2007 Official Maple Syrup Thread.

[FreightTrain]

i threw this together today. it still needs tweaking tho... i need to line the bottom with bricks or something to raise the fire up closer to the pans... i have sap out my ears at the moment my jugs runneth over :baby04:

[ergoman]

Theres a decent way to find maples by looking for the orientation of the twigs on the smaller branches. Only Maples, (all types), ash (if you can find them), dogwoods, and horse chestnut (MADHORSE. acronym) have the limbs that grow across (180deg) or beside (90 deg) the other one. All other trees branches stagger where they emerge from the limb or trunk. One comes out to the right, a few inches up one will go out to the left. The maples grow across from or beside each other. Lots of times the twig or limb across has fallen off so the larger limbs are harder to use for ID. The small limbs/twigs at the edge of the canopy are pretty easy to read. Sugar maples usually have the darker, smoother bark. Silvers are shaggy. Old leaves help also. I cooked 90% of my sap off in a turkey frier with a spout on the bottom. Finished in a turkey roasting pan on the grill.

[MELOC]

ok those of you with experience, i need advice. look at my weather forcast for this week...

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenda...nav_undeclared

i have no silvers tapped, so i am not concerned with them budding early. as a matter of fact, some of them are blooming now. some of the reds show signs of bud swell, but nothing is open. most of the reds are not swelling at all. i fear that the forecasted 70 degree weather will bring everything to bud, and that will be "all she wrote" for my season.

i guess i could start tasting the sap for signs of "buddy" flavor. i could also selectively pull the taps on trees that look to be blossoming.

the sad part is that the temps are forecasted to return to normal later in the week.

that last week of crappy cold weather we had really robbed me of tapping time.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by MELOC

ok those of you with experience, i need advice. look at my weather forcast for this week...

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenda...nav_undeclared

i have no silvers tapped, so i am not concerned with them budding early. as a matter of fact, some of them are blooming now. some of the reds show signs of bud swell, but nothing is open. most of the reds are not swelling at all. i fear that the forecasted 70 degree weather will bring everything to bud, and that will be "all she wrote" for my season.

i guess i could start tasting the sap for signs of "buddy" flavor. i could also selectively pull the taps on trees that look to be blossoming.

the sad part is that the temps are forecasted to return to normal later in the week.

that last week of crappy cold weather we had really robbed me of tapping time.

I havent had that problem yet. I cant give you anyadvice.
I feel for you though. In january of 2006 in the southeast corner of Michigan, they had a very warm spell for a few weeks. A few hundred thousand trees budded. Many commercial maple producers were up a creek.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by bill in oh

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...

I have 2. If I can find my second one Ill sell it to you for $12 plus shiping. I have 2 because I couldnt find th eone i had when it was time to boil syrup last spring. Of course I found it as soon as the season was over. Idiot,lol. If I cant find it call this guy. Paul Williams. 1-231-885-2900. He is the supplier I buy from. He or his wife Pattie can help you.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by 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.

Nice boiler MELOC. That'll work

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by 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.

What about an old U-haul truck body? That what I use. You can cut your firewood in the spring. Put in in there to keep it dry all year. It works pretty nice. You might be able to find a body from someone, mabey an insulation company, with a wrecked truck. You might even find one for free like I did.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by 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.

I fyou can find a custom door shop, or a cabinet shop around you...they always have scrap kiln dried lumber. 1" x 1" strips that comes off their table saws. It is awsome for boiling syrup. I get it, and mixi it in with my dried firewood. It REALLY gets a boil on. OF course I have an evaporator, but I can get a rolling boil that is a foot deep when I stick a few pieces of that kild dried scrap lumber in there.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by ZealYouthGuy

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.

OOOOHHHH NOOOO! lol that blows! You could just about cry couldnt ya? lol.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by 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!!

I got that once in a while when I had buckets. I never dumped it out. I never knew why it was colored. I never asked why. I just boiled it down. It made good syrup. Im guessing its something from teh bark. Ive never had that while using tubing

[michiganfarmer]

Here are a couple pictures from last year

This is the flat pan I started with in 95
http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/1...sap2004hq4.jpg

This is my 2"x6" raised flue evaporator.
I bought this 4 years ago.




Here is my brother hauling sap for me wiht his tractor last year. You can see th eblue 1" mainline on the ground



Meloc. I will try to trmrmber to get some pics of my tubing set up.

I will get some pictures of boiling this year too.

I got my tractor runing saturday evening. I spend all day tapping Sunday. I got mabey 400 taps in. I still have another 800 to go. They are running a little, but not much. There is still to much snow around the trunks.

Im going to tap every night after work untill dark, and hopefule I can finish it by the end of saturday evening. The temps are supose to get down below freexing here wednsday, and stay that way for a week.

[sue currin]

Anybody every use a Turkey deep fryer to boil down sap?

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by sue currin

Anybody every use a Turkey deep fryer to boil down sap?

Ive heard of them being used. The thing is, the deeper the fliud you are boiling, the harder is is to get it to boil. Its a pressure thing. The dpth of the fluid make pressure, just like the deeper you go in a lake, the more pressure you feel on your ears.

I think the largest diameter pan, or pot you can get is better, and keep the level of fluid down to...Well, I didnt like to have it any deeper than 6" when I had flat pans. I use the steam comming off to pre heat the cold sap. Add hot sap slowly, and constantly so you dontn loose your boil.

[ergoman]

If you just want to try making a small amount for fun like I did this year, you can reduce 5 gallons of sap to 1/2 gallon in a few hours and finish it off on the stove. We did about 15 gallons of sap yesterday. I did a lot of sugering when I was a kid helping family and friends, you wouldnt want to mess around with a lot of trees without some good flat pans and a large hot fire as stated above.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by MELOC

ok those of you with experience, i need advice. look at my weather forcast for this week...

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenda...nav_undeclared

i have no silvers tapped, so i am not concerned with them budding early. as a matter of fact, some of them are blooming now. some of the reds show signs of bud swell, but nothing is open. most of the reds are not swelling at all. i fear that the forecasted 70 degree weather will bring everything to bud, and that will be "all she wrote" for my season.

i guess i could start tasting the sap for signs of "buddy" flavor. i could also selectively pull the taps on trees that look to be blossoming.

the sad part is that the temps are forecasted to return to normal later in the week.

that last week of crappy cold weather we had really robbed me of tapping time.

If the temps turn out like the link says, you should have sap out the wazoo firday, saturday, and sunday.

[Citiot]

I'm tapping a 12" Sugar Maple on the southside of my house. I'll probably only get a quarter gallon but that ain't bad for a citiot!

[ripcat-ranch]

Today we got a whopping 9 gallons of sap from 125 taps!!! I wish these trees would wake up soon. With temps to be 49 tomorrow maybe this will be the day. We boiled it down and got our cup and a half of syrup..........so far 3 cups for the year.

The one tree that gave us the yellow sap was clear today......so who knows why.

[michiganfarmer]

Ive been using my 28 volt Milwuakee to tap trees. I have 2 18 volt deltas I took home from my sharpening shop. I had my wife and kids using them. The deltas didnt do a very good job. They just have no power. Well, not enough..I work my tools pretty hard. I expect an awfull lot from them. We all worked seperately. We did get much done. LAst night I took my milwuakee, and my 2 sons. I tapped, and they repaired tubing, and drove spiles in. We made much better time that way.

This saturday Im going to rent a gas powered tapper. My brother is going to help. Im going to use the gas tapper, my brother's 24 volt Bosch, and my milwuakee. Im sure we can get the tapping finished. I plan on having 2 teams. My brother & my 15 year old, and me & my 10 year old.

My dad is going to put my 1500 gallon collection tank on the hay forks on his tractor today, and carry it to the woods for me. The freeze/thaw is suppose to start monday, and go all next week. Its gonna get busy in a hurry.

I remembered to get my hands on our camera. I will take it to the woods tonight

[michiganfarmer]

Here is the truck body I use for a sap house


Here is the tractor I repaired the starter in, and use to get in the woods in the deep snow. Its a heap, but its 75 horse. I have a generator in the trailor to charge cordless drill batteries for tapping


Here is my 15 year old putting a spile in a tree. The light background makes it a little hard to see.


Here is the 5/16" branchline hooked to the 3/4" mainline.


Here is one of the 8 mainlines running down through the woods. I have them up on electric fence posts to keep them from getting burried in the snow during the winter.


Here is a "drop" with a regular spile, and the black thing is a "tree saver" spile.


I'll get some pics of collection tanks, collecting, and the evaporator working once the sap starts running.

[beaglady]

Thanks to this thread, and to Meloc, I tapped 10 trees last week. Most were silver maples, but a few are something else I haven't figured out yet. We ended up with about 25 gallons of sap and are still fiddling around to get it boiled with our less-than-optimum setup of a propane burner & a big stockpot. Next year, we'll be set up to boil over a bigger wood fire, so the process should be much less tedious.

Buds are starting to swell (and the boiling is no fun with the current setup) so we pulled the taps. Should we do anything to close up the holes, paint then shut, or will they heal on their own?