Spring Harvest 2013

Mostly tapped in at ~700 and pulling ~22" of vacuum when I decided to call it quits. I still have about 100 taps to put in tomorrow morning that are already hooked to mainline, then 50-75 more that need to be tied in. Been busting hump the past two days getting everything in. Yesterday Dil and I got about 550 taps in, and I tried a new releaser stand, and that didn't work, so that was a waste of time. Today, got the vac. running w/ no problems, but had frozen sap in the vac. line...two hours there. So far, things aren't going smoothly to start the year. This is one reason I tap early...get the bugs worked out now.

With temps around 38 degrees yesterday, turned on the vacuum pump. Only a few hundred gallons came in. We've got the pans sweet and have 80 gallons made to date for the 2013 season. Cold temps scheduled for next ten days, hopefully some warmer temps after.

Did you ever get the bigger RO???

Hoping to fire up and boil mid week....will give you a call if you want to see the Ro in action...let me know ..good luck...

Same here on the tapping early to get the bugs worked out. So far the only problem here has been a broken tongue on the sap trailer. I guess 150 gallons of sap in a 275 gallon tank was too much for the old light duty trailer.

Did you get a bigger RO Josh?

Good luck with the new season.

Yes he did get the bigger RO, had a plumbing snafu with it already. But should be all set by the next run.
I had to run all over and dig through some old dairy setups to find a new/50 yr old stallcock for my vac pump.

It's been an interesting startup this year. Probably the slowest going one yet. I did get the bigger RO, and spent time last week trying to figure out why it wouldn't run, when it turned out to be a bad breaker. Also, after we got 900+ gal of sap processed on Saturday (permeate tank overflowing) I discovered I had the plumbing backwards...perm. going to conc. tank and conc. going to perm tank. Called it a night and drained everything back into the conc. tank...lost about 200 gal of sap. Replumbed Sunday morning and things went well although it was cold. I cracked a gate valve on my preheater plumbing, which a little JB kinda fixed. About the only thing that's gone without a hitch this year is the vac. pump and evaporator started just fine. On the evap. I installed new arch rails to remove the bow and it's helped the front float to seal mostly all the way. Yesterday we sweetened the pans and made about 4 gallons. Really disappointed I missed most of last week's warm spell getting tapped in.

Chris, I'll make it over when I get a chance. Likely not until next weekend. This weekend I have another 50+ taps to get online, and any sap we may get processed. Glad to see you're up and running.

Forecast looks good for a run tomorrow and Friday.

Yes a few hiccups here as well, and we haven't even fired up the RO yet!

Good luck Josh- may you make 600 gallons!

Yesterday started with ~200 gal of a block of frozen sap in the tank. Sap started to run about noon time, but didn't doo much....maybe 150 gallon through 6pm. Sap flow started to pickup about then. Sap ran almost all night and probably got another 200 gallons, but still have this frozen block in the tank...it'll melt someday. The nice thing is it's keeping the sap nice and cold.

Yesterday, I turned on the two lines w/ sap lifts on them (~100 taps total) and got them walked and tight. I found anything I tapped Sat. morning when things were frozen needed to be pounded back in, but everything tapped last week when it was warm is just fine. Have almost 800 taps online now. More to come this weekend. So far rodent damage hasn't been too bad.

Noontime report from the woods is it's running good and pulling only 22"...need to get it back up to 26".

Collected 525 gallons yesterday and was able to drain most of the liquid from the woods tank. Still have a large chunk of ice in the tank. Sugar's about 2%. Boiled last night and made ~5 gal of syrup. First boil's syrup almost didn't make a dark amber it was so dark, but last night things lightened up a lot so I'm almost making a medium. Things are coming together and working well.

Hi Josh, What are the details on your new RO? How do you like it? Inquiring minds want to know.

curious too!!! did you go the new H2o Inv. 600? I think you said you were looking at a used one as well...

1996 Darveau Turbo Compaq. 1hp feed pump w/ 5hp pressure pump...no recirc pump. Used but tested Mark 1 membrane (haven't confirmed if it's passing sugar or not). It processes >600gph at first, and will stay there until the concentrate's around 7%. Issues so far is the pressure gauge was shot when I got it (new one coming in), and the feed pump leaks (think there's a bad seal). Also, as experianced the last time I ran it, the feed pump's low, then pump's up to the filter, then drops back down to the very bottom of the membrane tower...you can get an air pocket in this section of line and need to bleed the air off (crack a fitting open), for the RO to work. Only happened once so far. It's a nice machine, simple, and it's remarkable how much faster a 600 is than a 250:) Since the pressure gauge is gone, I haven't pushed it too hard...just been recirc'ing 50/50 to get the conc. level I want.

I've been waiting for a Spring Harvest update for a few days. How are they running?

-backyard in Strafford

he's either drowning in sap or just busy getting it right!!! before we finally get going!!!

Its been busy over in Barrington. I'm hauling all my sap over to him this year since I haven't got the new place up and running yet. My brother in Lee is hauling a bunch as well.
Lots of new lines in Josh's sugar bush also. So it will be interesting to get a final tap count. I think the total for syrup so far has been about 15 gallons, but the sugar content has gone up to around 2% from 1.5 which will help.

Been busy. Two days of training for work and getting home late make for a day/night of rushing around.

We boiled about 700 gallons Monday night and made some syrup...just made MA. Boiled another 580 gal Tuesday night and made more syrup that just made MA. For some reason, syrup's darker this year and I can't get into a LA or well into MA. It also seems like the niter's heavier this year. Syrup total so far is one keg filled and maybe another 25 gal bottled. Sap for us actually ran good yesterday and last night...got about 600 gal in the tank this morning. Sugar's around 2%. Our tap count TBD, but on vac. we're somewhere north of 800, w/ some more to go this weekend. Also adding in a 60 tap gravity woods. Tap count for Mark's and Alden's sap coming to our SH is TBD. I figure we'll be north of 1500 in total after this weekend.

This morning on the releaser, I found the plunger end of the manifold lying next to the releaser...first time this has happened and no clue why. The moisture trap was full of sap and no tracks in the snow, so not like someone took it off on me...weird.

Everything's coming together and working well. Woods is working splendidly. Been pulling 26.5" all day with little time spent checking for vac. leaks, and haven't been in the woods since Saturday...feel pretty fortunate. RO's working well, and with all the sap getting delivered late in the day, I do appreciate being able to process 600gph...it's faaaaaaaast. The downside is the amount of permeate it dumps into your feed tank during a sugar rinse. Had a breaker tripping issue the other night, and once I let the breaker cool down all the way, it ran cool the rest of the night and stopped tripping. Not sure why, but new electrical feed and 60 amp breaker...had similar issue last year with the 250.

The Dill's had some hiccups yesterday. I had about 70 gallons in my tank at 8 when I checked the pump and releaser, evidently I'm running near the top end of what that hobby can handle. Cause when I got there at 4 the moisture trap was full and I had zero inches of vac. Got that straightened out, and the releaser dumped about 10 times in 10 minutes running full bore, but I didn't get most of the heavy run ended up with 100 gallons.
This morning the elbow was froze solid, the vac line to the pump was froze up, and the top of the water filter housing was froze. Quality ice chipping time, but its already flowing good.
My brother had some tanks just about overflowing in Lee, but I think he's ready to get rid of that old homelite waterbug. It took forever to catch a prime and your pretty much going to go deaf listening to it scream before it catches. He had to leave a barrel because it wouldn't pump the last one.

Collected >1000 gal from our woods yesterday, and boiled down almost another 250 gal from Mark and Alden. Finished up about 1am and made about 20 gal of syrup. Just crossed the line into dark (bummer), but had little flavor...odd. Tasted like it should've been a light, but it's dark. 300 gal in the tank this morning and only a little freeze overnight. Hopefully it runs good today. I'd like another 20 gal night.

Releaser was pulling 22" when I collected sap yesterday. Found a spout pulled out. Fixed that, and a few squirrel chews on the way back out, and back up to 26"

Met with PSNH this week, and going to try like heck to get electric down there this year, more to test it out and see how well it works. Big benefit is it'll keep the pump near the releaser (easier troubleshooting) and it'll eliminate the vac. line and it's issues.

Things are going surprisingly well here. Spent Saturday in the woods and got the woods back up to 26.5"...just finding little vac. leaks here and there. Tap count is around 830 and probably won't go up too much higher from there. Saturday we boiled in the late afternoon so we could go to the UNH hockey game with my oldest daughter...UNH won 4-0...awesome! Sat.'s boil was fast and furious 13 gal in 1.5 hrs from startup/shutdown. We collected ~500 gal and Dill brought another 250 gal more.

Sunday was spent getting material's for the electric service, hauling sap, and getting the SH somewhat cleaned up...it's slowly coming together and looking presentable. We collected ~900 gal and had another 300 (I think) delivered). Made about 25 gal of almost MA.

Syrup total this year is approaching 100 gal. Syrup's been darker than it tastes. Yesterday's boil was starting to creep back up into a medium, so maybe we'll get back up there.

We want another 800-1000 (or more woods), but I wonder how I'd find the time to manage it properly. I wouldn't want to add another woods to sacrifice production out of the woods I have.

The syrup has been surprisingly dark here as well. The flavor is getting more like the color but still mild. My syrup was statring to lighten up some last night too. Gonna try drawing the first draw off real early and finish it in the finisher after all of the draws are mixed together. The first one is always the darkest.

Your last sentence is why I stick with what I have for taps. If I tapped everything that I have on my property the task would be overwhelming and the fun would be gone.

the same here I know I only have 380 taps or so. but when its just me. its still alot of work. things get easier and easier every year. As we all do things to make our time in the sugarhouse easier and more enjoyable. I haven't spent enough time in the woods this year. as I have been tweeking stuff in the sugarhouse but I got out yesterday fixed a few leaks, found a few loose taps and got the vac up by a 1.5 inches need to work in the woods again this morning to get it up more. have to replace a leaking ball valve taped the hell out of it until I can pick one up!!!

Russ, just need a bigger RO and the stress goes away. If you can start it at 5:00 with 1300+ gallons coming in and be boiling 11%, it's not bad. We had delivered all of our ~900 gallons of sap by 6 and was recirc'ing with that. The remaing ~450 gal came in at 7pm. If I was smart, I'd have sent come of the concentrated ap to the feed tank about 6:30 or so when the sap was sweet. Unfortunately I didn't and the conc. I had built up got diluted. Started boiling a little after 8:30 and shut down about 11:00-11:30. Filled a keg and left more in the canner.

~1350 gal processed last night into 25 gal of syrup. Still can't get it into a medium though. Flavor's very good.

A bigger RO is in the plans for the future. I am thinking that a 600 will do all that I want and I won't have to upgrade in a few years like I would have to If I got a 250. A 400 might be big enough but I would rather have too much RO then not enough.

I don't think the bigger RO is going to happen for next season though. My wife and I are coming up with the money to add on to the sugar house this year.

Actually Russ I think your the exact operation that needs to look into an energy grant.
You wouldn't have a line on a used single releaser would you?

Sap was really breaking loose about an hour ago, the sun just went away and its slowing down a bit.

I am gonna look into an energy grant see what I can get!!! Gonna start to get the ball rolling on that right after maple season. finally getting good sap here geez took long enough!!!

Sap ran great yesterday, at noon time we were getting 120 gph through the releaser...hardest I've seen it run yet. The upper manifold was almost filling up during the dump cycle. I'd like to see it run at 0.2gpt/hr...200 gph through a single vertical must be impressive! Picked up 1000 gal and had 200 gal delivered.

Sap ran good overnight as well. Went to the woods and found another 600 gal in the tank w/ the sap still running, although much slower. It should be a good day. Hopefully be able to bring another truck load home or two this afternoon. Sap's at 1.7%...higher would be nicer, but I'll take it. It doesn't make a difference to the magic squeezer. Been boiling ~12% most any night and getting ~80gal syrup/cord...at this rate we could make almost 1000 gal.

Wood's has been holding steady at 26.5"....best I've consistently been able to keep it. This morning it was 27.25"...highest I've ever seen it when it was running. Everything in the woods is working smoothly...with the plan of getting electricity down at the tank this season, I'm wondering if I should rock the boat.

1000 gal in total collected from our woods yesterday and another 475 gal delivered made for a good night. About 30 gal of medium produced.

Just entered all the data into my spreadsheet and the season total as of last night is 11gpt for our woods (~9k gallons) and another 1800 gallons of sap from Alden and Mark. Syrup total is about 170 gal, but based on my records, it should be ~230 gal (includes what's in the pans...~10 gal)...not sure where the sugar's going. I haven't tested the perm. yet, but I was told it came with a good membrane.

very jelous!!! we can't get a good run over here to save our lives!!! only about 4.5 gpt on vac here so far!!! Best run was 230 gallons which I just got on tuesday. what a difference a few miles can make on temps!!!

The report from home is that we got another 300 on vacuum today dispite the 34* high and cloudy skies. The buckets need to be collected too. The trees want to give sap and I want to take it.

Same here. The trees ran for a bit, and gave up some sap. Tank has about 400 gal in it now (started yesterday w/ 150-200 gal), so if we can get a little bit of a run today, we'll have enough to boil. Looking at the forecast, I doubt we'll get much today. May have to carry it over another day and just boil a lot on Saturday. It would be interesting to see 2000 gal of sap go through the RO/evap. Most we've done in a night has been about 1500 gal.

The past two days, I've found the moisture trap full. Today, it worked like it was supposed to, yesterday it sealed off-center, so some sap got in the vac. line. I don't think much got by since I'm still pulling good CFM levels.

Long range forecast looks great.

It took a while but sap is coming in pretty good we actually hit about 38* but its already starting to cool off. a good freeze the next 2 nights which should be good to get things going then its gonna run for several days before the next freeze up unless the forecast changes that is. ended up with 13.5 inches of snow here!!! was expecting 3-5. hmm a little off!!!

Wicked busy weekend. Friday we boiled down a bunch of sap..forget the total. Saturday was a bunch more...somewhere around 1800 gallons...filled two kegs and some containers. Sunday boiled around 1800 gal and filled another two kegs and left some in the canner. At this point, we've boiled more times than we did last year, we're approaching 20gpt of sap out of our vac. woods, and ~260 gal of syrup produced in total. Been making about 10gph of syrup, which is nice since I only boil for a few hours on these 1800 gal runs. Still have plenty of prep. and cleanup before/after though. Spent some time in the woods checking for vac. leaks...not much to find and vac's been holding steady at 26 to 26.5"...I think I see the dia. of the trees getting smaller...

Syrup pan float last night wouldn't seal properly and kept flooding the pan. It made it about impossible to keep the draws consistent. I think these are probably the worst float designs ever.

I thought I was losing sugar, but not sure where...sap to syrup ratios weren't coming out right, but are pretty close now. I tested the perm. and it's pretty close to zero when reduced...same with condensate. If it matters, I haven't tested the perm. when I start getting to high conc. levels.

Brad, I stopped watching the weather for snow forecasts...they can't get it right. Temp's they do a pretty good job on, if you can pick the forecast that's right.

This has been an unbelievable winter for getting sick. My oldest daughter's in first grade and has been bringing cold's home every couple of weeks since December. So far, I'm last in line for the latest one, and crossing my fingers that I don't get it.

Yesterday ran good. Collected another 1000 gal and had almost 500 delivered. Made almost 30 gal of syrup. Down to a DA. Sugar's dropping off too. Woke up to 600 gal in the tank and vac. at 27.25", but not running very hard since it was running all night. If things pick up, this may be a three trip day. We'll pass 300 gal tonight.

Another 1040 gal collected yesterday w/ another 200 gal delivered. Our SSC is holding at 1.7%. Not great, but not bad. Sap total to date is ~18gpt out of our vacuum woods and 303 gal of total syrup produced with at least all of March to go. It looks like we might get a break from boiling on Sunday, which will be nice. Still waiting for the mega 2-3gpt/day run.

Josh, do you have the old style float with the bushing and thumb screw? I got the new design with the screw handle on the top and it has made a world if difference. I now can run the front pan about 3/4 to 1/2" deep and not worry about it flooding or sticking up. The $79 price tag was worth it.

Marty

I read this thread and went to bed to read on my a current project - the connection between Beethoven's 5th and Moby Dick, when it hit me! 303 gal of syrup ytd with a 1996 600 ro and an old wood fired 2.5x8!! I'm stunned. I'm going to try to grasp this, but I think I need some medication...

Marty, problem at least mostly solved. My float's the old z-arm style w/ the rubber stopper. I had a pan fabbed for me last season. I gave him my grimm pan to copy, but the wire the z-arm hooks on to must be off just a bit. On the new pan, the sap comes mostly out of the back side of the float, and it doesn't seal tight. Last night, I swapped pans...figured 300 gal of syrup on a pan and it's about time to change it...the pan wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Boiled last night on the old pan and it was beautiful...perfect gradient across the pan, regular draws, and etc. Post-season, I'll run some measurements between the two pans and see what's different. I'll be running the old pan for the remainder of the pan. Marty, running 1/2"-3/4" just seems to shallow to me. If I ran that low, I wouldn't have any room for the float to fall when drawing off because it'd be hitting the bottom of the float box.

Bruce, My evap is from 1994, so we're keeping the 90's going strong here. I'm not going to jinx myself, but we're off to a great start. We collected another 1000 gal yesterday, had another 140 gal delivered, and made another 20 gal of syrup. SSC is dropping off since we haven't had a good freeze in a while.

I ran some projections assuming we run at least until the end of March, and we're going to run short on syrup storage unless we have a monster of a maple weekend in sales. If anyone has extra drums they can spare, I'd be interested in them.

Josh- good to hear things are going well. We took last night off, but plan to boil tonight as we have a tour coming to the sugarhouse. I have the same problem with my Mason pan and not lining up well with the floats. Put the new Leader pan on the other night and its better, but not perfect.

I too wish I had more containers for bulk- especially more kegs! Good problem to have needing more storage...

good luck with the rest of the season...

Collected another 775 gal from our vac. woods. Trees were running OK. Sugar's down to 1.4% which sucks. Hopefully this freeze kicks things back up. Grade's down to a B...early for that. I found setting a tank level when the ground's frozen doesn't work when it thaws out. My new tank was listing pretty good, so yesterday, my daughter and I leveled it back out. Cold today with little opportunity of a run, so taking tonight off (kind of), to make a batch of cream and candy, and do misc. things around the SH.

I didn't realize the float pivot point was so critical for it to work properly. Same to you Eric...finish the season strong.