Tapping 2009

[andyp]

Well thats it for this year. Boiled the last 8o gallon monday.It made the B grade. On tuesday we pulled all the taps flushed the tubing and washed the buckets. Today we bottled the last 3 gallon. Ended up with 43 gallon on 228 taps mostly medium and dark amber and some B.
Time now to get on with the farm work and the garden.

Andyp

[mapleack]

REPOST: Final boil last night. Season total of 6,300 gal of sap from 886 taps. I definately need vacuum. Still have a little syrup to bottle so I'm not sure of the total there. Sugar content was terrible all season, but not much to do about that besides buy an RO. Now its all down to cleaning, pulling taps, and getting the evaporator switched to gas/ tuned for next year.

[Dave Y]

Chris,
I am still boiling kind of rationing my sap right now. I have school kids coming tomorrow and need something to boil. 23000 gal of sap and 450+ gal of syrup.All dark or darker. I am re tapping It looks like there is a couple of more runs coming be fore Easter

[Sugarmaker]

Dave Y,
holly cow ! 450 gallons and re-taping. Do you ever set down? Makes me tired just thinking about it.:) Hope you had a great season and yes the weather sounds favorable for several more runs next week.

I brought home a load of pallets tonight and will start the process of re-stocking the wood shed for next year. I am going to compress the pallets a lot more this year to pack more wood in the wood shed. May look for some slabs also.


Chris

[Gary R]

Finished off what was on the evaporator. Canned 3 more gal. It tastes ok but quite dark.

Totals for the year: 895 gal. of sap; 12.75 gal. of syrup. That equals, 12.6 gal./sap per tap and .18 gal./syrup per tap. Don't have much experience, but I guess we'll call this season "OK". It was very trying with the weather fluctuations.

Cleaned a few buckets, tapped 16 birch trees ,started 2 gal. of maple wine and cleaned my pan tonight. Trees are running, so I should be back to boiling soon.:)

Anyone other than Dave still boiling?

[jrthe3]

Gary i still boiling hoping for one more good week

[Z/MAN]

I will boil my last batch on Saturday.:( I thought I would have had enough to boil today but although the weather here is just right the taps are drying up. I tapped Feb 4th and I guess it was too early, although I did get that first run but then went 2 weeks without a drop of sap.

[springhills]

almost done here in the northeast. Weird season but we've managed 675 gallons on about 2400 taps. Low Sugar all season. Bottomed out at 1.5%. Started dark and got darker, but now for our last run we're making the only medium of the season. Started tapping in early Feb, but I don't think I'll try that again. Those taps were the first to dry starting about 10 days ago. I re-drilled out most of the dry taps and got a fair amount of sap from them in the last few days. Not sure what to think of the sani-spouts we used. Taps still dried up, but then again we'd had four or five 65 degree days before they started. Burned about 20 cords of wood. Can't wait to start cleaning up.

[springhills]

almost done here in the northeast. Weird season but we've managed 675 gallons on about 2400 taps. Low Sugar all season. Bottomed out at 1.5%. Started dark and got darker, but now for our last run we're making the only medium of the season. Started tapping in early Feb, but I don't think I'll try that again. Those taps were the first to dry starting about 10 days ago. I re-drilled out most of the dry taps and got a fair amount of sap from them in the last few days. Not sure what to think of the sani-spouts we used. Taps still dried up, but then again we'd had four or five 65 degree days before they started. Burned about 20 cords of wood. Can't wait to start cleaning up.

[slammer3364]

Gary R if you would please send me a recipe for Maple Wine if you dont mind Thanks alot Slammer:)

[sugarin4fun]

I’m done except for the cleanup. Finished 9-1/2qts last night, it has a different taste than the rest of the seasons syrup but not bad just different according to all the taste testers in the house. Ended the season with 16g, 1qt, 1pt, from 46 taps in 25 days all med to dark. Sugaring season is over, that means good weather is right around the corner, time for gardening, hiking, canoeing, camping….. Weather you've had a good season or not so good I hope everyone enjoys the bounty of thier hard work over the coming year, mmm liquid gold.
Greg

[Jim Brown]

Well we too are done and not cleaned up yet.Finished about 70 gallons and about 10 gallons of 'C'. not very good for us but under the circumstance we will live with it.
Got through season on a 'wing and a prayer' and now have back surgery scheduled for April 6th. 3 Releasers are pulled an washed,one more tank to bring in and wash and trailer with vac pumps and gen to bring in and then we recuperate.Pulling taps can wait . Hope to get it all done in the next week so it can be finished before we are laid up for a while.
Hope every one had a good season!

Jim

[Maplewalnut]

I to have called it quits for the year. Have not had time to get the releaser working where I am comfortable it will not suck sap up into my pump. I am exchanging this one for a single after the season winds down up north.

All told learned alot being the first year on vacuum and with a 2x6. Had alot of fun and alot of mistakes to do better on next year.

Not a very good year syrup wise. Finished just over what I made last year with half the taps and a 2x4 flat pan.

Have some road tar to finish boiling if I can keep the faom down and then its onto cleanup.

Jim Brown-good luck with the surgery.

[emericksmaple]

Well it is over for us as well. Finished up last evening. Totals for the year: Syrup made 1493 gal off of 3200 taps. One bush w/all new stuff avg 35.5 gal per tap (25" of vac all season) Other bush avg 23.6 gal per tap(20" of vac). 400 on gravity avg 11.6 gal per tap. Total sap for the year around 78,000. Sugar content at beginning of the year was great about 2.5 ended around 1.5. Overall season avg 53.3 to a gallon of syrup. Made a lot of darker syrup this year. Only 660 gallons of fancy. All the spile are already out of the trees, and the only thing left to do is clean up!!

[Gary R]

Finished pulling all the buckets and taps last night. 3 of the 40 reds I have tapped put out over a gal. of sap each over the last 2 days. They were all at 1.6% sugar content. Weird because they have the most sun exposure and the biggest buds. Some of the sugars that ran a little only had 1% sap.

I've got 21 taps in birch trees. I will boil today. 1 tree put out 4 gal. of .5% sap in 24 hrs. Glad I'm not making syrup out of it. I'd be boiling forever.

[Sugarmaker]

Gary R,
Well Dave Y is not on so he must still be poking wood to that 3 x 12. Gary you had a fair season at .18 gallon per tap. I think I am only around .22 gallons of syrup per tap for 09. Must work on my wood situation. I thought I had enough but obviously NOT!
Cleaned tubing today and have about 150 more taps to flush. Canned 3 gallons of nice "B" syrup for folks that wanted last run syrup. Several syrup sales today as folks are just catching on that the season is happening NOW! We will have syrup all year as I have a chest freezeer just about full.
Heard form Jim (Father and Son) today he was keeping an eye on some pans at local auction.
I am looking for a good used or new gear pump to make a cream machine. Not sure if I need 3/4 or 1 inch.

Chris

[Sugarmaker]

Jim Brown,
Hope the back surgery goes well and you can get to moving again with out pain.

Regards,
Chris

[Dennis H.]

Sugarmaker, do you hot pack your syrup or do you just put it in containers and put in the freezer?
I have heard of putting the syrup in freezer jugs and throwing them in a freezer, no need to hot pack.

[Z/MAN]

Well that's it for me. Had my last boil Sat. Finished up the year with just about 5 gallons. Made 8 last year but those conditions last year where superb. I will be tapping more trees next year even if I don't get a bigger setup. I'm now sure I'm hooked bad! Last year I cleaned my pans with vinegar. I believe I read on here to put vinegar in the pans, bring to a boil, then cover and let sit to the next day. Is this the right process? I do remember that they came out like brand new without all the hard scrubbing. Anyone do it this way?
Paul

[Gary R]

Well birch season started off with a problem. I've decided that I should use a small fire and almost simmer the sap so I don't burn the sugars. So I was only puting in a small amount of wood and go do some work. I was building some fish structures in a small brook trout stream. My wife decided to help me out and put some wood in the evaporator. When we came back to the house, she said huh, there's no steam coming from the stack. BURNT the pan, it was dry. Good thing there was only a few coals in the fire box. Pan looks ok. Need to clean it up and start over. I'm not sure if my wife will help me again;)

[PATheron]

Emerick Maple- You run a tight ship there buddy. I never hear about any struggles with you guys. Have you been running about the same size operation for so long youve got everything all finetuned just right? Nice job on the totals. Theron:)

[Sugarmaker]

Gary R,
Never discourage the wife from helping!

Dennis,
I do not hot pack the syrup going in the freezer. It goes into 2.5 gallon plasti jugs at maybe 180 to 100 degrees then when full and cooled I place them in the freezer to keep the syrup fresh for canning later in the year.

Chris

[Gary R]

Sorry Chris, I might of stated that wrong. She was very bummed about the pan. I didn't say too much. Hope she'll be helping soon.

[PATheron]

Dave Y- Need an update from the hardest working sugarmaker on here. Nobody WANNNNNNNNNNNTS it more than you. Theeeron

[Dennis H.]

Yeah where is Dave Y anyway?

He must have had one heck of a run and is doing the doggy paddle in the tanks!:lol:
If he doesn't show his face soon you know we are going to have and send someone over there to check on him!

[Sugarmaker]

The way the weather has been Dave Y may be getting the best runs of the year. Hard freeze last few nights and very warm today. Anyone see steam in Marionville:)

Chris

[Jim Brown]

Rumor has it he ran out of sap and went down to bring a load home from Theron! :)

[Dennis H.]

You think Theron would give up any of the stuff? I don't think so.

Heck the way it looks if Theron can boil it and put it into drums and someone give him some $$$ for it Theron will be out there boiling.
To theron this stuff is gold

[Gary R]

When I visited him last week I believe he told me he had to go back to his real job starting yesterday. He'll be extra busy now!

Chris, I also drove down angling road yesterday. All those road sides had buckets on them for the first time. A guy was collecting so I stopped to talk. His name was Sid Martin. He said he knew you. He works with another guy that boils. I can't remember his name. They put up 275 buckets along that road. A farmer on the road owns all of that and asked them to tap it this year. He only collected about 40 gal. yesterday and said they should have pulled them last week. They're trying to fill the last drum up. Die hards huh?

Up to 26 taps on birch. collecting almost 20 gal. a day. May have enough sweet to make wine tonight.:)

[Dave Y]

Gentlemen,
I have not drowned, nor have I been runover by a sap truck. I have gone back to work, reluctently. My prediction of two more weeks have not played out. I am going to collect buckets tonite and will be lucky to get 500 gal off them. between them and the tanks i look to get about 1000 gal. probably not enough to fill my last barrel. I will give it a go. I have collected 25000gal of sap. and am dangerously close to 500 gal of syrup. It has been a dissappointing year! The grade of my syrup and the lack of sap will leave me with no capital to expand next year. I have 1200 more taps this year over last and I have made only 50 more gal of syrup. all that effort and little reward. so next year we will try to inmprove in areas that I can with little investment. I hope everyone has had a good year.

[Jim Brown]

Dave Y. we also had the same results-this year,300 more taps and vac holding at close to 20' and less sap and less syrup-Go figure!

Jim

[mapleack]

Dave Y, I only made 6 more gallons than last year, with 300 more taps. Thats the way it goes when dealing with mother nature!

[Dave Y]

I understand the mother nature thing very well. but it is still disapponting!

[PATheron]

Dave- You did a heck of a job but you can only get what the trees will give. My numbers are off too with way more taps. Just think if you didnt expand you wouldnt get even what you got. You counteracted a real bad year with the more taps. Guys around here on gravity really were up against it with only a couple runs. You did a heck of a job to get what you did as far as Im concerned for what little that is worth. Theeeron

[Sugarmaker]

Gary R,
Yea I know Sid. He got some buckets from us one time. That's a lot of taps down that road. Sounds like they found a good home! I missed out again:( You warned me about them though. I really don't need another 275 taps anyway:). I may have to check it out. I have been trying to cull out all the trees on the dirt roads to keep the equipment a little cleaner! I only have 40 taps at two locations on dirt roads now.

I started to cut wood pallets for 2010 today. Lesson learned: compact the pallets more! So I have begun to get the first row of wood ready and should be able to get a few more gallons of syrup next year. (which is what I thought this year and it didn't work out because I was lasy!)

Drug some stainless out of the weeds and looked it over with an eye towards a Steam Enhancing Unit??????

Dave Y glad you finally came up for air, 500 gallons sounds very respectful!

Chris

[Jim Brown]

Well with the help of good friends like Gary R. all out taps are pulled!!Thanks so much Gary!.All the lines still need flushed but that can wait till another day. Bottled some real nice med amber today and had a customer pick up a gallon of Med amber and a gallon of dark this after noon. Need to finish cleaning the rig and steamaway but surgery will put a hold on that for a few days. All ready planning for next year!

Hope all have a great summer!

Jim

[Maplewalnut]

Finally pulled taps, flushed my lines and cleaned up the sugar house this weekend. Got a heck of a lot done and sold some syrup also while we were finshing everything up. Buckets are put away, spiles disinfected and sugarhouse floor swept. Have to figure out tubing next year for another 100 or so taps 'off to the side '

Off season plans...
start pricing RO's
Buy filter press
Exchange releaser for next size up

Garlic is popping up and blackbirds are a calling, must be spring!

[Gary R]

Maplewalnut, Wow you hung in there for a long time.

All my maple stuff is done, but I've been boiling Birch almost every day for the last 1 1/2 weeks. I'm going to call it quits in a day or two. Fishing and hunting are coming up.

Chris, what's the steam enhancement look like. Is it going to replace your preheater or add to it? Need to know, I've been making major changes every year and would like to get it right some day.

Jim, no problem with the help. I must say, today I worked with 3 generations of women (OK one girl) in the woods. It's cool to see them all working in the woods!

[tapper]

I am going to try a few more days this week. Made some good tasting grade b today. Still getting sap from 2 month old taps and some are still filling the buckets. A few more days of sap may give me an average but long season.

[Turtlecreek]

Anyone heard fron sugarmaster (Pattersons)? He usually can boast some BIG numbers. I wonder how he faired out this year since the rest of us had a slow year?

[Gary R]

I pulled all of my Birch taps today. I've been boiling for 2 months. It's time to quit. Evaporator is shuting down now. Made 2 gal. of wine and will make a couple gal. of Birch Beer over the next few days.

I visited Jan Woods today. First time ever there. The Maple Museum is unbelievable. Everyone should check it out some time. Went to the Sugarhouse also. No electricity! Sure is a lot of big Sugars on the property.

[Sugarmaker]

Gary R.
The Steam enhancement unit may end up similar to Dave 3% Solution's unit. You were in the neighbor hood again!
I have not been to Jan's museum yet, will probably get over there for a board meeting.

Chris

[Jim Brown]

Well we are back on our feet after back surgery yesterday.. Got to the hospital at 11:45 Monday was on our way to the operating room at 12:40- woke up after surgery at 3:00pm-walked to the restroom -had a bite to eat- and walked out at 6:00pm.Now we have to recoup for a couple of weeks and then back to the grind.Not allowed to lift any more than a fork and a coffee cup for two weeks. But concidering what we had done don't feel too bad!
Thanks all for your prayers and concerns we know they helped!! :)

Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
Great to hear you are moving again. Take it slow>

Met Father and Son (Jim) at local auction tonight and we had a good chat and bought some stuff. Seems I couldn't hardly get out of town fast enough:)

Neighbor call my son a told him we forgot a tote and tubing at one location in Crawford Co. So picked that up tonight in a blizzard.

Things are shut down in the sugar house till the weather warms up. Several back orders and prep for local event on April 18.

I knew I should not have taken that snow fence down:)

Chris

[Maplewalnut]

Jim-Great news on the surgery. Now you'll have more time on the trader.

Started wood for next year. Of course sugar wood comes before house wood. Still have about 2 cord of sugar wood left from this year so that ought to be a good start. Got a truck load of logs (about 9 cord) for $600. One of the advantages of gypsy moth defoliation the last three years. They have probably killed half the oaks in a 100 mile radius and people are starting to have their wood lots cleaned up.

Would like to go to a few mfr's open houses but probably won't make it up this year. I'll save my pennies for another year and go armed with some cash next year.