Today (January 5) was forecast to be 40 degrees and sunny. I started at 9:30. It was 23 degrees but warmed up quickly. After noon I was starting to see some sap flow as soon as I drilled a hole. Not...
Type: Posts; User: llew.williams
Today (January 5) was forecast to be 40 degrees and sunny. I started at 9:30. It was 23 degrees but warmed up quickly. After noon I was starting to see some sap flow as soon as I drilled a hole. Not...
I am tapping on January 7 this year. My last two years have been really a low yield, the worst of the 11 seasons that I have been here. I'm relatively low and warm compared to those up in the...
added 27 taps today. It was one of those days when every hole that I drilled immediately started dripping.
I'm about 1/2 done tapping now. I will add more on Sunday.
Starting evaporator...
Put in 80 taps on 1/15
Good sap flow for a couple days.
Waiting till end of the month to finish up. I may save a section for first week in February.
I tapped really early last year and it really...
Excellent sap flow for a couple of days this week. Collected a couple hundred gallons. 2% sugar! Better than my first run. That was about 1.75%. Finished in RO last night. Fired up evaporator this...
Canned 11 pints today. Beautiful light red. Smells wonderful.
Fired evaporator this AM at 4:30 and just sat in that sweet steam and meditated. Ahhh. Been waiting a year for that.
Good sap flow on...
Oops, wrong year. I can't correct it. I don't see any way to change title. I can edit body of the message but not title. Can't seem to delete either. : (
Well, I know what I said. I was going to wait till the end of the month, like old times.
But I was going to test releaser with water today. I thought, "hmm, it is above 40, maybe I could test with...
I haven't tapped yet.
Last couple of years I tapped extremely early since it was so warm. Partially tapped last year on January 6. Syrup in jars on the 10th.
This year I am holding out till the...
I've been wondering.
After a run of sap flow when the weather stays warm for a couple of days and the sap flow slows, I get white nasty, greasy, slimey stuff forming in the lines and releaser. ...
I canned my first run today. 9 pints with a little extra for my kitchen. A very light amber color. I've always been fond of the early syrup. Gotta try it out on some pancakes tomorrow. I collected...
I put in 72 taps today. Every hole I drilled was flowing immediately. The next couple of weeks is forecast to be warm. Too warm. My season has begun. :) I will be phasing in more sections in the next...
I added about 80 taps yesterday and today. Real good flow this afternoon. Every hole i drilled was dripping immediately. Hope it runs through tonight. I've got some sap in "RO" now. Cooking soon....
Had a good run last Tuesday when it got above 50 degrees. Mostly been waiting. Produced a gallon of very good syrup early in the month. I have about 50 trees tapped. I have a couple gallons in...
Only a crazy person would tap this early. Right?
I looked at 10 day forecast . I see every day above freezing with some promise of sunshine.
I tapped one small section today. 14 taps. I had good...
I had good flow for 3 days. Added a few trees each day at lunch hour.
Saving half for the future. Maybe 2 more weeks.
All done for now. It was a good opportunity to test new vacuum pump and...
I tapped one small section this afternoon.
I will be adding more this week when I have time.
Nothing flowing today, I'm hoping to see some sap tomorrow when it gets above freezing.
I bought an...
Good flow today. Adding more trees at lunchtime. Sunshine. 44 degrees. Yay! Hope to fire evaporator this weekend. My Bender Releaser and Harbor Freight vacuum pump are working. Need some tweaks but...
I don't know about you but I am looking forward to tapping in 2017.
I've been studying long range forecasts.
I'm in Monongalia County.
Thinking about tapping January 7 or 14.
Earlier than...
Greetings,
I just pulled my old Bender Releaser out of the box. Releaser is all there. But.
There was a jar with a floating ball in it that went in the vacuum line and made sure that no sap would...
RO working fine. I'm getting the hang of it. % up to around 7.
Thank you Matttuck Madness for the plans.
Fired evaporator yesterday for first run.
Excellent.
Just fired up new RO. Got my pressure up to 120.
Getting 2% sap. After RO I'm seeing 4%.
Thought I might do a little better.
Question: I know I will need to clean with hydrogen peroxide...
Dumb question?
This is my first time using quick connects with 1/4 tubing.
How the heck to you get them to disconnect without destroying them?
Built a system from hodorskib plans. Just ran my first test with some sugar water. Can't wait to try it out on some real sap. I turned up set screw on pump (Aquatec 8800). Can't get it above 103...
I can't take it. It was 45 and sunny at noon. I tapped 6 trees on my lunch hour. Sap is flowing. Will tap more in the next couple of days. Forecast doesn't look great.