Can't keep up!

[Tweegs]

Holy Smokes! :lol:

Lesson learned: I need a bigger holding tank :D

360 gal tank full to the brim, tonight I'll fill my 65 gal pick-up tank before I can get to all of the buckets, and my holding tank was dry last Sunday.

Taking tomorrow off to boil. Sunrise to well after dark I'm sure.
Need to make a few tweeks to get that evap rate up. Think I'm only 20~22GPH. Lots of good stuff in here to try.

Y'all have fun now.....ya hear?

[michiganfarmer]

Im glad you have more sap than you can get rid of. Its wonderfull to be in that situation.

[glassman]

i am in the same boat. only sixty taps but i am only working with a 36 by 48 divided flat pan. getting some good reduction but have bronchatias, so boiling has been a chore.

[Rick_Seebeck]

Sitting in the shack right now looking at over 100 gal gathered today off 26 taps. I can do 10 gals an hour if - push it. Going to be a long night!

[Tweegs]

i am in the same boat. only sixty taps but i am only working with a 36 by 48 divided flat pan. getting some good reduction but have bronchatias, so boiling has been a chore.

Hang in there man, we're just getting rolling. If it comes down to it, remember your health is worth more than a few gallons of syrup.

Only collected 28 gallons of sap tonight, actually a good thing, I'm way behind. Got a 2X6 divided pan, only getting a soft rolling boil at the back. Need to tinker a bit, I figure I should be pushing 30 GPH. Nowhere near that right now.

[Big maple]

I love this stuff! We have about 3000 gallons and we keep boiling every night but the the tank never seems to get emptied. We have only emptied our 2000 gallon tank all of the way once this year and that was Saturday, no Sunday at about 2:00 in the morning and had to start the pump back up at 9:00 that same morning. This weather has really made it difficult to make light syrup and I am not very happy about that. Istopped early tonight because it was like working next to a blast furnace in a foundry. Gotta love it!

[firetech]

Haha I'm caught up but it took Maple flu yesterday and I'm gone at 10 today to get it done. only about 50 gals in the feed tank and the pans are flooded for tonite. My better half went to collect today but the winds were to strong to leave those 5gal buckets without any ballest. But she did bring home another 150 gals. So as soon as the storm fronts get thru we're back at it. Big Maples right I lost 10 lbs in the sauna today and something smells but it ann't maple. Shower and to bed I can rest at work tomorrow.

[Tweegs]

Took a vacation day yesterday, 10 hours behind the pan and still left about 60 gal in the holding tank. Can't get to it 'til Saturday. Already gone cloudy on me, may have to dump it before Sat. Depends on how much I get between now and then I suppose.

Pulled off 4 gal of Grade A medium.

[Greenthumb]

know the feeling-- caught up looks like another run tonight to friday the end may be near. all my reds are ready to explode with buds with the temps. Nothing like boiling sap in my shorts like yesterday

[michigansugarman]

We are caught up too. Took yesterday off and my son-in-law came over and we ran approx. 150 gals through the evaporator. Hoping to boil again this weekend if the sap runs the next few days.

Is anyone else getting more nitre than usual? We have never had so much before.

[Greenthumb]

Lots of nitre and very dark all season

[Rick_Seebeck]

My trees are ready to bud and all of my sap this year has produced darker and sweeter syrup. Lots of nitter hear too. It has been hard keeping sap with the temps so high.

I have not collected much sap the past two days. Anyone else getting little sap the last two days?

[Tweegs]

Only got 28 gal of sap Tuesday, didn't check yesterday but didn't expect much. I wouldn't really know what a lot of nitre looks like, but it doesn't seem like a bunch. Not much in the pan, but a paper filter won't last for more than a half gallon. Thought that to be "normal".

What I am noticing though is my sugar content seems to be low. Best guess puts me near 50:1. May have overestimated my sap haul by a bit, but not by 100 gallons. I've pulled 6 gallons total off, probably another 4 still in the pan and I've processed about 500 gal of sap.

[KenWP]

I am getting a little bit of sap on the odd tree. I tapped my boxelders and they don't stop running like the maples do. Supposed to freeze hard tonight and then if it gets warm enough I am away again.

[glassman]

all caught up too. finished 8 gallons last night with some help from my friends. went a little over on the boiling. really thick and fairly dark, but its good stuff. my ten year old was just about licking the pan out.

a couple days off boiling til the next run.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

I dumped about 60 gals of sap yesterday that looked like lemonade cleaned everything up got a small run today not enough to fire up hopefully tomorrow will be better. All syrup has been dark and sugar content low

RICH

[michiganfarmer]

We got a wierd run saturday night. We collected 800 gallons arouund 6 pm saturday evenign, then by 9am suunday evrything was full again. Another 800 gallons. It froze pretty good last night, and is suppose to be close to 50 today. Im a happy boy. There is a slight problem thoguh. Im runnign out of dry wood, LOL.

[michiganfarmer]

Lots of nitre and very dark all season

I pulled a couple 5 gallon buckets off yesterday that I think is light amber.

Ive never made light amber in my life.

[Tweegs]

Only got 48 gal on Sat, another 60 on Sunday. Looks like the end is near.
A couple of good days today and tomorrow, no freezing temps through the rest of the week. A couple of trees are ready to bud, may have to pull those taps before weeks end.

Still getting dark amber, no B grade yet, but I imagine by the weekend that'll be all she wrote.

[KenWP]

I can more then keep up around here. I can collect all the sap I get in a 2 gallon bucket lately. Time to do taxs I guess. Maybe later in the week I can get things going a bit better if it warms up.

[michiganfarmer]

Only got 48 gal on Sat, another 60 on Sunday. Looks like the end is near.
A couple of good days today and tomorrow, no freezing temps through the rest of the week. A couple of trees are ready to bud, may have to pull those taps before weeks end.

Still getting dark amber, no B grade yet, but I imagine by the weekend that'll be all she wrote.

what size is your pan?

[Tweegs]

what size is your pan?

2X6 crossflow.

And to clarify, that is 48 and 60 gallons of sap, not syrup. Only got 2 gallons of syrup out of that.
Sorry if there was some confusion.

[firetech]

Well I'm calling it a year,pulling all the taps and buckets tomorrow and dumping all the sap on the ground. I boiled for 5 hrs tonite and got 2 gals of syrup. the wood pile is shot and it's very dark syrup. total for the year 20gal med,60gals dark,25 gals of B. Still a good year over all 105 gals from 320 taps

[Tweegs]

I think my last boil will be Thursday. Looks like I got a good run yesterday and should get a little more today. Pretty sure it will all be B. Plan to pull the taps this weekend.

I'm down to splitting up wood that was for the house, lots of that left anyway.

Got 3 gal fancy, 3 gal med, 4 gal of dark and whatever B comes out of the last batch, from 100 taps. A bit dissapointed, was expecting around 30 gallons total, I might get 12.

Good learning experience though, will be making some major adjustments for next year.

[michiganfarmer]

We've gotten 105 gallons of syrup so far. Hopefully another 25 today. The weather forcast looks good all this week, but I am running out of dry firewood. I tried some wood that had been outside al winter. No good. too wet. Dad is gong to lend me a bunch of his dry wood. I asked a friend to coome out today, to haul, and split dry wood from dad's.

Im exhausted, but Im trying to get 200 gallons.

[michiganfarmer]

A bit dissapointed, was expecting around 30 gallons total, I might get 12.

Good learning experience though, will be making some major adjustments for next year.

Good job. Wecome to the insanity!

[michiganfarmer]

Well I'm calling it a year,pulling all the taps and buckets tomorrow and dumping all the sap on the ground. I boiled for 5 hrs tonite and got 2 gals of syrup. the wood pile is shot and it's very dark syrup. total for the year 20gal med,60gals dark,25 gals of B. Still a good year over all 105 gals from 320 taps

Thats fantastic! Its gotta be time for a nap, isnt it?

[Rick_Seebeck]

All done for this year. Weird weather aside, we made 8 gallons of dark but tastey syrup. This was the first year in our new shack so we had a blast.

[Old Farmer]

I am located south of Fenton and it looks like today may the last run also. We ended up with a little over 8 gallons from 45 taps. Not our best year but I am satisfied. The syrup is for our own use and we give some away so that should be plenty. I might hold off on pulling the taps until the trees bud out. The weather report just might be wrong. ;)

[michigansugarman]

Made about 12 gal syrup so far with 51 taps on our new 2x4 and using the smaller health spouts. Hoping to make a few more gallons with whatever sap runs we get this week. Planning to pull the spiles this weekend. Heading to the Smokies for spring break with the family. Weird weather this year but a pretty average production for us.

[glassman]

was gonna pull tonignt, but, the sap ran ok, not great but got another sixty gallons or so so they will stay in till tomorrow. for the low sugar content it sounds like everyone is finishing with a decent year. congradulations.

i am going to try to get all the sap in the pan tonight. we will see what happens.

wally

[Tweegs]

All done.

Boiled off my last 65 gallons of sap last Thursday and got a little over 2 gal of dark amber out of that. The last of what was in the pan is now on the kitchen stove, Mama wants to try to make some candy.

Just came in from pulling the taps, 95% of the trees are now budding.

Nothing left to do but the clean up.

Took good notes, got some good experience.

One thing's for sure, gonna get a bunch of those taps on tube next year. Lugging 5 gal buckets full of sap ain't no fun, especially at this age. :lol:

[michiganfarmer]

I pulled my 300 buckets, but IM leaving my 400 taps on tubing and vacuum hooked up untill the trees bud. I just dont have time to dump buckets. I have 1000 gallons of sap, and 150 gallons of syrup right now, and the trees shoud run this week.