Maple Sugar 2023

[celliott]

Yes, a quart per tap on buckets is still considered "good" or average.
Nowadays, with a vacuum system, a 1/2 gallon per tap is considered the benchmark for a good year, with some producers in good areas approaching 3/4 of a gallon of syrup per tap. We made .6 gallons per tap last season.
We have a lot of snow left and the sap hasn't really picked up and got going yet. Afraid it'll be a fast and furious April. The worry is it warms up too quick before things thaw out and we get good runs. Then the sap turns buddy and we make processing grade syrup.
We made 2145 gallons today. That was saving sap since Wednesday. Next week looks a bit too cold to thaw things out too. We'll keep chugging along till we can't though. Hope to get to the last week of April. Although we have made 1/2 of our syrup in a week before. I hope not this year lol but 20,000 gallons in a week is not out of the question for us.

[celliott]

What's everyone seeing for sap sugar %? We have been 2.2-2.3, which is incredible off 100k+ taps. 
I know some with smaller woods hitting 3%, lots in the mid 2's. We're not getting alot of sap but at least it's sweet! Way better than the 0.8% we had back in January 😮 

[Stephen1]

I haven't looked at the sugar content yet. We spent 2 long days finding leaks and We finally hit 23" vacuum and we were dancing in the woods. 1st time we have gone over 19" in a few years. We have lots of snow on the ground and it's still on the edge of winter. Snow and freezing rain today. Heading to 40 tonight before it settles to 32F. The long range is sap season for 2 weeks, but I trust those reports as far as I can throw the meteorologist. :D

[Corley5]

2% sap as usual for our woods. Weather looks good through mid April. We're a third of the way to our goal. 

[Corley5]

Niter load is bad.

[OH logger]

We prolly averaged 2% sugar this year and tons of niter.  BOught a filter press halfway through last season and VERY thankful for it this year!!! Ended at .27 gallon syrup/tap this year. Startin cleanup so we can go again next year!

[celliott]

I haven't looked at the sugar content yet. We spent 2 long days finding leaks and We finally hit 23" vacuum and we were dancing in the woods. 1st time we have gone over 19" in a few years. We have lots of snow on the ground and it's still on the edge of winter. Snow and freezing rain today. Heading to 40 tonight before it settles to 32F. The long range is sap season for 2 weeks, but I trust those reports as far as I can throw the meteorologist. :D

I don't trust the weatherman either!
What's your vacuum pump and releaser setup? I could offer some pointers on leak checking if you'd like.

[SwampDonkey]

Been slow sap here I think. Only saw one boil last week. And I seen the neighbor with pales that never went near taps until yesterday (3 days) and now we are in another snow storm, so 3 more days with open pales before they get any more. They have to be dumped of snow and water Monday morning, so won't see sap until Tuesday. They don't have that many pales because their taps are fence row trees and a small group of maple that took over an old homestead orchard. I've not seen his brother boiling any yet, next door. Same deal, not a big producer, just hobby. An expensive one. :D After this snow we probably have gained back what ever melted before. :D :D

[thecfarm]

Maple Sunday today.
Sap houses are open to the public to see how it is done and to buy something.
swampdonkey, you don't make money from your hobbies.





Just like what you said in the thread for Jeff's backhoe.  ;)
Sap can be like sawing. 
I only have so much money to spend. 
I don't need a 10,000 dollar machine to get $50 worth of syrup.
Nor do I need a 40,000 dollar machine to make lumber with.
Syrup can be done with a $100 bill.
I do want to build a stove for boiling. I have a SS pan, but will have to buy some metal. There goes another $100 bill.  ;D

[SwampDonkey]

They've spent a lot more than $100. :D They've built sugar shacks, bought SS evaporators. And they've got $14 galv sap pales. ;D They don't sell syrup. My cousin does.

You and I don't spend that kind of money on hobby syrup. ;D

My grandfather and I used 1 gallon tomato juice cans and a home made boil barrel with a fire under it. Might be $10 back in the day.

[Chuck White]

If you want to get things and save money at the same time, go to garage/yard & farm auctions and buy used milking pails and associated stainless steel items.

At times you can get a 3 or 4 gallon for $15-20, but anything that has the word MAPLE or SYRUP attached to it can easily cost you 5X the price!

Just sayin'!

[SwampDonkey]

I don't intend to buy anything for maple syrup. Just what I observe some doing.   Would cost me very little to make syrup in the amount I would use in a year. I'd even make wood spigots for all I'd need.

[Stephen1]

I haven't looked at the sugar content yet. We spent 2 long days finding leaks and We finally hit 23" vacuum and we were dancing in the woods. 1st time we have gone over 19" in a few years. We have lots of snow on the ground and it's still on the edge of winter. Snow and freezing rain today. Heading to 40 tonight before it settles to 32F. The long range is sap season for 2 weeks, but I trust those reports as far as I can throw the meteorologist. :D

I don't trust the weatherman either!
What's your vacuum pump and releaser setup? I could offer some pointers on leak checking if you'd like.

Thanks Chris, We run a Guzzler pump that pulls vacuum and then pumps the sap into our tanks. We have 2 1" mainlines going into a 12" vacuum chamber and  then that goes to the guzzler pump.  We have been converting a 10 year old gravity system to vacuum and it's been a challenge. A lot of the old system was heated connections with a torch to get the 5/16 line on to the connections. Lots of leaks.  We finally realized that we need to spend the money to buy the tool to press on the connections. Works like a dream.  Slowly we have been inspecting and changing fittings. We have been told that the guzzler pump is good for 20" of vacuum and we hit 23". I think next year will be a proper vacuum pump and releaser along with an RO system.
We just had the best run . 3 solid days of sap during, Get this- snow, sleet and rain, we have been boiling for 4 days of 10 hour boils, another 3 days of boiling to go, just for the sap we have pumped up now, not including what is coming Monday Tuesday Wednesday , if the weatherman is right. 

[celliott]

You are seeing the benefits of vacuum already.
A guzzler can achieve 27" of vacuum with a very tight tubing system. It is harder to get it there because they are low CFM and sensitive to leaks. Sounds like you're on the right track though.

We saw 2.7% sugar at our big Eden woods today. Just incredible. Best run of the season so far, but nothing crazy. Still boiling once maybe twice a week. Good sap runs we will have to boil every day or every other day. Probably will go Thursday and Saturday this week.
We also got a load of sap out of our 6500 tap Groton woods that tested 3.4%!

[newoodguy78]

That's impressive sugar content. What do you feel is contributing to those high percentages?
When I used to do it small scale always thought 2-2.5 was pretty decent. 
Even on my little setup you could certainly notice the difference in boiling time between 1.5 to 2.5 sap. 

[Corley5]

Niter's as bad as I've seen it. We usually get two boils maybe three early season with a pan reverse. We finished about 30 gallons last night and we're ten gallons into a boil tonight with a reverse and the niter load plugged the draw. Not just pan scale but granules in suspension combined to sludge up the valve. Drain and acid soak in the morning.

[celliott]

Corley, try switching every boil. It'll help, to a point. The niter will get better eventually towards the end of the season, but then it will filter much harder. 

On why we are seeing such good sugar content- not totally sure just guesses. We've had a couple years of low sugar (we were lucky to crack 2% last 2 years) the trees haven't put out much sap and are making up for the lack of volume with sweeter sap, it was a fairly wet year last year.
These two woods have historically ran pretty sweet. Groton woods is a lot of bigger sugar maples with one tap. Wetter soils. Trees were released about 15 years ago.
Our Eden woods has been harvested off and on continuously. We have less trees per acre than a normal Sugarwoods, but the maple is typically the dominant canopy component, and has a lot of room to grow. For a big operation, it gets good sugar. When other similar sized places get 1.7, we got 2. Always been a little higher than others.

[Corley5]

I do change direction every boil    I draw right on a clean pan and left on the second boil. Switch back to right for third and may switch mid boil on that run. Drain and acid bath the next morning. 

[Corley5]

Finished about 60 gallons tonight. The last draw was slow due to niter sludge and scale. Acid bath tomorrow. It's filtering good  8) Looks like it'll run again Thursday. Not above freezing tomorrow. We're approaching the 300 gallon mark  8)

[celliott]

We switch draw directions every hour, on the fly but also acid wash every time we boil.

My boss is thinking the high sugar is largely due to so many freeze thaw cycles, which converts starch to sugar in the tree. He's been around this industry awhile.

We have an almost full 6000 gallon refrigerated tank of 30% concentrate. We are going to try and hold off the boil till tomorrow when it won't get above freezing. We added an 1800 gallon saddle tank to the bulk tank for overnight and big runs. Might have to use it!

[Corley5]

Mid-season woes. The Airablo vac pump went to the Big Sugarbush in the sky. Made a big bang when I started it the other day and seized up. A couple phone calls and a bunch of $$$ and we've got a Busch pump with a VFD. Way quieter. Much more pleasant in the sugar house. I'm going to get a new pump for the Airablo for a future expansion. We were down 24 hours. Lost some sap and it took today to get our vacuum back. Zach had it at 24 after this Pic was taken. Finished about 25 gallons today. Hope to make enough in the remaining season to recoup my investment in the new pump. Looks like we might make it through the 13th.  

 

 

 

 

[SwampDonkey]

Haven't noticed any boils for 3 days. Must be slow this spring. Lots of snow depth in the woods and fields. Looks like ice coming tomorrow night.

[celliott]

Yup it's been a slow start and looking like maybe a fast finish. Not ideal but what can we do?
Got a freeze this weekend then that's the last one unless the weather changes. With what we have to boil now, we'll be at 1/3 of last year's production.

[Stephen1]

We are having a boom year, especially since we have 20+" of vacuum. We even are pulling from sap from previous simple drops. We have 120 gallons of syrup finessed and more to do. 
We are sitting on 600 gallons of sap, 5 days of sap to boil, and it's still coming in.  We are almost out of firewood and I have had to bring bundles of my next years house firewood to help. 
And this is supposed to be a hobby.   Things are out of control since my buddy retired from his business. I think he is a little bored. Not like me that failed at retirement with my Sawmill and Kiln. 

[GAB]

Things are out of control since my buddy retired from his business. I think he is a little bored. Not like me that failed at retirement with my Sawmill and Kiln.

So you failed at retirement.  I can assure you that you aren't the only one.
Enjoy,
GAB