Sunapee

[Mark-NH]

Ok, here is my plan. I want to run the new wet/dry line this weekend. Replacing about 800' of single main line that went through a culvert and ran chest high across the field with a new wet/dry line suspended over the snowmobile trail and above the fields.

It froze most nights in the culvert and did not thaw out till after noon. Also hoping, with a clean installation, to keep it up year around. It is high enough to keep it away from the cows and curious people.

Once this is complete I will be ready to tap out. Busy next weekend so it will be the weekend of the 21st that we tap out. I should be able to tap both bushes in a weekend with a little help.

Of course, plans are subject to change.

[3% Solution]

Mark,
Hey the weekend of the 14th looks to be the weekend for us!!!!
Haven't forgot you guys checking us out this year!
See ya soon!!!

Dave

[Mark-NH]

Dave,

I am planning on getting over to your operation this year. Looking forward to it. Weather for this weekend is looking perfect for getting out in the wood and working.

[3% Solution]

Mark,
We're waiting for ya!!!!
And your crew!!!!

Dave

[Mark-NH]

Made progress on the suspended main line today. We have the wet line completely strung and the second, dry line 3/4 of the way. Ran out of ties of all things. Turned out to be about 600' that we suspended with one support almost half way. I know it is asking a lot to span those distances but it is what the situation dictated.

We tied the 3/4" lines to the guide wire but did not crank down the wire ties. My hope is that we will be able to add enough tension to the main lines that we can avoid dips.

Picked up 300 ties at Home Depot tonight and hope to finish suspending tomorrow and hoist everything back in place. From there I will add the vacuum boost and then we should be ready for tapping.

Parker, you are right. When the sun came out today it warmed up to hight 30's for about 1/2 an hour and felt wonderful.

[Parker]

Mark- I buy "bag ties" at Carroll concrete across from Ruger's,,they do rust, but have been working well for the last 7 years,,,snow should be setteled some for you today,,,50 deg here now (5AM)

[Mac_Muz]

I just read all of this thread too "The 2009 Maplecreek Experiance "

In Tamworth today we hit 48 degrees. I dug out my stove and pan from with in the shed, checked out my drying white pine which may or not be any good, but that isn't a problem.

What and why I am posting about is I don't want to miss the early run, but then I don't want to jump the gun and find out it turns up too cold, too windy and or too cloudy, and my taps dry up too early.

I might have all of 20 pails out, and do not want to tap twice, because I don't think it is wise.

The trees I use are not on this property for the most part and are 1/2 mile off mostly on town land along the road. I suppose that depends, but i also ask the locals who would own the land if that land wasn't with in the town set back.

These trees are shaded by tall white pine all the time, Always in shade. There is far less snow plowed up to them this year, from last.

I have found some more trees, maybe more than 5, and closer, still in shade most of the day.

Last year i was left wanting more sap. I made about 3 gallons, which must make you guys laff hard, but all I want is 5 gallons if i can get it, which is plenty for 3 people a few gifts and lots of work for one man burning wood.

Feb 14th is next Saturday, and before then it is supposed to be very fair for 2 days. I am not sure what to do, tap a few and see? Wait?

Last year i tapped i think on March 1st, but i would have to go read my thread on that to see if it is true. But I recall I waited, and had a bad time getting sap.

Bein' you guys are all Maple GODS I AM DEAD CERTAIN WHAT EVER YOU TELL ME WILL HAPPEN 100% :D

[mcgeec]

I agree completely with Mac-Muz. I am an even smaller operation than him, in the north end of Nashua. My trees are all neighbors. I have 25 taps and made 2.5 gallons last year.

When do we pull the trigger?! Feb 14? Feb 21? March 1?

[Mac_Muz]

mcgeec, I'ld say you are bigger than me. I had out 15 taps last year, and hope to have 20 this year.

Yesterday was a nice sunny and bright day with high winds. Not a good day for sap, not here anyway. Of course I don't have 1 tap out, and so I can't say I really 'know' that, but in the past on windy days not much sap ran.

I still haven't looked at my thread in this section from last year, to see what day I tapped, but in general I don't till March 1st, or very close to that usually depending on a weekend as close to march 1st as I could.

I am in no hurry to tap, because tapping to early just allows the type of tap I use to dry up. I use primitive taps, made of cast alloy (pot metal I guess, some steel, and maybe there is 1 or 2 stainless taps)

I don't liquor up the trees with various solutions to tempt the tree to give more, or kill bacteria. I just use a clean auger and drive in a clean tap.

Clean is by eye.. Hang the pail, slam the cover on, and move on. My pails are joint compound and like pails.

Once I lived even more rural than now, and had the best of my ever best trees along a brook in a very south facing and sunny location.

Each and almost every day when the temp was right and the winds were calm, my buckets of this size would be nearly over flowing!

That wasn't the case here last year. That leaves me wondering if some how I missed a early run, which about now I am wondering again. But I don't think so, and if I did it wasn't much loss.

[Mark-NH]

When I was running 13 buckets I once tapped with 3' of snow on the ground because I didn't want to miss anything. An old time sugarer drove by slowly while I was tapping the road side maples and rolled his window down to chat.

Explained to him that I knew it was early but did not want to miss any of the season and his reply was "don't hurt to let the tree have a little". North Nashua, I know you guys run a lot warmer and earlier than up here in Sunapee, so I really don't have any advice for you other than watch your local forecast.

Tamworth is a similar weather pattern to here and I drove through there last Thursday and you have about what we have for snow. My plan is to be tapped out by end of day Sunday 2/22. If I saw a long term warming trend before then it might change by mind but a couple warm days this week is not worth chasing.

[Mac]

My lines are up. 120 ready to tap. Thankful to have another week though, to get everything else ready. First year with an evaporator... two years with propane and a flat pan. I'm sure there is somthing I haven't done yet.... I can see already it will be high anxiety the first few days....!!! Guess thats what the boiling soda is helpful for. It will be nice to have this resource when things start " heading south".

[Mac_Muz]

Well I dropped down and read my thread from Last year. I set taps march 2nd. Not much of any race to get that part done, just a race to get every thing else done starting with nothing. Bam!~

This year i might even have wood ahead, if it dried any. By the time i got to cutting it it was buried again.. But it has been about 8 weeks stacked in the weather, and appears as drier than when I dug it out and cut it up. it was old slab wood dumped on the ground years before i moved here, so it dried, but then it took on ground moisture. I don't expect the lower portions in the stack to be any good either, just the part above the snow.

The snow here is settleling but I'ld say there is still over 3 feet deep of the stuff, far less than last year!

Many of the trees I use are in the road line where town plowing uses road graders and big bucket loaders to wing back bankings. Last year i had to do a bit of ice climbing to get up and over to the trees.

The tap holes are over my head standing there in summer. Last year I dug down some, and first placed the buckets on the snow, to just mark and then drill the holes to tap. If I hadn't I would have needed a step ladder to get my buckets back at seasons end.

Now that is because of road graders and bucket loaders, and not natural snow fall.

It is likely I will wait and tap on Feb 21/22 which is still earlier than I have ever set taps by a week. But even the weather will determine that.

I do wonder though if anyone sets 1 tap as a test, and checks it, perhaps on a good known tree?

[Parker]

I tapped the maple in my yard last sunday-virtually no flow,,,one of the factors keeping my itchy trigger finger in check...on a decent day that bucket would be full

[3% Solution]

Still got some cold weather in store for us.
Just think this rain that's coming in (.38") will turn the snow to crust and we can walk on it!!!!!
Hang tight boys, hang tight, this is a teaser today!!!!!

Dave

[Mark-NH]

Solid advice Dave. We know this 2 day warm spell was sent to test our resolve. Hold tight boys. Don't crack under the pressure. This weekend should be a corker to get out in the woods.

[Mac_Muz]

yeah I ploan to wait, and maybe beyond this coming weekend too.. never before have I ever set taps any earlier than March 1st. Might not this time.

The nice thing is I can ask and read here to get an idea, maybe even see whats going on south of me. And in my case since all it is, is a love of labor and I don't earn 1 cent, it really doesn't matter. Almost no matter what happens i will get something, and I hope that will be enough for some food preps for the next on coming year.

I still have eatten my fill, and there is still some left over from the past year.

I guess my needs are met with less than 3 gallons, since there is still some around, and at that I gave away several pints to locals who helped and or some to a few friends.

I will be on the ice today dealing with broken cars and trucks.. No fun, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do and it better than the sun beating on my head and being eatten alive by black flies. Maybe tomorrow I will cut some dead white pine. I want the rain to pass first if it is going to.

[mcgeec]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for the advice. It reminded me that I jumped the gun last year and put in half my taps. Everything froze up for 10 days.

When I tapped the rest, those new taps ran great for four weeks. The earlier taps probably produced about a tenth what the later taps did.

Besides, I will spend this weekend working on the platform to my first sugar shack.

McGee

[Cardigan99]

Mac Muz. I've got a couple of tap holes from last year I hung buckets from that are almost 9' off the ground. Tapped them chest high on top of 5 feet of snow on the edge of the field. Glad we don't have that kind of snow this year.

[3% Solution]

Cardigan99,
The snow has really dropped here, wasn't over the tops of my boots today.
Last weekend I was up to my butt.
The snow is coming away from the bases real good.
As soon as this cold snap passes I guess we're going to drill some holes.
Still have to watch the weather.
Stay safe.

Dave

[Mac_Muz]

Cardigan99, I plan to use some of the same trees I did last year in the towns plow line, but the snow isn't nearly as deep this year, still there is enough.

I have found access to some new trees too, but harder to get at, on the field line. The snow is going fast here in the Fog which eats snow fast.

Still I will probably need to snow shoe in the woods line to tap.

Still no trees I can access are in any real sun for any good amount of time.

I am not sure exactly what that means as any other time i did this the trees got good sun, when ever there was any.

Rembering isn't one of my best things to do in life, but the little i can it seems that sunny days dod the best.

The best of any trees I recall were in the sun, with a field between them and the sun and a fast clean brook at their heels.. Practicly roots in the water.

That place is way to far for me to go everyday. That place was perfect for lines, but I have never used any. That was where I had 22 taps out and nearly killed myself trying to keep up with a 2x2 pan... geeze the things I get myself into.

[Mark-NH]

We tapped road side maples on a dirt road here in town for 5 years. Hung about 70 buckets if I remember correctly. What a battle between the plows, snow banks and water running under the banks. You would drop through the snow banks unexpectedly and into a couple feet of running water spilling both collecting pails.

There were a couple big trees flanking a driveway in the middle of the line. Trouble was, the guy snow blowed his gravel driveway and blew the snow right towards the trees. Bottom of my buckets usually looked like a gold pan from the 49'ers gold rush filled with huge nuggets.

[Cardigan99]

3%, Mac Muz. Yeah, we've lost quite a bit of snow this week, but it's still a good two plus feet in the woods. I was out there yesterday running laterals. The worst part was the hard pack from my previous snowshoe trail was breaking thru. Real heavy wet snow on the surface. Mac Muz, I've got 30 or so trees on the edge of the road that didn't run so well last year because the banks were pretty high. Not half has high right now so I hoping for a better year on those.

Todd

[Mac_Muz]

The weather seems about normal, and I don't see tapping early is going to get me anywhere yet any way. Today I plan to get more wood and re-stack a wood pile the wind blew over. That pile was stacked way to high to be airy.

If that wood dries maybe it can be used up last. I like to leave standing dead as long as i can since it stays drier that way, and there is a mess of it, in a royal mess. This land was once a horse race track and then abandoned in the 30's sometime. White pine came in and crowded every other thing out, and then crowded itself out, so there is a mess of dead standing that just needs to be gone to let in light.

Makes for a handy way to gather sappin wood though.

According to MSN weather it looks to be too cold.. Might go tramp down trails to new trees more in the woods though, in snoe shoes of course.

And yeah I hate 'post holing' myself but ya get what ya get doncha'?

Mark, Yeah last year the wing plows covered some of my buckets with sand, as the banking crumbled and fell in the town road. Some how that sand got inside some of the buckets, but it's good sand ain't it? Granite and quartz!
........................
question..I see all the smilies as red x's except the blue face one with 3 ??? marks over it. Anyone know why that might be?

I found if I type the code sometimes it shows up in a rely though.. :oops a test of sorts.. I typed the code in the event it shows. That's even more odd.. the smilies shows and the last of the code still appears jammed right into it.

another test :0

[Mark-NH]

plan for the weekend:

Tap Nielsen's Saturday and Dexter's Sunday. Somewhere in between I need to install the new blower. I bought a 5 cfm squirrel cage blower and had the sheet metal fabricated. Just need to cut out the tin on the arch and screw everything together.

Don't know if I will get a chance to play around with the vacuum pumps but if I get all the taps in I will have time to play with them later.

[Mac_Muz]

The weekend huh? It looks to cold over all for tamworth, but sonce the trees I have are more spread out 'IF' I don't use the trees along side the road, I may put out 4 test taps, one more or less in each location. That is very 'ingeneral' sine these trees are located all over the place.

My sled and snow shoes are going to get a work out this time :D

[Mark-NH]

Yes, tapping this weekend. I work all week so I only have weekends to get things done. Maybe a little early but at least it will be one more item off the to do list. Weather for Sunday is looking crappy and I won't tap if it is going to be miserable out. Maybe I get one bush done this weekend and one the next.

Gotta keep plugging away, one item at a time. Seems achievable this way instead of making the big list. That can be demoralizing.

[Mark-NH]

sitting here Sunday morning with my cup of coffee figuring today's work. Yesterday was a good day. Got Nielsen's all tapped out. We had that done by Noon. 218 taps and I would like to add 32 this year to bring it to an even 250.

No significant damage to the tubing. The ice storm hit hard south of here but we really had little damage on this one. Good luck to all who have been working hard for the last 2 months just trying to get back to where they were.

Tapping went so well that we had enough time to install a vacuum booster and complete the wet and dry line install in the woods. This is the first year with a suspended main line and first for dry line. We are now complete down to the collection end. By complete I mean done with the initial work. Once vacuum is up and running it will be on to tracking down leaks and dips.

Canceled plans to tap Dexter's bush today because of the storm. Instead I will log some time in the sugar house installing the new 500 CFM blower and duct work into my, new to me, 3 x8.

Got the feed line installed to the evaporator this week. Going from drop to raised flue requires that I raise the head tank about 4". Going to cheat and instead of raising the platform I'm just block it up.

Next weekend I will have to finish tapping the lines and hook up vacuum. I'll wait another week to hang buckets.

[3% Solution]

Good morning,
Sounds like you guys are progressing nicely!
We are going to tap next weekend for sure.
That should take all of 4 hours!!
Sounds like 12" to 16" for us today.
Keep plugging!

Dave

[Cardigan99]

We're holding out for the weekend of the 7th. Taps are between 1400 and 1700 ft above sea level and I just can't see the sap running before then up here.

[Mark-NH]

Nervously watching weather forecast for end of the week. Looks like 40's and rain Thursday-Friday. If so, that could be a good run. I am not ready to take advantage if it does run. I have one bush tapped but no vacuum yet and the other bush has not even been tapped.

I only need a day to get taps and vacuum up and running, providing all equipment cooperates. I could take Wednesday off if it were going to be really beneficial. If not, I'll get tapped out on Saturday. What do you guys think?

[tuckermtn]

Mark- we are going to also get things ready in anticipation of a run on Thursday/Friday-

probably have half our taps in by thursday morning...

bring it on...

-Eric

[3% Solution]

Mark-NH,
Tapping crew is coming for the weekend.
By the looks of the night time temps, those trees may just about thawout by the end of the day Friday.
Then back to borderline temperatures this weekend.
I could be wrong, hope I am!!!

Dave

[Amber Gold]

I'm taking Thursday off and will be tapping all morning and setting up my releaser and tank.

[Hop Kiln Road]

I'll set a test bucket out Wednesday PM and tap out Sunday. Don't think it will run until the end of next week. Good Luck Gentlemen!

[Mark-NH]

Got the new blower up and running on the new arch last night. Ordered a 500 CFM squirrel cage blower and had a sheet metal friend of mine order the duct from the blower to evaporator.

I cut out and then removed all the tin from the back wall of the base under the fire box. This left just the 2" steel box frame. Lucked out in that the tabs on the duct fit just inside the frame but the body of the duct was bigger than the opening. I only had to hammer the tabs over on all 4 sides and did not have to secure the duct to the arch. Screwed the other end to the blower, hooked up the electrical and she was off and running.

I had a rheostat already installed for my precious blower. Don't know why but with the new fan there is not much speed difference between the low and high setting. On the last blower the same rheostat made for a much wider fan speed range.

Did not get ready for Thursday and Friday. I hope for those of you who are tapped out it runs like hell and for the rest of us, it stays cold.

Mark

[Mark-NH]

Spent the entire day in the woods Saturday. Sat down at the end of the day, exhausted, opened a tapping soda and celebrated sugaring. If not for maple I would not have been outside, in the woods getting fresh air. It was high 20's and the sun was high and bright.

Now to details. 3 of us got Dexter's (220) tapped out in about 2.5 hours. Only a few down lines. Most from one big old girl that gave up the ghost and came down sometime over the last year. Gave me a chance to tighten up the lines.

After that, 2 of us headed over to Nielsen's to try to hook up the sp-ll and GB single mechanical releaser. Joel tried 1 more pull on the come-along and snapped the mainline cable. Took us an hour to fix that but gave us the chance to set it up a little better.

This set up is all new as the mainline is coming into a new location. Takes time to think this out and set it up. Probably spent 4 hours setting the tank, it has to be on a side hill, releaser and vacuum.

We were working in an open location and the wind picked up in the afternoon and the clouds came up. Changed to a cold day quickly and I was ready to get warm at 4.

Status: Both bushes tapped out. Vacuum 90% complete for one. The other vacuum is electric so that should go quickly today. Doesn't look like we will have to worry about boiling this week. Jet stream has dropped down and put us back in a winter pattern. Good chance to rest up this week and get ready for go time.

Mark

[3% Solution]

Mark-NH,
Was that you on the old rail bed by Depot Rd. yesterday afternoon about 2:30?
Red pickup with a plow?

Dave

[Mark-NH]

Hi Dave,

Yes, that was me. That is George Nielsen's old property. We were setting up the vacuum pump and releaser. This will be the third year tapping that hillside but the first for pulling the sap all the way to the rr tracks. We've spent plenty of hours setting up a wet/dry line to get the sap to an accessible point. I hope it works out.

We have about 220 taps in there right now with capacity for a bunch more if we want to string more line and if the main line works out.

We are done with the initial work and now will wait for sap to run. Then we go on leak patrol and system tweak mode.

You will find that you like those lines a lot. Saves a ton of time on collection. Only drawback is you can't tell which trees are producing what.

[3% Solution]

Mark,
Yeah that should work real nice for you guys, that's good ground there , not muddy.
Yeah we had two lines last year and now have 5 short / small ones.
Sure do like that one stop shopping!!!!!
Got to keep a few buckets for snow arobics!!
Stopped in to check out Van's new rig and the work he has done in there ......... very nice!!!!
Maybe this coming weekend we'll get something running.

Dave

[Mark-NH]

Looks like the sap gods are shinning down on us. Calling for warming up Friday and continuing to warm right through the weekend. For those of us desk jockeys it couldn't be any better. I plan to fire up the vacuums Friday morning and let them clean the lines out. Depending upon how much I get Friday and what quality it is, I may even dump Friday night and start fresh and clean for Saturday.

Coming on the weekend, and having no sap on hand, we can spend Saturday walking the lines, checking for leaks, and dialing the vacuum in. If the weather forecast is anywhere near correct, Sunday will be spent dialing in the sugar house and new evaporator.

I still have to put up the new stack which is typically a half hour job. But not this year. New evaporator, smaller stack diameter and new location through the roof. Also have to hook up the feed tank but a plumber friend of mine already installed the feed pipe. i just have to block the tank up to match the new line height. This is because we went from drop to raised flue.

After that it will be time to flood the pans for the first time. Cross your fingers for me that there are no leaks. Honestly, the syrup pan is pretty warped and there is a farmer weld on one of the drains. I wouldn't be surprised if I discover a leak. I'm planning to buy a new front pan at Bascom's open house anyway. Now if the flue pan leaks I will be devastated.

Can't wait to start dialing in the new system. Get some sleep everyone. It is almost go time.

[Cardigan99]

"Almost go time" is right! I've got tomorrow and Friday off. Heading to Bascom's first thing for a couple more things then it's up the hill to string up the last 75 trees. Looks like the weather is going to cooperate. Right on schedule.

[Mark-NH]

Both vacuum systems fired up on the way into work this morning. Today should be the start of the 09 sap season.

[3% Solution]

Hey Mark,
I think you may have something there!!!
Got to do the finishing touches up today and we're totally ready!!
Got to drill 14 more holes this morning!!!
Granson is chomping at the bit, wants to come over tonight to gather in the morning.
Told him to come over Sunday .......... that will be the day I need him.
Hey I've got to get out of here!!!!

Dave

[Mark-NH]

collected 250 gallons on 450 taps today. Did not run as I had hoped. Did not get below freezing since Thursday night. Still we had enough sap to sweeten the pans today and get through the first boil on the new evaporator.

First time boiling on a raised flue after 15 years on a dropped one. Harder to monitor boil in the flue pan as steam seems to linger. I do not think we got a hot fire today, for some reason. The sap never got roiling as I have come to expect in the drop flue. Forgot to put the stack temp gauge on until the end of the day so I do not know what we were running for stack temp.

Discovered the new blower did not respond to changing the rheostat. I would like to be able to turn the blower down as some ash was blowing out the front. Friend said it was an AC motor instead of a DC motor and that kind only runs on or off.

Dave (3%) thanks for stopping by. We are looking forward to our Tucker MT "got sap" shirts.

Looks like a couple days welcome rest and then back at it with a renewed sense of vigor.

Mark

[3% Solution]

Mark,
Not going to make it over to Tucker Mt. today.
I am going to try for tomorrow or Thursday.
I will get there!!!!
You can't wear them unless you're gathering or boiling. ;)

Dave

[Mark-NH]

No problem Dave. We'll see ya when we see ya. Forecast looks good for this week.

[3% Solution]

Mark,
Regrouped with Tucker Mt. a bit ago.
You have one tee shirt in your sugarhouse.
Just be careful opening the shirt up ........ $$$$$$
Tucker Mt. will be doing another order, so I told his wife your wife needed an X-Large sweatshirt.
Maybe by the weekend it's be running.
Catch you later.

Dave

[Mark-NH]

thanks Dave.

Had a great run Tue & Wed this week. Over a gallon a tap Tue and just a gallon per Wed. Took the rear baffle out of the arch and throttled down the blower about 10% and seem to have the new evaporator closer to dialed in. I think we got about 80 gph at one point the other night.

17 gallons of dark amber so far. Made dark because we dicked around dialing in the evaporator for the first couple boils. All caught up right now but headed out to start the vacuum. Going to be tight on wood.

[Mark-NH]

Been running like crazy here since Sunday, although I don't know yet what today brought. With the help of friends, we've stayed mostly caught up. Ended up with about 400 gallons of sap still in storage when we shut down last night.

The last couple days have seen sugar content go over 2% for the first time this year which is a relief looking at the dwindling wood pile. I think we have the new evaporator 90% dialed in and are averaging over 80 GPH. Thank goodness because at 500 gallons a day for the last 3 days we would be swamped with the old 2 1/2 x 6 1/2. Burning completely soft wood this year and realizing I need to mix in some hard wood for next year.

Back at it again tonight. Looks like maple dogs for dinner again washed down with boiling sodas. Falling into the rhythm of mid season.

[Mark-NH]

Taking tonight (Thursday) off. Did not cool off last night and we caught up with all but 200 gallons processed last night. Forecast to cool off tonight so back at it Friday night.

Going to be a race to the finish for which ends first, wood supply or season.

[3% Solution]

Mark,
If you guys are boiling tonight, I may stop by.
I think we need to go to 1 Mile West for supper.

Dave

[Mark-NH]

Dave,

If it runs today we will boil tonight. I had 20 this morning at 7:30 and forecast is for 40's so it SHOULD run. We needed that cold night to recharge the trees.

[Amber Gold]

What are you running for stack temps?

At 1400 I get a good boil and 1500 is better than 60 gph.

[Mark-NH]

Last boil tonight. Had a couple hundred gallons of surprise sap as of yesterday and it may have run a little today. Will use it to push through what we have in the syrup pan.

I have to remember to bottle whatever is in the caner before adding any syrup tonight. There is good B in there now and I don't want to ruin it by introducing C tonight.

We'll turn the tanks over and pull buckets as we go. By doing this we can clean as we go tonight and never reconsider.

[Mark-NH]

Collected 200 gallons yesterday and would not have believed it if I had not seen it. Have not had a good freeze here in 5+ days. Sap was a little cloudy but no smell. Could not get a good boil going to save our lives last night. Wet wood, wet air, syrup in the flue pan............

OK so tonight will be the last boil. I promise.

Josh, we ran about 500 on our magnetic thermometer. I have no idea what that translates to for internal temps. 80 gph as a rule. Need to work on the arch configuration to make sure we retain draft but get as much of the heat up into the flue pan as possible. Scratching my head over a couple options.

[Mark-NH]

Still have to can up the last draws but we made right about 100 gallons (107 last year) off 470 taps on vacuum. I figured 100 would be my goal to qualify as a great season so I am happy.

We also have 100 buckets around the sugar house but after running vacuum for a couple years, and seeing the difference between it and gravity I hesitate to count them as taps. A bunch of the buckets are on reds to boot. If it weren't fun to collect them with the tractor and trailer I wouldn't even bother.

Positives for the year:
Upgrading to the 3 x 8 evaporator was a huge success. 80 gph vs 40 gps with the old 2 1/2' x 6 1/2'

Refined one of the vacuum systems by adding a dry line and suspending the main line.

Wish list for next year:
add 120 taps to existing lines to get us to 600 taps on vacuum.
add canning room to the sugar house.
refine baffle system in arch to get all the heat up into the raised flues.
Would like to find a 600 gallon stainless holding tank.

Now to the fun part-----clean up-------. Gotta make some kind of tubing washer. Have fun all.

[Amber Gold]

Sounds like you had a great season. Also looking to further expand my existing sugarbush and should be able to add another 50-75 taps. I'm also going to tinker with my arch and get my numbers up. Hopefully get 75-80 gph out of it.

Not sure how you fit the 3x8 in your sugarhouse. It looked pretty tight with the 2.5x6.5. Mapleman3 is getting about 100 gph out of his 3x8, but it has a preheater. It looks like there's room for improvement.

I heard there's a 600 gal bulk tank in the Market Bulletin.

There's a recent thread I started about it. Simple manifold with an air compressor and hose connection. It works great.

[tuckermtn]

the market bulleten tank is sold...not sure to whom, but I called today and they said it was long gone...

-eRic