illinois

[Kev]

Where are the other sugar makers?
I am in Saybrook il in central Il.
I see there are 3 listed

[maplemom]

Will county :) Just a small little hobbiest.

[DaveB]

I'm not from Illinois but wanted to say HI. My wife is from Peoria and we travel out there several times a year. Nice country...certainly different from New England. Hope you have good seasons!

Dave

[MapleMounder]

Kev,

I am one of the three listed. I am up between Rockford and Dixon. Other than park districts or forest preserves I only know of one other operation in my area and they are about 40 miles from me.
Our season is in full swing up here right now, running the evaporator every night with an "all nighter" here and there.

Hope your season is doing well down south, Maplemounder

[Kev]

In some ways my season is the best ever since I started doing it on my own.
I had taken a couple seasons off due to a shouder injury and just could not carry and dump buckets. work got in the way a year before that.
the first runs cooked to a light amber ( I think!) I do not have a color set to judge by. but it was real light and hardly any maple flavor. Which I then managed to spill over a gallon of it. leaving me with 2 1/2 gal.
then 8 or so gal of a bit darker and some maple flavor developing. Still not mapley enough for most of the people that own the majority of the trees I tap.
last nights cook actually got lighter ?? but a bit more maple taste developing.
I had scorched the pan and had to clean it yesterday. I suspect thats why the syrup was a lighter color again, but just am not sure
most are waiting for a little stronger taste before I give them their "payment"
most get more than that since I am a hobbiest and can not "sell" it I basicly tell them how much it cost to produce and they "donate to fuel cost" for more
a tradition my dad had started and I continue.
there is a county near me that at farmers markets you can sell "homemade" canned goods. as long as you have a sign saying it is homemade and not produced in a commercial kitchen. I plan this year to find out if that is only good for residents of that county. I think this is the second most amount of sap we have collected since dad started. I will have to double check records to see.
Thanks Dave not many people from not around here like the country side LOL
Maplemounder I hope yours is great!

[maplemom]

This is our first year.. carefully using the stove with all windows open and lots of fans going. Watch the humidity carefully. Live in a developed neighborhood so have to be careful not to upset the neighbors with our maple experiment. Tapped a little lower on the front tree and ran tubing into 2Gallon double layered ziplocks and those are inside large plant pots. A few neighbors hadn't even realised we tapped until I pointed it out. :lol:

Doubt they would be as humorous if I built an actual evaporator outside so dealing with it best that we can... but totally having fun with it and think this will become a yearly event for us. So far though there has been nice interest shown in the whole affair instead of folks looking at us like we are looney people. :D

Hi Dave, we are not terribly far from peoria and go there a couple times a year. Maple Mounder, besides the park district I do not know anyone locally that taps the maple trees either. Though I do know there is an outfit just south of bloomington. Looks like not too far from you Kev.

I have no idea the actual grade of our syrup. But most of it looks lighter in color. It might change a little as soon as we get the hydrometer, which I was hoping would arrive today, to double check (have been using the 'aproning' method to try to get close). So far have learned not do use a teflon pan (it was burnt on accident.. not pretty and lost a pint of syrup and a pan :lol:). We are only using stainless now and have a good supply of that thankfully.

We did get one batch (4 cups) of some very dark stuff. I think it might not be good... a little scared to try it. But had to let the sap sit for 36 hours and I think it might of got a little funky. So my question is can it be used if the sap was old for making beans and such or should I just toss it and have another lesson learned?

That's awesome that your neighbors are involved Kev. Think I'm a little jealous :P

[DaveB]

Hi Dave, we are not terribly far from peoria and go there a couple times a year. Maple Mounder, besides the park district I do not know anyone locally that taps the maple trees either. Though I do know there is an outfit just south of bloomington. Looks like not too far from you Kev.

I think that is Funks Grove. I stopped by there a couple of years ago when we had to travel back in February when we had a funeral to attend. He said that they had about 4,000 taps - all buckets. It's a nice spot right off Rte 66. He's probably the largest producer in the state? Weird seeing all the flat land and then seeing a groves of trees with buckets on them!

Kev, there's nothing wrong with open country. Just different. I like seeing all the farms and such. My wife always takes a deep breath when we hit the open prairie somewhere in western OH. I know folks wouldn't believe me if I told them though how rolling the hills (bluffs) are around Peoria.

Dave

Dave

[Kev]

Maplemom
if your community allows those outdoor "fireplaces" they probably could not say too much about an inclosed woodfired arch. You could build one that doubles as a wood/charcoal fired grill :) the rest of the year. Yet, be that as it may, you are completely right about needing to keep your neighbors good will! While with 3 or 4 trees tapped you would not need it. but if you ever get to tapping most of the trees in the neighborhood....
I still think if I were tapping just a few and doing it on the stove. I would scrounge up a cook top off a kitchen stove and put it on a stand for use on the patio or deck. plumb gas from the house to outside so it could be hooked up when needed. or stored in the garage when not. OR put a vent hood in the garage that actually vents to the outside unlike most hoods today in a house. Then evap syrup there. but hey the important thing is you are sugarin LOL. no matter how you do it.
Dave
yes it is a very pretty area up the river valley. although a president in the early 1900's called it the worlds most scenic drive. I think that is more than a small stretch of fact. I made a comment to my dad about that years ago. in his dry sarcastic humor he said "well that just tells you how few places were accessesable by automoble in those days"...

[Kev]

Maplemounder
I hear ya. I cooked from 2 pm untill i collected, then back at it untill about 4 am one night. then again untill 2 am the next. sap did not run yesterday so I got a break last night. it looks to running again today.
I just found another close producer thanks to this site and sugarbush.org. Spencer farms. they are about 20 miles from me.
we used to run 120 ~140 taps on our 2X4 but there were 3 of us doing it.
Now dads in florida in the winter now and my brother does not have time anymore.
Its a whole lot tougher doing all the collecting and cooking by yourself! ok that not fair, my darling wife has helped collect a few times.:D
I am not sure I want to go over the 101 taps I have out with out an R/O
but good lord how big should a hobbiest get, when I can not sell the syrup!
There is no doubt it is an obsession!

[maplemom]

Dave - it is Funks... we may have to check them out personally someday soon.
Kev - The outdoor firearch as grill idea definately has merit! Something to think about :)

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

No laws here in P town like that, there is a fellow that had a 2x6 in the village. One early sunday morning he cranked her up and some one from 2 streets over called in a working structure fire. When we pulled in the engine he was pretty surprised. We all laughed on the way back to the FH. Dam flat Landers don't know the difference between smoke and steam:lol:

Good luck maplemom, the outside grill/arch sounds like the way to go.

[MapleMounder]

Kev & Maplemom
I talked to both Spence’s and Funk’s a couple of months ago when we were going to have our operation inspected by IDPH. We are small producers like you but wanted to be able to sell at farmers markets and such. Both were great to talk to, they gave us lots of pointers. I actually gave Bryan at sugarbush Spence’s link to add to his site (he already had Funk’s). The IDPH inspection went great, we were sweating a lot because it was our first inspection but it all went good. Now we can sell to the public. Although with all of our bags around town, our phone has been ringing off the hook so I don’t know if we will have any left to sell at the farmer’s market. I don’t know how it has been down south the week but we have been averaging over 2 1/2 gallons a tap for 4 days now. Long nights in the sugarhouse and don’t seem to be making much of a dent at 10 or 12 gallons an hour. Probably will work a half day at work today and get home and boil, it suppose to be in the mid 50’s today and 60’s tomorrow up here so I would assume the same for you guys.
Good luck!:)

[Kev]

Maplemounder
I take it you went through the state and not your county?
Thats great about you getting so much local response!
it looks like this may be the run out

[MapleMounder]

Kev,
I spoke to our local health department originally and they directed me to the state. This is the way I understand it: in Illinois making maple syrup is considered processing, and the state has the jurisdiction over processors. Some counties might make you be inspected by both, local and state but our county feels if the state has approved you to be a processor/wholesaler why should they inspect you as well, the state already has signed off. Again this is how I understand it; I am not a lawyer or anything.

[Kev]

Excellent!

[Kev]

maple mounder
Are you still running?

[mathprofdk]

Hey, I was just checking to see if there was an Illinois thread, and lo and behold, here we are! I know Kev already posted to one of my threads, but just wanted to check in. This is my first year, and I've had a steep learning curve using a turkey fryer in my back yard. I'm in Batavia, a far west suburb of Chicago. I grew up making box elder syrup in Minnesota, and I've been wanting to try making my own for years.

Made some good improvements by the last boil (preheat on the grill and wrapped some ceramic insulation around the base of the fryer), but I may upgrade to an arch next year. Depends on how many neighbors I can convince to let me tap.

I just tapped a single silver on our lot, and another on a neighbor's. Our tree is HUGE, though, and we collected about 100 gallons of sap between the two. I had to dump about 15 yesterday, because we were out of town for three days, and they went bad in the heat. It looks like we're done for the season, though my neighbor's tree still has some sap I need to check on. She who must be obeyed says I'm done for the season regardless, though. :D

Anyone else still flowing? From the more experienced - will a freeze like it's supposed to on Wednesday/Thursday trigger more flow? Should I leave my taps in just in case? (And in case I can convince you-know-who to let me burn a Saturday again!)

~DK

[Kev]

you have a shot if maplemounder does since you are about 115 miles north of me. If I were up there I would gamble on it because yes a good freeze will get them going again if they have not gotten to far along

[MapleMounder]

Kev,

Trees were still dripping Sat but the sap was cloudy. I dumped everything and am hoping to get one last run mid to late week, it got cold this afternoon and the forecast calls for mid 30's during the day and high 20's and night the rest of the week. If they don't run, we'll pull the taps and call it a season. We have made 17 1/2 gallons so far, not a bad season for us.

Rob

[Kev]

Kev,

Trees were still dripping Sat but the sap was cloudy. I dumped everything and am hoping to get one last run mid to late week, it got cold this afternoon and the forecast calls for mid 30's during the day and high 20's and night the rest of the week. If they don't run, we'll pull the taps and call it a season. We have made 17 1/2 gallons so far, not a bad season for us.

Rob

LOL tap for tap, you beat me then! Im glad for you.
24 gal but on 101 taps
worst was 80 to 1 (around 3/4 but probably more of my sap)
then some 50 to 1 runs
then 1 38 ish
as I recall I ended up with a 68 to 1 season average.

[katmike]

I didn't see this thread until this evening. I have 45 taps this year all buckets. This is my 6th year or so. I am sw of Clinton just a bit sw of you. Work in Bloomington. Started out on the kitchen stove and graduated to a 2x6 in my detached gargage. I think I ended up around 7-8 gallons.

[Kev]

I didn't see this thread until this evening. I have 45 taps this year all buckets. This is my 6th year or so. I am sw of Clinton just a bit sw of you. Work in Bloomington. Started out on the kitchen stove and graduated to a 2x6 in my detached gargage. I think I ended up around 7-8 gallons.
ah sweet!
and a 2x6 even LOL you must be planning on adding more :D.
I used to do pipline maintanance for the company that had 2 piplines that were rerouted for clinton lake. I allways drooled over all the maples off to the side of the rightofway. but at 30 plus miles one way...
I what model of 2x6? I would love to look at it sometime. maybe even exchange a taste or two of syrup

[hickoryhill]

Where are the other sugar makers?
I am in Saybrook il in central Il.
I see there are 3 listed

I am in Hamilton.Il. west central IL.

[katmike]

It's a custom made 2x6 that I had a guy make. Not the most efficient thing but it does the job I guess. Don't know how many more years it will hold up. I did actually have a Leader Half-Pint that sits unused now. The reason I had a 2x6 made was that I thought I could handle about 100 taps with mine and the neighbors, but those trees are mostly on ravines and it got too much for this 54 year old body to carry full buckets to the top and dump. That only lasted 2 years. My teenage sons could no longer help either since their HS baseball starts about the same time as maple season.

Not surprised about Clinton Lake... but Weldon Springs just west of there is loaded with maples too. No one understands how we drool over maples...

I have 10 acres that will continue to grow more and more taps. I would guess if I'm still doing this in 10 years I may have closer to 60-70, but that's about my limit.

[katmike]

Ah Hamilton...home of Dadant. One of my other hobbies.....beekeeping.

[Kev]

KatMike
suck it up the hill its easyier on you:D

[Kev]

LOL i can see an Illinois Maple Addicts Association in the future

[hickoryhill]

LOL i can see an Illinois Maple Addicts Association in the future

Made 12 gal. this year, any advice on selling it?

[Kev]

Made 12 gal. this year, any advice on selling it?

I can't sell it
Better to ask maplemounder.

although close friends and family have been known to make fuel donations on occasion.

[katmike]

Have you called it a season yet? I pulled taps about a week ago but I was wondering if the last few nights yielded much... I noticed the tapholes leaking quite a bit today. Hope I didn't quit too soon! My season total is around 11 gallons.

[Kev]

I pulled for 2 reasons 1 my soft maples were too buddy. 2 I was out of fuel oil.
Now I regret it and wish I had left the hards tapped. I have lots of concrete blocks. and a pretty fair supply of firewood...I was not about to spend more on fuel though

[maplemom]

I pulled my silver maples about 1.5 weeks ago. I have a norway maple I'm still trying to milk for syrup... it had 5 gallons of slighty icy sap waiting for me to boil at 6am this morning off it's 2 taps. And it looks like it's making a go of it today with the temps spiking up

The sap is not cloudy but I'm worried about 'buddy' sap at this point (I have no experience what exactly this is. I am assuming it will taste really nasty if it's buddy and going with it :P) Can buddy sap be clear? or does it always look dark and cloudy?

Wow inspections and all... glad we are just making as a hobby for personal use, so don't have to deal with that issue.

Edit: Flat Lander... what a great story! :P As the fire department is like 100ft (across the street) from my house, I think a little heads up might be order or they might run over to see what's burning down! :P

[Kev]

WOW
I spent a couple hours yesterday aft. down by the river.
hundreds and hundreds(over a 1000 may be a still be conservative guess) of maples 20 inchs and over. many have a smaller crown than I am used to for the diameter as they are not yard ornaments.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Saybrook,+IL&aq=1&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.839416,77.080078&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Saybrook,+McLean,+Illinois&ll=40.430452,-88.534355&spn=0.007464,0.018818&t=h&z=16
I am sure to you folks out east or up nort eh. its a speck of trees but to a flat lander in corn country..... LOL just zone out and see what I mean