Things I learned in 2011

[steve J]

Arch board really makes a defference in the evaporator and your ability to stand near it

A properly layed out gravity system will out perform your buckets mine proved it this year and thank you to all you maple traders who gave me information oh how to do it.

I am too old to be hauling from my remaining 50 buckets so I will be tubing at lease 40 of those this summer.

If I run my blower on high I am going to melt the stack down. I need to solve this problem by next season. Its been suggested here that a damper low in the stack may solve problem. But its my elbow that is turning cherry red not sure how that is suppose to solve that problem.

I learn that 200 taps with a 2x4 with blower is great on days when sap is running slower but on days that are picture perfect for sugaring occur it is a mis match of the worst possible proportions. Thus I think a still larger evaporator and a larger sugar house are somewere in my future but not for 2012.

It was a great year and again I thank everyone here who took time to answer so many questions I asked last summer and fall.

[xyz5150]

Is your 2x4 a flat pan? I was wondering how you could do 200 taps on a 2x4. I work 60 hrs a week and 93 taps almost killed me on a 2x4 wse set that with my best wood/weather day did 22gph and averaged about 18gph. The last 3 days i collected my taps averaged about 2.5 gal per tap per day. That was to much for me when i have only 12 hrs to collect, boil, oh and sleep. Sleep is over rated anyway my answer to my problem a bigger evaporator and a few more taps like i said sleep is over rated.

[3rdgen.maple]

I learned yet once again for like the 10th season not to run out of wood cause after the good stuff is gone you will be miserable till its over.

[Russell Lampron]

Steve you want to put the damper on the blower not in the stack. You can either put one between the blower and arch or partly cover the inlets to the blower. I put one between the blower and arch and have it adjusted so that I fire the evaporator without turning off the blower.

[sapman]

How difficult or possible would it be to put a rheostat on the fan? That's what I used to have on mine.

[steve J]

The evaporator is a flat pan with two dividers and I do have a speed control on it although it was a 3 speed control and I think if I change it toa variable that I could run it with a little more speed with out melting stack so that is on the to do list.

[steve J]

Oh I need to add to list of things learned I to ran out of wood and was forced to dump nearly 200 gallons of sap this last weekend and yes I felt like crap over that. But understand my old tubing set up di so poorly I had absolutly no confidence that the new set up would be any better but I was proven wrong and I am happy that I was .

[Russell Lampron]

How difficult or possible would it be to put a rheostat on the fan? That's what I used to have on mine.

Tim blower motors heat up and burn out if you put a rheostat in. The motors don't like the reduced voltage. That's why it is better to use a damper to control the air flow and let the blower have all of the voltage.

[Brent]

Russ is correct. The motor will overheat if you put a rheostat on it. BUT if it is or you get a shaded pole motor, they are made to run with a rheostat. Leader sells blower kits with Dayton blowers and rehostats that have shaded pole motors.

The biggest issue is that the heat you are making is too much for the flat pan. The heat cannot be absorbed through the limited surface area of the flat bottom pan. The same size pan with flues would absorb more heat and the stack temp would go down accordingly.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I learned that free help from friends aint always free. That the more bells and whistles you have to keep track of your equipment during operation the farther down the road the problems will acure:emb: That ROs are antisocial.

[heus]

I learned: sugaring has its ups and downs. Last year terrible sugaring weather. This year, absolutely wonderful extended weather for sugaring. Feb. 13th to April 3rd for me. Next year??

[Brent]

If Haynes learned that ROs are anitsocial, try firing up the blower for a SteamAway. Next year it gets the boot ... outside. The RO is quiet compared to that beast.

PS learned not to get a hernia while stumbling through the bush getting the taps in.

[PapaSmiff]

If you want your wife to encourage your maple habit, give some syrup to her father - who couldn't believe I made it in my backyard.
Never, Never, Never boil four pots on the kitchen stove, without a vent, for five hours. The kitchen walls will bleed.
Some people have no idea what real maple syrup is.
Most people, that know what real maple syrup is but don't make the stuff, like Medium or Dark. Save the Light Amber for candy production and the Chief Syrup Maker.
A single turkey fryer cannot keep up with 8 taps in a good year.
Not everyone wants to listen to me talk about making maple syrup.

[ennismaple]

If something is a critical component of the operation it will break down when the tanks are full of sap. The odds of this happening are exponentially higher on Friday afternoons when replacement parts can only be obtained from another state/province by Monday!

[RileySugarbush]

If you think you know what your are doing, you are wrong.

[PerryW]

If you think you know what your are doing, you are wrong.

And,

If you think you can predict what the trees are going to do, you are wrong.

[Big_Eddy]

You can stand and watch the evaporator for 6 hours straight without incident, but when you slip outside for 30 secs the syrup will jump right out of the pan.

[red maples]

During maple open house and your giving the tour for the 100th time and you think you know what your talking about...watch out for the science guy who tries to stump you with every question he can think of!!!:rolleyes:

[sap retreiver]

Buckets + Hill + 3' of snow = Wet pants and a few choice words, untill you hear the buckets, ting ting ting

[tomslusher]

If you think you know what your are doing, you are wrong.

Hahaha,

I got a guy I work with who seems to know everything, just ask him. He tried cooking sap for the first time this year and after his first quart of sap cooked (yeah, I said sap) he told me that he had it all figured out. He told me next year he was gonna start early, like around the middle of Feb. This is in Minnesota when it is plenty frozen then, but he is convinced the sap will run, even if it is well below freezing.

Also,around the middle of March when I was first starting, I was told that the trees were budding and the sap was bitter. I was surprised all my trees were dead because I couldn't find a bud anywhere. You wouldn't think a dead tree would still produce sap, but it appears mine still did.

And the best observation he had was that the "old-timers" didn't have a clue. He was gonna go off his own internet research. I mean, the old guys who have been doing this for 50 years or more, what can they know? Those **** old-timers, what do they know????

It takes all kinds to make the world go 'round, doesn't it??

tomslusher

[GramaCindy]

Hahaha,

I got a guy I work with who seems to know everything, just ask him. He tried cooking sap for the first time this year and after his first quart of sap cooked (yeah, I said sap) he told me that he had it all figured out. He told me next year he was gonna start early, like around the middle of Feb. This is in Minnesota when it is plenty frozen then, but he is convinced the sap will run, even if it is well below freezing.

Also,around the middle of March when I was first starting, I was told that the trees were budding and the sap was bitter. I was surprised all my trees were dead because I couldn't find a bud anywhere. You wouldn't think a dead tree would still produce sap, but it appears mine still did.

And the best observation he had was that the "old-timers" didn't have a clue. He was gonna go off his own internet research. I mean, the old guys who have been doing this for 50 years or more, what can they know? Those **** old-timers, what do they know????

It takes all kinds to make the world go 'round, doesn't it??

tomslusher

Hey Tom, I think I know this guy~ just kidding. We all know someone like this. Makes life funny doesn't it?

[Ausable]

Hahaha,

I got a guy I work with who seems to know everything, just ask him. He tried cooking sap for the first time this year and after his first quart of sap cooked (yeah, I said sap) he told me that he had it all figured out. He told me next year he was gonna start early, like around the middle of Feb. This is in Minnesota when it is plenty frozen then, but he is convinced the sap will run, even if it is well below freezing.

Also,around the middle of March when I was first starting, I was told that the trees were budding and the sap was bitter. I was surprised all my trees were dead because I couldn't find a bud anywhere. You wouldn't think a dead tree would still produce sap, but it appears mine still did.

And the best observation he had was that the "old-timers" didn't have a clue. He was gonna go off his own internet research. I mean, the old guys who have been doing this for 50 years or more, what can they know? Those **** old-timers, what do they know????

It takes all kinds to make the world go 'round, doesn't it??

tomslusher

Tom --- lol --- Ya got me thinking a little bit and that always gets me in trouble. I know of a guy like that and he is now our President ... ahhhh - but that is another story and off topic. However - once i awhile - the Almighty intervenes and these self assured arrogant dudes come up with something brilliant...... But -- that is just once in awhile.... Mike

[Ausable]

Something I learned once more -- Is that - if all else fails - read the instructions. Syrup Hydrometers are great - if used right. I learned that floating above the red line ain't always syrup -- sometimes it is so thick it will not pour out of the bottle - but just sits in the bottle all hard with an attitude. --- Mike