It’s Sugarin’ Time!

Relatives in Maine, getting ready last weekend.

 

Nice clarity on this batch with a new finishing filter.

 

Had a rough day Wednesday afternoon into Thursday.



It did get better.

 

Quite a sinking feeling when you get that first whiff of smell. I assume you are running oil, so the fire was able to be killed immediately? 20 brix??! I’ve never run a high brix rig - I’d probably have someone stationed at each corner, and would still be sweating! Very glad to hear it was just bad, not awful.

 

Casper If you would have had to replace the flue pan, how long would you have been down for? How much syrup/sap would you have lost? Glad things worked out well for you.

 

no bueno is spanish, very poor spanish, insulting, you-might-get-slapped by someone who is latino spanish. Or at least laughed at. Something you'd only hear in America spanish. American slang on the level of Valley-girl-speak. It's actually no esta bien, or no es bien, or something like that.

 

Ran the bucket RO overnight. Went from 1.7 to 3.7 sugar content.

 

Less boiling is good! What size ro and how many gallons of sap?

 

that's the joke.

 

It's a bucket RO (But I have it mounted to a board). It was the largest they made last year but they have a bigger one now. We had about 635 gallons to start.

 

Dropping 300 gallons through the ro is awesome! That saved a lot of boiling time!

 

Another batch done tonight, it’s been a good start to my second season.
22 taps- 2.5 gallons so far.

 

Sap is running pretty good today! I had collected 3 gallons in 9 days so far. I got 5 gallons in the past 24 hours.

So I still have next to nothing

 

It is running hard since yesterday.

Hauled 5000 gallons at 10:30 and brought it down to an average of 49% capacity. 2 hrs later, it's up 4.5%



An hour later? Another 3%

 

I would love to learn how to do this. Just bought my grandparents 4 acres. Never counted the maples in the woods up the hill, but there’s at least 4-5 as we have a lot of oak and beach. My neighbor has another 10-15 acres he’d probably let me tap for some syrup. I’m sure there’s at least a dozen sugar maples up there. To tell the truth I’m not sure how many are up there. I’d be happy to get a couple gallon to start off.

Have no idea how to start. Been going to the local state park the last few years during tapping season. We enjoy the walk-thru’s and visiting the sugar shack.

I have a nice shed that’s 12’x32’ and half of that is an open shed with gabled roof. All my taps could run downhill with about 30’-75’ of fall if I ran tubes. Won’t do it this year of course since it’s late, but would love to be ready next year even if just a few trees.

 

Approximately, where in Ohio are you? Maple Madness this weekend might be worth your while by visiting different operations and getting tours. Come to Bissells in Jefferson on Sat between 10 and 3 and get in on a tour with Nate.

In high school I helped my friend's dad boil with their free gas from an oil well. The oil tanks have a burner in them to heat oil prior to pumping out for shipping. The pumper guy only use the burner every few months and sometimes maybe 2 times a years. We borrowed it to evaporate sap for a few days.

Other folks use wood or oil. Some use propane. The funny thing to me is that it's totally opposite of a dairy or grain farm. Those type of farming you start out with little calfs or little seeds hoping to make them bigger. Syrup is opposite, you start out with a lot and make it little. I was raised on a dairy, we grew our our crops. It is a strange feeling going the other way during harvest.

 

I got everything set up this morning. Not perfectly level since the ground was frozen, but good enough for today. We'll see how it works out!

 

This is such a great thread. My dad tapped a tree back when I was a young kid and for some reason I always thought about this myself.

We have enough trees at this new place and I set out 4 pails about 4 weeks ago. I had cut a few sugar maple limbs off and saw the sap run out and figured it was time. On good days I was ending up with 5 gallons on 4 taps. One tree near the barn was a darker color. The first week or so was more of a vanilla taste than maple. Last boil was a little darker and more maple flavor. There is a lot to learn, and I was boiling down on the stove top with hood vented right outside. I didn't really filter the product, so there is a little niter, but it is just for us and family.

The process was fun and my son was running to the sap buckets every day after school to see how they produced. He learned a lot how temperature affect the run.

The best thing I did was pre-heating the sap on the stove top in the back while full boiling in the front. It cut the boil time down quite a bit. I could fill the boil pan and set a timer for 30 minutes and go back for a top off. I was doing trim carpentry and painting the mudroom nearby, so it worked out doing two things at once. I may set the taps out for a few days to see how the later season product is. The 10 day weather doesn't really have below freezing temps around here. I think buds will be popping before long.

Hats off to you big production guys. You are truly dedicated and known your stuff. I may look at building a small shack for next year. Here are a few pictures. All the syrup was put in clean, hot mason jars and the lids pulled down on all of them. They should have a bit of shelf life in them.




My wife was rolling her eyes every time I was boiling. Good times though and a fun little hobby for end of winter. A little shack with a Jotul 602 would be fantastic out back.

 

That’s the attitude to have going in! And a full year ahead of you to learn and plan and get ready. Sounds like a good situation to start from as far as the land and shed. Good place to start would be to check the maples you have and measure them. Make sure they’re at least 12” DBH for tapping.

 

Sap flow has been great the past week. This week’s work boiled down to a beautiful Dark/Robust this afternoon. First time I’ve ever broken out of the amber territory. My trees just don’t give me sap that gives a dark or very dark grade. Pretty excited about it.



Pretty textbook color grade progression this year, too. Had three weeks of golden/delicate, two weeks of amber and now the dark this week.