Farm Tapping tomorrow

mecoastie

Veteran Member
Tapping the maples tomorrow. About 50 taps. Got the evaporator all checked out, buckets rinsed and taps boiled. Made 10 gals last year and hope to do about the same. Trying a different place. Fellow at work is letting tap his trees. Nice and easy close to the driveway. New pan this year which should be a little more efficient. There is nothing better than sitting in front of the evaporator on a cold night with a beer and the stars out.
 

Jackpine Savage

Veteran Member
Nice! I looked at our long term forecast and saw highs of -20. I think it will be a few weeks yet. We tap about 10 trees, two taps in a few of them. In an average year we get enough for us plus a few gifts.
 

mecoastie

Veteran Member
Picture of the evaporator just getting started. Been a slow start but the next 2 weeks look really good. After that who knows.
 

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summerthyme

Administrator
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I miss that! But two of the 4 yard trees that I've tapped for the past 30 years are declining precipitously due to age, and i don't want to stress them any more. I can move my tapping operation to the woods, but we made between 5 snd 10 gallons of syrup a year (on 10 taps... hubby says the yard trees with big crowns produce more and sweeter sap, and it sure seemed to be the case) for the past several years, and we're well stocked for now.

Still, the first time that drill starts pulling maple sawdust and sap mixed from the first tree, it means Spring has sprung!

Good luck!

Summerthyme
 
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Jackpine Savage

Veteran Member
That's a nice looking set up.

I am cleaning buckets today and am planning on tapping tomorrow. We still have a pile of snow, snowshoes are going to be required. That will be my exercise program for a week or so, lol.
 

Jackpine Savage

Veteran Member
We finished up last Friday. Ended up with 2 gallons of syrup in 3 boils. Finally figured out a better filtering process, no more sugar sand in the bottom of the jars.

Here is our high tech setup :)
 

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mecoastie

Veteran Member
That's awesome. Love that rig. I started with a hotel pan on cinder blocks using coffee cans for buckets on the trees. Finished this year with 7 gallons of good syrup and about 3 that was a touch burned. I had emptied the pan to finish it on a propane burner. Fired it up and figured I had time to go get my daughter at lacrosse practice. Came back 15 mins later and could smell it when I pulled in the driveway. It had boiled over. It tastes like molasses. Not bad just different so we are going to use it for baking and cooking. Lesson learned.
 

Jackpine Savage

Veteran Member
Ha, can't get much more redneck. But my DW scored the pan in an online auction for $10 and I was under the gun to come up with something like right now. This was the fourth year using it. Some of the blocks are cracking. I'm hoping to get something better put together for next year. I have a barrel stove kit laying around, might give that a try.

We finish ours on the kitchen stove. Our first batch boiled over, it happens fast, ha.
 

Illini Warrior

Illini Warrior
everytime I see something about sugaring it triggers a memory of a news article from downstate ...

the local county SWAT team got called out to raid a farm that had a reported meth lab - they arrived and met old Farmer Fred and his wife - hanging around the farmplace were buckets on tapped trees - the "meth lab" in the side shed was their boiling stove ....
 

mecoastie

Veteran Member
@mecoastie How's the sap flowing?

We upgraded this year to a Smoky Lake Dauntless! We're tapping the neighbors trees, have about 60 taps out. Learning to use a divided pan. Planning on moving the evaporator into an old outbuilding next year.

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Nice!! I love the wheels on it

Put 59 taps out this year.

I pulled my taps on 21 Mar as we got a good warm snap. Might have held on for another couple days but I had a lot of sap to get through. Finished 15.5 gallons so far with a couple more to go this afternoon. First year boiling in the completed shack. What a difference being enclosed. Here is a couple pics. I need to enlarge the cupola as a fair amount of steam gets trapped in the loft.

IMG_5289.jpgIMG_5366.jpgIMG_5369.jpgIMG_5383.jpg
 

Jackpine Savage

Veteran Member
Nice! But you NEVER walk away from one of those pans!

Summerthyme

Truth! We don't leave it unattended. And make sure to keep a bucket of extra sap on hand to cool things down if needed.

Nice!! I love the wheels on it

Put 59 taps out this year.

I pulled my taps on 21 Mar as we got a good warm snap. Might have held on for another couple days but I had a lot of sap to get through. Finished 15.5 gallons so far with a couple more to go this afternoon. First year boiling in the completed shack. What a difference being enclosed. Here is a couple pics. I need to enlarge the cupola as a fair amount of steam gets trapped in the loft.

That is an awesome sugar shack. Love the big window. I showed it to my DW and she said the same. Now that raises some expectations, ha. Definitely need to get it moved inside, wind, rain, and snow can take a bit of pleasure out of it.

Sap is still running here. Today got warm, almost 70, but the high for the next two days is 32. No buds yet. Next week looks warm so this weekend will probably be the end. Pretty late season for us.

I have to make some improvements for hauling sap. I started out with buckets in the back of the jeep, then when the ground got soft I strapped six milk crates on the atv. Then the starter went on the atv, then the recoil spring broke, ha.

How is the RO system working for you? I'm on a Maple syrup faceborg group. One guy posted that he had 6,000 gallons of sap for sale because his RO system broke down :shkr:
 

AlaskaSue

North to the Future
Not quite time to tap up here yet - I just get birch water from the few I tap; but have a friend from another forum just up the road who boils birch down for syrup, of which I was given a quart. The best imho but boy that is some work!!

You certainly have your work cut out for you - but looks like a great set-up! Hope this is a good season for you!
 

mecoastie

Veteran Member
Truth! We don't leave it unattended. And make sure to keep a bucket of extra sap on hand to cool things down if needed.



That is an awesome sugar shack. Love the big window. I showed it to my DW and she said the same. Now that raises some expectations, ha. Definitely need to get it moved inside, wind, rain, and snow can take a bit of pleasure out of it.

Sap is still running here. Today got warm, almost 70, but the high for the next two days is 32. No buds yet. Next week looks warm so this weekend will probably be the end. Pretty late season for us.

I have to make some improvements for hauling sap. I started out with buckets in the back of the jeep, then when the ground got soft I strapped six milk crates on the atv. Then the starter went on the atv, then the recoil spring broke, ha.

How is the RO system working for you? I'm on a Maple syrup faceborg group. One guy posted that he had 6,000 gallons of sap for sale because his RO system broke down :shkr:

What a difference it makes. I have a thread here somewhere going through the build. I have always wanted to build a timberframe. It was a ton of work but absolutely worth it. That window is awesome. I didnt like it at first because it is so big but it looks onto the garden and faces south south west so I get great light in the evening. I got all the windows from a builder friend of my father. The door came out of my grandmothers house.

Sap hauling is where I am looking to improve. I think I am going to get a 100 gallon tank for the truck bed next year. I currently use 3 of those 30 gal blue barrels but I think 1 tank will be easier.

The RO is incredible. I run 60 taps on an 18x48 pan. It is slick. Had a buddy from work email me asking what to do with his sap. He had to much to boil and was afraid to lose it. He brought it over and in a couple hours and a couple beers we ran it through twice and he was aboe to get it all boiled off. The company is The RO Bucket. Customer service is fabulous. Email phone, facebook he gets right back to you. I recommend them to anyone. I have run 50 taps on that pan without the RO but it was work. If I lost it I wouldnt run more than 40 unless I could boil every other day.
 
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