I shut the pump off this morning. Woke up to 1100 in the tank but the sap had stopped. My total for the season is 74,300 gallons on 3400 taps. Not the greatest of numbers but I’m still happy. The season went great and I had no issues at all. I will start pulling spouts tomorrow and then finish up on pruning my apple trees. I hope everyone has a great summer.
Spud
Thanks for all the updates Spud, have a great summer
44 27'08/71 27'56
300 totalish taps 250 on tube and bosworth sap sucker
50 bucket and bags about 40-50 gallons a season
on a 2 by 7 home made evaporator and sugar shack
1st gen circa 1966 still learning stuff
Still going here in lyndonville. Slow but steady and low sugar. Like PMRC I have been hunting a leak all season and a constant battle with a lifting pump. That said I am still having a record year. I'll post totals when available.
Remember to keep on ticking while the sap is dripping.
2016- 50 buckets. Made 4 gallons.
2022- 3750 taps + Smartrek! Made 1300 gallons.
2023- 3750 taps after removing a pump house and connected two woods. Made 800 gallons.
This season's last boil was today. Ended with 277 gallons on 825 taps under vacuum. Our latest season end April 15, so were finishing in a reasonable time frame. Our sugar content is normally low, maybe 1.5-1.75%. We fought a few leaks early on this year. Due to my full-time job, we were behind trying to finish projects we wanted to do last summer/fall so we started later than we wanted. We have an addition at the sugarhouse to complete (16' added to the garage area). Double the size of a collection point from 800 to 1600 gallons (double he length of the building and build a warm room inside) and upgrade from a mechanical releaser to an electric releaser at this station. We plan to install a solar system (with batteries) to run the electric releaser. The tank swap will require removing the 1600-gallon tank at the sugarhouse and replacing it with a 2100-gallon tank (need to cut a hole in the wall for this one). That should be a fun day. Great to hear about everyone's successes and learning opportunities.
Mike
Tapping since 1985 (four generations back to early to mid 1900s). 200-250 taps on buckets and then tubing in the mid 90s. 2013- 275 taps w/sap puller 25 gal. 2014-295 taps w/sap puller 55 ga. (re-tapped to vacuum theory) 2015-330 taps full vac. 65 gal, 2016-400 taps 105 gal, 2017-400 taps 95 gal. 2018-additional 800' mainline and maybe 400 new taps for a total near 800 taps. 2x6 Leader WSE (last year on it) supported by a 250 gph RO.
Boiled what was in the tank on Sunday. Pulled taps on Monday before the eclipse. Sap was only testing .9-1.0%. we have about 13 gallons bottled and maybe another 1.5 ga waiting for bottling.
45 Taps on natural vacuum and buckets
2x4 XL Mason with blower
We're done. Sap still running, but too slow to keep it fermenting in the lines. Last boil was this morning. Trees are ready for the next phase and so are we. Overall not the worst or the best season, but happy with what we got. Now we need to finish up a bunch of measurements, clean-up, and pull taps.
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
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