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This is one of the better threads we've had in a while.
Good, candid banter here between Dr. Tim and Blissville Maples...and all without poking the other in the eye.
Thanks.

Sorry to hear you had trouble.. I've had mine for 10 years now and so far, it still works just fine. It's only used when I bottle syrup so has had a fairly sheltered life.
In regards to hot syrup,...

- I'd suggest you fire more often and not allow the flue pan to start losing the boil...you're taking 2 steps forward and then 1 back...
- Hemlock and Pine are fast-burning woods and not real high...

Yes he was, and had a special talent for mixing up the English language, kind of a Yogi Berra way of expressing himself.

Every now and then someone has a brilliant idea…@pobryan did just that with his “sailor hat” filter frame.
Came right out of nowhere, revolutionized wool-hat filtering and tried to make a go of it....

Been following your thread…we all started about the same time 2009 +/-

It’s real good to see some “old familiar faces” on MT.

Sounds like you guys are having a much better season than we did...

What works for me is a scrubby pad on a swivel and long handle, scrub away and use sap coming in to clean.
Knocking down the foamy residue and rinsing with incoming sap works very well.

Not too difficult at all. I bought a Wilden pump, stainless steel and FDA approved.
Model no P1/SSPPP/FSS/FS/SFS/0700. Designed to be easy to break down and clean.
Biggest hurdle was a compressor...

This has likely been posted before and I apologize, but I’m wondering if I can run “suspect quality” sap through my RO for the permeate only, or am I just going to really foul up, and possibly ruin,...

We were in sub 30 degree temps both Sat and Sunday. With the warmup forecast for today, I turned the pump on this morning at 8.
By 2 this afternoon maybe 30 gal had come in which was junk in the...

There are no dumb questions…
If the sugars have truly broken buds, you’re finished.
If they’re still tight, you should have some time left.
See if you can get up close and take a good look.

Going down to 30 degrees tomorrow, I checked the reds, they are flowered but buds have not opened.

Vac on this am, have maybe 50 gal of real cloudy sap so far but will keep on until the freeze...

in the event we get a good freeze over Saturday and Sunday…

Going to start vac backup tomorrow, clear out any nasty sap from the lines and make way for one last tank.
Sugars are still looking...

I also have problems loading MT and can only use a Surface laptop or my phone...non of the desk tops (house or work) will allow me to log in, and you're right Ken - it sucks.

So it is possible to pull mostly water up out of the ground. That's really interesting and kind of what I suspected. I swear some of my trees look shorter now :o
Up until Sunday; I had my vac...

I got boil #3 in yesterday, woke up to about 120 gallons still clear although still low at 1.2%.

Not heard any frogs here...but I can't hear for beans anyway.

I 'm sticking it out at least...

Decent run last night, about 1 GPT but really slowed down.
Got 2nd boil in today but RO couldn’t keep up and ended up boiling 2.5% sap.
It was coming in about as fast as the Hobby RO could...

Got a gallon per tap over night. Running through the RO now and will boil today.
It’s still coming in although it’s definitely slowing up.

I’ve got sap coming in today, about 1/2 gal/tap, but it’s only a bit over 1%.
Also looks cloudy but we’re going to boil it off tomorrow and hope for the best.
What a goofy year, starting to look...

Sap Chap is a robot…that’s what I think. :cool:

I’m seldom over 1.5%.
Monday’s sap was right there but by Tuesday it was just over 1%.
Figured we were just pulling water out of the ground so boiled what I had and turned the vac off.

In this instance, the same or more than last year.
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?

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...

I'll second that, Fred has some nice equipment, on the floor, and ready to go. Also knows a thing or two about syrup..

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...