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I collected 100 gallons today. Much clearer sap than yesterday's. Going to boil it tomorrow. Pulled all the buckets while I was collecting, still have 3 gravity runs to pull, I'll pull them over the weekend. My 3/16 line with 35 taps on it gave me 40 gallons today, all other taps roughly 300, gave me 60 gallons, that 3/16 definitely works
Boiling off the sweet today, think I am at about 75 gallons so far, probably end up with 80.
Drained the Back pan and Filled with water, rigged the Hot float so it wouldn't open and boiled off the sweet in the syrup pan, I would just pour 2 gallons of sweet in the float box every 20 min or so, was able to draw off about 4 gallons of syrup before I had to stop . took 3 hrs, drained the pan & finished the last 4 gallons on the propane burner. Ended up with just over 80 gallons for the year.
No the clean up begins. Probably head up to st Albans & swanton on Saturday to see what I might buy this year.
How much of that 80 gallons will you keep for your self ?
The clean up begins. I finally pulled all my taps and collected my buckets today. Left them all out to fill with rain water for a nice rinse before I air dry and stack them for summer storage. Cleaning things with no running water is a task. At least I've already finished cleaning my pans, that was a task. All in all I'd say it was a good season for my second year, with 10 gallons of tasty syrup to Sell and hoard the rest. Looking to get a 2x6 arch made over the summer to fit my pans. Hopefully I can sell enough syrup to at least fund half of that haha.
Shaun if you ever need running water for stuff just swing by the house and take care of what you need.
Don't mind our German Shepherd...he's only broke 3/8" cable 3 times.
I will keep 10 gallons or so for myself, give probably 5 or so to various neighbors that I tapped their Trees & sell the other 50 I have left, already sold 15 Gallons, the farm stand is supposed to order some syrup shortly. I am actually concerned I might have to buy a little syrup to keep the Farm stand satisfied. We will see.Quote:
Originally Posted by NhShaun
As Far as the arch goes I will help you any way I can. I would keep your eyes peeled for a older used arch, or just buy the materials & build it. You can Fasten 95% of it with hardware. Might need a welder to build a door & cut the opening in the front.
haha Thanks for the offer, I really appreciate it. I took care of all my washing with the neighbors 250 ft hose. How did the birch syrup thing go for you ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian MacMillan
I Dragged my Feet as long as I could but decided to Tap this weekend. Weather man says it's going to be cold next week but I just don't believe him.
Put 80 taps out Saturday & 150 out Sunday & another 20 yesterday afternoon. Got another 150 maybe 200 to go if I have time this weekend, setting up 100-125 on High Vac . I have all the materials just need to get them up, the wire is up & tight.
Collected 165 gallons last night & got to boil for 2 hours. 3 weeks ahead of last year. Anyone else going in the Valley?
105 in in fryeburg. Haven't gathered yet. Everything was froze up today. New evaporator is ready to go!
Awesome Nate!Goodluck...I got 130 or so out on Sunday and another 150 in tonight...bit early for me but I agree, I don't believe the weather man either. Every week has been warmer than expected for the last month. Hopefully after this Wednesday- Thurs warm spell I'll be able to sweeten the pans!!
Well I didn't get the warm weather they got elsewhere in NH yesterday but I still managed to get 80 gallons of sap. Boiled it down tonight & managed to draw off a gallon of Amber rich syrup. Just a shade darker than golden.
Also added A oil Burner for under fire air. What a difference in boil rate that made. Hopefully I can get my air tight front on this weekend. Looks kinda stupid leaning up against the wall.
Hopefully everyone will get a good sap run sunday.
Sap Ran A little the last couple Days, got 200 Gallons boiled it down & made about 5 gallons of Amber rich Syrup. Still Haven't Had a real sap run should be getting 4-500 gallons a day.
Same up here..Yesterday was the best run so far..boiled 200 gallons last night..pans are sweet and even pulled off a bit of syrup...gunna fall below zero here Thursday...debating if I should drain the pans or not..dn if the light bulb will be enough to keep things from freezing
Boy has it been slow in this part of the state, made about 10 gallons so far for the season, that's a little less than 10% of my goal. Haven't collected since last Wednesday. I did manage to get my new Air tight front on over the weekend. Hopefully Try it out tomorrow Night.
Got 250 gallons yesterday and made about 6 gallons of Amber . Got to Try out my Air tight Front. It works great. It has its own blower smaller one in the picture that forces air through the door and exits in a Dozen places around the inside of the door opening inside the arch. Adding that air to my forced draft created by my other gutted oil burner and I get stack Temps between 950 and 900 with I A freshly stoked fire box. When it drops to 800 I refire. Before I put the front on my stack Temps were about 700.
Only complaints I have is the Door is a little Small and It is blowing alot of embers out the stack.
But the increase in boil rate. I'm up to 80+ gallons an hour and it certainly looks like my flues are not sooting up due to the hot fire. Are a great bonus.
Airtight front looking good! Where did you get the drawoff pails?
I buy them on E-Bay when I see them for a good buy. 90 on the high end and 60 on the cheaper. I still like them more than the pails you can buy from maple outfits.
If you know any diaries ask around once the rim cracks they won't hold vac and can be had cheap. I use the same pail. They hold syrup warmer for much longer than a single wall bucket.
Cool. I'll check it out.
Collected 240 gallons today. Nothing great like I'd hoped but I'll take it. Trees are starting to bud out in town but they look good out here. Hoping for some more good days. Up to 17.5 gallons for the season. That's a long way from 100.
Less than desirable up here too Nate. Picked up 190 gallons on 320 taps today..my 175 on gravity only pulled in 90 gallons...my 135 on shurflo pulled in 100 gallons...best run for me so far, but was hoping for better..maybe Monday will change things! Only bottled up 5 gallons so far...on a good note, my new pans crank!gunna need more taps next year!!
Derek I've noticed that the temp has been dropping a little every day on the long range forecast for next week. Hopefully we can get a few runs that they are not predicting. I got 100 gallons this morning. Most of that was on my 3/16 tubing. Wind blew like crazy here last night. Actually had a tree on my service this morning and no power. So I collected everything just so I could fix any problem pails. Especially with the rain coming tomorrow. & let's face it I need the exercise. Crossing my fingers that I can get 2 more weeks. Good luck up there on the other side of the notch. I might take a ride up that way next weekend if I have no sap.
Been boiling all weekend. Cleaned up tanks. Made about 10 gallons. Our new smoky lake hybrid was awesome. Hopefully the weather cooperates the next couple weeks. This morning was around 125 gallons. A couple more of those would be nice
Pretty bummed..flood gates opened today and picked up 240 gallons..fired up the rig and pulled off some pretty good stuff..few draws later, I could smell a difference in the steam..syrup pan started to smell like burnt popcorn...started pulling off some metabolic crap syrup...defeated, i shut down the rig and walked away..this was the first good run that we have had up here..hope the trees straighten out after this week...then, before coming in the house, I checked the lone bucket in the yard and...Attachment 13816 ..thanks mother nature for rubbing salt on the wound
Pretty bummed out about the complete lack of sap. Should I call it quits? My trees appear to have some buds......they all do around here at this point! Weather looks good after friday. Finally got everything set up good and it feels like it's over.....
I have collected 250 gallons the last 2 days. Been boiling it down. I haven't detected any off flavors. Syrup did get a little darker. No buds showing over here on this side of town. Up to 30 gallons. Still hoping for 1 more week. Would like to get at least 50 gallons.
I guess the big soft Maples outhe in the sun are starting to bud. Fortunately I don't have but maybe 3 or 4 of those.
I think you should be ok up there in Berlin / Gorham, sucks if you loose that sweet. You could still have a couple more good weeks up there.
Well I may have been over critical of the syrup..tasted it today once it went through the filter and it tastes fine...could have been the lack of sleep playing with my mind..things lightened up today..boiled off 200 gallons after work and made about 5 gallons or so of what looks like amber...got about 12 gallons to bottle up tomorrow before maple weekend on top of the 5 I have already bottled..still have 125 gallons in the truck and didnt check my bush in gorham today..so hopefully getting a few hundred more gallons tomororow..kicking into high gear up here..thank god for that shurflo
That's great Derek glad your syrup was ok. I have noticed some odd smells coming from boiling sap at times & the syrup still tasted great.
I have tasted the metabolic stuff too and buddy syrup and it is not very good.
Got 200 Gallons here yesterday. Looking like a real good week. Hopefully make another 15 -20 Gallons and be happy with that.
Some of my trees have tight buds. Being paranoid I went and tested sap from every tree and it all seemed ok. Smelled the steam and found nothing that was off. This week looks like the last good push. Nate, I would love to see your setup.....Any chance I could swing by?
You can come by anytime. I should be boiling tonight after 6. Or I'll be around all week.
Collected 450 gallons of sap over the last few days. Over 45 gallons now. Still grade A Dark, sugar content is holding above 2. Maybe I can go another week.
Glad your still going strong..I came down with the flu at 2 30am the morning before maple weekend kicked off..been down and out since then. Now my little man, 9 months old has it..haven't been able to turn the pump on or collect all week...hoping tomorrow things will turn around...not a good time of year to be laid up for a week..
That sucks that you have been sick, same thing at our house 8 month old on antibiotics for an ear. infection and on eye drops for conjunctivitis. Well guess what Dad caught it from the kid. More or less over it now.
Collected about 800 gallons since friday. I think the sugar is dropping but other than that still making good quality syrup, actually lightened up yesterday. Some of my good trees are starting to slow down so I know that the end is near. I think i will get over 60 gallons tomorrow so that would be great compared to how things looked for awhile
Hopen your getting some good sap up there.
Glad your feeling better as well..tough with a 5 yr old bringing home school jerms to pass on to everyone!! Things opened up this past weekend..picked up around 600 gallons today, could only haul about 475 of it home...ran a few hundred gallons through the evap then bottled up 7 gallons...I've been stuck on dark for a bit now..looked like it was getting lighter but it's still dark...my sap from berlin is a bit cloudy, and the sap from gorham is crystal clear...hate mixing them but it's all gotta get to the shack!
Sap is slowing down. Only 350 gallons over the last 2 days. I think my trees are trying to tell me something. Buds look fine. I'm guessing that the tap holes have had it, going on 6 weeks this Saturday. Probably about done. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
Still setting records up here...got 220 gallons on 135 trees today..tank was overflowing tonight...didn't make it to gorham tonight to check what went on down there..150 gallons at lunch time so I'm assuming over 200 gallons down there. Will find out tomorrow...syrup is back to amber and prob the most flavorful yet. Real good stuff...gunna need more syrup storage just to keep up!
Great late runs derekp! When did you tap? Do you use the check valve spouts?
I tapped Jan 31st and even with check valve spouts, my flow rates have died way down. I pulled taps on 2 early-budders and those taps seemed pretty leaky when you blow backwards, so maybe there's some manufacturing issue with this batch. Sap was pretty clear and tastes fine -- made good (but small) dark batch last night. Even after the good freeze Tues night, it was really only half a typical run. I expect trees will pop today/tomorrow with this warmth, but I've said that a couple times already this year! Real cold days after that or I'd be pulling taps today.
That's Awesome Derek. I Used some 5 gallon pails to hot pack syrup in this year. Fullers has them in stock. I think that they are like 12 dollars with the lid. But they are safe for Hot Packing. Not All food grade pails are. Or you can spend the big money on a Drum.
I got another 100 gallons today. Kinda had a busy afternoon so I put a fair amount of Ice in it & hopefully it will keep till tomorrow. I think i am going to boil out on Saturday and call it a season.
Saps still flowing here..boiled off 200+ gallons every night since monday and still have around 400 gallons in the tanks..gunna cut out of work early tomorrow and try to get caught up. Jamie, I used the regular disposable clear spouts, not CVs for my Berlin bush that is hooked up to the shurflo. I tapped the last week of February. I tried out the DSD star line taps in my Gorham bush. The tap hole is just smaller than .25". So far, for a gravity system they seem to work great. My sap in Berlin turned cloudy today. Yesterday it was clear. Gorham is still clear as can be. Only problem now is I only have enough wood for 2 more boils...supposed to freeze up for 3 days starting this weekend so I hopefully can scrounge up some wood!!