Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[DrTimPerkins]

Another good overnight run. No totals as yet -- not at work so can only see the tank measurements on H2O Smartrek and our cams. One 3,000 gal tank in the Main Bush full and spilling over into the 2nd tank (photo below). Looks like 4,500-5,500 gal or more yesterday. Sap sugar was 1.6 Brix in the afternoon. Flow continued until until about 3:55am, then stopped. Started up again at 8:45am this morning. We have enough storage (I hope) to let it run, so will wait and start the RO first thing in the morning. Concentrate should fill up a good portion of the bulk tank, but we'll probably let it "chill" and boil on Tuesday.

tank1.jpg

[WestfordSugarworks]

Sap flowed way down but syrup quality still very good. I think a third of a gallon per tap from our Jericho woods today and similar or less in Westford. Make some really good tasting stuff today. I think we hit half a gallon of syrup per tap in our Westford bush today but i'm not totally sure. Crazy to be boiling still. I think we will have our last boil on Tuesday night. Will be good to be done, haven't really realized how much free time it will give me. so used to just working and not thinking about the end, just getting through each week and keeping vacuum up and everything. Peepers started yesterday.

[wiam]

Pretty good flow yesterday after freeze. Colder last night but not much sap today. I guess it’s over.

[rhwells2003]

Anyone else having luck like this with buckets?

I don't think your crazy at all. I've been helping my daughter with her 13 buckets this year and I can tell you for free I'm sick of lugging 5gal buckets of sap from those buckets! 13 buckets, and she just hit 200 gallon mark yesterday!

I think we're pretty much done in my neck of the woods. I thought the sap that came in yesterday smelled sour to me. we'll see what my buyer thinks when he comes to pick it up today. I wouldn't be sad if its done, its been a long season and I've more then met my goals. I'm over 25gpt in my main woods, and around 32gpt on my 3/16 system.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Mediocre sap flow yesterday. Hard freeze last night is giving me great flow this morning. Hoping its keeps flowing well for a great last hoorah.

[DrTimPerkins]

We got a total of 6,496 gal of 1.6/1.7 Brix sap from Friday evening through this morning. Would very likely have been about more if someone hadn't run into a telephone pole along our road which took out our power from 4-11 pm during a good run yesterday. In any case, the RO is running and concentrate is headed to the bulk tank. Just did a test boil of concentrate and it was still good. No odor at all in the sap, although it is a bit cloudy. Going to be rather warm today/tomorrow, so not sure how much longer it'll hold out. No peepers, but they won't be waiting long with temps in the 60s and sunny today and tomorrow.

[spud]

I shut the pump down today. The season was full of problems for me. I bought another vacuum pump this year and plan to get a electric releaser for next season. I foolishly did not use Check valves this year and I regret it. I knew I was setting myself up for disaster before the season even started by not using them. We had about $30,000 in extra expenses this year with kids college and a few kids getting braces. Because of that I tried to save money and bought smart spouts. Heres my SIGN. Haha. My season total was about a .4 maybe a little less. The neighbors around me are at .5+ and Im glad they did well. Good luck to all of you who are still going. I love seeing your numbers. I hope all you Traders have a great summer. God Bless.

Spud

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Turned my pump off. Had a good first season with tubing, collected 18532.9 gallons of sap with a high of 2.4 and my last load of sap at 1.4 percent. My average was 1.78 percent. Total syrup produced was 378.5 gallons.

[GiddingsHill]

Still barely hanging on here, pretty good flow earlier today but I think this is nearly the last of it. Heard the frogs and found a few small wild leeks so I think tomorrow will be the end. Numbers as of now off my 4150 +/- taps:
147186 gal of sap
2709.7 gal syrup (by calculation) 29806.7 lbs of syrup
so .65 gal/tap or 7.18 lbs/tap. No complaints on the production, This year and last Ive struggled to get everything up and tight due to my "full time" job obligations. this meant a lot of head-lamp hours logged tapping and line walking at night. One 500 tap section I added this year wasn't tapped until March 12th, I was disappointed not to have it online from the start but it is running like a son-of-a-gun now. Im curious if that was due more to the late tapping, or new tubing, or both.
Ill be curious to see how far the coldest guys can make it into this week.

[rhwells2003]

Well shut the pump down for the season yesterday. I was happy with the year. I have a total of 518 taps, 80 of which are on a small separate 3/16 system, and pulled a total of 13,275gal. This was the first time I set this up and experimented with the 3/16. I also made the switch on my main woods from a gas powered vac pump to electric. Nice not lugging 5gal gas cans anymore. Also worked on tightening up my main woods, and was able to consistently get 26.5"of vac. Highest I've ever gotten. My main woods ended up producing exactly 25gpt.

I was very impressed with the 3/16. I have 4 runs with 20 taps on each with a vac guage at the end of every run. After a few adjustments in the beginning all 4 vac gauges were consistently 23.5-28". I was able to pull 2,325gal off of 80 taps, so 29gpt.

My daughter had her best year yet with her buckets too. She put out 13 buckets and ended up with 200gal. It seemed like every time we gathered we'd get atleast 10-12 gallons, with two runs we got 21 & 25 gallons. But 15.4gpt on buckets is nothing to sneeze at in my book. I was impressed.

Hopefully get to pulling taps this weekend and wrap things up for the year!