The Official 2008 Maple Syrup Thread.

MELOC · #**241** 03/04/08, 10:10 AM

i like my tubing, but i do fear it may be inhibiting some sap flow. i've been getting about half the volume from about half the trees. i expected that on at least one day i would get 1 gallon from every tap, lol. i haven't had a 60-70 gallon day yet. i would love to try vaccuum, but i don't have much time left and i have no money for it. i had a plan for a homemade pump run from the creek, but i still need either a container to apply the vaccuum at the end of the mainline and then to drain it into the barrel, or i need one or two more barrels that i can change off from a system where i run the mainline into one bung hole of the barrel and the vaccuum pipe into the other. oh yeah...and about 75-100 feet of pipe to run from the vaccuum pump in the creek to the barrel.

i will continue on with the tubing next year, i just hope to make some improvements. right now my mainline is supported by a few posts and trees here and there as well as the smaller tubing from the trees. i will consider installing wire in a few spots where i can mount the mainline to it and have the mainline straight with no dips. i will probably get a bit more mainline next year and make a few changes...like eliminating a big curve in the line near the bottom. i didn't have enough to branch off to a certain area, so i curved the mainline to get to a certain spot. hopefully by next year i will have a tractor that can pull a sap wagon.

i have 4-5 more areas and i could place 12-50 taps at each location. this property is shaped weird...picture an eagle (without a head). i am now tapping to the middle of the wings and i need to get to the tips. at least 50 of those new taps head downhill away from the area i have sap flowing now, so i need to be able to collect sap manually. the easiest cheap method i can think of involves swapping out plastic 55 gallon barrels. i think i may try running mini-taplines and collecting in 55 gallon drums.

i was hoping to be able to make at least 10 gallons of syrup this year. i wanted to sell a bit to recoup some of the cost of the tubing. i only have about 2.5 right now. i kinda lost track already as it has been so sporatic with the hot and cold weather and all. i doubt i can count on having more than two more good boils, so i can only count on getting another gallon or so before it gets "buddy".

i guess we all get to learn from our mistakes as we go along. it's too bad we only get one chance per year to educate ourselves, lol.

michiganfarmer · #**242** 03/04/08, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MELOC

right now my mainline is supported by a few posts and trees here and there as well as the smaller tubing from the trees..

that is exactly how I do it

michiganfarmer · #**243** 03/04/08, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MELOC

i. it's too bad we only get one chance per year to educate ourselves, lol.

yeah, thats a drag

sugarbush · #**244** 03/04/08, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michiganfarmer

I leave it out year round. Some guys do.

I havent been able to come up with a plan that allows me to get the tubing back to the same trees if I take it out of the woods.

We leave our main lines out, but pull the small tubing. At each connector at the main line we have a number tag and the same on the small lines. When we started tapping we just matched the numbers as we went through the woods. Sometimes we got confused about which taps went to which trees and we just modify as needed.

We have left them up before and so much of it was chewed through or pulled down by deer and moose that it just worked out better to take it down every spring.

I would think long and hard about going to buckets, those are not cheap anymore unless you still have them in storage. You might think about getting several collection tanks and shortening out your lines so you can keep a better idea about where they all go.

Beorn · #**245** 03/04/08, 05:24 PM

I live in upstate (the real one, not the one 10 mins north of the city) and the weather looks to finally break for the better. Looking at 10 or so days of above freezing days and below freezing nights. This is just our 2nd year. We did learn an awful lot last year. As in, place the fire to boil sap on DRY ground. going to be spending the next week collecting dead wood and cutting up the trees that fell two or more years ago in our lot.

We'll have 8 taps. I'd like to go to 10 if the local feedstore has any buckets left.

Michael

Happy7Farm · #**246** 03/04/08, 06:36 PM

Beorn, if they don't have buckets maybe you could use milk jugs. That's what we use, but we do have to empty them a little more often. That's where the kids come in!!

Happy7Farm · #**247** 03/04/08, 06:54 PM

I took the day to filter and can the syrup we had. Canned a little over 3 gallons. Hoping for one more run later this week. That should give me time to get rejuvinated to boil some more!

michiganfarmer · #**248** 03/05/08, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy7Farm

That should give me time to get rejuvinated to boil some more!

It wears a person down just sitting there for days, and days boiling sap.

Happy7Farm · #**249** 03/05/08, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michiganfarmer

It wears a person down just sitting there for days, and days boiling sap.

Especially when you are only seeing 6 gallons of sap an hour disappear!

michiganfarmer · #**250** 03/05/08, 08:56 AM

I did some figuring, and with my bigger evaporator, and if we have a good year I should be able to make...

never mind, I dont wanna jynx it.

In the spring of 2006 I got 1500 galons of sap per day for a week, but thenI could only boil a quarter of it.

mtman · #**251** 03/05/08, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michiganfarmer

I did some figuring, and with my bigger evaporator, and if we have a good year I should be able to make...

never mind, I dont wanna jynx it.

In the spring of 2006 I got 1500 galons of sap per day for a week, but thenI could only boil a quarter of it.

dont forget me

michiganfarmer · #**252** 03/05/08, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtman

dont forget me

I have a paper list of people who want syrup, and your name is on it.

Happy7Farm · #**253** 03/05/08, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michiganfarmer

I did some figuring, and with my bigger evaporator, and if we have a good year I should be able to make...

never mind, I dont wanna jynx it.

In the spring of 2006 I got 1500 galons of sap per day for a week, but thenI could only boil a quarter of it.

How many gallons of syrup did you end up with last year? If you want to tell that is.

michiganfarmer · #**254** 03/05/08, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy7Farm

How many gallons of syrup did you end up with last year? If you want to tell that is.

uuuhhhhhggggg!!! Last year was terrible. I made 30 gallons.

IN '06 I made 80 gallons.

I was so disgusted last year.

michiganfarmer · #**255** 03/05/08, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MELOC

i would love to try vaccuum, but i don't have much time left and i have no money for it. i had a plan for a homemade pump run from the creek, but i still need either a container to apply the vaccuum at the end of the mainline and then to drain it into the barrel, or i need one or two more barrels that i can change off from a system where i run the mainline into one bung hole of the barrel and the vaccuum pipe into the other. oh yeah...and about 75-100 feet of pipe to run from the vaccuum pump in the creek to the barrel.

If you can make a vacume pump, that is awsome. Im just not that smart. I bought mine. Its a gas engine powered 3 diaphragm pump, and it cost $1800

MELOC · #**256** 03/05/08, 09:49 AM

riddle me this, max...how much vaccuum pressure is needed? i found one pdf online that said you can apply up to 18 atmospheres of pressure before you damage the tree itself, lol. atmospheres of pressure...i haven't heard that term much since i took a scuba class nearly 15 years ago, lol. i have no clue what that means anymore. so how much pressure do you have...measured in real people speak like lbs. per square inch...or something like that. as i stated once before...specific tubing information is hard to find online.

michiganfarmer · #**257** 03/05/08, 10:42 AM

vacume is measured in inches of murcury. 15-20 inches of mercury is common for maple production

Happy7Farm · #**258** 03/06/08, 06:12 AM

We had an really good unexpected freeze last night!! Maybe the sap will run good today as it looks like, at the moment anyway, that the sun will shine brightly!

Just peaked at the weather channel and it's going to be sunny with a high of 57!! Hopefully we will be boiling this afternoon.

ericjeeper · #**259** 03/06/08, 08:37 PM

I have been working down a little over 65 gallons of sap today.. My pan only holds 40 so I had to add cold sap as it steamed off.. man does that really slow the one pan operation down. I have went through four wheel barrels full of firewood today. But It will be worth it. I need to go to town tomorrow and pick up some pint jars.. (if I can find any out of season.) I have been canning it in quarts. But I can give away 2 pints to 2 people as opposed to 1 quart to one person.. Makes my sharing go a bit further..

MELOC · #**260** 03/06/08, 09:19 PM

i've got a smaller pan that fits on the main pan that allows me to heat the cold sap with steam. if i only had enough sap to use it...