Belchertown 2009

[mapleman3]

We are tapped.. 600 out there...the woods were already starting to run at noon. there was sap in the tanks.. not a lot but some. a steady straem out of one of the mainlines.

The roadsides back at home(200 buckets) produced about 250 gals.
We will go to the north bush in the morning, the sap may run through the night tonight so we will wait for there to be a good amount to pump.

So.... we will boil tomorrow !! YAY

[mapleman3]

Well today proved to be a learning day !! we had about 450 gals to start the evap with

it's been 4 or more years since I was on wood, WOW did I forget stuff...first the boy scout in me couldn't get a fire going for crap, Pat(Clan Delaney) came over for the maiden boil... Finally I stopped trying to rush the process... I was getting a small fire going, closed the doors started the blower and I would loose the fire... after futile efforts I nixed the blower, left the doors open and did it the right way... we got it going after Pat split some stuff real small and I put more paper and got it going... whew, that hurdle over, good fire and old barn wood from the sugarhouse walls from summer expansion and she was roaring now... boiled off alot of sap, It was nearing syrup time and Pat had to leave.... just after he left.. WOAH Hold the float down WE ARE WAY OVER TEMP making mud !!!, EMERGENCY SAP !!!! dang, that batch goes north!!

After awhile, again everything goes to syrup WOAH HOLD THE FLOAT !!! EMERGENCY SAP AGAIN.. WHAT IS GOING ON!????

So I figured the rocket fuel wood and the blower on high is a NO NO !!! So I slowed things down and mixed in normal wood, got the gradient going after a few small drawoffs early and whew..... So I made about 5-7 gallons of Commercial.. Who starts off with commercial.. I DO !! unfortunately...

The rest of the day went great though, drawoffs went as planned and it ate up 100 gals an hour on my 3x8...

My sap % from the 200 taps on roadsides...3%
My sap on the maple bush 2.5%
I was at 2.65% ish for the day... not bad !

I made another appx 6 gals of good stuff, not filtered so I don't know the grade but I think I salvaged a light medium after the woes at the beginning.

So I sit here now as it cools so I can see what my sap need is for shutdawn. I'm thinking 30 gals at last fire may do it, but I will see again tomorrow.

[themapleking]

Jim
run the blower on 1/4 to 1/2 speed. If sparks are coming out the doors slow it down some.
My new leader 3x8 max with steam away infreo arch is boiling 165-170 gph. COOL

[Sugarmaker]

Jim D,
Isn't wood fun! I usually have 50 gallon in the tank when I shut down and flood the pans.
You are getting a great boil rate at 100 GPH I cant quite get that on the old 3 x 10.
Yea starting with commercial grade sucks but you will find the old rythum again.
New rig new firing method, and a lot of things to watch. at 100 GPH the sap really moves throug quick!

Good luck,
Chris

[mapleman3]

I got it figured out now, had a no incident day.. drawoffs were good, boy it eats wood up though, still kept the rate up near 100gph... man she roars when the fire is full

Joe, I put a baffle on the inlet of the fan to tweak it down... I have it running at a good rate and don't even shut it off at firing.. I get a bit warm but it doesn't kill the boil.

firing every 7 minute and keeping the fire high in the box... only needing to add maybe 5 pieces when I fire.

I was reading that when you let it get too low, it uses the heat to light the new wood taking away from the boil, but keeping it high and adding less more often is more efficient!!

So anyway, bottled up over 10 gals and have 5 gals of the b/c grade... had a few people taste it and nobody tastes burnt, they didnt think it was that bad, so I'll bottle it up after filtering a while and see what I get.

[Clan Delaney]

Added 17 more taps today, giving me a current total of (math....) 56! That's more than 3 times what I had last year, and I'm not done yet! 10 more tomorrow, just need to pick up some milk jugs from work.

More importantly though... IT NEEDS TO FREEZE TONITE! It hasn't gone below 40 degrees here in the past 48 hours. Forecast predicts 33 by 9AM tomorrow. Not perfect, but I hope it helps.

[hard maple]

Jim
I don't know why
but you are starting to remind me of Parker!

Did you buy a new grading kit this year???

I started out making medium
2% sap and a ton of sugar sand

[mapleman3]

too funny Gabe... now if I only had the amount of taps he has....

Yep I have a new grading kit.
I too ended up Medium, I'm not sure if the first batch that went "south" would have been light or not. would have been nice for some light colored candy!

I may do a cleaning of the front pan in the next day or so and filter the near syrup, we'll see how the next boil goes.

it's fun learning a new rig that's for sure.

[mapleman3]

Snowing now, teens tonight .Looks like a good freeze/thaw the rest of the week, low 40's tomorrow but mixed bag tues night. so hopefully trees will get invigorated again for some sap this week!!

Pat Get those collection tanks ready for those extra taps!!

[Clan Delaney]

Meh. Nothing running today. It just barely didn't freeze last night, then only about 40 today. Those teens and 40 tomorrow should be nice.

I've got a loaner collection tub from DaveB (since he'll be taking most of my sap) but if my ever increasing number of taps start to overwhelm me, I may just spring for a tank/tub of my own. Gonna need it next year anyway, right? And I need to make a maiden voyage to the new Tractor Supply in town...