This is are first year doing this and this thread was one of the main driving forces for me to dive into this. Thanks Shawn for starting it
The word "Vermont" on products is pretty tightly policed. The word "Vermont" on syrup is absolutely positively guaranteed to land you in court against the State if the syrup wasn't from VT. I guess the odd part for me was a NJ owner/developer trying to skirt VT development laws , and the syrup he buys from other VT producers ends up out in WY stores. The photo of the bottle looks very nice and attractive, but loses some shine as Google reveals the backstory. I'm not questioning the quality of the syrup in the least, just noting the label took me to NJ, which I wasn't expecting.
A couple of supply places for those of you with nothing local. https://www.bascommaple.com/ https://www.leaderevaporator.com/ (I have a Leader dealer a mile from the house. Very easy to spend money there. Their dealers all charge the same as the catalog price.) I took a group of visiting scientists on a tour of Proctor several years ago and had a great time - really good people, really fun research. http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/ I've heard they make syrup in other states, but can't vouch for their info . http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/ (Actually, if you are going to put in vacuum, they have one of The documents to read for sizing the pipes and pumps.)
Great info. Anyone you know that will ship syrup out west. I've bought lobsters from Maine and shipped next day.
Here's my cinder block evaporator setup. I needed to pickup more since I didn't have enough. It is sized to hold 3- 6"deep full hotel pans. I'll be using it next weekend.
I put 3 more taps in this afternoon. Im all out of containers now. There are 4 more really nice ones I could have probably hooked onto this run if it wasnt for a black locust widow maker.
Is it possible to go to leader evaporator and not spend $100 had to pick up a hydrometer and thermostat spent 125
You all are giving me the itch to get back in the syrup business but no sugar maple around here just a few silvers here and there. Probably a good thing though got to much going on anyway.
I thought about one, I was going to go off this. http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/homemade-maple-syrup-evaporator-zmaz00fmzgoe.aspx
Looks nice - I've done it on cinder blocks a number of years. Some miscellaneous thoughts: If you don't have grates, raise the firebox floor or drop the height down one layer of blocks. Behind the actual "firebox" area, you don't want a lot more airspace than your flue volume, so the heat stays right up against your pans. We would fill it in with cinder blocks laying on their side, or just old bricks and sand. The heat will allow the blocks to settle and your pans will no longer be level. I used to build on a bed of sand, and when it got too out of level I'd take the arch apart and re-level it. The cinder blocks hold up ok for the first half of the season, then they will begin to soften and come apart. Either protect the cinder block or just keep an eye on it and be ready to fix as needed. The taller your flue, the better your draft and the cleaner your syrup. I made cheap disposable doors out of sheet metal (fold at the top, slid under the front pan). I'm not sugaring this year, and you guys are making me regret it!
Big thing is to just get out there and do it, like you are. After that there are a million ways to tweak it and do it differently once you get going, but few ways to do it wrong.
Had a little cold snap the past 2 days here, supposed to last until tomorrow too. Barely making it above freezing, so I haven't been getting much. It's looking a lot like last year - it was slow for a while and kept freezing back up, but then it REALLY thawed and I couldn't even keep up!
Low to mid 20's overnight here all week and upper 30's low 40's for highs should make for some high yields. I'll be boiling all day saturday and drinking beer!
