Red Roof Maples 2021

[Russell Lampron]

This is the start of my final season. I thought that I would be looking for things to do to keep me busy after I retired but have been too busy to stop and rest. I finished tapping today and am doing the little things that need to be done to get ready to boil. The first thing I need to do is fix vacuum leaks. I turned on the vacuum this afternoon and only have 15". It was too late to start looking for leaks so I'll do that as soon as I can tomorrow.

I bought a house in NC this past summer and then went down in October to build a shed. I've made 2 trips down with stuff from the house and basement. We don't have much left here in NH now.

I've got someone interested in my property that wants to keep the sugaring operation going. If he buys it he wants to buy the sugaring equipment too. If he backs out I'll have all of my stuff for sale.

I hope that everyone has a good season.

[Russell Lampron]

I had a good day in the woods today fixing vacuum leaks. I found and fixed the big ones and found and fixed some small ones too. I got the 15" up to 23" and will find and fix what's left for small leaks when the sap runs good enough to do so. So far things are going smoothly and I can't wait to fire up the RO and evaporator.

[Father & Son]

You could always take your rig south with you and try sorghum syrup.

[Russell Lampron]

You could always take your rig south with you and try sorghum syrup.

I've only got .6 acres down there and most of the few trees that I have are pines. I do have a huge pin oak in the front yard but I can't make syrup with that.

[Amber Gold]

Hey Russ, Good to see we've got another year of you being on trader. I hope it's a great one for you. Looking forward to reading about your season.

[red maples]

Hey There he is!!! you know my dad said the same thing after he retired figured he would to get to relax bit but that was 3 years ago and he's the same way too busy to relax. He's always got something going. Myself and my brother are the same way can't sit still very long!!!

When you have your feet up drinking sweet tea next sugaring season you should still check inhere let us know how your doing!!!

Hope you have a blockbuster of a last season!!! good luck!!!

[Russell Lampron]

It only took a week to get enough sap for my first boil. I've got 475 gallons in the bulk tank ready to clog up pre filters. I'm going to set up and plumb all of the tanks tomorrow and plug in the heat tape on the bulk tank valve. With any luck I'll be able to start ROing Wednesday morning to boil Wednesday evening.

This past off season was hard on my woods and tubing. I've had more crop trees come down than I've ever had before and a couple of those took down mainlines too. I've been out fixing leaks and don't recall having as many squirrel chews as I'm finding this year. A couple of laterals had 3 or more spots that needed to be fixed. I was hoping to make it through the season without having to buy any fittings but I'll be going to Sunnyside tomorrow for connector fittings.

[Amber Gold]

My first sap collected was very cloudy, even when I picked it up. It cleared up yesterday though.

Do you know what happened to Theron and Royal Maple? I was thinking of them the other day. I always enjoyed reading Theron's posts.

[Russell Lampron]

I was hoping to get more sap to add to yesterday's boil but the conditions weren't right to get a run. I didn't check the ssc before I started but was only able to get the concentrate to 6% and still have enough to boil. I lit the evaporator at 5:15 and was done by 6:45. Things went pretty smooth except that I had to shut down about half way through the boil to clean out the shut off valve from the flue pan. I was just commenting on how good the sugar house was starting to smell when I got a whiff of that smell that no sugarmaker wants to smell. I caught it in time and flooded the front pan from the valve on the other side of the pan. It didn't ruin the sweet. I got the float valve off, shoved a ratchet handle trough the valve to clean it out and put everything back together without burning myself!!! I closed the door on the evaporator, turned the blower back on and was back in business in a few minutes, disaster avoided.

With 475 gallons of sap to start with I usually draw off some syrup, but not this year. It was real close when I shut down and it won't take long when I start again to get a draw off.

On the RO side of things the sap that I put through it was pretty green and slimy but didn't plug the pre filter. I usually have to change it at least once on the first sap of the season. The RO ran flawlessly and my MES membranes still flow like new.

The only real problem I have so far is that my bulk tank is leaking. I hope that I can find and fix the leak before I put sap in it again but I've got to get the ice out of it first. It's not going to be fun with the cold and wind but things could be worse.

Josh you should like your MES membrane. I'm really happy with mine.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Russ - sorry to hear you're trucking your expertise out of here. You've had a good run. I'm probably due for some new membranes, pressures are up, flows are down. Not too good seeing we might have a compacted season. Bruce