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Technically it's impossible to get a vaccuum beyond -30" Hg. But clearly it's doing what it's supposed to. 60 gph on 460 sounds about right. I have about twice as many taps and was at 110 gph for a while today. Let's hope it actually freezes tonight and we'll be in business again tomorrow.Quote:
Originally Posted by twitch
Cooked up our first batch this weekend. Pulled in just under 1000 gallons of sap in the past week and bottled up 15 gallons. Sap was running well this afternoon when we left the sugar house. Luckily we were able to fix up a bunch of leaks today so that should increase production with the Shurflo system. So far its paying off. We haven't had a 1000 gallon week in a few years
Abbott, that is what I thought to I liked what I saw though. There 10 dollar gauges so probably not exact. It's 30 degrees at my house right now but I live in valley. We will see .
Well it didn't freeze up here. Maybe partially froze in some of the woods, I'm not sure. Sap flow picked up when the sun came out, but not like yesterday. Still, with a thousand gallons through the evaporator, the syrup count is now at 178 gallons... about 40% crop based on current tap count.
200 gallons in the tanks at 3 PM yesterday and it was still running steady. We did get a freeze Sunday night and 30 degrees right now at 6:30 AM. We haven’t filtered our draws yet but the syrup is definitely light. Boiling today, good luck everyone!
How's everyone making out? Right now I'm at 270 gallons of syrup on 11470 gallons sap. That's about 42:1, which would be fine over the whole season, but the sugar content has been really low lately. We'll see if the cold nights bring it back up. I have a feeling that this year will end up being the worst sap:syrup ratio I've ever had.
The sap has really run well, though. After 13 straight days of boiling, this is my first off day. I'm at 64% crop right now, so I should come out ok in the end... just going to use more wood than I would have liked. The sap ran hard yesterday, but only for 4 hours. It's running well now, but again only a short run. Still, I'll have plenty of sap for a boil tomorrow.
For those interested, I'm going to have my open house as usual. Sumner Sap Saturday will be from 10-4 pm this Saturday. Due to the long dirt/mud road and half mile walk down to the sap house, plus the fact that I don't really advertise, I never have a big crowd, just a few family and friends. Go to the dead end of Bradeen Rd in Sumner and follow the signs down the hill.
We are right about 50% of what we "hope" to make. Just shy of 30 gallons right now. The sap in Lewiston dropped to 1.5% last week. We didnt test the Sumner sap but I'm guessing its in the 2% range. The RO has really saved us. Hoping this cold and the snow pack in Sumner keeps the season going. After last year it would be nice to come out of the hole with a good year.
Had a surprise decent run last Friday in the rain. Not much since, it started for us today but was short lived. See what we have and hopefully be able to boil again Wednesday or Thursday. At 50% of our target. Hoping to get a shurflo hooked up by the end of the week to get more sap. With the 2x6 oil we could handle double what we are getting for sap even without an RO. All boils so far only 4-5 hours from startup to cleanup. Will have 2 mainlines on shurflos for next season.
All syrup so far has been amber, last drawoff looked close to dark. We will also have friends and family over Sunday. Break out the cotton candy and also make some taffy. Hopefully we have sap to boil too!
We are going to take what we can get at this point.. 9 Gallons bottled so far, 5 or so Gallons to finish. Only 123 taps in this year all on 3/16 gravity. The new drawoff is dialed in and working great. The oil burner is working great, so much easier! Next years build will be an RO! Hopefully we get another 2 weeks!
Still no sap here in Eagle Lake, waiting for a couple days above freezing. Hopefully this Thursday and Friday will kick things into gear.