The OFFICIAL MAPLE SYRUP Thread 2014 (2 threads merged)

davrhods · #81 03/04/14, 08:52 PM

sugar maples and blacks have best sugar content followed closely by reds then silvers and box elder. birch are a whole different bird ,they run after maples. forerunner how is your season goin ? Still a least a week away from any type of run up here.

Dixie Bee Acres · #82 03/05/14, 06:55 AM

Weather forecast here is showing 33 degrees for the high today, but starting tomorrow, mid 40's thru low 50's for at least the next 5 or 6 days, means the sap should really start flowing

Forerunner · #83 03/05/14, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davrhods

forerunner how is your season goin ?

I was hopin' no one would ask.

:

This is the first year I had my four oldest do the tapping, entirely without assistance from me.

It was a milestone accomplishment for them, and they did well.
They set out most taps with braces and bits, then finished the last day and a half (1500 taps, total) with braces and a DeWalt® cordless 18 that I save for special occasions.

Three of them had a trip planned for visiting friends in Missouri, the day after they finished.
The day they were finishing, we had almost 50 degree temps....this was a couple weeks ago.....
I was hauling manure from the local sale barn, ten miles away, the day they finished, and that 50 degrees and sunshine was having a field day with the 14 inch, compressed snow pack.

Then, that night, it rained.......about an inch or so.

Mind you, the ground is still frozen, at least a foot down, and we had a big snow melt with an additional inch of rain......no real issue.....yet.

North of us, they had over two inches.

We tap maples in the river bottom, many of them hanging right out over the river.....

I checked the flood forecast upon rising the next morning, for kicks (radio station had mentioned flood watch, and I kinda blew it off) and couldn't believe my eyes.

They were forecasting well over flood level for the Spoon river, which would put our taps under 2/3 feet of water, on average.

I watched that forecast like a hawk until noon that day, and that went out to inform Samuel, my third (the rest are in Missouri, remember?) that we might very well be pulling the taps and buckets out of the river bottom, alone.

Sure enough, their forecast started to become more urgent, river rising higher and faster than anticipated.

We hooked the dozer to the wagon, grabbed a hammer, and five hours later had the last bucket and spile safely back up at the shed, at about dark.

Sure enough, by morning the river was out of it's banks, and by that evening, she was for real.

Now, mind you.....COLD winter..... the river ice was 8-10 inches thick, and it all came out in huge chunks, with the river.

What a catastrophe.

Now the river is back in it's banks and the ice piles are covering the entire valley, in some places four-five feet deep.

:

Good thing we made 113 gallons last year.

davrhods · #84 03/05/14, 05:11 PM

So sorry I asked Forerunner that's a bummer mother nature sure can be a witch some times. Hope your compost piles are intact.

Forerunner · #85 03/05/14, 05:48 PM

The homestead is 60 feet+ up out of the flood plain.

Most of the compost is another 40 feet higher, up on the "mainland" flat.

No worries.......

Studhauler · #86 03/05/14, 07:10 PM

Out of curiosity, Forerunner, which do you use most around your homestead, your tractor or your dozer?

Forerunner · #87 03/05/14, 09:45 PM

Tractor.....but there are times.......

The 3020 is nice for good conditions, but when it gets super sloppy down there, it's a real treat to have the dozer pulling the sap tank/wagon around.

Log fall across the path ? Dozer blades aren't forgiving.

Ruts getting out of hand ?

Blade 'em out as you go.

River deposit a pile of brush, mud or ice in the alley between the trees ?

Well......you see where I'm going with this.

Chucknbob · #88 03/09/14, 11:16 AM

I'm boiling down my first batch of sap right now, and I'm trying to figure out how to store it when I'm done.

I was planning on pouring into half pint mason jars and putting them into a water bath canner, but I found some sites that say if the syrup is hot and the jars are sterile no canner is necessary. Does this sound correct?

Forerunner · #89 03/09/14, 03:15 PM

Yup.

Clean, hot jars and 180 degree syrup do the trick.

Dixie Bee Acres · #90 03/09/14, 05:04 PM

Yup, hot syrup and hot sterilized jars.
I have about 27 gallons of sap fro yesterday and Friday, plus overnight last night. Will collect again in a little bit. I am trying to avoid boiling for at least another week, but I am running out of storage space.

Chucknbob · #91 03/11/14, 07:22 PM

Another dumb newbie question: we had 2 days in the 60s and my trees are starting to form small buds. Tomorrow it's supposed to get cold again and drop back into the teens. Is my sugaring done?

Forerunner · #92 03/11/14, 07:31 PM

Not quite yet.

Keep going until the boiling steam smells a little off.....and the syrup tastes a little off.

Use that batch for cooking syrup, cause there's nothing wrong with it save the buddy flavor...... and pull taps.

Studhauler · #93 03/11/14, 08:39 PM

FR, how come you had to pull the taps when the water came up? Are you going to retap or can you use the same holes, or are you done for the reason?

Dixie Bee Acres · #94 03/11/14, 09:16 PM

I just finished 1.5 gallon batch, makes 2 gallons total for the year, hoping for at least 1.5 more gallons.

Forerunner · #95 03/11/14, 09:57 PM

I pulled the taps because the river had a 10 inch ice pack on it.....and that would have broken/knocked out most of the taps as the water came rushing through.

Good thing, too.....river's out again as of this evening, with just the snow melt from what didn't melt last time.

We could use the same tap holes.....but if three guys spit, the river comes out, these days.

Studhauler · #96 03/13/14, 09:56 PM

I need help with an idea. I have a 50 gallon (or is it 55 gallon) plastic barrel in the ATV trailer that I will uses for gathering sap, which will be MUCH better than last years method, which was a 4 gallon bucket in each hand. So this barrel will be laid down in a cradle fitted to the trailer, with the small bung in the 12 o'clock position. Next I will build a stand to mount a 4 or 5 gallon bucket just above and in-front of the barrel. This part I have all figured out and will build this weekend.

I need an idea on how to connect a hose to the bottom of the bucket. I will dump the sap in the bucket and it can flow into the barrel. There must be a plumbing fitting out there somewhere, I just can't think of it. I don't want to stand the barrel up on end because the center of gravity will be to high when full.

Forerunner · #97 03/14/14, 04:24 AM

I have used threaded pipe fittings and inner tube rubber gaskets to poke a sealed plumbing hole in plastic....but I think you could find something better than a bucket for a "funnel".

Yuh know...... hundred gallon horizontal tanks with plumbing in place, and a large top feed hole are available for not too much $$...
We use one of those and a 425, depending on the flow....and we use an old style, large milk filter funnel to receive the sap from buckets.....quick and efficient, and the perforations in the filter keep the bugs and sticks out, without impeding the flow into the tank.

Studhauler · #98 03/14/14, 08:23 PM

4:24 AM, what the heck are you doing up that early

one should be

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forerunner

I have used threaded pipe fittings and inner tube rubber gaskets to poke a sealed plumbing hole in plastic....but I think you could find something better than a bucket for a "funnel".

I think I found what I need; the through hull part of a bilge pump system.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forerunner

Yuh know...... hundred gallon horizontal tanks with plumbing in place, and a large top feed hole are available for not too much $$...
We use one of those and a 425, depending on the flow....and we use an old style, large milk filter funnel to receive the sap from buckets.....quick and efficient, and the perforations in the filter keep the bugs and sticks out, without impeding the flow into the tank.

A hundred gallon tank is to big for my ATV to pull, when I post pictures, you will see why. After posting here last night, I stumbled across a milk can funnel on eBay, I never knew there was such a thing. My long range plans are to get a 50ish gall horizontal tank like you mentioned and use a milk can funnel. But for this year, at-lest, I will be using a 55 gallon drum and a 5 gallon bucket as a hopper.

EDIT: I still don't have any sap yet,

maybe next week.

Studhauler · #99 03/14/14, 10:08 PM

What makes a "Tree Saver" tap a tree saver? Is it just that it is 5/16" instead of 7/16", or is there more to it than that?

Forerunner · #**100** 03/14/14, 10:09 PM

I don't remember what I was doing up at 4:24........ but I remember that by 4:45, I was in the tractor, pulling two wagons, headed for the Fairview Sale Barn.

Makes for a long day.

.