Ulster County Catskills

[Ghs57]

First ten days went fairly well. New grate works pretty well, so long as I clean out the ashes regularly. Sugar content seems low, but I have not checked it. I'm going to it run anyway. RO next year.

My tap count is under 100 due to the loss of some local trees, but there are still a few trees I can hit on the remote bush. Also, I am following the more conservative tapping guidelines this year: 10" minimum diameter and two tap max per tree.

The warm weather had me collecting and running same day to stay ahead of the flow. Even so, the sap is not crystal clear, and there is an extreme amount of dark sediment in the syrup at draw-off time. Definitely very dark syrup.

Friday's storm left many here without power, but we had no snow. Just wind and rain. The lines are in good order though, with no limbs taking out any lines.

No boil today, but back at it tomorrow if the flow keeps up.

[Ghs57]

Power outage shut me down early today. No lights, forced air or pump. Left about 100 gals in the tank. Will get them tomorrow.

Just when you think you have your equipment all figured out, you have a day like today. I could not find the ideal float level, and was running either too high or too low, with very sporadic draw offs.

I'm over halfway to my average production total.

[Ghs57]

The sap just keeps coming. I'm already past last year's total collection, and that's with fewer taps (100+-). I can't take a day off or I will fall behind in processing. The week ahead looks very good.

The collection numbers this year confirm that there were sanitation issues last year. This year's new taps and drops are paying off already, as is the switch to all 3/16 lines. I have also found that the D&G tubing and fittings are tighter than the Leader and CDL supplies I've used for recent seasons.

No doubt an RO will be top of the list for next year. I will be checking out the DIY threads on these. Hope the wood holds out for the rest of the season.

[Ghs57]

Marathon boil yesterday. I'm already at last year's syrup production number. The wood pile is disappearing.

What's with the niter this year? It's thicker than I've ever seen it. My pre-filters on the draw off are fouled almost instantly with what looks like tar. It's a good thing the sap preheater under the steam hood produces several gallons of hot condensation water an hour, because I need it to keep everything clean.

We have hit 40 degrees today, so time to see if anything is running. Really missing that RO unit - but will have to hang on until next season. The bottler will be next. And maybe a faster transfer pump. And maybe some cam lock fittings. And maybe a concrete floor in the sap house. Is there any end to this?

[ponderingjunkman]

Is there any end to this?[/QUOTE]

NO! I was eyeing a 4 by 14 evaporator on craigslist, but it had sold. But that would have meant a new sap house, more taps,....

[Ghs57]

Is there any end to this?

NO! I was eyeing a 4 by 14 evaporator on craigslist, but it had sold. But that would have meant a new sap house, more taps,....[/QUOTE]


Seems like the Quote button is not working correctly....


You know you need a new sap house! (I have been stockpiling timbers for my woodshed extension on the end of my shack. It's going up this year.)

At least I was able to stop myself from buying more tubing even though I can hit another dozen trees on the end of one line. They will be there next year.

[Ghs57]

I'm sitting on a couple hundred gallons of sap that I plan to run tomorrow. I thought the run from the past two days would be bigger, and if so, I would have boiled today. The overnight temps have been low enough to put ice in the drums, and you can really feel spring in the sunshine.

I figure I'll run another week at least, and keep an eye on the forecasts. It's been so cold this month, but the trees know what time it is.

The new filter/steam bottler arrived today, but without the propane burner. It decided to take a different route, and is somewhere in Indiana. I wanted to start bottling the 30 gallons stockpiled in the shack.

My estimates have me way beyond last years totals, and I probably did not buy enough jars to hold it all. That's better than the reverse.

[wnybassman]

The new filter/steam bottler arrived today, but without the propane burner. It decided to take a different route, and is somewhere in Indiana. I wanted to start bottling the 30 gallons stockpiled in the shack.

Well that certainly sucks.

[Ghs57]

Well that certainly sucks.

I was so disappointed. But I will recover. I'm running out of food grade buckets though.

[Ghs57]

7 hr boil today, and now tanks are dry.

I had an incident last night which cost me plenty. I was reheating syrup to run through the filter, and realized I left the instructions for the burner in the house. So I did the unthinkable. I left the burner on low and went to get the instructions. Nothing ever goes as planed. What should have taken a minute, didn't. I came back to a stock pot of foam. At least 2 gallons on the ground. I have to stop thinking about it.

First critter damage of the season. I couldn't figure why there was no sap flowing into the drum at the shack. This is my lunchbox line. My remote line were running when I collected earlier. It finally dawned on me that either a connection separated, or worse. I found the chewed section easily enough, but I had walked right by it earlier and did not notice the wet ground. I got it fixed, but rather late in the day. Oh, what could have been.

We have had good freezes over the past week, but we are now entering a warm spell. The forecast highs will not be extreme, but no freeze until the weekend, maybe. This could be it folks.