Hop Kiln Road

[Hop Kiln Road]

First run March 4th - March 8th of 3.4 gal/tap of 2.35%. Thought it was kinda sandy and a little dark for the first run. Think the second run is going to start this afternoon through the weekend, but it's 1:30 PM and 30 degrees...

[Hop Kiln Road]

Yup, here it comes. Pumped out another Gal/tap tonight. Boiled off 100 gallons and got the rest into the feed tank. It's going to run hard tomorrow and Saturday. Sugar content dropped to 2.1%. I am quite happy with the 1/2" mainlines which replaced at couple of 5/16" runs. On 20 to 40 tap barrels it definitely thaws faster (since its empty) and flows quicker.

[Russell Lampron]

Bruce,

Your evaporation rate coming up any? I boiled in 305 gallons last night and it was dark amber. Excellent flavor too.

Russ

[Hop Kiln Road]

Russ -


Two problems. Biggest was the drain pipe from the drip pan to the hood gutter was flat enough so there was a back drizzle. Fixed that with an elbow, see the pix. Second was getting use to an easier boil, turned down the blower and used a little defoamer. Now I'm up around 30 gph. Just brought in another 3/4gal/tap of 2.5%. Have 5 test buckets on a new string of trees I want to get and they ran 3.5%.

Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

Beautiful run today. Actually, must have ran most of the night, snow sap and boils light as a featrher. Another gal/tap, sugar content back up to 2.5. Makes this run 3 gal/tap and puts the season at 6.4 gal/tap and the coming week's weather looks pretty good. The snow pack is still real solid so...just gotta think about containers and wood...

[Hop Kiln Road]

Getting a little concerned with the heavy sap flows. As of today I'm at 6.8 gal/tap, last year was 3.5 gal/tap, year before 2.3 by this date. Meanwhile, the syrup is running light, the snow is still frozen close to the trees, and the two week weather forecast looks favorable. This could well be a 12 to 15 gallon per gravity tap year and if that is the case, I need to go scrounge wood!

[Russell Lampron]

Bruce,

I have been making just about all of my syrup from the 200 taps that I have on vacuum. The temps have been just cold enough so that the gravity and buckets aren't running much. I am glad that you are getting the bugs worked out and getting your evap rate up. How does your Father in Law like the hood?

Russ

[NH Maplemaker]

Bruce, very nice set up!!!

[Hop Kiln Road]

Thanks, built it the 1st year I didn't have tuition payments - they'll suck more out of you than one of Parker's vaccums! Carroll used to have a 4 by 12 in the 1960 - 70's, out in the woods, in Bath, NH, no electricity, but next to a brook. Pictures of my wife when she was 12 piloting the D2 while he gathered. He likes the hood. The diffference in temp between the preheater inlet and outlet says it all. However, he was more amazed the other year with the effect of the blower! Russ, 20 degrees here this morning, I think we're in for a big flow this year. I may be hauling sap up to your RO if it doesn't back off a little. Bruce

[Russell Lampron]

Bruce,

I have been keeping the RO pretty busy this year. Maybe we can squeeze you in around 2 am. LOL. Be careful, if you get a chance to boil some concentrated sap you won't want to boil that raw stuff anymore just ask Royalmaple and Theron. I know I will find a place to get mine squeezed if my RO should fail me.

Russ

[NH Maplemaker]

Bruce, I know what you mean about preheater temp! Had mine at 205 all day yesterday and dial only moved when evaporator called for sap. Went though 840 gal in just over 8hrs!! This is the first season with it, so still on the leaning curve! Now all I got to do is let Russ talk me into an RO!!!

Jim L.
________________

[Hop Kiln Road]

Okay, looks like the second run is all done and two nights of 20 degrees has put a little ice in the system. Good run, slightly higher volume and lighter syrup than the first. Little time to troubleshoot and shag wood before the Thurs through Easter run, which is going to be the queen of the crop.

Jim, I dream of having a sap line into the sugarhouse! I have one barrel where I have to lug my pump three hundred feet and pump up to the truck; that's how hard it's to tap around here.

Probably get a squirt this afternoon but gotta go deal with the economic havoc cutting a swath through my clients, then brush up on Charles Darwin!

Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

Geez, another gal/tap today that averaged 2.75 - I don't know who it is out there doing the boiling sodas and sap dancing, but how about holding back til the weekend? Now got a gallon an hour coming off a 2X6.

Russ, you're kidding about only the 2AM slot being open, right?

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

alls you have to do is travel 30 minutes north and I will have you headed to buy one.. I processed 800 gal of sap into 22 gal of syrup in just under 2 hours yesterday with a 4x10, no pre heater, no hood no nothing just open pans a ro and some good wood..

Andy

[Russell Lampron]

Bruce,

If it was this morning 2 am would have been the time. I finished about 1 am. Actually finished boiling at 12:30. I started at 5:30 and processed 650 gallons of sap into about 15 gallons of quality product. Love that RO!

Russ

[NH Maplemaker]

Bruce, When you see Carroll, tell him Frank Hawkins said Hi ! Frank is my next door neighbor that worked construction with Carroll years back!! I was one off the guys that set at your table at this years maple meeting in Lebanon,NH.!!
Glad you guys are getting sap because as Matt would say" we did'nt get pecker".It tried to run in the after noon some ,but not much.only have had one good run here so far and that was not great.

Jim L.
_______________

[Hop Kiln Road]

Man, this isn't for the faint of heart! Lines are running hard, burned 220 gallons in six hours only to pick up another gal/tap with 2" of snow.

Jim, Carroll comes down to spell me on the weekends. Just loves it. I'll tell him about Frank. I've got a couple buckets out and the ones 75' higher in elevation are half ice and lower ones are pure sap, so I must be right on the edge of the (big) sap line.

Andy, honestly, I'm probably too cerebral to be a good sugarmaker; I understand the technical power of the RO's. However, this is paritially an experiment in sustainable agriculture. At 200 taps, an RO would be a toy and probably not cost effective so I am toying with going to 500 taps, which is probably the break point. Alas, my marketing plan isn't ready for the 500 taps! I built the sugar house for about $12,000 and there is probaly no return on investment as a sugarhouse, however, somebody would happily pay me $35,000 for it and put a pony in it. That is the problem with our economy in a nutshell: the balance between producers and consumers swung way out of balance and now it's going to tip pretty hard the other way which bodes well, and rightly so, for all you hard working sugarmakers.

Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

Got 30 mph + and the forecast says through much of Saturday. Temps about right but the flow will come to a halt. Left the syrup pan to soak when I left for work and will clean it in the AM and start on the backlog.

My evaporation rate has been increasing to a surprising 35gph yesterday. Leader had said I would acheive this rate and it cross checks with the sugar content and sap to syrup ratios.

And a word to any of the curious, there is absolutely no way you can sell an institution like Bear Stearns, let alone with Federal guarentees, over the weekend...you don't need a weathrman to know which way the winds blows...

[Hop Kiln Road]

Collected last night to keep everything from freezing up. It was mid 20's and high winds during the day. Noticed that the sap had a just hint of tint to it. The collection put me at 10gal/tap, but I'm pretty sure this season will be a 15+ gal/tap for the gravity crowd.

19 this morning and no wind. Going to flow big time this weekend. Got 300 in inventory and maybe another 400 by Sunday night. Probably have to burn the siding off the sugarhouse to get through it.

Can see a huge steam column on the horizon, always thought it was the Bow Coal Power Plant, but it might be Mighty Marvin finally awakened from his slumber....

Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

Tried to run but just a touch too cold and the wind never let up yesterday. The collection barrels have dropped 2 feet below the lines and have another 2 feet to go.

Spectacular season! At 42 gallons, and still good color and sugar content in the sap, and the snow pact and forecast still look favorable for another 2 weeks. Now planning on 15 to 18 gal per tap gravity.

The ermine has set up shop in the woodshed, probably because of all the displaced mice as the woodpile is dismantled. Peeks in now and then to watch the boil. Won't be a rodent left in quarter of a mile.

Little concerned now about the guys north of me cause I can't believe they're going to boil until the end of April.

Bruce

[Uncle Tucker]

Bruce don’t worry about us up here. There is still 2-3’ of snow on the ground. Temps are still low, the season has barley starter here. I think even if it warms up a lot during the day the nights will be cold with all this snow on the ground. This week is looking good for temps. Keep on going!

[Hop Kiln Road]

Geez, Uncle Tucker, you're right. Just hit last year's gal/tap figure of when I pulled the plugs on 4/15/07. The sap this weekend came through just a little toward dark amber, so I'm going to get really whacked this week. Shame to burn all that siding off the woodshed, but I ain't gonna dump any sap...Gotta snorkel and wetsuit somewhere around here...

Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

Yesterday morning was 18 and PM topped at 38 but only .5gal/tap and the color of the sap increasing slightly more, sugar dropping another 10th. Most of the barrels frozen in 2 feet of snow with a good layer of ice. Anything not getting direct sun has a lot of ice. So I suspect one more good run this week and then the season will dribble away before the snow does. Still might make it to 15 gal/tap.


Bruce

[mapleman3]

Sounds tough up north.. Lets just hope it doesn't do a quick warm up for you guys.... Good luck to all of you :)

[325abn]

Bruce
The ten day looks good with high temps only in the 40s. Why do you think its going to sut down?

[Mac_Muz]

I am over in TAMWORTH and am just not getting much run. So far about 4 days there was run from March 2nd. Of that I got with 15 buckets, 41 gallons of sap total, and Easter Sunday boiled it to 1 gallon 24 ounces of grade fancy according to the bottle color tester.

I had hoped to make 5 gallons if syrup total, but I wonder now?

The nights here are more like 6', 7', and 9' degrees. Is this too cold for trees to warm enough to run? Should I find other trees, or wait?

[white mt]

Not much of a season so far in the white mts. I m starting to worry now .People are starting to talk about when the season will end ,and im still wondering when it will realy open up and start. lots of snow still and cold. Mabe I should get into making home brew beer. I have a brother in maine that dose this and he could care less about the weather. Just a bit frustrated some one talk me off the ledge. ha ha. Dan

[NH Maplemaker]

Hay Dan if your coming to the ledge ,take a number because there is a long line here already!!! If you think your worried. What about us guys way south of you? Hang in there she is coming soon!!I HOPE!!!!

[Mac_Muz]

Dan, You are not very far north and west of me.. Tamworth is about 15 miles south of the east end of the kanc. Pretty slow run here. Yesterday and today seemed like sap should run, but I didn't get a drop, and havent since before that big blow we had.

I got the idea our season hasn't begun, but i do wonder if I should drill new holes and plug the old ones just the same. I am holding off on that a bit more, to wait for the right weather. My guess on that will be after this coming Sunday.

I don't know Thornton well really, but if you ask me most of it is valley with steeper walls. Over here i am in the shadow of the Ossipees. They are dead on straight due south of me.

These guys don't know how close to the edge you live, so step back from there! LOL

[Hop Kiln Road]

Hey Jim, Carroll says to say hello to Frank. I tapped on 3/3 and boiled on 3/5. When Carroll looked at the amount of sand in my filters the first boil he said it would be a short season. My volumes and sugar content continue to drop today despite pretty good temps. Moreover, I've got barrels still set 2 feet into the snow starting to show mold, although the sap color cleared up today. It's almost as if the snow cover is irrelevant.

I hope we're just in a lull, but I'm at 12 gal/tap gravity in 3 weeks.

Lets kept our priorities straight: we come off the ledge to sugar.

Bruce

[NH Maplemaker]

Ok Bruce I will tell him!! Hang in there what else you got to do this time of year!! I may be wrong ,but I think the best is yet to come!!! But I have been wrong before.

[white mt]

Now that I think of it ,isn't the ledge for those folks on wall street ? To be a real sugar maker I guess you have to be a long term optimist when it comes to the the weather. Ill just drink my brothers home brew he made and waite for the next run . Dan

[NH Maplemaker]

Dan, If that works send me down a case!!!

[white mt]

Its better than the stuff that MR Sam adams of boston puts out. No kidding . Allways helped me in the past. I'm sure It would help. Ill put in your order. Dan

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Just be ready when it starts because you might make a full crop in about 10 days or less. Season might not last that long, but with all that snow, it should run like crazy once it starts.

[Russell Lampron]

I understand the frustration. I had to hide all of the rope and wire the other night at Matts. I think we have got his problems under control now. The weather will break soon and the BIGSAP will come. The coldest weather is behind us now and the extended forecast looks good.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Pretty quiet out there so you guys north of here have got to be flooded and can't paddle to your key boards. Ran over a gal/tap and is running tonight and now snow in the forecast. Got one barrel that topped 14 gal/tap today. And the sap still looks good. Restocked the wood, gathered and cleaned the syrup pan this PM. Then hosed down the evaporator room to stop the boots from sticking to the floor.

Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

Man, can barely believe the reports north of here. Got a gal/tap yesterday and more the day before. Picked up a trailer of old flooring plank from the woolen mill, full of lanolin, and mixed it with some under the snow wood and produced a nice steady boil. Flitration is still a slow point, the syrup has been plugging the filters pretty quickly all season. I am well past last year's marks on everything BUT evaporator hours!

Other observation here is that the snowbanks retreated pretty good the last couple of days but there was no water running across the roads, nor rills in the woods, nor do the brooks seem full. So there must not be much frost and yet the ground isn't saturated??

Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

21 degrees this morning with 5 inches of snow frozen in the trees! What more could a guy want? Probably a RO ! Sap per tap is now 30% over last season and down to firing on junk wood since the woodshed siding was gone 200 gallons ago. Feel like those Klondikers burning the furniture and upper decks to get their steamships and gold to SF.

Gotta ref my season opener college lacrosse game today down in Boston. Probably oughta shave and get the ash out of my hair so I don't scare the hell outta the players...

Russ is right about the RO's Have to figure out how to snag one.

Bruce

[Mac_Muz]

I dunno in tamworth it is just froze.. All week in 15 taps I got 10 gallons of sap. Not a thing dripping here today, and it never broke 29 degrees...

Seems like it has gotta run somethime???

[Fred Henderson]

Hang on to your hat because next week its gonna start big time.

[Mac_Muz]

I sure hope so. I have a 5 gallons of syrup as a goal, but if I could make more all the better. I got the rig, the wood and the time, I just need sap...

I can boil off 41 gallons maybe more in 7 hours.

I am learning how to run my new rig, and found it can boil like mad with 4 inches of sap in the pan.

[white mt]

This is maple weekend in nh I had advertised opening from 10-4 each dayat the sugar house this weekend . I may have to rethink advertising next year.I saved sap from tuesday-thursday and had about 3hrs worth of sap to boil . That was sat. sunday I just told folks spring just has not started up north yet. mabe in april I know of some guys up hear who have yet to put steam through the roof.I remain hopefull for a big week. Dan

[Hop Kiln Road]

Starting running about 1PM and still going at 7PM even though the evaporator was still pretty iced up. Weather's going to be okay for another run at it. Still a foot or two of snow out there. Got to clean the feed tank, filter tank and all the filters. Pretty weak after the lacrosse game but managed to clear the new snow drift from yesterday, split some wood, and bottled a little syrup. Just went over .3 gal/tap for syrup which is a record for my trees. Hope it breaks open for all the patient guys up north.

Bruce

[Mac_Muz]

I checked at 3:30 pm and had one tree dripping like mad, but it handn't been dripping very long. This was maybe 4 drops a second, which seems fast!~

I didn't collect over 2 gallons from 15 buckets total though. It was 14 degrees here last night. I might have 11 gallons of sap for the whole week past.

My taps have been set since March 2nd, and are older Canadian made alloy.

Is there any reason to pull these and plug the holes, and redrill new ones?

I still have 3 + feet of snow on the level field , never plowed.

[white mt]

I dont think you need to redrill.Its ben to cold for much Bac-growth in the taps you drilled. Could you add some taps To help on over all total of sap you get.This week should start to run.Dan

[Mac_Muz]

Thanks for the reply.

Yes i could add more taps and buckets, but the 15 was based on other years and a 24" x 24" pan that didn't work as well as this new design over all rig does now. I have no need to collect more sap than I can boil before it goes bad.

I had a few problems with this rig on the trial run. One thing that happened was the damper plate came undone from the rod. I have no idea if this is common in sugar stoves, but mine, like any home wood stove has a 6 inch cast iron damper in the smoke stack.

That helps hold some heat in the stack, and gets the preheater boiling. My pre heater isn't gravity fed after the copper tubing contacts the stack.

So I had to allow time for the fire to die down some before I could pull the pipe and braze that damper on it's rod.

I lost about 1 hour letting that come to where I dared lift the pipe off.

I lost time in other parts as well, seeing how this rig works. I checked out a new baffel design I made, trying to see if it was doing what hoped it was doing, which was force flame into the pan bottom.

I was also checking out a fire craddle made from the barrel the stove is made of. This craddle was designed to stay cool and hold the wood closer to the pan.

I lost time as the wind came up and I had to rig light chain I had on hand from another project to the smoke stack, as I feared thw wind was going to take it down altogether.

SO in all it was 9 hours to boil off 41 gallons of sap, but I think it was more like 7 if I hadn't had shake down problems.

In fact I believe i didn't have as much fire as i should have, and am sure I didn't have nearly as much sap in the pan as I could have.

So maybe I can cut 40 gallons to 6 hours, which for me is a vast improvment.

[Hop Kiln Road]

44 degrees at 5:30 this morning. Sap ran all night. Got to pump the barrels before I go to work. You northern guys have to be in gear by now.

Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

Man, 1.5 gal/tap over night with half of the system overflowing and flowing very hard. Carroll on his way to start the boil and I'll take the 2nd shift. Gotta get to work. Bruce

[white mt]

Sounds good to me I have 33 deg all night and its reached all the way to a high of 34 at 9am. And by noon I am all the way up to 36 deg All the trees covered with snow from yeterday. sap,? 60,deg ?today Not up hear.This just not the year for us up north .Dan

[white mt]

I think its now safe to say this is the strangest weather season i have had .At noon it was 36 deg on aday when it was soposed to be 60 and the news 9 reported at noon 40 miles to the north in whitefeild it was 57 deg.At this point I would call this maple season a complet bust Its april 1st and I have made about 1/4 of what I should have. Completly frustrated at this point. mabe next year.

[TapME]

white mt, the temps never got abouve 36 here yesterday and my buckets were running over. You will have the sap it may take a little longer. Be ready when it comes for it will be fast.

[Revi]

This season is a very strange one. We are way down in our production, but that's ok. I am really glad we weren't doing anything for Maine Maple Sunday. We are going to try to make some for ourselves now. It's time to put some away. I think TapMe is right. The season isn't over. It's just getting started.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Hit a 100 hours of evaporator time tonight and went over 3000 gallons. The rate has slowed during the last 800 gallons due to the crap wood. I had planned for a normal season and a little bit more, then didn't get the last 30 taps out because of the deep snow and now 50% ahead of the last couple of years.

When I look at my daily sap collection tallies, my season is really quite normal for timing and runs and time between runs, except it is just heavy flows. I also put in 1/2" mainline for 70% of the taps, which I think really helps but not an increase of 5 gal/tap.

Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

The thunder and lighting was a nice finish to the boil last night and then the driving rain on the metal roof reminded me of my neighbor, who was just tickled to help cut the rafters for my sugarhouse; so excited he got up at 5AM because, "that was when he thought the best." He died at 94 last spring and when he was 14 and 15 in Haverhill, NH, he and a buddy used to live for a couple of weeks in a sugarhouse up on a mountainside working for a local farmer. They would gather buckets during the day and dump them into an iron pipe layed from the sugarhouse up the mountainside. After evening milking, the farmer would come up to boil and bring them food. They used to boil eggs in the evaporator and then sleep in the warmth of the steam.

So there he was during the economic woes of 1928, busting his butt and sleeping under the drumming tin and here we are and I don't think a whole lot has really changed.

Picked up another gal/tap today, mostly from north side taps, clear, cold sap. Sugar content went back to above 2.5. Gat a couple of cold nights coming up; I'm going to hit 18 gal/tap.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Wet snow coming down this morning, 31 degrees. Was at 16.3 gal/tap after collecting yesterday afternoon and some of the lines running as hard as ever, but the buckets were full not overflowing. I don't think it started running until well after noon and probably ran all night. Check the barrels on the well out this AM. Syrup coming off just a shade above dark amber.

Boys north of here are off the air cause they are flooded. My forecast doesn't show another freezing night in the near future, but the snowpact will still offset that a little.

[325abn]

Bruce
What is your sap sugar content at?

[Hop Kiln Road]

Picked up just over .5 gal/tap tonight at 2.5%. Looks like the weather is going to shut me down but it's been a fantastic season.

Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

Picked up over a gal/tap today of 2.1% - all clear sap. Left another 35 gallons of pretty cloud stuff until I run this through. Puts me over 18 gal/tap on 213 taps and will probably go over 85 gallons of syrup. Not sure how much wood we burned as it got a little frantic at a couple points. It is amazing that 30 miles and a degree or two would produce such different results. Think it will run itself out tonight and that will be it. What a season.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Picked up 70 gal today. Some of it pretty murky, but the syrup coming off the last couple of boils is the best tasting of the season. The sand has dropped off too. With the concentrate in the evaporator, I'll be close to 90 gallons from 213 taps.

Food riots over rice and wheat...you gotta wonder if the global economy is so vast and complicated that nobody really understands its mechanics. We seemed to be beset by economic crisises that aren't predicted. I bet none of us will believe the price of syrup (in US$) next season!

[Hop Kiln Road]

Cookig today and that's it. Left a couple of buckets here and there to see what the next 3 cold nights do, for further reference. Russ, check out photobucket, I put in a couple of pictures. I switched to a trailer for collecting this year. Much cheaper than a truck, holds more and forced me to rethink efficiency since there is no way the trailer is going off the pavement. Also there is an April 1st barrel pic. I think we're talking 8 grand for an RO setup.

[Russell Lampron]

Nice pictures Bruce. I am going to boil off what I have left in the evaporator this morning too. The taps are going to stay in for one more week hoping for a little more sap. You did alot better than I did this year on the gal per tap ratio. 15 or 20 miles made a big difference.

We'll get together and talk numbers after the taps are pulled and everything is cleaned up. After I get my bike out it will be a nice ride to come down and see you and your set up.

I know an RO is a lot of money but if you were to make the same amount of syrup with a 1/4 of the wood in 1/4 of the time It would begin to pay for itself real quick. You will still have a piece of equipment with a high resale value too so you only have to justify the depreciation. Operating expenses are low and a new 4" membrane can be had for less than $300.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Tapped about 170 of the 250 I plan to run this season. The warm spots are running a little and the cold spots are weeping. Completed my 1/2" mainline conversion that I started last year. So now, except for the advertising buckets, everything is on 1/2" line with 4 to 8 taps per lateral. Interested to see if my heavy sap yields continue. Consolidated 4 of my barrels into two spots which now have 55 gallon primary barrels vented into a 55 gallon overflow barrels. Increased my gathering tank to 325 gallons. And last but not least, got twice as much wood in the shed as last year. I figure if last season was a fluke then 250 taps will be a breeze, and if not then at least I'm starting with more wood. Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

Tapped out at 250. Got about a quart a tap, some of it a little pipey tasting and got dumped. Trees are pretty well frozen in. Son No. 1 stopped by and helped me put up the stack. Run the feedline today. Going to replace the plastic condensate line to the sinks with copper. Still need to paint my new barrel covers. Got 40 feet of uphill snowdrift that is going to leave hard.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Weeped again today. Test fired the evaporator, couple of minor pipe leaks. Cleaned the evaporator room. Still very cold and a lot of snow around the trees, but dug half the distance to set the barrels than I did last year. Carroll is itching to boil; consults every morning. Watched the news tonight: investors have figured out Washington is peeing our wealth into the wind. The interesting thing about agriculture is growth is free and inevitable, but requires patience. "Patience is the woodsman best virtue," James Fenmore Cooper - Last of the Mohicans.

[Russell Lampron]

Hi Bruce,

Do you have all of your trees tapped? It should run good this weekend and most of next week. I got enough to sweeten my pans and make a gallon of syrup last weekend. Yesterdays weeping got me 80 gallons of bonus sap. It was way too cold the night before and it wasn't supposed to get as warm as it did yesterday.

[jtthibodeau]

Bruce, I travel Roberts Rogers/Dunbarton Center Road from time to time. Any of those lines yours or are you tapped closer to home?

[Hop Kiln Road]

Warmest line ran some today, coldest didn't and the rest in between. Jerry, yes, the ones with the green "T"s are mine. You can see my sugarhouse from Brown Hill Road. Russ, I tapped out last weekend and if I had a vacuuuuum to suck the ice out of the lines I'd probably have some sap by now! I was in Loudon last week and was going to stop by but got lost...ended at the greenhouses but I think I went by your Dad's place. Probably should have followed the 3 phase lines! Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

Collected a gal/tap and fired the evaporator for 3 hours yesterday. Ran like a charm, sucking the sap out of the feed tank. Looks like some fancy to draw off this morning. A lot of ice in the barrels but a heavy snow retreat. A nice ease into the season.

[Russell Lampron]

Bruce there are greenhouses in a couple of different directions from here. I don't have 3 phase here yet so that wouldn't have helped. I am helping Public Service out quite a bit though. You would love vacuum. It gets you sap when gravity won't. Sounds like you are off to a good start down there. I have been too busy to get away but I would like to see your set up.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Got all the tanks empty tonight. Sugar a little lower than last year. Weather is making for flukey runs. Boiled through 325 gallons this weekend.Color got darker and plenty of sand.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Ran this afternoon and bumped the total over 2 gal/tap. Sugar is running a little low at 2.1%. Real nice streams out of the pipes at 4:30, so it has started. Evaporator is just chugging away heading for 35 gph. Syrup is coming off between medium and dark, which is a little dark, I think, but the sap has looked good. Other than tomorrow, forecast is very favorable. Rough calculation on the wood pile - good for 3500 gallons or 15 gal/tap. Carroll flew down to Alabama for an auction but is threatening to show up this weekend.

[ccowenc]

First timer here ... Checked my main tank this evening coming home from work at midnight (3/10/09). What a joy to see 40+ gallons of clean, clear sap!!! That's better than any run I had last year ( though I had many fewer taps).

Last year was my first and started with 20 taps, ended with 75 taps. This year I have about 170 taps in. 75% Reds, 25% Sugars. 2x4 1975 tin evaporator. New sugar shack; that is, I converted a small garden shed by building a cuppola and moving the evaporator inside. Yellow Lab is a big help.

--Charlie in Wakefield, NH

[Hop Kiln Road]

Charlie - we have a geriatric lab, 16+ and 4 weeks ago I let him out after feeding him and sat down to my dinner. It was about 15 degrees and blowing snow. After dinner, the national news came on which got me all riled and I forgot the lab was still out! After being out for about ninety minutes I track him down and find him frozen in a snowdrift about 100 yards from the house - he likes to go out and roll in the snow - where he got stuck in the deep snow and couldn't get up. I carried him back, stiff as a board, and in the light his lips are drawn back, no noticeable breathing. But when I shine the flashlight in his eyes, they are moving!! So my wife and I, distraught, start warming him with a hairdryer and in about ten minutes, he starts shivering and was able to stand the next morning and today is as good as new. Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

Topped 3 gal/tap at noon. Running at a shade over 2% which is low this year. Syrup is right in between medium and dark, which is dark this year. Evaporator is running flawlessly, hope Carroll gets back in time to experience it. Big excitement was the border collie leaving on an emergency call and knocking over the pail during a draw. Been reading a couple of books and thinking. Recorded maple production peaked in 1860. Since supply couldn't keep up with demand, new sources were exploited. So in the 1870's the price of refined cane sugar dropped below maple sugar. And as our older generations will tell us, sweeteners were expensive until after WW2 and the sugar beet, which lead to corn syrup.

[Amber Gold]

Pretty fortunate with your dog. Unbelievable. I have heard syrup production peaked in mid-1800's. Didn't realize sweeteners were expensive. Good information.

I'm tapping 75% sugars and 25% reds and averaging 1.8%. Not sure why it's so low. I've had one batch that was almost a medium and another that was between medium and dark.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Collected .5 gal tap tonight and a little sweeter. Hard to believe as the temperature was cold and the wind was blowing. Going to have a little sap caught in the freeze. looked at the weather and think I better measure the woodpile again.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Josh - If you have 75/25 Sugar maples/red maples and getting 1.8% sap, and if the sugar maple sap is 2% (43 to 1) then the red maple sap is 1.2% (71 to 1). I've got an economic model that shows regardless of production method - wood or oil fired, and or RO, the most important variables for the producer under 1000 taps are first, sales price of the product, and second sugar content of the raw material. If you discover that you have too much sap for your production capacity, it's the 30 gallons of water in the 1.2% you'll want to dump. Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

Thawed enough to start running this PM and still running but not hard. Cooked Wednesday sap on Thursday and, like others have reported, boiled 120 gallons - four hours - without a draw; like it was water. It was 2% sap and the sugar concentration in my flue pan went up, but the sugar didn't seem to reach the flue pan. Checked all sorts of things at the time but remained mystified. Now I'm caught up and and my YTD syrup production matches my sap hydrometer numbers and my evaporator time over the first 900 gallons, but no explanation of that four hours of boiling. Heard the same story from Harrisville, due east and someone else a little north.

[Amber Gold]

Bruce, that's what I'm thinking. I collected 200 gallons this morning and just tested it at 1.4%. I'll need to check my 300 gal releaser tanks. I hope the sugar is better in those. If it is my truck tank gets dumped, and I'll boil those tomorrow. If I'm going to be running low numbers like those during the season I"m going to start testing every batch to make sure I boil the best stuff.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Looks like trouble. Went well over 5 gal/tap today and the sugar average climbed above 2.1%. Judging by the weather forecast and all the snow still around the trees, could easily go above 15 gal/tap again this year. And the wood pile calculations end at 11 to 12. And Carroll? My esteemed father-in-law? He is driving a frigging auction bought Florida dump truck home. Went from GA to PA today. Frankly, it could be worse. When I first met him, he was hauling a D9L he bought from the TVA in Tenn home...on 3 rail lowboys...the dozer section less the blade, tracks, cab and ripper had a fatboy permit but was a little oversized for the tractor and nobody would drive it but Carroll. 110,000, I recall. And then there is the time he went to the auction in Alaska...Never mind, I know he is going to get home, sniff the air and frigging tap that hillside off 135 and haul it down here all of April. Man, I can't believe he was allowed to breed. Okay, my back up plan is shaky, but the next 5 gal is okay.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Send him out somewhere and tell him not to come back unless he has the auction dump truck full of sugaring wood! LOL!

[Hop Kiln Road]

Went over 6 gal/tap today. Couldn't believe how hard the pipes were running. And most of the trees are still frozen in pretty good. Snow is not melting but beginning to retreat. Sugar content is improving but still below last year, while gal/tap is marignally ahead. Forecast is very good. Last year we got stuck in this weather pattern and it ran strong for 13 out of 15 days.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Another gal/tap today BUT Carroll showed up with wood! He produces better looking syrup than I do under the same conditions. Sugar is still above 2%. Syrup is getting darker but still above dark amber. Concerned about the darkening at what I think is still mid season. Sap still looks good. We need a good snow storm!

[Hop Kiln Road]

No snow, instead I spend the day working my quasi real job and the sap goes over 8 gal/tap and stays above 2%. That is ahead of last year in volume but lower in sugar. Gathered over 300 gal from 250 taps with two barrels overflowing and The Carroll left the canner jammed to the filters last night after running the evaporator for all it's worth. At least he brought wood and as of last night we were caught up. Called my nephew and told him to freight Carroll's pickup next time he comes down. I'm planning on pulling the taps at 15 gal/tap or my first lacrosse game, whichever comes first, April 8th, I think. Haven't told Carroll. I've been thinking about this Native American business. I've always been skepitcal that they were making any large amount of maple sugar by gathering sap in birch bark buckets and boiling with hot stones in hollow logs. Feed a modern evaportor for a couple of hours and that doesn't make sense: you can't expend more calories producing a lesser number of calories of sugar and survive, remember the Clovis people weren't retiring to a heated house and warm food after a long night of boiling. UNLESS, they were boiling 11% sap, 8 to 1.

[Hop Kiln Road]

The end of the last run dropped below dark amber. Still good sugar content. Going to run it all through and clean everything before the next run. Weather forecast says the color might lighten. But this is all about sugar content of sap, not RO's. I don't think technology will save this industry. The only way Native Americans could harvest and store sugar from maples was they had a double digit sugar content in their sap. What has happenned to the sugar maple since 1500 is the opposite of corn and chickens. Sugar maples have been de-bred. Over the past 500 years, we have harvested or destroyed the best and left the worst to regenerate and this had driven the average sugar content to 2%. Since technology can produce 2 generations or corn or chickens per year but only one generation of sugar maples in 40 years, it will probably be mathmatically impossible to reserve this trend, except in small orchards.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Temperatures look perfect for the next several days. Historically, this is our biggest run. Finished and bottled all the NH Fancy, dumped all the barrels, cleaned the gathering and feed tanks and soaking the syrup pan over night. The next four days are going to be big. Got Carroll on call and have enought wood for 4 gal/tap. The NH Fancy is great stuff. It's a crime the State makes us put a "B" label on it. The meat industry uses the grades choice, select and prime and perhaps 1 consumer in 10 can put the grades in the right order. But that's government, never part of the solution. Gotta go cash my bonus check before the media publishes my address.

[Russell Lampron]

So I'm not the only one making NH Fancy. You are right it is a crime that we have to put a grade B sticker on it. At least we can put a grade B sticker on it. Everywhere else it would be commercial. People think they are getting an inferior product because it doesn't say grade A on it. I think that the grading system needs to be changed. I have a lot of customers that come to me seeking the darkest stuff that I make. This year I have made a ton of it.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Got .5 gal/tap Friday PM and .5 gal/tap tonight. A touch too cold overnights or not quite warm enough during the day. I was doing dark amber+ until Wednesday and then it dropped through the floor. Don't think it will recover and I'll get another 3 gal/tap of NH Fancy Ruby and by the end of the month it will be over. Funny snow retreat this year. No run off, everything is being absorbed.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Didn't run well again today, got 1/2 gal/tap which got me to 10 gal/tap for the season. Quite cold but the sap was cloudy and boiled dark. At the least the sugar is still above 2%. Got enough wood for 15 gal/tap but don't think I'll need it. Won't run again until late Tuesday and Wednesday.

[Russell Lampron]

Bruce you're killing me here! I didn't know that there were different grades of NH Fancy. I too have been making a lot of that NH Fancy Ruby. It has a beautiful red shade to it. The last batch that I made is darker. Would that be a NH Fancy Crimson or Garnet? We'll have to get together over a couple of Boiling Sodas and set the standard. I have plenty of sample bottles on my sugar house window to go by. We can put them in a VT temp grading kit box for comparison purposes.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Russ, I suggest we meet at Commissioner Merrill's office. You bring your samples and I'll bring unlabeled sample bottles of Burger King, Log Cabin and McCures' "Product of Canada - Dark Amber" found in Market Basket. Then we can ask her to explain why she wants to regulate NH Fancy but is unwilling to even test BK or Log Cabin for lead. Lead is used in some (reportedly "older")processes for making high fructose corn syrup and some samples have been testing positive of late. But our peanut king FDA has been down playing these tests. Yet our State government wants to test the minute amount of maple syrup produced in the State for lead while turning a blind eye to corporate fast food's vast creation of a health care burden. Might endanger all those fast food jobs. Can't boil in the sugarhouse so I'll boil in the office. Bruce

[TapME]

Russ; are you sure its not Killian red that you made? I have some of that fancy here too but it's red pine for me. Boy does it taste great.

[Russell Lampron]

Bruce you should be boiling again (with your evaporator) soon. The weather looks pretty good after today. I know what you mean about the product of Canada blended dark amber crap. It gives us real producers a bad name. The feds want to regulate the hell out of us when we probably make the cleanest product out there. They cant import maple syrup from China though.

Lou I've been drinking plenty of the Killian's Red while I've been making the NH Fancy Ruby.

[SWEETSAP]

Bruce, we are in Dunbarton just a bit south of you at 650 feet. Our taps have been a bit better running than yours but not much. We are still hopefull that there will be a few days of good flow. So far we have never had a flow start earlier than 11:00am or last past 5:30 pm. Good Luck! Dan

[Hop Kiln Road]

Dan - Hi, you further down Montaloma or toward the village? I figure another 2 - 4 gal/tap but am undecided what to do if the sugar drops below 2%. I only need 2.3 gal/tap of 2% to reach .25 gal/tap of syrup, which I would call an average season. Bruce

[Hop Kiln Road]

Got a gallon a tap just a couple of hairs over 2%. Expect the same tomorrow, then it looks kinda warm. Steamy Miss Ruby keeps stepping on my feet so I'm on my toes: little spots of syrup popping up in the center of the pan and she doesn't slide across the pan very well either. She insists the Danube is red, dark red. Well, at least she doesn't spit and foam like her wretched sister Onyx with the niter socks. Miss Ruby is clutching me a little tight this season and keeps gushing about some guy named Russ and whispering in my ear she wants to doodle bug...

[Russell Lampron]

Still making that NH Fancy here too but it seemed to lighten up some towards the end of the boil. Gotta make some quality product to buy the doodlebug a new starter drive!

[Hop Kiln Road]

Good run today of over 2% and puts us at 12 gal/tap. Called Carroll, we're 13 hours behind plus what's running into the barrels now. Read Nearing's sugaring book the other month. Many interesting points; his 1940's prediction of the future was wrong because of technology, specifically tubing even though he had engineering an elaborate piping system and contemplated running pipes to each tree, or figuring out the difference between a hard boil and a soft boil, or his entire marketing scheme. This is a guy who had two identical sugarhouses, each with 5 x 15 evaporators with 30 foot concrete stacks. Two, in case of fire or malfunctions or heavy runs, then he could always run a second shift.

[SWEETSAP]

Bruce, we are south of the village by about 1 mile right on rt 13. You cannot see us from 13 though. We had a pretty good run yesterday for us. The sap started the season at 2.3 and has been going generally down, todays was 1.7 all NH fancy syrup from todays batch. Our bush definatly needs vacuum!!! So far we have about 1,000 gallons from 250 taps, not good.

[Hop Kiln Road]

We're at 700 gallons over the past 3 days all above 2%. Started the fires this morning at 4:30 and Carroll's running the 2nd shift now. We have been having a good season...no big mishaps...just the syrup has been dark but not as sandy as last year.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Might get a little more this week, but if not we're at 12.5 gal/tap for sap and .255 for syrup plus the evaporator concentrate...and some leftover wood!