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Thread: Northern Wisconsin. 2017

  1. #121
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Summit Lake, Wi.
    Posts
    115

    Default

    Ice out yesterday; sap still clear and flow increase with overnight in 20's thursday; tapped a few extra upland sugars to gain some traction on gallons for crucial final boil and pulled the taps on the reds by the water with immanent buds. Brix remains 2.3, same as Feb. I will never tap February again.
    seem to have peaked @ 20 taps: bags on hangers
    Homemade RO
    2 or 3 gallons syrup per annum, formerly with wood fire arch and batch pans
    then Dark Star 2.0 burner and 8 gal Megapot Brew Kettle with ball valve
    transitioning now to 30x17x9 flat pan

    rarely have so few toiled so much for so little

    Sap Aussie Gidget,
    and my one and only Jill

    http://twodogsgonewild.blogspot.com/

  2. #122
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Central WI/Merrill WI
    Posts
    407

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    Sold what sap I had on Friday as buyer is shutting down for the season. Sap is still running. Tank was above 125 gallons and still rolling. Likely to have 200 tomorrow but I'm done cooking. I have one more buyer to check with but if I can't find a buyer I'll give it away or worse yet dump it. It's been hanging in at 1.6.
    2017- 80 taps on 3/16 natural experimenting with Sap Sucking options
    The original Homemade XLE 4040 RO http://mapletrader.com/community/sho...RO-suggestions on a dolly
    7" short stack filter press w/air diaphragm pump

  3. #123
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Knapp, Wis
    Posts
    1,872

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    I boiled the last for the season overnight. I ended up getting 2700 gallons of sap between Friday and Saturday. Made good old fashioned commercial. My north slope bush of 260 taps ran gangbusters and was still running good when I killed the pump at 7 pm last night. Those 260 ran 1100 of those gallons between the 2 days. The last couple of draws lightened way up but the smell was something undescribable. Overall I did pretty good considering all of the February syrup that I wasn't able to get because I wasn't ready that early. I came in with around 2/3 of a gallon per tap. I'd of been darn close to a gallon of syrup per tap I believe if I would have had them tapped early. also was pretty happy with the quality, have a nice mix of all grades this season

    The sugar last night was down to 1.2% which is the lowest that I have ever closed with. Alot of hours just to get another 35 gallons of commercial, oh well. I will boil the flue pan out tomorrow, pull the membrane and then start flushing lines this week.
    Mark

    Where we made syrup long before the trendies made it popular, now its just another commodity.

    John Deere 4000, 830, and 420 crawler
    1400 taps, 600 gph CDL RO, 4x12 wood-fired Leader, forced air and preheater. 400 gallon Sap-O-Matic vacuum gathering tank, PTO powered. 2500 gallon X truck tank, 17 bulk tanks.
    No cage tanks allowed on this farm!

  4. #124
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Central WI/Merrill WI
    Posts
    407

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    I'm pulling and flushing today is the plan. Hated to do it, but 150 gallons left on the ground...
    Last edited by Diesel Pro; 04-10-2017 at 08:47 AM.
    2017- 80 taps on 3/16 natural experimenting with Sap Sucking options
    The original Homemade XLE 4040 RO http://mapletrader.com/community/sho...RO-suggestions on a dolly
    7" short stack filter press w/air diaphragm pump

  5. #125
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Sugar Camp, WI
    Posts
    12

    Default Newbie in the north wondering if anyone has tapped yet north of Hwy 8?

    Hello All,
    I'm new posting to the forum, but have been enjoying reading everyone's posts for several years now. I'm wondering if anyone has tapped yet north of Hwy 8? My sons and I have been doing a very small hobby operation north of Rhinelander near Sugar Camp for a few years now. I felt we tapped too early last year with the bout of warm weather we had in February, and then by the time the run really started in March our taps really didn't run well. So we're trying to game the weather and tap at the very last minute and hopefully not miss too much. Any suggestions or observations from anyone tapping in Oneida County or north of Hwy 8 would be greatly appreciated!
    Happy Tapping,
    Rick

  6. #126
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Amberg, Wi
    Posts
    36

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    Hi Rick, I'm in Rhinelander and I just put out 4 test taps. It is way too early (I think) but the forecast looks pretty "normal" for sap flow in my mind. They weren't dripping so I'll just watch them and see.

    In the past I've tapped way too early (Feb thaws) and I didn't seem to get reduced flow later in the season. I'm on buckets so that helps. My suspicion is that tapping early when the trees might still be asleep means the tap holes won't start healing either. I'm not gutsy enough to tap trees in January to test that theory though.
    2011 - 7 taps, 2 steam pans, block evaporator outside, 4gph
    2012 - 32 taps, 5 steam pans (one drop tubed), block arch under lean to, 10gph
    2013 - 46 taps, 5 steam pans (3 drop tubed), block arch under lean to, 18 gph
    2014-2016 - Can't remember, moved and skipped a year somewhere in there
    2017 - 60 taps, 2x6 pan with drop tubes, under roof (no walls), 20 gph

  7. #127
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Harshaw, WI
    Posts
    6

    Default

    Thanks for the report, Mike. I’m 10 miles northwest of Rhinelander and am really on the fence with when to tap as well. Debating between this weekend and next. Keep the reports coming! Anyone else in the north woods have any thoughts?

  8. #128
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Princeton, WI
    Posts
    4

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    I’m new to posting on this site, been a member for a while now. Been tapping in Marquette and Green Lake counties and there hasn’t been much to speak of for sap yet. 100 on vac, 75 on sap sacks as of now

  9. #129
    southfork Guest

    Default

    It is running well today in Rhinelander on high vacuum. Looking at the forecast, if I was using buckets or bags I would hold off tapping at least one more week.
    Last edited by southfork; 02-28-2018 at 01:51 PM.

  10. #130
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Sugar Camp, WI
    Posts
    12

    Default

    Many thanks for the input everyone! Time for some test buckets for me as well.

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