Willow Creek Sugarhouse 2015

[red maples]

Well we got the slight freeze last night and with about 350 gallons from Chris(thanks) while he was at a horse show this weekend, and the remainder mine I had approx. 1150 gallons to deal with today. It was a challenge making holes to put it. Started the RO early this morning. collected all the sap and by the time I was done boiling I went from a tick over Very dark to the lighter side of dark almost close to the lightest I have made all season except the second boil of the year. Finished with 18 gallons for the day. My single best day to date. That puts me at 107 gallons for the season.... So Far. Finally broke 100 gallons and close to 20 gallons better than last year. Sugar has really dropped off but still making nice syrup. Thank goodness for the RO. I wouldn't wanna be boiling that approx. 1.3% sap out (it was a little warm so hard to get a good true reading with the sap hydrometer) so pretty close to 60:1 sap to syrup.

Very hot in the sugarhouse once things got going today, a little sweaty and a nice case of swamp ***!!!

For such a rough start to the season it is sure ending good!!! might be pulling buckets tomorrow they were actually running a little today. We'll keep the vac going for a while not sure how long things will last.

[red maples]

So I think thats it here... Time to call it a season rough start REALLY strong finish and ended up to be a good season no bumper crop for me but will end with approx. 115 gallons finally broke into the 100 club. and most syrup I have made in a season so I will take it. Some day I will make a quart per tap on my reds!!! the suck part of the season is now upon us pulling taps, finishing out the evap, cleaning stuff. I need to bottle about 20 gallons of syrup, then on to trout fishing, bees, baseball, softball, gardens, the honey do list!!! etc etc etc

Good luck with the remainder of the season for those who are still plugging away!!!

[Russell Lampron]

I didn't get a quart per tap here either but it was close. I need to make just under 200 to make it and ended up with 178. Now on to the clean up and other things none maple.

[red maples]

yeah need 150 gallons to reach a quart. some day. If the beginning of the season sap flows matched the temps we got then I would have hit it easy.

[Russell Lampron]

I did the math and actually made .23qts per tap. That 600 gallons mistake on Easter Sunday and finishing the evaporator would have gotten me there. It will happen for you Brad.

[red maples]

Yeah mine worked out to be .193 We did have good sugar again this year. buckets and gravity was well over 2% most of the season except the end and even hit 2.8-2.9 on some days. and vac. reds averaged 2% most of the time as well which they rarely are that high. last year was a pretty good sugar year too So even though sap was down with high sugar I averaged 48.5:1 which was the best sugar season I have had. I also had pretty exact numbers this year too because I bought a water meter for raw sap. but trying to RO 1100 gallons of sap at the end of the season when your at 1.3% sap takes a long time!!!

[Russell Lampron]

The next big thing that I have to do is upgrade my RO or replace it with a bigger one. It takes forever to process large amounts of sap.

[red maples]

mine does a pretty good job. but I don't have 1000 gallons of storage space If I had all my stuff plumbed in maybe but I have a just shy of 600 gallons stainless and several 150 gallons white totes. but like to keep the majority of it in the stainless...much easier to keep clean. So I have to remove water add sap remove water add sap. so it takes alot longer.

[red maples]

Well so far on cleanup... Evap is boiled out and added water and 5 gallons of vinegar while it was still hot niter peels right off its magic swear. I will do a little fire this afternoon after it starts to rain SOOO dry outside. Just a little light scrubbing then over fill and let it set some more. try to get some scale off the sides.

The RO is cleaned and membranes removed plugs removed membranes are in preservative. cleaned a few barrels, broke down the filterpress got that and the hoses and the cart all wiped down. still lots to do... floor is a mess but I'll get there!!! I usually like to scrub it during the season but I was so dam busy I never did it...

[red maples]

Well ended up not going to the BBQ... Friend's daughter woke up with a stomach bug, don't need that!!! so they had to cancel. have a big bowl of coleslaw to eat now kind of enough for my whole neighborhood!!!

so turned it into a productive afternoon. trip to Lowes to pick up stuff to expand the and fix the chicken coop and run. Then turned to tank scrubbing. and cleaning the Tank/RO room. and scrubbed the floor. cleaned an hand full of white 5-gal buckets. flushed out the sap pump. and put the dehumidifier in there for a few days to dry things out in there.

Got that stale sour maple sap smell around the sugarhouse that I always get at the end of the season. usually lasts a couple weeks until the rains wash things out and the soil and mud dry up around.

Not sure if I will get to pulling the taps in the next few days I really have to get the chicken run fixed in the next few days because they are digging up the wife's gardens.... not good for me... so thats priority right now!!!