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Maple Syrup 2019

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

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Chuck White

Between yesterday, through the night, and this morning the sap really broke loose!

Last night, sap was gathered late and then again this morning with a total of 1800 gallons gathered!

Today was another "record day" for us, boiled all of that sap and we drew off 41.3 gallons of syrup!

Our total production to date is 189.1 gallons, way more than we originally thought we'd get this year!  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!

SwampDonkey

White today and soon some cold off Hudson Bay here. Wind is suppose to be 40 mph tonight and tomorrow.

What bear ground. :D Sap?? None here. Some places got 10" over in Maine, south of Houlton. Snow plows went on the roads here.



"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)))

maple flats

Pete, there used to be several grades depending on where the syrup is made. That changed a few years back. In NY the A grades were Light Amber, medium amber dark amber, Grade B and them commercial or processing grade.
Over the years more and more people started finding that they liked the darker syrups better for traditional uses like pancakes, waffles and french toast while uses like topping ice cream might still lean towards the lighter grades.
Then the International Maple Syrup Council decided it would help consumers know what they were getting regardless of whether it was made in New York, Vermont, Maine, etc. or Ontario or Quebec or Nova or New Foundland or any other place that makes maple syrup. At that time they updated the grades to 4 A grades plus Processing. All syrup is grade A unless it has either an off taste or color for that grade. It took a few years for all states and provinces to officially adopt the new grading system, but I think by now the maple world is all on board.
The new grading system is Golden color, Delicate taste; Amber color, rich taste; Dark color, robust taste and Very dark, strong taste followed by processing grade. The colors are based on the % of light transmission 100-75% is Golden, 74-50% is Amber, 49-25% is dark and 24 to 0% is very dark. The taste for each must be representative of that grade or regardless of the color it becomes process grade. All grade A syrups can be sold retail in any size containers, process grade can only be sold to re-processors generally in SS barrels. That can become maple sugar or cereal coating or ingredients in many other food products.

My maple season in Oneida, NY will likely end with tomorrows sap. After that the temperatures will not be good for maple. No freezes for at least 8 days and daytime temperatures in the upper 40's to about 70 F. In that time the trees will likely open the leaf buds, which ends the season, even it they weren't open after that the sap in the tubing lines would all be spoiled and the lines would need to be cleaned before more sap could be collected (or make processing grade syrup which pays so little no one sets out to make it).
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

Sap ran yesterday PM and in the early evening.

With the sap gathered then and this morning, we ended up with 800 gallons, we boiled that down and got 23.8 gallons of syrup today, bringing our total to 212.9 gallons to date!

We are well over what we expected earlier on in the season!  8)   8)   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!

maple flats

My pumps will run all night, last check I had about 400 gal total in 2 bushes, should be 1100-1400 by midday tomorrow. I still don't even have a total, I have at this point 8 barrels at 26.5 gal a half full finisher and whatever I packed already in retail size containers. That is in the log book but I have not tallied it yet, likely about 310-340 gal or so.
In addition to that I had a disaster last Saturday, we had to shut down to clean the front pan because of sugar sand. While we cleaned I failed to drain the pre-heater and the cold sap float box (then let hot sap back to fill the float box) and the flues pan was likely 185-205 maybe hotter. I made ropy syrup about the time what had been in the pre-heater and the float box finally got to the draw off channel. It made a gooey mess and the auto draw filled with the goo which then hardened like hard candy. We had to drain about 250 gal of sap, 75 gal of 10% concentrate, dump the syrup and flue pans and wash everything. At least, after 17 seasons of this I can no longer say I've never seen ropy syrup.
For those not familiar with maple, I had made the perfect environment for bacteria to multiply at an extreme rate in my pre-heater and the float box that feeds the evaporator. I haven't even calculated how much that likely cost me, I will estimate it after the season, just to get more upset about it. My raised flue 3x8 evaporator, has a 3x5 flue pan with 10" high flues and I run it 1/2" over the flues, and my 3x3 syrup pan runs about 1" deep if anyone else cares to do the math. My sap that day was 2.0% sugar.
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

Wow Dave, that wasn't a pretty day for you!

We gathered 825 gallons of sap today and made 24 gallons of syrup!

To date, we have made 236.9 gallons of syrup!

With what the season looked like in the beginning, we're feeling good now!  8)   8)   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!

SwampDonkey

That's a lot of liquid gold Chuck. :)

First boil here today. Tells how cold it is up here. :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

Made 750 gallons today. Running decent. Tomorrow looks like a big day. Next week looks real good too. Here's hoping! We need to average 1000 gallons a day for the rest of the month to come out with a decent crop. I would like to see some 2000 gallon days, we certainly have the capabilities to do so.
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

All golden delicate btw. Well above the color scale :)
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

I finally got an accurate count, I had 317 gal at the end of today, I made 21 gal today, I found I had added one barrel twice in my earlier rough estimate.
My pumps are running all night and I'll collect early and again late morning tomorrow, the temperatures will be up around 69 F so I heed to boil as fast as I can to keep making good syrup. No freeze until maybe Wed. morning, better freeze Thursday morning. Then a freeze every 2-3 days for the next 10-14 days. Someplace in there the trees may open bud. I'm at just .41 gal/tap, last year I got .52 GPT, would like to tie or beat last 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.

nativewolf

Quote from: celliott on April 06, 2019, 07:07:43 PM
Made 750 gallons today. Running decent. Tomorrow looks like a big day. Next week looks real good too. Here's hoping! We need to average 1000 gallons a day for the rest of the month to come out with a decent crop. I would like to see some 2000 gallon days, we certainly have the capabilities to do so.
Wow that is pretty impressive; hope that you hit the 2000 gallons.  
Liking Walnut

SwampDonkey

Chris that's a lot of syrup, or is that sap flow? :)
"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)))

SwampDonkey

New Brunswick is the 3rd largest producer of maple syrup products in the world. I know the newest sugary operation here just put in 25,000 taps. That's on Skedaddle Ridge. I've thinned small hardwood out there and it is definitely a large tract of maple forest.

Gus Hargrove started out with 30,000 taps and is suppose to be up around 100,000 trees by now on the Divide maple ridge. He started his around 2001.

Those two sugaries are north and south of one another. :)
"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

Swamp donkey, that's syrup ;) 
When the sap is running real good, we get a load at the sugarhouse pumped from the main station about every 30-40 minutes. Typically 5-7000 gallons of sap per pump load.
Next week is gonna get crazy! Love it!

We are hoping to be at or nearly at 100,000 taps next season. Wanted to be there this year but we've faced some unexpected challenges the last two installation seasons. 
We still haven't had the need to run both evaporators at the same time. We have ran them both in the same day, just switched over when one needed cleaning. Our biggest syrup day so far has been 1400 gallons. 
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

SwampDonkey

Well, you've got quite the operation then. :)

We produce about 490,000 gallons here in NB, but last year the production was down 35%. Quebec's production had dropped 22% I think. It's probably down this year, been too cold. Only been getting going here locally this week.

Quebec does about 9 Million gallons. :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)))

Chuck White

Sap was at a stand-still today, so..... Nothing!

We'll gather whatever there is tomorrow morning and that will likely be it for us, too Warm!
~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!

Stephen1

We had a nice 4 day run..Now for our numbers...95 liters all nice amber.
I thought I would put it in metric so it sounds like a lot more :D
We have fun, my buddies and I have been doing this for 49 years this year. We have a small hobby here. 
 

 
<br
>I am in AWE of of how many taps some of you have. The amount of work is imensive. How many employees does it take for 100,000 taps?
IDRY Vacum Kiln, LT40HDWide, BMS250 sharpener/setter 742b Bobcat, TCM forklift, Sthil 026,038, 461. 1952 TEA Fergusan Tractor

cbla

After this weekend I am at 5.5 gallons.

thecfarm

Yes that is some tapping!!
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Stephen1

That did not sound like a good day Dave, It is always nice to know that other people have problems also.
IDRY Vacum Kiln, LT40HDWide, BMS250 sharpener/setter 742b Bobcat, TCM forklift, Sthil 026,038, 461. 1952 TEA Fergusan Tractor

Chuck White

Well, today was our last day to gather sap for the season!

We gathered 350 gallons of sap and boiled it down and got 10.7 gallons of syrup, this brings our seasonal total up to 247.6 gallons of syrup.

Everything on hand is in the evaporator and tomorrow we'll drain the flue pan and flood it with water to finish the boiling in the front pan!

When we get it boiled down far enough, we'll shut down, then the next step is to finish it off in a small pan on top of a turkey cooker!

Next step is the cleanup!
~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

Caught up with the sap last night.  Hasn't ran in a couple days now but looks like it'll start up again Tuesday night and last into the weekend.  We're at about the 185 gallon mark.  We'll clean the pans and reset for the final leg the next two days.  It's been a better season than we thought it would be.  Firewood orders are rolling in now.  Almost time to move on to the next season :) :)
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

maple flats

My season ended yesterday. No more collecting of sap. Tomorrow we drain the flue pan and fill it and the head tank with permeate, then boil it down on the front pan, then finally finish it off in the finisher. I don't see meeting last year's syrup per tap, but we sure made more syrup. Last year, for health reasons we only did 225 taps, this year about 725-800. I won't have an actual count until the taps get pulled after cleanup. At the sugarhouse we had 314 taps but only have an estimate at the lease. That I think will be in the 500-575 range I think. We will get the count in a week or 2, when we pull taps and clean the lines.
We were going for 1000 but too many limbs downing lines and we didn't get them all in. The lease should have just about 700 taps but last minute repairs slowed it down, then 9 daays in a row of good sap flow kept us from tapping the rest. 2 old guys (one with after market parts) goes slower than it used to.
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.

celliott

We figure approximately a guy per 10,000 taps. We're a little heavy on manpower right now but divided between two sugarhouses it seems like we're shorthanded all the time...

I added my tapping #'s up the other night, I personally drilled a few over 12,000 holes this season. A few days last week I was up to 8 miles a day snowshoeing checking leaks. Yes, I lose weight all winter :D

Sap is crystal clear here, but not running like we would like it to. Sugar content is high, we've seen 2.7 average, off 65,000? That's pretty cool. Just wish we could get more volume right now. Makes one nervous.
I think we will go right to the end of the month. Weather looks right.

Swamp donkey, little old Vermont produces about 50% of the U.S maple crop, approximately 2 million gallons. Still a drop compared to Quebec!
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

SwampDonkey

Yeah, the actual numbers seem to be up and down depending on source of the numbers and then one never knows what year the data is from. One source I see is 10 years out of date. :) I know NB has had a huge influx of production in the last 6 years and more than I see shown on different sites. The Association website says we are third in world production with 3 million kilograms of maple syrup. A Kg is 2.2 lbs and weight probably varies by grade. Water is 10 lbs per Imperial gallon, but syrup is heavier than water. And keep in mind our gallons up here are imperial, which is more volume per gallon. :)
"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)))

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