Belchertown 2009

[mapleman3]

Taps will be in this weekend, should be 600+ the weather looks good today and tomorrow but shutting down Sunday with a winter mix coming in... a fine day to tap the woods...UUgghh. doesn't look like any sap until the next weekend, but should get a run starting Thurs/Fri

Friday the 6th is the Mass Maple kickoff in the morning, then I'm off for the rest of the day finishing cleaning up the sugarhouse for the first boil hopefully Sat the 7th.

[brookledge]

Jim
did you see the gov was in Whately today. Of all places on a dead end gravel road to help and participate in tagging and checking the health of a bear.
It would be nice if he would come to gould's.
Keith

[mapleman3]

Yes I saw that... that will probably be his 1 time a year in western Ma. I really doubt he will come. I have not received a call back or email back so I'm not holding my breath.

Bears don't bring in revenue to the state like Maple Syrup does!

[mapleman3]

38 deg out and we are tapping, the boys and I have 80 roadsides done so far, another 100 to go. then tomorrow the north bush ... I don't think I'll be getting much though so I'm not rushing.. sure they are running a bit but won't get enough today anyway to do anything with, tomorrow it gets colder for the better part of the week... but we plug along!

[mapleman3]

Got 250 tapped in the big bush today, I'll go back up Tuesday after work to finish, found several trees I had somehow missed so I had to strategically run some more line today for about a dozen taps.

got the tanks all ready , metal roofing for covers. I think I will need to get another 150 gal tank to go next to the other for one side of the road. I have 2 mains coming in to 1 tank... I may not have the room in it so...

had one of my runs get chewed already... new tubing, no salts.. a squrriel or something chewed through it for the fun of it... grrrrr!!!

[mapleman3]

well we are in the deep freeze, nothing running for Days..... I will get more tapped after work, hopefully near finish the north bush

The weekend is shaping up as I hoped... looks like It starts

Wed....27/17
Thurs...38/18.... trees will start to wake up
Fri 41/27...But a mixed bag of precip....
Sat 50/27...looks like the kicker
Sun 43/22....sunny
Mon 43/20....sunny
40's rest of the week

[mapleman3]

got another 86 tapped tonight, just have one other section of the north bush left, and some more roadsides. I had a close call out there, they had not plowed the sugar road yet so when I decided to turn around near one of my tanks I got bogged down in some drifting off the road... rocked it back and forth no go.. this with the GMC 2500HD... so I went for it and punched the gas, let the 300hp growl and got myself out of it. WHEW good thing I'm up in the middle of no where there

[Clan Delaney]

I've been keeping track of the temps here since I put out test taps on 2/17. My thermometer is junk, so all these reading are from the Amherst College Weather Station (http://www3.amherst.edu/~weather/index.php) up the road.

----OVERNIGHT---DAYTIME--below-----above
----------LOW-----HIGH----freeze-----freeze
02/17/09---22-------37-----10---------5
02/18/09---17-------39-----15---------7
02/19/09---24-------44-----8----------12
02/20/09---20-------28-----12---------NO
02/21/09---22-------36-----10---------4
02/22/09---28-------37-----4----------5
02/23/09---24-------29-----8----------NO
02/24/09---16-------31-----16---------NO
02/25/09---14-------39-----18---------7
02/26/09---29-------45-----3----------13
02/27/09---35-------58-----NO---------26
02/28/09---29-------49-----3----------17
03/01/09---22-------30-----10---------NO
03/02/09---15-------29-----17---------NO
03/03/09---11-------26-----21---------NO

According to my data, it is too cold for the sap to run. Also, the sap isn't running. Based on these findings, I have no idea what will happen tomorrow. :D

[mapleman3]

This weekend Pat... This weekend!! I will let you know when I'm ready to fire her up and sweeten the pans, hopefully draw some syrup too!!!

[mapleman3]

Tap count in so far at 525 ... tomorrow we will be at the big 600 !!! taps were running some today, many buckets half full, I will have to get back from the woods after the kickoff and get the truck tanks ready and on the trucks for collection... looking more like a saturday boil!!

[mapleman3]

We are tapped.. 600 out there...the woods were already starting to run at noon. there was sap in the tanks.. not a lot but some. a steady straem out of one of the mainlines.

The roadsides back at home(200 buckets) produced about 250 gals.
We will go to the north bush in the morning, the sap may run through the night tonight so we will wait for there to be a good amount to pump.

So.... we will boil tomorrow !! YAY

[mapleman3]

Well today proved to be a learning day !! we had about 450 gals to start the evap with

it's been 4 or more years since I was on wood, WOW did I forget stuff...first the boy scout in me couldn't get a fire going for crap, Pat(Clan Delaney) came over for the maiden boil... Finally I stopped trying to rush the process... I was getting a small fire going, closed the doors started the blower and I would loose the fire... after futile efforts I nixed the blower, left the doors open and did it the right way... we got it going after Pat split some stuff real small and I put more paper and got it going... whew, that hurdle over, good fire and old barn wood from the sugarhouse walls from summer expansion and she was roaring now... boiled off alot of sap, It was nearing syrup time and Pat had to leave.... just after he left.. WOAH Hold the float down WE ARE WAY OVER TEMP making mud !!!, EMERGENCY SAP !!!! dang, that batch goes north!!

After awhile, again everything goes to syrup WOAH HOLD THE FLOAT !!! EMERGENCY SAP AGAIN.. WHAT IS GOING ON!????

So I figured the rocket fuel wood and the blower on high is a NO NO !!! So I slowed things down and mixed in normal wood, got the gradient going after a few small drawoffs early and whew..... So I made about 5-7 gallons of Commercial.. Who starts off with commercial.. I DO !! unfortunately...

The rest of the day went great though, drawoffs went as planned and it ate up 100 gals an hour on my 3x8...

My sap % from the 200 taps on roadsides...3%
My sap on the maple bush 2.5%
I was at 2.65% ish for the day... not bad !

I made another appx 6 gals of good stuff, not filtered so I don't know the grade but I think I salvaged a light medium after the woes at the beginning.

So I sit here now as it cools so I can see what my sap need is for shutdawn. I'm thinking 30 gals at last fire may do it, but I will see again tomorrow.

[themapleking]

Jim
run the blower on 1/4 to 1/2 speed. If sparks are coming out the doors slow it down some.
My new leader 3x8 max with steam away infreo arch is boiling 165-170 gph. COOL

[Sugarmaker]

Jim D,
Isn't wood fun! I usually have 50 gallon in the tank when I shut down and flood the pans.
You are getting a great boil rate at 100 GPH I cant quite get that on the old 3 x 10.
Yea starting with commercial grade sucks but you will find the old rythum again.
New rig new firing method, and a lot of things to watch. at 100 GPH the sap really moves throug quick!

Good luck,
Chris

[mapleman3]

I got it figured out now, had a no incident day.. drawoffs were good, boy it eats wood up though, still kept the rate up near 100gph... man she roars when the fire is full

Joe, I put a baffle on the inlet of the fan to tweak it down... I have it running at a good rate and don't even shut it off at firing.. I get a bit warm but it doesn't kill the boil.

firing every 7 minute and keeping the fire high in the box... only needing to add maybe 5 pieces when I fire.

I was reading that when you let it get too low, it uses the heat to light the new wood taking away from the boil, but keeping it high and adding less more often is more efficient!!

So anyway, bottled up over 10 gals and have 5 gals of the b/c grade... had a few people taste it and nobody tastes burnt, they didnt think it was that bad, so I'll bottle it up after filtering a while and see what I get.

[Clan Delaney]

Added 17 more taps today, giving me a current total of (math....) 56! That's more than 3 times what I had last year, and I'm not done yet! 10 more tomorrow, just need to pick up some milk jugs from work.

More importantly though... IT NEEDS TO FREEZE TONITE! It hasn't gone below 40 degrees here in the past 48 hours. Forecast predicts 33 by 9AM tomorrow. Not perfect, but I hope it helps.

[hard maple]

Jim
I don't know why
but you are starting to remind me of Parker!

Did you buy a new grading kit this year???

I started out making medium
2% sap and a ton of sugar sand

[mapleman3]

too funny Gabe... now if I only had the amount of taps he has....;)

Yep I have a new grading kit.
I too ended up Medium, I'm not sure if the first batch that went "south" would have been light or not. would have been nice for some light colored candy!

I may do a cleaning of the front pan in the next day or so and filter the near syrup, we'll see how the next boil goes.

it's fun learning a new rig that's for sure.

[mapleman3]

Snowing now, teens tonight .Looks like a good freeze/thaw the rest of the week, low 40's tomorrow but mixed bag tues night. so hopefully trees will get invigorated again for some sap this week!!

Pat Get those collection tanks ready for those extra taps!!

[Clan Delaney]

Meh. Nothing running today. It just barely didn't freeze last night, then only about 40 today. Those teens and 40 tomorrow should be nice.

I've got a loaner collection tub from DaveB (since he'll be taking most of my sap) but if my ever increasing number of taps start to overwhelm me, I may just spring for a tank/tub of my own. Gonna need it next year anyway, right? And I need to make a maiden voyage to the new Tractor Supply in town...

[mapleman3]

Pat I bought a 160 gal galv stock tank for $134 they have a size smaller I think maybe 100 gals for around $94+ (don't quote me on that though)

Hold on tight, we should have a decent week, today looks good. I wish i set up a solar web cam at my north bush, it sure would be nice to know whether I should go up and collect or not.

But I will so I know what it's doing, I haven't been there since Sunday am

[Clan Delaney]

Pat I bought a 160 gal galv stock tank for $134 they have a size smaller I think maybe 100 gals for around $94+ (don't quote me on that though)

Hold on tight, we should have a decent week, today looks good. I wish i set up a solar web cam at my north bush, it sure would be nice to know whether I should go up and collect or not.

But I will so I know what it's doing, I haven't been there since Sunday am

Today was good. Not great though. I hung some milk jugs on new taps just this morning and came home to find some of them full up. Collected 100 gallons so far. That's a third of what I collect all of last season. Lookin' good. Lookin' good.

[mapleman3]

yep today was pretty good, 450 gals and a little in there from sunday, total of 1250 gals sap so far.

boilings still going another hour or so before I quit for the night.

[mapleman3]

We had a good sap day yesterday almost 500 gallons. the woods are producing pretty good, I'll be swimming in sap. so today taking off from work at 1pm so I can go gather/boil early.

Dad and I were boiling last night(he watches) he commented how it was much easier with oil last year..... I agree! more control of the heat

Guess what... he's right... I had more time to filter/bottle/keep the place clean and such.
I'll be back to oil for 2010! no doubt in my mind. even if oil is back at 4 bucks... i'll get a steam away after that to cut production cost and boost boiling rate.

OH and of course add taps in a few years... I'll be at 700 next year anyway so why not

You guys that have more time and free wood all the time can keep it... I like the on/off switch! ;)

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

What's up with double posts by the administrator?? LOL!

[Stickey]

He's just testing us to see if we're still awake. Right Jim?

[mapleman3]

Yep just keeping ya all on your toes... actually I didn't even realize I did that... I will fix ASAP

So I cleaned tanks, and cleaned the front pan... filtered the near syrup in hopes to up a grade , hopefully. Sure is a lot of medium to dark syrup being made.

No sap to speak of up to the north bush, barely got above freezing, the buckets down here didn't do too much better. gives me time to clean up.

I will boil on Sat.
Make some candy tomorrow night.

[mapleman3]

had 300 to boil today and collected another 450 tonight. I'm at around 2300 gallons sap already, whew.

still making a light dark A even after the cleaning. thats what is I guess

I will have to boil about 8-900 gallons tomorrow to stay on top of things...so Boil go collect and boil again!!

Gonna be a tired MapleMan thats for sure.

[ebourassa]

i have made only 5 gal med and everything else has been dark, seems what everyone around here is making too. thats fine with me because most of my customer prefer dark anyways
erik

[mapleman3]

Well this was a busy weekend.
Saturday I had 300+ to boil fron gathering Friday night, Then went out and gathered 450 gals to boil sunday.
Sunday started at 10:30am boiled of 450 gallons by 2pm , let it cool down and went and gathered again, collected another 570 and started back up boiling at 5:30pm - 10:30 and boiled off another 450 of it. too tired to boil another hour....

so boiled 300 on sat
and 900+ on sat..

we have boiled around 3000 gallons so far and we are over the 40 gallon mark already in just 7 days of boiling.

I'm tired this morning, good thing I get to go to work and relax today before boiling tonight. I am sure I will have over 500 to collect. I may end up using my second 320 gal stainless tank to start holding sap. I have always tried to boil everything but I may have to start holding asx I go and by the weekend I'm sure I'll have a surplus. just keep rotating the stock!

I keep looking at the wood pile, I know next year if I stay wood, I better double the amount I have ready. I have 3 cord coming this week, 1 cord a guy owes me that I won in a fundraiser, so only paying for 2.

I have been getting a lot of free wood but all needs to be cut and split. and dried.

[mapleman3]

working on 600 gallons now, it went from dark yesterday to a nice medium that I just kegged up. it's just past 10 and still a couple hundred left.
at 56+ gallons so far and so much more to make

[mapleman3]

finished up around 11:45pm last night. have around 62 gals made.... if I keep getting the 500+/day I will have a good season again.

I'm sure my buckets down here in Btown will run a few more weeks, but the north woods still have 8"snow , so they should run longer, I don't think they really opened up yet. I have one stand that has 67 taps on it there , into a 55 gal blue barrel, it has only been half full, on some huge roadsides and up the hill into a dark area of sugars... well yesterday it was pushing the top off, they are flowing like crazy. the other bush has 2 150 gal galv tanks which I think I will tie together with a 3/4 tube at the drain. just to give me more breathing room when they level off, 2 mains are split there and 1 fills much faster than the other.

I had 325gal in the truck. I don't think I would like more than 350 in it for the ride to 1/2hr Belchertown. that's about the limit for it handling wise. it's an up and down kind of secluded 50mph road so I don't have to stop till I'm in my town but still have to be real careful!

[Clan Delaney]

You're a trooper, Jim!

Sara was commenting on all that weight in the truck - it sure does give you a new found respect for guys that drive the big rigs. After experiencing it yourself, you think twice about how you operate a vehicle around them on the highways. Nothing's gonna stop that much weight on a dime.

I think I've got the transactional details of the sap selling worked out. Looks good. Making plans to have some friends over to do some bottling when we get the syrup!

[mapleman3]

yes you felt it when we had what 300 in it? it's just a matter of don't rush, take your time and drive carefully.

I am surprised at how much sap your getting right there... way to go!! If you need the use of my canner just let me know, it works real easy just sit in front of it and push the foot pedal. I'm sure it will be empty at times. get your jugs together, and come on over some night.

[DaveB]

I know what you mean about stability with a lot of sap. I had about 180 in my Ranger and had to take it easy on my ride to the sugarhouse. No surprises please!

I saw you driving by and I finally saw where your sugarhouse is so I'll try and stop by my next time riding by.

Dave

p.s. Pat, keep up with great sap!

[Clan Delaney]

Oh, right. Jim, meet Dave. Dave, Jim... I believe you met at about 45 miles per hour. :lol:

I'm kicking myself right now. I used my yard collection barrel this morning to make my collection run up and down the road, then FORGOT TO HOOK IT BACK UP TO THE LINES when I put it back. Oh Lament!!! If I wanted to waste 20 gallons of sap I'd rather, I don't know, put it in water balloons or something. But to lose it to the muddy ground one drop at a time.... AARRGHH!

[KenWP]

Glad senility isn't just in my house hold. I had to walk a mile to go get a hammer to put a tap in that I went and got the first trip.

[Clan Delaney]

Had a few mornings in a row here where I was emptying some jugs in the mornings - having collected maybe a quart of sap overnight. This morning...nothing. Everything shut down last night. It doesn't look like it dropped below freezing here last night, but it is gonna get into the high 50's today.

[mapleman3]

I have to check the history to see what it did up the north bush , see if It will be worth going up today. it's still 5-8 deg colder up there than Us in Btown

I still got about 490 yesterday from everything... boiled until 10:30, Had a town cop stop and check up on me , he saw the sparks from the stack. once he saw me come out he knew all was good, I told him I'd keep an eye on everything, he was cool about it.

I'm at 70 gals made so far, we'll see how things go. all this warm weather may shut the buckets down early.
But the woods still should produce for a few weeks

[mapleman3]

Looked at the accu weather history, looks like the north bush only got down to 34deg last night, So.... one of 2 things happened... They ran all night OR they shut down today , either way looks like I'm still driving up there. I may hold sap for a few days for this weekends boils... we will see....

[mapleman3]

collected about 300 gallons today, decided to take the night off, clean the holding tanks before putting the sap in, moved wood and had a few boiling sodas with a buddy. needed a break, tomorrow it will be warm again, not sure if I will boil. I want sap for saturday's scout pancake breakfast here so....

[mapleman3]

No freeze again last night so not expecting too much today, but the rest of the week thru the weekend looks good.

I may boil tonight but hoping to have enough sap for the weekend of customers!!!

I have 400 sitting in the tanks right now, 13 gallons in the canner that need to get bottled up.

[KenWP]

Am in the same boat also. And the temps look better for tomorrow and the weekend also.

[mapleman3]

went and collected the north bush, only 150 there.. didn't collect buckets(no time) it wat only 38 up there and 45 down in town here... I have over 500 to boil, I'm expecting it to be dark to B due to me holding it for a few days( I don't like to) but I needed sap for a big sales day tomorrow. so tonight I'm tidying up the sugarhouse, getting wood ready in there so I don't have the wagon going in and out. canning about 13 gals, then making candy and lolipops tonight... whew.

[Al]

Sound like you'll have a successfull day. We collected 400 gallons of sap in two days. At 25 gallons an hour it made for a long day. We're making a beautiful looking and tasting dark amber now. Started boiling at 1100 and stopped at 1030 at night. Whew!!
Good luck with your breakfast!

[Sugarmaker]

Jim
Hope you event went well! I know how much we put into getting ready for open house.

How do you like the wood fire compared to the oil?

Chris

[mapleman3]

Chris and Al The event is in the morning, it's our 5th year I think... usually 75-100 ppl. yeah it's a lot of work but the sales off it are more than worth it, plus the scouts and familys love it.
ya know, the more I'm working with the wood again the more I'm getting used to it. So we will go another year with wood, I have a crap load of pine and oak for next season so.......

mmmm smells good here.. in the kitchen making candy, I'll never get sick of this smell!!

[mapleman3]

The weekend was good, tons of pancakes made yesterday, around 70 scouts and family, today was a good customer day also. prolly my best weekend yet sales wise....

yesterday had 500 gals to boil, today 300. collected 275 in the woods tonight and have not collected the buckets, they should give me 200+ when I collect tomorrow.

I would be boiling tonight but tomorrow will only be in the mid 30s do it will be a very low sap day. so I'll boil todays sap then.

I'm at 82+ gallons and see next week as good. I figure at least till the end of the month for the buckets and maybe a week or so into april for the north bush... maybe more, it's still much colder up there.

saw these moose tracks go right past my tanks today

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_g0L_EUFyUQ0/ScbYJW2kFgI/AAAAAAAAAbs/FUakyroSLXw/s640/IMG00503.jpg

hoping for 140 gals syrup this year

[mapleman3]

Well last night I farted out.. gave myself a night off... I have been at this solid since Jan with putting up all the new tubing,tanks, truck, bricking, etc.etc. I have 275 gals sap in the tank, the buckets are half full, it was windy and cold last night , no sap flow yesterday(maybe not today either) so I wanted to leave the sap in them so they wouldn't blow around. I'll boil after work, no need to go north as it doesn't look like it will get out of the 30's up there. My wife will collect the buckets today.

I will boil a few hours then I have a scout dinner, maybe boil when I get back

looking at the forecast, this may be the last week for the buckets for sure.we'll see

[Clan Delaney]

In town, I give us tomorrow and Thursday for the last big push, Friday and Saturday to drip dry and then I'm calling it. By then it looks like evenings in the high 30's.

[mapleman3]

I'm hoping your wrong Patrick! lets hold on to the buckets until after the next week, ya never know, things may happen.

I am going to build a wash system for pressure washing all those 5 gal buckets I have.

some kind of rock to old 4 at a time , then I can hit them with the pressure washer, spray them with a very mild bleach rinse take out and dry I hate... I MEAN HATE bucket cleaning days.

so the easier the better, it's hard on my back bending over for hours cleaning. so use of the pressure washer will help

[mapleman3]

boiled for a few hours yesterday but had some family and scout stuff to do, Tonight I still have 270+ in the tank, have to go gather the woods and buckets, no telling how much we will have but I'm thinking I will have around 700 to boil with the way the past 2 days have been. So..... Jim's off from work tomorrow and boiling some tonight and the rest tomorrow PLUS tomorrows collection. I'd like to be near 100 gallons a a day or so, I'm about 85 now not including some of the near death to syrup mishaps. thats all in a 5 gallon pail right now waiting to be added in the end of the season junk that goes north LOL


Update. It looks like I will boil close to 1100 to boil tomorrow. Will start around 6 or 7am.

[Clan Delaney]

I just had the best collection day of the season. Go figure that it had to come at the tail end, when sugar % is down in the low 2's. I estimate about 45 gallons for the day. Some of my milk jugs that I haven't seen more than a quarter full all season were at least half full. I had a 5 gallon bucket flowing over. I wished it had all been on tubing going into a tank! (It will next year!!!)

I'm sticking to my prediction... tomorrow will be it for decent sap flow in town. (I think your North woods are going to blow you away in the next week, though!) I'll arrange my last pickup for the season tomorrow, and boil whatever comes after that myself.

Here's what we're up against!

http://media2.wwlp.com/weather/7Day_fim.JPG

[mapleman3]

Yeah we are planning to pull buckets maybe at the end of the week, but the darn thing is they are still at 2.4% where the woods are at 1.6+%

I'm getting a lot of sap there just not great sugar....

[softmaple]

why pull the buckets now they just even out at 2.0 you have the big evaporator now its only time and wood. keep it going to pay off all the equipment you can.

[mapleman3]

just if they stop producing, 1.5 hrs to gather nothing isn't worth sending my wife out for, the trees up north are gushing! just lower %

we'll see what happens ;)

[mapleman3]

Well here I sit on the laptop with a tank full of sap getting real cloudy, my front pan is warming up with Acid in it. yesterdays marathon boil of 1200+ gallons ended after 1000 gallons due to not having good drawoffs, the syrup kept wanting to scorch at the end, so tonight I am cleaning the grimy pan, it was pretty bad, no wonder I had trouble.

I'm over 100 gallons, not sure yet how much but maybe 105. I still will boil the next few days and see what happens.

the buckets will be done this weekend I'm sure, the woods are still producing a lot but way down to 1.5% sugar. UUUGGHHH

[mapleman3]

boiled off about 590 gals today, sugar % sucks now. but still boiling. I back to a nice dark A after last nights cleaning of the syrup pan. still getting some from the buckets, My wife wants to still collect them so we are still going. the woods are down to 1.5% and the buckets at 2%. so combined not too too bad.

syrup total so far around 112 gals

not sure what I will have tomorrow for sap, I'l go collect in the Morning.

Cleaned both truck tanks and sanitized, also the sap holding tank got a real good scrubbing. each time it sure looks more and more dirty.

[Clan Delaney]

After a season of collecting sap and watching it being hauled away, I finally fired up the propane burners today for a run at the last two days' worth (and last of the year's) sap.

I processed 15 gallons in 5 hours. With an evap. rate like that I got quite a bit done in the meantime - gathered in all the buckets and started washing 'em, cleaned up/cleaned out the shack, got some reading done... I told Jim at one point today: next year, I'm gonna need more snacks. Or better yet I'll be so busy firing, drawing off and generally worrying that the whole thing is just moments from self destructing that I won't have time for snacks. Still...mini-fridge?

This syrup is dark. Dark dark. Dark like you wonder if light is actually escaping the surface of the syrup. And it ain't even syrup yet! I think it's gonna taste pretty good though. I've got to finish the rest of it tomorrow - about another 15 gallons I'd guess. It's kinda cloudy now. In two days it'll be too far gone.

[mapleman3]

Well after a drive up to the woods, about 30 gallons at around 1.4% I turned the tanks over and call it done. the buckets what they produce is real cloudy and still not enough to fire up the evap, and I won't hold sap in this weather so...... I'm done after todays boil. basically boiling water to clean and chase the syrup out, But it's ok, I have been at it since Jan 15th and setting up the new bush...time to move on to the family things. So all said and done I should be around 120 gals... about .2 gals syrup per tap.
processed 7000 gallons of sap at the avg of 58gallons /gallon of syrup.... pretty lame. should have been around 150-160 gallons of syrup on a normal % year.

Lots of Dark, no light, some medium and some B

Whats for next year?? we shall see

Now for pulling down of lines, clean up of lines and tanks, SELL SYRUP and wait till next year ;)

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
Nice JOB! you hung right with it to get the .2 gal. per tap. I agree not a great year. We did not make much syrup that we could call light.

Chris

[mapleman3]

Thanks Chris, Yep not that great a year...

Well finished up and have been running water through to help clean, hosed off the inside of the hood also, the tanks are off the truck. I kegged up todays syrup, still have some very heavy drawoff syrup, maybe slightly burnt that I will finish this week and put in bulk for the trip north this summer with bulk(once prices go up enough)

sitting in my recliner with a big... ahhhhhhhhhhhhh sigh of relief.
always that at the end of the boiling season when you know you can get just a bit more rest.... although still SO much cleanup and takedown left to do... it is still a lot less work.

But I love it anyway!! thats why I do it!!

[Clan Delaney]

I just finished cleaning up (mostly). I boiled 26.7 gallons of sap (us small guys can indulge in tenths-of-a-gallon measurements :) ) over 9 hours to make .63 gallons of grade G (for GAH! Is that really syrup?!?) It will be consumed greedily over pancakes for months to come.

I achieved an enviable 2.8 GPH evaporation rate out of a stainless steel sink blank over two propane burners and one of the wife's cake pans to preheat. That's better than last year, but I'll be much happier with a standard evaporator setup for next season. Here's to planning, and a little luck.

Now there's the pulling of taps, taking down of lines and the cleaning and storage of it all. That's not likely to happen till next weekend.

[mapleman3]

Grade G... haha are you sure it isn't 90 weight gear oil?? thats what my last drawoffs were like... I'm wondering if I could call it synthetic and put it in the gear cases?? ;)

[Clan Delaney]

Grade G... haha are you sure it isn't 90 weight gear oil?? thats what my last drawoffs were like... I'm wondering if I could call it synthetic and put it in the gear cases?? ;)

You be the judge....

[mapleman3]

ok I give up ...what is that a picture of? a ride at six flags?

[Clan Delaney]

ok I give up ...what is that a picture of? a ride at six flags?


When you stare into the abyss the abyss stares back at you. -Friedrich Nietzsche

That is a green five gallon bucket of my syrup, staring into your soul! :lol:

[mapleman3]

Looks like I will be set for next years wood, I still have a lot of the hardwood left and a huge plie of pine that a tree guy brought me that still needs cutting and splitting, also a freind is cutting up some pine logs and dropping them off.... I'll have a lot of soft wood but free is free and it burns hot.. May have to fire a minute or two earlier but ... its free. no fuel cost next season will be real nice.

I'm hoping to pressure wash the truck tanks and put them to their summer resting spot. also start pulling buckets everyday on the way home from work.
gotta build my 5 gail pail washing system, so I can pressure wash 5 pails at a time. then dunk in a mild bleach rinse then in the barn to dry.

[sapbrush]

I just finished cleaning up (mostly). I boiled 26.7 gallons of sap (us small guys can indulge in tenths-of-a-gallon measurements :) ) over 9 hours to make .63 gallons of grade G (for GAH! Is that really syrup?!?) It will be consumed greedily over pancakes for months to come.

I achieved an enviable 2.8 GPH evaporation rate out of a stainless steel sink blank over two propane burners and one of the wife's cake pans to preheat. That's better than last year, but I'll be much happier with a standard evaporator setup for next season. Here's to planning, and a little luck.

Now there's the pulling of taps, taking down of lines and the cleaning and storage of it all. That's not likely to happen till next weekend.

so you guys think its over for the year bummer jim

[mapleman3]

That was from 2009 Sapbrush.. don't get confused with the Belchertown 2010 forum ;)

[Clan Delaney]

Sapbrush-

What Jim said. :)

That was my end of year post from last year. I've still got hope for this year!

I just took an hour to dump the pans, strain the crap out of the almost-syrup, wash 'em down flsh 'em out. The bucket I was dumping into looked like MUD! Good to have that all out of the pans.

I'm boiling now, and likely will be till midnite. Come on down and say hi!

[sapbrush]

That was from 2009 Sapbrush.. don't get confused with the Belchertown 2010 forum ;)

im confused anyways this site is new to me and i didnt have my specs on sorry guys jim