January Journal

[Revi]

We're working on trails. They are really nice now. The season could be within a month and a half if it warms up like it did last year. We'll see... It has been a pretty nice winter so far. Not much snow here, and not much cold yet either. We have some on the ground, but there are lots of bare patches too. I think Wednesday's storm may take care of that.

[Parker]

Got another 2000 feet of wire and mainline up in Hill,,Starting to stress a littel about being ready!!!

[Jim Brown]

Well the 2x6 is stripped down to angle and tin. Taking it over to GaryR';s this weekend and re-doing everything in Stainless.Vacuumed out the sand and numbered the brick,took pictures so as to know were everything went at a later time. Every thing in remakable shape for as hard a we fire with forced draft! No holes or thin places in the arch just a little rust outside. Should last until we upgrade at some point.

Jim

[maple flats]

I'm in the best shape I've been since 2003. Should have new branch lines finished before 2/1 and all of the added laterals. Still need to make a motor mount to put the snow blower motor on the vacuum pump. Then a little plumbing to complete. I also need to do a few days work at the sugarhouse. Need to finish solar connections as well as clean it to be ready. I also need to re-arrange things for bottling. I bought a second canner so I can finish and have up to 30 gal hot at one time to pack some 30 gal bbls for the first time. I'll also have some 5's, SS rebuilt soda kegs. I have a welder friend reworking then by making SS tops with a 2" and a 3/4" bung and SS weld it to the keg top. I'll have 20 of those. The original fittings will be welded shut.
I'm thinking I want to have over 300 gal SS syrup storage, We'll see if I get there. Really what I want is to use my last bbl as I pack the last of the season, but I can't see the future clearly enough. I figure a banner year this season with vac on 550 and hopefully another 350 gravity would be about 400 gal, but I will not predict it by any means.
I think I just found another sugarbush for 2012. The owner says they have 89 acres with some steep hills, some gentle slope and some nearly flat. We are going to set a walk around this summer to explore and dream. This bush is about 10 miles from my sugarhouse. Then I'll need a bigger haul truck for sure.

[Rhino]

Been busy the last week and a half, cleaned up the syrup shed and made some order in there, it got so cluttered since last spring. Made up 500 drop lines and mounted a sp-11 vac pump to a base with a new electric motor. Today since the weather was in the mid 20's i went and strung out 4 rolls of laterals. I also fired up the old john deere 420 crawler that i bought last summer and plowed some trails to get good at doing that job with it. Very happy with it. Also made a sap trailer to pull behind it. Cleaned out the bottling room, I think i will be the most ready that i ever was? Thursday I will go and put the drop lines on the new laterals i put out today. Winter is going by fast!

[SeanD]

sunday afternoon i ran to the city/lowes and picked up some pipe and fittings and tonight i,ve been out in the sugarhouse plumbing the head tank.
i,ve desided to use whats called a thur hull fitting to drain my head tank..there used on boats.it won,t drain the tank 100% but it,ll be close enough.

delbert

Hey Twobears,

I couldn't find a bulkhead fitting (thru wall) at Lowe's for my collection tank so I had to go to Grainger. It's no big deal, but I have to order things there because they don't keep a lot in stock - or at least the stuff I've been looking for - and have to make two trips. Where in the store did you find it. I scoured the PVC section.

Sean

[twobears1224]

opp's sorry about that sean.i got the thur hull fitting from a marine store right acrossed the road from the lowes store.. it,s called west marine.do a web search for them..you might have one close by.
i have my tank all plumbed.i used the thur hull fitting for the drain and line going to my preheater it worked great.on the feed line to the tank i used a slip to thred 3/4 inch male fitting.i took a 1 inch spade bit and drilled a hole thur the tank then screwed the fitting it..they thred right in.i then took a female tread/slip fitting and screwed it on the other fitting.for the overflow line i took a 1 1/4 inch hole saw and drilled a hole thur the tank then i took my dermal tool and sanded the hole just enough to get a 1 inch slip/female fitting into it.i then used pvc glue to glue it in..it seemed to work good.
i,ll take some pic,s tomorrow and post them..it got dark before i could get pic,s

delbert

[SeanD]

That's alright. I'd be mad at myself if was right under my nose and missed it.

I used PVC glue last year when I toyed with the idea of a testing cup made out of PVC. It came out alright and it withstood the heat of boiling water fine, but after multiple rinses, I couldn't shake the glue smell. In the end I just wasn't comfortable enough with it, so I opted to go with a stainless thermos I forgot I had. I came across it this past summer and there was no trace of the smell.

I know PVC is used a ton for maple stuff. Is the adhesive smell not an issue because it's on the sap end of things?

Sean

[stoweski]

My Mason finisher/canner arrived today! Getting ready to go out tomorrow and hook it all up in the shack. Should have the day off due to school being closed from the storm - yahoo. Who says kids are the only people who love snowdays??? Can't wait to play in the shack and then go for a snowshoe and/or cross country ski!

Anyway, the finisher is very, very nice. It's a 16x20 and should do the job nicely this season. Hoping for some nice runs so I can break it in!

Enjoy the snow fellow northeasters!

Keith

[waysidemaple]

Calling for 2 to 4 inches here tonight maybe another inch tomorrow. Its snowing hard now but will see what it looks like in the morning. Had the lights and heater on in the new sugar shack tonight, it was nice to be inside and see the snow falling outside. Can't wait to fire up the evaporator. Planning to brick it tomorrow, and tackle the roof jack sometime next week.