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Just got in from making 33 gallons of dark A ,,started the evap. at 1,,If you ever have a problem with a pan and cant fix it yourself call BOB LAPOINT,,New Boston, N.H. had BOTH my themometer fittings fixed in about 30 minutes and fixed another bad spot on my syrip pan,,,going to get started on another 400 in Hill tommrow,,good luck too all
Started the Hill expansion yesterday,,hope to make tracks up there today,,I was surprised at how much sap ran yesterday for as cold as it was,,and I did not start the vacume pumps,,,will start them today on my way up there,,,
Too cold to start pumps yesterday,,should have 250 more taps in Hill by the end of toady,,working on steep ground,,stopped at a sugarhouse in Bristol on the way home,,fellow was running a 2x6,,said they had 500 taps and had made 26 gallons so far 8O
Wound up with 203 new taps in Hill befor we ran out of supplies,,have been thinking I was forgetting something since the last boil but could not think of what????was in the sugarhouse (putting my Mr. Heater in the arch) last night and rememberd,,I never drained the bottom of the pre-heater befor we got this cold snap,,,well needless to say it froze solid and pushed a fitting apart,,looks like I get to try my hand at soldering agine.........
Got the pre heater removed from its housing and thawed out but my small propane torch dose not seem to have enough heat to warm the whole piece to solder it back together,,think Ill try my cutting torches today,,,,,,pretty stiff breeze yesterday,,might have gotten up to 32 yesterday but with the breeze it felt like 20,,no sap here,,,,,
Parker, go to the hardware store and get a bottle of mapp gas for your torch. It works great for heating large pipes and also soldering pipes that might have a little water in them. The cutting torches might have too might heat for soldering!
Marty
Mapp gas is awsome!!!! Just dont try it like I did with a propane torch head,,,Big fireball,,luckily only minor facial hair loss,think I got the preheater fixed,,need to test this AM,,got a small run yesterday starting around noon,,,had to fix the surge 76 (pulley loosend up),,Ray got the international serviced yesterday,,2-speed works agine :D ,nice with 1200 gallons of sap to have that working,,changed oil,,fuel filt,,checked Hoit road and rte.11 with Vac. running found many of the spiles had loosend in the spile extensions and were leaking vacume,,,looks like great weather for the next 2 weeks GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!
Just a little too cold to run much yesterday,,collected 800 gallons,,would have been 1200 if it wernt for all the ice in the tanks,,got to head out and start boiling,,get rid of this sap and wash up for the next run,,,Steve has been up in Hill adding more taps,,,2 speed in truck got stuck between ranges then blew the fuse as I was heading out to collect,,,must be a dead short somewhere,,,I love wiring!
2 speed still not working,, the sap I collected yesterday that I boiled today was 3.5%!!!Made 35? gallons B,,Tanks full,,wash rig out then boil tommrow,,,guessing I have 3500 gallons of sap on hand
At 3% sugar, that's 122 gallon of syrup. Go for it buddy, looks like it might be a great year for you! :D
Hey Parker how do like trying to feed that hungry wood burner?I fired for 10 hrs. straight today with only a couple of breaks while someone else fired for a round or two,can't remember how many times I reset the 5 min. timer, but keeping a steady boil was worth the trouble,we made 160 gals. of light.Drank a whole lot of water too... ok a couple of brews later in the day.Happy boilin'
Washed the pans in the AM befor I started with the fresh sap,,after we collected everything we had 2800 gallons at 2.3%,,made 32 gallons of fancy in 10 hours, still have quite a bit of sap from yesterday to boil,,did not run as much yesterday,,but got to be over 1500? to collect,,see there is frost on the ground this AM so good run today???,,,,,Yeah it takes ALOT of 4' wood to go 10-11 hours,,very busy firing and drawing,,,,a steamaway would have its advantages,,,,been drinking 1 gallon of water a day,,too tired to drink to many beers (wich is not like me at all 8O ),,GOOD LUCK
I saw Marty today and put the bug in his ear about the visit to your place. I hope the mountain idles back soon enough to get him a day off on the weekend. I gotta see your set up.
oh drink water... I guess too much jack daniels too littlle high quality h20 too many cramps weve gathered 700 gal in two and a half days boiling almost non stop to keep up loving every minute. sure am glad to have that filter press now . dont even want to think about the old way any more best 1000 I ever spent
Started with over 2000 gallons of sap at 11am,,finished in the sugarhouse at 11:30pm,,got everything except for the 16 gallons on the canner in jugs,I have lost count of what we have made but must be around 150 gallons,gonna need more jugs after today I think,,off to collect
Good clear sapping is better drinking than anything else! :D
Finished starting the vacume pumps and collecting by noon,,started boiling at 1pm had 1700 gallons of 2.3%,,made 35 gallons by 10:30,,have 15 gallons left in the small canner and only 2 ,5 gallon jugs left to put it in,, 8O have a few old barrels but want to wait till the bitter end to use them,,shut off the pumps at 11pm,,not hardley anything ran yesterday,,Yes Brandon,,I do love to drink the sap,,but water works better for me for some reason,,,when are you comming up for the day to run the evaporator?? :D GOOD LUCK
After I collected everything yesterday I was surprised to see I had 1100 gallons of sap,,fired up at 2 finished by 7:30,,made 20 gallons of dark amber,,last night when I shut off the pumps I really did not have much in the tanks,,,I will collect today and try to wash the tanks as I empty them,,,hope for a run today as it is frosty out now,,forcast looks bad for sugaring,,,,,,,,still would like to make another 300 gallons,,,,,,COME ON ALBERTA CLIPPER,,LETS SEE THAT DEEP FREEZE,,
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By the time we had everything collected we had 1200 gallons,,made 27 gallons of some real nice dark amber,,wood pile not looking as big as it might,,,,,,,,we need some COLD weather,,good luck
Collected 1900 gallons yesterday started boiling at 11:30,,done at 11pm,made 33 gallons of B,evap was smoking between the arch and pan badley right as I got to the first draw,,then every time I fired bad smoke around the base of the stack and between pan and arch,,let the fire die down a little,,turned off the blower and too the back door off of the evap...my construction mesh in the stack base was totaly plugged up with soot,,brushed it off and I was back in business,,,evap is only doing around 190-200 GPH,,time to brush the flues and the bottom of the pan,,,,weather report looks bad but I am in it till I make buddy syrup,,,I havent herd any frogs and the reds around here arnt budded yet,,but it does not take many 70 deg days!!!GOOD LUCK
Hey Parker!!! How did the releaser work out for you???
The releaser I got from you still lokks and works like new,,it has its hands full in Hill,,too many taps for it BUT it hasent really run this year. collected 975 gallons started at 2:30 done at 8:30 made 21 gallons of B,,,,got REAL warm here today,,,never seen a spring when you did not get a little snow,,,,,,,come on ALBERTA CLIPPER,,,, :twisted:
73 deg. on march 31!!!!! not so great,,hill ran 250 gallons rte.11 ran 325,, did not boil it yet as I dont think letting it sit will affect the grade,,,,hoit road, putney hill are to the point where I cant seem to pull more than 8-10 HG(a sure sine the end is near,,could just about wacth the buds on the reds swell yesterday,,,,time to dust off the wood processor,,,I will clean everything up and wait and see.......GOOD LUCK to all
Got a good start on my wood for next year,,the Shaws came over and we split around 8-10 cords of 4' wood up,,collected everything I had and started boiling the 925 gallons at 4,,definatly commercial,Made around 20 gallons by 10pm,going to wash everything up and hope it runs a little this comming week (looks like it might),,I really want to hit at least 450,,Now I think I am around 298,,GOOD LUCK
Parker,
What do you split the 4' wood with??
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...bait shop??? :lol: :oops: What is that?
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Kevin,
It's obvious that you have way too much time on your hands this year! 8O You really need to get back into syruping next year! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :wink:
That's what I thought you meant. :oops:
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But think of all the stress relief I have given you making your mind work! :D :wink:
The Shaws have a 3 point hitch, 4 foot wood splitter, hooked to a case 1896 (120HP) tractor,, works pretty well,,3-4 of us at it all day,,Had the wood cut ahead of time,, went to portsmouth yesterday,,everything south of me is BUDDED OUT!!!! **** 70 deg. weather,,28 deg. here now,,might run a little,,saw all the people that tap by me pulling taps yesterday on the way home,,Last night went to rte 11,,saw no buds there yet,,,on the way to alexandria this AM to pick up Ray I will start the pump in Hill and see what happens,,might start the others if it looks like it will run,,,Ill wash the tanks frist,,,,,,,"THE FUTCHER IS UNCERTIN AND THE END IS ALWAYS NEAR" 8O
Parker,
I assumed 3 point hitch, but wanted to make sure. How many taps do you have this year??
I had around 2000,,,,about 1500 on vacume,,I have to say I am not happy with my total,,,,I would have liked to make a quart per tap,,especillay considering I was useing vacume and the spile extensions,,,,I cant see where the extensions helped at all,,the bushes dried up in the order they were tapped,,hoit road and putney hill look like they are done,(tapped feb. 22),,no run there yesterday,,I am going to wait on pulling the taps and bringing the pumps home till the end of the week but......Rte.11 ran about 175 gallons of rude looking cloudy sap yesterday,,as did Hill,,,Ray and I have the truck tanks,,evaporator, and tanks at the sugar house all cleaned,,,I wont get them dirty with sap agine unless we get a 1500 gallon run ((which is pretty unlikly at this point)),,I want to make at LEAST 500 gallons,,gonna start more thinning today or tommrow,,I definatly saw a diffrance on rte.11 where I thinned last year,,,
Parker,
Interesting perspective on the extensions. I used some of the new stainless spouts this year on a few trees and saw no difference either. :?
Parker,
How many gallons of syrup did you make this year? I made 80 gallons which is more than I ever have but I have 200 more taps and those are on vacuum. If I figure how much syrup I would have made without the new taps I think it was a pretty bad year here.
Russ
So far I made 298 gallons,,I have talked to a lot of people that made just the same as they made last year,,noon weather report sounds pretty good,,I am going to play it by ear,,see if I get a charge of sap tommrow