Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[Andy VT]

Made and bottled another 76 fl oz of syrup today. It was borderline between AR and DR, but I'd say tastes more dark, so calling it dark even though it seems _possibly_ a tick lighter than the border but depends how you squint. Put it into 4 pints, a cup, and the rest added to my fridge dark jar. The sap was from my final collection on April 5. It was concentrated via boiling on either the 5th or 6th and been in a cooler with ice since then. This officially crosses us past a quart per tap (30 taps, more than 7.5 gallons). Got more to go if it'll keep. Next I'll do what's left in the cooler (one more batch) and tackle the frozen stuff after that. Then I can finally post something in the "post your results" thread hopefully before we see apple blossoms!

Should have combined the two cooler batches probably, but they were likely to be different grades, and if one went bad, maybe the other wasn't bad, so kept them separate. So far so good.

Like Proctor, for somewhat opposite and somewhat similar reasons, my little neighborhood operation also has a delay. I stopped collecting and bulk boiling on April 5, but I'm far from being done with having sap concentrate and finished syrup in various stages in refrigerated and frozen storage. A few minutes ago I crossed the 7 gallon mark for hot-packed syrup in its final containers. Could have collected through Monday or Tuesday if life had allowed, but the season had served its purpose for me (goal was to make at least a quart per tap on buckets which I'll greatly exceed, and learn whatever I need to learn to make next year more fun and sustainable!). Big season for us over here!

[johnallin]

Thanks Spud. Good luck with your new operation and your new grandchild.

And good luck to you Dr. Tim, wishing you all the best in your retirement and enjoying your family.
Grandkids are really cool, for the second time in my life I had kids who actually believed I could walk on water…
The first kids were their parents…but that was a long time ago, in a far away Galaxy.
Oh, watch out for the UFO’s in Ann Arbor…back in the 60’s I remember they saw some over that way.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Spud! Welcome back. I look forward to seeing your updates again. Best of luck on your new venture!

[Mooneybc]

Hi everyone! I hope y’all had a great summer and fall! I’m very much looking forward to this season. I’ve seen a few larger (15k tap+) operations already tapping here in Northern VT!

Question for the thread. I have a 2000 gallon polyethylene tank that is leaking around the bulkhead in a consistent manner. Does anyone have any recommendations for food grade sealants that I could use to paint/spray/caulk around the bulkhead? I’ve fiddled around with the bulkhead several times and can’t seem to get it to seal just right.

[spud]

Thanks Treehugger. I see a bunch of people in my area tapping and getting a good amount of sap this last week. I have never tapped in December before. I’ve always been an advocate for early tapping but I think this is a little too early. Typically in my area the real season starts mid March and goes on till around the 20th of April. I want my tap holes to be as fresh as possible for the 6 weeks of peak sap runs. I plan to wait a while on tapping this season. Time will tell if I’m making the best decision.

Spud

[VT_K9]

Last week I put an anchor into a tree and the chips were definitely wet, not running out of the hole but wet. We have been working to replace about 1500' of mainline this year and are almost done. Some was just a remove the old and replace (going from black poly to CDL Blue) and in one are we re-routed the run.
We Just need to finish tying the pipe to the support wire. Then fix a few areas from tree damage and add taps. I hope to be tapped in at the end of January this year.

[spud]

I started tapping early in the week. I have about three more days and then I will be done. Sap was running a bit today into the tank, even though my pump is off.

Spud

[Mooneybc]

I’ve started this week as did my neighbor. Also upgraded to an H20 Electric releaser from a manual one so I’m excited about that. Cheers to all on a good season!

[spud]

I was able to get 1500 gallons over night. Should continue to run till late Saturday. After that, we are back to winter.

Spud

[spud]

Sap ran all night and should continue till 10 pm tonight. I’m up to 5000 gallons of sap this morning. Only testing 1.6% but should start going up with a few more runs.

Spud