Time for the 2022 Maple Thread :) ;D The season is fast approaching. My son has been tasked with checking our inventory of spiles and fittings. We aren't adding anything this season just running on the almost 1600 taps we had last year. We added this
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It'll do 600 gph to 12% in one pass. It alleviates the bottleneck with our present 250 gph to 10% machine.
how many SGUs was that bad boy?
Just a couple ;) ;D :) We're all set to switch to fuel oil from wood and this was/is part of that but with the present cost of oil we'll use wood again this season. Maybe oil next year. The evaporator will make it through this season with the old fire bricks but will have to be re-done if we chose wood for 2023. Maybe we'll go to oil then ??? We have the ceramic blanket and new insul board for the oil conversion.
I wish you the best with whatever you do because you surely do make some goood syrup!! food6
Thank You 8) 8)
We decided to replace some of our main line tubing it's like 15 yrs old black plastic. After going to a tubing class by CDL we decided to keep with the 1/2" black but went with 12.5 gage wire to hang it on. The cdl guy said that as long as you have tight lines and a good drop in elevation to keep the sap from pooling we'd be ok. I'm dang glad I didn't get 9 gage wire, the 12.5 is bad enough to work with. The one thing that we didn't realize was that the industry has changed the rules again and most 5/16 side line fittings that hook into the main line is for 3/4" pipe, not 1/2" so I only have one type of fitting I can use, and they'll probably discontinue that on me :(.
That's aggravating when they do that sort of thing.
i chickened out of mainline this year and will probably spend as much on buckets and chasing my own tail as the mainline woulda costed.
"600 gph to 12% in one pass"? Dang!
Checked lines the other day and had to pull some limbs that came down in wind storms etc but nothing too bad. Whatever ate my green 3/16 tubing last year must be dead or moved on somewhere with better tasting plastic, nothing chewed that I could find this time. Nothing has chewed either of the two types of blue stuff except a couple drops the first year. Sample size of one but I'll stick to the blue stuff for now :D
Quote from: mike_belben on December 10, 2021, 06:14:09 PM
i chickened out of mainline this year and will probably spend as much on buckets and chasing my own tail as the mainline woulda costed.
Black waterpipe from ag supply store etc. Is pretty darn cheap per ft. That's what the couple large (10k+ gals per yr.) Producers I've worked for run.
What do they use to pipe laterals into water pipe mainline?
We call them "saddles" Mike. https://bascommaple.com/search?type=product&q=Mainline*+saddle* (https://bascommaple.com/search?type=product&q=Mainline*+saddle*)
And FYI not many available for 1/2" pipe
Corley, nice new RO. I have a 2 post CDL. I go to about 10% first pass and close to 20 second
okay, so a genuine saddle tap doesnt mind going into a generic water tube.. cool. smiley_thumbsup
Correct Mike. Most black mainline we use is just water pipe.
Quote from: mike_belben on December 12, 2021, 10:19:52 AM
okay, so a genuine saddle tap doesnt mind going into a generic water tube.. cool. smiley_thumbsup
I like the red stripe black, for sure food grade.
Also I've used the 3/4" CDL saddles on 1/2" mainline with good success. I leave their closure open at the bottom and attach the fitting to the mainline with wire ties - the top is wide enough for the ties and there's a couple of grooves for the wire to sit in. Oh and you have to drill a 5/16" hole in the top of the mainline for the fitting.
Temps are right in NC so I put some taps in.
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Dumb question, do you just drill a hole and push in a tube for the jug on a tree method?
Quote from: Dan_Shade on January 15, 2022, 07:49:06 PM
Dumb question, do you just drill a hole and push in a tube for the jug on a tree method?
I drilled holes, gently pounded in a plastic tap, then attached the tubing to the tap. I do plan on testing out just inserting the tube into the drilled hole next, as I'm out of taps.
Quote from: IndiLina on January 15, 2022, 08:19:55 PM
Quote from: Dan_Shade on January 15, 2022, 07:49:06 PM
Dumb question, do you just drill a hole and push in a tube for the jug on a tree method?
I drilled holes, gently pounded in a plastic tap, then attached the tubing to the tap. I do plan on testing out just inserting the tube into the drilled hole next, as I'm out of taps.
You coulld do that for sure, the sap will even run down the outside of tube...
Quote from: Stephen1 on January 16, 2022, 10:46:53 AM
Quote from: IndiLina on January 15, 2022, 08:19:55 PM
Quote from: Dan_Shade on January 15, 2022, 07:49:06 PM
Dumb question, do you just drill a hole and push in a tube for the jug on a tree method?
I drilled holes, gently pounded in a plastic tap, then attached the tubing to the tap. I do plan on testing out just inserting the tube into the drilled hole next, as I'm out of taps.
You coulld do that for sure, the sap will even run down the outside of tube...
I beveled the end of the tube to create a tighter fit.
Boiled today in NC.
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Now, that picture brings back some memories!
Thanks for posting!
Quote from: Chuck White on January 23, 2022, 08:42:33 PM
Now, that picture brings back some memories!
Thanks for posting!
First time using my grandpa's old boiling pan I saw him use when I was a kid, so brought back some memories for me, too.
I remember doing that. We had cement blocks though, not stumps. looking good
A sign of things to come 8) 8) 8) 8) I figure we'll start tapping around February 12th. Our first run last season was 2/22 and then is didn't run again for three weeks ;D
First little bottling of the year.
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I've been watching the temp trends to see when to tap. Right now it's looking like 2/9 to tap. I have 144 taps on vacuum and produce about 60 gallons a year, boiling on a 2x6 modified with AOF and boil right around 50 gph
Mike, that fiber filter is still yours if you want it. You coming up this way soon or shoot me your address and I'll mail it.
We are still solid in winter here. Our normal tapping is March 10
Gonna run out normal 200 buckets this year. That's enough to keep it as a hobby. We are adding a Smokey lake auto draw this year I'm excited about and a little scared too. If I have to go unload logs or do something else I hardly trust dad to keep an eye on the draw off. If his phone rings the draw off is the last thing on his mind. 😆. Last year we had a real close one. I had to go in the house and I got back out and he was 3 degrees over where we were drawing at. 😯. Should be a great addition. As long as it works right 👍🏿
Our Marcland auto draw has always worked very well. But it's always watched just in case. Never trust a machine :) :)
just saw this carl, thanks buddy. i will PM you in a minute
its starting to feel like im behind, but last year i tapped on valentines and it was a dud for 2 more weeks. was that on account of the wacky year or .. ?
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im totally not ready.
On Feb 18 in 1981 (my dads 55 birthday) he boiled enough sap with a 5 x 16 rig to make a barrel (31.25 gal.) of syrup between his morning and evening dairy chores. Then old mother nature froze everything solid for 3 weeks.
When it comes to agriculture mother dictates.
GAB
Here in Nw NC I tapped my trees last Sunday. Roughly 14 taps on 3/16 tubing. Over the weekend I boiled about 3 qts of finished syrup. 3/16 tubing is awesome. One 2 day run yielded over 30 gallons from 7 trees
Quote from: mike_belben on February 07, 2022, 11:11:55 AM
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im totally not ready.
Lol. By the looks of your weather you should be ready 🔨
I cant remember the last time things went how i planned.
Finished tapping about 7:00 last night and most trees were dripping. Replaced about 300 feet of tubing due to tree rat damage. Checked the controller this morning and vacuum should kick on when it hits 38 today. Maybe boiling tonight.
Quote from: IndiLina on January 15, 2022, 08:19:55 PM
Quote from: Dan_Shade on January 15, 2022, 07:49:06 PM
Dumb question, do you just drill a hole and push in a tube for the jug on a tree method?
I drilled holes, gently pounded in a plastic tap, then attached the tubing to the tap. I do plan on testing out just inserting the tube into the drilled hole next, as I'm out of taps.
If you take a piece of PEX pipe ( I think I use 3/8 but not sure) you can gently heat it with a torch while rotating the pipe in one spot above the flame. Once the pipe starts getting plastic you can pull on both ends and the spot that was heated gets narrower. While still stretching the pipe dunk it in cold water to make it solid again. Then cut the pipe where you heated it. Now that end tapers from the full diameter of the pipe to whatever you stretched it down to. That taper can be pushed into a hole in the tree that is just a tiny bit smaller than than the original pipe diameter.
That gives you a nice tight, leak proof fit between the pipe and the tree. I am cheap so that is how I make all of my taps. If my description isn't clear enough I can post some pictures if you need.
Well, we're all tapped and the barrels in place.
Warm spell needs to go away for a bit!
It was in the 40's all day yesterday and through the night, still 40° and the wind picked up, snow's going away, not good for sugaring!
I plowed our barn yard yesterday. It went just above freezing so the snow was nice packing snow to plow and lift with the bobcat bucket. We will look at tapping next week. The long range is still winter here.
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With all the stuff going on in my life we just started yesterday, got maybe 6 holes drilled it's running but we changed over to putting holes in the top of the main line and using the new fittings that clamp the fitting directly to the main line. I changed to main line last fall it was 18 yrs old I think :o .
Well, the sap ran through the night, but not very well, and today the temp hit 60°, barrels only about 1/4 capacity.
The wind blew all day and slowed the run, so we won't be gathering until tomorrow.
Been tapped in a week here. 200 on buckets. First year Using our auto draw off. Love it! In a week we've gathered almost as much sap as we did all of last year. Everything goin good so far
Had our first boil today, made 5.8 gallons!
It's a start! 8)
Sap didn't run at all here today, heavy overcast!
We tapped on Sunday, 190 taps. Very Little sap running, to warm and windy. another 70 taps to go. Winter came back last night. 4" of new snow and 0 F
Next weel looks real good, but who can trust the weather.
Had a little run over the weekend that we dumped on the ground to flush lines of what's tapped. We'll finish tapping the next couple days. About 800 left to do. We'll be ready for next week. Looks to be good :)
We finished boiling off all the sap we had still in the evaporator and ended up, including yesterday with a total of 16.2 gallons.
Now, whenever the weather cooperates again we'll give it another go!
Last Fri. the 8th Rita finished tapping, and Sat. we put the last main line into the tank after letting all the lines run to flush the sawdust that couldn't get cleaned out of the tap holes. Also on Sat. I started setting up the arch and pans ( going to take picts of the piping so I know where they all go ;D) The weather hasn't been good for sap runs but we got 175 gals in the collection tanks and 25 in the holding tank up on the hill above the sugar house. Yesterday I went out at 8:30 to find both collection tanks had frozen at the shut offs and broken. It was 14° I should have known it would have froze >:( :o . I had to pump the tanks up to the hold tank went to Aubuchon's to get repair parts. I decided to just put stops on the outlet of the tanks. Got them fixed and I have 200 gals in the hold tank to start boiling 8). Going out at 9:00 and hope nothing else is broken :( .
We are all tapped, no tanks out yet. we had 0F Saturday night. We will get the vacuum pump and the tanks out today or tomorrow. I am going to dig the holes today, in the snow, to put the tanks in. We still have 3' of snow on the ground here.
I don't see anyone tapping here near the road as they usually do. I suspect my cousin is on the back end of the lot tapping. Usually maple trees beside the road here tapped by the neighbors, none yet. And it's been mild for a week, with a storm on the weekend. But 30F here this morning, maybe I'll see some sap cans. ;D
I see the pales are going up today. ;D
We gathered 800 gallons of sap today and ran it through the RO, now it'll wait until tomorrow morning and two will gather (about 500, I guess) and the other two will crank up the evaporator!
Last night, it never got below freezing, and it was still 36° when I got up this morning!
I think it's going to be another short year, but longer (more production) than last year!
We finnaly got our vacuum pump up and running late yesteday afternnon, weather broke yesterday and went above freezing. It finnally looks like spring here. foggy and cool here this moring, just above freezing, we will see if we get a run.
Boiling the last of our sap here in western Ohio. Was a decent year. Had better but had worse too. 10.3 gallons per bucket. And just under .3 gallon finished syrup per tap. Not too bad. How do most of you finish your last boil? I normally boil all the sap then chase with water for an hour or so then get it down low as I feel comfortable with. Thoughts?
I was at the brother-in-law's sugar bush yesterday afternoon. It had gone down to 27F the night before and by 1:00 pm it was 37F - the sap was running really well.
The weather here has been CRAZY, it hasn't been below freezing at night in the last 3 days, but the sap ran last night and all day today!
We boiled what was still in the evaporator and all of what we gathered today and then bottled the 30+ gallons, that makes for a long day!
We're likely to do the same thing tomorrow, and it hit 60° here today!
It wants to run but mother nature is just not cooperating. 60F yeterday, no freezing in the last 2 nights, rain all weekend and finally a cold front coming thru Sunday night. ?
Only 100 gallons of sap so far, not enough to fire up the rig yet. Vacuum is finally working after numerous challenges. Still only 10" of vacuum. So into the bush tomorrow to try and find the leaks. Last year I was able to get 18" of vacuum.
I do believe that we are VERY CLOSE to the end of the season.
It's just too warm!
We'll beat last years production, but not by much!
Well, we're ahead of last year's total by a good margin!
Last year we made a total of 88 gallons, and now we're at 120+, and it looks like it's going to hang on for a while yet!
It sure is hanging on! Still boiling-- well, shutting down for the night hopefully anyway. Gotta work tomorrow, today, whatever. Ran hard again and hope the perpetual fog hangs in there a while.. have not sold sap yet like last few years just burning the candle at both ends running-doggy
Been slow here, I haven't seen a single boil yet. Been cold, has only been 40 one day in a week. In the shade the ground here has been as hard as cement. Freezing rain today.
Not enough sap to gather today, so we bottled up some gallons, halves & quarts!
Total to date now is 129+
We'll gather and boil again tomorrow.
We boiled all week from Monday night till today. This is the most 1st run we have ever collected.
50 litres bottled and another 25 in the rig to Finnish.
Winter is back here tonight what looks like 5-6 days. We will see.
Our best runs in the past have always been the 1st week of April.
We still have lots of snow in the bush and predicting 10-12" of snow tonight into Monday.
Quote from: Stephen1 on March 26, 2022, 09:18:34 AM
We boiled all week from Monday night till today. This is the most 1st run we have ever collected.
50 litres bottled and another 25 in the rig to Finnish.
Winter is back here tonight what looks like 5-6 days. We will see.
Our best runs in the past have always been the 1st week of April.
We still have lots of snow in the bush and predicting 10-12" of snow tonight into Monday.
Do you have any idea what your sugar content is?
GAB
We're running. Been a rough start. Lots of squirrel damage in the woods, frozen underground lines from the cold and lack of snow. We missed an early run because of it. Plumbing the new RO was more of a task that I envisioned and we were missing the bottom fittings for a membrane vessel. I got them from my maple equipment guy and lo and behold they're different from the other vessel. I've got to go to his place Monday and get the right ones if he has them. I'll call first. We're running 600gph with one membrane pulling to 9.5% in one pass. It's cool but 14% would better :). Thursday I ran out of tank space late in the afternoon and ran some sap on the ground :( until the RO project was complete. When we started chewing on sap there was about 4,000 gallons tanked up. After yesterday's run we got the rig sweet and pulled about 50 gallons of finished syrup and have 1,300+ gallons of sap to process today. Sap's right at 2% as it usually is in our bush. Cold for a few days. Looks like sap weather again Thursday.
We had a film crew yesterday too 8) 8)
Dee's family is coming today for the show. Her Uncle Bill from Sioux Falls came in late yesterday afternoon to see the operation. He's helped tap in the past but has never seen the syrup making process. He's coming about noon today to help out 8) 8) The rest of them will be here later in the day. I'm getting a late start so I'm not done before they show up ;) ;D No sap today 33 for a high and falling to the teens later.
The season's underway. Two 15.5 gallon kegs and a 55 gallon drum filled, 5 gallons or so left for seed in the canner. Caught up. Going to be a few days before sap weather again.
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We had a good year I suppose. Ended up with just over 56 gallon off 200 buckets. Also with a couple boils left dad finally got tired of washin flat filters which was always his job. I dont have time to do it either. So
I called sugarbush supplies in Michigan about filter presses. They happened to have a wesfab/CDL 4 bank electric diaphragm pump press on hand. I went up and picked it up. Used it for About the last 3 batches. Usually we'll try to filter 10 gallon batches. Worked real good but I'm no pro at it yet that's for sure. That should be plenty big for that size batch I'd say unless it's end of the season stuff or real sandy. I really didn't need an air pump even though I know they're nice but kinda overkill for me. Didn't want a electric gear pump at all. So this seemed to be the best fit. They say the pump isnt warrantied because of the heat but I figure no more than what I do it'll be just fine. Any of you guys familiar with the wesfab 4 bank press?
Quote from: OH logger on March 26, 2022, 08:30:42 PM
We had a good year I suppose. Ended up with just over 56 gallon off 200 buckets. Also with a couple boils left dad finally got tired of washin flat filters which was always his job. I dont have time to do it either. So
I called sugarbush supplies in Michigan about filter presses. They happened to have a wesfab/CDL 4 bank electric diaphragm pump press on hand. I went up and picked it up. Used it for About the last 3 batches. Usually we'll try to filter 10 gallon batches. Worked real good but I'm no pro at it yet that's for sure. That should be plenty big for that size batch I'd say unless it's end of the season stuff or real sandy. I really didn't need an air pump even though I know they're nice but kinda overkill for me. Didn't want a electric gear pump at all. So this seemed to be the best fit. They say the pump isnt warrantied because of the heat but I figure no more than what I do it'll be just fine. Any of you guys familiar with the wesfab 4 bank press?
Do you have any pictures ?
Im familiar with 10 inch square press with a diaphragm pump. The secret is to charge it good at the beginning. The first syrup of the season gonna need lots of powder because there no particule in the syrup to make a filtratiom cake in the bank. Once it make lots of particule in the syrup not much powder to no powder at all will work. At the end of the season when it stop making sugar deposit in the pan you will need a lots of powder again, and i mean A LOT :D. It got to look like cake before you charge it. Hope it will help you ! :)
Corley, you sure have a clean sugarhouse.
We're up to 139 gallons now, the rest will go into a barrel or barrels.
We measured just over 2% sugar which is normal for us. I oulled another 100 gallons of sap in the evening and boiled till midnight. Cleaned everything out and stored the almost syrup till next boil. Should be Thursday or Friday. Winter is back, with lake effexts snow flurries here. looks like nid winter here again.
The Film crew just finished eating pancakes and Maple Syrup at our cabin, and I am sending them out to sit by the cell tower on Airport road to upload to da network.
NEWS AT SIX :D
Cousins just fired up the evaporator a bit ago. ;D
We finished boiling what was in the back pan, and got another 6 gallons, that puts us up to 145 gallons for the season.
We're thinking the season is close to done, maybe another run after this cold spell!
Hope y'all enjoy this one. Tammy and I headed for our place in the U.P. knowing the Mackinaw Bridge was closed due to falling ice. We planned on stopping in Wolverine to video the maiden voyage of Greg's Maple Sugaring operation
This was my first time out with a camera that has me baffled much of the time. This was a sound challenge. It is not quiet in a commercial sized sugarbush. So come on along with us from sap to syrup to pancakes at the cabin. Yes! We somehow dodge the falling ice!
VIDEO LINK
Maple Sugaring, Start up and first run of the season at a Northern Michigan Sugarbush - YouTube (https://youtu.be/D7dJxll0v8Q)
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PatD and I enjoyed a "Jug" of Greg's Maple Syrup last year. food6
DanG!! Watching you and Greg and Tammy sampling that syrup had my mouth watering, then I had to watch y'all pouring it on those pancakes then eating them. That was torturous :).
Greg, what you are doing there is AWESOME!!
Thats it, pour on the syrup till them pancakes float ! Thats how we do it too.
Quote from: Chuck White on March 27, 2022, 12:10:35 PM
We finished boiling what was in the back pan, and got another 6 gallons, that puts us up to 145 gallons for the season.
We're thinking the season is close to done, maybe another run after this cold spell!
Chuck how ya doing? It ran wild again here today after that freeze up. Looks like I'm boiling tomorrow
Well, it never dropped below freezing last night, we had 35° here this morning.
I'm going up to see what's going on, in about another hour, we're expecting a good run starting around midday!
So far, we've made 149 gallons, and if this "expected" run turns out anything like we're thinking we should hit 175 gallons!
The ice came off the trees last night, I was expecting power outages, there is still ice on the ground here. I will turn the pump on now and see what we get. The barometer is stilll going down. It looks good going forward for a good run over the weekend.
We ran in 1100 gallons of sap the last couple days. RO is running right now. I'll fire up around noon. It was abnormally cold for a couple days, then not real warm and an ice storm and now snow. The weekend looks better for us too. It's getting late in the season. The extended forecast, not that it can be believed, looks good until the middle of April...
My wife doesn't think the sugar house is clean enough. I didn't get a positive response when I told her to come over and do something about it :D ;D :D :)
Quote from: Lebel Logging on March 27, 2022, 05:30:45 AM
Quote from: OH logger on March 26, 2022, 08:30:42 PM
We had a good year I suppose. Ended up with just over 56 gallon off 200 buckets. Also with a couple boils left dad finally got tired of washin flat filters which was always his job. I dont have time to do it either. So
I called sugarbush supplies in Michigan about filter presses. They happened to have a wesfab/CDL 4 bank electric diaphragm pump press on hand. I went up and picked it up. Used it for About the last 3 batches. Usually we'll try to filter 10 gallon batches. Worked real good but I'm no pro at it yet that's for sure. That should be plenty big for that size batch I'd say unless it's end of the season stuff or real sandy. I really didn't need an air pump even though I know they're nice but kinda overkill for me. Didn't want a electric gear pump at all. So this seemed to be the best fit. They say the pump isnt warrantied because of the heat but I figure no more than what I do it'll be just fine. Any of you guys familiar with the wesfab 4 bank press?
Do you have any pictures ?
Im familiar with 10 inch square press with a diaphragm pump. The secret is to charge it good at the beginning. The first syrup of the season gonna need lots of powder because there no particule in the syrup to make a filtratiom cake in the bank. Once it make lots of particule in the syrup not much powder to no powder at all will work. At the end of the season when it stop making sugar deposit in the pan you will need a lots of powder again, and i mean A LOT :D. It got to look like cake before you charge it. Hope it will help you ! :)
When I bought the filter press at sugarbush I asked em if I needed a second smaller pot to mix a heavier dose of DE in to charge the pump first. They said don't waste your money on that. They said Just don't mix the DE in your dirty syrup real great then suck off the bottom of the pan first so you get plenty of DE in at first to charge the press. I did this and it seemed to work but it's not as scientific or precise as using a second pot to charge the press. And I only filtered 3 batches through it. Does that sound like a good method to charge the press to you experienced guys??
Also how many gallon you figure I can get through that 7" four plate press? Normal syrup. not first boil stuff but not last boil syrup either.
I mix the DE into the syrup in the draw off tank as it comes out of the rig then pump it through the press. I draw off the fitting in the bottom of the tank. To mix it in I use a long handle spatula. Some like a whisk. I tried one and don't like them. With the spatula I can scrape the sides of the tank. You get stuck on DE on your tank sides with a whisk. I mix it heavier when the press is clean to build the cake on the papers and after the first few draws I may not add any for a while or very little. It's not real precise and doesn't have to be. Saturday we filtered 45 gallons on a clean press and did about the same Friday. I cleaned it today and ran about 25 gallons. I'll clean it again before we run the next batch. Cleaning in the middle of a boil isn't fun. As the season goes on and the niter load gets higher you won't get that much through it. Late season syrup we may only get 5 gallons through before it plugs. That's when the season's done. Our press is a 10 cell 7.5" clear Leader model. It's handy to be able to see what's going on in the thing. The pressure gage still needs to be watched. Here's some pics of cleaning it today before we boiled.
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As to how much regular/average/mid season syrup you'll get through a 4 frame press before it needs cleaning. Ten gallons? Maybe? I don't think there is such a thing as regular syrup ;D :) :)
Quote from: OH logger on March 31, 2022, 08:32:01 PM
Also how many gallon you figure I can get through that 7" four plate press? Normal syrup. not first boil stuff but not last boil syrup either.
I would says in normal syrup around 20 gallons maybe more maybe less. I guess because I never ran a 7''.
Im running a 10 inch with 7 empty plate and I can do 225 to 260 gallons in normal syrup, I have already done 300 one time. With almost no DE. In first and last boil it could be less than 32 with lots DE.
The operation of a press filter is not an exact science. Lots of things can impact it. The type of soil in your bush, the moment of the season, the year (some years its easier, others harder), the type of maple you have. Those factor impact the concentration of mineral in the syrup, that have a impact on the filtration.
First and last boil have often more mineral so it take more DE to create a "cake" in the empty plate. The more thick the cake, the longer you can operate the filter cause it take more mineral to clog it. Normal syrup content lot of niter, less mineral that are hard to press, so the niter make the cake and it press easy.
To charge it I just put the DE in the first batch of 40 gallons I got, mix it well and pump it in the press. I open the bypass a little bit so it charge smoothly so it dont clog too fast. I pump in a close circuit till there no air bubble in the filtered syrup then I put it in a drum. I usually dont add DE after that, I run the press till it clog and rebuilt it when the pressure rise too high.
Sorry for the long text :D :D but I hope it help you ;) ;D
Thanks for the tips guys. I can't wait to try it next year. I think it'll be just the right size for our little operation (200 buckets). I was amazed how fast it was to take apart and clean. Heck 5 minutes and it was good to go!
We boiled off what was in our back pan today and that brought us up to 165.4 gallons, way better than last years 88 gallons!
We've still got sap out in the line barrels, but that will wait until tomorrow.
We started on Mar. 3rd tapping and first boil was on the 14th. The weather didn't cooperate with a lot of too cold day for the sap to run or to hot. We were lucky that we had some runs while our son and all the grand kids were here to see how the sugaring is done and that they got to fire the arch with Rita there to supervise. We boiled the last of what was in the back pan on the 26th.Our usual production is around 25 gallons when we had 400 taps out, but after I thinned out the orchard we're down to 296 taps. Last yr we made 20 gallons, our orchard only runs 1 1/2 percent (too many yrs with 30' to 50' hemlocks blocking the sun so the maples are small crowns). This year we ended up with 16 gallons. So I'm blaming it on global warming.
We gathered about 500 gallons this morning and "were" going to gather around supper time, but the run had slowed enough that most of it could wait until tomorrow morning.
We ran this morning's gathering through the RO, and it's ready for tomorrow!
Well, the run stopped midafternoon yesterday, so we didn't gather until this morning and got another 500 gallons, and ran it through the RO and then boiled.
Right now we're a little over double of what we made last year! :)
Very nice!
I am at 11gal :D with my 2x8 flat pan rig (2x4 continuous flow syrup pan + 2x4 flat sap pan) Did not tap everything, didn't feel like replacing drops on a couple older lines, started another new job, too much going on, add other excuses as necessary
That seemed low, wife hid some. 17 gallons. Not a record even for me but should get us through the year
Well, yesterday was our last boil, warm and buds starting to open!
We've made 190 gallons and still have what was in the front pan to boil down in our finishing pan.
Congrats Chuck and thanks for sharing your sugar journey this year. 8)
Quote from: Chuck White on April 06, 2022, 07:12:34 AM
Well, yesterday was our last boil, warm and buds starting to open!
We've made 190 gallons and still have what was in the front pan to boil down in our finishing pan.
From where are you ? 190 is a good or bad year for you?
I'm curious because here it just begin to run good. We keep water since 3 or 4 week but no big run yet. We have boil just a couple of time.
There are still around 3 feet of snow in the wood here. :D
Last year we made 88 gallons.
Two years ago we made just over 300 gallons.
This year we made 190 gallons.
The yield depends on lots of factors, primarily freezing nights and above freezing days.
Several things can affect the run as well as the boil, barometric pressure, wind, cloud cover, snow cover, and I've likely overlooked a couple.
We haven't had any snow on the ground here in over a week!
Hope this bit of info has helped you at least a little.
Good luck with your sugaring!
Thanks for the info ! :)
I hope to have some rain soon, it will start them good.
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.
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 ;) ;D :) 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 :D ;D :D :) 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.
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. :D
Quote from: SwampDonkey on April 12, 2022, 05:26:04 AM
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. :D
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Quote from: Stephen1 on April 17, 2022, 08:58:49 AM
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.
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.
Cold day here, barely enough heat to thaw the ground. :D 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.
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.
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.
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 :)
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/ (https://www.themaplenews.com/story/sugarmakers-testing-for-themselves-reds-vs-sugars/429/)
I was thinking @BargeMonkey (https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=profile;u=24634) may find this of interest for different reasons.
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 !
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.
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?
No reds in our bush but they do bud earlier than sugars.
We get buds on the Soft Maple quite a bit earlier than on the Sugar Maple.
Yes reds maples buds earlier around here too
I have found the same that my reds bud out earlier.
Hi all, I found the 2022 thread lol
I'm all good. Made a post in the 2021 maple thread before I realized what year this was lol
We added a second 6x10 steam pan in the middle of the season. And a 4th high brix h20 RO. Got it plumbed up and operational right before some of our biggest runs of the year. We saw upwards of 200gpm of sap into our sugarhouse for an entire day. Wasn't taking long to go from tree to barrel. We now have the capacity to make 800gph of syrup on the two evaporators. We had plenty of trials and tribulations and breakdowns. Lost a 25hp vacuum pump on the first run. Was a mess. Got a good used one from a fellow sugar maker and it lived outside all year. Couldn't get the releaser pumps we needed so we cobbled something together for a 90k tap releaser lol it worked good!
Was the absolute coldest tapping season I've been through. So many single digit or below zero days. Let me tell you, if you are careful with a lightweight tapping hammer, and use a soft spout (nylon or thin wall polycarbonate) the risk of splitting a tree is very low. We drilled probably over 1/2 our taps at 10 degrees or less and made 6 pounds per tap. If that's not proof I don't know what is.
Personally I drilled over 22,000 this season, my best yet!
We ran out of barrels and had to get some loaners, good problem to have. We made a bit over 64,000 gallons of syrup and hit 6 pounds per tap, 0.56 gallons per tap off 117,000 taps! Our best year yet. Always trying to improve and maximize what we get with the weather we are given. This year was good weather for northern Vermont.
Also really enjoying being Dada!
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Had Covid in the middle of tapping. Took the hound dog to work with me and tapped alone, pretty good numbers for being sick. I was fortunate I didn't get it bad.
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R&R
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Thanks for the update Chris. I wondered where you were and am glad to read that all is OK. I love seeing your little partner.
Nice pictures and updates 👍
I posted in the other thread, but once again good to hear from you.
Good to hear from you Chris, been wondering where you've been!
Also, good to hear you had a good season, we doubled what we thought we'd do after the 3rd week and ended up with 195 gallons.
Thats great Chris, looks like a great season and life is rolling along like it should. Living the Dream!
Great pic. We finished sawing up my sawmill slabs last week and all ready for 2023!