Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[tcross]

Tonight will be our last boil. it's taking roughly 65 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup... Sap is still crystal clear, but weak! my syrup is tasting great, however we started noticing a little different flavor in it towards the end of last night. we'll be around 1/2 a crop when all is said and done. so, not a total loss, but surely the worse we've had it since we started.

[DrTimPerkins]

We got another 6,000+ gallons of 1.5-1.7 Brix sap overnight before it froze up. Concentrating today and sending it to the refrigerated bulk tank until the crew can boil. Hoping we get another decent run today and tonite, then that's likely the end. Will post final numbers when we get there, but definitely not a banner year for sure.

[billyinvt]

I too had to dump yesterday's run. Off smells when I tried to boil it. Off taste when I sampled the syrup pan. These are north facing sugar maples. No reds. Peepers are loudly declaring Spring.

[ecp]

Color came up a lot over the last 2 nights which was nice. SCC has just been a steady 1.6 to 1.7 all year but it is running alright. Hoping another week will help out a bit and turn it into an alright year.

Has anyone been reading up on the new VMSMA sugarhouse certification program? Last years sample program was palatable, but to me if they pour gas on that and light it on fire. If that gets pushed through about 75% of the sugarhouses in Vermont will not be able to certify. Probably wont hurt VMSMA will all their influx of cash though.

[tapdrinker]

VT sugaring suffered this year as brix dropped fast and days were few.
In CT they had a 3 month season. A record year across the boards.
I did burn my pan slightly on my last boil-foamed up so bad couldn't see the depth.
Canola oil didn't help much and then I smelled the burn under the boil.. Immediately dumped
h2o in middle compartment and then I could see it. Bummer. Season over and used some
diluted vinegar to get it off. All cleaned now so no worry but the middle of the pan did belly down a little
but pan is level-so pan is still good. phew. Buckets and taps pulled. Now it's clean up time for the RO,
taps, buckets, lids etc.
Oh well, wait a year and see how the next season goes.
Total for me was 6 gals of great sugar-and 2 gal cooking sugar. so, 8 total. I'm okay with it but it's not
enought to fill my orders. I'll be selling all but 2 gal.
Made 3 qts of infused strawberry sugar. It's just so ... so good.
*wipes drool from mouth*
See you all next season.

[TapTapTap]

Peepers are loudly declaring Spring.

I've got mayflowers poking up too.

[jrgagne99]

Decent couple of runs over the weekend totaling over 2 gal/tap. Sugar bumped up a little in one bush to 1.7, but still 1.4 Brix in the other. Only a slight chance for a freeze tonite, so the end is likely close. Not likely to hit our minimum target this year.

Dr. Perkins, what is Proctor's target in GPT?

[DrTimPerkins]

Dr. Perkins, what is Proctor's target in GPT?

Our minimum target each year is 0.5 gpt. Our average production from 2004-2020 is 0.6 gpt. Have fallen below the minimum target only one other season (in 2012 we got 0.46 gpt) since 2004 when we retubed the entire woods and changed to high yield production. This year might even fall below 2012.

There's still a slim change we'll hit our minimum target, but I'm not holding my breath. Should know in a few days.

[Mead Maple]

Last boil for me tonight. Making some dark to maybe very dark syrup but the flor knock on wood is still very good. I can’t image it running much longer given the warm nights in addition to the sap sitting so warmly, was sad to lay the mainlines out of the tank. Good luck to everyone finishing up, I’ll see you on the other side!

[blissville maples]

Finally caught up yesterday from the Thursday Friday Saturday run. Sap had stayed cool until yesterday, the sun is jist too much and it will be worse today. R.O slowed way down with the last few push's so made some of the sap sub par while it waited to be run thru. Time for another vessel!! and syrup filtering quite hard. Probably could have made another 100 gallons of non table grade syrup but decided not to.

Overall it was a difficult year, not a good one for an expansion!!. I almost thought it was over a week and half ago when we were at the same production as last year with 1900 more taps- thank God it didn't end there, would have been hard to keep the moral up. We did finish out last night with about 1995 gallons I was hoping for 2000 as a minimum so we're there as far as I'm concerned. Sugar ended around 1.3 and the syrup had just started the Sourish smell and taste but not as bad as I've seen in past, Made a big difference having the extra taps, no waiting for sap to boil so was always able to collect fire up keeping things fairly fresh.

Time for cleanup and preparation for next year, and finish the other portion of the current expansion. I pulled a bud apart and looks like may be a seed year, seems every 3 years I see masting here- not really helpful for next year.

Hats off to a year that hopefully doesn't repeat anytime soon!!