Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[WestfordSugarworks]

General that's really high, congrats.

[EBG18T]

We got about 0.75GPT today. Have about 400 gallon to boil from today. Bottled another 10 gal tonight, then I discovered I was out of bottles. She is heading to CDL tomorrow for more bottles since our finishing tanks are full and out of syrup storage.. next year I really need to get the RO.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[mff]

Another 1.5 GPT from 4pm Tuesday to 7pm today. No freeze last night, and more bubbles than sap from the line this evening. 30 degrees outside now and the sky is mostly clear.

At .31 gal of syrup per tap, all from “forest” trees, and I missed a few earlier runs while trying to decide if we would be sugaring this year. Am sold on the 3/16, and appreciative of the experiences shared here.

[spud]

I got .5 GPT in the last 24 hours. It's slow but steady and still nice clear sap testing at 2.0%. I am at 79% of last years production. I think starting Saturday things should get much better. I hope for 3 more weeks.

Spud

[tcross]

we got a good amount of sap yesterday. pretty steady run and still above 2%. It froze here last night. had 30 on the thermometer and all puddles were iced over so I'm hoping today will be a good day. I can't boil tonight so it'll be a long day in the sugar house tomorrow!

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr. Tim, could you give an estimate for per gallon cost of a refrigerated tank like the one you have? I definitely like the idea of transitioning to high brix sometime in the future. Also love the idea of having fewer boils while boiling more sap at one time. The money is made in the woods and if you can concentrate labor out walking lines during these big warm spells and then wait till a cold spell to boil, you'll make a lot more money in the end.

Also how many gallons of syrup per hour have you been drawing off your rig?

Price varies quite a bit depending upon the tank size, operating condition, who moves it, etc. Can't say I know a lot about pricing these things...there is a wide range. Not a lot of them for sale, but with milk prices....who knows. Keep your eyes open on Craigslist. Our tank is nominally 650 gal, but it'll hold 702 gal filled to the brim. We put it up overhead in the sugarhouse, otherwise we'd have gone a little bigger. Compressor keeps 35 brix concentrate right around 23 deg F. Any colder and it starts to turn to slush (slush doesn't run so good through pipes).

We boil about every 2-5 days now depending upon flow. Hardly ever boil back-to-back days. Normally one of the crew members comes in early, starts the RO, and then heads out to get a load of sap (we truck sap 1/4 mile from about half our taps), then will head into the woods if necessary. I'll start boiling around 9am. Another crew member comes in around 11am-noon and takes all the measurements, then stays to help in the sugarhouse or goes into the woods (if needed). We finish boiling by 2-3pm, clean until 5pm. The crew member who came in late stays late to do the RO wash, and start the rinse. On days we don't boil, we'll do the RO and sap collection stuff only, leaving more time for the woods or data collection.

We're drawing off about 60 gal/hr. We've gone to filtering right off the rig....goes into a drawoff tank, then through the filter press into a drum. Usually have 4 drums set up to start the day. We can normally get 4-5 drums of syrup through one press, but have a second press all set up and ready for when the first press needs to be changed out.

About 4,500 gal of sap this morning (since 8pm last night). Already had 440 gal of 37 Brix concentrate in bulk tank from after we stopped boiling yesterday. Will concentrate new sap today and boil tomorrow. So that will be sap from 3pm yesterday (Wed), all the sap from last night and today, and sap from overnight tonite.

[WestfordSugarworks]

Thanks Dr. Tim.

Things seem to have finally settled down for us, there's a few leaky saddles or valves out in the woods that need work but i'm too sick to walk around out there. Vacuum is about 28" or higher in both woods. Sap still coming in good. We will freeze friday night, hopefully no more drops popping off spouts. Every time we have a freeze in Jericho our wetline has been freezing up, then it will thaw and hundreds of gallons of sap will bombard our releaser, sap pumps can't keep up and it climbs up into the vacuum line to pump and trips moisture trap. So pretty much we need someone there every morning to close the knife valves into the woods a bit so that we keep the pump running. It's a big pain but next year we are going to redo our PVC setup and put in a sensor-activated knife valve that will close off the line to the pump so we don't always trip moisture trap.

[spud]

Sap is still running a bit. I'm getting about .5 GPT per day. It picked up a little bit today when the sun came out for a while. It should run all night and all tomorrow till freeze up tomorrow night. Now testing 1.9%.

Spud

[MJPJ Sugars]

My refrigerated concentrate tank

Refrigerated.jpg

[sapmaple]

love it !!!!