february Journal

Holy cow is it windy here!
Went out this evening to check the buckets, a few trees were actually running but most shut down because of the wind and warm temps.

The fun part was chasing down the lids. Not a single bucket was off but the lids were a different story.
I figure I will be out in the morning after work chasing lids once more.

I have to say that that is the least enjoyable part of making syrup, what a waste of time.

The bright side of all this bad weather is that the next 7 day forecast looks real good for the trees.

We're freezing back up here. It'll be a couple more weeks before it makes sense to tap.

dave y and f&s i with you two i going to wait it out as long as i can plus i not ready yet was going to put the stack up today but the wind stop that

Got up this morning with the first 8 hours sleep Ive had since last thursday. Been averaging 4 or 5 a night with all that Im doing here and making dreams come true for our customers at work. Went out to the shed and have good vac. Both releasers are fine. It just froze last night. 30 out right now. Thinkin I have over 3000 gallons of 2% but not sure exactly how much becouse its in several tanks. Looks like low temps for a couple weeks but that can turn on a dime. With my vac if I can overcome freezups of components I get sap when we hit just above freezing and day after day it adds up. I think thats how I did good last year was a ton of little runs. Just happy Im getting things going more fluidly with my system. Think after we boil saturday Im hitting the woods with this slow down and getting things perfect which will be great when the big runs come and then Im going after more taps. I think I can get another maybe 150 and that should put me somewhere around 3500 I think. Hoping if my sap is all 2% and I think that it is that will give me 150 gallons of syrup anyway on this bonus stuff and thats not bad. Better get ready for work. Have a happy. Theron

I am also ready for the cold. I need a break. Finaly boiled last night. I have only been able to get in 1300 taps. It takes 3 times as long to tap with the spout adapters. If I had a third arm it might have gone quicker. It took three days to get the vac from 15" to 25". One squirle chew mark can consume 1-2inches of vac. Also a warm pump isn't a happy pump. I had to make a heat exchanger to cool the antifreez. So by yesterday afternoon I had 25" at the pump and 20" at taps at the end of sap ladders. After last night I am ready for a smaller rig and an ro. It takes 250gal to food the pans, 1000 gal to sweeten the pans. Bolth of my blowers died so with natural draft I don't think I was in the 300ghp range. 5 hours to boil 1350 gal. Too much work for too little syrup. This little break in the weather will allow me to finish taping, only 700 to go, fix rodent damage, re-level tanks that have settled, find out what is wrong with the blowers and fix them, get some sleep.
Brian

Please return the real Brian Ryther, the one that told me he wouldn't have small rig and a RO. Just kidding Brian, Keep on Keeping on

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brian Ryther

I am also ready for the cold. I need a break. Finaly boiled last night. I have only been able to get in 1300 taps. It takes 3 times as long to tap with the spout adapters. If I had a third arm it might have gone quicker. It took three days to get the vac from 15" to 25". One squirle chew mark can consume 1-2inches of vac. Also a warm pump isn't a happy pump. I had to make a heat exchanger to cool the antifreez. So by yesterday afternoon I had 25" at the pump and 20" at taps at the end of sap ladders. After last night I am ready for a smaller rig and an ro. It takes 250gal to food the pans, 1000 gal to sweeten the pans. Bolth of my blowers died so with natural draft I don't think I was in the 300ghp range. 5 hours to boil 1350 gal. Too much work for too little syrup. This little break in the weather will allow me to finish taping, only 700 to go, fix rodent damage, re-level tanks that have settled, find out what is wrong with the blowers and fix them, get some sleep.
Brian

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ok so mom ordered the 4 rolls of leader semi rigid and 300 ft of 1" for my pump line, got the snow bank moved, i think im going to try and run the line from my tank to the peoples drive way on gravity, ive got to raise the tank in the air about 3-4ft ANY IDEAS? i was thinking of taking some big old hemlock logs that i was going to saw into lumber and cutting them to 4 ft tall, They are almost 3ft in dia. so i wouldnt have to support them they would stand on there own, but maybe you guys have a better idea? i cant get to the tank spot with a tractor so i gotta be able to carry the stuff into the woods, (i will have some one help me carry the 3ft x 4ft blocks in of coarse)

Zar update- Season officially started at my place today. Stats- 36 degrees, partly sunny, just froze last night lightly, light west wind, dump rate on sugarhouse releaser- 30 sec. Thats 6 gallons per minute. Thats 360 gallons per hour into the sugarhouse kitchen. Oh I forgot 25" of vac. Oh yeah baby, Oh yeah. Gonna make a little syrup tomarrow. Next two weeks lots of days in the 30s and I think thats all I need. Just a lot of little runs. Going to box up both releasers to keep them from freezing nights maybe tonight. Dont want to miss a trick. Zar's gettin paid! Zar

Brian- Running that many taps is harder than we thought? I had to have someone help me tap and it took a WHILE. Ive been burning both ends of the candle with an R.O. and buddies helping me. Your just going to have to do your best and thats that. Ive been going through the same thing with the pump, leaks, moving(pumping sap while freezing crap up) struggling to get vac levels up, etc, etc. Hope you find your groove soon. Theron

This is my grove. I live for this. If it were easy..... Every day brings new challenges.... I was able to fix my blowers today. Back on track. 400+ gph. Forget the ro and small rig, I make the best tasting syrup around!
BR