New to Sugaring in Southern Indiana

[sawyerkirk]

Santa is bringing me 25 taps and buckets this weekend, I have never tapped before. I'm looking for a mentor of sorts down this way. I'm in Haubstadt, IN which is just north of Evansville. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Kirk

[Maple Ridge]

Good luck with your new adventure. You will find plenty of help here. Any question you have has been asked before, so I am sure you will find all your answers here. The one thing I can tell you is, once you start and get the smell of the sap boiling, you will be hooked. The one thing I can tell you is, do not be discouraged the first year. Everyone makes mistakes, and that is how some of us learned.

[Ausable]

Hi Sawyerkirk - If You don't find a live mentor or even if You do - ask any question you need an answer for and someone on this site will have it. The Guys and Gals here - come from all walks in life with one big thing in common ----- We all really like making maple syrup and everything involved in doing it. Once You taste the first Maple Syrup You made -- You will probably be doing it for the rest of your life -- so - welcome aboard --- Mike

[ahowes]

Cool! I'm from Princeton, so you're in my backyard. I'm not an expert, but I have one full year under my belt. TheOldGuy (I think that is his username) is an area old-timer with 10 years experience; he is in Pike County and makes around 65 gallons. I've learned a lot from him.

There is another well-known fellow in Haubstadt that is wanting to learn and he will be up here hanging out this winter - I'm sure you know him (or of him).

I began building my temporary arch today - looking good. I was going to build a permanent one in my pole barn, but the insurance guy said I can't do that....so....I'll use another temporary one until next year when I have a different insurance agent/policy.

[sawyerkirk]

So far here's my set up. I've got taps and buckets! I have a bunch of maple right down the road from me. I have an old wood stove that I plan to use as my heat source, I'm sure it will be a challenge to maintain temp. I still need to come up with something to cook it in. I have an 8gal steel pot (turkey fryer pot), but I'd prefer a more shallow pan I'm sure I can find something. I've read everything online I could find, now I'll just wait till season (late febuary?) When did you start last year? how many weeks? who's this other guy down here making syrup? right now I'm going to set my stove in the garage and cook in there. next summer I'm putting up a new firewwod shed, and will probably add on extra space to cook in. Soon I have to get a 500LB stove up out of the basement and into the garage.

[ahowes]

According to my blog, it looks like February 19th was when it really started flowing. There was a little run or two prior, but I didn't know what I was doing and only had a couple of trees tapped then. There wasn't enough to mess with. When I saw that sap really does come out of those trees, I hurried and tapped several more, then I had more sap than I was set up to handle.
That was one year, I'm sure each year is different. My guess is that we need to have everything ready to go in mid-January, then we won't have to do any scrambling, regardless when it comes.

[Goggleeye]

Welcome to the maple world! I joined 2 years ago - 20 taps, and now I'm planning 320 taps this year. I'm due west of you a few hours, just north of Cape Girardeau, MO.
Personally, I wouldn't wait until February to set my taps. Last year I set most of my taps Jan 15, and got some of my best runs the last week of Jan/First week of Feb. I'm not willing to risk it. The last two years have provided great runs all through Feb, but you never know when we'll get a whole Feb above freezing.:cry: This year, I'm shooting for the first weekend after New Years!
If you're going to put out 25 taps, you may want to reconsider your evaporator. My first year, with 20 taps, I boiled in 20 gallon iron kettles (not the best surface area, but I had a hot fire), and although doable, it seemed to take forever!
Mark

[HAHA I 1]

I am just east of you near Corydon. I am in my 4th year and will put out 100+ taps this year. Likewise, I, too, would not wait until February to tap. We tapped around January 20th or so last year and had a good initial run.

[sawyerkirk]

I had planned to use my woodstove to cook with, but most of you use the arch. how important is it to regulate the heat and how difficult is it with an open firebox? If I can build a arch instead of trying to manhandle a 500# stove up out of the basement I would prefer it!

[Goggleeye]

I don't think heat regulation is all that important. You just want it HOT! You can't scorch it until the very end, and when it's close to becoming syrup, you need a way to take it off the heat quickly. Then, you can bring it to the kitchen cookstove to get the perfect finish.

[ahowes]

Likewise, I, too, would not wait until February to tap. We tapped around January 20th or so last year and had a good initial run.Yes, I agree - I didn't make it very clear that in my ignorance, I missed some runs. Because I only had two test trees tapped (Jan 17 when the weather was right), I didn't get enough worth messing with.
If I had had all my trees tapped in January when I did the two test trees, I would have gotten enough to boil down. As it was, the early runs didn't give me enough in the two buckets. (And as learned later, my two test trees were not very good trees. If I'd had taps in the good trees, I probably would have had all that I could handle.)

Thanks for making it clear to me that I probably missed a lot of sap - I won't do that this year.

Get them out in January :)

[sawyerkirk]

how much (if any) filtering needs to be done, and when do you do it? When we press apples, we run it through a pillow case, but I don't figure that would work to well for syrup!

[Ausable]

sawyerkirk -- I'm just a backyarder -- 55 taps -- But I always filter at least twice. First time - after I gather the sap to get the debris out of the sap - bark - bugs etc - I just use a chunk of cotton cloth attached to a clean 5 gal. pail with cloths pins for that. The Second time when I'm almost syrup and before canning to remove as much nitre or sugar sand as possible and I use a clean chunk of felt that I soaked in warm water and squeezed as dry as possible - I attach to a stainless pot with cloths pins. Seems like a damp felt does a better job of catching the nitre. This is just a simple backyarders way of filtering - a large producer would cringe at the thought of doing it this way as it is a bit primitive.... Mike

[Ausable]

I had planned to use my woodstove to cook with, but most of you use the arch. how important is it to regulate the heat and how difficult is it with an open firebox? If I can build a arch instead of trying to manhandle a 500# stove up out of the basement I would prefer it!

Hey Sawyerkirk - Sap in a pot on the kitchen stove will make syrup - not - the most efficient way - but - it will work. So go ahead and use your wood stove to do your main evaporating and finish on the kitchen stove when you are getting close to syrup. Each year - you will improve your syrup making and probably end up with an efficient rig for doing it --- Main thing is -- don't get scared off - You can do it and use what you have to start -- keep asking questions like you are doing now and you won't have any problems you can't handle -- have fun and make syrup --- Mike

[Goggleeye]

My first year, I just filtered using doubled cotton cheesecloth. Still left a fair amount of sediment.

Now I use synthetic cone filters - you can get them from Bascom's or the Maple Guys for about $15. I actually let the niter settle out for at least a day, keeping the near-syrup very cold. Then I pour off the clear near-syrup and finish in the house. When in reaches density, I filter, then reheat if needed to 185 and then fill the canning jars. (Later, I filter the syrup with the heavy sediment).

If you decide to use cone filters, this describes the process I use to keep the filter from clogging so quickly:http://www.mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?t=7532 (post #16)

Hope this helps.

Mark

[Bemis]

25 taps on a wood stove is not going to be a winning plan. You should really skip the stove and build a cinder block arch with some steam table pans. I think you'll be dumping sap if you stick with the stove. Just do a search on this site for some simple plans. It'll make things go a lot better for your first year.

I've also been tapping after mid January if we get good weather. Good luck and have fun.

[sawyerkirk]

How do you decide when to take it off the fire and take it in the house to finish?

[ahowes]

I could tell when the bubbles changed. They got real little and millions of them. You've got to watch very closely because it kind of crosses a threshold and then it's time. It makes an obvious consistency/color/bubbles change, but it happens pretty quickly. I think there are other ways (temperature/specific gravity, etc) but I just go by looks.
I did well for a first time using the spatula aproning test for the final final stopping point. That was pretty obvious also, but it happened quickly.

[whalems]

Hydrometer is the only acurate way to know when it is syrup. They are not that expensive and is probably one of the most important piecies of equipment for maple syrup you can own. Just my 2 cents. :) Mike

[Goggleeye]

Yep, a hydrometer is definitely the way to go. Like ahowes said, the bubbling does change, and the bubbles won't go away very fast. Be careful though, because at this point, you have very little water and you can scorch/ruin the whole batch very easily. After a couple boils, you'll be able to tell when it is close. I continually check it with the hydrometer. When it's about 56/57 Brix, I pull it off and finish in the house. Or, if you have a way to get the syrup off the heat fast, you can just watch it for the frothy bubbles because it will be very close then.

[ericjeeper]

If we happen to have a good year this year in Indiana. With 25 taps you will be working 24/7 to keep up. Like others have said build an arch out of concrete blocks. A pot on a stove will take forever in a day.if you have any fabricating skills at all make one out of a 275 gallon oil drum.

[sawyerkirk]

Anyone suggest a good how to book? Looked at Amazon, there are dozens on there.

[Ausable]

Yep -- There is the old classic for Backyarders called "Backyard Sugarin" by Rick Mann or Rink Mann -- anyway - it deals in the basics and has pictures of guys and their homemade rigs -- I have one - and still enjoy looking through it. ----- Mike

[S Culver]

Ausable

Last year I had about 30 taps and did the block arch with 3 catering pans 14"x22". It worked well and I would just pour the sweet up to the front pan as I finished. This was pretty close to what was in Rink Manns book. His book is a very good book to get anyone started as a hobby. It got me hooked anyway. At this stage you can be as basic as you want to be I would just figure out a comfort level of taps and production before you pour the slab for a building. At the end of the season I figured I would go to about 150 taps, as I kept looking I think its going to be more like 300+ and could go to 500 or so next year. Of course I had a friend make up a set of divided flat pans for a 2x6 arch I was thinkng of making, now I am rethinking that because of the # of taps. Arghhh this is an addiction!! Are their meetings for this or something like Mapleholisc anonymous? I could be getting close, just make sure it remains enjoyable.

[Ausable]

Well - S Culver - Good advice - Sawyerkirk was asking about sugarin books and I referred him to Rink Mann's book. However - I was doing pretty good for several years - only have 55 taps cause I don't have any more sugar maples and I thought I was safe from my compulsiveness. Had a 55 gal barrel stove with a 2'6" x 2'6" open pan and a couple of stainless pots for preheaters and also I'm getting old in body - so thought I was safe from myself. But I have Family and they like to keep the old man busy - so he dosen't rust up. So My oldest Son (the Organizer and machinist) and his youngest Son (the welder) pick up a 250 gal Fuel Oil tank and decide I need a bigger evaporator before I Pass. So After a lot of back and forth and brainstorming -- last year the gang delivered it in early Feburary and we set it up in the expanded sugar shack. I did a test boil with water and man does it make steam.....But You know how this monster inside us starts to grow - but - now relatives our helping - got a small 30 gal feed tank -- etc etc etc> My Son has started hauling sap fron his place. Neighbors are offering to let me tap their trees -- I tell Ya S. Culver it is getting out of control fast - This new evaporator dosen't let me sit around and watch sap boil ---- It is a hungary little monster that needs a constant feeding of firewood and sap and keeps me jumping -- The thought of a good sap year in 2011 is starting to scare me -- But -- darn myself -- I'm really looking forward to it. This thing called Mapleitis Mania is a terrible illness and hard to control. But -- hahaha -- You understand -- You have the the illness toooo -- beware of non-believers -- hey -- all my Bologna aside -- have a great year making maple in 2011 --- Mike

[the old guy]

Hey Sawyerkirk try watching some of the production of maple syrup on YOU TUBE. You might pick up some tips there. "Maple sugaring: A springtime tradition" (parts 1 and 2") are pretty good at covering all areas of the production. There are lots of others too.
Type "mimaple" in the You Tube search box and click on "Maple sugaring: A springtime tradition" (parts 1 and 2"). Good luck and enjoy!

the old guy