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I started with all 5/16 line and a single 1/2” mainline (no vacuum) and averaged about 0.2-0.25 gallons per tap with ~120 taps. I since converted to all 3/16” and have around 260 taps. Each line has...

We had a sugar house party on Friday and called it a season. Trees slowed way down, the sap is cloudy and smells fermented, and under 1%. The syrup is very dark, but still tasty, it’s time to quit...

As long as the valve doesn’t freeze, an ice block in the sap tank doesn’t matter. After a few hours of running the fresh sap floats the ice block and I can draw sap out of the bottom of the tank. The...

I’m planning on tapping Valentines Day weekend. Mid-February has worked out well for sap production on a northwest facing hillside. My wife delivers flowers, so Valentines Day is big work day for...

My sugar house is 20x30. Way bigger than necessary for a 250 taps/2x6 evaporator operation. I think I have enough space for a couple trusted friends at a time. One already recovered from COVID last...

About 1.8% sugar early in season, 1.2-1.5% for most of it. 0.8% for the last week. Good tasting sap and lots of it, just no sugar.

Last boil today in Northfield. Sap is running 15-20 gph off 215 taps. Sugar is <1%. Only got 2% in early March. Mostly getting 1.5% sap or less. Time to clean up and move on to other projects. Just...

2% at the start for me, then down to 1.3%. Last night I had 1.5% and was happy for that. Otherwise the weather has been good, lots of clear sap. I guess it’s not just my sugarbush that’s not sweet...

For the past 3 years the weekend after Valentine's Day has been a good tapping time in my sugarbush. This year it looks like skiing will be better. We recently got a got 8-10" of snow in Northfield...

I use a 2x4 WSE and let it freeze, sometimes for days and have never had problems. To shut down I’ll draw a 5g pail of sap & set it aside before I start to boil. When the tank is close to empty I...

I don't know how much sap I got, but at 2:00 with 150g in the tank my 213 taps were producing 35gph. After boiling and RO to keep up, at 10:00 my tank was almost empty and the lines were still...

RO was invented for water purification, whether it is iron well water or seawater. It will remove iron, sulfur, salt, or best of all sugar from sap. I will use permeate for rinsing my RO at my sugar...

I've read lots of discussion on budding, buddy sap and how to tell if the season is over by sap or syrup bad taste. For the tree biologists; does the tree bud out because of warm temperature or...

I made 6 gallons of golden on Monday. Was cleaning up yesterday and realized it was Leap Year Golden. Is this a new marketing strategy?13465

I have 3 5/16 lines with 110, 96, and 56 CV2 taps. Only one modest run so far, each line had a continuous stream about 1/2 pencil diameter. It was late afternoon so I couldn't walk my lines to look...

Drywall screw as a tap extractor, thanks I knew I would get a good idea here. I'd rather not be tapping in 5 degrees either, but I had the day off and tomorrow we're getting snow and freezing rain....

I was tapping today and broke a couple of 5/16 taps due to the cold. I drilled the broken tip out, cut off the other half and put a new tap on the drop line. The problem I had was that the hole is...

I had a decent run Sunday from 181 taps on gravity tubing and thought the season was ending based on the warm forecast for this week. Frost on the car this morning, my neighbor checked at 10:30 - 25g...

I only have 1 -275g cage for collection and to feed the evaporator. Yesterday I tested 4.5% out of the tank and 2% out of the sap line, so freezing out the water clearly is happening. That 30g block...

Another reason for a light tractor. I visited the sugar woods of a local county forester and he pointed out that maples have shallow root systems, that can be damaged by ground compression from heavy...

In Central Vermont on a N-NW facing slope I had a small run and some tank thawing on Saturday. It was enough to flood the evaporator and boil for an hour before the iceberg settled onto the bottom...

40 gallons of ice in my sap tank from 180 taps on gravity. No boiling yet, no warm ups in the forecast.

On March 5 I asked how much sap to waste to clean out my lines. The online consensus and from another sugar maker I know at work, is to let it flow to the ground until it looks good and tastes good....

I second the Kubota L3200. I have a small Norse winch and grapple, also quick attach bucket, dump trailer and 3pt hitch wood chipper. I would not get into the firewood business or logging, but this...

Beautiful wood, especially with the family memories included. I use a plastic tent peg hammer from the Walmart camping department. About $3.