The Official 2022 Maple Syrup Thread !

I have been burning cherry and box elder with no coals and very few ashes. I am forced air at the rear of the fire box . I can run the evaporator for several hours and maybe have enough ash to fill a quart jar .I keep my stack temp between 900 and 1100 degrees. Yesterday I ran 22.7 gallons an hour ,that includes start up and shut down

 

Welcome to the forum ,hope you can make it down to our GTG in October

 

I just burn tops and limb wood of whatever I'm using for firewood, so lots of maple, beech, and cherry. Anything under wrist sized is used for syrup. But I've also thrown in ash, poplar, aspen and any dead limbs that fall out of the trees.

 

We’re having fun here in Michigan! This stuff is liquid gold, best syrup I’ve ever tasted

 

First, super cute pic with your boy. Second, that tree has a major girdling root. At minimum you eventually won’t want to tap above it. In the long run it may kill the tree.

 

Learn something new everyday! Good catch and thanks for the advice!

 

Nice day for making steam. This is a run of Juglans nigra (Black Walnut) sap.

 

Looks like season will be coming to an end here soon. There are 3 to 4" in the bags from yesterday ,hope to get that much today. Cold with 3 to 4" of snow tomorrow ,maybe last run will be the first of the week when it warms up. Weather man predicting 60 degree temperatures next week. I have probably made around 15 gallons so far , hope to make another 4 or 5. For our location an average year should produce one quart of syrup per tap. I will be well below that with 135 taps . The season has been a lot of fun with my new set up and I am already looking forward to next year.

 

I figure the trees will have produced about half what they did last year and last year was considered a bad year here…

 

Not to worry Vermont still running

 

Looking forward to finally tapping mine this weekend.

Hopefully it isn’t to short of a season..

 

Any pics of your set up?

 

L

 

Is that a diy vacuum filter set up walt

 

Yes it is and I really like it. I use a small shop vac that is just for maple. Being a one man operation I don't try to filter and bottle while running the evaporator. I store the syrup in a stainless steel milk can then reheat and filter in five gallon batches on a day the saps not running. With the help of DE I can filter five gallon of syrup in just a few minutes

 

Nice quality it looks almost commercial built! Way gooder than my diy deal. I had an old brew kettle sitting on a shelf. Purchased the stainless steel bucket at blains farm and fleet. Planning on running vacuum with a small shop vac like you. Filtering was always my least favorite task. Before this it was done after every boil session.

 

I like filtering syrup about as much as most people like splitting elm..

I've resorted to just using the settling method.

 

Thanks, very nice. Wife and I are thinking we’re going to give it a go next year.