Starting Over Again

[heus]

Thought I was done for the year but left my taps in so I could get some sap to flood my pans. When I got to the woods yesterday things were running pretty good. I couldn't resist so I rinsed out the evaporator real quick, re-installed my head tank, and collected sap. I was able to boil for a few hours. I doubt that it ran today but hopefully tomorrow and Sat it will run. I dont know if its buddy or not, but I thought what the heck. We only get to do this a few weeks out of the year might as well make the most of it.

[tom jr.]

Heus, i'm with u their. I turned the vac on yesterday to flush the lines of the 5 day old skunk got over 150 gallons and shut down at 4 pm. I took a sample to the house fresh from the releaser and boiled it to syrup no bad smell!!
not shure about the taste but i think its from boiling it on the stove i alwase thought it tasted different on the stove anyway. so I guess i'll find out saturday so far 46gal of mostly light syrup from 550 on the vacster:cry:
good luck and just remember there cant be good years without the bad ones!!:)

[heus]

Unfortunately no real sap today. I didnt expect any anyways with temps only in the mid 30s last night. 24 tonight but a high of 36 tomorrow. Hope thats warm enough for the sap to run. Then temps of 19 Fri night. I would love to be able to make a few more gallons of syrup.

[johnallin]

Hues, Had the same thing over here. Trees were running a bit yesterday and collected about 10 gal. Hope for some tommorow as it's going to be very cold tonight.

[Clan Delaney]

Haha! Never trust a sugarmaker who says he's done for the season!

I've publicly bowed out for the season, but if I find a full collection tank tomorrow..... who knows???

[tom jr.]

no sap in thompson today, never broke freezing up here on the hill. checked the woods around 3 and most lines still froze ran the vac for an hour and no sap to be found. see what tomorrow brings.

[johnallin]

Trees ran a little here yesterday, nice clear sap and **** few bugs. Maybe today will be even better.

[heus]

Only collected about 40 gallons yesterday. Sap didnt start running until around 3 or 4pm. Ive been able to sweeten my pans so hopefully a good run today and a late night boil.

[maplehound]

no sap here yeasterday. Today though I have the vacuum running but it doesn't look like much is coming in from it. I will be fery surprised if I have anything worth while in the tanks tomorrow.

[johnallin]

Trees over here are running good now! Sap is still nice and clear and buds are tight.

Just made 2 rounds collecting, by the time I was done with the first the bags were 1/4 -1/3 full again. 60 gal in the tank for tommorow and may need to collect again tonight!

[maplemat1]

never give up on syrup season until you puke .vac has not swtop running yet sap was coming in at about five gallons every four minutes tonight when i left hope to boil tommorrow only sixty gallons of concentrate in the tank now sap started to run about 12;00 this afternoon . john hope to catch ya boiling tommorrow .want to nreak the 300 gallon mark tommorrow just keeping my fingers crossed.:D :razz: :razz:

[heus]

My sap was crystal clear yesterday but buddy. My sugarhouse smelled something aweful. My cousin stopped by and commented that it smelled like a clam bake. All from sugar maples with no signs of budding. Sap was only about 1% sugar. I'm done.

[sapbrush]

Haha! Never trust a sugarmaker who says he's done for the season!

I've publicly bowed out for the season, but if I find a full collection tank tomorrow..... who knows???

yeh your done, you just dont know it yet, then again neither do i

[heus]

It figures, sap is running like crazy today even though it didnt freeze last night. Its buddy though so it doesn't matter. Just finished 2.5 gallons of buddy syrup. Now I'm really done for the season. Kind of weird, the sugar content was so low last night (.9-1%) that it was almost like when I was attempting to chase my syrup with water at the beginning of the season. In the future if I make enough to sell bulk, I am may try to keep making buddy syrup. The fishy wet sock smell is almost sickening, though.

[tom jr.]

All done here also, 400 gal sap 20 hrs of vac 22'' and 1 1/2 gal buddy syrup.
at least the weather will be nice to wash tubing this weekend. also not much wood to cut for next year (about 2 1/2 cords). this years totals 46 gal good syrup on 560 vac 1 1/2 gal buddy. 10 gal from 230 buckets all nice stuff to.
22.8 gal syrup per cord average. still have more tubing to run (100 taps or so)

[maplemat1]

made 25 gallons to today was not buddy yet total im up to 315 hope to make more tommorrow .if its buddy tommorrow ill probly just run it out anyway still worth about 22 .00 a gallon

[maple flats]

Still not good flow but I collected and boiled enough for 4 more gal and still have to collect again today and it will be enough to boil. Since last Wed when I thought it was all over I have made 10 more gal. Not much, but it almost doubles my real bad year. I'll make it until the buds open. Yesterday they were still tight.

[maplehound]

The last couple days should have been perfect weather for syruping but I only got about 30 gallons of sap off my 700 taps. I guess we are done. Now it is time to clean.
700 taps and I only made 60 gallons of syrup :(

[3rdgen.maple]

Maple hound you did better than me. 800 taps and just under 50. I am scared as to what next year will bring. Been getting worse every year. Time for vac.

[maplehound]

I have vacuum and still it gets worse. next year I am replacing all drops and spiles. I haven't done that in many years on the whole woods, so I will give it a try. And also will cross my fingers and hope for a better weather.

[heus]

My trees are running like crazy! Even with 2 nights in a row without fost. Too bad its buddy and low sugar. I collected and washed buckets today. Almost every bucket was at least 3/4 full. My gravity tubing was running probably best it has all year. Why couldn't it have run like that earlier in the season?! Out of the 195 or so taps I have out, I could have collected easily over 225 gallons today. That would be higher than any day during the season.

[maplemat1]

had a hell of a day made 65 gallons and its still not buddy up to 375 gallons now was still coming in when left the woods tonight

[johnallin]

Big run here Sat..brought in 70 gallons of crystal clear and another 30 on Sunday - where was this stuff 2 weeks ago? Boiled it off Sunday and made 2½ gallons of some real nice med amber.

Trees ran a bit again today, I collected another 30 gal tonight and for the heck of it and ran that through. Wow big 1 hour boil, but I got another gallon or so of med again. Up to 8¼ gallons for the year but if it hits 70 like they're calling for later this week it's going to be lights out for sure.

[Dan Shea]

I'm here in Northwest PA. Sat was a good run, and I was totally surprised to see the buckets half full yesterday. The buds are on their way, but I'll boil this up and likely call it quits.

Question: Has anyone taken late season sap and turned it into sugar? I'm wondering if this might be a safer way to go with somewhat buddy sap. ?? Thoughts?

[bigtreemaple]

Dan, I would bet that the late season / somewhat buddy syrup is very high in invert sugar and that will not work well when you try to make it into sugar. It most likely will not granulate just become a sticky mass.