1.7% today, last boil tomorrow. Started pulling taps. It was an intense 2 weeks in the sugar woods.
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1.7% today, last boil tomorrow. Started pulling taps. It was an intense 2 weeks in the sugar woods.
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I'm up in Madison County, my lease of about 500 taps gave me 900 gal today at 1.7% with just 17" vacuum but about 1/4 of the taps are also on 3/16, they would have been at max, My 3/16 have a 25'+ fall, the lower taps are on 5/16 lines with the vacuum helping all. My home bush at the sugarhouse was about 400 gal in 24 hrs on 314 taps. There I have 26-27" vacuum.
Looking at my forecast, I suspect I will get sap thru Saturday morning and that will end it here. Last freeze Friday morning, then none until Wed when it might get to 30 F. Not good enough.
However, I had 14 days in a row with good sap flow and starting March 20-28 it flowed harder than I've ever seen for that many days since I began in 2003. It will end up a good year here. I don't have a count yet, I'll add it up after the season. I just keep a log book and do not usually tally it until the end.
Last boil went quick this mourning . waiting for pans to cool down so I can drain front and put it in propane finisher ( 16 x34 ) Attachment 0
Bottled the last of the season today and cleaning up. Intense 3 weeks. We collected 10 gallons sap per tap and bottled 23 oz syrup per tap. Had filtering challenges the last 2 boils. Checking out a vacuum filter setup for next season. Gravity filtering works most of the time, but when it does not ...
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Saturday was my last boil. Ended with 22 gallons for the year. Washed and dried all my buckets in yesterdays warm weather.
Finished pulling taps today . rear pan is filled with sap to do its thing . was lucky and found another 200 gal. milk tank cheap . this will replace a plastic cage tank , there was a time I liked those cage tanks , they are a pain in the ------ to keep really clean . My arch needs to be rebuilt and again was lucky and found an old Ice bank milk tank shell . More than enough stainless to do it . :D Enjoying the warm weather !!!!!!!!!!!!!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]20085 Attachment 20086 Attachment 20087 Attachment 20088 Here is a few photos of that ice bank milk tank shell that I am going to rebuild my arch with . It is 20 gauge and I am using Milwaukee 7 1/4 saw with Dewalt metal cutting blades to cut it apart . So far it is cutting apart pretty well .
Attachment 20095Attachment 20096 Attachment 20097 Attachment 20098 Attachment 20099 Got back to work cutting this mourning , just got to cut around the legs and get that part off .
Attachment 20100 Attachment 20101 Attachment 20102 One stripped ice bank milk tank shell ;)
Attachment 20107 Got the rear pan up and hanging from the rafters , and all fire brick and ceramic blanket removed also .
Attachment 20113 taking apart the arch . Was able to get that side off in enough of one piece to use as a pattern .
Attachment 20118 Frist part put back on .
That looks like alot of work. Its neat to see the stainless in that old tank get used again. Keep up the good work and the pictures, I wish I did a better Job documenting things like you are.
Attachment 20119Attachment 20120Attachment 20121 Thanks Nate , paid 75$ for the tank shell instead of paying high dollar for sheets . Got rear part clamped on this mourning and made sure the leg castings fit good , and they do . the picture of the tool is a digital angle finder , which I found on a site for 26 $ , made it nice to get the angles right . 10 degree fire box - 17 degrees flue . And what made things nice is , in my location there happens to be nice little barn tucked away that just happens to have a rather large industrial brake in it . Take two people to work it and my old shop teacher from school is still alive , he was more than willing to give me a hand . next pictures will be a week or so , counted up all the holes I get to drill and put little bolts in before I take the other side apart . ordering the bolts and nuts today from ( Macmaster & Carr ) .
got 99 % of holes drilled on the first side this mourning , thank god I own a drill doctor . expecting ups del. tomorrow of nuts and bolts , while I waiting , going to start grind off heads of bolts on the other side .
Attachment 20127 hardware , came today , was expecting them yesterday . I am using what is called a ( slotted truss head screw ) 1/4 -20 bolt - stainless . It is the same as they used years ago . There are 5/8 inch 1 inch and a few 1 1/2 inch . I have been able to date this arch to at least 60 years old anyway . When I got it , it came with old English tin pans , and the rear drop flue had red wooden handles on it , on them was ( Cooks - Deruyter ) today known as Deruyter country hardware .
Looking nice, keep up the good work.
Attachment 20128Attachment 20129Attachment 20130 Thanks Dave ,,,, Got the other side fitted and clamped in ---- now back to drilling :(
Attachment 20131 Attachment 20132 finished drilling and bolting left side today and made first part of the ramp --- bent at 90 degrees to bolt to the sides . The floor will come next running full length bent at the top of arch down to angle iron and bolted to ash box , making the ramp double layered .
Attachment 20133 drilled and bolted first part of ramp -------------- the end is in SIGHT
Attachment 20134 Attachment 20135 Got floor cut and bent and fitted in ------- now back to drilling . This is a picture of the brake and my dear friend and shop teacher from school ---- His name is Frank Snyder , some of you from central NY , may remember and know him , He coached Varsity Wrestling at Whitney Point central school 1967----1974 .
Attachment 20138 Floor is drilled and bolted , got a few small things to do but the basic arch is done .
Attachment 20142 The last part has been added --- angle iron supports across the bottom .
Attachment 20143Attachment 20144Attachment 20145Attachment 20146Attachment 20147 Now , clean the sugar house , Its a mess !
Attachment 20166 Good mourning all . Can anyone guess what this is ? It is missing its lid and had a small cooling system attached to it . ( hint ) in operation it was half filled with water . Just having a little fun on this rainy day .
A cooler for milk cans?
Yes Dave that is what it is , I have been digging out an old farm dump on one of my farms and have a salvage yard bringing a dumpster this week . it is amazing what is in there . Also it is like turning back the hands of time . I can remember my dad using that can cooler and riding to the creamery with him .
I guessed that because when I was 6-7 yrs old, my grand parents on my father's side still had a few cows. I think at that time they had 13-14 still, not sure how many were milking, some were young stock. They had a milk can cooler similar, but it was made of concrete, with an overflow just above the half way mark. I helped cool it, by turning the hand pump a few turns to bring fresh cold water into the tank, the warmest flowed out.
That pump was different, it had a little pocket likely made of cast iron on a link chain, one about every 12-16". When the handle was turned it dumped the pockets over a trough that then ran into the cooler.
I'll bet that would not pass inspection now days. I think theirs would have held 8 cans if filled, I never saw more than 3 in it. Too late to ask my dad how many cans he used to haul to the milk plant, he died 16 years ago.
The New York State Fair has posted the results of the Maple Syrup and Maple Products Competition , You will find it in ( Fruit & Farm Products ) !!!!!!
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Originally Posted by Buddy 58
This crazy weather -- man . Started tapping Friday 1/31/2020 --- finished to day at noon 2/3/2020 . My goal was to meet this sunny warm up today to get lines flushed out . Going to put main lines back in tanks tomorrow , Game on when the sap runs again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looking forward to fireing up with the new arch I did . May every body have a good season ..
Snow -- Let it snow ---- some time during night lines thawed and sap is running , be interesting how long it dose today with this snow storm .
was able to fire up today ---new arch was great -- sugar content 2.1 Attachment 20764Attachment 20765Attachment 20766Attachment 20766
Attachment 20782Attachment 20783Attachment 20783Attachment 20784 Had to clean ground tank this morning , all cleaned and lines from woods are back in -- lines were thawing , maybe it will run today .
one of the places I tap is a southern slope --- at 1:00 it was really running , others were starting slow , hope they pick up
What are people seeing for low temps this morning ?
-6 in Deposit, NY
Sure like the looks of the forcast starting sat. Gonna be busy , but that's the way I like it !
forecast is looking good. Going to tap this weekend.
Been so cold , took awhile for trees to thaw --- things did start to run , hopefuly better tomorrow .