Planning on tapping on Sat. weather looks good
Planning on tapping on Sat. weather looks good
150 taps on gravity
6' x 3 1/2' homemade pan
wood fired homemade evaporator out of 500 gal propane tank
2018 ranger sap collector
How did everyone's lines hold up in recent ice storm? I had one line down with tree and all lines were covered completely with approx. 1/4" of ice
150 taps on gravity
6' x 3 1/2' homemade pan
wood fired homemade evaporator out of 500 gal propane tank
2018 ranger sap collector
Yeah I had some damage from Ice. All my lines were sagging and I had one broken and two pull apart from tees, all from fallen limbs. Yesterday and today I walked them all and broke ice off, repaired and tightened. I still did not get them back up to where I'd like and there are still some minor sags. but I think they'll work for the rest of the season. I have all 3/16th, no main lines. So next fall I will have to rework a lot.
We didn't get any in our neck of Lawrence County, just 1 1/2" of rain, and a few snow flurries. Haven't had any sap in a week, still froze up. got another 60 taps in this week, ready for the thaw this weekend! Glad y'alls woods weren't damaged too bad.
'12 15 jugs - Steam pans
'17 125 3/16 - 18" x 72" drop flue on homemade arch
'18 240 3/16 - Deer Run 125
'19 450 3/16 - Converted RO to electric/added a membrane
'20 600 3/16 - Maple Pro 2x6 Raised Flue, added AOF/AUF
'21 570 3/16 - Built steam hood, Smoky Lake filter press
'22 800 3/16 - Upgraded RO to 4 4x40
'23 500 3/16 - Re-plumbed RO, new "Guzzler"
'24 500 3/16 - Steam Away, DIY 8x40 RO
It looks like the next week will keep us really busy with sap. This coming 10 days will probably be the best of my season and then it will start to go down hill. I will probably quit sometime during the first week of march.
Boiled for fist time on sunday from one day of collecting ended up with roughly a 100 gals to boil down, homemade pan worked as it should and very fast after she got up to temp. I'm at roughly 40 gal an hour. Sap hasn't been running very good here at all is anybody else seeing this. I did go recheck all my lines to make sure they weren't broke somewhere since I should be getting flow on a couple of days. Sunday night we got a surprise with about 5 inches of snow that decided to appear, this weather down here is nothing like the outlook was a few weeks ago
150 taps on gravity
6' x 3 1/2' homemade pan
wood fired homemade evaporator out of 500 gal propane tank
2018 ranger sap collector
That's a awesome boil rate! Feels good when your home made stuff works!
We've processed 300+ gallons last week Feb 3, then another 550 this weekend- have drawn off about 10 gallon of Syrup. Have 225 in the tank now, hope to have a good run and get er cooked down before this crazy heat wave comes- supposed to be 65 F day after tomorrow. I'm lovin the RO, last year I had already pulled a couple all nighters, 20+ hours, 18+ hours this year 2x as many taps only 13 total hours boiling in 3 boils already have more syrup than last year.
Hope you all have a good week! Ben
'12 15 jugs - Steam pans
'17 125 3/16 - 18" x 72" drop flue on homemade arch
'18 240 3/16 - Deer Run 125
'19 450 3/16 - Converted RO to electric/added a membrane
'20 600 3/16 - Maple Pro 2x6 Raised Flue, added AOF/AUF
'21 570 3/16 - Built steam hood, Smoky Lake filter press
'22 800 3/16 - Upgraded RO to 4 4x40
'23 500 3/16 - Re-plumbed RO, new "Guzzler"
'24 500 3/16 - Steam Away, DIY 8x40 RO
I was expecting sap all weekend, I boiled for the first time in 10 days today and it was a short day (4 hrs.). I suppose the dam will burst for a couple days then dry up. The whole season has been that way, glad I started early. I'm already ahead of last years syrup total.
I just finished tapping yesterday morning. I decided to start late this year. Last couple of years I've had gaps of 3 weeks or more with no appreciable sap flow. I checked my buckets this morning and I am got a little flow Monday and Tuesday afternoon. Hopefully the dam will break this afternoon and tomorrow. I'm planning to boil on Friday or Saturday, if I get enough sap tomorrow.
Leader 1/2 pint - Kawasaki Mule - Smoky Lake Filter Bottler
24 GPH RO, 2 1/2 x 40 NF3 (NF270), 140 GPH (Brass with no relief valve ) ProCon pump
2013 - 44 taps - 16 gallons syrup, 2014 - 109 taps - 26 gallons syrup
2015 - 71 taps - 13.5 gallons syrup, 2016 - 125 taps - 24.25 gallons syrup
2017 - 129 taps - 17.5 gallons syrup, 2018 - 128 taps- 18 gallons syrup
2019 -130 taps - 18.5 gallons syrup, 2020 ~125 taps-19.75 gallons syrup
It warmed up last night and the dam burst this morning. I collected 50+ gallons and by 9:00 AM when I took my big tank back to hook lines in (I have my biggest tank on a 3pt carrier on my tractor, I put three 3/16th runs into it and move them into a small collection while I'm transporting to the Shack) all my lines were running full streams. It looks like a long day tomorrow.