Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[spud]

I am up to 7000 gallons today so far and it is still running 800 GPH. Now the weather man is saying 39 degrees tonight so it should run all night. I am getting more sap per run then ever before. It has to be the CV2 spouts and a few other changes I made for the season. Thank you Dr. Tim for some tips you have giving me along the way.

Spud

[wdchuck]

Same here- sap is coming in at record levels- overcoming a properly designed 2 line system, with the airline running a constant 1/3rd of a stream!

[Buffalo Creek Sugar Camp]

Spud-How do you monitor how many GPH the sap is running at? By timing the releaser dumping?

[Tucker08]

Got an ok run here today. Will boil every drop I have tomorrow and that will be it. Crossed the 40 gallon mark last night. Should close close to 50, which was my unofficial goal. All told, a poor year, but having too many taps for a 2x6 saved me. The cv spouts are my two bushes that are still performing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DrTimPerkins]

I am up to 7000 gallons today so far and it is still running 800 GPH. Now the weather man is saying 39 degrees tonight so it should run all night. I am getting more sap per run then ever before. It has to be the CV2 spouts and a few other changes I made for the season. Thank you Dr. Tim for some tips you have giving me along the way.

You're welcome. Always happy to chat. And yes....today was a "big sap" day in northern Vermont.

[VT_K9]

Had a good run yesterday and today. Processed 530 or gallons today. We're up to about 43 gallons of syrup. Ahead of our best year since I've been around, but we also have a puller with properly set up tubing. Since this morning's pumping we have about 300 gallons of sap and it's still running. The puller will be left running all night tonight. We also have had a darker than normal year. I have tried to vary how we boil after running the sap through the R/O and nothing seems to have changed. We have tried different firings and how full we fill the firebox. We have tried drawing off a little later than normal only to sped 5-10 minutes finishing. We tried drawing off a little early to spend about 15-20 minutes finishing. We finish on a propane burner in a large pot. May it's just the way the year is going.

Mike

[GeneralStark]

Had a pretty solid freeze last night and have pulled in over 1gpt since this morning. I was hoping that the sugar content would come up after a freeze from the low of 1.4 yesterday after several days of no freeze, but it is still hanging at about 1.4, maybe a little less even. I look forward to having an RO next year as boiling 1.4 sap is slow.

Really have firing the rig dialed in now and can easily maintain about 100-115 gph, even with a mix of good hardwood and wet popple slabs. Once this thing gets warmed up it can really boil.

The vacuum pump has been on non-stop about 10 days and I plan to leave it on through the weekend at which point I will likely be out of wood. Spent the morning running a woodsplitter and probably made another cord+ to get me through this run.

Supposed to get near 70 on sunday and over 70 monday so the end is near. I'm at 140 gal. now and will easily get over the 150 mark. Not bad for the first season in the new operation, especially considering I didn't have all taps in until 3/25, and considering the less than ideal weather.

Syrup quality has been excellent. Most of the crop has been golden delicate, with the rest at amber rich. The last batch canned today was starting to flirt with dark robust and I suspect we will get there tomorrow considering the low sugar and the warm weather. Flavor has been great in all syrup made. Not a huge fan of fancy syrup, but this year's has been really nice.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Made another 4-5 gal tonight collected another 425 today boiling it tomorrow. Saturday even looks good and I think next Tuesday night might be good l, go a little longer. Should be up around 85-90 gal

[Randy Brutkoski]

Sap ran real good today. Vacuum still hanging around 25 hg. About 10,000 gallons of sap today. Dark syrup but still has good flavor.

[DoubleBrookMaple]

Good day for me here as well. Up around 1000 gallons sap for the year! Long night, with temperature very slowly dropping to just 3-4 degrees below freezing for 9 hours (I have my own weather station here). I just read a publication on the UVM site on this ( http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmaple/maplesapexudation.pdf ), and a long slow freeze is a good indicator of sap the next day. Quick freezes do not allow for much exudation. I had my best day today, and will be boiling for the next two days at least. Snow still covers most of my bush, and the ground is still rock solid. I will see if I can get just one more good run next week when it drops below freezing again a couple nights. Last year I was able to go as late as most. I am going to push the limit, and see what unfolds with the trees budding. It will be an experiment for me. 5 days coming with 35-65 degree days that will be helping the buds I think. My tree tops are so high it is hard for me to tell, but I will gain some experience this year.