Tapped in Rowley

[eustis22]

It may not be it for me as I am extremely disappointed in my net production.....almost 300 gals of sap and I'll end up with about 1+ gallon of syrup (detailed elsewhere). I have a number of trees I DIDN'T tap and I may mount buckets on them for this weekend's freeze and see if I can't coax a few more gallons into the pan.

[eustis22]

Good news...I think I'll have 30+ gallons of good sap for at least one more boil Wednesday night.

[eustis22]

Time to get this parted started!

Wood laid in? Check

Shack roof shored up with 4X4s? Check

new 5/16 tubing lines set up out back? Check

front 3/16 lines checked for squirrel damage? Check

DAMAGED front 3/16 lines replaced? Uh, no

New door for stove? TBD

Hose and pump acquired to reduce bucket carrying? TBD.

Bring on the snow!

[eustis22]

And we're OFF!

All the 3/16 is tapped, and just the 5/16 is left to do. I'm hoping today will flush the tubing.

[eustis22]

I am trying a couple of runs of 5/16 on a low slope out back and last night I got them tapped (with a side benefit of snowshoeing to break out to them). Dr Tim has said that 5/16 will facilitate gravity feed on low slope so I'll see what the next few days bring. Just in case, does anyone near Haverhill have a shur-flo vac setup I could take a look at? I've seen pics and I know/have what I need for a set up but the mechanics escape me.

[eustis22]

Well I don't need the pump as the 35 gal tank filled nicely from the 5/16 after I tensioned up the lines a little with some bungi cords. yesterday I tried my first boil but ran into a glitch. Actually I have a number of them:

Issue...the ends of my stove are separating from the top leaving up to 1/4" gap into the firebox
Cure:...welded angle iron all around to seal the gap
Result: because the angle iron isn't flush against the sides, flames are shooting out the gaps
Task: remove the angle iron and seal the seams with refractory cement and live with it for this season. In hindsight, angle iron was the wrong material...I should have used flat pieces all around.

So the plan to pump the downhill barrels into a barrel in the truck to bypass lugging buckets up the hill worked ok. The extra pump I bought is unnecessary so if anyone needs a brand new 120V 1 HP pump let me know. The only issue is it takes a while to drain the barrels into the tank...could be hose diameter, could be size of the pump I am using, I'm not sure. I will live with it for this season.

I have about 80 gallons collected so far with the sweetening to resume once I fix the stove.

[eustis22]

, this has been the most fitful start I've had in a few years. I think (and hope) that I finally have solved (for this year) the excess flamage issue from the sides of the pan....

I've also used some ceramic blanket on the door side of the stove to try and prevent any more warping. I will probably re-brick next year to fully insulate all the way around. Tonight will be the test before the part saturday.

I had to let my taps run onto the ground for a couple barrels as I have 70 gallons in the tank, plus another 55 in one barrel, 35 in another and 4 full buckets still to collect. I hope to get thru that sunday so I can start collecting again in time for the resumption on normal conditions. I'm a little alarmed at how warm its gotten so fast, though. Usually I get 350+ gallons a season.

[eustis22]

Welp, the front of the stove is too warped for the door to close tightly now. I've had to turn off my AUF to preven flames from shooting out the gap. Reluctantly this will be the last season for The Stove That Started It All. The stove will do for the rest of the season.

I will bite the bullet and get a new hobby xl from Bill Mason which comes with a pan so I'll sell my Phaneuf at the end of the season.

I will finish the sweetening tonight.

[eustis22]

Bumping this thread...I wonder whatever happened to Sam? Well, in Haverhill my sap has been running down my tubing like mad, but I'm nearly out of wood so anything coming out now is gonna go on the ground, sadly. I think maybe next year I wait a little bit longer before starting (yeah, good luck with that) so as to take more advantage of the sap later in the season. The early sap was only 1-1.5% and the current seems to be up to 2% at least. I will definitely go with a homemade RO system next year as I'm tired of running out of wood before I run out of sap. So far I've finished about 4 gallons, with 4 more near to process, plus at least 100 gallons more sap to boil. I will have final numbers by next week, I think.

[eustis22]

pulled taps yesterday, 50 gallons still to boil.