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Thread: Getting ready in MA

  1. #71
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    chester, ma
    Posts
    903

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    Nice! And we should get some more overnight and into tomorrow evening when the temps drop again. Hopefully enough to get to a first draw!

    GO
    Last edited by berkshires; 02-22-2022 at 07:01 PM.
    2016: Homemade arch from old wood stove; 2 steam tray pans; 6 taps; 1.1 gal
    2017: Same setup. 15 taps; 4.5 gal
    2018: Same setup. Limited time. 12 taps and short season; 2.2 gal
    2019: Very limited time. 7 taps and a short season; 1.8 gals
    2020: New Mason 2x3 XL halfway through season; 9 taps 2 gals
    2021: Same 2x3, 18 taps, 4.5 gals
    2022: 23 taps, 5.9 gals
    2023: 23 taps. Added AUF, 13.2 gals
    2024: 17 taps
    All on buckets

  2. #72
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    chester, ma
    Posts
    903

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    Quote Originally Posted by bigschuss View Post
    I am always about 3 or 4 weeks behind the rest of Massachusetts as far as tapping. Shooting for the first week of March on average.
    Hey Bigschuss, you tapped yet? Looks like starting today will be the beginning of the real season, even up high in the Berkshires.

    Gabe
    2016: Homemade arch from old wood stove; 2 steam tray pans; 6 taps; 1.1 gal
    2017: Same setup. 15 taps; 4.5 gal
    2018: Same setup. Limited time. 12 taps and short season; 2.2 gal
    2019: Very limited time. 7 taps and a short season; 1.8 gals
    2020: New Mason 2x3 XL halfway through season; 9 taps 2 gals
    2021: Same 2x3, 18 taps, 4.5 gals
    2022: 23 taps, 5.9 gals
    2023: 23 taps. Added AUF, 13.2 gals
    2024: 17 taps
    All on buckets

  3. #73
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Savoy, MA
    Posts
    489

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    Quote Originally Posted by berkshires View Post
    Hey Bigschuss, you tapped yet? Looks like starting today will be the beginning of the real season, even up high in the Berkshires.

    Gabe
    Hey Gabe...tapped just this morning. I still have 100% snow coverage. Was able to get out on the snowmobile with my family and get our buckets up. I agree...this week looks great. March 7th is my average tapping date....so I am right on time this year.

    Things must be flowing good in Chester.

    Blair
    16x24 Timber Frame Sugar House
    Mason 2x4 Evaporator
    90 trees on buckets

  4. #74
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    chester, ma
    Posts
    903

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    Quote Originally Posted by bigschuss View Post
    Hey Gabe...tapped just this morning. I still have 100% snow coverage. Was able to get out on the snowmobile with my family and get our buckets up. I agree...this week looks great. March 7th is my average tapping date....so I am right on time this year.

    Things must be flowing good in Chester.

    Blair
    Nice. I'll know how things look when I drive out after putting my daughter to bed on Tuesday. But I'm pretty pleased with the 3 GPT I got in Feb. That's half a GPT more than I usually get in Feb, and more than any except my best year. And it looks like March is starting off with a bang, too.

    Hope you have a great season!

    GO
    2016: Homemade arch from old wood stove; 2 steam tray pans; 6 taps; 1.1 gal
    2017: Same setup. 15 taps; 4.5 gal
    2018: Same setup. Limited time. 12 taps and short season; 2.2 gal
    2019: Very limited time. 7 taps and a short season; 1.8 gals
    2020: New Mason 2x3 XL halfway through season; 9 taps 2 gals
    2021: Same 2x3, 18 taps, 4.5 gals
    2022: 23 taps, 5.9 gals
    2023: 23 taps. Added AUF, 13.2 gals
    2024: 17 taps
    All on buckets

  5. #75
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    35

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    Sap is still flowing strong in central MA. Pulled 25 gallons off of 30 taps today. Thinking about calling it quits this upcoming weekend, though I suspect we’ve got another couple weeks left. I tap all reds, and there are a couple of taps producing cloudy sap already…

    Oh, also, I bit the bullet and bought a starcat evaporator from smoky lake yesterday. Will be a major upgrade from the cinderblocks. This hobby is so addicting….
    Last edited by Kamina; 03-07-2022 at 04:43 PM.

  6. #76
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
    Location
    Westfield, MA
    Posts
    174

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    Nice Kamina! Good luck with the new rig.
    2024 - Starting with the 25 then more late Feb.
    2023 - 25 taps on 11 trees to focus on the process. 9 Gallons and lots of sugar sand. 35 people over for breakfast in April
    2022 - 8 x 14 sugarhouse and a steam bottler. 50 buckets! 9 Gallons syrup and 4 pounds of sugar
    2021 - 20 x 30 divided pan on a Mason arch, 34 taps and 8 gallons for family and friends to judge. Dad hooked as well.
    2020 - 2 taps, 1/2 pint on a turkey fryer, About 3/4 pint syrup in two weeks - Proof of concept!

  7. #77
    Join Date
    Apr 2019
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    35

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    I'm going to do one last collection and boil the last batch either tonight or tomorrow. Trees (reds) are budding, the sap is juuuust starting to get cloudy, and quite frankly I am tired of hauling buckets. Yielded about 2.5 gallons of syrup on ~30ish taps. I basically tripled my yield from last year (which was my first year) with the same # of taps. Looking forward to next year. New evaporator coming in, and I've honed in on the trees that are producing the most. Maybe an RO Bucket is in my future too....time will tell. Best of luck to those of you still going strong, and to those who's season is just starting up!

  8. #78
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
    Location
    Westfield, MA
    Posts
    174

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    Collected 40 tonight that tested 2%, but left 2 buckets at the shack so missed 7 taps. Keeping them in the collection buckets tonight so I can clean the tank tomorrow and collect again Saturday morning. I'm in till the fat lady signs as I've hear on this sight lol. 3 gallons in 3 colors so far.
    2024 - Starting with the 25 then more late Feb.
    2023 - 25 taps on 11 trees to focus on the process. 9 Gallons and lots of sugar sand. 35 people over for breakfast in April
    2022 - 8 x 14 sugarhouse and a steam bottler. 50 buckets! 9 Gallons syrup and 4 pounds of sugar
    2021 - 20 x 30 divided pan on a Mason arch, 34 taps and 8 gallons for family and friends to judge. Dad hooked as well.
    2020 - 2 taps, 1/2 pint on a turkey fryer, About 3/4 pint syrup in two weeks - Proof of concept!

  9. #79
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    chester, ma
    Posts
    903

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    Congrats on tripling your production Kamina!

    I'm at a bit higher altitude than some here, so I'm still a bit behind. Did my second boil yesterday after collecting 42 gallons of sap. I wound up only boiling 35 of that. A full bucket from my best tree fell off the tree when I touched it. The hole was full of frozen sap- it must have heaved out, and was just hanging on by a thread. Bummer - that tree has come in over 3% before. On the other end of the spectrum, I have one tree I've never tapped before this year which I had high hopes for, and when I tested the sap today it came in at under 1%! So I just dumped the 2 galls I got from that one. The remaining 2 gallons I didn't boil was ice I discarded. Drew off about a gallon of nearup in a nice medium amber color.

    Gabe
    2016: Homemade arch from old wood stove; 2 steam tray pans; 6 taps; 1.1 gal
    2017: Same setup. 15 taps; 4.5 gal
    2018: Same setup. Limited time. 12 taps and short season; 2.2 gal
    2019: Very limited time. 7 taps and a short season; 1.8 gals
    2020: New Mason 2x3 XL halfway through season; 9 taps 2 gals
    2021: Same 2x3, 18 taps, 4.5 gals
    2022: 23 taps, 5.9 gals
    2023: 23 taps. Added AUF, 13.2 gals
    2024: 17 taps
    All on buckets

  10. #80
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Savoy, MA
    Posts
    489

    Default

    And I'm even higher in elevation and I haven't even started yet! It's crazy how Kamina can be done and I have yet to even fire up the evaporator.
    16x24 Timber Frame Sugar House
    Mason 2x4 Evaporator
    90 trees on buckets

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