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You know it's funny...I checked my buckets yesterday and even though it was -2 or -3, my smaller trees had slow dripping.. I guess when the sun is strong it can help get thaw them? My big trees weren't doing much at all..Quote:
Originally Posted by Fort Wisers
That's basically it. Smaller trees thaw first, and my big trees will still be plunkin along for another week or so before they really start to produce.Quote:
Originally Posted by paulslund
A bit of a disappointing weekend for us. Between Thursday and Friday we got a total of 1 GPT. We ran it through and sweetened the pans enough to get runoffs for an hour and a half before shutting down. Overall it went well - RO and The Beast functioned as needed. Filtering went OK. Only thing we broke was a $1 plastic valve on the bottom of the rain barrel we use to hold the hot water that runs off the pre-heater. I'll take that for the first boil! Saturday we got an unexpected 1/2 gallon per tap at 2.3% sugar. Not enough to fire up but good to have that sitting in the tanks waiting for more sap in the middle of the week.
Loving the new vacuum pump. With all the woods in the 24" Hg range the sap still runs well right to zero and below and there is very little icing in the releasers and not much ice in the mainlines overnight.
Hating all the friggin' ice! We've got ice 6" thick at the back door of the camp and everywhere we go the tractor needs to dig to get traction so we can only bring back half loads until we get through to the ground. The sun on the ice during the day simply polishes it to a high gloss shine!
Put the rest of my taps in this afternoon. Most holes wet and dripping! Expecting to boil tomorrow night..
I'm okay with the slow start. It's not my livelihood and my back is not happy these days so I don't mind the leisurely pace so far.
Collected 10 gal Thursday, and another 5 Friday.
Set up my storage tank after I cut out the top and made a hinged lid. It doesn't seal perfectly but that's what old pillow case are for.
Put three more taps in on Sat for a grand total of 28 for this year.
Went out yesterday but pails were all frozen so I left them. Working late tonight but my wife went out this aft and collected what wasn't frozen.
Trying modern versus old school snowshoes. They both have their place. Trail in the bush is starting to get packed but once it warms up it'll be back to sloppy.
Hope to work from home Wednesday. I'll try and remember to take pictures. I know I love seeing pictures of all the different rigs and contraptions people come up with.
Truly amazing.
Michael
Nothing on the sap front to report, except that my smallest and newest tree, Surprise 3.0, has more sap in its one pail than all of my 5 big 3-spilers combined. Now that's a good little tree!
So here, for your entertainment and amusement are some pics of my new sugar shack, tenatively named Shack Whacky :-) And yes I did all (oh ok 99% of the work) on SW all by my sweet lil self. I did get advice and guidance from my friends, and they did the roof and installed the chimney. But otherwise I did all the hard work. Thank gawd pallets are free, cause the cost of hardware soon made me very familiar with all kinds of screws and nails and stuff!
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Galena that shack is awesome!! That’s what I’m planning doing, I have an endless supply of skids from work, I was just going to go bigger than what you built. How did you hold them all together... like the skids, did you just screw them together? I also have a bunch of sheets of steel roofing I purchased from a barn tear down that I will use for the roof and siding.
On a side note about the poison ivy, yes you can get it in the winter, I just hear someone talk about it and I get it. When I was a kid, I was in Boy Scouts and we would do winter camping at a local Boy Scouts camp north of Cobourg .... we had to stop going because I would get so covered in poison ivy I would end up in the hospital getting bags of stuff pumped into me.... ahhhh the memories lol
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Al, wow it sure sounds like you and poison ivy are NOT a good combo! Poor guy!Quote:
Originally Posted by BrutemanAl
I told my friends (who built houses for 25 yrs so they know their stuff - I didn't) that I wanted to basically build a lean-to type structure, more than the usual shack with cupola etc. We got pallets and I sorted through them to find the most consistent size, approx 40x48 to make shack as square (Ok rectangular) as possible. Yes mostly it is pallets stacked then screwed together then clad in sheet metal which was rotting away in a fenceline - you can see by the top flanges that I didn't fasten them down before I ran out of supplies. Must get that finished!
Basically the original idea was to go 8x10 but is close to 7'9x9'6 or so, on the outside, so inside it's approx 8x6. More than enough room for little cast iron woodstove, a corner in which to keep kindling etc and I don't have to stoop to get in and out. And ventilation is perfect, test-fired it yesterday and very glad I bucked up and cured that pallet wood - not a whiff of creosote from wet softwood pallet lumber :-)
Al, wow, sorry to hear you and the poison have had such a long history together!
Galena, wacky shacky looks great! I haven't forgotten, I still owe you some dimensions from our evap rig, I'll grab today and pass your way if you're still interested.
Michael, I'm the same as you, love seeing the pictures, I'll try to follow suit as well once the rig is ready to go.
Got wheels installed on the back side of the evap frame, making it much easier to move in and out of storage, wish we had a dedicated sugar shack but this will do for now.
Last year we just used snowmobile dollies but I wanted something more permanent / less precarious.
I also installed some jack screws on the front of the frame so once the rig is in position for the season, we can simply use the jack screws to level it all out.
After some research on the best methods to do so, I cleaned the sap gravity tank.
Also added a quick connect to the hose connecting the gravity tank to the float box.
As of last night most buckets were 1/3 to nearly 1/2 full.....
Hey Wisers, sure feel free to stop by this afternoon and visit Shack Whacky - and my sugarbush too if you're interested :-) Just knock loudly cause my walls are 14in thick.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fort Wisers
Galena, thanks for the invite but no can do, little one is home today feeling under the weather.....I'll pass them along by the technology method LOL.
Okeydokey :-) Feel free to pop in so long as there's a car in the driveway, esp during this time of year...free labour errr fellow sugarers are always welcome! ;-)
105 total taps for me this year. Just came back from the count and to see if that -12 popped any out. Some starting to drip but don't think I will have enough to boil tonight...
I collected 85 L today after work, not bad, thought there would be more but no such luck
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There is maybe a grand total on 1g sitting out there on the trees, most of it from the Surprise bush maples. Not worth collecting. On the other hand, thanks to the records I've been keeping, a multi-day lull just like this one is almost par for the course around mid-late March. Then things kick into gear.
Last year I didn't collect for almost a week and ended up with a record amount of sap. Mind, I also tapped February 21, so that made a difference.
Boiled today. Tanks were empty by 4pm.
Headed up to the woods and brought back another 50 gals or so. A lot of it is still in ice chunks but good for keeping the tanks cool.
At least the new snow has covered the ice path and it's not quite so treacherous walking or hauling tanks.
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Looks like the smaller trees are waking up. Went to check for leaks with vacuum running in one bush and found a lot of smaller trees full,few running over. Tough gathering as didn’t have a gathering pail there yet,so carried each bucket (22 in total) individually to the holding tank. Might get to boil today,only problem being first boil takes about 300 gallons to fill the pans to light a match
Got 9 gallons yesterday. Of my 104 trees only about 20 are showing signs of anything so far. Only the ones that get decent sun. Most of my good producing trees are still sitting in a foot and half of snow with ice all over the place. The other thing I noticed this year - on days with only marginal warmth (like yesterday) only my metal spigots run. Plastic stay frozen. Seems like the metal ones take the heat from the sun better. Flipping up the lid on the buckets so the sun hits the spigot also seems to help them start as well. Becoming a bit obsessed with it.
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Mike, what kind of lids are you using? The metal ones have a gap in them so they fit around the spigot, but if you're using plastic lids,I think they cover the whole surface area and the spigot too. Just don't know if you want the lids flipped up, you'll get bark and bugs and possibly critters in there too. Tales of squirrels found drowned in sap pails are common. (And if that ever does happen...dump that sap and give the pail a really good cleaning before putting it back into use.)
And don't worry I'm in the same boat as you, only my smallest trees, the bush maples, are doing any real work, the big trees are still pretty froze up.
My first collection of 55gal yesterday. Some full buckets, come empty!
Was making steam ironing out some bugs in my upgraded gravity drip feed.
Lids do not offer any protection against squirrels - just give them shelter while they sip.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Several years ago - I did an experiment using 1/2 metal and 1/2 plastic taps - the plastic taps do take more time to thaw in the morning and appear not to give sap while metal ones are - but over the season there was no noticeable difference in the quantity of sap between the two. Repeated the experiment the next year with the same results - then switched 100% to plastic taps for the reduced hole size and faster healing.
Hi Galena, we have a mix of metal and plastic - but 90% of them are plastic. Everything gets filtered twice - before the boil - but you're right - don't want any dead animals lol. Getting a decent run out of the swampy/smaller trees today as well. The ones in the dense bush still froze solid. I also tapped a couple farther back with hose for the first time just to try it. Seems to work OK. Ran three trees into a 5 gallon pail. Seems like you would have to watch the lines being tripped over and/or the pail tipping over as the snow melts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Hi Eddy - that's interesting to know - I did prefer the plastic 5/16 ones just because they seem to do less damage to the tree. Good to know you don't lose anything by using them. I suppose the reverse would probably also be true; in that the plastic ones would take longer to 'freeze up' at night and thus maybe run longer compared to the metal. Very interesting to try to figure it all out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Big_Eddy
Hey Mike, sounds like your trees are also finally awake, as are mine, thought the best producers are still in their jammies :-) Got around 15l today. FINALLY. Now I'll leave that sap jug out in the snow (aw crap now I have to go and dig a snow bunker....forgot to do that earlier) and with luck it'll freeze. If I get around another 30l by Friday night, then I'll have 3 frozen or semi-frozen sap jugs. Then get Shack Whacky ready to go and try to do the poor man's RO so I boil only the sweet.
Yeah running drop lines in deep snow could be fun esp as the snow melts/rots around the base of the trees. Maybe put the 5g pail in something fairly stable, like a milk crate so it doesn't tip over?
ETA: I have 30 plastic 5/16th spiles, used only one season. They're taking up space and I'm never going to use them again. Want them?
I collected another 80 L today after work, buried it in a big snow bank I made in the forest to store sap till I can boil it, I have about 165L to boil now, going to start tomorrow after work and go till probably 11 or 12 and be back at it again Friday. I have almost collected the same amount as I did last year, last year I collected 600 and something Litre’s if I remember correctly, this year I have only been at it for a week and already have 521.5 L.
I am using the App SapTapApps to track all my sap this year, so far I like the App, and it keeps track of it all for you and you can download it and so forth at any point.
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Not a good day,started off going to pick up 200 gallons of sap from upper bush,old Echo gas transfer pump didn’t want to start until I had skinned my knuckles up,then fitting was leaking on the hose connection so my Dad went home to get a new fitting,all afterwards my wife and I checked and fixed leaks in the bush,2.5 hours later had the tub of sap home,time to just dump into the holding tank,get on the bus run,no time for lunch. Fast forward after the bus runs,fad 2 barns full of cattle,actually ate supper,then down to the sugar house to see how things were going. Started up vacuum pump,checked furthest tank,1/4” from going over the top.Time to turn on the vacuum to draw the sap back to the main tanks,wasn’t coming so went to find a tree had dropped on the line,breaking the mainline wire,and causing the line to freeze having a low spot. Worked until dark restretching the wire,have to hook the line back up to it in the morning,so we can get the sap across,as the 400 gallon tank will be overflowing all night probably,hopefully this will be the end of problems for this year. Isn’t sugar making fun?
Oh wow Bruce, do you ever know how to have fun sugaring! With the bus runs and beeves too, I honestly don't know how you do it. But you do. Huge kudos to you!
My box elders finally started to wake up today, while the silvers are shooting out sap like a firehose. :)
My wife and I collected again last night (second collection since we tapped Monday)......got 45 L last night and 30 the afternoon before, so our running total is 75 L.
Gravity tank can hold 100 liters, when it's full and we have maybe another 50 liters stock piled in storage we'll fire up the rig.
Got the evap rig firebox cleaned out and bricked, I'm not entirely happy with it but it should be better than last year, perhaps after the run this season we'll continue with improvements.
Another 55Gal collected yesterday..
... and our sap tsunami hit.. every single bucket overflowing!!
WOW. Not much action here today :(
Same with us, collected before the kids go home, a measly 7 L, hardly worth the walk LOL.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vandy
I've got around a grand total of 38l so far, with a lot of it coming from the 3 Surprises. The big trees just don't like to put out any kind of sap unless it's warm and sunny. So I've put the 7l or so that I collected today into the evap pan and left it on the woodstove - it won't boil and will still slowly evap off a litre or two. Got 2lof nearup from 19l collected sitting in the fridge and the 14l I got yesterday sitting in a snowbunker outside. I've done this long enough to know that all this is just par for the course, and that a certain amount of thumb-twiddling is expected, but I'd much rather be griping about having 45l in holding to boil and be running around getting wood and combustibles into Shack Whacky and firing it up....then staying up til 2 in the morning to finish a batch, and fall into bed before clambering out at 7 to get up go to work, come home, collect another 45l and be running myself into the ground all over again...
Sorry for the rant but gawd this feast or famine thing is driving me nuts!!!
LoL, very true, feast or famineQuote:
Originally Posted by Galena
To be fair.. I hadn’t collected yesterday.. so perhaps the tsunami was yesterday! But 315 L of sap in 2 days.. not shabby
I collected another 50 L today and I am boiling right now, first time boiling in the forest at night.... by myself. Must admit it’s a little creepy lol, but I gotta do what I gotta do. I will stay till about 11 then I’m headed home and be back up here again tomorrow after work. Must say I am happy with my 12 v LED LIGHTS, they work awesome !!
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Wow!! What a set up Bruteman !! You are a pro!
Great setup Al, looks so cosy...I have to find my folding chair so I can set up Shack Whacky properly. Once I get some sap to boil that is!!
Wow Al! You weren't kidding.. those lights seem to work great! Don't worry about creepy noises at night in the woods this time of year. Probably just the bears waking up from hibernating, but they don't like sweet stuff like syru..oh. hmm.. actually.. be afraid!!! be very afraid!!!
Actually in all seriousness, make a lot of noise while out there.. that should scare off any bears if they've starting to wander around..