Who is do what for next year

[TRAILGUY]

Plans for this year
I have read all the material I could find for a year, but I learn so much by seeing and talking and knowing what works in the real world. I hope to get a chance to look at some working sugar bushes within 50 miles of Alton Bay NH that use and believe in forest management, vacuum and sap ladders and love to talk maple.

A little history.
1975 to 1980 3 ft pan evaporator and 8 taps.
2000 to 2009 8 taps and fire pit few gallons
2010 12 X16 sugar shack- 2X6 small brothers lighting raised flue with home made arch around 20 gal/per/hr after start up-150 taps gravity tubing and 50 buckets 150 sugars and 50 reds and thinned over the last two years-950 John Deere-12 volt bilge pump and 55 gallon collection drums. No real good runs this year around 1000 gallons (5 gallons per tap) 18 gallons syrup sold out around 55 gallons to the gallon.

Planned upgrades.
1.Forest management: continual general forest management to open up around 400 taps 250 sugar and 150 reds. The area first managed, I need to test sugar content as some good sugars need to go and want to see if reds are worth tapping.
2.2. Keep eyes open for a good used, well priced 2X8 or 2.5X8
3.Start down the path of vacuum and sap ladders for centralized sap collection

[Russell Lampron]

I am going to move my collection point 600' farther down the hill away from the sugar house. I am going to upgrade to a double releaser and larger collection tank. After all of the new plumbing is in place for that I am going to add 3 more mainlines and run more blue tubing. I hope to be over 1000 taps for next season.

[caseyssugarshack93]

hopfully start thinning out a bush pretty soon, Add 1000 or so New additon on sugarhouse, New r.o room, New to me grimm 3x10, new or new to me 600gph r.o. Pretty big list:D

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Nate,
Always think big. You wouldn't want to make plans and have then all completed by the middle of January. What would you do until sugaring started? Your schoolwork?:lol:
I still usually plan on more than I can accomplish. Hope to put in 2 more lines this year that will increase taps by about 1000. This will entail a new 2500 foot pump line and another vacuum system. I just purchased a second 600 gallon RO and am considering a 2nd bank for my filter press. If everything looks like I can handle it efficiently, I will try to buy enough extra sap to overwhelm me:D

[Killington Maple]

Going to add 4-500 where I am now as well as move a few mainlines to help improve flow. Then over to another lot that will have 1,000 plus. hope to have vacuum on the new lot too, if the money doesn't run out.

[Amber Gold]

Expanding into a 2200 tap sugar bush which is already tubed, although its for gravity. Putting vac. to it this year and will see what I can get for vac. Hope to convince the property owner to invest money into it and retube it for high vac. the following year

Got a message that my current property is being thinned this year and my lines will need to come down. No word if I'm invited back afterwards. Need to actually talk to him to find out exactly what's going on. Maybe the thinning will work out to my benefit???

Getting a 600 gph ro, tanks, and etc. Spending $$$ this year.

[maple flats]

Adding vac on my biggest bush, now at 400 but can get about 550 with sap ladders. Adding a 225 tap roadside line of mature sugars. Should grow from 575 to over 900 next year, maybe 950 and if the season is typical I can get another 50 taps on reds for 1000 total. (this is the only year I did not tap reds, with the warmer temps we got early.

[dano2840]

its unkown if i can even sugar next year im going to collage and have scholarships paying for 3/4 of my tuition that i hace tokeep grades up for

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Dano,

I know how important sugaring is to you, but college is more important for the next 4 years and will affect the rest of your life. It will be worth the extra effort to have good grades and be able to keep the scholarships.

[PATheron]

Dano- Put the syrup on hold. Itll be there down the road. If you dont do the right thing and make the most out of the great opportunity you have theres a good chance youll live in poverty the rest of your life. Now days you have to have further education to make a good living for the most part. Itll pay year after year after year. My wife and I had to move 1100 miles away from home when we were just kids so I could go to college, she worked two part time jobs and I worked one and I worked a year before we went and lived with my parents just to have a chance to go to college. As soon as we got me through we put her through. It was the best decision financially of our lives bar none. Theron

[DrTimPerkins]

its unkown if i can even sugar next year im going to collage and have scholarships paying for 3/4 of my tuition that i hace tokeep grades up for

Hi Dan,

If you're going to UVM, after you've got a few years under your belt, come on up and work with us to do some research and/or maple production either as a volunteer, for credit, or with Work/Study. We'd be happy to have you.

[ADKMAPLE]

Still planning. Just received one sap sack holder and bag in the mail. Wanted one to check it out before I bought the rest that I want. I never even knew these things existed prior to visiting this site. Is definatly my best option right now for starting up. My plan is to purchase the rest of them that I need, about 80 total and all my spouts this year. Plan out my sugarhouse which I think is gonna be the back half of my garage right now. I need to modify things abit and add in a cupalo somehow. Might look alittle weied being 2/3 of the way to the back of my garage rather than right in the middle. Still havent made my decision on that yet. Other than that, Do some more thinning of trees...Next yeah I will hopefully buy my evap. So technically I could be tapping in Feb/March of 2012. That is my goal. Of course I also need alot of other stuff too, scoops/skimmers, drill bits, containers, filters etc..

[TRAILGUY]

Well I got to ride in a 1930 Doodlebug and got the grand tour of the perfect size sugar-bush. I saw what my may be some day or at least what it could be. This changed my plans and outlook a little as now I have a better idea of what can be over come in a real sugar-bush. The best two hours I spent learning about sugaring.

Thanks trailguy

[Russell Lampron]

Mike it was a pleasure to show you around. Everyone likes the doodlebug, even the ladies. I put a new fan belt on it Saturday and made a couple adjustments. It runs even sweeter now!

[jrthe3]

have an auction and retire from sugar biss

[jrthe3]

oh sorry that what she wants me to do
i really plan on fine tuning the vacuum system and elimenat gathering all togather

[heus]

1. Add on to sugarhouse:done, now 22x16 from 12x16
2. run underground electric to shack (about 275 feet) and hook up:done
3. run water line to shack: done
4. build small pumphouse to enclose pressure tank and plumbing for jet pump
5. cut up several bundles of slabwood
6. cut several trees in woods for firewood
7. finish getting buckets or sap saks. Moving up to 300 taps next year, going from 65% gravity tubing in 2010 to all buckets/sap saks in 2011
8. clear out some more paths for tractor in woods
9. clean pans after sap snot is done fermenting
10. make a homemade forced air system
11. Maybe try to insulate my arch doors
12. fill some ruts in the woods with slabwood

[ADKMAPLE]

heus, why is it that your going from gravity lines to all buckets/sacks? I am gonna start out with all sap sacks at first.

[heus]

heus, why is it that your going from gravity lines to all buckets/sacks? I am gonna start out with all sap sacks at first.

ADK,
If you do a search I have talked about it in the past. I simply do not like the look of the lines in our woods. I think it interferes with our deer drives. Yes it speeds up collection time but I only have 200-300 taps anyways. I like the look of the traditional buckets. Will I use tubing again someday? Probably yes if I ever go on vac but for now I am happy to be sugaring like my ancestors did in the same woods with some of the same trees. I have the potential for 1000-1500 taps in our woods. Because of this, I would like to rotate the trees that I tap fom year to year. For example, in 2011 one section of the woods, another section in 2012, etc. I am small time compared to my great grandfather who did over 1000 buckets on a 6x16 evaporator on the same property. I know this is backwards compared to what most people do, but something tells me I should be using buckets for now.

[3rdgen.maple]

As of friday I got to add buy a new Hemi to the list.

[ADKMAPLE]

Yes, I remember you saying that now. I at the time I think I even commented that I am the same way, traditional etc. but I will start out with sacks instead of buckets.


ADK,
If you do a search I have talked about it in the past. I simply do not like the look of the lines in our woods. I think it interferes with our deer drives. Yes it speeds up collection time but I only have 200-300 taps anyways. I like the look of the traditional buckets. Will I use tubing again someday? Probably yes if I ever go on vac but for now I am happy to be sugaring like my ancestors did in the same woods with some of the same trees. I have the potential for 1000-1500 taps in our woods. Because of this, I would like to rotate the trees that I tap fom year to year. For example, in 2011 one section of the woods, another section in 2012, etc. I am small time compared to my great grandfather who did over 1000 buckets on a 6x16 evaporator on the same property. I know this is backwards compared to what most people do, but something tells me I should be using buckets for now.

[maple flats]

Actively seeking a larger woods tank. I am going to look at a 1000 gal Zero vac tank on Saturday, if I don't get that I'll find something else. Unfortunately I can't get there before Saturday, I am grounded with Pneumonia by Dr's orders and my wife is keeping track.

[adk1]

pnemonia! well, it did drop roughly 30 degrees and snowed a few weekends back, at least it did at Turning Stone

[driske]

2010;
Going to divert responsibility for the welfare of the 165 beef animals in our herd, to some hired help . Time has come to get caught up on much needed tubing repairs and upgrades. Last season showed a need for mainline replacements due to vacuum loss issues at old fittings,etc. Also way too many taps on laterals in many of the older sections of the woods.
SO, it's time sell some cows, buy some tubing, and hitch the" time tractor" to the enterprise that pays--- Maple!
PS. Dano, Go for your education. Even if you do elect to sugar fulltime at some point , the background gained at the University level is of great value.

[Father & Son]

Planned sugarhouse expansion on hold till next year. I have taken a window out and placed a man door in which allows direct access to the woodshed. Turned the sliding door into a wall with turnbuckles, which still allows room to move bigger stuff in and out. Next on the list are hoods and a preheater. Looking forward to hot water in the sugarhouse. I'm tired of carrying everything to the house to clean it. I'm also going to move some bulk tanks around for better storage options. Other than that just some straightening up and alittle organizing.

Jim

[jgrenier]

I'm planning a little expantion for 2011 I am going to expand from 35 taps and a home made barrel arch to 1000+/- taps with a 4x12 evaporator. With that said I think got a lot of work and a lot of learning to do. Thanks to this site the learning should be easy. But as far as getting the work done? well I guess I need to get off this site so i can get off my duff and get the work done

[ADKMAPLE]

wow, that is quite a jump, 35 to 1000! Are you sure your gonna jump like that????

[whalems]

I'm doing the same type of expansion. Going from 2-2x4 flat pans on propane w/ 125 taps to 800 taps on a 4x10 wood fired!!:o Here goes nothing.:lol:

[jgrenier]

If you are going to dream Dream big and make it happen. No one is sucssesful whithout taking a chance

[Thad Blaisdell]

That is the right idea..... Go Big or STAY HOME!!!! Last year was my first year. Started with 4900 taps.... now adding another 3000. Not looking back.

Good for you, just keep an eye out for more in the future.

[southdevonbeef]

Going to build a 16x26 sugarhouse with additions for wood and sap storage. Going to increase taps on vacuum system to get to 7-800 on vac, up from 365 this year. Also will be thinning the sugarbush to "Free the Maples". I will also downsize the beef herd. Have already gone from 60 down to 35 with more to go.

[Amber Gold]

4900 taps the first year...now that is jumping in with both feet.

[ADKMAPLE]

This thread is gonna force me to hop on the atv and take a tour on the other 30 acres of property that I own (50 total) that I havent figured on tapping..Hmmm..my 100 taps might jump abit, with a hell of alot of work though!

[DrTimPerkins]

We are putting a new cement floor in the production sugarhouse this year. If you've visited us in the past few years you'll understand why. The funds were very tight the year they put the original floor in, so there was inadequate site prep done on the sub-base, no curtain drain, no rebar put in, and hot Steamaway water was drained through a plastic pipe in the floor (which quickly melted and seperated the pipe...putting loads of hot water under the concrete)....and of which was a excellent recipe for failure...which did happen. We've ripped up the old floor and dug out 3 ft of of mucky-crud. Should be totally new in about a month.

Also installing new vacuum pumps (two new Busch 1142 pumps on order from Bascom). Air-cooled, so no more dealing with oil or water for us. Hoping to get 26-27" Hg vacuum next year (we got 21-23" Hg with our former Aireblo Flood pump). That'll give us a whole new crop of leaks to fix I'm sure. :)

Lots of different experiments going on, but that is a totally different thread.

[Seguin Sugarbush]

We are putting up another 2000 taps on a wet dry system.Need to set up a different vac. station as this section of bush drains away from the sugarhouse.

[Jeff E]

Another year of changes. Going to focus on developing retail sales.
Bought another 400 buckets, 4 SS 400 gallon bulk tanks, Water jacketed bottler.
Added sinks to sugar house, need to finish plumbing them in.
Need to do about 150 more taps in vac woods, with ladders.
Also adding a piggyback to my 3x12, and refining my blower system for over air in firebox.
This should get me to about 170gph on the evaporator, so I can recir with the RO to 10% sap, and then really make some syrup.

Should be getting about 1000 more taps worth of sap from others next year, so that is why I am gearing up.

The never ending story....

[Jim Brown]

Well we are going to do the following(we hope) if the back holds out, as well as our money.I'm afriad the back is going to give out first:

1.re-tin the arch( with the help of GARY R and his stainless steel)
2.Add 250 more taps
3.Increase storage in the woods at our main bush.
4.All above items are subject to change or cancellation!!

Jim

[adk1]

Well, havign your money hold out is a great thing, I dont have any to start with that is the problem!:mad:

[red maples]

Oh yes the money...I am waiting patiently to sell some more syrup so I can get what I need!!!:rolleyes: other wise I will have to dip into the savings again, And I really don't wanna do that!!!

[Jim Brown]

adk1: I have little money but a back that has been operated on three times and have just had an epidurial shot yesterday so I can walk.As of today I'm REALLY sore but able to go back to work.Leaving Sunday morning with the camper to go to Lancaster Pa for a week of R/R. Take in a show and hot air ballon ride with my wife and two Grandaughters( both age 15). I'll let you know how I make out when I get back after 6 hours behind the wheel.

Regards
Jim

[red maples]

take a few brakes 6 hours kills the back and the legs !!!! hope things get better!!!


adk1: I have little money but a back that has been operated on three times and have just had an epidurial shot yesterday so I can walk.As of today I'm REALLY sore but able to go back to work.Leaving Sunday morning with the camper to go to Lancaster Pa for a week of R/R. Take in a show and hot air ballon ride with my wife and two Grandaughters( both age 15). I'll let you know how I make out when I get back after 6 hours behind the wheel.

Regards
Jim

[TF Maple]

I guess we will be adding taps next year ( what else is new ). My son hunted on some land where half the woods and hill is owned by one farmer and the other half by another. He had permision from both and took them each a quart of syrup to thank them. Of course that opened the conversation to tapping trees and they are willing to let us tap their trees. So now we will have to scout out that sugarbush.
Also planning to build a sugar house from the wood we are salvaging from a barn. Still working on the salvage job but when that is done will have to plan the sugar shack. I will have to start taking a closer look at everyone's sugar shack pictures to plan what I want to do.

[heus]

Finally got my new water line working to my sugarhouse. It will be nice to have running water instead of hauling everything back to my house a half mile away or hauling water to the shack. Thought I was going to have to buy a new submersible well pump but it ended up only being a bad breaker. This Myer pump has been in use in that well since it was drilled in 1972!
I built a small pumphouse that contains my pressure tank and switch. I will insulate this house and heat it with a heat lamp in the winter.
Now I have permanent elctric and water to the sugarhouse, neither of which I had this past season.
Still need to get my slab wood cut up and split.

[farmall h]

I have plans of going all-out vacuum! With what little vac I ran this last season I saw a great difference in sap quantity plus it ran when gravity was NOT! So, gonna bite the bullet and get'r done.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Im lookin to increase evaporator efficiency. I made around 250 gal of syrup, but burned around 1800 gal of oil to do it. Id like to make a preheat coil, install R.O., or just switch the whole shootin-match over to wood fired. I had a burner man come, but other than that, I know nothing about burning oil.

For efficiency go with the RO. I made 2230 gallons and burned less than 1500 gallons of oil. Forget the preheater coil unless you are looking to make hot water. Let the RO do the work. just doing basic math...... I made 10 times the syrup, so 250 gallons would have taken me only 150ish gallons of oil. 1800 gallons at 2.50 a gallon $4500..... 150 gallons would be less than $400. You would save $4100 right off the top, not to mention all the time boiling.

[Russell Lampron]

Jeremy an RO is expensive to start with but pays for itself pretty fast. I made 153 gallons of syrup and only used 2 cords of wood and $300 worth of electricity last season. Most of the electricity was to run the vacuum pump that was on just about 24-7 because of the warm weather.

Just got a new air powered double diaphragm pump to put on my filter press for the coming season. Can't wait to hook it up and try it out. It's got to be better than the hand pump.

[red maples]

you only used 2 cords of wood!!! oh man!!:o thats a back saver!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Jeremy, my RO is on a 30 amp 220v circuit. That would be 6600 watts or 6.6kw. A 600gph Lapierre doesn't require much more power than my 150 does. That 10kw generator will probably use a lot less fuel than the evaporator.

[ADKMAPLE]

well this year it is hit or miss. next year I am taking a week off and doing everything maple every day to gear up for the following season. that will be my maiden voyage for syrup making!

[Farmboy]

I got one thing done for next year. I got a new evaporator today. I still need to cement the floor of my sugar shack, run electricity to it and put in a sink and more counters. Plus more wood. I've got the whole summer. I have 6 1/2 days of school left before summer vacation.

[ADKMAPLE]

Farmboy must be one of those teacher-folk. gotta love those summer vacations!

[Farmboy]

Farmboy must be one of those teacher-folk. gotta love those summer vacations!

I'm not a teacher. I'm only 13. Unlike most kids I won't sit on the couch playing video games I will be out working on my familys farm. 5 1/2 days of school till summer vaction.

[stoweski]

Aaah yes, and like those 13 yr old kids, us teachers enjoy our summers off as well... 7 more early rising, driving to school mornings left this year! :D

Enjoy your new evap and your summer, farmboy!

[ADKMAPLE]

HAHA~! tha is funny...Way to go farmboy! Wish there were more kids your age getting into or doing syrup!

[PATheron]

Guys- Not sure where to start. Im doing a lot of new things for this year. Mostly upgrading and finetuning everything to work better. Have the sugarshed torn apart now getting ready for the new evap. Put gravel in the empty woodshed side and fixed the drive up a little where we pull across the yard to the shed occasionally. Should be bringing home my new evaperator in a couple weeks. Turned the kitchen into an R.O. room and also put my sugarhouse releaser in there too so that that will be heated now. Having a new washtank made for my seprotech ro so that that will have its own washtank. That machine has nf270 membranes that take a different ph level for cleaning and Im totally changing the way Im cleaning my membranes this year. Im installing a small bulk milk tank just for hot water rinses and am going to try very hard not to have any decline in the performance of my machines. Im revamping the cooling setup for my liquid ring pump. I had a pretty good fix last year and it only got slightly warm to the touch but this year Im going for stone cold. Im upgrading the tanks where I dump my trucked sap into this year so it pumps out very rapidly into the semitrailer. Ive just installed a 650 gallon head tank for the new evap. Ive got permission to put in 2000 more taps this year but Im thinking Im not going to do it. Im going to go through my entire system I have now and have everything perfectly graded, all leaks fixed and sealed and laterals a lot shorter. My goal is virtually no leaks, everything ready ahead of time and Im going for big vac and big averages. Im also taking a lot of second taps off of trees. There will be very few two tap trees. I dont care about a second tap dropping averages I just have a lot of trees that just made the cut to two taps and Ive decided I dont want to make swiss cheese trees, I want them to be around till they put me in the ground so if I want more taps Ill get more trees. Thats about it. Planning on seeing some seriously BIGSAP this year and Im hoping to make some BIGGGGG!!!! SYRUP!!!!!!