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Maple Syrup 2019

Started by Chuck White, February 05, 2019, 04:56:23 PM

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SwampDonkey

I believe there is something to the wind theory to, but it is due to atmospheric pressure versus internal pressure of the tree. When internal pressure exceeds atmospheric pressure you get flow assuming it is not too cold. And we know wind happens when high atmospheric pressure meets lower pressure. :)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Ed_K

 1st boil on the 13th had enough to sweetin the pans about 150 gals. I have 75 gals to boil in this afternoon. It hasn't run much since the 12th. Hope it runs this coming week can't believe it's over already.
Ed K

celliott

Quote from: SwampDonkey on March 16, 2019, 10:58:45 AM
I believe there is something to the wind theory to, but it is due to atmospheric pressure versus internal pressure of the tree. When internal pressure exceeds atmospheric pressure you get flow assuming it is not too cold. And we know wind happens when high atmospheric pressure meets lower pressure. :)
That's exactly it. And wind from certain directions typically means weather changes coming, around here we say "wind from north and west, runs the best, south and east runs the least". It's really true. 55 degrees and south wind, hardly anything. I've seen west winds and 33 degrees and snowing hard, and it's a gusher.
We didn't boil today, wrapped a few things up, got all the tanks empty and washed. Concentrated the sap and it's chilling at 35 degrees in our refrigerated bulk tank. We will boil it probably Tuesday. I'd guess enough for 700ish gallons of syrup.
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

Chuck White

GAB;  Partially true, if you have spouts and buckets, the wind can dry up the tap, but that doesn't happen on tubing because the tap is shielded from the wind!

There are several things that can affect the sap run as well as the boil!  The temperature whether to warm or to cold can stop the run, barometric pressure can affect them, wind can stop the run, and cloud cover can stop (or slow down) the run and you can also lose your boil!

We just don't think this is going to be a very good year in this area!

Today we bottled up a around 15 gallons, bringing our total to 22½ 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!

celliott

Here's some pics of what we've been up to.

Moose hanging around some of our higher elevation stuff. That's a beaver pond it's standing on.


 
Running some more mainlines and tubing. Skandic wide track and a 6x6 can am outlander with track kit.





 




 


 
The main network of pipe, everything runs through here. Top pipe is a 4" vacuum line, second pipe is a 3" liquid line, third is a 3" vacuum line, 4th is a 3" liquid line, 5th, the black one is a 2" pump line. They reduce in size as we take on less taps, all start out 4".


 


 


 


 
This is where the two systems "break apart" one main chunk we call the A system, the other is the B system, and the pump line has its own station, which I've showed with 5ft of snow on the roof of a shipping container, that's the C system. Each of these has smaller wet/dry systems tying in. 


 
The B system and C pump line coming across a high brook crossing. 


 
Releaser and transfer pump at the C system.


 


 
We've since shoveled the tank and the generator has melted off.


 
I bet our snowpack has settled over a foot, 1.5ft in the last few days. Still got a bunch.
Now some leaks. Finally got to leak check, it was warm enough. Lot of tubing still to check over but we got started. Seems like critter chews are the name of the game so far.


 


 


 
Woodpecker or sapsucker ( :D )


 
Somebody missed one. When you tap for 2.5 months straight, yeah we end up missing a few. We always find them though!


 
Poor taphole location. Pulling vacuum through that seam.



 
Deer chew it appears.



 
Coyotes...


 


 
Top busted out of a tree and broke this spout.

There was plenty more we found, just a few pics I took. I'm sure there will be more interesting fixes to come!
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

Thanks for the replies.
GAB
W-M LT40HDD34, SLR, JD 420, JD 950w/loader and Woods backhoe, V3507 Fransguard winch, Cordwood Saw, 18' flat bed trailer, and other toys.

SwampDonkey

Nice photos. :)

Lots of snow like way up here. Be the end of May I suspect before the white stuff is all gone from the shaded places. Not even 30 degrees here today, and frigid wind a screaming. Must be off that inland hurricane from the mid west US, been nasty out there for a month.  Big snow and now tons of rain. Dry here today, except snow squalls in the hills west of here, in Maine. Just March. :)

I think the moose has been eating on them fir in the foreground. You'll know once the snow melts. ;) Some of them line chews might even be quill pigs. One looked like rodent buck-toothed.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

petefrom bearswamp

Best of luck all of you tree drillers.
When I boiled in the 70s the squirrels drove me nuts.
I went thru many bags of couplings during the season not counting where I could stretch the line to a tap.
My last year I had 1200 taps all tubing on a 1 and 1/2 man operation 2 different bushes.
Worked a job all day boiled at night and weekends.
Gathered the remote bush in the dark lots of times, the other one was piped to the sap house.
Lot of work but I loved it.
Divorce stopped the boiling way more effectively than the weather ever did.
I had to wholesale 90 percent of my production that year.
40 years later I still miss it.
BTW who are the tubing makers now?
I used Lamb blue tubing and another mfr from Argyle NY green tubing whose name I cant remember.
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

SwampDonkey

Those porkies love rubber and plastic. They'll chew the tires off a trailer or pick up for that matter. Even if a busted hose off a piece of forestry equipment is roadside near slash piles, that rubber is snack time. If your tenting out in the bush and hear chewing after dark, you better check the pickup. :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

celliott

Lamb, IPL, and I'm sure many others are gone now. I've seen some of that old stuff. The materials we have nowadays are way ahead of the early stuff.
Lapierre, h20 innovation, Leader, CDL, Dominion and Grimm, DSD, are the big players these days. 
Our 5/16 tubing is leader max flow, most of our mainline is leader high density, we also use a lot of oil creek pipe made in Titusville PA, for our black pipe. And the big 3" and 4" fusion weld pipe is from CDL. Our evaporators and RO's are from H20. Busch vacuum pumps, Gould's transfer pumps, lots and lots of stuff.

Yeah those moose have frequented that area, the fir are mowed down pretty well.

Someone a few posts back asked where we were located, we are on the east slopes of the green mountains, between Mansfield and Jay peak. Snow belt country.
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

Chuck White

Most of our stuff comes from CDL,h20, D&G, and once in a while Leader!

Didn't get warm enough to run today!

Last night we got about ½ inch of snow, but the ground was warm enough to melt it, so we're back to partially bare ground!
~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!

Corley5

Finished tapping today.  Need to do some fine tuning and vacuum check tomorrow.  Same 800 taps as last year.  Wanted to add more but the winter's weather etc. didn't allow it.  More snow on the ground than we've had in several years.  Had to tunnel to the pump house with the Bobcat and tap on snow shoes.  We missed some sap last week.  Hasn't ran since but sounds really good for the next few days.  Here we go.  All our tubing is Leader.
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

cbla

Finally got some sap on the weekend and the first boil.

Mapleman

We boiled Saturday, sweetened the pan and drew off once, but not enough to bother messing up the filter and canner with, we'll run it through with the next boil.  And I hope that's soon, it's getting late in the season, a lot of work setting up with not much so far to show for it.  Probably too cold these next two days but Wednesday is looking good.  

Nice pics celliot - I'm impressed with the scale you're working on up there and inspired to see the level of professionalism in your installations.

Dave
"The older I get, the better I used to be."

petefrom bearswamp

Thanks Celliot
Of course being away from it for more than 40 years I dont know any of those manufacturers.
RO was just getting started back then.
Cornell U had seminars every winter.
I dont know of too many producers in these parts now.
The Ranger School at Wanakena NY just started their operation back up I think 2 years ago.
Reason they stopped was was heavy forest tent defoliation back 15 or 20 yrs or so ago.
My wife's cousin has a sizable bush tho and we get our syrup there.
Saw some steam on Saturday while out and about at a couple of Amish places 
Do Leader and Grimm still make evaporators?
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

celliott

There is a lot of seminars these days. We usually do a tubing installation seminar in the fall and a boiling seminar in the winter, they have maple schools where they gather many experts and manufacturers and has different discussion points. No lack of education or resources for sure.

Without reverse osmosis we would be lost. How could you possibly boil the amount of sap we get, in a timely manner so it doesn't spoil, and economically? Couldn't do it with raw sap. We burn I think around .2 gal of oil per gallon of syrup. Our two RO machines running together can process around 12,000 gallons of sap an hour and take it to a point where you have to boil off around 2.5 gallons of water to get a gallon of syrup. All our equipment is designed to be easily cleaned. If you can clean it easy, you'll do it more often. We totally clean the evaporator after every boil. Goes a long way for a high quality, consistent product.

I almost went to the ranger school, I remember talking to them about that. We have had some forest tent defoliation at our big woods. Spraying now, but we did lose around 200 acres of potential tappable trees. Never leafed out, dead. Total defoliation at least 3, 4 years in a row. Scary stuff. The spray was very effective over where we are currently tapping.

Leader and D&G still make evaporators and a full line of supplies. Leader is the only major US maple equipment manufacturer now, all the rest are based in Canada.
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

celliott

Dave, (mapleman) thanks a lot. This is Glenn's legacy project, and we all strive for the best we can possibly do. We didn't want to be a big sugarhouse that cuts corners and makes just ok syrup. We wanted a high quality product, and it takes every aspect of the operation being in top shape to get that. 
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

petefrom bearswamp

Very professional looking operation.
Good on you folks for caring about a superior product.
My last married year I sold for $4 per qt, $12 per gallon, light amber AKA fancy,somewhat less for medium amber.
Dark went in drums before my marital probs.
The light amber I wholesaled the year of divorce, I got $8 per gallon. But went home with about 1500 bucks
BUT that was a different time.
Did get a good buck for my equipment tho.
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

Stephen1

High pressure brings on the sap so if its windy the barametric pressure is changing. Just depends on what side of the high pressure your on.
I had ice hanging out our mainlines.  I did not install the vacuum yet as I am in Vermont to pick up my kiln from IDRY. It should be warm enough to start the vacuum on WED.

 

IDRY Vacum Kiln, LT40HDWide, BMS250 sharpener/setter 742b Bobcat, TCM forklift, Sthil 026,038, 461. 1952 TEA Fergusan Tractor

Chuck White

Somehow, it warmed up enough for sap to run for us yesterday, some of the barrels are near 1/2 full, so we'll gather and boil today!
~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!

SwampDonkey

I was surprise yesterday, the snow melted in the yard even though the afternoon temp showed 25F. That direct sun is hot.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

millwright

We are just getting going here in northern Wi, dripping a little today.  Looks pretty good for the next few days, just hope it don't get too warm too fast

Chuck White

Well, it didn't run enough to gather and boil, but there will be plenty tomorrow!  :-\

The next few days look good for sap runs!  :)

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!

randy d

We collected the first time yesterday we had about 15 taps out and we cooked down about 2 and 1/2 pints of nice amber syrup that we will have on our pan cakes tomorrow. there is still 18 inches of snow in the woods. Randy

cbla

The last 3 days have been cold here, its been  around 26 F. its supposed to warm up for Thursday and Friday.

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