Ran great here yesterday! almost at a 2 gpt rate! I think I learned a good lesson this year. always have your pump on when it is snowing and above freezing. Saturday it started running like mad at 33 degrees and it was also snowing like crazy... guess that's why they call it sugar snow?! we had our first long boil of the year Saturday... 13 hours in the sugarhouse will tire you out! made a lot of syrup though!
Awfully thankful for an understanding wife!
“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
- Vincent “Vince” Lombardi
Good luck to all!
The "sugar snow" phenomenon was definitely in full effect on Saturday!
173 on 3/16 natural vac for 2023
36 buckets
2 x 5 Smoky Lake Hybrid pan on a custom arch
RB25 from RO Bucket
12x24 salvaged sugarhouse built by wife's grandpa
1965 Massey Ferguson 165 tractor to haul sap.
175 gal of AR yesterday. Sugar content still good (2.3-2.4 Brix). Very little niter. Looking for another good run today.
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
Gusher today... finally
Thought my taps had dried-out, but we're 1+ gpt already today. Might be going-out with a (nice) bang!
I'm at about 3 quarts per tap so far today. Sap is running good and still testing 2%. It should run all night and I hope to get 1.5 GPT by morning. We have a ton of snow in the woods still. I hope I can go till the 20th.
Spud
Sap ran all night but not great. It is now testing at 1.8%. Over the last 24 hours I got 1GPT. I did not get the big Gusher run that others did but thats ok. If it keeps running steady all week I will be fine. I am at .37GPT for the season. Dr. Tim your 2.3% sap is great and that is whats getting you a .5+ every year. Could I trade trees with you? Thank you for posting your numbers.
Spud
had a great run yesterday... slowed way down over night. full tanks in the sugarhouse... throw some ice buckets in the tanks at lunch today and boil all day tomorrow. I didn't test the sugar content, but a taste test tells me it's still around 2.25-2.5.
Awfully thankful for an understanding wife!
“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
- Vincent “Vince” Lombardi
Good luck to all!
Great run yesterday in Northfield
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 running (slower). The syrup lightened up noticeably, but didn't quite cross from dark back to amber. Very tasty flavor. This week's weather doesn't look great for major sap runs, but I'm sure I'll get a bit more today as yesterday's run tapers off. I have just enough wood to finish today. I won't be making any very dark.
Last edited by Geroldn; 04-04-2017 at 06:40 AM.
2013 Started with 6 used buckets, 6 sap sacks, concrete block fire pit in the woods and a 20g Agway galvanized tub for boiling - made 8 quarts campfire grade syrup and got hooked. Over the years I acquired or built a 2x6 Leader evaporator, 20x30 barn/sugar house, home-built RO with 1-4x40 membrane and Kubota L3200 with log winch. In 2020 I was certified by VT Audubon as a bird-friendly producer.
2021 250 taps on 11- 3/16" lines hoping for 80 gal.
Out of control hobby, not a business!
got about 1.5gal/tap in the last 24 hours. Puts me right around my yearly goal of 20gal/tap. Everything from here on out is just gravy in my book
175 gal of AR yesterday. That puts us at a bit over 2,000 gal total or about 81% of our minimum 0.5 gal/tap crop. Should break that mark by Fri or Sat. No freezes in the forecast, but vacuum is still good (despite the high winds we're getting right now) and no real high temperatures forecast, so should be OK for a while yet. Syrup lightened up some and flavor got less intense. Sap sugar content still good at 2.2-2.3 Brix. A little more foaming. Very little niter.
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
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