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A decent run here this weekend. Pulled in 910 gal on Saturday before it froze up and about 1100 gal. yesterday and overnight. Pretty marginal freeze here last night as it was still trickling in this am at 6:30. I was very surprised at how well it ran yesterday given it was so cold. Must have been the sugar snow...
After the last boil I ran the contents of the flue pan through the filter press and then cleaned the whole rig. Boiling later today...
Ran pretty well today. Best of the season so far I think. Good vac in both woods and had a good first boil, finally our evaporator is all fixed.
Still having some pump issues but was able to get .75 GPT yesterday. I'm sure I lost at least a quart a tap. Sap is now testing at 1.1%.
Spud
Very nice run overnight Sunday into Monday suagr was 1.9 then back down to 1.7. stockpile 2500 gals Sunday night, added about 3200 monday.....our new 3x10 inferno with steampan was pumping out 17 gals an hr,- incredible, a whole new dimension for us. Made 82 gals light Amber.....in just over 5 hrs.
Sap ran some on Saturday. Not quite as well on Sunday. Picked up a good bit yesterday.
Ran the Lapierre HyperBrix RO yesterday to generate 349 gal of 30 Brix concentrate...stored safely away in the refrigerated bulk tank for processing. The RO is running now with the sap that came in yesterday afternoon and overnight (froze up around 8-9pm). Will start the evaporator in about an hour -- should be about a 200-225 gal syrup day.
Vacuum in the research area is 27" Hg. About 24-25" in the woods down the drive. Only about 20" in the main bush, but some of the crew will be out today tracking that down (3 trees down on the mainline from the wind this weekend -- was pretty wild up here on Sunday afternoon).
H2O Smartrek system for monitoring is working well.
I think this is going to be a good run. Already 400 gal. since things really thawed about noon.
I made about 50 gal. last night from 2500 gal. that came in this weekend and monday. Still not sure the sugar content but it is getting higher. Ratio is about 50:1 now vs. 60:1 earlier in the season.
Grade started DR from the sweet in the pans but then transitioned thru AR to the line with GD. Major flavor change too which was cool to see.
Pump is still loosing its prime at times. It will run anywhere from 30 minutes to 5 hours. Even with all the problems today I still have gotten 3/4 of a gallon per tap today so far. Still coming in at 400 GPH. Should run all night. Sap is now testing at 2.2%.
Spud
Another 250 gal of concentrate to go with our 349 from yesterday. Made 210 gal AR today (light transmittance 2% shy of Fancy). Crew got the vacuum up to 25” Hg. A bit more work, but getting close.
The last four days have been good to us. The overnights were in the upper 20s. Pretty steady average at 1.25 gallons per tap. Pulling 26” on the line of 1.5 to 1.6 SC.
The buckets bring it up to 1.6-1.7. I’m not thrilled with the SC but, I have to remind myself its still February.
Good luck to all!
Very good sap runs today. I think we did at least 1.5 gpt in both woods since this morning when it opened up. Good second boil, made a bit more than 80 gallons. DR but close to AR. Hope to make GD soon, haven't made any since 2016.
Fernco fitting blew off where our sap pumps connect with the line that exits the releaser and goes to our tanks in our MES releaser. That happened this morning when all the sap that was frozen in the lines and had thawed suddenly let loose into the releaser when the last of the ice jams gave way. We have chronically leaky boosters and valves that I believe causes this freezing.
Anyway, what happens is the clamp comes loose on the Fernco, sap pumps can't pump nearly as fast, releaser gets filled with sap and trips moisture trap. Anyone have similar issues with Ferncos coming loose inside releaser? We just have each connection single clamped with normal hose clamps but we need a more reliable type of clamp, one that won't come loose from prolonged exposure to high vacuum, sap, etc. Any ideas?
Also, Emerald Ash Borer is officially in Vermont. It was identified in Orange and has apparently been present for a few years. http://digital.vpr.net/post/first-in...-found-vermont
Don't transport firewood. It's how these terrible invasive insects often get brought into our woods.