Maple Sugar 2022

[Lebel Logging]

Thanks for the info !
I hope to have some rain soon, it will start them good.

[Stephen1]

We have made 35 gallons so far. We had a great run this last week. Looks like we will get a final run today and tomorrow and then temps go up and stay up for the rest of the week, but the weatherman has been wrong before. No snow left in the bush and to us that is the best sign it is almost over. We tap mainly red maples and so it does not take for the trees to bud and turn the flavour. 

[Corley5]

Been a trying season but it's gotten back on track now that it may be over   The submersible pump in the vac. releaser failed and cost us some lost production but we improved the system.  It had a 120v 10 gpm Grundfos three wire pump with control box.  Nowhere to source that on a Sunday in Northern Michigan so we switched stuff around and now have a 2-wire pump with the same specs that TSC has on the shelf    In the process we had a vacuum leak on the power cables going into the releaser cannister.  Zach was working on it, it was late and he left it for morning when we were fresh.  Unfortunately he didn't get the pump house door latched.  It froze that night and the venturi effect from the vac leak froze things up solid.  The float switch  froze in the ice at the top and kept the pump cycling until it cooked.  A second one from TSC was required .  We lost the better part of a two day run in addition to buying two new pumps  We're farming now  We got 416 gallon packaged.  We've got about three warm days now but cold sap weather for several days the end of the week.  We'll see how the buds do.  It could be the end or we may make syrup through the 22nd.  

[SwampDonkey]

Sounds just like farming, that's for sure. One step ahead and 2 backwards stumbling. Good luck from here on out.

I think the sapping is about over in my area, but to the east it is like another world and they will sap out there until the end of May. The snow has been melting like crazy around here. The small maple grove beside the road is bare now. And another near it must be pretty bare to except the windward side. This place was all covered in white a week ago, up to 2 feet, gone. The softwood, the mixed wood ground and the wind drifted areas are where the snow is at now.

Frick'n ground hog has been playing in the woodpile.

[Lebel Logging]

Sounds just like farming, that's for sure. One step ahead and 2 backwards stumbling. Good luck from here on out.

I think the sapping is about over in my area, but to the east it is like another world and they will sap out there until the end of May. The snow has been melting like crazy around here. The small maple grove beside the road is bare now. And another near it must be pretty bare to except the windward side. This place was all covered in white a week ago, up to 2 feet, gone. The softwood, the mixed wood ground and the wind drifted areas are where the snow is at now.

Frick'n ground hog has been playing in the woodpile.

There is still near 3 feet in the wood here. It melt a bit when we had rain lately but not so much, its still cold. 
We have average sap run since a few days. It will get better, we are in the good and clear syrup. Around 700 gallons made on a near 4000 average production. 

[Chuck White]

Sugaring is over for us this year, our grand total is 195 gallons.

Now we're right on average for production.

It sure got warm quick in this area, within a week or so, people will be mowing their lawns!

[Chuck White]

We flushed all of our saplines and pulled the spouts yesterday.

All we have to do to get ready for next year is to refill the woodshed.

This season we burned 6½ cords of 28-inch firewood and made 195 gallons of syrup.

We averaged 30 gallons of syrup to 1 cord of firewood.

[Stephen1]

Nice Numbers Chuck. what is ratio of syrup to taps?
We are all done, we pulled our tanks friday and cleaned up. Next friday we will flush our lines and inject alcohol into the taps. We still need to work on Firewood, but I have 25 piles of sawmill slabs bundled ready to cut up and store under cover. 
We did 48 gallons of syrup give or take. Canadian we did 180 liters of syrup. If we get over 125 liters we are happy. 

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah cousin boiled his last a few days ago and he said it's over for this year. Came and went fast here.

I'm starting to map out thinning for brush saw work Monday.

[Chuck White]

Nice Numbers Chuck. what is ratio of syrup to taps?
We are all done, we pulled our tanks friday and cleaned up. Next friday we will flush our lines and inject alcohol into the taps. We still need to work on Firewood, but I have 25 piles of sawmill slabs bundled ready to cut up and store under cover.
We did 48 gallons of syrup give or take. Canadian we did 180 liters of syrup. If we get over 125 liters we are happy.

We have just over 1300 taps (maybe 1325), and made 195 gallons of syrup.

[Corley5]

  Done!!  Last boil last night.  Cleaned up the sap and chased the sweet out of the pans with water.  561 gallons packaged from 1575+- taps.  There's a couple gallons or so left in the canner yet.  Our pump issue cost us close to a 100 gallons of lost production.  Glad to have the season over.  We'll cleanup and pull taps the next few days.  Bulk prices sound promising.  Currently $2.55 a pound at Andersons for the top three grades.

[SwampDonkey]

Cold day here, barely enough heat to thaw the ground. Maple bushes around here close are pretty dry of snow. But still snow on the mountain and lots in the maple woods east of hear a few miles. The river valley tends to be warmer climate.

[Stephen1]

Those are nice numbers corley5, What does your vacuum run at?
We flushed our lines Friday and we will inject alcohol in the taps today  and seal the system for the summer. 

[Corley5]

  We try to keep it at 27.  It was a never-ending battle this year to keep it anywhere near that.  Leader mainline entrance fittings are terrible.  We don't have many left now.  Our plan was to get them all changed out to CDL or LaPierre before season but that didn't happen.  There will be none left for next year.  A strong breeze, stick bumping a lateral, just about any disturbance can break the seal.  They may not leak when you're checking but will when you're not looking.
  We're going to start pulling spiles tomorrow. 

[Lebel Logging]

Season finally over here. Been a long and tough year between the cold, the heavy snow, the squirrel and the wind, we manage to make a good year after all. 
For some people around here its been their best season ever. For us its been a top 5 season. Now its time to untap and wash everything for next year 

[Old Greenhorn]

This article just came across my eyes today and I found it extremely interesting. Also, the fact that it was in Conesville caught my eye. It compares sugar of yield contents between Sugar Maple and Red Maple. I had no idea this was the case at all.
https://www.themaplenews.com/story/sugarmakers-testing-for-themselves-reds-vs-sugars/429/

 I was thinking @BargeMonkey  may find this of interest for different reasons.

[Lebel Logging]

Nice article ! Around here we have always tap all type of maple we have, red and sugar, we dont have other species. Usually people says red give more sap but less sugar. This tend to prove there not much difference, a bit less sugar. I am eager to see the result of the Proctor Research center, I follow their search a lot Thanks for the share ! 

[Chuck White]

We have mostly Soft Maple, maybe as much as 3/4 of our taps are in Soft Maple.

Probably wouldn't bother if we were to only tap the Sugar Maple.

[Stephen1]

We tap mostly red maple with a few sugar maple. I think the red maple tend to end the season earlier than sugar maple. What do others think who have sugar and red, does it end earlier with the red? Do the buds on the red come out sooner?

[Corley5]

No reds in our bush but they do bud earlier than sugars.