Southeastern WI 2020 Tapping

[littleTapper]

Might not be a lot of us in the southeastern corner on here, but it's worth a thread of its own. Who's in already? Currently sitting at 2.25 gallons/tap so far. Silver maples have been running really well until yesterday. Sugars just getting going but got rolling well on Monday. Riding out the upcoming bit of cold with a nearly full IBC tote (could use some ice given the upcoming temps so I'll let it make some ice) then RO and boil this weekend.

Had some folks stop and chat while I was checking my vacuum lines a few days ago. Hopefully they see this. Maple makes you meet some nice folks and I hope we all have a great season!

[Trapper2]

Jealous!! I went up to the Cabin central state yesterday, cut in 75 taps to the lines. Also staged 100 buckets to tapping areas. Sugar house now is wired for the generator. I'm tapping Sunday.
Have a great season little Tapper.

[littleTapper]

Jealous!! I went up to the Cabin central state yesterday, cut in 75 taps to the lines. Also staged 100 buckets to tapping areas. Sugar house now is wired for the generator. I'm tapping Sunday.
Have a great season little Tapper.

Hope you have a great season as well!

[bprifle01]

I put in 12 taps Saturday afternoon because a friend wanted to learn how to tap. She got very excited when sap ran out of the freshly drilled holes! I've gotten about 15 gallons between Sat. and Sun. Now with the cold setting in till the weekend I don't expect much of anything till Monday.

[gatzow]

Tapping today. Should have 90-100 taps on bags when all said and done. Storage tank is clean, evaporator is clean, bags are on holders... I have a bucket with taps, drill, rubber mallet... what am I forgetting?

We still have some deep drifts in areas so I hope the ranger can get through the snow!!

[clifford5555]

Hey Guys to my south! Good Luck to ya!

I boiled and used my new RO on Thursday.... I tapped on the 18th in Neenah. Got about 12 gallons sap on 4 trees. I do it for myself and I share my extra with my family. The RO made me almost not need my arch. I only had 3 gallons of sap after I got done running RO for 3 hours. LOL, very shocked. Pulled about 22oz of very nice Light Syrup.

Used some new filtering techniques I learned from Smokey Lake Class and wow, its so much better than last year. looked like store shelf stuff. I think you can still do good with cone filters...man I was in love with the filter press she showed us. (another 800$)

@bprifle01...Hey bud, I see you bought a fancy evaporator! congratz! I was at the Smokey Lake filtering class on feb 15th...and wow I wanted everything, but with only 5 trees and last season my 1st I had 80 gal of sap, I just couldn't see spending 1000$+ on a evaporator, even the small one. I might upgrade and buy an nice pan for my arch with a pour off spout. But what made ya go for the fancy stuff with your size of operation?

Good luck! Hoping for a BIG week!

[bprifle01]

clifford555
My decision to upgrade to a "real" evaporator was based on a couple of different things. First, I wanted to speed things up a bit. Boiling all weekend long wasn't as much fun as it used to be. And second, I promised to give all of my old stuff to a friend and her husband to get them started in this great hobby.
The StarCat evaporator and the flat pan aren't much of a change size wise from what I had been using, but it is an airtight arch and I have struggled with getting good under fire air. I think that alone will have to improve my boil rate.

[littleTapper]

First boil yesterday. Had 220 gallons I started concentrating Saturday night and the trees sure pushed a ton out while I was boiling - probably another 40 gallons of the 43 vac trees. Had the RO and the evap timed just right that my sap tank was nearly empty at the same time I pumped the last concentrate to the head tank. Gotta say, not sure why I didn't build a RO sooner. What a time (and wood) saver! Got a good, light, 4+ gallons pulled off the evaporator and will fire up the RO while I'm at work (via my phone, yay technology) so I'm ready to boil again when I get home from work. Had about 100 gallons of sap in the tank when I left this morning.

Forecast here is way too warm though. 10-day forecast shows tonight is the only night it's supposed to freeze until Friday night.

[gatzow]

First boil yesterday. Had 220 gallons I started concentrating Saturday night and the trees sure pushed a ton out while I was boiling - probably another 40 gallons of the 43 vac trees. Had the RO and the evap timed just right that my sap tank was nearly empty at the same time I pumped the last concentrate to the head tank. Gotta say, not sure why I didn't build a RO sooner. What a time (and wood) saver! Got a good, light, 4+ gallons pulled off the evaporator and will fire up the RO while I'm at work (via my phone, yay technology) so I'm ready to boil again when I get home from work. Had about 100 gallons of sap in the tank when I left this morning.

Forecast here is way too warm though. 10-day forecast shows tonight is the only night it's supposed to freeze until Friday night.

Forecast looks wild. A real lack of freezing temps at night. Love seeing temps in low 40’s but what happened to the 20’s at night??

[littleTapper]

Yeah, forecast sucks. Temp last night didn't drop as low as forecasted either. Clouded up too quickly, maybe? I only had a low of 31.