Red Roof Maples 2011

[red maples]

I only dream of an RO...thats still 2-3 years away yet!!!

[Russell Lampron]

The membrane on the RO is plugged just about solid and it took all day to get my sap to 3%. The wood pile is gone and one of the tires on the sap trailer won't hold air long enough to make it down to the tank and back without adding air. So even though I still had sap coming in I reluctantly turned off the vacuum pump and called it a season.

A great season it was though. I did my last boil last night and made more fancy. I didn't adjust the density and filter it yet so I don't know how much. I still have to finish what is in the evaporator too. I should be in the 280 range when all is done. That is more than 100 gallons more than my previous record of 162 gallons.

The worst part of the season, the clean up, starts today. Boiling the contents of the evaporator in the finisher and getting the membrane out of the RO are the top priorities. Then I will pull the buckets and move on to the tubing.

[red maples]

oh yeah the dreaded clean up...I am there too evap is just sitting with Vinegar solution in it. my taps are pulled buckets are down I just have to clean them and flush tubing, and drain and powerwash the evap pans. and also do a good scrub of the sugarhouse floor.

I keep trying to leave the sugarhouse open but the darn phebes keep trying to get in and build a nest in roof joists

[PerryW]

. I should be in the 280 range when all is done. That is more than 100 gallons more than my previous re.

Wow 280 on a 2x6! I'm glad you guys in central & southern NH had a good season after last year. It looks like pretty close to average year for me even if it quits now.

[Russell Lampron]

Perry I hope that you get the runs to meet your goal. It seems like you guys in the north country aren't having as good of a season as we had down here. Most producers around here broke their previous records by a lot. If I had hit 306 I would have doubled last seasons total and I only added about 30 new taps this season.

[Russell Lampron]

All of the taps are pulled except the three that are in the middle of a small pond. I found out that I have 648 taps on vacuum to go with the 96 buckets for a total of 744. I thought that I was closer to 800 which makes the great season that I had even better.

Now that I know how many taps I have it is time for the final numbers. I made 275 gallons of syrup at .37 gallons per tap. The vacuum taps which are mostly red maples gave up 13200 gallons of sap at 20.4 gallons per tap. My buckets gave up 1160 gallons of sap at 12.1 gallons per tap. The number for the vacuum taps is higher but I don't know how much higher. It was impossible to measure what was coming into the tank while it was being pumped out. At times it was quite a bit.

I have the sap from the evaporator finished and just need to pick up some vinegar to clean the pans. Most of the tanks are washed, the membrane has been removed from the RO and the RO is drained. I still have to wash the buckets when I have a warm day with some decent sun but for the most part clean up is ahead of schedule. It was a sad day when I had to pull the plug on this great season but it is a season that I will remember for a long time.