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Ready for another season up here in NE Ohio.
Have been working some in the sugar house but honestly haven't spent much time in the woods yet.
Anyone made any big changes for this year?
I'm pretty much status quo with new drops and taps planned and getting some windblown "stuff" off my lines.
Heard Fred has a line on a new "clear" candy machine...good to see him finally seeing the light
Now he can probably see his lantern through the clear machine haha.Quote:
Originally Posted by johnallin
Added 450 taps at home woods, installed a second pump house, and got a new vac pump on the woods side.
For the sugarhouse we got a lapierre glass bead filter that filters down to 3 microns, sometimes better. Excited to see how that works.
2nd year for me, and I am super excited. Nowhere near the sophisticated level of many of individuals in NEohio but ready to get to work.
Last year I tapped 3 trees, and cooked with a turkey fryer, this year will be 20. using (3) 20x12x6 pans cooking with a 3burner propane camp stove.
My 3y/o loves it and we were busy during the offseason looking/teaching her to identify red/sugar and silver trees. She helped clear more efficient paths as well to the trees.
Will follow on here to see when tapping should begin, but based on past Ohio years looks like a lot of you start setting up around 1st week-February, so I planned to at least start setting up around 2.5.24.
I'm going to heed the words of my teachers from back in the day when they said "there's no such thing as a dumb question" and "if you're wondering it chances are someone else is too". I understand I'm typing this in the middle of a winter storm, but is anyone looking at the next week or two for early tapping? Temps in the mid-upper 40s should bring us out of the deep freeze we've been in this week. Last year I tapped just over 1/3 of my trees on Jan. 22 and the rest a week or so later, and didn't regret it. I know that was an unseasonable warm winter, but it that seems to be the trend we've been heading in the last few years. Just wanted to get people's thoughts. Happy tapping whenever you choose to do so.
I was looking forward to the coming thaw and watching the forecast which seemed good until I looked again today. Except for AccuWeather (which seems to overly predict lower nighttime temps), all my weather sources show no temps below 30 for the next two weeks. It changes again every day though, but I don't like that trend.Quote:
Originally Posted by djhemme
Will finish tapping tomorrow and start leak checks.
Hopefully have syrup by the weekend.
You probably will, but forecast up here is not much freezing for the next 2 weeks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kh7722
It'll be interesting to see how the glass bead filter works out for you, it's a cool concept.
Wrapped up tapping 5/16 tubing today. I’m going to wait a little bit for the 3/16 and buckets.
For those that have already tapped are your trees flowing yet?
Temps hung around 34 all day and trees are pretty froze up. Not much is going to happen up here for a bit. Next few days are looking pretty good.
After I finished installing drop lines this evening I went ahead and tapped one test tree and hung a bag just to get another indicator for tapping. Got a few drops, but sun was already down. Temps here have been hanging in the upper 30's all day.
I have a friend who's new to sugaring that lives in NE OH. She's all on buckets. Should I recommend she tap now?
Thanks,
Gabe O
Just my two cents, I would tell them to consider tapping this weekend depending on their schedule.Quote:
Originally Posted by berkshires
I tapped 50 last Sunday (Jan 21st) sap ran Jan 24th - 15 gallons from those 50 taps at 2.5-3% collectively. Ground was still froze yesterday evening when I collected, looking for double production today with the warmer temperature and more frost coming out of the ground. Temperatures are looking favorable (Accuweather forecast) for the next week. I will be finishing out my tapping this Saturday (+50 more)
Finished tapping yesterday, not much of a run over night, but it's running really well today. First boil tomorrow.
All tapped in as of today. Ran good yesterday but only 10 or 20% of the trees were running today. Buona Fortuna everyone!
Spent today clearing fallen trees off lines. Some areas looked like a bomb had gone off!
Got to say I was really appreciative of our son, his buddy and new member Todd Moyer, and our son in law for their help.
Had some full tree tops that we had to “dissect through” just to get lines up off the ground. Being able to chainsaw through and have them pull limbs out of the way, as I went, made quick work of it all.
I’m planning to tap this week, but thinking this upcoming weather is just the calm before the storm.
We made 7.5 gallons of dark amber (hanna 55) last night and 8 gallons of dark (hanna 40) today. A strange start to the season with the darker syrup, but temps in the 50's will do that I guess. Looking forward to a reset and some colder temps. Things definitely slowing down. Thursday I was getting about 2.5-3 gal/tap, yesterday slowed to ~ 1.5 gal/tap, and today, maybe .5 - 1 gal/tap.
On a side note, I got a new Lapierre water jacketed bottler, I'm not sure if one can love a piece of equipment, but man that thing is nice, it brings things to temp quickly and having 4 valves to bottle at the same time really save time if one was inclined to multitask. A huge improvement over my steam pan bottler.
Good morning to all, Just thought I would update you all on my maple farm for this season so far. I started tapping on Jan 1st and finished on the 7th. The 12th was my first boil (I've got cooling tanks to hold my concentrate this year!) and made about 95 gal of syrup. Then we had that hard freeze so I didn't boil again till the 24th at which I made 80 gal. The weather the last week was certainly not ideal and this week doesn't look the greatest but could be a whole lot worse. I know I'm an outlier with tapping so early, and I'm still somewhat apprehensive if it is wise, but here's hoping for a long season and good weather for all.
P.S. I tapped about the same time last year and made out ok in spite of abysmal weather in February.
We tapped about 325 on gravity Friday and it did not start running until mid Saturday afternoon after the sun finally made it's way out of the clouds. Ran a little better Sunday and decent Monday, but still kind of slow for my liking. We are in North Central Ohio near Ragersville.
We tapped yesterday, though much smaller operation compared to many of you on here. Sugars were flowing well. Nothing from Silver or Reds. Looking to boil next Monday!
Getting some decent runs over this way. Sugar is up a bit too from when I started.
Awesome! Almost ready over here and should be done by the weekend.Quote:
Originally Posted by christopherh
We got tapped on Sunday/Monday and got a good run yesterday. New 18cfm kwik vac pump is definitely an upgrade from our old dairy piston pump. Still need to clean up the sugarhouse some but should be boiling tomorrow
Nice run over the last couple days. Woods are getting very dry though. My red maples are at 1.6 and the sugars are 2.3.
I’m finally all tapped.
Took a lot longer than expected with the carnage in the woods from the wind storms we’ve had and repairs of squirrel chews, kind of a first for over here…
Also spent a lot of time re-tensioning lines, improving slope, and re-evaluating some of the trees I’d tapped.
Took some out and added some in. Next is getting vacuum on-line and doing a final check for leaks.
Let the Games begin.
Sweet Fancy Moses what a run these past 3 days. Probably the single best 3 day stretch I've seen.
After fixing some major vac leaks, I hope to finally be on line and boiling by Monday.
Figure I've missed some good runs but the old saying "while we're at it" cost me some time...I found myself changing out lines, sap hoses, gaskets and various other things that I'd always been in too much of a hurry to attend to.
It's been quiet on here this year, anyone making syrup yet?
We had a very good run Thursday and Friday. Had to change the filter press a little more often than normal due to sugar sand build up. Pans didn’t build up like the press did. Hoping for another good run coming this week.
Wrapped up boiling Friday after a really good run. Buckets ran well too. Sugar content was around 1.7 on the red maples and 2.5 on the sugars. I’ll take that!
Quote:
Originally Posted by CrossBroMaple
Today should be great, I am now officially ready.Quote:
Originally Posted by christopherh
6th year for us. Tapped 2/17 with about 15 taps. Boiled Saturday and put together a real rustic Lean-to. Hopefully the start of getting some real equipment. Looking for recommendations on sizing for a 10-20 gallon syrup per year evaporator. Currently using the drum with 2 chafing dishes. Likely get a bucket RO or make one.
Can't seem to post a picture...
Any 2x6 evaporator should work out just fine. Go see Fred at Richards Maple in Kirtland. He would have some good recommendations.Quote:
Originally Posted by agreb12
Nice run over the last couple of days! A little too warm though! I’ll have to say my buckets ran very well!
Same over here, was surprised it ran as long as it did with 55+ degree temps. Crystal clear but only 1.2%, may be looking for a bigger RO...Quote:
Originally Posted by christopherh
I'll second that, Fred has some nice equipment, on the floor, and ready to go. Also knows a thing or two about syrup..Quote:
Originally Posted by christopherh
lets not get too carried awayQuote:
Originally Posted by johnallin
Been quiet on this thread this year...has anyone made a significant amount of syrup, or has it been too warm?
So far, I've got one boil in (Tues night) and other than these next few days, it's not looking too good going into March...
Define significantQuote:
Originally Posted by johnallin
Made a little bit so far this year
In this instance, the same or more than last year.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kh7722
Nice front page spread in the News Herald this morning by the way!
But someone should tell them Presidents Day is Feb 17 not Jan 21?