It’s Sugarin’ Time!

The plant has one sugar maple on it. It is tapped with buckets for the nostalgia. I can't imagine the work it would take collecting sap by the bucket.

 

Haha. Pretty sure my sugar house would fit in that tank! Unreal.

Until I ran tubing I was collecting by buckets. Think I did 40 trees that year down along the driveway and in the front woodlot below where our sugar house is now. Never again... We keep a couple buckets up along the driveway for the same reason - looks good and the nostalgia effect. I run a few short lines into 5 gallon buckets down there, too, but running up the sap with an ATV is a lot easier than hand hauling.

 

No doubt. Just carrying a few buckets from out back was a chore.

 

I enjoy hearing about families getting into making maple syrup! Sounds like your son enjoyed it. Syrup looks good.

 

Bucket brigade here!

 

It took me about 5 hours to first get dialed in and then to boil down about 17 gallons of sap. I only ended up with 1 quart of syrup for my efforts. Still was a great time though!

 

Another good looking batch for ya! How many buckets are you hauling now?

 

Beautiful, Woodsman!

Would gave loved to have made a road trip here in Ohio but we were not able to go.

 

I will take any tips, links, books, supplier names anyone can give me. I’m going to keep it at the hobby level, but would like to make 1-3 gallon for myself if it’s possible. Of course, I’ve got to check for trees first. Lol!

 

Starting to get a little darker here in central Michigan. This weather has me wondering if the sap will stop flowing soon. I’m have been taking advise from local producers on when to tap and trying to learn as much as I can.

 

I would think here in Seattle Ohio we’d tap before you northern guys, but maybe it’s more about light than temps. IDK.

 

19 and it would have been 20 had I not misplaced a tap in the barn I found the other day.

I really like my bucket system. Tap to hose to 5 gal bucket lid (and bucket). Swap bucket out for a spare (leaving lid dangling on tree during the swap), slap on a lid without a hole in it and carry to the evaporator. In most cases, it’s not a full bucket so I’ll combine them from nearby buckets. Hauling 5 gal buckets around isn’t bad and can be considered “exercise”.

If no snow and ground is frozen, sometimes I’ll use the lawn tractor and trailer to make it fun for kiddos or cousins that might be visiting.

 

There's always next Sat 10-3.

 

Awesome pictures. That dark looks good, I haven’t made any like that yet, maybe it’ll happen this year.

 

This year, one of our neighbors has tapped a lot of trees in the VT neighborhood with galvanized buckets. Yesterday, we saw them collecting the sap. They had a trailer with a big plastic tank on it and what I assume was a pump. I couldn't see the entire operation as we were heading in the other direction and turned off. It's cool seeing the old buckets on the trees; you just don't see it that often.

Years ago, we collected sap that was when we visited an operation. A tractor brought us around the woods. We'd bring the buckets back to the trailer and dump them in 55 gallon drums. That was back in the 80's.

 

Dang auto correct on this phone. Lol! Where in the heck is Seattle Ohio I bet you are wondering. I’m wondering myself. Lol!

That was supposed to read near Dayton Ohio.

 

I’ve been cranking along gathering sap. Most of it has been going to my Amish buddy. I took 550 gallons to him last night; he’s at a little over 100 gallons of syrup made so far. My buddy took 550 gallons Sunday morning, he’s up to 37 gallons made. I heard one of the larger operations has made 3500 gallons so far.

Not sure if the trees will keep running much longer, in the midst of a warm spell with non freezing temps. If the trees are still flowing by the end of the week, should be able to stretch it out a bit longer as the weather becomes more favorable.

 

Love the meme, haha.

Main tank was overflowing here Sunday into Monday. Monday morning had 270 gallons in my tanks and another 30 in buckets. Max capacity for me this year. Monday night into Tuesday wasn’t that great. Got some flow but it slowed wayyy down. Put 240 gallons through the boil between yesterday and today. Plan to finish it up tomorrow. Had to dump 30 gallons from a tank that gets a lot of sun. Turned sour in the high temps and sun beating on it. Not a huge loss but still. Glad it wasn’t full tank at 100 gallons. Next year I think I’ll drape some shade cloth over it.

Also hoping for a few extra days of run as the weather cools down. Daytime highs are still up there but 32° tonight here. 30° tomorrow night. Low 20s overnight over the weekend. NWS dropped these low temps a few degrees just this evening. Looked a little warmer when I checked the forecast this afternoon. So that’s a plus. Was feeling a little down earlier this evening thinking I may have just thrown the last load of wood into the arch. Perhaps the cooler night tonight will help it pick up a bit tomorrow. Whatever happens it’s definitely close to being done. Think I saw some buds on a red maple yesterday...

 

This is my 5th year boiling. First year I boiled probably 20 gallons total on a propane burner outside - went through 2 tanks! Realized then its not practical to use gas for any reasonable amount.

Second year did most of the boiling over a campfire - much better!

Third, Fourth, and now this year Ive been using a homemade barrel evaporator. It's tiny, takes some time to get the burn dialed in but I can do about 40 gallons a day. Last year I did 3x boils of about 40 gallons each. So far this year Ive done 2 but I'll be ready to do my third on Thursday. I was really hoping to get a 4th in this year but as some have mentioned, weathers been iffy.

I have 20 buckets out on 10 big sugar maples along my driveway. I have probably another 10 maples that arent sugar maples that are easily accessible I may start tapping next year. I'm expanding slowly. We have 40 acres so I'm sure we've got tons more maples out back, but the property is not very accessible, especially with snow on the ground. I'd love someday to map out the good maples and cut a trail through so I can really have a decent setup! I just figure I'll keep adding a little each year! Might look into upgrading the evaporator this summer...

 

Do most bigger operations only tap sugar maples? Or are people generally tapping all types of maples?