Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[northwoods_forestry]

Still chugging away in SE Vermont. Gravity lines and buckets shut down on Sunday, but vacuum lines are still bringing in plenty of sap for a daily boil. Making darker syrup than we've ever made before, but flavor is still good. Cold weather this weekend could give all systems a recharge and put us into record production territory next week.

[GeneralStark]

I bet he is drowning in sap....

Over a gpt/day since the last freeze. Sugar is down below 1.5 here but that's what the ro is for. It never got too warm here yesterday due to fog and clouds and the sap ran well all day and overnight. I awoke to two tanks full and the third nearly full. I ran the ro for an hour to make some space so I could head to town for breakfast with my folks. Saw several Silver Maples budding in Middlebury.

Ended up processing well over 1000 gal. and made about 20 gal. of DR but just on the edge with AR. Awesome flavor!! My dark syrup customers will love it. No sign of buds, peepers, or any off smells or flavors. This is modern sugaring. Several operations locally have called it quits or didn't bother tapping. I think we may go to April. Over 180 so far...

[DoubleBrookMaple]

My third day since the freeze, and midnight last night until midnight tonight I got .75 gpt at 1.5%.
I processed and boiled today, and thought that would be it, but I guess I will empty what little all my gravity barrels and buckets have and what comes in on vacuum until tomorrow mid day. Push it all through my pans and clean them.
I still have no DR. Very near, but not quite.

[JoeJ]

Hi Spud,

Like the General said, I have been almost drowning in sap. Hard to believe how the trees are running without a freeze. Yesterday, I got 1 gal of sap per tap from my Jericho woods in 18 hours. Last year these woods donated a total of 25,020 gal of sap and this season as of yesterday, 26,450 already. I am about half way to my .50 gal syrup per tap goal. Just might get there the way things are going and the weather outlook.

It would be nice to have a day of tomorrow if that does happen. Lot of long days. Sugar content has dropped to 1.3%. The first 690 gal tank yesterday RO'd to 15% put 68 gallons in the concentrate tank.

Joe

[spud]

Great to hear from you JoeJ. I am glad to hear you are doing so well. I woke up to one inch of snow today and the temp is 27. As of late yesterday my sugar is 1.5%. With my sugar dropping it will be hard for me to hit .5 but still possible. Dr. Tim did say the sugar could go up after this freeze up so that could help. Let's hope we all take this to the 20th of April. Good luck everyone.

Spud

[VTfarmboy]

Not sure what to do? last boil was monday and tues, made 9 gallons of verydark even after cleaning pans. Full crop for us here on a 300 bucket setup(.25ish). Was gona wait to see what this cold snap does, but the peepers are peepin and the birch and willow are flushed out heavy, the farm is sandy and frost is all out, souther exposer. It was very hard to make syrup the last couple boils(222 degrees) but tasted good and filtered fine. Dont want to burn my pans trying to get alittle more. No ro here, open 2-5 raised flu. One cord of wood left. Im thinking boil out Sat?? or wait and see? What would you all do?? Thanks!

[billyinvt]

If you tap sugar maples and your buds are all tight I'd wait til Wed, Thu, Fri next week when it looks like it could be a real solid run. I'm headed out to my woods this afternoon with binoculars to get a good look at the section of red maples that make up about 25% of my taps. Their buds were looking pretty swollen last I checked.

[GeneralStark]

Was still above freezing when I got up at 6:30 (37F) but quickly dropped, a dusting of snow fell, and the lines froze up quick. Sun came out just before noon and now the sap is running hard, like after the last freeze several days ago. We'll see if it keeps up and for how long but I did pull in about 300 gal overnight at about 1.2% so I think I will likely boil off everything I have this evening before it freezes hard over night.

[spud]

My sap just started running also. It's running 400 GPH so we will see how long that last. Going to get very cold tonight. Should be another run on Sunday. Good luck General.

Spud

[Sugarmaker's dad]

Ran the RO yesterday afternoon, 1:00 AM, 9 AM and again this afternoon. Sap just didn't want to give up. Made 4 barrels plus bottled another 20 gallons or so. It will be nice to sleep in tomorrow!