Willow Creek Sugarhouse 2017

[red maples]

we got about 12 to 13" difficult to measure because of the wind. over the next 3 days we are supposed to have 12 to 18" more so hopefully I can get in most of the taps in the next 2 days but I will chasing leaks in snow shoes for sure. Heading out shortly its only 12*F out I wish it was a little warmer!!!

Thanks Russ, looking forward to a good season I need candy machine and hopefully upgrade my vacuum pump and as usual add more taps.

I got a CDL 1 gallon gear pump cream machine last year it is awesome. honestly takes longer to clean the machine than it does to actually make and jar the cream. I put in one batch that was too cold and it jammed the machine that sucked but I learned to not do that again. saved a nice chunk of money on it too from bascom's spring time open house. Thats pretty much when I stock up for the year and the following season. 10% off that weekend. He's a smart guy too because he knows everyone has money to spend on maple at that time!!!

[sugaringman85]

Looks like you have the same idea as I have. Gonna try to get some serious tapping done before it snows over a foot, on top of the 8-10" we got the other day. If i can have half of the taps in before heavy snow i'll be happy. That is if there are no huge breaks in the orchard. Have not been in the orchard since well before Christmas.

[Amber Gold]

Don't hold back get 'em all in! You've got plenty of time.

We hit a solid 14" here the other day, and they're showing 16-25" (this storm keeps going up) tomorrow with another storm.mid-week.

[red maples]

well lets hope that we don't get another stretch of weather like that until oh... mid april. I like nice weather too but it shouldn't be like that so early in the year. thank goodness for the snow pack which is almost gone by the way. still managed to get some sap even without freezing and being so warm. thank vac for that one. My one gravity line of about 20 big sugars got nothing since Thursday end of day.

squeezed 525 gallons yesterday down to 75 gallons and made about 8 ish gallons just in the canner haven't offically measured yet but should put me about 10 gallons so far. still dark but with an amber flavor. its pretty nice actually. sugar came up too from 1% last weekend to 1.5+ and actually stayed there without the freeze. so hopefully that comes up even more with consistant cooler temps. Feeling a little better about the season. especially with better temps on the way even a freeze up in the forecast. although every station and every website changes drastically on the hour and are ALL DIFFERENT!!! but we get what we get when we can, Right?

going out in the woods to work on leaks today hopefully get the vac back up where it should be. with all the water from rain and melting snow there are parts that are a bit flooded so won't be able to touch those but I already tightened those up. but they should be going down soon.

I will be able to start taping the new 75 across the street today. there are another 50 or 60 over there but I didn't get that far.(next year) but set the tank and releaser got all tied in yesterday. just have to tie it in to the vac line and find a ball for the moisture trap at the releaser. I think my kids took it out of the sugarhouse last year it was a big bouncy ball but it fit perfectly in the sediment filter. (racket ball was too big.) then tomorrow I can hang buckets and get all that stuff done.

hope everyone is having fun, a little tired but thats maple season.

[Russell Lampron]

The sap has been running good here since Thursday on the vacuum. With no freeze and temps in the 60's I got just over 1 gallon per tap for the 2 days. Get your vacuum leaks under control before you add more taps.

I don't know what you're using for taps but using the cv2's has been the best thing I've done here for leak control. They don't loosen up on hard freezes, you can tell immediately if you have a hollow tree or if it's just gas and micro leaks are non existent at the tap. My system is so tight that the flapper in my releaser doesn't tap at all most of the time.

[red maples]

yes I wouldn't let him run it yet. but maybe he can fire it!!!

not much at all today it did manage to get to 41 here but took way too long to get above freezing and then releasers were frozen up by 6pm. especially after the freeze we just had. its gonna take some time for the trees to get going. ice in the ground now too!!!

looks like another possible real hard freeze up for next weekend too.

just need about 30 more gallons of syrup to get me through maple weekend. I am sure I will make much more than that by then!!!

[red maples]

Well the first boil is done. Had 690 gallons and was able to bring it up to 15% no problem. Love that water sucker!!! (RO) and was able to get everything sweet plus make a few gallons of syrup, first time for me on a pan sweetening. Came out a hair over dark but might be lighter seems like I was drawing off a bit heavy I will recheck and thin later. good to have that sweet smell . had a bit of a foam up I always forget about that first boil heavy foam!!! it was fine forgot to add defoamer and then opened the door on the hood and oh crap... foamed out a bit... oops. happens every year.

but all went pretty smooth still getting dialed in for correct blower adjustment etc.

We weren;t supposed to get a freeze last night but we did!!! releaser was frozen up last night about 10:00. got down to 29* F for most of the night. thank goodness... 3 or 4 days coming up with no freeze so vacuum will be running hard for all that time at this point next week's weather looks perfect I hope they are correct!!! fingers crossed.

Will be able to get out into the woods a bit today.

[Russell Lampron]

Glad you had a good first boil. I love my RO too. It makes pan sweetening go a lot faster. I didn't have it get away from me but I had a lot of foam on my first boil too. I didn't go below freezing up at the house but the releaser was froze up this morning and it wasn't supposed to freeze here either.

[red maples]

I saved mine instead of boiling. I have heat wire that I put around my float box so its all good. and I made sure my tank was drained well. I have about 275 gallons. once I squeeze it won't but enough to kill anything in the pans and maybe make a few gallons. should be for some good steam though cold but windy as hell still!!! but then again when its that cold even a little breeze sucks. I am getting bags and holders ready today then tapping them tomorrow after work. Everything is frozen anyway, I don;t expect much of a sap run tomorrow after this much cold its gonna take a day tues/wed/ thursday should be sunami!!! at least I hope anyway!!!

On a good note I think I am finally getting my son more into maple. We went up to sunnyside for some containers and supplies(so I can get a jump on confections for maple weekend. and then too a ride up to windswept to the other moores and he was getting excited a little see the bigger evaporators. and was making fun of my little 2x6. He bottled up 10 gallons of syrup for me and is excited to do more. I have about 12 or 13 gallons in the other canner for him. he gets board boiling but he's 11 not sure if he is ready to put in or not. pretty hot!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Teach him how to fire the evaporator. Boys his age love to play with fire and it will keep him interested. Watching the thermometer is boring but firing will keep him moving and interested. He's probably too young to trust to run the evaporator by himself though.