Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[billyinvt]

Yep. I'm all done too. Sap has really low sugar content and not looking too nice either. I surpassed all the goals I had set before the season and really grew as a sugarmaker. Already thinking about next years tweaks and upgrades! Good luck to all who are still in the game!

[DoubleBrookMaple]

I am processing today, some 650 gallons that came in at 1.5% through the day yesterday, and dropped to 1.3% through the night, and a little cloudy. I will collect buckets and gravity barrels today, and hope for the best. That should bring me up near 850 gallons of sap. I will update late tonight after my boil. Very little sun, and a high of 62 yesterday, so I am still holding out hope for today and next week. It will certainly be quite dark I imagine. I completely cleaned my pan after my last boil, to help my boil go better.

[madmapler]

Just finished off my last drum. Sap is coming too slow to be worth it. It's been tapering off since the first warm up. Buds are still holding tight. I350 gallons for the season.

[GiddingsHill]

Still hanging on here. Sap flow up considerably overnight (along with a damaging south wind), 7000gal since yesterday's pickup (which was around 2pm)
I don't even dare test what I'm getting right now, it's a little cloudy but doesnt have really any scent to it yet.
My neighbor blew the oil seals out of his pump last night, not a good time to be without vacuum if we are going to make it to the weekend.
I like your optimism Spud, you and I seem to have similar weather so I'm counting on you to be right about more good sapping!

[ryebrye]

The sap in my tank today is super cloudy (almost like milk) - I'm on a hybrid 3/16 vacuum system. I shut off my pump but the gravity-induced vacuum will keep pulling sap out for the rest of today and tomorrow into the freeze. I'm going to let this sap dump onto the ground and hope for the best after the cold spell.

I don't see any signs of budding in my trees - I have a small (but mighty!) sugarbush so I can reasonably walk the entire thing and inspect every tree after it starts to freeze up again.

Before I dump today's sap I'm going to boil some in a small pan and look for any of the musty smell coming from it too.

For sap production I've exceeded my expectations for the season.

Right now I'm at 28.8 gallons of sap per tap and if you were to hypothetically mix up all the sap from this season together the sugar content would average out to be 2.18% (Last years was almost 0.3% higher for an average sugar content, so it has been lower but I wont complain. I know others have had it worse).

I have all CV2 spouts and my taps aren't showing signs of drying out yet - if the trees haven't budded in my area this next cold spell could help push this season into the "amazing" category for me, but you wont ever hear me complain about 28.8 gallons of sap per tap if the season is already over for me.

[WestfordSugarworks]

Have you guys who are done considered selling sap once you quit boiling? I've heard of people doing that up my way. I agree, don't wanna process commercial syrup and it probably wouldn't be worth it financially to us. But I know of big guys up my way who will boil commerical stuff for a long time and get a fair price for it, too. They have the necessary resources to process and still turn a profit. Although unless you live close to someone, it probably wouldn't be worthwhile for them to truck if the sugar content is so low. With the sap we are selling at our Jericho bush, a truckload (4500 gal) at 1% is about one 55 gal barrel according to the guy trucking yesterday. 3 Hour round trip for them to drive down, pick up, drive back, dump.

[spud]

Still hanging on here. Sap flow up considerably overnight (along with a damaging south wind), 7000gal since yesterday's pickup (which was around 2pm)
I don't even dare test what I'm getting right now, it's a little cloudy but doesnt have really any scent to it yet.
My neighbor blew the oil seals out of his pump last night, not a good time to be without vacuum if we are going to make it to the weekend.
I like your optimism Spud, you and I seem to have similar weather so I'm counting on you to be right about more good sapping!

I drove all over my woods today and there really is not any buds even close to coming out. The Red maples are swollen but I have very few Reds in my woods. My sap quality today is cloudy but still fine. There is no smell at all. Sugar is 1.4% today but thats fine. I only got 2000 gallons today but it will continue running all night. I am very excited to get this 3 day freeze up. I really think we have at least one week after the freeze up. I'm hoping for 25,000-50,000 more gallons of sap this season. I see no reason not to get it.

Spud

[bairdswift]

Spud- what are you plans with all the apple trees? Think the wife will allow the other 200? Why not maple saplings to tap? What's on the land the apple trees are being planted now?

[woodchuck]

Pulled the buckets tonight and heard the peepers on the way down. Ill leave the line taps in for now just in case. Spud, tell us more about the apple trees. I planted 6 Dunstan Chestnuts last year and have six more coming. Always wanted to do apples.
Thanks to all for the help and friendship.

[ryebrye]

Don't forget to measure the temperature of your sap when you check the density...

My sap wasn't all that bad (cloudy, yes, but not stinky or anything) so I took it to a bigger producer I sell sap to. When I checked the density I thought "well yep... My sugar content is dropping, that's 0.2% lower than it normally is" but then I remembered to check the sap temperature (I used a high precision instant-read thermometer to check it) and it was 57°F...

According to the temperature correction charts that means I need to add 0.2% to it... Putting it back to where it normally is for me.

I'm sure most of you big guys already know this, but I think it's ready to forget because 99% of the time sap is below 46°F and didn't need any correction so it's easy to forget.