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Maple syrup 2017

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

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Ricker

The day certainly won't be measured gallons but a quality day. I'm no expert at making syrup, make a 3 or 4 gallons a year on an old wood stove converted to a small evaporator.  I got a call a little after noon time from a guy I know about helping his 12 year old son make a batch.  I said sure and grabbed my thermometer and went over.

I know the boy some, he tries to buy boards for whatever he is up to and I point him to the mistake pile and tell him to take what he needs, well he built a deer blind/ sugar shack with a bunch of the stuff he dragged home last fall.  He bought his own buckets and taps with birthday money, tapped & collected sap himself and took dads turkey cooker out to the shack.  He has a book on syruping and he put the questions to me all afternoon while we boiled, that's after he told his father I was there to help him and he could go back to he house anytime he was ready.  We got a quart and a half of syrup and the boy offered me half, told him no I have enough for us already. 

I was glad to get to know him a little better.  I got two boys in college and didn't realize I missed those pre teen days. Was a good day.

Chuck White

Good on ya, Ricker!   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!

brewdog

Has bin running for six week and not that good,this week don't look good /little snow and rain /GOTA COME PRETTY SOON?

Joe Hillmann

It looks like our season will be ending this week. Trees are starting to bud out and with the warm weather predicted for this week more will be budding each day.

Last year was considered to be a pretty bad year and this year is producing 1/2 - 1/4 of last year.  I have talked to quite a few sugar makers in the area and they all agree that it is a poor year.

millwright

Joe, I'm north of you about 75 miles. Same thing here , either too warm or so cold everything is frozen up

Joe Hillmann

Quote from: millwright on March 29, 2017, 12:33:42 PM
Joe, I'm north of you about 75 miles. Same thing here , either too warm or so cold everything is frozen up

And for some reason the few days that should have been perfect only produce maybe a 1/2 gallon per tree.  We tapped on February 13th and since then we have only had one day where we averaged close to 1 gallon per tap. 

millwright

Joe, I am boiling right now, should have about 4-1/2 gals  will collect tommrow hoping for 200 gallons from about 200 taps  that should be it as the trees will bud soon

cbla

its been too cold here for the last few weeks for sap. We need some of that spring weather.

Chuck White

Warm spell we had about a week ago started to bring out the buds, but then the cool down stopped them.

We're 9 gallons over our last year total, we have made 194 gallons so far!

It's not as good as it sounds, because we added about 300 taps last summer, so actually we're down some!

It won't be long now and it will shut down!
~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

I am still under half the volume I got last year with the same amount of taps. We have not had good weather.

celliott

Well we are hoping things let go this week. We have been getting one or two small runs a week, its been too cold for us. When it has run we have been able to get vacuum levels way up everywhere so when we do get some big runs we should be all set!

This week looks good. Bring on those 1000 gallon days!
We typically make 1/2 or more of our syrup in April anyways, we will be going for two more weeks minimum.

You guys thinking your season is over, try to hold out, we see far too many people pull the plug too soon. Vacuum helps a lot there too.
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

maple flats

Wow, great thread. I missed it until now.
I started tapping 1/7/17 but didn't finish til 2/21/17, because I had far more repairs needed than ever before. We've had far too much wind too many times blowing lots of trees and limbs down. It seems every critter in the woods has to chew any line on the forest floor, instead of just squirrels at the trees. I have 750 taps this year, all on vacuum, 568 on a lease and the rest around the sugarhouse. The lease is on vacuum using an old Alamo dairy pump tied to a 1000 gal vacuum tank. Because a vacuum tank is only good for up to 20" vacuum or it can implode, I run that at 18". Just over half of the taps there have good slope so I have changed them over to 3/16 lines for natural vacuum, then tied them into my vacuum mains at just under 18". This gives me near 28-29" vacuum near the top of the hill and even at 15-18' above the main I still get 25"+. Last year I started changing them to the 3/16 and it was impressive.
I noticed some discussion earlier in this thread on 3/16 and how tight it needs to be. While tight and slope are good, I've had areas where trees and limbs have fallen in season on 3/16 lines. As long as the bottom of the line is lower than where the line sags or is pushed to the ground, you will still get impressive flow. I get almost hypnotized watching the flow in the 3/16 lines, it is not like a 5/16. In 3/16 line the sap does not pass by the air (tree gasses), it remains segregated, that is how it generates gravity vacuum. The flow will be a moving column of sap/gas/sap/gas etc. and it will keep flowing to the main (or a barrel if you end at a barrel or tank), even if pushed to the ground along the line. It will flow down to under the limb that landed on it, and will climb back up to the next tap, as long as nothing was pulled apart when that limb fell on it.
I've had a long season but my sugar has been at record lows all season. I generally start at 2.1-2.5% sugar, and one year even had a 2 day period when I got 3.75% sugar. This year my high was 1.8%, most ran between 1.4-1.6% and Saturday I pulled in 240 gal at 1.2% sugar. If I didn't have a reverse osmosis to remove lots of the excess water I'd have likely quit long before now.
Last year was my lowest per tap syrup total ever, I only made 119 gal off 700 taps, I usually average between .25-.35 gal/tap in syrup. This year, with loads of long stretches of below freezing  followed by long spans of no freeze and then back again, I've now made 140 gal and I'm still going. However I think this may be my last week. The trees at the sugarhouse have not opened bud yet, but they stopped running a few days ago (Jan 7-Mar 29). The lease has slowed but is still flowing. The forecast for this week is all in the upper 40's into the 60's until Saturday when it may have an overnight freeze. I think that will end my season, at well below my typical .25-.35 gal/tap in syrup. I'd love to get to 200 gal but I don't see it happening again this year.
logging small time for years but just learning how,  2012 36 HP Mahindra tractor, 3point log arch, 8000# class excavator, lifts 2500# and sets logs on mill precisely where needed, Woodland Mills HM130Max , maple syrup a hobby that consumes my time. looking to learn blacksmithing.

Chuck White

Dave, you're right, as long as the end is lower than anything upstream, the lines will run!

The weather has been really screwy this season, but we got more than last year, last years total was 185 gallons and this year were at 220 right now and the pans are still flooded and we should have another run to gather later on this afternoon!

We're about done though, the buds are starting to show!

Good luck to all you guys that delve in this project/hobby!
~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

We collected on Saturday after a week of not collecting we end up with 40 gallons of sap from 125 taps.  We had planned to pull the taps but only a few of the trees are budded yet so we only pulled the taps from the budded trees.  With the predicted weather this week I doubt it will run anymore.  The only reason we didn't pull all the taps is other years the ground was covered with wood-anemone and hepatica flowers flowers and so far this year I haven't seen a single one yet. 

I figure if the flowers haven't bloomed yet the trees may not be done running yet either.

millwright

I pulled everything , got about 225 gals from 200 taps. Ended up with about normal amount of finished syrup. Trees are really budding here.

Chuck White

Gathered 365 gallons of sap this morning and boiled it down!

Disconnected all barrels, we're done!

Tomorrow we'll drain the back pan and flood it with water and finish off in the front pan as far as we can, then finish the final batch in a pan over a turkey cooker base!

Right now we're at 227 gallons of syrup and expect to end up near 238 gallons.

Three barrels full, one barrel 3/4 full, and the last one will have around 15-18 gallons.
~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!

maple flats

I went to collect more sap this morning but it was spoiled, too warm. I dumped it and left the vacuum pump off. Friday night and Sat. night are forecast to be possible freezes. Thus on Friday, I'll run the pump an hour or 2 then dump that sap, then I'll wash the tank. Then, if we do get a freeze Sat. morning I'll start the pump and hope for the best, then will run it Sunday too (if the forecast holds).
In the sugarhouse I did some bottling and cleaning of pans. I drained my syrup pan into the draw off tank and pumped some permeate into it. On Friday I'll see if the permeate removed the niter, if not, I'll use white vinegar. For the flue pan, I drained it and ran my Lapierre Flue pan washer for about an hour. (that has 6 arms that spin like on the upper rack of a dish washer. I pump permeate thru it and then send that to drain.) It does a pretty nice job and is super easy.
Now It's just a waiting game to see how the forecast pans out. If it doesn't run or if the buds open, then I'll concentrate the rest in my finisher, put it in a barrel and call it quits. Then the business of pulling taps starts. Pulling them only takes about a day, but I do it slower, way faster than fixing all the off season damages I had this year. I start by pulling just the end tree tap on each lateral and then run the vacuum pump for about 5-6 hrs. That gets most of the moisture out. Then I pull the rest of the taps again, with the vacuum on. as each lines dries I plug the taps onto the T pegs.
Then I pray for no high wind that will necessitate lots of preseason repairs before the next season. I have about 100 or so more taps that are going to be converted from 5/16 to 3/16, and another 50 or so new taps, mostly on the lease. I'm also adding a few at the sugarhouse on another sap ladder. Those will need to be lifted over the main driveway heading into the sugarhouse. I think I may try putting then on a single 3/16 with about 22 taps and then pull the sap up and over the drive, need a lift of about 12' to clear, but that vacuum runs at 26-27", should work OK. It will be a new way to make a sap ladder.
I'm still at 140 gal but I have maybe 15 gal waiting in the finisher and what is drained from the pans. That usually makes 12-16 gal more when finished. Sure would be nice to get 2 more days good sap flow. After Sunday's possibility of flow the forecast is for 4 days way too warm before another possibility of a freeze. I really don't think the buds will stay closed that long with the days in the 50's and 60's in the middle.
logging small time for years but just learning how,  2012 36 HP Mahindra tractor, 3point log arch, 8000# class excavator, lifts 2500# and sets logs on mill precisely where needed, Woodland Mills HM130Max , maple syrup a hobby that consumes my time. looking to learn blacksmithing.

Chuck White

Well, we're finally done, we finished up with 236 gallons of syrup!

Biggest year yet!

Now all we have is the cleaning of the barrels and the lines, then putting the barrels in the tool shed!

After that, it's just cutting next years sugar wood!
~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!

Chuck White

Barrels gathered and cleaned, evaporator disassembled and cleaned, tanks cleaned, pails cleaned.

All that's left is flushing the sap lines and pulling spouts, and putting up next years sugar wood!
~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!

Magicman

I know nothing about the Maple Syrup operation but I enjoy the journey each Spring as you describe your successes and woes.  Thanks to each of you for sharing.   :)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

celliott

We did this last year, and the company wanted more this year. Today we barreled and shipped 4000 gallons of 15% concentrated sap. We are doing the same again on monday, providing we have enough sap to concentrate! It is going to the U.K to be used for maple tree water. The company also does birch and coconut water. It's nice for us, we don't have to run the evaporator or wash it or any of those related jobs. Just haul sap in, concentrate it and barrel it as fast as we can. let the RO do most of the work.
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

Quote from: Magicman on April 07, 2017, 09:31:29 AM
I know nothing about the Maple Syrup operation but I enjoy the journey each Spring as you describe your successes and woes.  Thanks to each of you for sharing.   :)

One woe that was often encountered when gathering sap from a bucket tapped orchard was slipping on ice or wet leaves and going down with a full pail of sap.  I took quite a few sap baths and some of them were cold.
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.

Chuck White

We were going to clean and flush the sap lines and pull spouts today, but the weather didn't cooperate!

We have had a mix of snow and rain all day, so we just hung around the sugar house and puttered on thing for a few hours, then went home!
~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!

bill m

I boiled for the last time this year on Tuesday. Made another 14 gallons. Sugar content was low all season, 1.5 to 1.9. Did have one run that was 2.0. Finished up with 247 gallons on 1000 taps. Plan for next year is add more taps and put vacuum on my larger sugar bush. Also looking at another location that may have 300 to 500 taps.
NH tc55da Metavic 4x4 trailer Stihl and Husky saws

maple flats

After no flow a few days, we again got a mild freeze yesterday morning and a better freeze this morning. Sap ran yesterday but was real cloudy so I dumped it. Today's sap was clear. Additionally I collected 260 gal of clear sap from another producer. When I pumped it the flow was going good. I'll also get his sap Monday morning. He's Amish and asks that I not pump on Sunday, I'll respect his wish. The bad part is that the sap was only at 1.1%. The 550 gal tank should be full when I get there Monday, I hope the sugar doesn't get worse.
With no freezes after tonight and warm temps all week in the forecast, Monday will be my final sap haul for this season.
It has been a long season for sure, my first sap was hauled in late Jan. and now my last will be 4/10, unfortunately the sugar % was record low all season. I usually average just over 2% sugar for the season, this year my average will likely end up at or below 1.5%. Without the RO I'd have run out of wood and desire a long time ago. I still have about 2 cord left. That's the lowest I've been in at least 7 years.
logging small time for years but just learning how,  2012 36 HP Mahindra tractor, 3point log arch, 8000# class excavator, lifts 2500# and sets logs on mill precisely where needed, Woodland Mills HM130Max , maple syrup a hobby that consumes my time. looking to learn blacksmithing.

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