I've noticed that the wind has increased too. Mt Washington has seen some record winds recently, 120 mph Wed. night and 170 mph once last month.Originally Posted by Mark B
Blow downs have been supplying us with plenty of firewood for heating and boiling sap the last couple years.
Backyard Sugarin' since 1991
Concrete block wood burner
24 taps on gallon jugs
2' x 2' x 6" SS pan
5 gal. SS steamer pan for preheating
89 Arctic Cat Panther sap hauler
Making a few gallons syrup most years.
Maple Baked Beans
Maple Oat Sourdough Bread
Maple Wine
That same wind folded the U.S.Cellular tower on top of Sugarloaf!!! They figure it was over 150 mph, can't be positive though as the wind meter was also detroyed and that was good for 100 mph.
Another 67 gallons of 2.7% sap collected since Monday's short boil. Mostly off the 67 sugars. The 21 red's buds are starting to swell & are tapering off. Fortunately, I only had one bucket blow off a tree in yesterday's wind, but it was definitely strong.
Maine Moonshine
117 Sugar maples & 60 red maples on 9 acres, buckets, Leader 1/2 pint arch w/36x24 pan
No shack (...yet??)
When you start to hear the spring peepers, you know your taps have overstayed their welcome.
You're braver than me. I thought about boiling Thursday, took a look at the weather forecast, and bailed till Friday. I agree on the pine for firewood. I've got tons of the stuff and it burns hot fast.
I collected 38 gallons for my daughter to boil at her place, boiled 60 gallons today into another 1.5 gallons of darker syrup, and with the trees still producing clear (though lower sugar) sap my wife said keep collecting and boil Sunday and Tuesday. Bless her........one of these days I've got to stop and get to work on something else!
Two 2x4 concrete block arches with three steam trays each
Tapping in Mount Vernon since 2016, 30 to 70 taps, 5/16" tube to 1.5 to 3.5 gallon buckets, some trees on collective gravity tubing to 5 gallon buckets.
Mostly sugar maples, a few reds on 200 year old homestead
Yeah probably won't do that again but all my sap storage was full and with temps in the teens overnight was set to freeze up
if i waited another day.
My clothes were permeated with smoke and steam by mid afternoon.
The wind overhead may have been out of the NW but down on the ground it was all over the place.
Came up with 5 qts , slightly darker than the last batch.
Backyard Sugarin' since 1991
Concrete block wood burner
24 taps on gallon jugs
2' x 2' x 6" SS pan
5 gal. SS steamer pan for preheating
89 Arctic Cat Panther sap hauler
Making a few gallons syrup most years.
Maple Baked Beans
Maple Oat Sourdough Bread
Maple Wine
Pulled off 22 more gallons of sap over the weekend. Had a big boil over yesterday & today and managed to finish off and bottle 2 3/4 gallons of amber, with the remainder in the evaporator to be finished when I have time this week. That's 8 1/2 gallons finished syrup (plus whats left in the evap) out of 335 gallons of sap collected this season. ...And I'm seriously thinking of calling it "taps" after this, as leaf cutter bees were doing the back stroke today in one of my buckets - my cue to bow out. I'm sugar bushed!
Last edited by Peeper; 04-07-2019 at 09:52 PM.
117 Sugar maples & 60 red maples on 9 acres, buckets, Leader 1/2 pint arch w/36x24 pan
No shack (...yet??)
When you start to hear the spring peepers, you know your taps have overstayed their welcome.
Ive got to clean up quite a bit of deadfall and thin the firs out of my bush. That is if the ticks don't carry me off first. The snow just cleared out on part of the property and I already had a tick on me.
2017- Started small-made 7 gallons. Long days & few nights on a 1x2 and turkey fryer.
2018- Bought a 2x4 and built a small scale RO. 21 gallons.
2019- moved up to 100 gph procon for my home built RO. Built a steamhood. About 220 taps and 21 gallons again.
2020- 140 procon on the R0. Added a new mainline at my in laws. 330 taps for 24 gallons, sold excess sap.
Ditto on the "calling it taps." I'm seeing some kind of fly/ bug getting into my sap jugs. I see them every year and it is a signal that time is running out. I'm boiling 65'gallons Thursday for the last hurah which should put me at 12.5 gallons from 468 gallons of sap, not including the 38 gallons I gave to my daughter and 18 gallons in the freezer, so 524+/- total. No wonder I'm tired. That's 105 trips with a 5 gallon bucket just to get out of of the woods. No ticks here yet.........
Two 2x4 concrete block arches with three steam trays each
Tapping in Mount Vernon since 2016, 30 to 70 taps, 5/16" tube to 1.5 to 3.5 gallon buckets, some trees on collective gravity tubing to 5 gallon buckets.
Mostly sugar maples, a few reds on 200 year old homestead
Just bottled off the dregs of the evaporator & ended up with 1.8 gallons of Dark.
88 taps (67 Sugar Maples and 21 Reds) gave 335 Gallons of Sap (still could give more but I'm calling it "taps"Tapps.jpg
yielded a total of 10.5 Gallons of syrup as follows:
5.75 Gallons of Golden Delicate (plus the 16 oz I consumed on waffles off the evap)
2.75 Gallons of Amber
1.8+ Gallons of Dark
(Lest we forget, Lost the 40 Gallons of sap collected that would've yielded a Gallon+ of Light due to the rain & tumble of the tank earlier in the season)
A 3.1% sap average for the season. I'd call that a good year.
That's all folks for 2019. Done. May the drippings be with you!
Last edited by Peeper; 04-08-2019 at 07:53 PM.
117 Sugar maples & 60 red maples on 9 acres, buckets, Leader 1/2 pint arch w/36x24 pan
No shack (...yet??)
When you start to hear the spring peepers, you know your taps have overstayed their welcome.
Mid-week looks good, but I'm calling it a season. Finished up the last batch today. Ended up with a season total of just a tad over 14 gallons, all amber. The increase in sap sugar content really made up for the late start. Cleanup time!
2019 99 taps on buckets (95 red & 4 sugar)
W.F. Mason 2x4 XL
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