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Thread: 2017 Western Wisconsin

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Atlas, WI
    Posts
    22

    Default 2017 Western Wisconsin

    We put out about 225 bags today. Sap was running in almost every hole we drilled.

    Luck, WI area.
    Trade River Sugar Bush
    Atlas, WI
    3'x10' Smoky Lake Evaporator
    Polaris 800 Ranger UTV
    36' x 56' Sugar Shack


    2016 300 taps
    2015 - 200 taps
    2014 - 200 Taps
    2013 - 200 taps

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Wisconsin, Spring Valley
    Posts
    185

    Default

    Had our tree's all tapped by Friday 2/17 2017,the sap was running pretty good but not great .Collected just short of 3000 gallons before this last freeze up .Checked tree's yesterday afternoon and they were starting in again,but not enough to collect,see what today brings.

    Sap Hauler
    -1996 Ford F250
    -2003 Yamaha Grizzly 660
    2016 Year:About 925 Taps on 3/16
    2015 Year:About 775 Taps
    2014 Year:About 270 Taps
    2013 Year:About 265 Taps
    2012 Year:About 200 Taps
    2011 Year:About 200 Taps
    2010 Year:About 65 Taps

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Wisconsin, Spring Valley
    Posts
    185

    Default

    Tree's let lose Sunday afternoon,between Sunday and today collected just short of 5000 gallons of sap.

    Sap Hauler
    -1996 Ford F250
    -2003 Yamaha Grizzly 660
    2016 Year:About 925 Taps on 3/16
    2015 Year:About 775 Taps
    2014 Year:About 270 Taps
    2013 Year:About 265 Taps
    2012 Year:About 200 Taps
    2011 Year:About 200 Taps
    2010 Year:About 65 Taps

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    River Falls, WI
    Posts
    831

    Default

    That's GREAT Todd (Cody)!

    I brought in 1150 gallons from 300 taps since 9:00 Sunday night. I cooked for the second time today and drew off for the first time. Made some very very light syrup. I'm glad to see the cold forecast. It'll be really nice to have a break from sap for a few days and be able to clean up after all this wind, plus get my shack tidied up and try to chase a few vacuum leaks. Overall, I'm very very pleased with how things are going so far. So much has come together in the last 3 weeks. If you'd told me when I broke my ankle that in three weeks I'd have most of my taps in, that I would have brought in 2000 gallons of sap and I'd already have 25 gallons cooked, it would have been tough to believe.
    -Ryan


    Went off the deep end. Might be in over my head...

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Knapp, Wis
    Posts
    1,872

    Default

    Good for you Ryan! It was an amazing run from Sunday to Tuesday. I just got the last of the tubing tapped last Friday and all the vacuum leaks taken care of by 10 pm Sunday night and WOLLA! The strongest of the run occurred from Sunday night on into Monday morning. Sunday night into the wee hours Monday they ran a gallon per tap in 6 hours! I have 3000 gallons brought in and there is another 2500 out there yet and thats from only 900 taps. I was totally not ready for that. My staying up all night Sunday night to get the evaporator and RO ready turned into gathering and finding more storage space. Now I have 3 days off to figure out how to get this all handled. Its going to be a challenge now with keeping stuff from freezing. Good way to burn an evaporator up.

    And this ....wind, what a PITA!
    Last edited by markcasper; 03-08-2017 at 06:11 AM.
    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!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    River Falls, WI
    Posts
    831

    Default

    Hey Mark, when we didn't hear from you for a couple days I figured you must be swimming in sap over there. Glad to hear you got tapped out right in the nick of time!

    I know what you mean on everything freezing. I just checked the forecast, and they cooled it down AGAIN. Now they're giving us 5 degrees for the low tomorrow night. A week ago they were showing good sap weather all week. Crazy that they've changed it that much. Anyway, good luck getting all that sap dealt with; it's great that we're off to a good start and it's still so early. Let's hope we can get caught up during this break and then get another few great runs.
    -Ryan


    Went off the deep end. Might be in over my head...

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Wisconsin, Spring Valley
    Posts
    185

    Default

    Great going guys.Its amazing what them trees will put out when conditions are right.Last night when collecting,just shut pump off heard a tree start to break,looked up the trail and a big dead elm come down about 100 feet from us and just missed the mainline running to tank,some branches did hit but no damage.

    Sap Hauler
    -1996 Ford F250
    -2003 Yamaha Grizzly 660
    2016 Year:About 925 Taps on 3/16
    2015 Year:About 775 Taps
    2014 Year:About 270 Taps
    2013 Year:About 265 Taps
    2012 Year:About 200 Taps
    2011 Year:About 200 Taps
    2010 Year:About 65 Taps

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Knapp, Wis
    Posts
    1,872

    Default

    I had south side taps running right now today and both those tanks are running over. Just got back from Fleet Farm buying electric cords and brooder lamps to keep tank valves from freezing. I'm going to have probably 6500 gallons sitting there. Looks like I'll be ok if I can get everything brought in before tomorrow night and a low of 2 above. Going to start the RO in the morning and hopefully by concentrating will be able to shove off the amount of ice developing in the tanks. I guess I'd rather cook with temps in the single digits than cook in this wind.
    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!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Knapp, Wis
    Posts
    1,872

    Default

    Got 5500 gallons of sap from the run earlier in the week off 900 taps, on top of the 700 gallons from a week and a half ago. Unbelievable to say the least. It was a granddaddy of runs that for sure. I was able to get the RO going yesterday and concentrated about 1/2 of it. I was running it "tight" because I was out of storage space as I had to pick up 1200 gallon that was in the woods yet. The concentrate was coming out at 31 degrees as I had it going slow and extra long hose to reach an available tank. The extra long hose was allowing it to get that cold.

    I was planning to cook, but with these temps, I think I am going to concentrate the rest today and let it until Monday as I have to work both Saturday and Sunday. I will avoid having to deal with the evaporator freezing this way.

    I really don't know what kind of grade all of this is going to make, I am in unchartered territory with having concentrate sit for 3-4 days and the sap being more than that. The stuff is cold and have read on here of people making medium amber even after having concentrate held at freezing for a week.

    I had some RO issues and they had to come out, so I am still behind the 8 ball. Going to finish putting evap. together and clean some drums.
    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!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Location
    Central Wisconsin
    Posts
    428

    Default

    Did anybody check what % the sap is running at?

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