Maple sugaring 2021

[mike_belben]

good to know, thats valuable info.. thank you! 

youre on vacuum right?  


whats your thought on a local black water pipe?  

[GAB]

whats your thought on a local black water pipe?  

Black plastic water pipe on a sunny day will cause the sap temperature to rise more than if you use some other color(s).
A rise in the sap temperature will cause the bacteria to act faster and the longer the time frame from the tree to the syrup stage in the evaporator the darker the syrup grade will be.  
When maple sap is involved "time is of the essence", unless you want dark, or very dark syrup. 
GAB

[mudfarmer]

I have not tried it but have seen it set up in a lot of bushes. Here I just run 3/16 to tanks. Would like to run the 3/16 laterals to 1" on the next terrace down and feed all those into a big bertha pipeline in the deep central valley but no $$$ for that at present. Also have to agree with GAB 100% and it is a lot colder here than TN.

On the other hand I like my (personal stash) of syrup to be as dark as old diesel engine oil, like coffee should be too :D

[mike_belben]

I quit coffee but i been putting blackstrap mollasses in my morning mud water which is about the detroit oil of beverages!

[Chuck White]

I'd suggest you contact several companies and request their catalog, because "prices do vary"!

CDL, Leader, LaPierre, Dominion & Grimm, H-20, and there are more, for sure!

[mike_belben]

Thanks for those additional names chuck. Maybe i will do that. 

[Ed_K]

 Mike try Bascomb's maple supplies in N.H. the catalog has everything you need to see and prices. You only need 1/2" black plastic pipe till you have 80 to 100 taps on a line then 3/4" or 1". I when to a seminar up there last may and the guy talking said blue plastic is great if you can afford it but black will do as long as you have a foot of drop in 4'. He also said CDL saddles were better an he actually work for another dealer.

[mike_belben]

Thanks for the info ed.  Definitely dont have a 1:4 pitch thank God!  

[Stephen1]

We started with 3/4" black  and soon realized that we really did need 1" and then we had to upgrade. You need to be able have sap flow and air travel over it. The 2 need to share space in the pipe. We like the blue as as we aere told it allows UV light in to help keep the sap sterilzed.

[Chuck White]

On a "gravity flow" mainline, you don't need to have air flowing with the sap, as long as the upper end of the line is open (vented) the sap will flow, even in a full line!

There are 2 grades of blue plastic line, one quite a lot pricier than the other, we use the cheaper (in 3/4 inch) and have been using it without issue for over 5 years!

[Corley5]

Last drum of 2021 syrup on its way.



 

 

[Chuck White]

We're completely sold out.

Won't be long and we'll be prepping for another go at it!

Praying this year will be a lot better than last year!

[Corley5]

We've got several gallons in quarts and gallons left.  We don't want to run out ourselves ;)   Bring on 2022 8)

[Stephen1]

I have 12 liters left, only because I have not seen much of my family this year. I will give some out for christmas presents.

[celliott]

Hi all!
Sorry I missed this season (and last seasons?) maple thread. Very busy time of year for me. Everything is fine and dandy. We have an almost 2 year old boy who is running everywhere and I'm thoroughly enjoying my time with him. We work 4 day weeks during the summer, and Friday's are dada and Isaac days 😊  I sometimes have enough time to visit the Facebook maple pages before bed or early AM. I haven't ran my skidder much these past years or worked on chainsaws, so my FF time kind of waned. I did want to get back to the maple thread but it was a crazy season (they usually are).
Right now helping a buddy look for a sawmill, so naturally I gravitated back to the forestry forum. 

We had a killer year this year (2022 season) and made 6 pounds per tap,  or 0.55 gallons of syrup per tap for over 64,000 gallons of syrup at the Eden sugarhouse! We had to get more barrels. 
We added a second steam evaporator and a 4th RO in the middle of the season, that was a bit hectic. Got them online just in time too. We had a whole week where we made 3000 gallons a day! Best part was, we were out of the sugarhouse by 4 each day. Set a new record for single day production for us, over 4200 gallons.
This summer we are changing out droplines and rerouting our two 3" pump lines. With the cost of materials we aren't installing much new either for hire or for ourselves. Our base price for a hired out install increased to over $20 per tap.
I will try to get back on the forum more and post some sugaring pics!

[thecfarm]

64,000 gallons!!!!     
Good for you and the others too.

[petefrom bearswamp]

Good to hear from you.
Figured you were very busy.
That sure is a lot of syrup!