Heard ya! I had one tree that pumped out a gallon in 8 hours!...

what maples are you guys tapping in ohio. my reds were slow today.

I've got sugar, red, and a silver tapped, all were running well.

Are y'all tapping on the south side of the tree when you tap?

i am tapping mostly on the south side where it is most convenient. sometimes it is not practical, but for the most part, the south sides are tapped. i didn't tap my very few sugars this year. they are hard to get to. i concentrated on the stand of reds that are in one area. i also left the silvers alone this year. they produced like crazy last year, but i wanted to see if i had less sediment by leaving them out. also, i don't think i have that much time left for them. as i said earlier, one tree actually has open buds.

i may include three sugars in the next day or so. i needed more containers this year and tried to consolidate my tapping to where i could make the best use of small tap lines and only a few containers. hopefully by next year i will have more containers and tubing.

I'm pretty sure that I'm tapping maples LOL - not sure which variety... I think reds. The one that spewed a gallon today... I guess could be a sugar - or maybe I got a gallon of 2% sap from a red...?

I am.

I started tapping the south side 8 years ago, but I have holes all the way around most trees now. I plowed 10 feet last night to get to my tractor to take the starter off. I got stuck twice. we have snow up the wazoo. I got the starter off, and took it apart. The starter turns, but the bedix wont engage. I took it apart. The bendiz must have some kind of centrifigal mechenism, because I couldnt see what makes it engage, and I couldnt make it engage while it was clamped in my vice with jumper cables attached to it from my truck. Im taking it to a starter shop today. If they can get to it today, Im going to see if I get get the tractor to the woods tomorrow. Its a pretty tall tractor. Mabey I'll make it.

Question 24:

What does everyone use to filter their finished syrup?

And yes, I tapped most of my trees on the south side. One on the north (not currently producing - although it was a few days ago) and one on the west (most sun exposure) which is producing a fair amount. The four that get all day sun exposure are tapped on the south and out-produce the other 6 about 2 to one currently. Apparently it makes a difference at least early in the season - we'll see what's happening next week...

Good luck with your tractor, Max...

Thanks Bill
the first year I made syrup, I used clean cotton t-shirts. Actually I used contton t-shirts the first few years. I had to filter it 10 times. Then I bought a felt syrup filter. It filters easier when its hot.

Now I pay the neighbors to run it through their filter press

Hey Max, are ALL your trees sugar? Or do you tap others? If so, what's the ratio you would say?

Im not really sure what the ratio is. 90% are silver, and sugar. I'm guessing about 50/50. Im not much of a botanist. I never asked either. I look at the limbs, and think about what the firewood looked like that dad cut when i was a kid.

the leaves on the silvers have deep cut "fingers" and really curl up on the ground.

what about the sugar maple? is there a way to tell by looking at the bark?

If they look like a maple I tap 'em,lol. Ive never paid close attention

Great ideas Bob! I'll pass them along to hubby. Thanks for the link too!

Kelli

identifying maples by the bark seems a bit tricky at times. my few sugars don't seem to shag quite as much as the silvers do. the silvers i have really seem to have bark that looks like it wants to shed. my red maple are a mixed bag. most are smooth, like a birch, when they are young. i have a few that have good size and still have smooth bark. most of the really big red maple have shaggy bark.

i do have a leaf and twig ID link...

http://www.massmaple.org/treeID.html

I don't trust myself to id them by bark. I will probably tap something poisonous... LOL.

i am having a good run today/tomorrow...whatever. lol

i have mostly 1 gallon containers and i need to empty them again tonight so they don't overflow. i have several taps running into a 1 gallon container and it is filling fast. there are 2 of the 1/2 gallon iced tea jugs and they won't make it overnight. i am surprised to see such flow tonight.

now...back up the hill with my 3 1/2 gallon collection pot. man. i wish i had a clean 5 gallon bucket.

Midnight:
I just collected gallon 2 from one tree that started running at 9:30 this am. so far I've collected 9 gallons from 10 trees today and there's probably 2 gals still out there! Runnin' out of storage space...Aargh...

And what type of retail store can one find hydrometers? I'd like to put my hands on one today so ordering online isn't an option...

Collected about 7 gallons this morning. The way it's flowing I will have to check again tonight.

i have about 25 gallons in the evap since yesterday and have about 4 more. that is max capacity for the evap i have. i should get almost 3 quarts plus if i collect throughout the day as it boils down. yeehaw!

My trees are just starting to run today, not much yet but tomorrow and the next day are supposed to be warm and sunny. Chris

here are some pics of my evap setup. it is a masonry stove built for canning outside. it has a cast iron cookstove top that i removed. i placed a fiberglass door gasket around the top to set the pan on.

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...evap4Small.jpg

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...evap1Small.jpg

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...evap2Small.jpg

the gasket/seal...

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...5sealSmall.jpg

Nice pics Meloc. Is your preheating pan new this year?

Ok, I was reading another thread and it got me thinking... how about pictures of everyones set up, whether it's on the stove top or a professional evaporator. Let's see some pics. (I'll get mine up by Tue or Wed hopefully... I have a funeral to do on Monday and Tue.)

Sorry folks. I posted this in the wrong spot before. Here it is again:

I have done maple syrup in the past, but not recently. I tapped a half dozen trees for my kids sake, but once the bug bit, decided to do a couple more. I ended with 22 taps.

My previous plan of boiling the sap on the wood stove inside the house was not likely to happen without all the wallpaper and pictures falling off the walls. I needed a new plan.

I spent 25 bucks on two pans at the local restaurant supply store. Everything else I had on hand. A bunch of dry stacked bricks, a short piece of angle iron, and I was in business. I figure I can handle my 22 taps with four hours of boiling a day. I am very happy with the result.

Here are the pictures.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...e/img_7680.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...e/img_7684.jpg

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...e/img_7682.jpg

both pans were sold together as part of one deal on ebay. a guy does stainless steel work and sells on ebay. the two pans cost me $300 delivered. that is more than i wanted to spend, but it is still cheaper than buying an evaporator pan and arch. one used homemade system, boiler converted to arch and stainless pan, sold on ebay for $570. it was more than i could afford. converting the outdoor canning stove was my plan, and i am happy with the way it is working out.

if i use this stove next year, i would like to build a system of panels to temporarily enclose the area. i definately need a roof. the rain caught me off guard this evening. i was thinking that maybe i could make 2x4 stud wall sections and wrap them in clear plastic. maybe the roof could be made of those roofing panels that allow light to shine through. i could then use the space as a greenhouse of sorts after the maple run. if need be, i could build a small fire to keep plants from freezing. in the summer, i could store the panels.

Meloc, it seems we come from the same part of the world, I grew up 4 miles from gettysburg...........beautiful country.

i am just west of g-burg...in waynesboro.

Report: Tapped 110 trees today. With temps at 43 degrees at 10 pm I'm expecting big things in the morning!!

I'm was just east in Bonneauville.

wow...i hope you aren't hauling buckets, lol.

Meloc, how many gallons of sap do you think you boil an hour in your evaporator?

We have gallon water jugs and dump them into 6 gal. water jugs and carry back to the sugar shack. It helps to have 5 kids to do alot of the collecting.

i will have to give a rough estimate of 5-6 gallons per hour. i read that a crude estimate of boiling is about 1 inch per hour. i think i am actually getting 1.5+ per hour and each inch in the pan is 3.7 gallons. sometimes i get lazy or distracted and don't fire the stove as much as it needs to be. i have been burning junk limb wood that doesn't last long. it burns hot and dies down quick. i think it would perform a bit better if i used better wood.

Actually works fairly well. Gotta work pretty hard to keep enough fire goin', though...

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y56...h/HPIM0996.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y56...h/HPIM0995.jpg

Tragedy has struck...

ugh.

My brand new (cursed) wal mart brand trash can had a slow leak and took me down to about 2 gallons from the 7 I collected yesterday. I am howling mad.

Back to the start... I have about 7 gallons again now... and am getting a new trash can. ARRRRGGGHHHH! (Hopefully I will have pics tuesday of my evaporator.

Question: I put two taps into one tree and today when I collected one jug had clear sap and the other one a peeish kind of yellow sap. The taps are only about 8 inches apart. Does anyone one know why?

We only gathered 8 gallons of sap from 125 taps, hopefully tomorrow will be the day. We boiled it down just to try everything out and make sure it was working the way I anticipated. We did find a few things to adjust. Made a cup and a half of the best syrup Maine has to offer............the free kind!!

i see that every now and again when i start tapping. was there any dead/dark brown wood seen when you drilled those tap holes? the last time i saw off-color sap was right after it rained. i blamed it on water dripping from the trees into my jugs.

It did rain last night. Don't remember about the bark. I had two or three others with the off color but only had one tap in them.