-15 BELOW here this morning! Think I'll go wash a few tanks.
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-15 BELOW here this morning! Think I'll go wash a few tanks.
Mike- You and Jerry hooked me up bigtime. This is great. That R.O is usually performing way above rating now no prob. Biggest thing I really need is more press like you guys said but no prob Im getting along. Theron
Theron - We'll start pulling our weight up here when someone turns off the cold Alaskan air! At this rate you'll be golfing by the time we're boiling...
just checked the weather update. starting thursday there is a 9 day stretch of perfect sap weather. BIG SAP COMING RIGHT UP Well not the big sap theron's got but BIG SAP FOR ME Should be getting around 600 gallons a day for 9 days puts me in the one day theron sap. Does that count?
I would gladly give up sleep for a whole month if possible. So far only sleep I am looseing is because I figure its another ice age coming and there never will be sap running. I have been looking at that bag of pancake mix for two weeks now.
Its all BIGSAP to me. I think syruping is a blast whether its 20 taps or 2000. Its just plain fun. Might be the fewer is actually more fun, thats how I did it for years. Having a lot of taps is pretty awesome but it can be kind of a burden till you get the bugs figured out. I think a guy wants to strive for efficiency no matter how big a sugarbush hes running and it makes it that much more fun. Takes a litte while to get everything finetuned then its really great. I think you guys are going to be coming on strong soon with the weather thats coming. Thats what I thought too about 9 days in a row or something. Im going to go home and boil tonight and try to finetune my filtering better. I think the sap is going to get really big soon. Theron
Csap Czar, what are you using for a filter....I think (actually I know) that will be my weak link. 7" short bank hand pump....Should I upgrade NOW?
My wife, bless her heart, who has no idea regarding the details what all this syrup stuff is about, looked at me and said "that hand press is going to kill your system" Shes probably right.
As of now, 1600 taps on High vac, new lines, 300 on buckets....Come on!
Theron has a short bank with a gear pump. In his case I would either have a double full bank seven inch or a 10inch. The bare minimum I would have is a single full bank seven incher. That Pennsylvannia Fancy likes to clog up a press. The reason I am saying he needs that much filtering capacity is he is always saying he isn't going to expand anymore, well we know how that works don' we.
I guess in your case are you going to be expanding anymore? If not just add a gearpump to your setup and you will be fine. Just remember that if you only concentrate to 8% percent or somewhere around there you will be making about 3 to 4 times as much syrup per hour then you did last year.
Jeff- Im kind of thinking if theres anyway you can afford it maybe you should CHANGE IT NOW!!!, WHAT, ARE YOU CRAZY, DO YOU KNOW WHAT KIND OF BIGSAP IS COMING YOUR WAY??? I think you better get the one with the gear pump at least like Jerry says. Im pretty busy with mine. I have to change it out every 20 gallons right now becouse this stuff is pretty clogy. Last year I would get 25 maybe or a scosh more. Had a great night tonight boiling. Had my last 2000 gallons worked up into the headtank last night waiting for dad. Boiled it tonight in two hours. All my numbers are approximate becouse I pumped the sap out of a semi trailer and then Im filling 55 gallon drums so who knows exact. Looked like it made 40 gallons of syrup and looks like Im settling into 20 gallons of syrup per hour off my rig which I dont think is too bad for a 3 by 10. Pretty funny, we had the line froze to the head tank and dad thawed it out and accicently ran the flue pan way high. Well, Jerry got my evap working so good I can boil it hard full or low dont matter much. By the time dad got ready to draw I figured it would be a humdinger becouse all of the concentrate I put in the tank till I rinsed the membrane was 19%. It was a big draw all right, dad opened up the valve full throttle and it didnt stop till we had 20 gallons in front of us. He didnt seem to phased, he doesnt like to stay up at night real late either so we were both happy although he was a little surprised. Looks like were bearing down on 300 gallons. I think were pretty close. Big Berthas going to start dumping in a day or two and then were going to get some real sap I think. Ive got to keep the cracker barrell kids happy till you guys kick in up north. Zar
We're ready for that bigsap, but it looks like it won't be here for a couple of weeks. Really cold here until Friday, and then maybe we'll be back into sugaring weather...
We've had some problems with vandalism lately, but I hope we get them worked out before the season.
It seems like people who are too lazy to do work like to make trouble.
BIG FROZEN SAP if you have any outside right now!
That big run coming: well, we should be ready for it now!
Go get um Theron
Chris
Chris- Sounds like things are going real good for you so far this season. Im getting things more finetuned thanks to all my good friends on the trader. Dave Y- Hope your getting that sap in the barrells. I just looked at the forecast and HOLY BIGSAPSICKLES, YOU BETTER STOKE THAT THING AND STOKE IT GOOD!!!!, YOUVE GOT RECORD BOOK CATAGORY BIGSAP COMIN!!! 9 STRAIGHT DAYS OF BUCKET BUSTIN RUNS!!! Youll have crop end of next week. Have a happy. Theron
Thanks Jerry and Czar, I hope to be over 3000 next season on vac, all on my 40, plus what I buy from neighbors/friends, maybe 500 taps worth on Gravity.
I think full bank 7" is the ticket...I will start counting pennies and see where I am at....its a good thing we don't have business managers, they would kill us or have the board take away our cards and check books!!!
Dont mention it Jeff. I can keep you in ideas to spend more money. Im sick of spending money too so thats why Im using my old press. Look guys this is the deal starting thursday of this week. Im not saying this is the best run of all time Im just saying its EVEN BETTER THAN THAT! WE ARE TALKING THIS ONE WILL BE TALKED ABOUT FOR GENERATIONS!!! GET YOUR REST THIS IS THE MOTHER LOAD OF ALL SAP RUNS!! MAYDAY!! MAYDAY!!! I was going to go string tube and put some gravity taps in tonight but man its cold. Had to take the night off. Got the chills, headache, feel kind of like dog crap so to speak. Gonna have to regain my strength tonight and tomarrow for the big one. So many trees so little time. All that R.O.ing this weekend must of wore me down. Only so many episodes of Ax-men Booy and I can watch in a 24 hour period. Gonna have to rest back up. Theron
A friend of mine tells a story of one year on Kearsage mountian where sap ran (HARD) night and day for a week straight,,then, ran during the day for 20 more days (HARD),,,cant remember the # of taps,,1500? or the gallons of product produced (750?)but they had the 4x12 going 24 hours a day---and were making trips to the sawmill for slabs,,The great sap gods were smiling down on their children,,,,,CAN YOU DIG IT??
Think it just might be one of those years my friends,,,just mabey,,,,
Gonna start here Sunday,,,,,,,
Guys- Just checked the weather and all I have to say is GOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Checked the extended forecast and looking at a week of 40's during the day and 20's at night. Get those pumps warmed up, tanks cleaned, and wood stacked. It's going to be a long week.
Parker, that would be AWESOME...in the true sense of the word. It seems we build systems and tap thinking of maximizing the piddles we have gotten used to over the last few years.
I had 4 days last year were it ran good, early April, during and after a spring snow storm. I WAS BURIED and EXAUSTED. We got about the same about of sap in those 4 days as the rest of the year combined. More sap at the end of 18 hour boils than when I started. Makes for good stories.
I cant imagine 20 days like that, with the old system. Tubes, RO's, no breakdowns, I would have a chance to actually enjoy a run like that.
Just checked our local forcast here starting tomorrow there is 11 days out the next 14 that is great sapweather. I cannot recall ever having a stretch of weather like this. If it holds true man are we in for the motherload. Get lots of sleep sapmen we are gonna need it. Good boiling to all.
BIGSAP UPDATE- HOLY SAPBUCKETS IS IT EVER GOING TO RUN! Put 60 more taps out last night in the dark kind of a vac gravity hybrid. Hitting the buckets today. Im sick and tired of hearing about all the bucket bigsap going on so Im hanging them myself. Cant wait to go back to drillin. MAKE ME PROUD MEN, GO GET THE BIGSAP. Theron
good thing you have youth behind you theron. i feeling the growing pains and i have not boiled yet. finishing in the sugar house today. water in the r/o , soak for 24 hours then rinse. new air pump on filter press replacing gear pump. welder comming to fix leak in 1500 perm tank. put my new draw off tank on cart next to other one and plumb them togather to filter press. ran other one over all the time last year and tended to make some heavy syrup. put my new pan washer togather and i will be ready for sap in the am friday. not going to freeze here for three days the way it looks. got 7200 tapped 4 vac stations and releasers.
Just starting to drip here in the buckets by the house.
Jeff- I got the youth but I think its on its last legs. Pretty sore. Started running yesterday but the ground is still rock hard. Ran though the night and Id say just guessing Ive got maybe 1500 gallons. I think the ground needs to thaw which it did last night some. I think today may be pretty good. Had awefull time with my vac yesterday. Couldnt get over 22 or 23". Tunked spiles. Made a better cooler setup for the pump lines. Finally found an open 3/4 mainline. Fixed it and now Im at 26 at the sugarhouse releaser and 25 across the road. Very happy with that. Hard to believe with the pump per tap ration. Now Im ready for a good hard run which looks to be coming. Started putting buckets out last night and hope to get maybe a 100 in this weekend and neighbor wants to run a 100 too. Basically any component laying around that will make a hole in a tree and hold some sap goes in the woods this weekend. Other night ran a 1000' lateral with roughly 60 taps on it and stuck it on the system. Ill tell you what Im sure the vac is terreble but boy the sap really runs in it. Basically now Im at the point where Im gonna just throw things at the woods and see what sticks. Hopin to make a little syrup this week. Hope everyones havin fun. Thats what its all about. Forgot to mention this, My coolant line was getting a little warm on the pump so Had a brainstorm and went downstairs and got my 14' rowboat and filled it with cold wanter and put some of the loops in it and went up to the pond and cut big blocks of ice with the chainsaw and threw them in it. Worked dang good. Gonna rig up a better system for next year but Ill tell you what the boat worked pretty good. Hopefully today Ill have good vac and can just go have fun stringin buckets. Theron
SAPS RUNNIN HARRRRRRRRRRRRD!!! Stringin buckets and ro'in sap. Big boil tomarrow. Theron
saps running hard here, pumps still running, just got done filling the honda up with gas,
Update from BIGSAP ZAR residence- Think dad and I have kind of found our groove finally. Had the normal setbacks and mess ups like everyone but things are starting to smooth out. Got quite a bit of sap so far but sugar has been light so its not making as much syrup as last year. R.O runs pretty steady. Weve kind of settled in to 20% concentrate and it seems to work good for us. Were making nice syrup, color and taste, and it comes off at around 20 gallons per hour which is pretty fast for a 3 by 10. Makes it nice. Im still tapping in. Put out 150 buckets this weekend and made a setup for the kids to collect. Should be pretty fun. Have good vac on the bush. Runs at right around 25" which Im very happy with. Hope everyone is having fun. Jeff E- Whats the latest? Is your stuff running like heck? Theron
Quote:
Originally Posted by PATheron
20 gph on a 3x10 - amazing.
I've heard a few talking about low sugar. I've been between 1.5 and 2, but closer to 1.5. Without an RO, that's allot of boiling for not so much syrup. Wondering what all this rain is gonna do - probably increase sap volume, decrease sugar? Our ground is just saturated - gotta figure 3" rain this weekend with more tomorrow.
TTHHHEEE(littelpress)RRROOONN-How much have you made-and where is Dave Y?
Parr(so much wood even marvin cant eat it up)ker- Near as I can tell right now weve got with what Im concentrating right now close to 450 gallons maybe. I just cap em and see if I can wait dad out on moving them. Figure if he has to stumble over them maybe hell move them when Im gone. Those 55s are toughys. My sap has been low in sugar compared to last year so Ive tried to counter act it with more taps. Done a pretty good job on that front. Looks like two weeks of constant freeze thaw so Im going to be pretty tired but once its over itll have been worth it I think. Got a call from Dave Ys friend last night. Hes got bout the same taps I have I think and that big run last week in 24 hours I guess he got like 8000 gallons. Well they started boiling on friday and havent shut down since. Dave boils all day and his buddy boils at night. They figure they can boil 2000 gallons in 24 hours. He said itll take till this thursday to catch up on everything but I think its going to start running hard tomarrow so it might get ugly. Im roing nights and boiling days. If I run it to 20% I can keep up ok. Little hairy first draw. Kind of makes dad a little jumpy but hell get used to it. I asked him about 25% but hes apprehensive( a little chicken). Ill wait and surprise him one of these days when he gets this down. Only thing that sucks about the high concentrate theres always BIG MONEY in a small area. I fill the head tank theres several thousand dollars in there kind of makes a guy paranoid but I guess you gotta be tough. Oh well, keep us posted. Get Marvin something to boil. Theron
Well, we got sap in the sugar house...We started tapping on Thursday, and had trouble getting the pumps to perform, getting the sap up the hill to the sugar house. I resolved it by adding another pump station partway up the hill. The real solution may be putting in a larger transfer tube, so I have less line friction loss...$$$$
We have a big storm coming, going from 45 today to -6 tomorrow night, 10 to 15 inches of snow and 40 mph winds...a doozy.
Since this storm is coming, I shut down the vac tonight, with 450 gallons of sap in the tank. Drained the lines, opened valves at the ladders, etc and prepared for the big freeze.
Starting Friday, we will get into a spell of good sap weather.
I am learning a LOT about this now that I have the equipment running. Finding leaks, learning about hollow trees. I am still needing to resolve my sap transfer issues.
Here are the details. 1 pump has to move sap uphill 47', over about 500'.
I have a 1 horse pump into a 1" line for this, going up maybe 35', then a 3/4 horse to finish the lift, into another 1"
The other is a 1200' run, going up about 32'. This is a 3/4 horse into a 1" for the whole run. It is pretty slow, and will probably not keep up on a big day.
ANY thoughts or advice?
Jeff, Maybe would have been ok to leave vacuum on til tomorow. Not really suppossed to freeze til later in the day.
Jeff- I have the same pain with the pumping too. Ive thought before maybe it would be easier to just haul it if a guy had a way but I pump and its ok if things dont freeze up. What I do with my vac pump is usually just leave it run all the time unless its going to freeze up for several days. Everyone needs to do what works good for them. Mine is electric and I dont know what yours is but with the electric its easier to do that. Ive got runs by accident that will pay for a months electric. For instance last week the last freeze was maybe thursday then it was above freezing all that time. The sap never stopped and Ive never seen it ever stop if its above 32 degrees. Itll slow down at night but I still may have like 6 or 800 gallons drizzle in then the next day itll take right off and run fairly good. 25" of vac is an intirely different ball game. South wind and no freeze will slow it down but it wont stop. I try not to shut the pump off till the lats are well froze up too to minimize the sap going back to the holes. If your running gas it may not be possable to do that for sure but thats how I do it. Hope my experiances are of some help. Theron
Thanks Mark, Theron,
I agree, I should have WAAANNNTTED it more. Let the pump run through the night, and drain just prior to freeze up.
I had to go into work and travel to Superior this morning, 70 miles from home, so I was not going to be around to do the drain during the day today. Unless I did it this morning, early. Again, I need to WAAAAANT it! (That's PA-ese for strongly desire)
I am DEFINATELY going for it after this storm, set the pump to turn on at 33 let it go until the buds takes over.
Stick with me guys- I am learning! Don't give up on me yet!!! I will get some pics of the pump houses, Releasers and such.
Hey, I learned another thing. If you get a bunch of guys together to help you tap, PUT THEM THROUGH A TRAINING RUN, AND BABY SIT THEM AWHILE!!!
I had thought with the drops right there by the Maples, it would be a no brainer. In looking for leaks, I have found the drops stretched out to reach a nearby oak, the tap hole put in the middle of a split in the tree, One solid maple growing next to a dead, hollow maple, and yup, the tap in the dead one.
85% where done right, so it was still a big help, but again, I learned something!\
Jeff, waiting on the storm
Big sap here in Quebec finally. I have 4 trees running now. Has to be a drop every 10 seconds on the best ones. The jury is still out on boxelder sap as it seems to have a funney taste compared to the real maples. If it does not improve will pull the taps and put them in out in the forest and haul good sap instead.
Jeff, I had a guy helping me yesterday. I do the drilling, he put in adaptors and pound them in.
I needed more adaptors, said to him I will go to truck and get them, asked him to drill while I was gone. I came back and the holes were all pointed down into the tree, not down and away from the tree.
I think we need to produce the SAPPER HELPER TRAINING VIDEO. Post it online for all to see the basics.
My wife said, put together a cheater card for all the helpers to keep on hand.
OBSERVE tree for cracks, damaged areas. Only drill in sound wood.
1. Is depth stop installed on drill bit?
2. Drill in straight to insure round hole, not waivering, creating oblong hole.
3. Drill at slight angle up into tree so sap runs out.
4. Orient tap (and tube) so sap runs downhill into collection line/bucket
5. Seat tap into hole by tapping in only until seated. DO NOT DRIVE IN PAST TAPERED part of tap.
This is not a drill!! This is a sap tsunami warning for the Catskill Mountains. Tanks were empty at 12:00, tanks were full at 6:00!! Put on your life jackets and get ready to swim in sap!
Rub it in guys. I thought I had a flood for about a hour. Half my trees actually started flowing and then stopped dead and dried up. At this rate I won't need to make my preheater work.
Tanks are overflowing every 4 hours. No time to sleep. must go back and collect.
So...HOLY BIGSAP MOTHERLOAD, is that what you meant?