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Maple syrup 2017

Started by celliott, January 20, 2017, 06:51:24 AM

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Plankton

Put 80 buckets inlast week starting out the home bush here on the farm. Boiled twice, been pretty cold and I put them in pretty late since I've been putting other people's taps in. Made 2 gals of the good stuff so far. Tiny 3x3 pan and wood arch we had kicking around. Makes syrup but sure is slow. Boiled from 3 pm till 530 am last night and made 5 quarts of medium amber.

Made a deal with a neighbor for a 5x12 wood arch with all the goodies for $2500. Plan is at least 2000 taps on line next year, putting in 3/16 natural vacuum over the summer.

Chuck White

Boiled all of the stuff that was in the evaporator, AGAIN!

We filled the flue pan with water and fed what was in there into the front pan, as required until most of it was boiled out, then let is cool a few hours and finished it off in a 18"x36" pan on a turkey cooker burner!

We ended up with 9.3 gallons of syrup for the day!

The freeze-up is expected to last about a week!
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

celliott

Tapping is done, vacuum checking can't happen, no more installations, so we are working on firewood. We will have a couple thinning projects to do as well once the firewood runs out. Busy work until the sap starts running again.
Think we are a little over 6000 gallons for the season.
Chris Elliott

Clark 666C cable skidder
Husqvarna and Jonsered pro saws
265rx clearing saw
Professional maple tubing installer and maple sugaring worker, part time logger

GAB

This morning, per WPTZ, the temperature in Burlington is zero and the wind chill is -19.
The only place the sap is running this morning is at the end of my nose.  Achoooo.
Gerald
W-M LT40HDD34, SLR, JD 420, JD 950w/loader and Woods backhoe, V3507 Fransguard winch, Cordwood Saw, 18' flat bed trailer, and other toys.

Corley5

  We decided to pull the plug on our maple operation for this season.  We weren't going to have the building in the shape we wanted it.  It was going to be cobbled up to make things work this spring.  This gives us a few months to make things right.  We'll have everything the way we want next season as well as having the whole bush tapped.  We've got 800 ready now with another 1,000 or so to set up.  We've got a new roof on the building, stacks are in along with a chimney for a woodstove.  Insulation, steel ceiling, lighting and plumbing along with a concrete pour to bring the old gutter level with the rest of the slab.  This was a milk house built in 1950.  Grandpa and Dad got out of the dairy business in 1965.  I wish I'd kept track of the man hours we invested cleaning the 52 years of accumulation out.   
  All the equipment is here.  Evaporator, R.O., vacuum pump, pans, filter press, barrels etc.     



 



 

 

 



 



 



 



 

Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Chuck White

That's going to be really nice!    8)  8)   smiley_thumbsup    smiley_thumbsup
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

Joe Hillmann

Are you intending it to be a business that actually makes you money or more of a hobby that may help to pay for itself?  I ask because it looks like a lot of money tied up in equipment.

Quote from: Corley5 on March 15, 2017, 09:15:35 PM
  We decided to pull the plug on our maple operation for this season.  We weren't going to have the building in the shape we wanted it.  It was going to be cobbled up to make things work this spring.  This gives us a few months to make things right.  We'll have everything the way we want next season as well as having the whole bush tapped.  We've got 800 ready now with another 1,000 or so to set up.  We've got a new roof on the building, stacks are in along with a chimney for a woodstove.  Insulation, steel ceiling, lighting and plumbing along with a concrete pour to bring the old gutter level with the rest of the slab.  This was a milk house built in 1950.  Grandpa and Dad got out of the dairy business in 1965.  I wish I'd kept track of the man hours we invested cleaning the 52 years of accumulation out.   
  All the equipment is here.  Evaporator, R.O., vacuum pump, pans, filter press, barrels etc.     



 



 

 

 



 



 



 



 

Corley5

It's supposed to make $$$.  That's the plan anyway :)  It's comparable in $$$ to a new diesel pickup  ;) :)
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Joe Hillmann

Do you have an idea of how long it will take to pay for itself?  How many trees do you plan to supply it with?

Quote from: Corley5 on March 16, 2017, 01:43:09 PM
It's supposed to make $$$.  That's the plan anyway :)  It's comparable in $$$ to a new diesel pickup  ;) :)

Plankton

Looks like you'll have a nice operation for next season.

Just got off the phone with a few different sugar makers in vt. Not looking too good this year. This freeze up has gone on for too long most are only at half crop and one further up north is at a quarter crop.

They'll make some syrup next week, but April is up in the air as long as it doesn't warm up too fast might be a average season but if that April sun hits those trees and the air gets too warm it will be over fast.

Could go either way but I'm thinking it will end fast, hope I'm wrong.

Corley5

  At last year's bulk prices the equipment and infrastructure has about a 5 year pay back with 1,500 taps.  That goes down with more retail sales and value added processing but we're looking at mostly bulk for now.  We'll also have more taps than the original estimate of 1,500 to 1,600.  The equipment is sized to handle up to about 3,000 taps at which time either a bigger R.O. or a steam away will be needed.  We have more potential taps.  There's another 60 acres of bush across the road that could be developed and a 20 adjacent to us that we've been approached about possibly purchasing in the future.
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Joe Hillmann

Quote from: Corley5 on March 16, 2017, 06:25:02 PM
  At last year's bulk prices the equipment and infrastructure has about a 5 year pay back with 1,500 taps.  That goes down with more retail sales and value added processing but we're looking at mostly bulk for now.  We'll also have more taps than the original estimate of 1,500 to 1,600.  The equipment is sized to handle up to about 3,000 taps at which time either a bigger R.O. or a steam away will be needed.  We have more potential taps.  There's another 60 acres of bush across the road that could be developed and a 20 adjacent to us that we've been approached about possibly purchasing in the future.

That pay back time is just figuring on the equipment you bought so far or also including time and fuel it will take to make the syrup each year?  I ask because I often wonder how big operations are able to come out ahead with all the expenses.

On a side note,  I looked at the five gallons we bottled last week and they have a huge amount of sediment in each bottle so we have to re jar all of it.  I am in the process of building a stainless water jacketed bottling/settling tank that I hope will be ready in a couple days that will make rebotteling it easier.

Corley5

  The payback time includes energy costs but not our efforts.  Our energy costs are a bit less because we've got our own supply of wood and a firewood processor.  I really wish we had natural gas available.
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Chuck White

We figure that it'll warm up enough for the sap to start running sometime early afternoon tomorrow!

This is the "Maple Weekend" coming up and we have nothing now, so hopefully on Sunday we'll have enough sap to boil!
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

CJennings

Another week or two of warm weather when it comes and the season will be over quick. Some of my red maples that I'm not tapping were already showing signs of budding a week ago. If it warms up again the reds I have tapped are going to be out. The sugar maples will be okay a bit longer but it's not good to lose the reds so quick.

Chuck White

Sap ran a little yesterday afternoon, and we expect to have enough to gather this afternoon, then boil after gathering again tomorrow!
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

cbla

Managed to do a boil on the 16th. things have been hit or miss here with the weather. We got around 6 inches of snow last night but the long range forecast looks promising.

Chuck White

Gathered yesterday morning, boiled, shut down and then they really started running so we gathered again, around 7:00PM.

Otherwise, we would have barrels running over NOW!

Still 36° here, so we'll be gathering again in a couple of hours!

We are at 150 gallons of syrup as of last night, last year we had 185 gallons!

We figure that we'll go over 200 this year, we'll see!
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

millwright

Having a tough time here. We get a good day then it gets cold and everything freezes up. Boiling a few hundred gallons of sap today.

DeerMeadowFarm

This is our second year of making syrup. We made a little over 3.5 gallons on Saturday (our second boil of the year).

celliott

When I started this thread, I hinted at some big news, a new lease for us.

Quote from: celliott on January 20, 2017, 06:51:24 AM
Might have some big news to share in the near future- we could be getting a new woods to lease  ;)



Well it's official. The boss signed the papers earlier this week. We will be leasing a chunk of land that is part of a 5700 acre property in Eden VT. Currently the landowner is only opening up a certain portion of the property for the maple lease. We will be constructing a new sugarhouse on site, strictly a production facility. Everything we can get to run to this sugarhouse we can tap.

We are expecting to get about 120,000 taps here. No, there isn't an extra zero there.

Eventually if the company that owns the land decides they like how the sugaring lease is going, they will open up the rest of the property, and a second sugarhouse would likely be built, to boil another 100-120,000 taps.

We started some of the layout today, marking out where the two main conductors will go to the sugarhouse. Two sets of big pipes. 4" air line, 3" liquid line, hung on 3\8" cable, fusion welded pipe. We marked out the first .9 miles to where they will branch off. One will end up nearly 2.5 miles from the sugarhouse.

The plan right now is to start in force as soon as we pull spouts from this season. We will be doing the construction of the sugarhouse, 75'x120', as well as installing the first 50,000+ taps. The year after we will install the remainder, likely with two pump up stations gathering 25,000 taps. It will be all 3\16'' tubing under high vacuum. I don't know the exact vacuum pumps that we will be using but one we spec'd out was 25hp, 6 feet long and weighed 1200lbs. We would need two.

I'm excited to be taking part in this project, I can't wait to see it running full steam. I have been on large acre properties before cruising timber, but to install mainlines and tubing over such an area, it gives me quite an appreciation for the immensity and scale of what we are doing. When it is all said and done, we will have installed over 1 million feet ( 190 miles) of mainline. We will have nearly 2.5 million feet of tubing (470 miles) in the woods.

It's gonna be a busy year!
Chris Elliott

Clark 666C cable skidder
Husqvarna and Jonsered pro saws
265rx clearing saw
Professional maple tubing installer and maple sugaring worker, part time logger

Joe Hillmann

Wow,
How many taps did you guys have before this?


Quote from: celliott on March 25, 2017, 11:01:27 AM
When I started this thread, I hinted at some big news, a new lease for us.

Quote from: celliott on January 20, 2017, 06:51:24 AM
Might have some big news to share in the near future- we could be getting a new woods to lease  ;)



Well it's official. The boss signed the papers earlier this week. We will be leasing a chunk of land that is part of a 5700 acre property in Eden VT. Currently the landowner is only opening up a certain portion of the property for the maple lease. We will be constructing a new sugarhouse on site, strictly a production facility. Everything we can get to run to this sugarhouse we can tap.

We are expecting to get about 120,000 taps here. No, there isn't an extra zero there.

Eventually if the company that owns the land decides they like how the sugaring lease is going, they will open up the rest of the property, and a second sugarhouse would likely be built, to boil another 100-120,000 taps.

We started some of the layout today, marking out where the two main conductors will go to the sugarhouse. Two sets of big pipes. 4" air line, 3" liquid line, hung on 3\8" cable, fusion welded pipe. We marked out the first .9 miles to where they will branch off. One will end up nearly 2.5 miles from the sugarhouse.

The plan right now is to start in force as soon as we pull spouts from this season. We will be doing the construction of the sugarhouse, 75'x120', as well as installing the first 50,000+ taps. The year after we will install the remainder, likely with two pump up stations gathering 25,000 taps. It will be all 3\16'' tubing under high vacuum. I don't know the exact vacuum pumps that we will be using but one we spec'd out was 25hp, 6 feet long and weighed 1200lbs. We would need two.

I'm excited to be taking part in this project, I can't wait to see it running full steam. I have been on large acre properties before cruising timber, but to install mainlines and tubing over such an area, it gives me quite an appreciation for the immensity and scale of what we are doing. When it is all said and done, we will have installed over 1 million feet ( 190 miles) of mainline. We will have nearly 2.5 million feet of tubing (470 miles) in the woods.

It's gonna be a busy year!

celliott

Joe, we are boiling from 42,000 this year. And that is with only 2000 running to the sugarhouse, all the rest is scattered between 5 other sugarbushes, all in different towns and directions. We have to truck all of it in. One woods is hauled from with a 1700 gallon tank on a dump trailer with a farm tractor because it is nearby and the road gets very bad. We have an older kenworth triaxle with a 5000 gallon tank and a newer international triaxle with a 5500 gallon tank. The boss figures our cost of trucking sap at about $1.50 per tap. Take that totally out of the equation for this woods.

One reason we are all so excited about this is because everything will be right there in one spot. No running around, splitting the crew 3-4 ways, everyone is an hour away in different directions. No more worrying about muddy roads sap hauling. Not worrying about whether the vacuum is on and sap running in one woods, and not the other, or how full tanks are, the list goes on and on and on.

It is going to be an incredible convenience having everything in one spot, even though the tubing system will be vast.
Chris Elliott

Clark 666C cable skidder
Husqvarna and Jonsered pro saws
265rx clearing saw
Professional maple tubing installer and maple sugaring worker, part time logger

Joe Hillmann

Last night we were boiling and decided to make some wine.  We pulled 5 gallons of 25% sap and let it cool before pitching in some yeast and putting it in a carboy with an air lock.

I have made quite a few 1 gallon batches in the past it comes out tasting kind of like brandy.

Chuck White

That sounds good Joe!    8)
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

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