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Same here Josh, I'm hoping that it starts to run better today. Yesterday was a disappointment and I thought that you being south of here would have had a good day. It is starting earlier today which is good and the sun is supposed to be out all day too. It should run pretty good.
Got a slow start yesterday and never ran good. Not sure if the trees are still thawing out, or the high pressure front that was overhead that kept the trees from opening up. Hauled home 400 gal to make room in the tank and left a big ice chunk in the tank. Hoping things run better today.
Looks a bit cooler today than advertised in last weekend's forecast. Had a decent run yesterday, we'll see what today brings in when I get home from work. Might have to boil some more tonight.
A few pics of the result from the last boil-down - pretty light, typical for my trees and batch method.
Attachment 13595Attachment 13596
Busy couple of days. Trees really broke loose. Pulled in 1500 gallons yesterday and should be doing the same today. Had another 800 gal delivered yesterday and made about 35 gallons. Considering how warm it got, the grade really didn't drop, although defoamer use took a considerable jump. Also considering how warm it got, the trees ran amazing. Thought for sure the heat would slow them down, but it sure didn't. Best fire time of the year last night...28 min between firings...who needs a force 5 when you've got an 802maple special.
Wokeup...those are cute glass containers. Do they sell well?
Hi Josh,
I only make enough for family / friends so can't tell you how they sell. We got a few cases of the Christmas tree and whatever they call that stepped-bottom bottle, at Bascom's last year at a good discount. We just ask the folks we give syrup, to return the bottle when done if they want more next year ; )
Another good run yesterday. Processed 1400 gal from our trees and another 700 gal dropped off. Started the RO at 1pm and got it to 18% concentrate. Filled two kegs and left syrup in the canner in 3 hrs of boiling last night. Syrup's in the middle between the Amber/Dark grades. Haven't been able to pump the woods tank dry since the run started, so not able to get it properly cleaned to clear the sap up.
time for a bigger evaporator!!! 3 hrs is too long!!! :)
Haven't gotten much of anything since over the weekend. Not sure why the trees gave up. Pulling 26.5" at the releaser and dribbling into it. Should be able to pull together enough sap to boil tonight, but it won't be much.
I know, 3 hrs is pretty long. most are under 2hrs, but by the time I get home, haul a couple loads of sap, RO it to 16-18%, eat dinner, play with the kids, get everything in the SH ready, I'm usually firing up after 8pm. It's not often I boil longer, but once I do, the evap's good and hot, and I put the wood in and almost shut the bottom air off completely cause it's catching so fast.
Brad, update your sig. Season started long ago and it's almost over.
I've got 400 to boil tonight and when I checked at 2:00 I had gotten 125 gallons since 9:00 this morning. The sap is looking clearer today too. I'm planning to save that to boil on the weekend.
Fixed my signature... josh I was just kidding I got kids too!!! maybe you can ask Obama for one before he is run out :)
Sap flow continues to be very sloooow. Sap still cloudy, but was able to pump the woods tank down and brush it out, so hopefully it clears up, and stays clear now that it's cooled down and the skies are cloudy. Hoping with this weekends, and next week's, prime sugaring temps, the trees kick it back into 1+ gpt days. Still have syrup that needs to be made.
Sugar's at 1.3% on yesterday's load. Boiled for an hour and shut her down. Bottled about 27 gallons from the last two boils. First batch of Very Dark is on the shelf. Syrup flavor still good, so trees haven't budded.
Had almost two catastrophic events yesterday. Syrup pan float stuck on the first draw...no idea why. Flue pan float stuck mid--boil...no idea why. Fortunately, Lisa caught it when I went outside to put the RO on a wash cycle. Last week, I ordered a low level alarm for the flue pan and it'll be in tomorrow. $300 is cheap insurance for a replacement flue pan.
Unsure on how I'm going cover sap for Maple Weekend. I need like 1000 gal to run the RO/Evap all day. To do that, I'll need to hold today/Thursday's run (or lack thereof) and boil that Saturday. And take Friday and Saturday's run and boil that Sunday. Not a big fan of holding late season sap that long. If I boil tomorrow night, that'll leave me with more Very Dark to put on the shelves for Maple Weekend, and Friday's run should net me the 300 gal I need to run just evap. all day and Saturday's run to boil on Sunday.
I hope you get the sap that you need for the weekend. It has been running pretty for me good despite the unfavorable temperatures. I boiled 400 gallons last night and collected 475 gallons this morning. I am planning to save what I collected today for the weekend but may have to boil some if I run out of storage space. My buckets are running today too and I don't know why other than there was a very light frost this morning.
my sap flow has been decent despite the temps. Sugar is terrible, around 1.1 and yesterday and today my steam had just the very beginnings of that "end of season" smell to it. Syrup seemed to be ok. Maybe just a slight off aftertaste but had a few people try it and said it tasted ok to them. The temps look great next week but time will tell if its to little to late. I have surpassed last years sap totals but made much less syrup! almost 100 gallons less! Will be interesting to see what next week holds!
Good Maple Weekend overall. Turnout/sales about the same as last year, so good to see. Added some new products, and even though we did sell out of them, they didn't seem to increase overall sales.
Due to the unknowns of sap production, we ran just the evap on Saturday, and because of a decent Saturday run, we had enough to run the RO on Sunday. Had a bit of a hiccup on Sunday morning with a frozen permeate discharge line. A few minutes with the torch and that was fixed. Made about 10 gal of syrup both days. A mild flavored Very Dark, Strong. Syrup still tastes good, so trees haven't popped yet, and it looks like we'll get at least another week out of it. Hoping the sap flows pick up though. Still only getting about 0.5gpt/day.
thats from the sugars... the reds aint doing nothing!!! I have had the vac on for 3 days now and the reds aren;t running and what is coming out tastes pretty bad I haven't boiled anything yet but not looking good over here. even the buckets aren;t doing much either. not for lack of trying but I think its time for me to call it crappy year over this part of the state!!!
Sorry to hear that Brad. Still making good syrup hear although the sugar content just stinks at 1.2% on yesterday's truckload. Tank was pretty scummy with a lot of buildup, so got those pumped dry and cleaned up. Hoping that clears the sap up and get back to nice boiling sap. Made another 10 gallons last night. Sap flow when I was picking up sap was actually really good, so that makes me feel better about the trees being able to pump out big sap during this the prime sugaring weather this week. We'll see.
The trees are pumping out sap up here too at a whopping 1.5%. It ain't over yet!
1.5%. Wow! Wish I was getting that.
Put in a full day yesterday at work, so didn't get home early enough to boil Brought a truckload home and left some in the woods. Will boil everything down tonight and see what we get. Was in the woods last night...reds are looking really big.
The reds are looking scary here too. Might not make the weekend.
Had a good run yesterday. Boiled off about 1400 gal of sap. Syrup flavor strong, but still good. Grade's actually lightened up and sugar went up a touch...think it was 1.4% from a low of 1.2%. Inputted the data into the spreadsheet...we're sitting at about 23k gal of sap processed this year with about 20k of that from us. Sitting at about 23gpt of sap so in the average to good range of a season...pretty happy with that. This'd be a great year if there was some sugar in the sap. Syrup total for the season unknown...need to count the kegs, but definitely over 300 gal, but pretty sure less than 400.
So, I've got a question. The grade's back up to a dark, robust (barely), but it tastes like very dark, strong. Any issues w/ calling it very dark? This seems like one of those times when I judgment call's in order to tell your customer what they're really buying.
Josh check here, I asked that same question yesterday. http://mapletrader.com/community/sho...grading-systemQuote:
Originally Posted by Amber Gold
Thanks Russ. Just what I was looking for.
Yesterday, hauled in the last load of sap...it soured and stunk. Boiled it off and was able to make some good syrup at first before the bad stuff came through. Lightest syrup of the year too. Still need to finish compiling the seasons numbers, so those will follow. The meter's reading 27k gal of sap, so based on that, it's a good season. Syrup total not known, but sugar wasn't there this year. If you'd asked me mid-March if we'd make it till April, I would've said no way, and we did...barely.
Already thinking ahead to next year.
I think you will be happy with the total gallons of syrup made. I came in at 1 qt per tap and I stopped last Sunday. I could have made more if I had the time to acid wash the RO and get the flow rates back. This is the first year in recent times that I didn't make any commercial syrup too.
In early March I was thinking that I would be done before Maple Weekend. I had sap, although some of it soured, to boil all of Maple Weekend and had the best week of the season with the buckets the week after Maple Weekend.