Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[sugartree310]

We are done for the year, we tried to boil yesterday and about a hour into it, it stunk the sugarhouse up bad, haven't seen that in a couple years. I should have known the sap stunk some and was cheesy and filtered hard. I even dumped a lot hoping to start with mostly fresh sap, but it was too late. So, we pulled the plug and let the fire go out. We had a great season. we beat last year by nearly 150 gallons. we made .32 of syrup per tap this year best average we have ever had. Time to clean up, pull taps and replenish the wood pile which got hit hard. then back to digging holes and moving dirt. good luck to all those still going may the sap flow.

[billyinvt]

After decent runs on Friday and Saturday, yesterday was pretty underwhelming for us. Cloudy sap + 1% sugar= all done. Never made any really dark syrup this year.
Over 60 gallons finished on 173 gravity only taps is a good outcome. I've already started a list of things to do before next year and I'm headed out to grab a big pile of poplar this afternoon. Never really ends!

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Dr. Tim. Where are you guys production wise? Have you hit .5?

[TapTapTap]

We're done too. Did one last boil off today. Started cleaning up and pulling spouts.

Total for season = 649 gallons on about 1,500 taps (.41 gal/tap).

Ken

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Ken that's awesome! I've only made 770 off 4000...but we will go until sap turns sour.

[tcross]

between the weather and our sugar content, we're calling it quits after tonights boil. sugar content has dropped quick. was 1.9 sunday, 1.75 yesterday and this a.m's sap from last night was 1.4. with no r.o, that's a lot of boiling. the last 6-8 gallons of syrup we've made has a slight caramel/buttery flavor to it. never made syrup that taste like it. currently sitting at 110 gallons of syrup off my 400 taps. down year for sure!

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr. Tim. Where are you guys production wise? Have you hit .5?

Because of the way we do things (collect sap, concentrate to high Brix, store in refrigerated bulk tank and boil only when our two bulk tanks are full), our syrup production always lags behind our sap collection by several days to a week or more. The crew is boiling today (900+ gal of 35 Brix concentrate, so about 360 gal syrup). Should hit the 0.5 gpt of syrup mark by around lunchtime.

Sap flow has really slowed down in the last few days and SSC has dropped off even more (1.5 and 1.3 Brix in our two sections). Given the hot weather yesterday and today, what is forecast for later this week, and the fact that there are no freezes expected here in the next 10-days, we will likely pull the plug after today or maybe tomorrow. No peepers yet though -- will check again this afternoon. Stopping will avoid getting into a sour sap situation (hot weather fermentation in the mainlines causing an off-flavor). We typically try to avoid making any commercial syrup.

That'll put our total production for 2023 somewhere around 0.52 gpt syrup when all is said and done, which is higher than our minimum target (0.5 gpt), but lower than our average 0.58 gpt. That seems to be the situation for colder bushes in this area this season. Assuming this value stands, that means over the past 20 yrs since we revamped our operation, we've had:

- an average production of 0.58 gpt (6.4 lbs syrup)
- 9 yrs (45%) of production over our long-term average of 0.58 gpt syrup
- 9 yrs (45%) of production over our minimum target of 0.5 gpt, but less than 0.58 gpt.
- 2 yrs (10%) where production fell below 0.5 gpt (2012 and 2021)

We've also grown over that time, from 1,549 taps in 2004 to 6,428 this year. Lots of changes.

[upsmapleman]

I would like to learn something. Everyone talks how many lbs per tap they make and wondered how that is figured. I took my total gallons and multiply by 128 and then divide by number of taps, coming up with 50 oz per tap. Is there a easier way to figure.

[Mooneybc]

Shut down this morning as the sap is quite cloudy and at 1% with a funky odor. Ended up with .33gal/tap. The sap content on average was actually much lower this year for me which has bucked the trend for what other producers have seen. Hoping to get to .43gal/tap next year when I go to 5/16 check valve adapters from my 1/4 inch non cv adapters. Congrats on a solid season to all and good luck to those who are still going.

[Mooneybc]

I would like to learn something. Everyone talks how many lbs per tap they make and wondered how that is figured. I took my total gallons and multiply by 128 and then divide by number of taps, coming up with 50 oz per tap. Is there an easier way to figure.

Take your total gallons of syrup divide by the amount of taps you have (that equals gallons of syrup per tap) then multiply by 11 (pounds per gallon of syrup) that should give you a rough guess of lbs/tap