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I shut the pump off this morning. Woke up to 1100 in the tank but the sap had stopped. My total for the season is 74,300 gallons on 3400 taps. Not the greatest of numbers but I’m still happy. The season went great and I had no issues at all. I will start pulling spouts tomorrow and then finish up on pruning my apple trees. I hope everyone has a great summer.
Spud
Thanks for all the updates Spud, have a great summer
Still going here in lyndonville. Slow but steady and low sugar. Like PMRC I have been hunting a leak all season and a constant battle with a lifting pump. That said I am still having a record year. I'll post totals when available.
This season's last boil was today. Ended with 277 gallons on 825 taps under vacuum. Our latest season end April 15, so were finishing in a reasonable time frame. Our sugar content is normally low, maybe 1.5-1.75%. We fought a few leaks early on this year. Due to my full-time job, we were behind trying to finish projects we wanted to do last summer/fall so we started later than we wanted. We have an addition at the sugarhouse to complete (16' added to the garage area). Double the size of a collection point from 800 to 1600 gallons (double he length of the building and build a warm room inside) and upgrade from a mechanical releaser to an electric releaser at this station. We plan to install a solar system (with batteries) to run the electric releaser. The tank swap will require removing the 1600-gallon tank at the sugarhouse and replacing it with a 2100-gallon tank (need to cut a hole in the wall for this one). That should be a fun day. Great to hear about everyone's successes and learning opportunities.
Mike
Boiled what was in the tank on Sunday. Pulled taps on Monday before the eclipse. Sap was only testing .9-1.0%. we have about 13 gallons bottled and maybe another 1.5 ga waiting for bottling.
We're done. Sap still running, but too slow to keep it fermenting in the lines. Last boil was this morning. Trees are ready for the next phase and so are we. Overall not the worst or the best season, but happy with what we got. Now we need to finish up a bunch of measurements, clean-up, and pull taps.
I’m about 3 weeks from tapping. Hoping to have another great season. Good luck everyone.
Spud
I'm living in Michigan now, but if things at Proctor are operating as usual, they'll likely start tapping in the next couple of weeks. Generally they shoot for mid-January.
I think several of the field studies will focus on the new (organic certified) antimicrobial droplines and spouts.
I decided to try out Middle Valley Maple’s antimicrobial barbed spout adapter. Excited to see if there will be any noticeable impact on my typically low sugar content (usually around 1.3-1.5%). I ordered 800 today and they are being shipped today. Bob was excellent to work with over there. I’m also 3-4 weeks out on tapping. Good luck to everyone this season!
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Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins
Antimicrobial droplines and spouts sounds interesting. Can you elaborate on the benefits?
Thanks