Schenectady-Albany-Saratoga Counties

I made a batch yesterday before the temps plummeted. Made 2.5 quarts from 34 taps. I will probably tap a few more trees as the snow begins to recede and I have more access to my property. Conditions are still pretty rugged here.

I also had a chance to visit Kevbo17 and his family and boil with them on Sunday. It's amazing how much less snow and more sap they have. They are east of Saratoga and I am in the foothills west.

Looks like another lull now though, and that wind was crazy. In fact, I managed to leave the house door not fully pulled shut while I was boiling and came back and found it had blown open. The furnace ran for the first tine this year. I was trying to make it through the winter solely heating the house with wood, but my streak was broken. Thermostat was set to 55º too, so that was quite a rude awakening.

Pete

Collected 325 gal of sap on Sunday. There was 220+ before the freeze yesterday. Hoping the freeze recharges the trees.

Nothing going over this way...after the hard freeze, there's been no sap run at all for going on 3 days. Looks to stay cold through the weekend and then warm up rapidly...hoping we can ride this out through end of March but we'll see!

Today - One of the buckets on my best tree that faces south

Attachment 22124

Ended up with 40 gallons yesterday, the sun got some of the trees running. Boiled 60 gallons last night, next boil I'll be drawing off!

First boil last Sunday with crzypete, got about 3.5 quarts. Lots of ash without a grate! 2nd boil Friday, used last year's melted grate upside down for airflow - much improved efficiency and less coals, 3 quarts. Glad to have a stash again!

Looking like an interesting week weatherwise...hope for big flow Mon/Tuesday and big boil Wednesday??

Last biol was last mon,17 gal of light and ready for next run,hoping it will break on mon but thinking it will be more like later in the day tues,been 0 for 3 nights in a row

good luck this season,we still have 2 ft of snow in sugarbushes

Expecting a huge run the start of the week - I only put up my buckets last weekend so may get out there to tap the tubing lines as well and try to make "make hay while the sun shining" as they say.

ADK, did you end up making an oil tank evaporator? Pics?

We did a small batch today, mainly for entertainment of the kids. Hoping the weather this week gets things moving. I'm going to tap a few more tomorrow to get past 40 taps.

Pete

Not that great of a run today, a little surprised. Tomorrow should be much better hopefully!

not so good here

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Originally Posted by crzypete

ADK, did you end up making an oil tank evaporator? Pics?

We did a small batch today, mainly for entertainment of the kids. Hoping the weather this week gets things moving. I'm going to tap a few more tomorrow to get past 40 taps.

Pete

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I didn't, I found someone selling their entire setup (275g arch, really nice 2x4 divided pan, bunch of extras for tubing and stainless steel finishing pans) close enough that it was worth the drive. I'll take some pics of it setup this weekend!

Sub-par runs yesterday and again today...last night's yield didn't surprise me since it had been so cold the night before (10-11F here) but today I expected it to just totally bust loose and it didn't. It's running but I only emptied partially full buckets on even the biggest trees earlier this evening.

Thinking it may just run all night into tomorrow given the temps...? Weird.

I'm up to 42 taps (a new personal best) and I think that's my number for the season. Modest runs here the last two days. We emptied buckets around 3pm and have 35 gallons of sap packed in a snow bank. I'll boil tomorrow and hope for another boil this weekend. The one tap I checked tonight was not dripping, but I have some altitude- 800 ft, so maybe I'm a bit colder than others.

ADK, def post pics! That sounds like an easy solution.

Pete

Collected 75 gallons last night and boiled it. Drew off roughly 4 gallons and put it into the finishing tank. Didn't really run like I thought it would, but still got a decent amount.

Little pic of the sugarhouse

Attachment 22205

Another slow-day given it didn't freeze overnight, still had some yield from a few tress but really hoping things start back up after the freeze / thaw cycle comes back next week.

I am in Grafton NY. I have been doing this about 7 years. I have about 75 taps out this year. Based on the weather each run should be at least 50-80 gallons. Past years I work with about 100+ gallons at a time.
I am lucky if I am getting 25 gallons. The first run was .9% sugar. The last one was 1.7%.
I have heard this from other people.
Anyone know why it is like this?
I don't have an enough sap to boil at 25 - 30 gallons. I am not even going to RO filter it. I have a 2X4 drop flue that take 10 gallons to start.

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Originally Posted by MRFNY

Collected 75 gallons last night and boiled it. Drew off roughly 4 gallons and put it into the finishing tank. Didn't really run like I thought it would, but still got a decent amount.

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You got 4 gallons from 75 gallons of sap? Whaaaaa?

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Originally Posted by jjc122161

You got 4 gallons from 75 gallons of sap? Whaaaaa?

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Wasn't our first boil.

Long day of setting up the new (to me) oil tank arch and pan but had a great time doing it and got a great start on boiling down over 150 gallons of sap.Attachment 22226

Not a bad run today, collected 80 gallons. Sugars were dripping nicely then it got real cold fast and they shut right off.

Everything is frozen up solid again...what a weird season, so far. Later this week looks decent, though.

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Originally Posted by ADK_XJ

Everything is frozen up solid again...what a weird season, so far. Later this week looks decent, though.

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Yup, FROZE! Couldn't boil last night. Maybe tonight if I can thaw out my tank. Had 200 gallons Sunday but only had time to boil 90. The rest is frozen.

Took today off of work to boil down a big collection of concentrate I have stacked up in 5 gallon pails, it's just been too **** cold and windy to go out there before now.

Hoping for a big run into the weekend so I can do another boil.

Disappointing day, trees took forever to wake up. Dripping at 6:30 but overall a weak day. Big question is if we will get a freeze tonight. Weekend looks solid but after that there is a stretch where we may not get the nighttime freeze at night. Could be a very short disappointing season!

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Originally Posted by MRFNY

Disappointing day, trees took forever to wake up. Dripping at 6:30 but overall a weak day. Big question is if we will get a freeze tonight. Weekend looks solid but after that there is a stretch where we may not get the nighttime freeze at night. Could be a very short disappointing season!

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I'm simultaneously bummed and relieved to hear it was slow out your way, too. It was a pretty nice day and I sort of thought I'd see things half full or more out on my buckets but there were only drips and drabs for most trees.

Hoping for some change in the weather for the better....

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Originally Posted by ADK_XJ

I'm simultaneously bummed and relieved to hear it was slow out your way, too. It was a pretty nice day and I sort of thought I'd see things half full or more out on my buckets but there were only drips and drabs for most trees.

Hoping for some change in the weather for the better....

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I was sitting at work thinking it was going to be a good day, but I got a report from my better half around 3:30 and a photo of one of the buckets on our best tree that barely had anything in it, and was immediately thinking WTF? lol

I have been doing this since 2014. I have around 80 Taps. Previous years when it ran I would get 50+ gallons at a time. This year I am lucky if I have gotten 20-30 gallons. Temperatures have seemed ideal but it is not flowing. I am wondering why this is happening.

Getting a decent amount of sap today. Not sure if the trees ran all night or if they woke up early this morning. Weekend and Monday look good, but long range forecast is not looking good.

got 90 gallons tonight around 5:30 PM and trees were still dripping. Tomorrow could be a decent run if we get some sun. Weekend is looking awesome

FINALLY...things have really busted loose here, which I'm going to attribute to the rain and the resulting hydrostatic pressure but, yeah, it was running like a jet engine on all of our taps up on the hill this evening. The weekend through Monday/Tuesday look awesome and I'm off work.

Put up my other 50 drop-line taps into 5 gallon pails to do some catch-up. Here we go!

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Originally Posted by ADK_XJ

FINALLY...things have really busted loose here, which I'm going to attribute to the rain and the resulting hydrostatic pressure but, yeah, it was running like a jet engine on all of our taps up on the hill this evening. The weekend through Monday/Tuesday look awesome and I'm off work.

Put up my other 50 drop-line taps into 5 gallon pails to do some catch-up. Here we go!

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Hey ADK! What elevation are you at? I'm at 600', only got about 30 gallons tonight but I think it's a great sign considering the colder temps. This weekend and Monday are going to be gushers!

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Originally Posted by MRFNY

Hey ADK! What elevation are you at? I'm at 600', only got about 30 gallons tonight but I think it's a great sign considering the colder temps. This weekend and Monday are going to be gushers!

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More like 250-300 here. Yes, I was surprised how well it was running given the temps...bodes very well for tomorrow.

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Originally Posted by ADK_XJ

More like 250-300 here. Yes, I was surprised how well it was running given the temps...bodes very well for tomorrow.

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Nice! Good luck this weekend!

Shew, today was the day...it ran HARD from sun-up to sun-down and I emptied buckets 3 times. It was more sap than my ATV could haul in one run so I spent a good long while out in the woods today but I'm not complaining one bit.

The RO is going to run all night and I'll likely do my final boil of the year tomorrow.

About 300-350 gallons of sap Friday - Sunday. Thought we would get more today (Monday) but just didn't get long enough of a freeze to reset the trees. Season is over, temps for the next week are not good and I'm tired! Will end up with around 17 gallons of syrup, same as last year. Crazy, today our syrup got lighter and ended up delicate!

An intense weekend plus for me. I boiled Saturday, Monday and Tuesday. Made 4.25 gallons in that time. And we collected another 30 gallons of sap this evening. This has helped my underwhelming totals. Hoping our altitude gives us a bit more season, but it's 37 right now and I don't see freezing temps for another few days. I'll see what runs tomorrow in the rain and boil again Thursday. Maybe the last batch?

Pete

A little south of ya'll, the sap quality took a dive for me. We had a good run over the weekend and into Monday (3 gallons/tap) but the last 2 days have been so warm the sap is really clouding up. My wood supply is telling me the season is over as well. We will be around 20+/- gallons of syrup this season. Upwards of 2000 gallons of sap. Boiled some and sold some to my buddy.