No way!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by MRFNY
Pete
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No way!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by MRFNY
Pete
HAHA Yup! We'll have to try to check out operations this season!Quote:
Originally Posted by crzypete
Sounds like a plan!Quote:
Originally Posted by MRFNY
Pete
Just collected 55 gallons of sap tonight. Considering yesterday wasn't very good and no sun today at all, I'll take it. Pan will be sugared after boil tomorrow night
MRFNY, what are you boiling on? How many taps?
Pete
I have a Leader 2X4, wood fired. This year we put in 89 taps. I'm thinking i need to tap one more to make an even 90!Quote:
Originally Posted by crzypete
I'm watching a show called Restoration Road right now. It's a show where they tear down old barns and use the wood and timbers to build a new home in a different state. Tonight's show they tore down a barn in Galway and relocated it to Middletown Springs, VT. Pretty cool being so close!
That is cool. Love Galway.
I decided not to wait until tomorrow and boiled today. My taps had slowed by this morning and we emptied buckets and made the first batch. I'm just finishing on the stove as I write, but its looking nice and light. Had 40-45 gallons of sap at the start. So hoping for a gallon plus.
ON edit: Made a gallon and poured the rest in a jelly jar. A good start to the season!
Pete
Nice job! Ended up boiling 60 gallons tonight since a few of our better sugar maples ran overnight I believe. The pan is sugared after tonight's boil and the next time we boil we will be drawing off! Tasted a sample tonight and boy it was delicious.Quote:
Originally Posted by crzypete
tapped last week,make about 30 gallons of syrup time i finsh what i drew of evaporator still got about 150 out of 3500 left to do,which will take a couple hrs to tap,surgar house and bush is in Ephratah
Pretty sure we got a freeze last night at my location so really hoping they run good today! It's been quite boring and uneventful with the recent cold spell.
Less than ideal run here yesterday, collected about 30 gallons from our mixture of buckets and tubing before the rain set in and it got too warm. It's currently a DELUGE outside at our place, may help the sap run when the temps right themselves but the woods are going to be MESSY.
Yeah wasn't a good run for me at all. Will end up dumping the buckets tonight and giving them a rinse. After that wind storm I assume I'll have to do some bucket/lid recon too
I collected today as well. 40 gallons. More than I expected. It was not supposed to be that warm today, but it hit 38 and the trees were dripping. Looks like some good weather ahead. I'll probably cook this down on Thursday in anticipation of another batch this weekend.
Pete
Turned out to be a little surprised with what I was able to get from the buckets. One of my best sugar maples with two buckets were just about full and my five bucket tree were all 1/2 to 3/4 full.
Today was the day. It finally cut loose here and we pulled about 40 gallons off our 50 buckets and about 60 gallons off of our tubing taps currently up (about 30). Hoping it is more consistently productive from here on out but we will see!
Warm today, snow tomorrow and a good looking week coming up. We've only got 5 gallons of syrup so far, but we just topped our head tank with 180 gallons of sap so giddy up!
Had a nice boil today and drew off around 4.5 gallons and put it into the finishing tank which will be canned on Sunday. Plan is to collect early tomorrow morning vefore the snow and boil, so possibly another draw off on Saturday
Boiled 65 gallons today and put another couple draw offs into the finisher. Going to bottle tomorrow!!
I am legitimately concerned that the season may be over after today, the 10 day forecast is not looking good and I've only had one or two decent runs since tapping in February.
If anyone has excess sap they're willing to sell, I am happy to come and pick it up because I'm worry my year is over after the run today...
10 day doesn't look good, but I always seem to be quite a bit colder than the forecast. Today a lot of my trees didn't open up and start running good until around 3 PM, but I expect to collect a decent amount on Tuesday. I also think we'll get a freeze tonight even though the forecast doesn't predict one.Quote:
Originally Posted by MRFNY
Bottled 6 gallons today so if the season were to end soon it would be a big disappointment!
Yeah, the report from my kids is that the buckets near the house didn't start to run until this afternoon and I just did a run out into the woods...1/3 to 1/2 full buckets at best but my tubing lines on 3/16 are absolutely ripping.Quote:
Originally Posted by MRFNY
There are at least two nights this week where it could dip to freezing (forecasting 34 for each) so I won't give up all hope. My worry is the high daytime temps may knock everything out completely before it drops down again...
Just took a walk around this morning. Some buckets are 1/2 to 3/4's full, others have maybe an inch in them. Some were still dripping too (very slowly). Looked like the temp was 30 when I woke up at 6 am. I have no idea what they will do today. I have a decent numbers of buckets on trees that are down a slope that always stays colder, so maybe they will reset and run today.Quote:
Originally Posted by ADK_XJ
Collected 70 gallons today and boiled it. Did a couple draw offs but took forever to get to the first one. Forecast is not looking good, could be a bad year!
Collected about 100 gallons of sap last night, the best of the "season" if you can call it that...I fear that was the end, though. Nothing seems to be running since last night was in the upper 30s and today was quite warm.
I don't even see a freezing night in the next 10 days. Bummer.
I got a whopping 40 gallons of sap yesterday and boiled it. Was able to get a small draw off. Things are not looking good going forward, it's looking like my first year with single digit finished syrupQuote:
Originally Posted by ADK_XJ
Boiled all day today and just "chased" the syrup out with some remaining concentrate in the head tank...currently keeping a watchful eye on my "finishing pan" (aka my beer brewing kettle on a turkey fryer) in the garage. Not going to venture a guess as to what I've made yet because it's got a ways to go to hit 66 brix but feel like today was some consolation for what will likely be the end for me.
My tubing lines were running heavy despite it not having frozen the last two nights, that was running clear and smelled fine. Buckets had some run in the morning, too, but they were all filled with bugs by mid-day...not sure if that means it's gone buddy, or was just too warm to be out in the sun for long.
The forecast has shifted a bit and it looks like we could get a couple freezing nights in a row but it was 70 degrees today, hard to imagine it bouncing back 100%....
Scrubbed and rinsed all 90 buckets today, hoping for one last run this week
Looking at the forecast for the next three days and early next week, I decided to run so more tubing lines today - it was a beautiful day in the woods - and double my tap count on 3/16th to try to capture the last of the late run(s) here.
I already pulled my buckets but I'm tempted to sanitize and re-tap the holes for my old 7/16 metal spouts to see if those will yield anything more as well. I'm currently at just about half what I made last year...would love to close the gap.
Trees are dripping pretty good already today!
The extra sap yield you get will depend on the weather after you ream the hole. One thing you certainly will get is an internal wound about 2.5 times the size of the original wound....which is why retapping/reaming/bumping is NOT recommended.Quote:
Originally Posted by ADK_XJ
We've been getting about .75 gallon of sap a tap last week without the freezes and the sugar is low. Hopefully this week is better.
A few reds are swelling but we definitely have a week more.
Oh, interesting...that is good to know. I figured it probably wasn't ideal but had read recently in Maple News of a guy in NH who does it as a "season extender."Quote:
Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins
Given our sugar bush is our own 30 acres of forest I will probably NOT take that approach for the future.
Only collected 40 gallons today around 5:30 PM, trees were still dripping though. Boiled the 40 and got a decent draw off. Hoping tomorrow is a little better after two consecutive freezes at night.
Another 50 gallons today and another decent draw off. Chipping away and hoping to at least match last year total. Very interesting to see how the trees are reacting to the season!
I collected this evening. Have not made the rounds since the weekend and many buckets were full and some overflowing. Collected a solid 75 gallons from my 48 taps. I need to restock my wood supplies and boil away. We've beaten the weather forecast the last couple of nights- getting some solid frosts and I'm hopeful that has reset the sugar a bit, I was 50:1 on my last boil and that is not normal for me.
Pete
Holy smokes, this is what I've been holding out for - sap was running strong by mid-day yesterday after I re-hung my (freshly sanitized) buckets and power-washed our collection tank for the 3/16 tubing laterals.
We went out to the woods in the early evening tonight and EVERY SINGLE BUCKET was full or overflowing (have barely had a full bucket yet this season) and we had 100 gallons in the tubing tanks, each line was still running steadily.
I only managed to gather the buckets with some "help" from my kids and hoping I'll capture the entire run by early AM from the collection tank off the tubing. It's going to be a bit sloppy out there with all the rain we're supposed to get tonight...
Hey everyone, just south of most of you. We pulled some taps early this week and have about half to go. It slowed way down and the reds are popping. We did have 2 55 gallon barrels on their side connected together sitting on a rickidy stand, fall over. It had about 80 gallons of sap in it. Lost it all. Other tanks were running ok after the cold came back but we reached our goal of ~20 gallons and said we've had enough. Did not use much wood either, ran the RO more. I do a lessons learned at the end of every season and this year was (1) no plastic valves, (2) build stronger tank holders, (3) enclose head tank so it doesn't freeze, (4) make a vacuum filter set up, cone filters are a pain... I'm sure there will be more as we continue clean up. :) Hope ya'll end strong!
Oh man, that is a bummer. I always worry about stuff like that since I have little ones running around distracting me. I have ratchet-strapped my collection tank (a 100 gallon vertical poly tank) to a tree for that very reason.Quote:
Originally Posted by red/one
20 gallons is our goal, too, but we won't hit it this year. Things have really picked up again but it's going to be short-lived and won't make up for the crappy runs earlier in the season. Still, I'm appreciative for what we got!
I am wondering if this polar vortex induced cold snap coming our way may further extend the season...can't hurt and our sugar maples are still producing clear sap, especially from the tubing lines. The reds have all popped buds and I pulled any buckets on red.
So strange, collected some today and saw clearer sap from reds than sugars!Quote:
Originally Posted by ADK_XJ