Maple Sugar 2022

[Chuck White]

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!

[Jeff]

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

[Magicman]

 

 
PatD and I enjoyed a "Jug" of Greg's Maple Syrup last year.  

[WDH]

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!!

[woodroe]

Thats it, pour on the syrup till them pancakes float ! Thats how we do it too. 

[mudfarmer]

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

[Chuck White]

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!

[Stephen1]

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. 

[Corley5]

  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

[OH logger]

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??

[OH logger]

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. 

[Corley5]

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.



 

 

 

 

 

  

[Corley5]

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

[Lebel Logging]

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

[OH logger]

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!

[Chuck White]

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.

[Ed_K]

 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.

[Chuck White]

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!

[Chuck White]

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!  

[mudfarmer]

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

[mudfarmer]

That seemed low, wife hid some. 17 gallons. Not a record even for me but should get us through the year

[Chuck White]

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.

[Magicman]

Congrats Chuck and thanks for sharing your sugar journey this year.  8)

[Lebel Logging]

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

[Chuck White]

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!