lots of cloud cover and a fair amount of wind on Sunday. Tomorrow we'll hit 55 or so and it should pick up significantly, but we're back down to the low 30's over the weekend.

Another week or two here I think. I'll put in 50 taps Thursday and another 50 next Tuesday. We're ready....

[Jeff E]

Sugar Daddy, where are you located?

[PATheron]

Jerry- Ive already had to start putting it in the semi trailer to be able to not be up all night to boil. Theres probly going to be a lot for you this weekend. Theron

[maplwrks]

WAAAAHOOOOO!! Load 'em up Theron---I've been waiting to make syrup since last April! Pretty amazing it only took 1 boil to get them boys from the East Coast hooked on high concentrate. You, Russ, and Matt had better get some thick skin, there will be plenty of folks doubting your syrup flavor with high concentrate. I know that you fellas can now understand, it really is easy to boil the high concentrate. Keep your head above the sap, helps coming this weekend!

[802maple]

Its been a long time since I got to burn someone elses pan and blow up a membrane, ye haw.

Thats going to be more fun then destroying Mikes RO

[mapleman3]

No Peace, I wasn't there, I should have been since I need more "Stuff"

Now that my wife's Van is Ca put!! looks like I'll be buying my Sap Truck in the next few days if I can work the money right... May end up with a 1 ton maybe a 3/4. looking at a few online now.

either way, My wife will be driving my Dakota with the 210 gal tank for a while and I'll have the bigger truck. then this summer/fall I'll get her another Van or SUV.

If I only had an undetermined amount of cash!!!!

[royalmaple]

I'm going to use a homemade barrel set up this year.

Last time I checked I should be able to get 5-7 gph out of it but that will be pleanty. I think I can still get a constant draw from it and do about 30 gallons of syrup on it per hour. Of course I have to get a good steady fire under the flat pan.

Jerry you and Mike are going to have a blast. If you get there at night wait till you head up the hill and see the stainless from the tanker truck glistening from your headlights. That is how Russ and I were greeted.

I might take it easy to start and stay at a reasonable level and try to keep some flavor. I think 25% for starters would be enough, then go up from there.

I wish I had footage of the filter press inlet pipe bursting and giving me a full frontal. I kept smelling syrup the entire ride home. I thought it was in my head, well actually it was. And my pants and my sweatshirt between the seats.

I shot some videos, I'll try to get some of them updated for you guys to watch later on. Pretty neat stuff. I will have to watch them first and make sure I didn't capture any of the secrets on film.

[Russell Lampron]

Yeah Matt you were lucky that you didn't get burned when that pipe burst. Sounds like we have to get back to PA. It has only been one day and Theron is starting to panic. Be sure to edit those videos, we can't let out any secrets.

Jerry and Mike that tanker is a pretty impressive sight. All of the other sugar makers in Theron's area are nervous seeing that sitting there.

[802maple]

If they weren't nervous they will be after this weekend. Maybe I will bring the welder and weld a cone on it and make it look like a missile.

I remember one time I had a hose bust and it filled the hood of my carhart jacket. Everybody thought it was funny but I didn't dare to move, I know Matt is hard to tell if I am moving or not anyway. All I have is the truck but we could put chairs in the trailer, my Toyostove, it has interior lights and a cooler full of boiling sodas and everything will be just fine for you guys to come along. Come on Matt and Russ what do you think?

[royalmaple]

I'd love to go right back, if I had a choice I'd be there now.

All I can say is it is a good thing theron and I have unlimited long distance on our phones. Lets just say I think we are some of the few in the country that might be getting the upper hand on the companies.

There's still more leaks for me to find. I didn't even get to go across the road.

I might cut down my trees and bring them down for firewood for him.

[PATheron]

Mike and Jerry- How much sap do you think you can boil this weekend with my little rig? I think I can fill that trailer for you. That would be 6200 gallons. Think you can get rid of all that in a day or two? Im seeming to do good getting rid of like 3 or 400 gallons per hour of perm. That goes real well but when I squeeze it down real good to get the higher concentrate its hard to get a lot of flow. Im wondering if I need to recirculate it and then actually wash it or do a more rinses. What percent do you think I need to shoot for before I send it too the head tank? Somehow I need to get on a schedule where I recirc while Im at work and come home and squeeze it down but not take so long with that part. Goin to work kind of messes up the process. I think If I had a second membrane it would be a lot easier. Have to save my pennies. Theron

[Russell Lampron]

I would love to go back down too Jerry but I have too much to do here to get ready for the season. This coming weekend is the last one where I have Saturday off until March. I have to get most of the stuff done then.

Theron if you recirculate all day while you are at work you could get rid of about 3600 gallons of water. Depending on how many gallons you have to start with and how many you have coming in that should sweeten it up quite a bit. I don't see a problem with letting the RO run for 9 or 10 hours.

[maplwrks]

Like Russ said, let the RO do the work. Let it pound away at that tanker full of sap while you are at work. When you get home, give her a quick rinse and start again. I know what you're saying about waiting for the RO to do it's work, that's why I put the second membrane on mine, I had to learn to trust the machine and to set it up to run all day. Once I got to that point, I was home free. Typically, I would boil day old concentrate. I would concentrate one day, get home from work, wash it, and start concentrating into the feed tank, and boil. I would let the RO wash all night and start it concentrating the next morning. Getting on a schedule is the hard part, it's real hard to look at all that sap and go to bed, it's against our thinking, you've got to process that sap!


One last question---What are you gonna do when the sap REALLY starts to run?

[PATheron]

Mike- What your describing is what I thiink Im going to have to do. I was thinking about that too. Going to have to do the day old concentrate. Its just what Im going to have to do to get it in barrells with the equipment I have now which is fine. Im going to make dark syrup becouse of all the recirculation but a lot of dark is syrup will make me more money in a barrell than a little light. I just looked at the weather and it looks like today and tommarrow is it. Im going to just make sap now and store it and when you guys come down youll have quite a bit I think and that will be good and Ill see how you guys do it too. Im getting real familiar with the machine now and feeling a lot better about things. After yesterday Im basically set up where I can move sap around reliably and kind of have a system now. So when it gets cold for a little while I can really get things finetuned. This run now is going to be like a 3 day with out a freeze so Im not sure if the ground keeps thawing and they keep running better. Thats what it seems to be. They slowed down in the night and now they are picking up again. Were up to 2 % sap now I think which is good. Most of this first stuff was real weak and there was a lot of sap for a little syrup but it all adds up. I cant thank Russ and Matt enough for all their help. I did real good at getting taps in and making sap but I wasnt really ready to process it. They were a lifesaver. Ive tried to make things right with Matt and I think I have helping him with his stuff but Im going to have to come up maybe next year when I can and help Russ out and make it right with him. Its great to have a couple real good friends like that. Theron

[802maple]

We will work you into a schedule this weekend that will make things alot easier. I just need to see how your work schedule is. There isn't really a reason that you should be making dark syrup because of recircing the sap, it is more the scheduling. Whatever you have for sap we will put it in a barrel.

Once you get a system working you will be wondering what to do with all your time.

[Sugardaddy]

Sugar Daddy, where are you located?


I'm in Sussex County, NJ. We're as far North as you can get in the GArden State, right where PA and NY meet up with NJ.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Anybody want to volunteer and send me a PM with details on how to clean my gear pump on my filter press and anything else I need to do to it?? I am going to take it apart and clean it as it has been used for 2 seasons and wanted to clean the gears good and regrease before using this season??

I have a Lapierre 4 bank press.

[Russell Lampron]

Theron it was a pleasure to go down and help you out. I was in need of a mini vacation from work and the excitement of getting you up and running and running your evaporator was the boost that I needed. I've got to get the rest of my stuff done now so that I will be ready when it is time to tap here. I am planning on doing a lot of expanding as the money allows and would like to have you come and help but I don't feel that you owe me anything.

[peacemaker]

right up near the appalacian trial suggerdaddy pucnched in 60 to 70 taps today running sweet sap tested at 2 %

[3% Solution]

Brandon,
Got your PM yet?

[maplekid]

finally got to hit the trader. been boiling for 2 days straight. am finishing close to 7 gal of almost syrup. looks like it will be light. i was kinda dissapointed to shut down cause the sugarhouse smelled so good. anybody else making syrup in or around ohio?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Nate,

Congrats and sounds like a job well done. I know you are excited and proud of your new setup and how is it going and what kind of evap rate are you getting??

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

No PM yet?????????

[3% Solution]

Brandon,
Coming at cha .................. duck!!!!

Dave

[maplekid]

im getting about 18 gallons an hour. boiled 200 gallon in two days boiled yesterday for about six hours. drew off at the end of the nite. then dreww at 5:30 today and am finishing right now.

[Sugarmaker]

Nate,
Nice job getting that sap processed quickly! Great start to your 09 syrup season!

Regards,
Chris

[3% Solution]

Chris,
How are you doing down there?

Dave

[Sugardaddy]

right up near the appalacian trial suggerdaddy pucnched in 60 to 70 taps today running sweet sap tested at 2 %

That's right. I can see the trail ridge from here.

I need to get some more equipment. I have no idea what % our sap is running at.

[Sugarmaker]

Dave,
We are holding our own I think we beat the sap today. Thank goodness these we not big sap runs. How about you? Have you begun the syrup event for 09? I have some details in the PA tapping section. but really so far so good. The change over to all tubing is almost complete and really saves the old back.

Regards,
Chris

[3% Solution]

Chris,
Haven't tapped yet, but after this cold snap we're drilling holes.
We're alset, ready to go!!
Today was in the 50's, but I think it was a tease!!!!
Go up to Dorsey and give us an update.
Keep in touch!!
Dave

[peacemaker]

sugardaddy walked right by your house then in 98 and i grew up in hackettstown

[Dave Y]

Went out last night after work and installed my bucket dumping station in the woods. I have been looking at the long range forecast, no sap weather in sight. I was going to tap my tubing this weekend. I may hold off till next week end. no point in opening the trees and have them sit for two weeks idle. For those of you who tapped for this early run, i hoped it worked out for you. I think you my pay for it on the back side of the season though.

[Father & Son]

Spent Tuesday and Wednesday cleaning tanks, buckets, and rinsing the evaporator. I HATE THE SMELL OF BLEACH! Went to Sugarmakers Tuesday night to see steam and smell maple. Been trying to talk myself into waiting alittle longer before I tap, was really hard seeing Sugarmaker making syrup, but seeing the long term forcast makes it alittle easier. The next favorable weather looks to be the end of the month. I was planning to boil on my birthday (27th) but Mother Nature is in control of that. This weekend will now be for hanging some tubing to cut down gathering time.

Jim

[PATheron]

BIGSAP UPDATE from the Zar- Starting to get my act together here at the Zar residence. This is where were at so far. Got two barrells capped(ladys barrells, 30s) and another 5 gallons. Also got 3000+ gallons of 2% and it is still running but nothing great. Im going to make some syrup off the run but I dont think its really opened up yet and really started running like it should. Pretty much getting my processing and moving of the sap figured out now. Finding it more difficult to keep the higher vac levels with the increased tapps but am able to normally run 23 or 24" which is pretty good I think with the pump Ive got. Need to really go through the woods once it freezes up this week and get things right. Thats about it for now. Hope everyone is having fun. Looks like everybodys either getting started or getting ready to get started. Good luck to all, make tons. Theron

[dano2840]

smells like syrup in the woods at 50 degrees, need to get mom to order some more lateral line tonight, finished the tank shed yestarday (got a big load off my back and made me feel better about being ready) today i went down to my good friends farm, the turners, and stole their brandy new massey ferguson 593 4 wd, w/ loader, it was raining but the auning that comes off the roll bar kep most of it off, i like it, weighs 8600lbs and has the power to move it, has a quike loader, but i stole it to go move a snow bank in the drive way of the people who are nieghbors to the sugar bush, they are going to let me run a line to their drive way and they are going to collect my buckets for me, i wouldnt have been able to turn the tractor and 4 wheel wagon around if i hadnt have moved the snow bank, added about 20 more feet to turn around in, again another huge load off my back, getting there but still have a loooooooooooonnnnnnnggggggggg way to go

[Dennis H.]

Holy cow is it windy here!
Went out this evening to check the buckets, a few trees were actually running but most shut down because of the wind and warm temps.

The fun part was chasing down the lids. Not a single bucket was off but the lids were a different story.
I figure I will be out in the morning after work chasing lids once more.

I have to say that that is the least enjoyable part of making syrup, what a waste of time.

The bright side of all this bad weather is that the next 7 day forecast looks real good for the trees.

[Revi]

We're freezing back up here. It'll be a couple more weeks before it makes sense to tap.

[jrthe3]

dave y and f&s i with you two i going to wait it out as long as i can plus i not ready yet was going to put the stack up today but the wind stop that

[PATheron]

Got up this morning with the first 8 hours sleep Ive had since last thursday. Been averaging 4 or 5 a night with all that Im doing here and making dreams come true for our customers at work. Went out to the shed and have good vac. Both releasers are fine. It just froze last night. 30 out right now. Thinkin I have over 3000 gallons of 2% but not sure exactly how much becouse its in several tanks. Looks like low temps for a couple weeks but that can turn on a dime. With my vac if I can overcome freezups of components I get sap when we hit just above freezing and day after day it adds up. I think thats how I did good last year was a ton of little runs. Just happy Im getting things going more fluidly with my system. Think after we boil saturday Im hitting the woods with this slow down and getting things perfect which will be great when the big runs come and then Im going after more taps. I think I can get another maybe 150 and that should put me somewhere around 3500 I think. Hoping if my sap is all 2% and I think that it is that will give me 150 gallons of syrup anyway on this bonus stuff and thats not bad. Better get ready for work. Have a happy. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

I am also ready for the cold. I need a break. Finaly boiled last night. I have only been able to get in 1300 taps. It takes 3 times as long to tap with the spout adapters. If I had a third arm it might have gone quicker. It took three days to get the vac from 15" to 25". One squirle chew mark can consume 1-2inches of vac. Also a warm pump isn't a happy pump. I had to make a heat exchanger to cool the antifreez. So by yesterday afternoon I had 25" at the pump and 20" at taps at the end of sap ladders. After last night I am ready for a smaller rig and an ro. It takes 250gal to food the pans, 1000 gal to sweeten the pans. Bolth of my blowers died so with natural draft I don't think I was in the 300ghp range. 5 hours to boil 1350 gal. Too much work for too little syrup. This little break in the weather will allow me to finish taping, only 700 to go, fix rodent damage, re-level tanks that have settled, find out what is wrong with the blowers and fix them, get some sleep.
Brian

[802maple]

Please return the real Brian Ryther, the one that told me he wouldn't have small rig and a RO. Just kidding Brian, Keep on Keeping on



I am also ready for the cold. I need a break. Finaly boiled last night. I have only been able to get in 1300 taps. It takes 3 times as long to tap with the spout adapters. If I had a third arm it might have gone quicker. It took three days to get the vac from 15" to 25". One squirle chew mark can consume 1-2inches of vac. Also a warm pump isn't a happy pump. I had to make a heat exchanger to cool the antifreez. So by yesterday afternoon I had 25" at the pump and 20" at taps at the end of sap ladders. After last night I am ready for a smaller rig and an ro. It takes 250gal to food the pans, 1000 gal to sweeten the pans. Bolth of my blowers died so with natural draft I don't think I was in the 300ghp range. 5 hours to boil 1350 gal. Too much work for too little syrup. This little break in the weather will allow me to finish taping, only 700 to go, fix rodent damage, re-level tanks that have settled, find out what is wrong with the blowers and fix them, get some sleep.
Brian

[dano2840]

ok so mom ordered the 4 rolls of leader semi rigid and 300 ft of 1" for my pump line, got the snow bank moved, i think im going to try and run the line from my tank to the peoples drive way on gravity, ive got to raise the tank in the air about 3-4ft ANY IDEAS? i was thinking of taking some big old hemlock logs that i was going to saw into lumber and cutting them to 4 ft tall, They are almost 3ft in dia. so i wouldnt have to support them they would stand on there own, but maybe you guys have a better idea? i cant get to the tank spot with a tractor so i gotta be able to carry the stuff into the woods, (i will have some one help me carry the 3ft x 4ft blocks in of coarse)

[PATheron]

Zar update- Season officially started at my place today. Stats- 36 degrees, partly sunny, just froze last night lightly, light west wind, dump rate on sugarhouse releaser- 30 sec. Thats 6 gallons per minute. Thats 360 gallons per hour into the sugarhouse kitchen. Oh I forgot 25" of vac. Oh yeah baby, Oh yeah. Gonna make a little syrup tomarrow. Next two weeks lots of days in the 30s and I think thats all I need. Just a lot of little runs. Going to box up both releasers to keep them from freezing nights maybe tonight. Dont want to miss a trick. Zar's gettin paid! Zar

[PATheron]

Brian- Running that many taps is harder than we thought? I had to have someone help me tap and it took a WHILE. Ive been burning both ends of the candle with an R.O. and buddies helping me. Your just going to have to do your best and thats that. Ive been going through the same thing with the pump, leaks, moving(pumping sap while freezing crap up) struggling to get vac levels up, etc, etc. Hope you find your groove soon. Theron

[Brian Ryther]

This is my grove. I live for this. If it were easy..... Every day brings new challenges.... I was able to fix my blowers today. Back on track. 400+ gph. Forget the ro and small rig, I make the best tasting syrup around!
BR

[dano2840]

Brian- its not as good as my syrup!!;) hehe lol
but at least your making syrup, its froze up hard around here cold wind to, bringing wood in was actually a chore today, brrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Russell Lampron]

Bryan glad to hear that you are back up and running. I like the small evaporator and RO idea though. Somehow it seems to be a lot easier to cut a cord and half of wood for the season and let the RO do the work. I should be at 700 taps by early season and up to 1000 or more next year. The only change I want to make is to add another membrane to the RO. You make the second best tasting syrup around, I make the best!

[dano2840]

im telling you guys............ mines best over all the rest :)

[tuckermtn]

been chipping away at the to-do list-

got my thermostatically vac. pump control wired up today...thanks to powerdub for the help- worked well in the shop- hopefully does the same in the field- then cleaned and lubed releaser

also soldered a 90 copper elbow on the bottom of galv. stock tank so drains better...

tomorrow cleaning boil, more taps, possibly trailer-hitch mounted dump station

10 day forecast still looks cold here...

[802maple]

Theron- The Lone Ranger and his trusted side kick Taunto are on the way HI HO Silver and away

[dano2840]

went and put in some drops thought i could finish off the pipe i had up allready wit 35 drops, hahahaha i needed like 65 well i think thats a good thing, so i got to sit down and go through the tubing scaps and make some drops, oh yea borrowed the big loader tractor and went up to the house and cut 6 2ftx 3ft logs, for the tank to sit on got them into the pples drive way in which my tank line will go down to, got 4 of them up using my good old rubber maid sled that i used to use when i went sledding back a few years, now adays shes hauling trash barrles full of sap and 250lb logs good rugged sled, i got 4 of them up to the tank shed then i ran out of steam and called it a day, to tuckered out to do the other 2

[maple flats]

My plans have moderated. I was hoping for 800 this season, I still have to count my new section but I am thinking I might only have 650 for 09. Hopefully the count will be closer to 700 but I don't think so. Now I am finishing final prep to be ready to tap with the next thaw as. I am going Monday to pick up a new woods tank and will set it Tuesday. Should have the sugarhouse ready with everything cleaned up and ready to go tomorrow if all goes well. At least the snow in the woods has now gone down enough and the crust is hard enough that I seldom broke thru today. That made walking easier for sure. I just finished connecting my laterals and adding the last few drops today before calling it quits.

[Dennis H.]

Just finished up a 2hr boil this evening.

The trees ran alittle today and with the sap I collected yesterday it made it worth while to boil it down. These past 2 days of 50 & 60 degrees days with winds blowing at 30mph really shut the trees down.

Last night we got back down below freezing and with today in the low 40's and to already below freezing I have a good feeling about tomorrow.

[Sugarmaker]

We added another 31 taps in the yard sugarbush around the sugarhouse. This is Mikes project the I will need to gather:) I like gathering some buckets so it wont be too bad. He and I finished getting the new tires on the A-100 Wheel Horse today and he had fun in the snow. Some pictures on the photobucket.

Should finish all the taps this week before the next run.
Evaporator is drained and the sap is above 12% in the 10 (5 gallon) buckets. Rinsed the rig down and ready for a clean start up.
Changed the draw of to the right side on the rig.

Chris

[Amber Gold]

It was a productive weekend. Got me my feed tank plumbed and once I get my float box back I'll be able to connect it and do a test fire. I started wiring my sugar house...need some more parts and should have it completed on Saturday. Installed some more laterals and should be over 350 total taps. Getting closer to my goal of 500.

It's been over 32 most of the past two weeks...wondering if I should've tapped already...

[PATheron]

BIGSAP UPDATE NORTHEAST PA- Been struggling. Ive had two nights of 8 hour sleep in around 8 days Id say. Usually 4 or 5 between syruping and work for the power co with the storms. Yesterday was a tough one. Nothing worked right. Im fighting freezeups everywhere and this is a tough time to sugar but like a wise old sugarmaker(Parker) says you gotta WANNNNN it. I had roughly 5000 gallons of sap this week to boil this weekend and Mike Christian and Jerry came down and helped me. I cant express the appreciation I have for them to do that. Yesterday we just couldnt get anything to go right. Freezeups were the first part, I have to pump my sap from the bush across the road and it is taking some finagaling to get it reliable. Then this happened. I had the vac running and Im all tired and I go over to lift the flap at the bottom of my double bernard to see if its full of ice and it happened to be the one with the 27" on it. Wrong move. Explosion, The float hit the top of the releaser so hard it almost blew the top off. Destroyed the linkage on top. Then the RO just would not perform at all. Terreble numbers for output and Im not sure if the membrane isnt good or What. Then couldnt get any perfomance out of the evap. Finally gave it up and had a beer and that was really the only good thing that happened to me all day. Went to bed at 1230 got up at 0430 and went back to work. Drained the flue pan and block and tackled it up and had a look. Flues were terreble becouse I cant get my brush back far at all. Cleaned them all out and then Jerry saw that the opening at the end of the arch in the brick was too far back. Took the bricks out and put everything together. Then Jerry had done a super wash on the RO the night before so that was ready to go. Had 2000 gallons of concentrate to do. Fired up the RO big numbers. Ran it all day and the output stayed great so no membrane issue. Now I know how to run and clean it so it will really perform great. The evap is a totally different rig. The boil is unreal. I actually made 20' of stainless stack copper to the top hat. Just stuff the wood right to it. Basically Im doing an honest 600 gallons per hour with the ro running and the boil. Its all 15% when it hits the evap and I think thats going to be the magic number. So this is what I came up with for the week. I sent 150 gallons north with Jerry, Ive got probly 20 in the evap. Took off another 5 after he left and theres probly 500 gallon of 2% down the road. So Id say Ill probly be at 185 for the run. The 150 is 6600$ and Ill tell you what every little bit helps. I feel like Im getting a handle on things now. Nobodys got better friends than I do. Between Matt and Russ coming down last weekend and Jerry and Mike this weekend Ive learned more about sugaring than I would years on my own. Hope everyone likes the stories. Zar

[brookledge]

Just think you were also planning on having alot of buckets about six months ago and we were telling you, you would need about 4 people to do the collecting every day.
You can catch up on the sleep in April
Keep up the good work
Keith

[NH Maplemaker]

Zar, I don't ever go by one of your posts!! So keep those stories coming! As we all are sitting here waiting for our season to start it's great to get here about you guys that are making syrup!! Just don't work your self sick!! That won't help your situation.

Jim L

[Sugarmaker]

Looks like cold weather for a few days, so dumped the sweet back in the front pan and made another 4 gallons of dark amber today. Was a great day to boil as the sun was out and the sugarhouse was very coimfortable.

Mike tore up the place with the WH A-100 Dragging the dog around the yard in the wood wagon.

He also canned up the 8.5 gallons of medium for tapping payment.

We ate pulled pork with maple BBQ glaze for early dinner.

Then traveled south the see Father and Son to assist in hanging some 3/4 inch main line. Very nice looking set up Jim and Chase will have this year. They are not going to tap for a week or more.
Got some 5/16 from Jim to finish the last 20 taps on Old Albion road north of town. Looks like we will be just shy of 500 taps for 09. Still have some tapping to do just prior to the next warm up to complete all the drilling.

Regards,
Chris

[mapleack]

I just got in from boiling, collected 215 gal of sap today, most of which ran yesterday. This was the third boil we've had, for a total of about 800 gal of sap so far. We added another 93 taps today on tubing, for a total of 756 taps so far. I'd like to go to 900, but if we get a good season I'll run out of wood.

[maple flats]

I'm just going to pick up a new woods tank tomorrow and will set it Tuesday. Then, after rinsing the evap today I still need to final clean everything and I am ready to tap with the next thaw. I may add some more taps this week because the forcast has all week below freezing except for a few hours Wednesday. Might be i can get more taps in on my new bush yet. Like to hit 800 total but it doesn't look real good. In the woods the snow is not a factor in most spots anymore. It has settled/melted/whatever enough that many areas I can walk on top if the temp stays below 32. If it gets above 32 it is tap time. I should be able to tap everything in 2 days once I get started. I have 2 decent cordless drills, 2 batteries for one and 3 for the other. I look forward to seeing what it runs like into a tank with good slope and near 400 taps on line there. The most I ever had on one line before was 70 something. And it will really get good next year if I get vacuum. RO first then vacuum, hope i can do both in same season.

[802maple]

Thanks Theron for a fun time, just got home

[sapman]

I got almost 300 drops in the woods today. One more day should finish up the hill. Then several hundred reds to hook up in the lowland, and a bunch of screwing around to do making connections, setting tank and vacuum pump, run pipes to saphouse, etc. Hoping to be ready by March 1.

Tim

[royalmaple]

Got the new rig moved into the sugarhouse today.

Took the pans off, unloaded the loads of stuff into the sugarhouse. Spent the rest of the day with a wire wheel and went over all the iron, and then hit it with a rattle can. Looking pretty nice now.

Cleaned out the ash pit and removed the grates and cleaned below. Had one side of the brick fall out during the move. So I got them back in place and just have to put the pans on and clean them up.

Big suck is going to be here this week. Theron better hurry up and get what few runs he can till I turn that sucker on.

Hope to have the evaporator all done tomorrow so I can focus on the woods. Pleanty to do there. Hopefully things don't get going for a few weeks. This thaw is a bit weird for us, should have been about 3 weeks ago.

There is talk of roads being posted in the near future, yikes. Gotta move some wood.

[Russell Lampron]

Made up a list of things that needed to be done before I could tap and threw it in the trash last night. Had a good weekend and got everything on the list crossed off. I still have a small list of things to be done when I have sap but things are looking real good now.

Theron it was a pleasure to go down with Matt and help you out. I learned a lot of stuff that will help me out up here. One of the first things that I did was run a recirculation line from my RO to my bulk tank.

Matt those rattle cans make a big difference don't they. Glad to hear that you have your new rig home and that the big suck is on the way.

[Gary R]

Runs have been slow. I've collected 113 gal. of sap over the week. I've made 1 5/8 gal of syrup. Sugar content from the reds has been low. Looking for things to improve soon.

The new rig is working great. Boiling rate is what I expected. My preheater is not keeping up now with the amount of sap I'm flowing to the pan. I may work on a parallel flow preheater during this cold spell. It keeps going on and on and on:)

[Jeff E]

Finished putting together the west pump house, and ran wire and 1.5" line for vacuum to it, and wire and 1" line for sap transfer. Connected the big lines to the vacuum pump.
Also ran wire for 1 of 5 mainlines I still want to get in before March 1. This week is a busy one at work, but I am hoping to get the releaser and tank down to the pump house and mainlines runs.
Next week the laterals and connections, then put in the drops and tap at the same time.
I am wondering THERON, do you think hyper concentrating your sap to over 20% jammed up the RO filter? I am hoping to go to 12-15% on one pass through the RO, and match the output volume from the RO to the evap rate of the 3x12.

[jrthe3]

got about 500 taped today got another 500 or so to do tomorrow my new 100 taps coming from maple pro are on back order with no sign in site so it looks like i will be not putting out the other 100 buckets i will have plenty with what i got

[PATheron]

Jeff- I know it jammed it up. We didnt really do it the right way when we did it. I thought it was maybe not quite right overall becouse after washing it it still wouldnt perform and I had reason to believe it wasnt good to start with. It came back from CDL this year and the paperwork said it was 80%. All I could figure was must be I didnt wash it right so I just took it in stride and figured it was my fault and told them to send me another one. Then I got a call and they said there was a paper work screw up and it was 110%. So by this point I wasnt really sure what to think. So when we did it I figured if it was bad cant really hurt it, that kind of thing so we played around with it. The way we did the first stuff was we recirced a long time bringing everything up. Well, we had 4000 gallons and it ran a long time. Then we pinched it down hard and put it up in the head tank at that high percent. That did clog things up. Well after being mean to it like that it really needed a serious wash not the way I was doing it. Jerry showed me how to really wash it so it was clean and when Jerry did it we had 5000 gallons. We recirced that till it was pretty sweet and did a really really good wash. We also rinsed it every 4 hours. Then we went back to recirculating it and fired up the evap and as I needed some concentrate we would shoot some up there but we would leave it at the recirc settings. Like half and half. So we were not jumping it way up when we put it to the head tank just putting it in at the same level. We would get a little ahead of the evap and send it back to the tank again to recirc. After a little while everything in the recirc tank became so sweet that you could put it all to the head tank and when you did you still didnt have to pinch it down hard. So when we did it that time we never probly concentrated as hard as I would have even if I single shot it just to 8%. Most that whole day running like that the R.O. either exceeded the rating of the machine or at least matched it. At the very end as everything became so sweet I think it dropped to 480 and that was after a good long time of doing it. That batch leveled out at the end to be going in the headtank at 15% and I think that is the magic number for my machine and setup. Thats about as good as I can get with my rig without hurting it. I think the only way you could go higher would be with a bigger machine which I wish I had but I dont so thats that for now. At the 15% I couldnt tell any taste difference what so ever. I think the 22% stuff tasted lighter like light beer compared to a lager or something like that. It tasted good but not as flavorfull to me but that was our first syrup too so who really knows. I know maple grove considered it just as valuable to them as the stuff I did at 15%. I wish I had more rig and make it all to 22%. Less wood, less time, more profit, what the heck. If the customers happy Im happy. Theyll mix it with everything under the sun anyway and if I send them stuff done to 8% theyre not offering me a premium or anything. Anyway thats the story. Should have put it in the RO section but maybe others will like the info. Theron

[802maple]

Hi Jeff
It wasn't anything to do with 22% sap, It was more that no one ever told Theron how to do proper washing and rinsing. We ran 22-24 percent sap at our woods for 7 years and never missed a stroke and all 6 membranes were still over 100%. That was after they had processed 30,000 gallons of syrup.
Even at 5 % you need to wash and rinse the right way. This is not Theron's fault either as he was never told how to do a proper wash and rinse. I don't think he is going to have much problem's now, I would certainly head for 22% sap again with his unit just as long as he keeps on the 4 hour max and then rinse and do a good cleaning at the end of every day. No matter how much you concentrate to a clean RO is a happy RO


Finished putting together the west pump house, and ran wire and 1.5" line for vacuum to it, and wire and 1" line for sap transfer. Connected the big lines to the vacuum pump.
Also ran wire for 1 of 5 mainlines I still want to get in before March 1. This week is a busy one at work, but I am hoping to get the releaser and tank down to the pump house and mainlines runs.
Next week the laterals and connections, then put in the drops and tap at the same time.
I am wondering THERON, do you think hyper concentrating your sap to over 20% jammed up the RO filter? I am hoping to go to 12-15% on one pass through the RO, and match the output volume from the RO to the evap rate of the 3x12.

[802maple]

I would also like to say that I had a great time down there to Therons making "Pennsylvannia Fancy", meeting some new people, sharing good stories about previous encounters, talking deer hunting and fishing, and best of all seeing what can happen to releaser when you force a flapper open under vacuum, I am just sorry I missed it. You can't say that I am not able to see into the future though as I just happened to bring another releaser with me.

[Sugarmaker]

Hung the last 20 taps on short run tubing north of Albion. Hope to tap the last 86 on Wednesday. Jim Bortles I did not use a inch of the tubing you gave me:) I ended up with 2 feet of tubing left from what I had laying around.

May go with Keith to check on tank he is going to look at tomorrow night.

Things are starting to look like syrup season. Temps may come up enough for a run mid week.

Doing paper work tonight making labels for jugs and glass.

Regards,
Chris

[Father & Son]

Chris,
Thanks with the help with the main line last night. Now I'm ready to string the laterals and hope everything flows the right way.
Hang on to that roll of tubing, it may come in handy for that next 100 taps you find. Spent today finding plugs for the poly tanks. Had some luck at the Western Reserve Co-op in Andover, Ohio. Fixed me up with what he could and sent me to a plumming supply store for the rest. Now my woods tanks are ready. Weather looks like one or two days of minimal run mid-week then another cold spell. Maybe I'll be tapping on my birthday instead of boiling.

Jim

[PATheron]

Dave y you crazy bucket dumper- Where the heck are you, we need a status update soon? Theron

[dano2840]

went and got my 450 gal tank that comes with my evap on sunday, me and my moms boyfriend got it out of the truck and over a snow bank, but just us alone werent going to get her up into the woods, we went back and got the pans for the evaporator and brought them home, i went back up that night and took the bricks out of the back part of the arch, went back up last night and decided we ought to take them out of the front to, i was going to leave them in and use a tractor to lift it into the truck because in the fire box of a 3x8 theres only like 200 lbs of bricks, but the mortar was loose in the bricks around the fire box so i took them out last night, (kindof funny the fire box bricks were fire brick and their mortar was loose but the bricks in the back were red brick and their mortar was rock solid, took about 2000 blows with the hammer to get those out) but i gues a slab for the evap is going in this week, maybe.... my moms boy friend is handleing that part so we will see, if its not in by friday im going to go get my arch and put it in the sugar house my way slab or no slab, then on sat i will brick it ( idont know how but im going to learn in a hurry, probably will just take some mortar and the bricks and just do it, shouldnt be to hard) i want the evap, set up and ready to go because i leave for FL on sunday morning and dont get back until 4pm march 1st ive got to get the carpenter back becasue the roof jack isnt the same pitch as my roof and he didnt build the jack up to match the pitch, so if i put the stack through it it would be slanted side ways, gotta clean the tanks and get them sittuated and plumbed gota move the materials pile out of the way of the door to the sugar house for the supposed cement truck, then gotta get some 1" and run it down to a drive way, i want to get that stuff DONE before i got, YES I HAVE LOTS MORE TO DO BUT THOSE ARE THE NECESSITIES before i go so i can process what ive got up, i will finish adding taps after i tap, when i get back i gues, lots of fine tuning and adjusting needs to be done, (i.e. fixing sags in the older lamb laterals, need to drive a couple of posts where my main line crosses my log road as thats not supported by wire so i can still use the road) and other stuff, got alot to do and i have found my self running through the woods with out knowing it, and moving faster than ever with out purposely trying to, hmmmmm maybe sugaring adrenaline?

[tuckermtn]

hung two buckets today that are on our two earliest running trees- check tonight at 5:30 pm and about a cup of sap in each...glad to know were not missing anything yet...

[jrthe3]

got them all tapped today the count is 972 tapps and maybe another 25 buckets but will see how tomorrow run will go befor i tap more

[Sugarmaker]

Boyd,
Yikes 972, we are about half as many and that's plenty for a part time job.
I think I may gather tomorrow afternoon just to get thing cleaned up. there may be several gallons out there?


I did get the last of the taps in tonight just at dark, and the count is around 530-550? so that may help provide a little more syrup if the season is good.

Chris

[Father & Son]

Chris,
Put that roll of tubing to work. I know you can hit 600!

[maple flats]

Still not the right weather here to tap, SO..... I decided to add more taps. I picked up another 300' of mainline and some 5/16. Busy with a honey do tomorrow but will put that up Thursday (or get it started). Just extending my line up into my new bush farther and to maintain 2% rise I am getting higher on the side of the hill. Will now have about 50% missed until I add vacuum on the new part. Will need sap ladders to get those. The 10 day forcast looks like next week about Thursday to tap unless they revise again. If this keeps up I really might actually hit my 800 tap goal for this season yet.

[Sugarmaker]

Dave K, Sounds like you are going to be right at the planned tap count hope the sap flows don't swamp you. Or like you say the boil time will be a little longer.:)

Regards,
Chris

[Dennis H.]

Well this was the 1st chance that I had to do an update!

The sap has been running down here, it is all I can do to keep up with the sap and boil what I get that day, well today was the day I couldn't do it.
I somehow picked up the flu and that is what did it! I have about 30 gals yet to boil so that will be about 3 hrs worth.

The temps for the next 7 days look just as good as the past 7.

It sounds like more and more of you'all are getting ready to go or just started.
Theron it sure sounds like you are representing PA nicely! You go get that BIGSAP! I know I sure am trying down here.

[buxtonboiler]

Might be a little early, but i'm tapping this weekend.

[Dave Y]

I have been out of town and under the weather the last few days. I am ready to tap and will begin to do so tonite after work. I hope to be tapped out by the 1st of march.

[PATheron]

Dave Y- Good to have you back. Hope you get to feeling better soon. Take plenty of time to recoop. Say like till this evening then theres one thing you need to do. GO!!!!!GO!!!!!GO!!!!!! TAP!!!!TAP!!!!!TAP!!!!!GET THOSE BUCKETS IN THE AIR!!! BIGSAP!! BIGSAP!!!! Theron

[Dave Y]

Theeeeron,
you are a nut!!!

[jrthe3]

chris part time job this is all i do have not really worked sence befor x-mas

weather looks good will go out around 4 to see how they ran got a line on a 3x10 raised flue grimm hood and preheater for next year if it make my sugar house home i will be looking for about another 2000 taps for next year

[PATheron]

Dave- I hope you have lots of wood with all those buckets! I still question that 25" of vac will beat those things. How much syrup are you hoping to make this year with all those taps? Do you have enough tanks to keep ahead of it till you get caught up with the boiling? Hopefully next week youll be lighting a fire with the weather warming up better get those suckers hung. Theron

[Dave Y]

Theeeron,
I have 31cords of wood and about 8,000 gals of storage.Once I light afire this year It wont go out till the season is over. I am going to have to hire a man to run the evaporator while I sleep and days I will be forced to go to my day job. I already have about 6 people on the pay roll be sides my volunteers. Just so you will sleep easier tonite, I put out 300 taps after work today.

[PATheron]

Dave- Thats what I wanted to hear. 300 buckets- 1200 gallons of sap, now were talkin. Your poor evap is going to be getting some payback. What do you do if you have to shut down for cleaning sand and stuff like that or do you have a spare syrup pan? Your neighbors are going to be wondering what the heck is going on over there. Therell still be steam in June. I dont know If I should hope for a good year for you or not. If you get a good year you get lots of money but your going to be darn near dead by summer. You need a great big rig with a free source of fueloil or something. You ever look into burning waste oil or that kind of thing? Then you could get a super big evap with guns and do it fast but not go bankrupt. Seems like you could get tons of waste motor oil or somehow burn the cooking oil. They pretty much give those big rigs away just need some cheap fuel. Theron

[3rdgen.maple]

Theeeeeron your killing me with sap envy. Weather here does not open up to tapping till end of month I wanna TAP trust me I REALLY WANNA TAP. I just don't wanna boil snow. If you are missing any sap in that little tank you have it is NOT LEAKING it could be in my holding tank. If I could only figure out how to get it here I would rid you off that evil sap you have on vac. Kidding aside I'M JEALOUS. Keep us sapless bums updated.

[PATheron]

3rdgen- Ill keep you guys updated but were shut down for now. Be pretty quiet probly till middle of next week. Then Ill get some BIGSAP updates going. Like to keep you guys psyched up. Theron

[Dave Y]

Treeeeeeron,
300 taps not 300 buckets. the buckets wont go out until after the tubing is tapped. I tapped buckets first last year and ended up with 500 blocks of ice. I don't want that to happen this year. as far as waste oil or veggie oil goes there aren't enough places around here to collect any of those products.besides the only way i am going away from wood is when my kids put me in the nursing home, and that aint happening as I will die first!

[Parker]

DaveY- HARDCORE!!!! THE BUCKETMASTER!!! I LOVE IT!!! There is a 6x18 in the latest Maplenews for $1200,,Stainless pans to boot,,802-461-7664, I just saw the ad,,never seen the rig,,,but that would give you a littel R&R,,,or time for MORE BUCKETS!!!

[PATheron]

I like that BUCKETMASTER thing. Someone tells me their running a thousand buckets I sit up and take notice. Thats SERIOUS! Ive told Matt what buckets will do down here and he shakes his head. I used to have a tree when I was a kid that would fill 3 4 gallon ones before I got home from school and then do it again that night maybe. Sap was running into the bigbelly this morning. It was 33 degrees but had been like that most of the night I think. May get some today. Only going to be 35 but thats all it takes if its already thawed out. West wind too. Took 3 nights off Parker gotta try to get back at it. Lots to do. Got to get back to WANNNNNNNNNNTIN IT! Theeeeron