2014 - 30 taps
2015 - 50 taps
2016 - 140 taps
2017 - 115 taps - 85 taps on 3/16, 30 buckets
2018 - 150 taps, all 3/16
Smokey Lake 2x3
Homemade 2x XLE-4040 RO Unit
Kubota L3940 - big sap hauler
Polaris Sportsman 570 SP - little sap hauler
I'm 1:20 remote from sugarbush, so I let run awhile between boils, and time is at a premium, so I try to oversize things
Seems like there's an old sugarmaker's tale floating around out there.
According to this study uvm.edu/~pmrc/vacsap.pdf, (and the one from 1974 that it references) vacuum & tubing have no effect on sugar content.
Doug
Maple Creations
Coatesville, IN
350 taps on 5/16 tubing & 4 Lunchbox pumps
MemProTec Concentrator 300 RO
Wood-fired 30"x8' D&G Model 500 raised-flue w/Steam hood & blower
Smoky Lake finisher, D&G filter press,
http://www.facebook.com/maplecreations
Nice, Phil - that's a workout! I went down today on my way to the IU game and things were flowing nicely! I collect in 3 different containers, so it was hard to tell, but it looked like I had about 80 gallons. I brought 15 home to test my homemade RO and left the rest. I was going to dump it because two of my lines had a bit of mold, but they were the last to start running so I only had to dump a little from one container - the lines cleaned out almost as soon as it started running. Looks like the next two days will be cold enough to keep what I have from spoiling...looking forward to boiling this weekend! If the forecast holds it should be a nice four or five day run.
2014 - 8 taps, turkey fryer, 130 gallons sap, just under 2.5 gallons syrup.
2015 - 50 taps and counting.
2016 - 60 taps on 3/16 and a Bill Mason evaporator on order.
2017 - 115 taps on 3/16, homemade r/o.
2018 - 150 taps on 3/16, r/o a big help, but lots of leaks killing yield.
2019 - sticking with 150 taps or maybe less, focusing on good vacuum and less waste to increase yield. Doubling up my r/o, and made a vacuum filter that looks promising.
Similar situation here dsaw. First two years on buckets sap was at 2%. Third year I started using 3/16 with a pump. Sap dropped to 1%. Using 3/16 this year as well. Last evening I boiled 82 gal to yield a hair over a gallon of syrup. Can't say if it's the tubing or what the reason for the drop is. That being said...I doubled my syrup last year because of the tubing. I only have 27 taps on the tubing so it's not a big deal.
2014 - 14 taps - cinder block arch - 18x24 flat pan
2015 - 45 taps on buckets - homemade arch from 250gal oil tank - 28x49 flat pan by Smokey Lake
2016 - 50 taps - 26 taps on 3/16" tube with a diaphragm pump - 24 taps on buckets
Checked 3 or my 4 3/16 runs, in the dark, not much sap. I was hoping to test the RO tomorrow, but not enough to fire it up. One of them has a leak; so I need to learn how to find those. Looks like I'll be putting up buckets tomorrow.
2014 - 30 taps
2015 - 50 taps
2016 - 140 taps
2017 - 115 taps - 85 taps on 3/16, 30 buckets
2018 - 150 taps, all 3/16
Smokey Lake 2x3
Homemade 2x XLE-4040 RO Unit
Kubota L3940 - big sap hauler
Polaris Sportsman 570 SP - little sap hauler
I'm 1:20 remote from sugarbush, so I let run awhile between boils, and time is at a premium, so I try to oversize things
First boil of the season tomorrow. Collected approx 85 gallons this week.
Sugar content is not what I hoped for thus far. The 150 gallons boiled yesterday and today yielded 50:1.
I have to admit it's a bit of s*%t show when I go down to boil. It starts out great with tracking gallons of sap and ro rate, then I get working on firing up the evaporator, pulling some sap out and putting it in a bucket heater to increase my ro rate, but then throwing some on the evap because I figured slightly preheated sap would get to boil faster, putting some ro sap with some raw sap into the evaporator when the boil gets ahead of my ro...oh, and it's 5:30 am and I've been up for 23 hours. Anyway, I think I worked my way from about 175 gallons of sap to 7 gallons of near syrup between 5:00 pm yesterday and 5:00 tonight. With time spent walking lines, talking to neighbors, hooking everything up, splitting wood, heating up (should have started fire in the evaporator early instead of waiting 5 hours) and cleanup, a three hour nap, etc. I was pretty pleased. It was so warm today (75) I could see a change in the sap I got to later today vs the first pulls. I am pretty sure it is ok, but I had to change my ro pre filter when I got to the later stuff. That's usually a sign that the end is in sight for me... plus I heard peepers last night. I hope we have another week or two!
2014 - 8 taps, turkey fryer, 130 gallons sap, just under 2.5 gallons syrup.
2015 - 50 taps and counting.
2016 - 60 taps on 3/16 and a Bill Mason evaporator on order.
2017 - 115 taps on 3/16, homemade r/o.
2018 - 150 taps on 3/16, r/o a big help, but lots of leaks killing yield.
2019 - sticking with 150 taps or maybe less, focusing on good vacuum and less waste to increase yield. Doubling up my r/o, and made a vacuum filter that looks promising.
I had a learning, but frustrating weekend. On a good point, the 3/16" was really flowing. I collected about 300 gal of sap and one of the 55 gal drums was overflowing when I got there. Then I tried to fire up my RO for the 1st time, and I couldn't get my high pressure pump to stay on. It kept shutting it-self down, and I'm not sure why (although I'm leaning towards electrical imbalance from running a 110v 3/4 pump and a 220v 2hp off the same drop; that or I'm falling in a strange point on it's performance curve that it doesn't like). So I figured out I could run it just on the feed pump, I just couldn't get the thru-put I wanted and it really fell off after concentrating to 5%. But when you're starting with 1.5%, that's still a huge help. Once I resigned myself to a limited RO, I thought I was doing good. I had my little 2x3 pan ripping through 12+ gph with a very crude AUF and a preheater; when I drew off too much syrup and burned my pan. So I drew off about 1/2 gal of good syrup, but the rest is relegated to cooking duty. I finished the burnt syrup this morning in a finishing pan while cleaning the main pan and froze the remaining concentrate for next weekend. I also heard peepers this afternoon, and I'm wondering if the season is about done looking at the weather.
2014 - 30 taps
2015 - 50 taps
2016 - 140 taps
2017 - 115 taps - 85 taps on 3/16, 30 buckets
2018 - 150 taps, all 3/16
Smokey Lake 2x3
Homemade 2x XLE-4040 RO Unit
Kubota L3940 - big sap hauler
Polaris Sportsman 570 SP - little sap hauler
I'm 1:20 remote from sugarbush, so I let run awhile between boils, and time is at a premium, so I try to oversize things