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Even though it feels like we aren't even going to have a season this year with this weather I've been working on upgrades to my evaporator.
New for this year is a 2x4 divided pan from bascoms, adding AOF, and remaking my fire box grate.
Crossing my fingers for a season with enough sap to give it all a good work out. Next week looks cold but it doesn't look like its going to stick around for too long.
I'm seeing the same thing...
I'd like to think the cold weather at the end of the extended forecast sticks around for a bit and then ramps into a decent season.
I too have a lot of new gear this year and would love a good sap season to run it through the paces...
At this point, I'm totally unsure when I will tap.
what are the rest of you thinking in CT?
Bryan
Also have some new equipment this year and an increased tap count. I've got the itch. I plan on waiting at least a few more weeks. My 14 day forecast only shows two days over 40. I don't think my trees will even thaw out in those two days. I'm looking for a more prolonged period of warmer weather. I had some incredible runs towards the end of last season and I'd like to be sure not to miss those this year.
Nothing to worry about yet, it's still a ways off the good cold period is good to get the trees ready. Every year I see people freak out cause the weather is too warm or too cold but until it's all over it's anyone's guess. I remember a few years back we had such an extended cold spell it wasn't till mid March that it started to resemble tapping weather, tapped a full month later and it ran like crazy and ended up a decent year after all
A week ago I was hell bent on waiting for February. Now I'm seriously considering tapping my 3/16 lines this Wednesday. I'll hold off on my 40 buckets for a few more weeks. I've heard 3/16 with CV spouts can last a fairly long time compared to buckets? My thought would be 3/16 this week and buckets in two more weeks and everything should hopefully finish up around the same time??
14 Day forecast attached for reference.
Attachment 20562
Im seeing the same thing down here in Weston, with things start looking good towards mid week.
How long should we expect 5/16" on vac with CV Taps to flow before they give up the ghost for the season?
Very tempted to get things lined up and ready for Wednesday...
If you get to 70 taps, I hope you have at least a bucket RO.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kubota
My first year I had a 2x3. I started with 27 taps, then each time the sap ran I thought, "I can handle more than that" so I added more taps, 8-12 at a time. That kept repeating until I had 70 taps. Then the sap really started and I had more sap than that rig could handle. My wife and I took turns and we ran it for 2 nights and 3 days without stop. In that time we had not gained any, we started that marathon with 75 gal of sap and two and a half days later we had over 100.
I say 70 is too many unless you have some kind of an RO., try 40-45 max. and be ready for looong boils as the sap starts to run good.
No RO. I figure I had no problem doing 25 taps on my hotel pan last year at 3 gph. I think I can get the mason safely to 9 gph with AUF and good wood. In theory I'll be ahead of last years rate comparing last year, 25 taps to 3gph vs 70 taps to 9gph. My hours spent boiling should actually go down. If it's too much, lesson learned, but I don't think it will be an issue. And I don't mind endless boiling.Quote:
Originally Posted by maple flats
Got all of my lines up last week and tapped the first 18 of 120 yesterday. Hope to get the rest tapped over the next few days. Most of my taps are on a gravity tubing system. I've used check valve taps the past couple of years with great success; early tapping each season and they never dried out--even in late March/early April. I did invest in an RO Bucket unit last year and I love it. I'd highly suggest trying to make one on your own to save a ton of time and wood.
Will install everything this weekend here in Cornwall. I've tapped earlier than this and was glad I did. First boil last year was February 9th, the year before January 28th. A friend of mine once gave me some advice about when to tap; "Is the sap flowing? Then tap your trees!"
I'm very tempted to follow your lead on getting my taps in for this weekend. The past two years I've tapped around now and have had good results. This weekend and all of next week look like a nice run in my corner of the state.
I tapped my 30 - 3/16 tubing taps yesterday! Will wait until (Hopefully) Mid Feb for my 40 buckets. Amazing stretch of weather coming for the next 10-14 days in south-central CT.
I got one of my 3/16 runs patched up and tapped this afternoon. Some of the trees were running before I could get the drill bit out of the tree. By the time it got dark there was a steady drip going into my collection drum.
One more run of tubing to go tomorrow and then to finish off insulating and bricking the evaporator. First boil is right around the corner.
9gph with a mason 2/3 is very optimistic and 45 taps becomes a burden unless you have loads of free time
We probably all are guilty of saying “it’s just a few more taps” but when it becomes a chore to boil all day and night, it sort of defeats the purpose.
Finished getting all my taps in today 79 this year. Three runs of 3/16 tubing so far everything is running great today. The pressure is on to finish up the evaporator now.
25 taps on 3/16, with the warm temps I expected more of run, but only collected 30 gal of sap?!
I think it was too warm in most of CT, Hartford included, on Friday night to generate a great run on Saturday. I don't think you will have a great run today either. But let be know how you do today if you can.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghost
Temps need to drop to around 28 or lower at night and then warm up during the day. Especially with the "green grass" we have this winter. (i.e. the ground is not even frozen )
I did not tap over the weekend for that reason, and I figure no sense in putting such warm air in new tap holes so early in the season.
May tap tomorrow morning but getting everything ready at least.
Even so, I do not believe the sap will run noticeably as well in late January with a given set of "ideal" sap running conditions as it will in say early/mid March with the exact same set of "ideal" sap running conditions.
I have no fancy institutionally documented research to back it up, just what I believe to be the way the old trees have been engineered by old man time.
Of course the space shuttle was institutionally documented with a few trillion tons of research and it blew up twice in 135 attempts.
So I don't take for granted anything I hear, read or am told, or even see with my own eyes for that matter. I do work with it however.
So cheers to those who are tapping on and seeing what the sugar gods has to offer.
As of this morning I've got 60 gallons of sap out of my 79 taps since Saturday morning. Not the best run ever but a decent start. I'm chasing some air leaks on the tubing I finished up yesterday so that probably hurt my numbers a bit but with last night's rain I wasn't going out there to check for leaks.
Evaporator is back together and I made my first sap collection run the for the year. 100 gallons of sap for the weekend and all the tubing is still running.
Got the pan filled up and ready for a boil. Going to put a fire to it tomorrow.
Attachment 20609
Set two runs yesterday before the rain. Did the rest today. I'm guessing about 300 taps this year on 10 runs? All but the last two lines were running when I was cleaning up tonight. Looks like we'll be boiling this Saturday!
BTW, but you already know, the weather looks great for the next week and a half.
Sugar Bear: today’s run was about 1 gallon of sap per tap. Ok, but no record. I’m holding off on adding taps for another week at least.
Finished up all of my tweaks to the evaporator and made use of this fine January day to get my first boil of the year in.
Cjadamec What kind of temps are you getting from your pre heater. I just rigged one up and haven't boiled or tapped yet up here in Pomfret.
At the current flow rate which I'd say is around 10-12gph and a freshly fuled fire the thermometer reads 171F coming out of the preheated.
Nice. I'll be happy very happy getting 171* and or 10-12 gph
You should do a test run or two with water to work the kinks out of the new rig. With enough fire you should be able to get in the 10-12 gph range when you are firing hard.
What do you guys think of these buckets are they bad news? I got them super cheap. The one on the right is the worst, the rest look like the one on the left with alittle rust. I'm thinking of plastic lining them. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3ad1b1c241.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d0a12f91b1.jpg
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I also got these taps with the deal? Should I just get new ones?https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...361e97bd81.jpg
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Right, wrong or indifferent, I've used buckets over the years much worse than those pictured, with no known effect. I just use a soft brush so I don't wear off any zinc, to clean them, until they get rusty then I retire them. As some of my buckets have gotten worse (actual surface rust forming) over the years Ive begun replacing the fleet with plastic, but still run some buckets just like yours in places tubing wont work. I'm sure somewhere there is a heath study saying using galv buckets is bad, because of the zinc wearing off but I say run'em. As for the taps, they look like they're aluminum? if so they should cleanup with a little work and a soft brush.
[QUOTE=Person25;376654]I think they are cast iron? Patent-D they say on them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Getwidit
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[QUOTE=Getwidit;376656]Best way I found, thanks to the people in this forum, was to clean any metal tap, (ive had aluminum, cast iron, galvanized, stainless), by soaking in 50/50 vinegar/warmwater for a bit, then brushing and washing. Usually I boil them and repeated the process of brushing, they'll clean up well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Person25
Both the taps and buckets have lead in them. Save them for decoration.
What I dont understand is a lot of people are against galvanized. But you can look up the fact that it is fda safe as long as it's not in contact with acidic foods. Which cause the zinc to leach. Are you saying these buckets aren't galavinized? Are they ternplate? I can buy 500 plastic liners for 50 cents a piece if that's the case..Quote:
Originally Posted by 18mile
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Its easier to say all galvanized buckets are suspect of containing lead than to say some do and some don't. Also visually people will equate rust in the bucket to rust in the syrup.
In either case a plastic liner solves both issues, real or not.
As for the taps I would use modern plastic taps if for nothing else other than you put a much smaller hole in the tree. So there is no risk of metal contamination and the tree is healthier to boot.
Ive always been told the biggest exposure to lead in these buckets comes in the case of a bucket that had been repaired....that being because of the lead solder that would have been used to repair leaks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Getwidit
Maple sap is slightly acidic, and leaches the lead out of it. Per Tim Perkins.Quote:
Originally Posted by Getwidit
Anyone have sap running? not seeing much chatter on rates/volumes
I had 300 gallons last night. Hope to have 600-700 by Friday and probably another couple hundred by the end of the weekend? Weather looks just about perfect.Quote:
Originally Posted by swampyankee
I collected around 100 gallons over the weekend. There was a decent early season run over the weekend in the southeast corner.
I was finishing up getting my taps in on Saturday and have been chasing leaks since then. My 3/16 tubing runs have been slowly running the last few days. I think I finally got them all leak free so by this weekend I should get another decent run.
If you aren't on vacuum I wouldn't tap yet for another couple of weeks.
I'm at 2 gallons a tap, tapped Sunday (1/26) afternoon. Looking at the temperature history, I feel like I could have tapped at the end of December! Things should slow down Wednesday and Thursday before picking up again Friday.