another newbie question

[sandman6921]

Hello All, just found the site. Last year was our first attempt at syrup. It went pretty well, I welded up a 30" x 48" x 6" pan, and we made about 2 gallons of syrup, from mostly red maple trees. This year we got more taps, (50) and will attempt more, but I want to know about storing sap. We burried 40 gallon food grade drums in a snow bank where the sun never shines. Can I store the sap at near freezing temps this way till we get several hundred gallons?

[220 maple]

Sandman,
That a good idea the snow will help keep the sap, Some people freeze gallon milk jugs of water and tie a rope to the handle and drop the the jugs in big tanks of sap to keep them cool, once the water thaws in the jug pull it back out and refreeze.

Mark 220 Maple

[sandman6921]

it just seems simpler to make one long run, one clean-up ect. I made a cement block fire pit so the evaporator pan just sat on about 2" all the way around, and had a rip roaring fire , so we were able to run about 10-12 gallons of sap per hour. So my plan is to start about 6am in a couple weeks, and keep going all day till we're done. I know last years flow was real short, so I may run out of storage drums. I think I have 6, so if we get more than 240 gallons, the "plan" will need modified. Just didn't know what the storage rules were..

[They Call Me Pete]

I've have good flow days and bad so I kept sap buckets in the snow bank but most night got below freezing so I'm hoping it's still good. Going with the bigger batch instead of many little batches. My first year also so I hope I don't screw up. Worst case I need to ditch only one 5 gallon bucket. The rest of my gallon jugs are fresh with in last day or so and kept cold/frozen

[Turtlecreek]

Sandman where are you located? Maybe going to see a local guy may help you a bit also. There are peoe on here from Kentucky to ontario and lord k OSS where else, there is bound to be someone near you.

[sandman6921]

just north of I-80 in Clearfield County,PA. Still plenty of snow and Ice on the ground, so not much is running yet.