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You guys are cranking!!!
Here is Wisc. we piddling away...we are doing are part to keep the prices high by not producing much...YET
Our days of sapastrophe are ahead of us. I Have only had the evap running for maybe 6 hours total...this is not good.
On the brightside, I got another 60 trees on line with all my spare time after work!
Jeff in NW Wisc
Par(so much smoke the astronauts think its a volcanic eruption)keeer- Got my new membrane today and things are starting to come together I think. Im hoping if I pump through the night I should have most of the sap out of the semi trailer by morning and the sugarhouse tanks pretty sweet by morning also. Gonna have to work till 3am and then Im shutting the R.O. down for a clean and getting some rest and tomarrow were going to be making some product. As for the product that will be I have only one thing to say. WERE MAKING MERSH HISTORY DOWN HERE BROTHER!! THIS IS MERSH OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY. Cant hardly keep it in the pans! Comin that way right out of the trees. Got bushes shutting down in the area but my january taps are still crankin out the product. Running 27 honest inches at the sugarhouse bush and 25 across the road. Sugarhouse bush is slowing down but across the road on the north bush ran a gallon per tap from noon to six today so those babys may hang in there a while. Pretty excited to see the end in sight. Been a rough year down here for the gravity guys. Basically theyve only had two runs. Looks like the vac and the early tapping is going to pay off for me this time around. You guys are just getting started so youll have to keep me updated on the BIGSAP. I may be bowing out soon. Hope everyone is having fun. Thee(concentrate so high were drawing off the flue pan)roon. :lol:
Pat(so much steam it looks like a nuclear plant)heron a disappointment for us bucket guys to. Nothing like last year. Had one tsunami run and 4 little runs. Temps are either too high or way too low. Go figure. Nothing like having a tough time keeping up and then having to wait and wait and wait till it is worth boiling. What are you gonna do when the season ends for you? Probably take you atleast 10 months to clean all that equipment out just in time to start again There is no end in sight you got too much equipment to see that far. Not a bad problem to have though.
The buckets have been a disappointment here so far too. I am glad that most of my taps, about 550, are on vacuum. I have collected over 4500 gallons of sap here so far and last season I only got 4800 for the whole season. The weather looks good for the next ten days too. The six reds that have buckets on them haven't produced enough sap combined to fill one bucket so far while the 77 buckets on sugars have produced 400 gallons.
Theeee(it'sbeenalongseason)rooon you can hang those buckets if you want to but the more you can get on vacuum the better. Vacuum has saved my season more than once and this year is no exception.
I am watching that temp gauge right now. Still at 20 degrees but has climbed in the last few minutes. Supposed to be warmerer then yesterday. Went to 42 yesterday but the wind.
Ken- Hope it warms up for you today. Seems like its got to warm up up there sometime. Does it look like overall you guys may have a pretty good season? Theron
theron what did you get for a membrane?
I would suppose that the guys with vacaum did well on those days it just barely run for me. There is a lot of snow in the woods still. I have watched the papers here but not much being said about maple. My mom lives in Alberta and their news has stuff about maple and our's dosn't go figure.
Finally got a small break in the sap flow. Emptied the tank at the sugar house last night and had everything picked up except the tank with vacuum. That one was full again about 8:30 last night. Looks like a good day again once it warms up today. Next week is looking very good. Wood pile is taking a huge hit. VAcuum system still hanging in at 23-25" and cranking out sap. Buckets and gravity tubing doing ok but less than last year.
Getting ready foir Maine Maple Sunday tommorrow. Should be a nice day and hopefully huge crowds that need syrup!
Mark
Jeff- I did get the mark one. I was told the other one would pass sugar over 15% so wasnt sure what to do. I hadnt heard at that time that they were slow. Seems to be working real good. Gonna keep both and run a second membrane next year. Was pretty under equiped this year but have managed to get every thing in the barrel so pretty happy about that. Should be a lot easier next year. Hope you guys are making out good. Does it look like a good season for you guys? Theron
well theron if could have gone wrong it did yesterday. it started off at 10 degrees in the am. once the sap started even with the cold wind it ran great. spent a lot of time on one releaser just tighting leaks. was freezing in the releaser. different ball game with the high vac.gonna take totally apart today and and soft seal all threads and change and double clamp all fittings. found out yesterday the white connectors got to go.then to the sugar house. every line even tho i drained still were froze in a spot somewhere. got r/o going and started boiling. truck came in with load, could not unload frozen in the line to tank. got that going started to draw off and air compresser would not work to run filter press. both draw off tanks level full got that going just in time.then i broke my hydometer that left me looking for another that worked. every thing i touched from that point have a malfuntion. then the r/o started leaking out the top of one of the membranes. bad valve. had anew brass on hand and got that fixed. so all in all with all that said i think that with the next few days looking cold that should give me a good shot to make some product later this week. at 1400 so far
Jeff- Weve been pretty much fighting the same battles. I guess thats sugaring. Once the early season passes it get a lot better. Its a miracle anyone makes any syrup really. I think Im about done. Hardly keep the syrup in the pans. Think I may hit 1100 today which Im pretty proud of the way the season is down here this year. Biggest thing I found with my vac this year is you have to keep the pump stone cold if you can. Its twice the pump literally and youll gain several inches of vac even with no leaks to speak of if the pump is cool. Good luck, hope you get your half gallon. Theron
Update from BIGSAP central- Just about cought up finally from all the sap. Main bush behing the house is slowing down but still running. A lot of those taps were put in in january so it seems pretty remarkable but is pretty much closely following the study that proctor research did about the early tapping. Bush across the road still seems very much alive and last good run day ran the tanks over with over a gallon per tap. Struggling now to process the stuff through the evaperator. Foams terrable. Last night had to quit. Going to try tonight to work it through with the pans deep and the fire low. Making full blown mersh now and Im new to it becouse Ive never kept going to the end and if I can work it through I want to becouse a barrell of the stuff may pay my yearly electric bill for the shed. Im somewhere between 11 and 1200 gallons now and Im kind of hoping to hit 1200 but have to see. I have 3600 taps on the pump and that includes the cull tree stand Plus I have like a 150 buckets that we havent kept up on so if I hit the 1200 Id be close to a third which Im really happy with becouse it looks to me like the gravity guys have only had two real good runs. Whatever it is Ive tapped every tree readily available to me, tapped early to get it all, ran high vac all season, worked through the night and worked the equipment hard and mostly havent lost any of it on the ground. Dad and I have given it 100% all season and Im darn proud of what weve done and the syrup weve made and consider the season a big success. ( No matter what we do any year Im considering it a big success, your happier that way). Hope everyone is having fun. Ill soon be done. Theron
Sap Czar,
I am having the same boil/foam problems. Front pan goes right over the top before I can get the flue pan boiling much at all. Took it off and cleaned it Monday but last night it was little better, De Foaming constantly and I don't like it. Hard freeze for the past several days and the pump lines have been a real head ache. Been hauling sap I should be pumping. Rest of week looks like lows near 30 so that problem should go away and then it will only be trying to keep my head above the sap. I need more storage space...can you send the milk truck up here?????????????
Doug
The sap started flowing again here yesterday after a one day stoppage. This is the first time that I have gotten sap 13 days out of 14. Had some freeze ups Monday but everything thawed on its own yesterday. The thermometer said 41 but the cold north wind made it feel alot colder. I started to pull in sap around 11 am but it didn't really start flowing until 2 pm or so. Unlike Theron I pulled a bonehead move and pumped 600 gallons of 2.1% onto the ground. I really needed that to get my gallons of syrup per tap count up.
Russ- Weve had some losses too from honest mistakes like that. Dont feel bad at all. All you can do is your best and its hard not to make mistakes when your tired all the time. Doug- Wish I could let you use it but I dont have a truck and it isnt actually my trailer yet. If it was I would let you use it. Keep plugging, That foam is terreble, Im going to try tonight deeper pans and less fire. Thats what Matt told me to do. Good luck buddy, Theron
Monday was the first day I had no sap what so ever also for a while and yesterday the trees just stated to wake up again. Today is supposed to be near 50 degrees and that usaually gets the trees hopping. I have this feeling that I have a good couple of weeks coming finally.
THERON with that late season stuff is where you will wear your press out. i would just direct dump into drum and send. as for the foam issue. put the defoamer in the float box a good shot every time you walk by. and a shot where the sap enters the the front pans from the flue. dont worry about too much it is commm any why. if youy get it real close and get dont think you can get it off with out burning it take it off put in drum and send marked low denisity. all by the pound
Have been having the same problems as everyone else.
I am running my syrup pan at 2.5 inches and the foaming is better but still happening. I hesitate to defoam probably as much as it would take to knock it down but may try a little more tonight.
I also have been dumping right into a corny soda barrel for the last couple days. Still making B grade but boy is it full of crap. I figure, I'll let it settle out and then filter it without distrubing the sludge on the bottom.
Keep plugging away Theron, this is just icing on th cake and a little extra to pay the bills. Nice job this year.
Mike
Just checking in and it is fun to see what is happening out east. We are waiting for the big month of April here in NW Wisconsin.
Have made a couple of barrels worth, but waiting on the big runs to come. I am still adding trees whenever I can. I just picked up some more tubing and want to get to 300 more trees before next week. Wish me luck!
Also, I bit the bullet and bought a Wes Fab 7" full bank. I hope to send it on its maden voyage tomorrow night.
All the syrup made so far is Dark Amber. We still have frost in the ground up here so the best is yet to come (I hope).
CDL RO is working great. It if really something fun to make syrup when you have to constantly watch the draw of pail because it may overflow in a matter of minutes!
TTHH(LONGHAULSUGARKING)- put a scoop across the top of every till,,the foam will hit the scoops then drop down,,and like MAPLECREST said put the defoamer right to it,,dont smoke a pan,,,,**** GOOD JOB!!!!! IMPRESSIVE!!
Today might be the last of my so called big run untill tuesday or wensday now. Night time temps are supposed to stay above zero again for a few days. The way it works around here trees just start to produce and then it warms up for a couple of days and then freezes solid.
Ken,
That's exactly what they are doing for me too. Certainly, the weather forecast does NOT look ideal, but I would expect to get a better run today than yesterday and it should run overnight and into friday, since the trees are primed and ready. Then we jst have to wait out a couple warm days and hope the weathermen are wrong about the NO freeze.
If you do NOT get 100 gallons from your 100+ taps between right now and Friday afternoon, I would think something is wrong.
You aren't tapping those telephone poles are you?
Put the defoamer to it. I have switched back to the Atmos 300 after using canola oil for a few years. I am still running my front pan at 1" and I put a small squirt of defoamer into the float box for the flue pan and keep that up while I am boiling. I'm not having problems with the front pan foaming up anymore.
The guy I do the sugarhouse with went up today to visit a big operation up north. He said that they had 45,000 taps that all fed into a giant sugarhouse with 6" lines strung on to cables. He said that the amount coming in today was incredible. The RO took it all down, and they boil it down on two 5x12 foot evaporators, both going at the same time!
They turned out 250 gallons just in the couple of hours they were there.
The RO takes it down to around 15% and it feeds the evaporators in a giant stream, not like the trickle coming into our floats.
He took a snowmobile ride up into the sugarbush and it was an immense bowl of pure maples which pump out the sap on a day like today. Blue skies, snow and silvery sugar maple trees, all the way up the mountain until it turns to softwoods.
He said they were turning out light syrup, and it got lighter as they boiled.
It sounds like sugarmakers nirvana.
BIGSAP UPDATE- Pretty much hanging things up I think down here. Shut the pump off last night for the first time in a month at least. January taps still running although at about half speed. Feb taps running good. Just cant get the sap worked through the evap. Foams up so bad I burnt my syrup pans two nights in a row. Had enough last night and went to bed for the entire night. I think if I had twice the ro I could go futher into this late stuff by working it up that night and boiling it but Ill have to wait to next year to find out. Right now Ive got 1150 gallons of syrup in the barrell off of 3600 taps on the pump and 150 buckets that weve only had time to dump a couple times. Im actually pretty close to a third on the pump so Im really happy with that considering the year here. Im hearing that the gravity guys in my area have had a terreble year with only two good runs really. Now if I had two columns for my ro I think I would have gone over the third maybe quite a bit so that tells me Ive found my bottom number for the bad year and thats about a third. Good year should do the half. Probly a good thing I didnt get any more sap becouse I never could have kept up. Next year I want to have 1200 gallon ro and then Ill be loaded for bear. Real happy with the year, had a lot of fun, learned a ton. Good luck to everyone still goin. Thee(sap so scanky cant do anything with it)roon
Buy some junk pans, or run the ones you smoked AND BOIL MAN BOIL,,,you will be JONESING in a couple of weeks,,,
Guys- IM BACK IN THE SADDLE!!! The other day I had burnt my pans for the second time in a row trying to make that stuff. Got fed up and was going to go open the gatevalves on everything and give up, only reason I didnt was I was too tired to walk down to the tanker. Had 9000 gallons of sap. Went to bed and slept 8 hours and changed my mind. Figured out how to do it. I was forced to concentrate a head tank during the night becouse Im out of vacation and boil it next day. Just cant to that. Have to boil as Im doing it. Other thing is I was taking the first draw off wide open and thats when I was burning the pans. If I boil as I concentrate and run the syrup pans real deep no prob. I started friday night and did a 12 hour shift till 5 in the morning and running the evap and the ro at the same time I can do 3000 gallons in that time. Yesterday did another 12 hour 3000 gallon shift and Im going out right now and doing another one. Got about 4500 gallons left becouse the sap keeps running somehow. The January taps the other day ran without a freeze 1000 gallons on 2600 taps. So its not crazy but it does keep coming. Anyone wants to tap early they should read the proctor research papers becouse my taps have mirrored thier experiance. Anyway, now Im over 1200 and Im going to try to hit 1300. I think I can. Im going through a ton of wood but I think I have enough to do it. I cant believe how much Ive learned this year. Just when you think you know what your doing you learn something new. Never tried to make the mersh before. Ive always quit but this is good bill paying money if I can keep cranking it through. Ill keep you guys posted. Season is about over here though unless you retap I think and Im derfinitely not doing that. Had all the sap I want to see for a while. Thee(making mersh so dark you could run your car engine on it)rooon.
TTHH(NOSLEEPTILL4THOFJULY)RROONN-NICE!!,,,I had to open up a can of *ALLNIGHTBOIL* last night,,,,started at 8 done at 4,,barrell filled....need some cold up here...
Parrr(so much wood they could make toilet paper for the nation for a year)ker- 1250 in the barrell still have sap. All tired out going to hit it again tomarrow night. Thee(butt draggin on the ground like a dog with worms)roon
TTHHH(A+FOREXTRAEFFORT)RROOONNN--Throw a package of hot dogs in each till of your syrup pan,,that will keep it down,,,,,,anyone herd from dave Y?
BIGSAP UPDATE NORTHEAST PA- Slept 9 hours last night everything seems possable now. Stats- 4500 gallons of sap in the tanks, R.O. running, firewood being delivered tonight, sap maybe around 1.5%. Gonna try to get it in the barrell. Been a little hard on syrup pans but gotta do what gotta do. Took one membrane down but probly be fine once I send it in. All in all one heck of an interesting season. Gonna keep going till I see leaves. Hope you northern boys get the BIGSAP till may. Thee(rested up and ready to make more mersh)rooon. :lol:
I would guess I had my big sap already.Small chances of freezeing weather from now on and we all know that with warm weather comes buds and I would have no use for buddy sap around here as I can't sell any syrup.I only had one day where I had full buckets on a lot of trees but sure was neat to empty them out and see the 5 gallon pails fill up fast.
Ken,
The weather forecast does NOT look good, but don't call the over just yet. There are people who are still producing 200 miles south of you. By the sounds of your sap totals, your maples run like my coldest tank, which has only had one half-decent run.
As long as we don't have a bunch of sunny 60 degree weather, the Maples will hold out 2 or more weeks.
Bigsap Update- Still making fine quality mersh. Sap has gone from what appears to be 2% milk to whole milk and hoping to hit cottage cheese before Im done. Very proud of myself mastering this important part of sugaring. Boo-y my oldest boy was out to the shed other night so I thought Id hand down my new found talents to the next generation. He wondered what stunk so bad and I expained to him the importance of making high quality mersh, "MONEY" yeah baby, 25 buckaroos per gallon. Good enough reason for anyone. Him and I cranked up the outlaw country and really spent some quality time together. Mom says I get along with the kids so good becouse their mentallity and mine are pretty close. Think thats a compliment. Anyway still running. Ill be darned if last night it hit about 31 degrees and the sugarhouse taps which are the oldest, second week of Jan started tapping them in, ran 1000 gallons today on 2600 taps. I think thats pretty amazing. Ones across the road ran 900 on 900 taps. What the heck gonna keep going. I wonder if the high vac is keeping the trees from leafing out. Maybe its sucking the leaves back in and Ill be able to go to May or June. Better get Proctor down here. Maybe I can get them up to speed. Good luck to all, make tons. Thee(so much vac the trees dont know what the heck is goin on)rooon. :mrgreen:
I just figured out why this year has been so bad as far a sap quantity. Theron is sucking it all they way to pa. Can you please shut that vac off or atleast turn it down a notch so I can get a little sap up here. Man I think even the river is getting lower. :rolleyes:
Should be off pretty soon. Dad keeps wanting to shut it off but I turn it back on. Theron
Hey theron it must be something with our trees down here. The other day I took a walk in the woods and found a lot of the trees that I tapped still running, large wet streak down the tree.
Now there wouldn't be enough to boil but they were still running, and we haven't had a cold night for at least a week.
Oh yeah I tapped some trees the last week in Jan and the rest I tapped in Feb 6th.
It still amazes me how we can what we do.
Well after last nights frost and the temp already approaching 40 I am hopefully in for a lot of sap today. I might have to go buy more bottles yet after today. Anybody have a strong back that wants to pop by about 6 tonight and carry 5 gallon pails.
Got down to 28 deg F here in Lyman/Littleton NH, Not really cold enough for a good run. The ice in the puddles was less than 1/4" thick so I suspect we will get just a small run today. However, the good buckets are running 2-4 drips per second so....... just maybe?!.
Dumped the little bit of yellow sap in the buckets and washed out the 600 gal. SS. tank to keep the grade up this morning.
Supposed to be 60 tomorrow, and no freeze in sight soooooo????.
Boy, am I glad I'm only doing this as a hobby. It would be to frustrating to be trying to make a living on this. Hopefully today will put me close to 80 gallons which will at least beat my worst year of 72 gallons.
But, I'm gonna hang on till the peepers start singing (and their ponds are still frozen).
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