March Madness!! the Journal.. it's Go Time!

[mapleman3]

Just getting this on the board, good luck to all. by now most should be either boiling or ready to get going.


MAY THE SAP...... BE WITH YOU !!!!!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Why don't you pipe some of that sap you are getting down to us desperate folks in WV. We don't even know what sap looks or tastes like. Too cold here again all this week. Hope you northern bros do good as we are 3 weeks from normal end of season and haven't even made 10% of a normal crop.

[mapleman3]

everything I tapped today was running good. hopefully by tomorrow night I will be in better shape. I hope to collect sometime on Tuesday if I get the trucks ready. we shall see.
Wish you were closer I would be sharing it with you for sure!

[caseyssugarshack93]

900 in sap was running good, didnt put any of the sapin the tank:o didnt have releaser or tanks ready for sap yet:cry: but anyways should be boiling this week or weekend hopfully and get the r/o cranking,

[PerryW]

Tapped about 600 today and 100 yesterday, so I'm about 90% tapped (not including my buckets). Should have some to boil by midweek. Sap was running pretty good today.

[woodshillmaple]

Finally got all the lines pulled up out of the 3 1/2 feet of snow and all tapped. 318 taps and vacuum hooked up yesterday afternoon. Collected 240gallons.

[KenWP]

So far to cold to get much here yet. Will go out and check around and see how many other taps I want to put in right now. See what the weather brings during the week. Winds blowing pretty good also.
I don't expect to much untill the middle of March around here but one never knows anymore. We maybe need another tremblent de terre down my way. We had 3.7 just north of Montreal saturday night. Shake the trees up more.
Scarey and weird year if you ask me.

[Yellzee]

Maybe a little arthquake will help, who knows. Kinda like a good pop. Weird is right, I know when I lived in St. Lazare about 8 years ago we had a bit of a shaker and it was a really strange feeling when you realized it wasn't you, the world really was moving.

[ejmaple]

had the best run yet today, yeilded 280 gal of 3.4% from 208 taps. going to be a early start tomarrow.

[KenWP]

Well sap is crawling today finally. Slow but sure I should get enough to boil. Have 40 some taps out as of today and tomorrow I head out inot the frontier and tap the forest trees. Who knows what I will get this year.

[Farmboy]

Just got things organised in the sugar shack today. Split some more slab wood. Also scraped soot of the bottom of the pans.Ill boil tommorow after school. I got a fair amount of sap on the fenceline trees, I didnt check the woods trees yet.

[PARKER MAPLE]

I Think I Might Of Been A Little Early On Tapping This Year But You Dont Know Unless You Try. So Anyway Ive Been Gathering Little By Little. There Not Really Running Hard Here Yet On Tubing. But Buckets Are Doing Well. I Bought A 1250 Gph Bilge Pump A Few Weeks Ago That Has Already Crapped Out On Me. So Today Went To Tractor Supply And Bought One Of The 1 1/2in Gas Powered Pumps. This Things Gets It Done For Sure. Sucked Out 65-70 Gal In About 1 1/2 Mins.. Thats What Im Talking About. Think I Have To Play Around With Some Quick Disconect Fittings Know, And Should Be Ready For The Big Runs. How Do You Guys Set Up Your Pumps With These. Do You Put The Cam Lock On The Pump Or On The Line??

I See A Sugar Maker South Of Me Today His Tanks Were Almost Over Flowing. They Are About 2 Weeks Ahead Of Us Up Here In The Hills. So Hopefully This Week Things Start Turning Around And It Starts Flowing Like A River.

Good Luck To All
Maple Rookie

[red maples]

Been tapped for week and a half now got 15 gallons of syrup so far all medium. not a bad little run today. rough weekend after the nasty weather finally got power back on tonight 4 1/2 days with no vac running :(, but its going now hopefully boil some tomorrow afternoon...we'll see should be a good runs starting thursday....HOLD ON TO HATS!!!!!

[KenWP]

Maple Rookie just how do you type like that. It's almost impossible to read with all those capitals in it.
Not supposed to warm up tomorrow but Wen. is supposed to be warm. trying to get ready for it.

[mapleack]

We got 380 gal of sap from about 650 taps today. Got the gas burners figured out better, got it running 75 gallon an hour plus. Towards the end of the night I cranked it up higher, I'm guessing 90 gal or more, but I'll need more sap to figure it out. Also got my one new releaser hooked up and working on 200 CV spiles. Now if I can figure out whats wrong with the other releaser I'll be doin ok. Still have 200 more taps to put in, gonna have to wait til Saturday, would've had them in but I had to waste too much time figuring out the burners in the evaporator over the weekend. It sure was a relief to see syrup start coming out the drawoff!!!

[vtsnowedin]

Still too cold here but in the afternoon it drizzled some. About a gallon per tap over the last two days. I made two trips from the back slope tank down to the sugarhouse with my 55 gallon juice barrel transfer tank. I need to change the way I empty it as the faucet and piece of garden hose I have on it is just too slow. If it runs today which it should I'll be able to sweeten the pans after I get home from town meeting. I still have over a hunderd taps to put out and if I get a move on I should be able to catch the first good run this weekend.

[PerryW]

Got everything tapped except my buckets for a total of about 750.

Going to fire up the sap truck and pick up about 300 gallons of sap. Setting up the evaporator today and getting ready for first boil.

[PapaSmiff]

According to the local weatherman, this should be a good week for sugaring in Western Massachusetts - especially this weekend. Into the 20's at night, and into the 40's (perhaps 50) during the daytime. Sunny this weekend.

I'm gearing up. Hope the Turkey Fryer can handle the volume from 10 taps.

[PFHII]

good here in northern Vt. We missed out on all the BIG snow and after the rain only have about 6" in some places. 1500 buckets hung and ready to gather tonight. good luck to you all this year.:lol:

[KenWP]

PFHII your fairly close to me. I am trying to tap today and just about every tree I drill has some kind of sap. Not a lot but some. It's funny the trees last year that I tapped that never produced at dry again this year.
That wind wrecked havaoc in the bush also. I couldn't find one tree from last year untill I found it hideing behind another tree that blew in and planted in the ground like it had growen there.
The lack of snow here makes it hard to tap as my sled won't go any wheres and I have to carry things in by hand. Last year I just walked in over all the dead fall and this year I have to walk around or over it all.

[Hurdhaven Farm]

Thought I would go to town meeting today but tapped everything instead. 160 buckets and 25 on gravity tubing, some with the leader check valve spouts. About 50% of the trees were putting out a little sap.

[3% Solution]

Tis the season!!!!!! :)

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Well, I was able to fix one of my stupid tricks today. I have ceramic blanket all over the purlins and the trusses on both sides of the stack out to at least 2' on each side of the stack also. This summer, I decided I needed some more and at the time, I had my hood suspended about 2' above the evaporator. I covered the evaporator but didn't think about covering the 1.5" quick coupling for the preheater and yes, a small piece of ceramic blanket managed to fall inside of the quick coupling and it caused enough problem in the inlet pipe to keep sap from going thru. It was amazing that not even 200+ gallons of sap with aprox 3' of head pressure could push it out. I even blew higher pressure water thru it. Pulled the preheater out today and ran a strand cable thru it like a snake and then blew water into it again and when I dumped it out the drain valve, here it come out in 2 pieces. Amazing that it ever got in there in the first place without me seeing it and it sure caused a lot of problems other day.

Oh well, hope I lost my stupid sign for at least the rest of this year. LOL

[Farmboy]

Boiled today. Collected about 65 gallons from 70 taps. Made a little over 3/4 of a gallon of syrup today. Bottled 2 quarts and 2 pints. And took the extra and added it to the glass bottle in my fridge. What does everyone else do when they bottle and have some left over but it's not enough to fill a bottle?

[vtsnowedin]

Spent all day at town meeting. She WMBO got elected to town clerk.:)
Warm in the village but when I got home I had less in the tanks then I thought I would but with yesterdays run it was enough to fire her up. No runs no drips no errors but no syrup. All she needs is more sap and more and better wood. Got to hustle and get the rest of the taps in before the good weather that is forecast for this weekend.

[brookledge]

Wow alot of things have been going on with me. It has been a few weeks since I've been on. Working like crazy to get things all set with the ro and everything else. Well anyways I'm all tapped and have boiled a few times. sure is different boiling with a ro.
Keith

[KenWP]

This stupid weather sucks. Never froze last night again and so far no frost here for tonight. Was like 50 degrees today so would have been great with frost. The good news is most of the trees I am tapping are at least dripping so with one good day I should be set up for makeing syrup. Just have to wait and see what happens.
I got close to a 100 trees tapped now and hopefully get the rest done this week. I have no idea how many I can handle this year with only the nights and the weekends to boil in. Am hopeing for a test boil this week before i am gone days again.

[PapaSmiff]

Boiled today. Collected about 65 gallons from 70 taps. Made a little over 3/4 of a gallon of syrup today. Bottled 2 quarts and 2 pints. And took the extra and added it to the glass bottle in my fridge. What does everyone else do when they bottle and have some left over but it's not enough to fill a bottle?

I also put the "extra" in the bottle in the fridge.

[Z/MAN]

All extra goes in the refrig. I don't waste any of it including what won't go through the filter. It tastes great to me.
Paul

[PATheron]

Keith- What did you get for an R.O. ? Theron

[dano2840]

boiled the night before last with the 500 gallons i got from my 483 that were in on vac, i was suprised, there was 40 gal in the tank when i turned the pump on at 11 and 500 in it when i went to turn the pump off at 6. when i boiled for the first time i tried this new defoamer stuff and it tainted my syrup, there was also a crap load and i mean alot of niter in the sap made a gallon and a half of nasty tasting dark as black strap. i ended up draining the whole thing and re sweetening the pans to make a nice gallon of fancy last night my free leiman vac pump was pulling 6 inches the first day, i fixed the leaks i could find/ hear, got it up to 7 the next day it went 8 now its close to 10

[PFHII]

Gathered 1000 + buckets yesterday got over 1500 gallons of sap. Great start but looks like it might not stop anytime soon. About 500 more buckets today and boiling tonight. 2 Weeks ahead of the last 6 years.

[Revi]

I hear that vacuum can make a big difference. A big operation near us has been getting a gallon a tap for the past few weeks, despite the fact that almost nothing has been coming out for us gravity tappers.

We need a freeze, and it sounds like we're going to have a couple the next few days.

[Father & Son]

Last few nights have been spent installing pump lines in the woods around the sugarhouse. A few more drops and the saddles in the new woods and it's ready to tap. Rinse the evaporator out, clean one more tank, install some camlock fittings and I think I'm ready.

Jim

[Gary R]

Good to hear a lot of you guys are getting sap. I now know what it feels like to be a new englander and hear us guys talk about all the ealy sap. Mostly mid to upper 30's for high. Next few nights are supposed to be 20. I just gathered all the sap I could squeeze out of the ice blocks. Only about 40 gal. over the last week and a half:cry: The last 2 years i'd made a 1/3 of my syrup in Feb. None as of yet. Hope it doesn't end before it starts.

[Dan W]

Gary, These trees here don't make any sense. One side of my driveway I got 20 gallons. The other side, 20 feet away 2 gallons from the same number of trees. Buckets that had half or more yesterday only had a couple of cups today and vice versa. Anyway, bottled up 5.25 gallons of B this morning and collected 90 or so this afternoon. Looks like the next few days should be pretty good here. I think I finally have things figured out on the evaporator and have a system going that seems to work. Good boiling!!!

[Revi]

This is bizarre. We haven't even been below freezing for a week or more.

Why is it so cold down there and so warm here?

It's acting like the end of the season around here.

I think it's supposed to freeze up hard here tonight and tomorrow night, so maybe we'll get some sap for the weekend anyway.

[Farmboy]

Boiled sap today. It didn't want to boil like yesterday. I could only get it up to 217-218 but it wouldn't go to 219 or 220. Finally called it a night and came in. Hopefully it runs pretty good tommorow and it boils good. Hpoefully tommorow I will make a lot of syrup because I was really close today.

[KenWP]

What was the boiling point if water. I have never figured out boiling sap. You can watch the thermometer and it will go up and then go down and then up then down. You wonder if your ever going to get to 219 and then wham its trying to get to 220 on you. If a person could figure out why it goes up and down instead of continually riseing it would solve half the battle.
Today was pretty good. Almost al lthe trees are produceing something with some trees really doing well. We are weeks ahead of last year. One tree that never produced a drop untill almost bud time is pouring sap today.
When it's only your second year its a mystery to say the least.

[jrthe3]

got almost half of my trees taped threw 3 and 4 feet of snow i am eating my words i had to brake down and get the snow shoes out all that i taped today where running

[brookledge]

Theron
I got a CDL 600 GPH expandable.
Keith

[PATheron]

Keith- Thats the same thing as my machine. You'll like it real easy to run. If you recirc it it will do 300 gallons of water all day long. Four then rinse, four hours then rinse, four hours then full wash. If you just single pass it youll keep up with a small evaporator. Or maybe if you recirc for a little while then single pass it you can boil some thicker stuff. Theron

[dano2840]

well i Was hoping for a freeze up so i could move my tank to the back of the sugar house but its forcasted PERFECT BIGSAP WEATHER for this weekend and all of next week. i love my vacuum pump, i didnt like turning it on today because it was 28 at 8 am when i had to leave for school, its supposed to be 42 so im hopping it didnt hurt it too bad. is it terrable for the thing to run an hour or so when its still froze up? its pulling 9" the past two days a big improvement from the 6 i started with aslo a big concern of mine. i have a salad dressing bottle for my oil bottle and its run all day for 2 days now and doesnt appear to have gone down at all? i dont know if some things wrong??? it does have 2 flip up oiler cups on each bearing that i take the oil gun and fill 3 times every time i go over there, its enough to make oil bubble up around the exhaust port, and some oil to come out the exhaust pipe alittle bit if i fill the oil cups 4 or 5 times and let it suck it in, so im assuming its getting enough oil that way?

[Dennis H.]

Dano what kind of vac are you running?

The SP22 that I am running goes real easy on oil. I thought I would be adding oil everyday, but I was surprised. I only had to add oil once now and I might of added a 1/2 pint if even that. I run the thing from about 7 am till 9:30 pm everday.

When I start mine pump in the morning it is right at 32 and the only trouble I have is tripping the breaker while it is trying to start. I could be that it is cold or from being on a 20amp circuit or something else but once it turns over it is good to go.

[mapleack]

Gravity trees didnt do well today, but our one vac woods thats working did alright. We got out at dusk into dark and added 15 new taps into the vac system. A part of that was putting in a two 5/16 line ladder, with 5 taps on it. Trees were running hard as we tapped them and the ladder worked great until no air was left in the line, then it slowly sucked both lines full and continued to work. I think I'm going to use a 1/64 drill bit and make my own leak at the end of the lateral to make the ladder work better. It still put a grin on my face to see it work! I'll try to get some pictures over the weekend.

[jrthe3]

after four hours in the skid steer i got all my tanks out of the snow also open up the sugar house drive way have to run in town tomorow to pick up the stack and once it is up and i finish tapping i ready to start boiling

anyone in around me know a good place to get filter aid

[dano2840]

Dano what kind of vac are you running?

The SP22 that I am running goes real easy on oil. I thought I would be adding oil everyday, but I was surprised. I only had to add oil once now and I might of added a 1/2 pint if even that. I run the thing from about 7 am till 9:30 pm everday.

When I start mine pump in the morning it is right at 32 and the only trouble I have is tripping the breaker while it is trying to start. I could be that it is cold or from being on a 20amp circuit or something else but once it turns over it is good to go.

im pretty sure you guys have never heard of it because only one person i have talked to has, but its a leiman air pump a model c. its been 3 days and hasnt used any oil im thinking because i put the oil right to it in the oil caps, enough so oil will make its way out the exhaust pipe, so i think its getting enough oil?

[dano2840]

fixed alot of WACUUM leaks yestarday, had 3 cracked spouts, thats a whole 51 cents gone to waste! QUESTION???? so i found that just about every spout you can tap in about 4 more times like they loosened up or some thing? they arent leaking sap but can go in 4 more whacks before going thud, the same kind of sounding noise when you tap for the first time, almost putting it in as much as when you tapped, but should i be doing that? i dont think its going to split the bark because i stop on the THUD, but how would it loosen up this much? do you think its causeing WACUUM leaks?

[Yellzee]

made a decent batch last night... got it too thick... reading 69.4 on the refractometer... Better eat it fast before it starts to turn to sugar...

Yesterdays SAP decent at 3 %.

lots of fun trying to get it thru the filters.

[danno]

fixed alot of WACUUM leaks yestarday, had 3 cracked spouts, thats a whole 51 cents gone to waste! QUESTION???? so i found that just about every spout you can tap in about 4 more times like they loosened up or some thing? they arent leaking sap but can go in 4 more whacks before going thud, the same kind of sounding noise when you tap for the first time, almost putting it in as much as when you tapped, but should i be doing that? i dont think its going to split the bark because i stop on the THUD, but how would it loosen up this much? do you think its causeing WACUUM leaks?

Loose taps will defintely give you vacuum leaks. I had a rookie following me through the woods this year tapping in after I drilled. I had allot of leaks to fix, but was also tapping allot of his taps further in. Ofcourse, there was also the tree where he put the tap in last years hole instead of this years. The big wet stain on the tree about 12" to the side of where the tap was, was a dead give away.

Not that I'm complaing, free labor is GOOD labor!

[jrthe3]

here what i have to work with that is a 55 gallon drum sitting on the ground

[KenWP]

The suns shining bright but its cold. Trees are just putting out. I have enough right now to boil tomorrow and with todays and tomorrows I should be boiling steady for two days.
Finally getting the evaporator put together today. This early start didn't fit my plans worth beans. Was planning on doing it this week and boiling about the 18 of the month like last year.
At least its freezeing at nights again.

[vtsnowedin]

Still not warm enough here yet. About a half gallon per tap from the sunniest trees but nothing from the north slope. We used up all the tubing I had at hand today but I'm still about fifty taps short of the plan. Another trip to Welch's True value in So. Ro. to get another roll or two. If we get some sun tomorrow I'll be able to make a first draw off.

[KenWP]

Was just to cold here today also. Trees gave some and then froze up in the afternoon. A few trees never thawed out today even. And then theres a few that just poured. One filled up the jug and there was a big icicle hanging down off of it.
Slowly getting ready to boil tomorrow afternoon it looks like. All these little things just take time. Got the 7/16 copper tube wrapped around the stack finally once I found something I could coil it up on first. We must be crazy to work so hard when Aunt Jemimia will do it for us.

[PerryW]

Took off my first 15 gallons of the year today. Boiled yesterday's sap in the morning and today's sap in the evening. Didn't really get warm enough today but managed to get 300 gals of sap out of 800 taps.

[Dennis H.]

Almost all the snow is gone and the temps are to be in the low 50's tomorrow.

I have been quite busy boiling for the past few days and the next 7 days look just as good.

I now have had the trees tapped since mid Jan and they are still running hard!! I am now a believer in these CV spouts. If I was still on buckets I am sure they would have stopped running by now don't you think??

I am loving this vac thing though, It gives more time to boil and check stuff out to be sure things are working. It now takes me 15 min to collect the lower tank instead of over and hour collect buckets! ANd I am not as tired and worn out after collecting either!:cool:

[KenWP]

Today was a bust. I worked in a shirt all day but the trees froze up so bad that they just barely got going before dark. Tonight isn't supposed to get as cold so I should maybe do better tomorrow. The the next week is forecast to be cold again. Finally boiling today and its not bad with 2 drop tube pans and a syrup pan. the 100 gallons I had dosn't look so bad now.

[Farmboy]

I went to Devon lane today to get 1/2 pints and 100ml mass maple bottles. I also ended up getting a grading kit too. It ran pretty good today I'll probalby boil all day tommorow. I drove by clandelanes shack. That is an nice little setup.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Danno,

What kind of taps are you using?? Sounds like you need to switch brands. I have all Leader and Lappiere and there isn't any loosening during the season. They have little rings on the barrel that help seal off the tap to the tree and they work great. I don't run vacuum, but the taps stay nice and tight. I like Lapierre the best because of larger inside diamater, but the Leader are tougher.

[KenWP]

Well today looks like the day. It's 9am and the trees are running around the house already so it should be a okay day. Of course one never knows anymore. Now to wash up from yesterday and get ready to boil again during the week again for a while.
Made 2 1/2 gallons of really good medium yesterday and was able to finish it and filter it all off the evaporator. Beats doing it in the house and haveing to refilter it again. All but a tiney bit made it thru the filter before it plugged.

[PerryW]

Ken, your a little colder than me. Yesterday, my cold taps didn't run, but I had a pretty good run with the warmer sugarbush. Today everything ran good except my coldest taps still haven't really kicked in yet.

Only my second day of boiling today and I am at 33 gallons which is 25% of my expected syrup total. All but the first 5 gallons is real light fancy.

[KenWP]

Today wasn't the day either. Out in the open its warm but back in the bush its cold still. Still have trees just dribbling or nothing after the two cold nights and one cold day. Temps not falling tonight so probbably not much tomorrow now. Owell what can I do beat the trees with a club.

[dano2840]

Danno,

What kind of taps are you using?? Sounds like you need to switch brands. I have all Leader and Lappiere and there isn't any loosening during the season. They have little rings on the barrel that help seal off the tap to the tree and they work great. I don't run vacuum, but the taps stay nice and tight. I like Lapierre the best because of larger inside diamater, but the Leader are tougher.

i ran the lappiere ecolo spouts last year and had the same problem, bought those throw away spouts you stick on the end from cdl rick marsh said they would work fine, i dont know, i gues i will go around and hammer them all in until i hear that thud, when i set them when i was tapping i was hitting them pretty hard until i heard that thud then one more easy tap

[PerryW]

Didn't freeze here last night either, but still managed to get another 265 gallons of sap. Up to 41 gallons and still real light fancy.

[KenWP]

Got another day some sap. It still adds up as I have lots to boil either tomorrow or Wenesday night. Wensday for sure.

[Dennis H.]

I am getting worried down here. The weather isn't looking good. After tonight there isn't to be below freezing temps for about aleast a week. Maybe next monday, I am keeping my fingers crossed. Last year I was making syrup for almost 6 weeks and this year I have only had 3 weeks of decent sap running weather and this was the time last year my season ended!!

I check my sap every morning for sugar content and I don't know about the rest of you all but my sap sugar content sucks!! The best I could do sofar for the season is 1.5% :o
But most of the time it is just above 1%.

I think all the rain that we had last year and seeing that my trees and smaller canopies mixed in with oaks are what are keep the suar content low.

It looks like I will be breaking out the chainsaw early this year to open up the maples!!

[Farmboy]

BIGSAP weather for weastern mass all week. My taps produced 65 gallons off 70 taps. So far I've been keeping up with only a half pint but tommorow I'm going to fireup the 3X5 flat pan on blocks. Today I was boiling good and all of the sudden it was like someone fliped a switch and I couldn't get a draft. Normaly I run it with the damper closed all the way. I couldn't get it going with. The damper wide open. Who knows what happened but it didn't make me happy. Hopefully it's better tommorow.

[KenWP]

That happens to us all. All of a sudden nothing you can do stops the downdraft. I had that last year with my sideways stack and made it sraight up this year. I had a couple of hours this year with the same problem but was a plugged screen which got tossed and away i went again.

[KenWP]

Froze hard last night finally. Should maybe could be who knows be a reasonable day if it warms up again. If it dosn't then tomorrow. I have lots to boil now anyways.

[mapleman3]

Farmboy, Glad your getting sap. I have not been to the woods yet but hoping for something... I don't know about BIGSAP weather though

[Dennis H.]

I think this will be the last day to run the vac for a few days.

I got next to nothing today for sap even on vac running 22".

It will atleast give me a day to finish up all the sap that I have and also finish what syrup I have.

It is not looking good, I think the season maybe over for me I'll see this weekend when we are to get temps close to 32 at night, that may kick start the trees again.

[Dennis H.]

I just finished boiling all sap that I got today, I think this will be it for me.
The sap I got today was very cloudy and it is making some of the darkest syrup that I have ever seen. Tastes good though.

I am not going to run the vac all day for just 10 gals of 1% that will make nothing but dark syrup.

I will post my numbers once I get them entered into excel.

[mapleman3]

Sitting in my recliner with a beer!

[mapleman3]

Went back out for a bit, have the hose running water into the flue pan float box and out the drawoff, rinsing the evap until I go to bed. all the sweet is in buckets, hoping if we get a run next week that I can go up a grade or two. surprisingly not a lot of niter. no scorch marks yet either.. auto drawoff is the best!! I'm so happy with my homebuilt drawoff

[Dennis H.]

I couldn't let such a beautiful day go without doing something outside. So I got out the chainsaw and started to work on my wood supply for next season.

I am going to try and get out this week and clean all the tubing and bring in the lower tank and Bender releaser. I want to have the tubing cleaned and closed up by the weekend.

[PerryW]

Got a small run yesterday and a mediocre run today. Just took off 8 gallons. Grade dropped from Fancy into solid dark amber. My total is 86 gallons which is about 70% of a full crop

[3rdgen.maple]

Well I went fishing today. Got a small run of about 100 gallons today another slap in the face but enough to semi sweeten the pans. After boiling mersh last week I did complete cleanup. It was like starting all over tonight. Tasted the sweet and it has a slight buddy after taste to it. It looks to be alot lighter than dark but not sure on the flavor.

[dano2840]

well yestarday i went to go collect just in time to watch the williams dog dig himself out from under his kennel and pull my vac line into it in the process and my releaser tipped back because he pulled on the line and the vac sucked up a huge slug of sap into the pump before i could jump to shut it off, man i was RIPPING MAD! i hadnt ever been in or even seen the inside of a vane pump, so yestarday was a first, i cleaned all the sap out of it and found that 1 of the veins has about an inch worn right out right into the bottom of the vein but yet the others are all fine and unworn, i couldnt figure that one out but what ever. I was pulling around 7", 8 1/2 was the highest i had seen it, when i put it back together and hooked her up it was pulling 10 1/2" just from cleaning it. so must be i put it back together right. i hate to say it but this weather is about a good month early for the past week or so its been 28 or so at night and 50s in the day and already we had a spell where it didnt freeze, usually we are getting spells where its froze up hard for a few days at this time, i have already had spoiled sap before i could even get it out of the tank, not good, and weather is looking like its not going to freeze at night until next tuesday WTF~ but what are ya going to do right? go with the flow just means i will have left over wood and wont have to put up as much next year, its still going pretty good but i think its going to slow way down after this week of non freezing even if we do get optimum weather

[gmcooper]

Just cleaned the vacuum tank this AM hoping for a lot more sap soon. 1Pm and we are 70 degrees in the shade. Not good! Also got email today from friend in Texas " it's 26 degrees and snowing, where the hell did spring go?" We have it!

[Dennis H.]

I have everything cleaned except a Bender milk releaser and the feed tank for the evap.

I used most of the morning cleaning the lower tank and the bender that was down there. Yesterday I cleaned all the tubbing and it is now ready for next season.

The last big thing will be cleaning out the sugarshack. There is a ton of dirt in there from the wood and ash flying around.

I am already looking at what I can do to improve my setup for next year. I just have to decide on what evap I want to upgrade to. I am not sure if I want to go to a 2x4 or go all the way up to a 2x6. It will be a tight fit in the sugarshack for a 2x6 so that is why I am leaning toward a 2x4. we'll see.

Good luck to everyone who is still plugging away at making syrup.

[KenWP]

I am moving taps today. From the silvers to trees out in the bush with no buds yeat. Time wil ltell weather I wasted my time or not.

[sapman]

I went out Friday planning to finish tapping the woods, when my niece commented on stuff looking like leaves overhead. I looked up, and the silvers, I think, had huge fuzzballs on them. So I gave up on tapping anymore real quick! I assume the reds are still holding alright, as there are lots of red buds that haven't changed appearance yet. But the sap is still as sweet as the sugar maples, and no off flavor evident yet.

So today dad and I put up 100~ gravity tubing we hadn't gotten to, plus over 100 buckets. These are all sugars, and mostly roadsides, so hoping for a couple more weeks for them, assuming they will actually start running now.

Tim

[KenWP]

So far nothing around here. Snowed yesterday some but never dropped below freezing. The forecast is for winter to return wens. so will see what happens. Been a long stretch between sap just like last year. Now just to see if the April weather is hot or cold.

[danno]

Looks like sap production has picked up for our Wisconsin and Mich. neighbors as their weather has turned back to reality. Ours is supposed to follow by mid/late week, so hopefully our sap will run as well.

Even on vac. things have really slowed down here in CNY, but buds on the sugars are still pretty tight.

[sapman]

Yup, not much in my tank today, either. But being in the woods this afternoon looking for leaks, it felt good to have it in the low 40's and drizzling, perfect sap weather for a change (if it had gotten cold last night)!

Not sure if any of you have discovered this very valuable resource, or if you are as fortunate as me, but my wife has taken to love looking for vacuum leaks! She has always enjoyed a good mystery, and getting excersize, so she can accomplish both on leak patrol! She'll spend a couple hours in the bush, and be very satisfied when upon returning the gauges read 2-3" higher.

All the best, and LONGING for the return to wintry (or almost) weather!
Tim

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

After Feb being way too cold and massive amounts of snow, this will make any sugarmaker want to cry and explain why we haven't hardly made any syrup this year. Sap didn't run much until March 8th and then it was pretty much over. I have never seen anything in my life like this year:

http://www.weather.com/weather/monthly/25976

[3rdgen.maple]

Starting tomarrow we are showing close to perfect sap weather until the 1st of april. Heres hoping it is not coming to late for the trees. By the way I recomend staying away from accuweather. Seems they redesigned their websight and everytime I log on to their sight my laptop locks up. Tried tonight on the pc and same thing.

[jrthe3]

here is what happens when you put vacuum on a tank not rated for vac this was a 300 gallon pressure tank rated for 175 psi it has 1/4 thick wall but it no match for the sp22

[3rdgen.maple]

Hence the reason it was called a pressure tank and not a vac tank lol. Hope it was a freeby.

[KenWP]

Ouch. Today was almost a perfect day. Had to much sap but not enough if that makes sense. Will be boiling a good part of the weekend. Have been hauling home pallets lately and they burn really good in the evaporator compared to the cedar which burns but dosn't seem to be as hot as the pallets burn.
Forecast for tomorrow say cold but who knows as its still 42 degrees out side. Time will tell what I get this weekend.

[3rdgen.maple]

Well there goes another season. Kinda glad it is over. Got very tired of disapointment. Was able to gather a miserable 100 gallons of .08% and it hurt real bad when I said the heck with it and dumped it on the ground. My boy looked at me and thought I lost my marbles. I do have to say I think there was one deer in the woods today when I was pulling taps that was just as dissapointed with me as my boy. The darn thing followed me around the woods while I was pulling taps. I think it was hoping for one last drink before it was over as well. Maybe I should trick it and hang a sap bucket under my treestand this fall:D. I canot believe how bad of a year it was. Lets all pray to the sap gods for a better year in 2011. Please excuse me while I cry myself to sleep now.

[PerryW]

I know it's a disappointing season for some but think about the guys who invested 10's of thousands of dollars in equipment and did poorly. Just keep adding taps and next year you will be swimming in sap.

And at least you didn't burn your pan. I gotta go down this morning and try to solder up two leaks from scorching the pan last night. First time since 1995, but it's still a pain. Wasted 3 gallons of syrup and spent 3 hours scrubbing wnd put another warp in the front pan. ^&%(*&*$%%.

[3rdgen.maple]

Just keep adding taps and next year you will be swimming in sap.
Yeah that is a funny one. Been doing that doubling up every year for the past 3 and guess what I made more syrup 4 years ago. That was my answer before this season when I stuck out 800. Didn't work. As far as the guys who invested 10's of thousand I feel bad for as well. Everything I buy is payed for in full from the accumalated profits but next year it has to be out of pocket or remain the same.

[PerryW]

Just picked up 300 gallons of nice clear sap and it hasn't froze for the last 3 nights. Who needs vacuum!

[danno]

From the sounds of the regional threads, the NH and VT guys have done real well with this recent cold snap - wish the same was true for us CNY'ers.

[KenWP]

I hauled sap today until I coiuldn't any more. I have a bunch in tanks in the bush until I can haul again in the friggen daylight. I have no idea how much sap I could have had today as everything was running over when I got there at 3;30. My helpers is miserab le and refused to help today with all the rain and mud. Tomorrows another day will see what happens.

[PerryW]

Now Ken, it's not nice to get snippy when the Sap God is being good to you.:D

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

He is just missing his pans from last year a lot and hates the newer faster pans. LOL! Could you imagined if this would have happened to him last year! LOL!

[KenWP]

Last year I was home all day this year I get home usually at 5 so time isn't what it used to be. That and last year at the end of the season it was dry as a bone here and I could drive the truck around 3 miles and pick up the sap. The bouette is a foot deep this year. I don't mind the work but she who has to be obeyed gets really snippy when she's tired and has a cold which she caught from me in the first place.

[3rdgen.maple]

Ken do you have birch and maple taps in right now? I have 55 birch taps in and have gathered 3 times in 2 days and each time I collect every dang bucket is overflowing. This is insane. I gotta take a sugar content reading tomarrow and see where it is at. I think I got like 2000 gallons of sap off 800 maple taps this year and in 2 days I have gotten almost a quarter of that.

[KenWP]

I just have maple trees tapped. The 4 birch trees haven't flowed yet. I am hopeing to finish one before the other here yet this week. I had to take the dayy off today to even catch up. Things were full on the trees this morning already and I had to gather a bunch already before I boil.

[PerryW]

Ken,

You need to get out there and gather that sap. Just put your snowshoes on, because they also work well in mud.

If it's still running at my house, then it's running at your house. Now quit blabbing and get to work. Tell your sap hauler & SWMBO she can have a vacation after the season is over.:D

[KenWP]

What you think I took the day off and stayed home for. DUH. I have a 100 gallons in a tank in the bush and plenty of half full buckets already this morning plus the ones I had to empty and hauled home already. have to boil to make storage room .