Willow Creek Sugarhouse 2023

[red maples]

Well still going not much sap coming in only had 1 good freeze in Friday night. sap flow has really gone down to about nothing. Vac is running. after the slow maple weekend boil I had about 7-8 gallons that went into very dark/strong. So mid week I drained the flue pan and did a quick vinegar solution and heat and a quick scrub there was ALOT of niter buildup back there I was well overdue for a cleaning anyway. and ran that through the Filter press its thin enough and was about 25 brix goes through the press easy even cold. everything was nice and clean and sparkly, Grade went up to amber/rich for Thursdays boil (I never get amber) had 275 gallons of sap to boil off today and it dropped back down to a hair into dark/robust.

getting hard to keep things clean trying to clean the releaser everyday and run a rag through the pipes every other day. don't know how much longer I can keep going. I mean I can keep going but trees are petering out and bacteria levels are killing me. I just don't want to loose the evaporator to ropey syrup. gotta try to boil everyday or every other day if I can even if its not much sap.

[red maples]

just limping along here. trying to keep things as clean as possible. longer freeze coming tonight. but after this I am thinking I am gonna call it sometime this weekend depending on how the next 2 days go. pretty favorable weather for sap but its just not coming in and have been able to keep the vacuum levels between 27" and 28" which has paid off. I am almost at 8 weeks since I first started tapping. today was much cooler not much of a freeze last night or this morning anyway, and only got up to 38 degrees. sap is quite cloudy but still making pretty light syrup its at the upper end of dark like 44-48 where its been most of the season for me. sugar is around 1% give or take but RO getting it done.

[Amber Gold]

Same over here. Just keeping things moving and will also probably call it soon as well. It's just not worth it when you get such little sap...and with the low sugar.

[red maples]

well thats it. I noticed on what I was cooking down the other day it wasn't smelling good anymore but didn't filter yet and didn't taste the syrup. reheated last night while I was boiling filtered everything and its pretty bad so 4 gallons of merch. Just gonna dump the evap which is only 3 to 4 gallons completely finished off I usually use end of season off flavors for BBQ sauce mixing it with molasses, spices, tomato puree and liquid smoke the end of season off flavors help the flavor I have 3 to 4 gallons left from last year too. I don't need anymore than that. and don't want to waste the wood. Just happy I was able to keep the ropey away!!! thats just heart breaking it only happened once and never want it again so I am diligent on cleanliness and keeping the evaporator freshened up at the end of the season and even if I have a little sap boil anyway even if its just to get it to a boil for a short time and kill anything growing in evap. which is what I think it was evap spoiled to too many warm days in between boiling.

So with my reds and swamp reds which is mostly what I tap I have to recount when I pull taps but I know am below 600 taps now lost 5 or 6 trees from storms this past year found 2 or 3 hollows and swamp reds are notorious for going hollow and getting rot etc.

I know it was a GREAT sap year this year and most of us if tapped in early february made 20 to 30 % of our syrup crop in those 2 weeks. If I were just 1 week earlier it would have been even higher. but drilling straight holes instead of angled holes and spending more time in the woods keeping things tight and tubing upgrades(more to come this off season) new Vacuum also contributed to numbers I am sure. was able to keep vacuum above 27" almost this entire season which isn't easy.

collected 8808 gallons of sap. My little swamp reds never produce that much. its just over 2900 gallons more than they have ever produced thats roughly 15gpt I will know exactly after I pull taps and count. counting my evap and will be dumped I will have made 120 gallons of syrup and even made a little amber which I never do either. if the sugar would have been a hint higher that would have been even better but a record year in every aspect. Some of the best tasting syrup I have ever made. As long as I get all the other stuff correct I think I might finally have a good chance at a carlisle this year. I still like to play that game. (even though I always think there are things that aren't taken in to account when judging cream, or honey but anyway...) Sugarmomma got it this year.

So this is the first year I used the VFD for the Vacuum pump. WOW what an electricity savings. I ran it most of the season and the heat it gives off is plenty to heat the pump room which also has the electric releaser in it and ended up being way cheaper than using a space heater. I think it is actually about half the electricity I have used in the past. I think it already paid for itself and then some.

oh anyone hear from Russ this year. gonna reach out see how he is doing.

So to everyone who is still slugging along and those way up north good luck. keep boiling. and Josh I wanna taste that bourbon aged syrup sometime!!!

[red maples]

Been working on getting things cleaned and put away. Pulled a few taps gonna hit that part hard this weekend. Peepers are hit or miss depending on how cold it is. down the street about 1/2 mile or so they are super loud but they always start down there first.

Reached out to Russ Lampron the other day he went to work for Theron again in PA. He helped tap in about 4000 taps and beginning of Feb. and worked in the woods chasing leaks and fixing lines helped to boil and whatever else. He's doing good definitely got his maple fix in this year he said they had tons of niter in the beginning and was changing the syrup pan out after every boil. and thats a 5x16 oil fired evap I think he said so its a job emptying that out every boil. but he had fun is now back home and getting some rest. I asked why no Trader this year he said after 20 years he decided it was time to leave the trader behind.