Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[spud]

Sorry to hear about all the damage you suffered. I hope you can get things cleaned up soon. These ice storms and breakdowns can be so stressful. Let’s hope all of us can still have a great season.

Spud

[tcross]

we got 2.3 gpt sunday night into this morning. sap was testing 1.9% still. making syrup on the border of fancy and amber rich. nice tasty stuff. after 11 hours of boiling and still having 500 gallons to get through this evening, i think it's time for a small R.O. added another line of big mature trees this year and it seems as those trees are gushers and have put me over the edge of being able to keep up with heavy flows. hoping for another 2 weeks here as the forecast is looking good.

[spud]

Sun came out at about 1pm today and started a little run. I got 1100 gallons in about 4 hours. Sap tested 1.4%

Spud

[TapTapTap]

we got 2.3 gpt sunday night into this morning. sap was testing 1.9% still. making syrup on the border of fancy and amber rich. nice tasty stuff. after 11 hours of boiling and still having 500 gallons to get through this evening, i think it's time for a small R.O. added another line of big mature trees this year and it seems as those trees are gushers and have put me over the edge of being able to keep up with heavy flows. hoping for another 2 weeks here as the forecast is looking good.

11 hours - yup. I'd say you're ready for an RO. Do you burn wood, heating oil, or something else? Whatever your fuel, you'll save a lot with an RO in addition to your time. I'm guessing that a mini RO would burn only around $2 to $3 of electricity to process your 500 gallons. I figure that I use a little less than $20 in electricity to process 4000 gallons to about 14% and to clean the RO. The capital costs are a little high but you'll get a quick ROI with the savings in fuel and boiling time labor.

Ken

[tcross]

i burn wood. i have a mostly unlimited supply between my property at the house and my camp. between my hunting camp and my house properties i have an unlimited supply of wood, but having a 50 hour a week job, i'm looking for the time savings. i'm thinking a little 250-300 gph R.O would come in awfully handy! especially this year. seems like it didn't run much early on but when it started running it's running very hard! we got another 1 gpt run yesterday in about a 6-7 hour window. sat tested 1.9% still. still making a light amber rich. i was almost able to get caught back up last night. should be a good stretch of weather for the next 4-5 days. hopefully we'll make up for what we lost starting 3 weeks late up this way!

[spud]

Sap started running at 2pm today. Kinda cool today and sap only ran about 125 gph. Still running now but it should freeze up soon. Tomorrow should be a gusher with temps going to 58. The season is going very well so far and the ten day forecast looks great. Sap is clear and still testing 1.4%

Spud

[spud]

Saps running 250 GPH today. Should run all night and tomorrow. Sugar dropped to 1.3% today but the sap is clear. Ten day forecast is looking great.

Spud

[PARKER MAPLE]

I’m back in the game.
16hrs on the chainsaw. 8hrs of fixings mains and lats. Back up and flowing. 1.4% so far today. 1gpt hope it keeps rolling. I thought it was going to be much much warmer then what I’ve seen so far. Only 42here. But no freeze tonight so fingers crossed it keeps cranking.
PM

[Mooneybc]

Another 1.5gpt yesterday and today at 1.1%. Looking at 90% crop.

[spud]

I got 1.5 gpt in the last 24 hours. Sap ran all night but slowed down to 150 gph at 5 this morning. Sap testing at 1.2%

Spud