Still chugging away in SE Vermont. Woodshed is close to empty, but there should be just enough left for us to set a new production high today.
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Still chugging away in SE Vermont. Woodshed is close to empty, but there should be just enough left for us to set a new production high today.
We had a light coating of snow overnight with the temperature dropping to 31. I have been turning the pump on after work and letting it run until bed time, the sap has been running steady for the last two nights. Weekend forecast looks excellent, we should be busy.
It could either be pre-bud, or heavy fermentation in the lines (which tastes more sour than bitter). How does it filter?Quote:
Originally Posted by sapman
It's all good until it tastes bad....Quote:
Originally Posted by WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER
Had about 1/4-1/3 tanks full yesterday morning. Started to trickle in yesterday afternoon, but slowly. Opened up a bit more between 4-7pm, but then never stopped. Didn't run real hard overnight, but it kept coming in. It's about 34 deg F and light snow right now -- probably not going to warm up much today until close to evening. Should freeze up tonite. Vacuum still over 26" everywhere....very little woods work needed this year (so far). All the tanks were 3/4 full or better this morning, so we've fired up the RO and will be boiling before long. Should make well over 120 gal. Sugar is about 1.8% now. Looks like it's going to run a bit today, but then not start again until Friday, with a perfect forecast for sugaring weather for several days after that. Fingers crossed.
Big difference down south, as my 330 taps yielded 600 gallons in 24 hrs. Gravity is good as well. Temps overnight were 30's, and today around 50, with occasional sun. Beginning processing and will boil soon, and see what I get.Quote:
Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins
Trees look good, with tight buds, with a couple that look swollen? Maybe a red maple? I am not sure. This seems to happen with trees around my hillside house that has roots that have been covered over from excavation years ago.
Attachment 13955
Those look like red maple flower buds to me. Typically those appear (swell and open) the earliest.
30 gallons, 25 buckets, 22 hours... Gonna need a bigger boat!
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One of my vacuum pumps died on me yesterday. I brought it to CDL today and they were able to rebuild it and get it back to me at 5:00 tonight. Ronnie and I were able to get it hook up and running in minutes. Running smooth and at 28.5 inches. Based on the amount of sap I got from my upper woods I figure I lost about 4000 gallons. Can't cry over lost sap. I'm ready for the next three weeks of big sap. I can't thank the guys at CDL enough for all their help.
Spud
Sap still running strong, and my best daily average so far at 1.8 gpt per day on this run. Processed and boiled off 650 gallons today, resweeted my pan and made 7.5 gallons of AR, not near dark. I have five 55 gallon gravity feed barrels out there near full, with some buckets overflowing, but at/near freezing tonight and cold tomorrow so no hurry on that.
My syrup did lighten a little from yesterday's freeze up. Very productive year for me, as I will soon double last year's yield.
90 gallons YTD...
I pulled the taps on that one. It looked worse from the ground.Quote:
Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins
28.5"? Get it!!! That's awesome, it's great when people can come in clutch like that. We've had that a couple times this year where someone comes in clutch.Quote:
Originally Posted by spud
Surpassed last year's crop today with our 19th barrel. Not saying much since it's brand new tubing and boiling off of 1500 more taps or so, but it's a good feeling nonetheless. Check out this video that a friend made for us. Nice little promo. https://vimeo.com/160035148
Long day yesterday. The 2,149 trees at my Jericho woods donated 4740 gallons of sap in 24 hours ( 2.20 gal of sap per tap). That is the highest gpt I have seen in 13 years of sugaring in either of my woods. That total would have been even higher if I had been able to capture the sap that was spilling out of my overflowing 3859 gal tank at 6:00 AM yesterday morning. The RO was working 12 1/2 hours yesterday.
That is some wicked production. I would have been happy with half that. Your trees are sucking up so much ground water that your neighbors wells are going to go dry. What are you getting for sugar? Thanks for sharing the numbers.Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeJ
WestfordSugarworks- I enjoyed your video. My daughter said you have a sign on your dorm door saying ( Maple syrup for sale). You got to love it. Let's keep this season alive for another 3 weeks.
Spud
We're a bit higher on the hill than Joe, so we didn't see the trees run like that, but they hovered between flow and no-flow most of the day. They sure do want to run like horses chomping at the bit. We made another 135 gal of syrup yesterday nonetheless, mostly from sap from Tues nights run. That puts us at 1,441 gal total on 4,269 taps (0.34 gal/tap). Sugar content from both bushes was running 1.8%. Nothing much going to happen today, but should start running well tonite, and looks like great weather coming up over the next week.
I too had a record run Tuesday -> Wednesday. It finally froze last night after having pulled in over 2gpt in 24 hours. For several hours on Tuesday the sap was coming in at over 100gph from 740 taps. Not bad for my little operation. I have never seen it run so hard here. I'm not sure exactly how much came in but I processed about 2600 gal. (800 from Sat.- Mon) with the ro Tuesday and Wednesday. My original plan was to boil Tuesday but it took so long to get the sap thru the ro, and I burned up the heating element on my canner (don't ask) so I postponed til yesterday after returning from CDL to get a new part for the canner. I agree that CDL is a great company to work with. They have always taken great care of me.
Anyway, I boiled for over four hours yesterday and made over 40 gal. of syrup. The most I have made in one day. All DR though it started right on the line with VD and ended right on the line with AR. The niter has finally shown up. Also using a bit more defoamer. Flavor is still very good and I was able to get 50 gal. (7 from last Friday's boil) thru the filter press. Up to 230 for the season (.31/tap).
It looks like it will start running again later today and go right thru tomorrow. We'll see if we hit 100 gph again but it seems like the trees want to run. Sugar has been about 1.4 and sap has cleared right up.
I was having an issue with the ro shutting off on low pressure when rinsing yesterday. I didn't have time to figure it out yesterday as I had to get to an engagement but will work on that today. I suspect there is a restriction in the feed line as I have a Y and valve in the line right before the ro to purge air and the flow of permeate was much less than usual. Maybe some slime or otherwise....
Red maple buds are visually swollen here, but nothing major with the sugar maples. We'll see how long the trees will go, but I suspect the next warm sunny days we get may be the end.
Hit a new production high last night. Also cooked the flue pan...
Damage isn't too bad, caught it in time to prevent major carnage. Still not sure what happened. Either the float jammed or the the feed line was temporarily blocked. Gave it a quick shine this morning and back in business.
Spud,
I was hoping that the freeze would help the sugar content, but no, still 1.2%. The sap dropped to 1.2% on the 17th, 18th and the 22nd and the freeze did nothing to help. What the freeze did give me yesterday what my first sugar sand in a rather large dose.
Anyone else go fancy yesterday? I made about 30 gallons of some of the lightest syrup I've ever seen. The kids call it Jack Hill SUPER fancy!
Pumps turned on just a little while ago- trickling now, but I'm betting on a gusher!
Still going strong.. 800 gallons on hand today. got to catch up!
Sap is running well again today.
Sap ran well all day yesterday, and stopped by 20:00 last night when it reached near freezing. It stayed at 31 degrees for several hours, and sap is running today at 1.6%. My sap never seems to vary from 1.5% this year since very early on in the season.
Processed and boiled just 400 gallons last night, and still getting AR. Rapid freeze, (which according to Dr Tim is contrary to the ideal slow freeze) to 27ish will occur tonight.
On a personal note...
Brutal day yesterday, as I collected more than 250 gallons from my 90 buckets after the gusher, as most were overflowing. A very small number has some cloudiness, maybe left over from previous run. My buckets are in hillside woods. It takes me 4-5 hours to collect. My back cannot handle this, honestly. I have to quit buckets, but it's hard to let the sap go.... Sounds like I need to design a sap collection hose sucker system for next year! Something with a 100' hose with a remote switch and foot valve.... Found my off season challenge.
Raining hard here at the border. Temp is 40 with a slight breeze. Sap is running 650GPH. Sap is testing at 1.9% today.
Spud
Sap ran steadily but not too hard all day. Enough to have 3,400 gal to run through the RO tonight and get the membranes washed. Sugar was back up to 2.1 Tomorrow should be great. The rig is all cleaned and ready to go early.
My 2,145 taps in Jericho overflowed the 3859 gal tank from 6:00 PM yesterday to 6:00 AM this morning. 1.8 gal sap per tap in 12 hours! Sap total from last evening to this evening was 5,810 gals, 2.7 gal sap per tap. Too bad the sap only JUMPED way up to 1.3% from 1.2%.
Joe
Emptied out the woodshed last night so I'm going to call it a wrap for the season. Finished up at .21 gallons/tap. Doesn't sound that impressive, but this was a new production record for us. After the last cold snap, the grade went from VDark to Amber and finished up last night at Dark.
Best of luck to all you folks up north. Looks like you all should be having a great season too!
Hope you enjoy your summer Northwoods. I was able to get 7100 gallons yesterday. About 2/3 of that sap came from the lower woods. The upper woods was pretty cold yesterday and only gave a little. Supposed to get full sun today so maybe sap will start running by noon.
Spud
Sap ran pretty well here since Wednesday. Probably close to 2000 gal. up to freeze up last night since 4 pm Wednesday. Never really got too warm here yesterday so it just moderately ran all day. Too bad all this sap which is now 16% in the head tank is likely going on the ground today. Started boiling last night and the foam in the rear pan was out of control. Would shut the blower off to keep it from flooding the sugarhouse, then try again. Same thing. Finally it got to a point where we could moderately boil without overflow with some defoamer, but the defoamer didn't seem to do much. Drew off some syrup which seemed good, and besides the weird foam in the back pan everything seemed normal.
Then we started drawing off some really dark, weird tasting syrup (very burnt) and then the front pan started to scorch. Shut down the blower and flooded syrup pans and assessed the situation and level was fine but the foam from the back pan had moved to the syrup pans and we were essentially boiling foam. Tried again with no luck. The syrup that came off was also ropey. Very strange. At this point we called it a night and drank a beer and ate bacon and pancakes in the sugarhouse while the rig cooled. Disappointing and frustrating to say the least. Yesterday I cleaned the front pans as the niter scale build up was impressive. There was nearly one inch of scale piled up in the syrup channel. Looks like I will be draining and cleaning the whole rig today and starting over in order to continue the season. It's tempting to quit but the sap has still been good (though 1.3%) and no indications of budding. The syrup we made last night was ropey and burnt but not buddy.
The question I still have is why the bad foam and then why the ropey syrup. Did the sap in the flue pan ferment? It has been cold and the last boil was Wednesday so doesn't seem likely. Or did the sap in the preheater ferment? The only thing that was unusual was the last boil I had to rush off so instead of the head tank completely draining, there was about 10 gal. left in the head tank. I dumped this before cleaning tank yesterday, but is it possible that this ended up fermenting as the rig was cooling off and some ended up in flue pan?
Anyway, any thoughts from you experienced guys would be appreciated.
We had the same very good sap run as Joe J. Sap sugar went up from 1.7-1.8 to 2.0-2.1% after the freeze. Syrup came up 2 grades. Made almost 200 gal, putting us at 1,640 gal total or 0.38 gal/tap. Looks like a good couple of days coming up.
That's up some isn't it Spud?Quote:
Originally Posted by spud
I am very happy with my sugar content. Just down the road from me their 1.4 and I don't understand why.
Spud
I made another 10 gallons last night, and passed the 100 gallon mark! All AR, but very close to the test standard, and almost Dark, once again. My 330 tank was full at the end of the day from my 330 taps, as it stopped running in the early evening. Still holding 1.5%. Good freeze last night, and just reached 31 at 10:30. Should be a good couple days.
I, like the General had some issues with foaming two consecutive days before yesterday, and had a very hard time controlling my flow. I think it was some sort of sap issue. I had completely cleaned my whole pan just 3-4 days ago. I had rotated my front pan after the first day, and it did not help. I drained and cleaned my front pan before yesterday's boil. Not a lot of niter, but it sure helped. Yesterday's boil went very smoothly.
Sap is still running 1100 GPH at 7:30 tonight. Started late today but I am up to 6000 gallons so far. It was supposed to go down to 19 tonight but now their saying only 30. Should be in the 30 range for 4-5 hours so things should go great tomorrow. Already passed last years numbers with 2-3 weeks to go. Got to love it. Sap is clear and testing 1.8% today.
Spud
My 107 taps are holding strong in Hinesburg. Steady run today but not record breaking. A bit over a gallon per tap.
For sap I'm at 23.9 gallons per tap for the season so far. My sugar content average is 2.2%
The temperature is hovering around freezing now and it looks like it might be around 30 for four or five hours tonight - hopefully that happens because it should help take advantage of tomorrow's nice warm day.
My sugar content is still strong - the stuff I measured today was 2.2%, it has been hanging in there at 2.3% most of this past week.
Yesterday's syrup was the lightest of the season - 81% Iight transmittance (gd) and great flavor. Today's was 67% (AR).
Sap was still running as of 11:00 pm. It didn't really start running strong until later in the afternoon. Made a little over 3 barrels tonight so we are at 42 barrels so far. Hoping for a big day tomorrow.
Sap ran well here yesterday and did freeze overnight. Pulled in almost 2 gpt between Friday at 5 pm and this morning. Sugar still about 1.3%.
Yesterday I cleaned the ropey crap out of the rig and rinsed, boiled, scrubbed, rinsed, boiled, scrubbed, and this morning will rinse again before sweetening the pans. It will be interesting to see what I make today. Still no peepers here and the red maple buds are in the same swell stage they have been for about a week now. If it does get to nearly 60 today, that may change.
When I cleaned the rig yesterday I found some seriously funky slime in the flue pan float box. It smelled of anaerobic decomposition (think septic tank) so my current hypothesis is that this is what caused the ropey syrup incident. Note to self: clean float box more frequently.
Good luck everyone! Today should be a gusher for all of us.
Sap is running hard in Hinesburg. It was freezing around 10pm and thawing around 6am and running hard by 8am.
Extended forecast is for a cold snap to come in around April 3/4th - current weather models have it below freezing all day one day that week.
I really hope the buds don't break early and get frost damage. If they don't pop, this season could have some more legs to it.
Total at 1,724 gal (0.40 gal/tap) after last night. Sugar still at 2.0% in both bushes. Sap quality is still good. Vacuum running 25.5-27.0" Hg (depending upon how warm it is and how much gas the trees are putting out). Froze here around 10pm, but tanks about 1/2-2/3 full this morning, so must have warmed up during the night. The Smartrek system is running great....and very interesting to watch the temperatures throughout the woods. Easy to see when things freeze up out in various sections, but still running in others.....makes me even more convinced that shutting off the pumps (which we don't do) when it freezes is a real crap shoot at times.
Spent some time looking closely at buds while measuring my chambers this morning. Everything here is still tightly closed and in their winter condition. No signs at all of bud swelling.
Running well right now. Will be boiling in a few hours.....HAPPY EASTER everyone!
Buds that are just swelling (but not yet open) still have a reasonable amount of cold tolerance. It is when the buds are fully open and new leaves emerge that they are at their most vulnerable and can't handle temperatures more than a few degrees below freeing (for a short time). Cold temperatures at that point can be damaging. Frost damage is pretty unusual on maples....it does happen, but not commonly.Quote:
Originally Posted by ryebrye
My first scientific specialty (after getting my Ph.D.) before I was appointed Director of UVM PMRC was tree cold tolerance (mostly of spruces).
Faucet is on... Beyond my little 4x2's capacity for 25 buckets. We've been boiling since 5:00 AM yesterday and have boiled down about 140 gallons -- my 10-year old spent the whole night in the shack :) -- giving it our best shot, but methinks I hear someone calling "no mas" from the house... Happy Easter and good luck!!
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Dr. Tim based on your buds in Underhill at 1250 elevation how much time do you think you have this season?
Spud