Western Wisconsin

[Tommoore30]

Hi Ray Maack - Tom Moore in Dell, (hwy P) any update? I'm going to look at 15-20 taps all south fence line in afternoon sun. Hoping to have enough to boil.

[motowbrowne]

Well, thanks for the encouragement guys. I talked tapped our gravity lines and have done about 2/3 of the buckets. Collected about 150 gallons of sap yesterday. Enough to fire up the cooker. Some trees are running a little bit, but most seem dry. Sap in the tank tested at 3.8%, so at least something is on our side. Still keeping our fingers crossed for next week. Temps are supposed to cool down a little. Haven't started leaving the refrigerator door open yet, but it's tempting.

[motowbrowne]

Well, I went to Pittman's yesterday morning and bought all the 3/16 tubing they had. Unfortunately that was only 800', so I'll only get to make one full length run and a short one without the full drop. I have only mild slope, so it needs to run a long way to get a decent elevation change.

I got it strung up yesterday and the drops installed and holes drilled this morning. I put 16 taps on the long line I installed. The tap holes were dry when I drilled them, but just for fun I started the vacuum by pouring about 12oz of water into the line from the top tap. About 5 minutes later, every tap was running! Nothing else in our woods is running today. We'll still have to see how it does over then next week and a half, but I'm thinking that I'm gonna switch to 3/16 everywhere possible. Some taps may only have a few inches of vacuum, but I think I can get 18hg or more on a lot of the woods.

Cody, I'd love to check out your woods or vice-versa. Send me a text if you get a chance 715-222-3237. If I came over there, is there any chance I could come when you're gonna drop off sap at your neighbors? It's always fun to see someone else's rig in action.

[markcasper]

Hi Ryan....so you went for the 3/16" already? Its amazing what vacuum does whether natural or pumped. I came home from work just now and I won't be getting much sleep, tanks will be running over by noon and the sap really cleared up ! Last year I tapped a few that I missed and it had not froze for a few, it was a warm balmy night, nothing at all for moisture when drilled. as soon as I plugged them in, the sap just exploded literally within 5 seconds after putting full vacuum on.

Someone told my wife yesterday that Pittman was having alot of 3/16" plugging up....with what I don't know and wondering if you learned anything?

[motowbrowne]

Hi Ryan....so you went for the 3/16" already? Its amazing what vacuum does whether natural or pumped. I came home from work just now and I won't be getting much sleep, tanks will be running over by noon and the sap really cleared up ! Last year I tapped a few that I missed and it had not froze for a few, it was a warm balmy night, nothing at all for moisture when drilled. as soon as I plugged them in, the sap just exploded literally within 5 seconds after putting full vacuum on.

Someone told my wife yesterday that Pittman was having alot of 3/16" plugging up....with what I don't know and wondering if you learned anything?

Hey Mark, it was nice meeting you the other day.

Yeah, I wanted to see this 3/16 in action without a vacuum pump, so I figured I'd better get on it.

What's Greg's wife's name? I should know, but I forget. Anyway, I asked if she knew anyone running 3/16. She said they had sold some, but hadn't heard anything back about it. I guess I'd think that means that they aren't running any. I figure if they had some installed she would have mentioned something.

I'm glad I did get even one run installed. Without really seeing it, I don't know if I could've pulled the trigger to do the whole woods. Now it seems like it would be stupid to leave them on buckets for next year.

Another benefit I'm seeing is that it'll be easier to find a place to put a taphole. My dad's been tapping here since about '75. Some of these trees don't have a lot of space without old holes. With this tubing I can put a tap higher than all the old stuff.

Glad you're getting sap Mark! If I remember, you've got some time off work starting today. Seems like the timing might work out perfectly. Have fun! Call me if you need a hand keeping up.

[markcasper]

Hey Mark, it was nice meeting you the other day.

Yeah, I wanted to see this 3/16 in action without a vacuum pump, so I figured I'd better get on it.

What's Greg's wife's name? I should know, but I forget. Anyway, I asked if she knew anyone running 3/16. She said they had sold some, but hadn't heard anything back about it. I guess I'd think that means that they aren't running any. I figure if they had some installed she would have mentioned something.

I'm glad I did get even one run installed. Without really seeing it, I don't know if I could've pulled the trigger to do the whole woods. Now it seems like it would be stupid to leave them on buckets for next year.

Another benefit I'm seeing is that it'll be easier to find a place to put a taphole. My dad's been tapping here since about '75. Some of these trees don't have a lot of space without old holes. With this tubing I can put a tap higher than all the old stuff.

Glad you're getting sap Mark! If I remember, you've got some time off work starting today. Seems like the timing might work out perfectly. Have fun! Call me if you need a hand keeping up.

I believe Greg's wife name is Debbie. My wife heard that at church the other night about the tubing "plugging" up and even stories get passed at church. Yes, I don't have a day of work til April 4th so that will be nice. I am still hoping to get a run or two of 3/16 up without a pump. My sap bringing buddy said why don't I look at the 3/16" and what its doing before you turn the pump on some day......made me think a minute. The bad thing is the sugar. Down to 1.7% day before last and expect today will be even lower, but the clarity is much better. Going to be gathering lots this afternoon AND I have an inspector coming Wednesday. Good luck to you.

[pls009]

I am a small sample size but last year (2015) I ran 3 lines of 3/16th tubing with a 100 taps (Buffalo County). I put three vacuum gauges on top of the lines (steep slope) and was able to achieve 28.5 vacuum all season and had a great time with it. I also need to mention that my gauges didn't read that high right away because I failed to put tape/sealant on the treads of the gauge. This year I noticed a couple lines were sagging and the gauges didn't register vac even though there was some sap coming out the bottom. I walked the lines and noticed where the sap wasn't coming thru the T. On two spots, I had wood chips plugging the T - you could see some slime build up on the up hill side of the T. Easy to clean out with a nail. No issues last year and only two issues this year. I used CDL tubing - I did mention my experience to Pittman's a few day's ago and they might have been referring to me. They mentioned that the new Leader 3/16 lines had a different T design, I didn't really follow what they meant but maybe the Leader folks have something figured out there that I am unaware of. Long story short, I think the 3/16th line is great, you really still should walk the lines after the first good flow to make sure everything is moving. Based on my experience, you might not have any issues the first year. I will continue to utilize 3/16 line on steep slope but also have to realize that nothing is ever trouble free. I know my vacuum on 5/16 isn't either or is my bags hanging on the tree.

[motowbrowne]

My Shurflo pumps came at 1:45 today. I don't know how you can order something at 3:00 am Sunday, and Amazon can get it in the car of my Wisconsin Rural Letter Carrier by the time they leave the post office Monday morning. Really not trying to advertise here, I'm honestly boggled.

I didn't get time to cook this afternoon, even though I should have. Had other commitments. Did bring in 300 gallons of sap from our buckets, though. So now I've got about 600 gallons on hand plus what's on the trees. We collected from 2:30 to 4:00, and it hasn't stopped running yet. Definitely slowed down, but still dripping out there.

The minute I went home I went to work plumbing up the Shurflo. I got it rigged up on about 80 taps. It still needs some fine tuning, but it's pulling 12.5" right now. I'm very impressed at it's performance given the price. Tomorrow I'll rig up a recirculation line and try to get that number closer to 20.

Alright, time for bed. Gotta get up early and get cooking!

[Cody]

Now your cooking Ryan.We have been getting great runs on the 3/16line,our last load last night we went over 16000 gallons of sap for the season so far.

[markcasper]

Came in for some coffee......3900 gallons sap between Monday and Tuesday, got it all through the RO once and doing a rinse. Will fire up shortly. The sap that ran on the south hill side today really clouded up in a hurry, so snatched that and ro'ed it straight to the head tank. The syrup I made Monday morning was almost MA and tasted awesome. Other than a little different smell to the steam, I have not detected any bud .....yet. Sugar content of the sap went up about .15-.20 after the couple freezing nights we had, so its between 1.8 - 1.9.

When I picked the last sap up at 7pm, they had almost come to a stop even with full vacuum. I'm thinking there will be a mother load of a run sometime during or right after this snowstorm.