Green county '18

[ponderingjunkman]

Went and counted all our line taps- 246. With 266 buckets, for a total of 512 taps. Buckets were not running yesterday, but the lines were. According to the leader sap hydrometer, we have 1/2 of 1% sugar content. Supposed to freeze tonight, so we should get a run Tuesday, likely boil Wednesday. We sure are going thru the firewood!

I got to thinking that it seemed unusual that the sap we left sit a couple days didn't spoil. Of Course! There's no sugar in it to go bad!20180225_164557.jpg at least the barrel is full!

[YBSean]

Check calibration temp on hydrometer and take temp of sap in tank. I have one from Bascom that says 38F. You add 0.1% sugar to reading for approx every 10F in higher sap temp. Most maple books have a table or chart of the conversion numbers.

My refractometer typicaly reads about 0.2% higher than sap hydrometer with temp conversion. I zero the refrac with distilled water before each set of measurements. Keep your instruments in same general area as sap so everything is at close to the same temp.


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[ponderingjunkman]

Well, what I thought would be a good run Tuesday was not! Saw 28 degrees Tuesday morning, but got only 215 gallons. But I did dump 50 gallons- I snagged a couple 275 gallon totes, but didn't properly research here first, and thought that scented soap would easily wash out! Nope! Lesson learned! Guess I will make stainless tanks to go in the cages, I have a few sheets of 22 gauge stainless sheet. Oh well-seems like the sugar content is going up, sap tastes sweeter, and Wednesday's boil yielded 5 gallons and a pint! That works out to 41.95121951 to one? Better than the previous 60 to 1! Also, a customer came and bought 5 gallons! Also got a lead on a bunch of slab wood that may help us finish out the season if our wood supply runs low. Today was spent battoning down the hatches for this storm. I hope the snow and cold improves things. We will see!

[ponderingjunkman]

It's running! 4 hours time this afternoon, one main line with 85 taps on 3/16 filled a barrel! Tastes sweeter too! We had 15 inches of snow, and no power most of the storm. Walked the lines repeatedly, as trees and branches were breaking all thru the storm, until the wind picked up. No major damage tho, only one line parted from a tee when a branch fell on it. Heavy Wet snow, just up the hill in Windham There Was 38. Cool!

[ponderingjunkman]

Boiling during the Calm before the latest storm!

[ponderingjunkman]

It's been running, but sugar content is a consistent 50 to 1, based on gallons boiled vs syrup produced. Seems sweeter tasting the last couple runs tho. Good run today again, and it's still running, 34 degrees. We are at 76 gallons for the season so far.

[ponderingjunkman]

Well it ran slowly after this freeze. Guess it took a bit to thaw. Oddly, the buckets out produced the lines. Sugar content still at 50 gallons sap to one gallon syrup. Despite all that, we have exceeded 100 gallons! Finished the run at 108 for the season- a new record! Woohoo! Looks like more to go yet, but this coming week is showing a warm up, I bet we hear peepers a week from now.

[ponderingjunkman]

And just like that, it's all done! 134 gallons, and 3 quarts! Never thought we would make THAT much! 6835 gallons of sap. 50.7 to 1. Odd, we will pull taps with snow still on the ground. No Flow today, No freeze last night, and none forecasted till the weekend. Taps went in almost 6 weeks ago. Time to recover, do real work again, and catch up on everything that has been neglected the last few weeks!