2007 Official Maple Syrup Thread.

[MELOC]

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!

[canfossi]

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

[MELOC]

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.







the gasket/seal...

[seedspreader]

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

[seedspreader]

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.)

[RedneckPete]

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.

[MELOC]

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.

[ripcat-ranch]

Originally Posted by MELOC

near gettysburg pa...

i noticed one branch on one of my silver maples has actually started blooming. i expect my silvers to start budding out by the end of next week if the weather folks are correct.

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

[MELOC]

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

[ripcat-ranch]

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

[ripcat-ranch]

Originally Posted by MELOC

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

I'm was just east in Bonneauville.

[MELOC]

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

[ripcat-ranch]

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

[ripcat-ranch]

Originally Posted by MELOC

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

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.

[MELOC]

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.

[bill not in oh]

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

[seedspreader]

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.

[ripcat-ranch]

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!!

[MELOC]

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.

[ripcat-ranch]

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.