Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[sugartree310]

We made 62 gallons of AR tonight after making 120 gallons yesterday , sugar has been decent at 1.8% and we saw 3.0% from bucket sap . Going to boil every night over the next few days till this weather changes , sap still running good and may see a light freeze again tonight . We where also taking about that 2012 season tonight also !

[smokeyamber]

Ran really well yesterday, the new home build RO kept up with 48 taps on tubing and the buckets delivered a bunch. Sap still looks good and I am pushing to boil it all before Thursdays 70 deg day. Hoping we get another run, but with close to 4 gallons produced so far I am hoping for 2/3 crop if we don't get another run of good weather. Running the 2x5 last night the stack kept kicking off like a chimney fire... never had it happen so much, but then I had help drawing and was really going after the firing.... fun times !

Fingers crossed the weather turns out colder then they say... people who want summer must think us sugarers are a bit crazy...

[GeneralStark]

Seems as though we had another marginal freeze here again last night. Sap ran pretty well and will likely be another 1+gpt in 24 hours. Boiled about 800 gal today and made 15 gal of DR but only just slightly darker than amber. Sap quality is surprisingly good and it's still coming into the releaser clear. Very little niter so far... drained the syrup pans to clean them and even after two boils they were totally clean with just a spray with the hose. What a weird season so far...

Going to boil again tomorrow and see what I get. I think the cool nights have been keeping the sap quality ok but we're about to lose that so I'm not sure what to expect. One day at a time...

[DrTimPerkins]

Sap flow was only moderate yesterday (light freeze Monday night) and SSC had dropped to 1.5 Brix by the afternoon. The crew boiled and make 560 gal of Amber/Rich. They'll concentrate what came in overnight and may boil out the pans to keep them from going ropey during this hot spell. Very good quality syrup and very little niter so far. We're at 35% of a minimum crop (0.5 gal/tap). Between the hot weather and low sugar it may be hard reaching that point unless we get some real good weather for a few weeks after this. Forecast looking more favorable after Saturday, but time is the only thing that will tell us for sure.

Later addition: About 1.5 gpt overnight (Tues afternoon to Wed morning) at 1.65 Brix. No freeze. Vacuum down to 25.2" Hg due to warm weather (gas production by trees increases when it is hot).

[ronewold]

Can you clarify what you mean by "boiling out the pans"? Does that just mean boiling things to sterilize them before they sit? Or will you be doing some draining of the pans too?
I too am worried about the syrup in the pans during this warm spell- I was thinking about draining the syrup pan for a quick cleaning anyway, but I wasn't sure what to do about the sap pan. I think I have heard folks talk about doing short boils during down periods to keep things from growing, but it is hard to keep from boiling too much when there is only a little sap available to refill the pans.

[DrTimPerkins]

Can you clarify what you mean by "boiling out the pans"?

Given the high temperatures for an extended period of time, we decided to completely finish all the sweet in the pans to preserve all the good syrup we have. We will transfer the backpan contents to the front pan, close off the valve between the pans, and run permeate into the backpan so we can boil. No drawoffs -- all the pan will be relatively homogenous -- we will use a scoop to move syrup around a bit to ensure this. Once it reaches the proper density, it'll go into a drum. We'll then flood the frontpan with permeate and let it soak until we boil again.

We're doing this because we don't want to risk having any sour sap (due to low flows and high temperatures) coming from the lines contaminate the good sweet in the pans, and don't want to risk the sweet going ropey in the hot weather. Doesn't take much time to sweeten our pans when we're starting with 36 Brix concentrate. Typically only takes an hour to get to the first drawoff.

[GeneralStark]

Boiled again today and made almost 20 gal of nice DR from about 1100 gal. of sap. So, sugar at about 1.4. Still boiling well with little niter. Foaming a little more but nothing too dramatic. Fortunately it was cloudy all day so didn't get nearly as warm as the last couple days so sap quality is hanging in there.

The big news here is that the DeLaval service team set up my new refrigerated tank and it's working great. Just some plumbing, a filter change and a refrigerant charge was all that was needed. They were impressed with the condition of the system given it is 1988 vintage...

So, my plan is to concentrate all the sap I have tomorrow morning into the chiller tank. Then I'll see how warm it gets tomorrow and what the sap looks like. I may end up dumping sap if it spoils in the lines. The syrup in the evap. is good so I want to be sure to not contaminate it so will be test boiling anything I collect from here on in.

There may be a chance of getting through the warm spell if the trees don't bud as by Friday evening the temps. will be much more favorable for sap quality and then we should get some freezing temps. by the end of the weekend.

[tapdrinker]

Made 3.5 gal of nice Amber Rich yesterday. buckets were overflowing last night. will boil again today in hopes of 2 more gal.
Glad it's still running. Many family orders still need to be filled.

[tcross]

sap is still trickling in here somehow. hasn't froze in 3 days. yesterday it was testing 1.75%... this a.m it tested 1.5%. I think i'll keep the pump on until it tests at 1% and hope it freezes up over the weekend... fingers crossed! It's supposed to be cloudy/rainy here for the next few days... hopefully that delays my red maples from thinking about budding. still a decent amount of snow in the woods and my pond is still fully iced over. time will tell!

[blissville maples]

Has been a challenging week keeping the sap moving and halfway fresh. I'm not too concerned about budding yet because the roots are still fairly cold and the ground frost is just about out of the ground the north slopes. The trees know what time it is and they know that this is just a fluke in the weather after the first week of March we had! However it definitely got their attention that spring is near so I think they are staging the bud cycle. Syrup just went dark Tuesday so that tells me were only about midpoint or a little beyond, that doesn't mean sap can't go bad. No peepers, ponds still iced, frost just out, and just started making dark syrup are all indications to me we have a couple weeks left especially if the weather straighten out Sunday. Also with all this sun and warm weather the grass hasn't even started to Green up yet. but Time tells all so well find out!!

My new bush is all coming into tank like spring water still clear all the way thru. Old bushs are slightly cloudy sap still, makes me wonder how much effect old lines have on sap quality, but the new bush is mainly north slope with some frost still keeping tree roots cool, and likely sap also.