Northwest PA

[Father & Son]

After driving by buckets that someone had hung for the last week and a half on my way to and from work each day, we hung half (60) of our buckets today. I washed the remaining 60 or 70 to hang tomorrow to hopefully catch Thursday's good weather. By time I was done it was dark, the temperature had dropped, and I could barely stand up on the sheet of ice I had created 8O . The smart thing would have been to wash the buckets a couple of weeks ago when it was in the sixties but no I had to wait till now :!: But look at it this way, if I did everything when I was supposed to, there would be nothing to do tomorrow or the next day :wink:
Jim

[tappin&sappin]

Hey Jim. I'm up in Cambridge Springs. I hung half of my buckets (10, ha, ha!) in the evening on Feb 13th. Collected 16 gallons and boiled this past Sunday. Way too cold, had a rough time keeping a boil (homemade arch and leader half pint pans).

I hear what your saying, if only I had taken care of some of my maintenance and planning when it was warm!

-Jake

[Sugarmaker]

Jake,
Glad to see you are making some syrup! Sounds like you found some pans great! You can have just as much fun (work) with 20 taps as 2000.

Cheryl and I hung 400 buckets today in the Albion Area. What a beautiful day for tapping!! I know we are only going to get one run, then it will be cold for several days but we are getting closer and we will be ready for that March 1 run. This is the latest that I have tapped in the last 5 years.

Hey Jim (father and son) those splies that I got from you worked well. I really need to convert to health spiles (5/16 soon). I had to enlarge 14 buckets when I ran out of the old cast spiles and had to finish with the tin splies.
We will gather late as possible Thursday afternoon. Not sure if I will boil or hold the sap. (right know my feet are killing me!
We may boil Friday night(??) Every ones welcome to stop by. I usually don't hold the sap, but the weather is going to be cold enough for it to keep. And at least one sugar maker that hasn't taped in Springboro would like to stop over. We never get to see others boil when we are all doing this at the same time. (I enjoy going to see others make syrup and be a spectator)


Chris

[Father & Son]

Chris,
The tree savers (5/16) worked real nice. Finished with the trees on our property today. Gives us right at 100 taps within about 100 yards of the sugar house. Hope to put up some tubing for next year to eliminate gathering time. Now I have to find some 5 gallon buckets to tap some roadside trees people offered me. Never a dull moment :D
Jim

[sweetwoodmaple]

Just finished putting all my lines up yesterday. Too bad now I'm down with the cold/flu. At least I got that done.

I am hoping to tap on Saturday if it goes above freezing.

This is by far the latest that I've tapped as well. I hope March goes out like a lion too and doesn't warm up too quick.

[Father & Son]

Brian,
Looks by the weather that you should have at least a week to get over the cold/flu :( . Accuweather is showing cold from Friday till the 5th of March. Hope you're over it by then :D .
Jim

[tappin&sappin]

Hey Chris. Yes I bought a setup from and Amishman down in Atlantic about 3 weeks ago.

Yes it was a great day yesterday and it doesn't look too shabby out there today either!

I'll see whats going on Friday night and if your going to boil, I might make the trip up. The only person I've ever watched boil is Janet, so it would be nice to see someone elses operation.

Jake

[Father & Son]

Jake,
Did you get much of a run yesterday? The most any of our buckets had was 2 inches at best, didn't even collect. :( It looked like it didn't start flowing till 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Hopefully enough today to maybe boil tonight. Hoping for the best :!:
Jim

[sweetwoodmaple]

Jim,

We had 18 degrees the night before last, so that makes the sap run late in the day at best unless it hits 50 degrees.

You should be having a good day today (good for you, bad for me) as it didn't freeze very hard last night.

Brian

[tappin&sappin]

Jim,

Wednesday I didn't have much at all. Probably only about 2-3 inches in all my buckets. Thursday was better. I had a few buckets that were half full. I gathered because I don't need much to fire up the half pint.

I'm guessing the current temps are going to put an end to the running for a while.

- Jake

[Father & Son]

Jake,
Sorry I didn't get back sooner. Thursday ran pretty well collected about 200 gal and pulled an all nighter. Had Friday off. got to bed about 6:00. Made about 1 1/2 gallon and was ready to draw off again but ran out of sap. That was the plan, with the cold temps coming wantd to boil everything. Didn't was to freeze and crack any tanks or plastic fittings. Figured I'm boiling arond 25 gallons an hour. Old rig, no hood, not real efficient.
Jim

[sweetwoodmaple]

Tapped about 350 in 5 hours including some slight repairs. My son (6 years old) helped spray the taps before each hole. Sap was running like Crazy at 50 deg F at 12 noon! The Weather Channel really missed the high temp for today. Anyway, it gave my lines a good flushing.

My son and I drank from a cut line on a newly tubed section. Sure did taste good.

Ordered one of them fancy tapping bits (from Canada, not Bascom's cause I had to order caps for left over french jugs).

Broke off in the 4th hole. :evil: :evil:

Went back to the trusty Jobber bit for the
other 300 taps. No problems.

Get the vacuum hooked up tomorrow and .... wait until the next warm spell.

[maplehound]

My lasted 150 taps then broke off. Dad is looking for a screw extractor so we can pull it out. I won't buy another one again. Had to finish with my trusty old titanium bit,
Ron

[Parker]

I broke one by dropping the drill and another by drilling a dead rock maple for an anchor bolt,,they are very fast but pretty fragile

[sweetwoodmaple]

Yeah, as I look at this bit...It definately helps to have all the extra air space between the flutes so the wood chips have a place to go. My Jobber drill bit tends to load up and stop drilling.

The problem is...all that space leaves very little room for metal in the cross section. Plus, the pitch (number of turns per inch) is high, so the resultant cutting power on the flutes would be high and the hole will be smoother as well.. I think these bits are mainly designed for battery powered drills. My Echo gas tapper (largest one they make unfortunately) doesn't lack for torque, so I don't really need this type of bit.

Finally, the bit that I purchased had flats cut on the shank. "great" I said at first since my drill has a keyless chuck and needs tightened pretty hard to hold the bit without slipping. The problem is...my drill is powerful and can easliy make a normal bit slip if it hits something hard. With the flats on the shank, it would easily twist the drill off. I need the smoother shank bits, that's for sure.

Anyway, Lesson learned (for $13, of course).

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Are you guys that are breaking bits tapping on high speed. :?: 8O I never tap on anything but low speed and I have never broken a bit in 12+ years. 8O

[Sugarmaker]

Not bit breakage problems for me with the little Tanaka tapper and a good 7/16 bit. But I did drill into a metal object and dull the bit. I was able to resharpen and we were back in business soon.

We gathered 580 gallons (at 2.8%) on Thursday late, and boiled Friday night with a sugarhouse full of folks. Had a great time and made about 10 gallons of ultra light syrup. We had three other sugar makers supervising the boiling. I may have learned some things!

Any sap out there is frozen solid. Pans are all drained and scrubbed ready for the next run. Looks Like March 1.

Chris

[Father & Son]

Brandon,
I spent the money on one of those fancy bits (5/16) from Bascom's and I think it's great. It said right on the package to run it on high speed on a battery operated drill. So far so good :D

[tappin&sappin]

Jim,

No worries about the late reply. I only check the site during the day m-f, as I only have dial-up at home. It did run nice on Thursday. I haven't boiled yet though. Trying to wait for a warmer day to do it. My evap is in a big area and it doesn't warm up at all, which makes it difficult to keep a boil. Thinking about trying to throw together a shack of some kind this weekend. Not sure, depends on weather... I store my sap in an old chest freezer. I keep the freezer turned off and it keeps my sap nice and cool and it doesn't freeze. 25 gal/hr? I would love that rate. I'm at about 5 gal/hr. :)

[sweetwoodmaple]

Who knows, I might have hit something solid in the 4th tree and that was the reason I broke the bit.

Regardless, I don't use a battery operated drill, so I don't have to conserve. Heck, I only used a little over one tank of fuel for 350 taps.
:D

As they say, if it aint broke, don't fix it. A standard new drill bit works fine, so that's what I'm using.

Just pitty the logger some day that finds that bit. Just hope it isn't me tapping some season in the future! 8O

Brian

[Sugarmaker]

Got a email from local sugarmaker Jan Woods,
She tapped 800-900 taps on Jan 28 , boiled 8 times and made 160 gallons of syrup. I think that is pretty good for the weather we been having!

Chris

[sweetwoodmaple]

In the end, she may come up the winner for our area. The later in March we go, the more likely to have no freezing nights.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Early bird gets the worm 8)

[sweetwoodmaple]

...as long as it doesn't freeze while you are eating it... :lol:

[Sugarmaker]

Looking at the weather forecast! Better get lots of rest, put in for some vacation, and plan to be in the sugarhouse by mid week. The warm temps and rain in the forecast will make a great combination for syrup making.

Just made two batches of Maple coated peanuts today, about 40, 4 oz. bags. These will be for the open house in two weeks and one less thing to do when we get busy making syrup.

Saturday I canned some fancy syrup in glass and had to run to the hardware to get some plastic quarts. The 8 gallons will allow us to be somewhat ready for Tour and Taste Weekend. Hoping for 200 plus visitors March 18 and 19.

Our south facing taps were wet today. Any buckets in the sun ran about a quart to a half gallon. We chose not to gather, it was just to late in the evening and the temps are going to keep the sap chilled. We will try to gather before Wed. just to get things cleaned up, probably only 100 gallons of sap?

The 10- 5 gallon buckets of sap that I drained from the evaporator on Feb 26 are frozen solid. And the evaporator is cleaned and ready for the restart.

Tis what we been waitin for!
Chris

[sweetwoodmaple]

You know what they say, there can be too much of a good thing... :wink:

Those warm temps will come with not freezing nights, and a few degrees warmer down in my neck of the woods. Could spell the end of the season if it lasts too long. Especially with not much frost in the ground.

Had just a dribble of sap yesterday, and only about 50 gallons today. My vacuum system is driving me crazy. It's become an obsession. My neighbors must think I'm nuts when I put my ear to each tap. My sone helped me find several leaks, so he's getting into it as well. Can only get 12-13" of vac, but that is good enough for this year. All my ladders (4 of them) work ok.

It was 15 degrees at the sugarhouse this morning. Even at 40 degrees and clouds/sun, that took too long for the trees to really get going. The north side of the trees still had ice and snow.

Got the flashing up in the sugarhouse so I hopefully won't burn the place down. The pump line is fully up from my tanks to the 700 gallon holding tank above the evaporator.

Just have one more brace on the holding tanks, plus some MAJOR tool cleanup and tank cleaning and I'll be ready to boil.

Now, I just need some sap!

[tappin&sappin]

Yeah the warm weather is on it's way. And no complaints from me either. Yesterday I made 5 (pints) of syrup. And it took me all day! :lol: Everything is cleaned up and waiting for a good run...

- Jake

[Sugarmaker]

Well I decided to gather and check all the buckets. I was right on the money with the 100 gallons of sap estimate. Several south facing buckets were half full while north or shaded buckets were bone dry. Seemed like a lot of work till I checked the sugar content. It was 4%!
I got the sap off the truck at 7:00 and had a bite to eat, then decided to get the sap boiled. I emptied the ice from the 10 buckets of drained sap setting near the evaporator, and refilled the evaporator and started the fire at 8:20, by 9:20 we had 2 gallons of syrup (It was nearly ready from last boil) and had the 100 gallons of new 4% sap in the evaporator.

Should be ready for the runs coming Wed. Not sure if it will run tomorrow?

Hope everyone is having fun!
Chris

[sweetwoodmaple]

Great sugar content. You wouldn't need to tap so many if you always had 4%!

Only touched 39 degrees briefly in the afternoon. Only kept the sap ladders mildly busy for an hour or two, otherwise only one ladder was needed due to slow flow.

I collected 185 gallons from 350 taps today. 2 to 2.1% sugar. My trees are in a swamp, so they don't tend to go very high, plus I have about 50 soft maple taps. I don't have my 20 taps up in the yard done yet on buckets, maybe tomorrow.

Took 55 gallons to fill the evaporator. Boiled the other 130 gallons in two hours including startup.

I must say, only two hours was nice...my 2 x 6 would have been twice that and more. Granted, the boiling rate will go down some when I don't have all fresh sap.

Good luck all.

[Father & Son]

Checked my buckets yesterday and at best maybe a gallon most with only a quart or so :( . Still had a chunck of ice in most of them. Left everything in place hopefully to get a little more ice to have some to keep the sap in the tanks cool when I gather today. Wednesday supposed to be a good run with the temps warming up. I have Thursday and Friday off so this might fall right into place to get it all boiled off :D . With what the temps are supposed to do this weekend (mid 60's) I don't want anything left in the tanks. Picked up 10 or 12 roadside 2 tap trees that I will tap this evening. Good luck and I hope everyone is ready :D .
Let the good times roll :!:
Jim

[tappin&sappin]

I'm in the same boat with you Jim. I barely had more than a quart in my buckets too.

Chris and Brian... I think it's crazy that you guys can boil that much sap in such a short amount of time!

I can't wait for the sap to start running tomorrow. Might be a couple long nights.

Happy Sappin :!:

Jake

[OneLegJohn]

What are the chances the incoming warm-up that is coming ends the sap flow? Looks like another cold front coming around the 15th of March. Not ideal conditons for running this year. Maybe the weather channel is wrong.... I'm kind of concerned about a one-run-and-done type year.

[Father & Son]

OLJ,
I'm hoping like you the warm up doesn't bud things out :cry: . We'll just have to wait and see.
Jim

[sweetwoodmaple]

Just pray for colder nights, that will help the buds. Definately will be the end for soft maples if the forcast holds as is.

Brian

[Father & Son]

Brian,
Sounds like you have been really hustling trying to get things set up. How's it going? Are you ready?

[sweetwoodmaple]

I boiled, so i'm ready enough I guess. Junk and tools are everywhere, but I can't help it at this point.

Stopped home at lunch, should be a good day for sap today.

[Sugarmaker]

Brian, (SWM)
How do you like the new rig? Have you been able to run at the rate you expected yet? I know you have had a lot of set up work this year.
Take a deep breath and get ready for some serious sap.
Would like to get down and see your operation some time.
Call me some night when your boiling, We have a phone in the sugarhouse, sometimes I can even talk and boil at the same time.
Good Luck,
Chris

[emericksmaple]

I wouldn't worry about the red buds yet. Today my dad cut down a soft maple in the front of our house whichs gets alot of sun and it was still frozen inside. The tree was only bout 12". We got a good run today. I collected 4200gal of sap today. After tonight we will have over 700gal made and all of it will be fancy.

[sweetwoodmaple]

Chris,

Boiled 180 gallons in 2-1/2 hours tonight including startup. My old rig had insulating brick instead of clay, so I was up and running faster. Takes those 250 fire brick almost 1 hour to really get hopping.

So, during full burn, I believe 90 gph is approximately where I'm at. This makes sense since D&G states 3 gph per square foot with 7" flues. My old 2 x 6 rig could do 40 gph at the start of the season, then dropping back to 35 gph or so with sweet pans.

Helps to mix kiln dried 1 x 6 oak planks with my normal seasoned wood. Makes an light orange to bright white fire. Sounds like a freight train when at full boil, which is a good thing. :twisted:

It isn't much fun this year having the steam hoods. No more sauna!

Yes, it would be nice for you to stop by, except when sap is flowing so well. The next two days should really loosen things up. Plus, they relaxed their long range forcast a little so it isn't so warm.

Matt - Looks like you tapped at the perfect time this year. Did you get all that just today? Guess you have to keep up that celebrity status some how. :wink:

Brian

[Sugarmaker]

Jake,
Give us a call and stop by. Bring you sap if you need to.
Brian,
Sounds like you rig is performing well. Yea that freight train sound! AH AH
Chris

[emericksmaple]

Yep the 4100 was for one day. Today it was 3800. this is the 4th day in a row that we have gathered. I will be gald for a break. I hope you all have good ones this weekend!!

[sweetwoodmaple]

Thanks, Matt.

Vacuum is pulling an all nighter. Ground around here is just starting to thaw, which is really loosening up the trees. With 40 overnight and mid 50's tomorrow, yikes...

Brian

[tappin&sappin]

Thanks for the invite Chris. I will definetely make it up to your place. Probably won't be this weekend though w/ the run we should get. Looks like about 4-5 days of decent temps. I didn't have any in my buckets last night, but tonight should be a different story.

Matt... 4100gal? 3800gal?? WOW!!

[Father & Son]

We collected last night just to get the buckets emptied for today, it netted us maybe 40 gallon :( . I just checked a few of my buckets at noon and they are all at 1/2 to 3/4 full except one that had alot of moths in it (they must have been really thirsty :lol: ). Should be in the sugar house tonight and most of tomorrow. Chase is off school tomorrow so this works out great :D .
Chris Casbohm & Jake - - - Hope all your buckets are full :!: .
Chris, If you get a minute tonight give me a call on the cell.
Jim

[Dave Y]

Jim, I wouldn't complain about 40 gal off 62 buckets. thats not a bad ratio.
I emptied 425 last nite and got maybe 80 gal if i was lucky. added that to the 100 I got monday and boiled enough to sugar the pans. Largest run for me this year is 180. so i wouldn't mind1/2 gal per tap. It would give me some thing to do. Have fun!!!

[Father & Son]

Dave Y,
What is the temperature in Marienville today. Linesville was 48 at 10:00 and is now 55 and sprinkling. I'm hoping to collect 300+ today. That should keep us busy for a while :D . School bus should be here in about 45 minutes and we'll start gathering.
Hope yor buckets are full tonight. The fun has begun :!:
Jim

[sweetwoodmaple]

Just checked at 3pm, and I have 700 gallons plus withing the last 24 hours. Probably get another 200 or so before the night's up.

Got to get this boiled asap as it is 60 degrees. Looks like an all nighter.

Katie Bar the Door and pass the Pepsi....

[tappin&sappin]

Well, I'm leaving work, heading to the chiropractor and then going home. From the way you guys have been talking, I should have some sap to look forward too.

Happy collecting/boiling :!:

Jake

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Brian,

Way to go. Wish I could get up and help you for a couple of days but maybe next year. :D

[Father & Son]

Gathered about 275 gallons of sap. Had one devil of a time getting a good boil :( . Don't know if it was the wood or the weather :? . Going to put another section of pipe on my stack tomorrow to see if more draft will change things. I had a Board of Directors meeting at the firehall tonight so Chase had the whole operation to himself. He did great. I left at 7:30 and when I got back at 8:45 he had drawn off about a gallon and everything was just fine. Now there's 2 sugarmakers in this brand new adventure. What a blast this is :D .
Chris, just missed your call. How was the concert?
Jim

[Dave Y]

Temps In the forest yesterday was about 57 deg. colected about 260gal. the sugars where running about 1 gal a tap some where over flowing. my reds where barely leakin. but I think that has to do with the frost in the ground. started the fire around 6:30 and shut down at 10: 30 drew off about 3 gal. fire flyin out the top of the stack had them old pans a rockin.
what a blast.

[tappin&sappin]

I got about 20 gallons yesterday from my 20 buckets. All sugars. So I'd say I'm getting about the same rate per tap as you are Dave.

I was able to put all my sap in a chest freezer and put it on the lowest setting to keep the sap cool. So it should be fine until I boil tonight.

Jim, great to hear your son has already learned the ropes.

Jake

[Dave Y]

Jake,
Sap has a longer shelf life than you may think. as long as it is not in the sun alot it will keep a couple of days with out hurting it. The big thing is everyone wants to make light syrup. In order to do that your sap needs to be fresh. however I have made light syrup w/two day old sap. the important thing is that your syrup has good flavor and you are have fun.

[tappin&sappin]

I agree with you Dave. Last year I only boiled on the weekends and would even keep my sap for a week before I boiled it. Of course, I did produce a darker product, but it still tastes great to me :!: I always store it out of the sun, so I don't worry about it too much.

Your exactly right. I am having a lot of fun. Next year I think I'm going to shoot for 100 buckets and try to find a 2x6 evaporator. Suprised? :o :lol: :wink:

Jake

[sweetwoodmaple]

Well, ended up collecting 900 gallons and got it all in the evaporator between 6:30pm yesterday and 5 am this morning. Mountainvan - don't know how you did it boiling for so many hours. I am beat! Plus, the power went out due to wind at 4 am (glad I wasn't on oil :wink: ).

Would have been done a little earlier, but I had to slow down because of niter in the front partition. Still managed about 70 gph going slow. Also messed up my gradient by the front partition being higher due to foaming up. I still have a lot of sweet as a result, so I only drew off about 13 gallons of syrup.

Like others have commented, some of the light syrup that I have every made. Very little niter, so it filtered well. Plus, I have a used roll around flat tank with a fiter screen (16" x 36" x 10" deep). Works great since there is so much surface area, really beats bag filters. Syrup was crystal clear, but not much niter to begin with.

[Dave Y]

Jake,
I am not suprised at all. I started w/ 10 taps and a24x24 flat pan, 2 seasons later I'm at 425 taps and a 30"x 10' and 6 full cord of hard maple firewood. It is addicting.

Brian,
Sounds like you got your vacuum working. I bet you are going to have too much fun!

[Backyarder]

Jake,

I did that boiling on the weekend thing this year up until this week. Weather from when I tapped (2/12) up to this week basically allowed me to boil only on the weekends, sap kept nicely all week and still I was getting all light syrup.

I would have done the same this week, but the sap was flowing so fast Sunday-Thursday and the temps were forcasted so high on Thursday-Saturday (low to upper 60s) that I was worried about sap spoilage. I boiled down Monday and Tuesday's collection (about 120 gallons) on Wednesday, and will be boiling down Wednesday and Thursday's collections (another 120 gallons) starting tonight - with the temps I'm guessing these batchs will be dark.

Based on my limited experience now (5 years), my sap stored in the big blue 60-gallon plastic food-grade barrels kept in a cool location outside will keep without significant deterioration for: a week with highs in the low 40s; about 4-5 days with highs in the low 50s; and about 2-3 days if highs get into the 60s (if I don't add any frozen sap to keep it chilled). Of course, I also rinse my barrels between runs to try and keep the bacteria load down as the season progresses.

Looks like my season is over this week, as we won't have any sap-producing temps again until late next week. I think total production will be about normal for me (that's a little over 10 gallons on 45 or so taps)

Chip

46 Taps (all sugars, 50/50 woods and roadside trees)
Claysville, PA

[Russell Lampron]

Jake, I'm not surprised either. I started on a gas grill with 28 taps in 2001. Now I have a 2x6 evaporator, an RO machine and over 500 taps. This is an addicting habit and when I'm out walking in the woods I'm always looking for more tapable trees.

Russ

[GregMVT]

Jake, I'm not surprised either. I started on a gas grill with 28 taps in 2001. Now I have a 2x6 evaporator, an RO machine and over 500 taps. This is an addicting habit and when I'm out walking in the woods I'm always looking for more tapable trees.

Russ

Russ,

You sound like the Tim Taylor of sugaring but instead of "more power" your mantra would be MORE TAPS!!!!, but I do the same thing :lol:

Greg

[Russell Lampron]

More taps means more syrup to sell to pay for all the equipment I have bought.

Russ

[Beth]

Hi guys! I'm a newbie to this site (just found it recently) and have a couple of dumb questions. This is my second year with a fancy 2x6 Lightning, after years of flat pans, and am unsure about how to finish off a partial batch. The weather has been lousy up here in Bradford (too cold, then too warm, no in-between), and so have had only two mediocre runs, and expect no more until late next week (too cold again!). I need to finish this batch.

I've heard that you can flood the flue pans with water and 'push' the partially concentrated sap ahead, and into the syup pan, and finish it there. Any suggestions?

Also, I have a sap hydrometer, in Brix, calibrated for 38 degrees. For both runs, I got an average Brix reading of 6.0. Is that POSSIBLE??? The sap seems very sweet, and seems to be alot closer to syrup alot faster in the front pan than last year. Using the rule of 86, it comes out to 13.3 gallons of sap per gallon of syrup. Crazy. Once I finish the whole batch, I'll have a better idea, anyway. Last year the same hydrometer was running about 2.0 to 2.3.

Thanks! Happy boiling!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Beth,

You could drain the back pan and fill it with water and add it to the front section as needed. Guess you could push it thru with water, but it would have to dilute the back and mix some and I wouldn't recommend it. :?

[Sugarmaker]

Guys,
Sounds like every one is having fun this maple season,
Jake you are off to a great start. Boil it when you can and enjoy the results. Some of the best syrup I ever made was a black as your hat.

Jim Great that Chase is now officially a sugarmaker!! He is sharp and really understands most of the details of wood firing and making syrup.
Did you get that extra stack up? Hopefully it drew better.

Dave Y, How is that pick up tank working?

We have had folks at the sugar house just about every night we been boiling. It has been great. And I have the best wife on the planet. Cheryl has been helping gather everyday.

Just a few stats:
Tapped 2-23-06 415 buckets
Buckets shot through with 44 cal = 1
Leaking buckets = 1
Taps pulled due to poor tree = 3
Number of times dumping ice =1
Gallons of sap gathered = 2230
Avg sap % = 2 (approx)
Gallons of light syrup = 27
Gallons of med syrup = 24

We have some pictures of the syrup sample display rack and bottles on the web site.

Tired in Albion,
Regards,
Chris

[Dave Y]

Chris,
Sounds like your are having a great time. The pickup tank is working out great. I have filled it completly only once though. I boiled 400 gal sat. made 11.5 gal of light amber. I got 40 gal hr evaporation out of that old antique. Had a ball.

[tappin&sappin]

Hey everybody. Glad to hear your all making syrup. I boiled down 40 gallons on Saturday. Only got 5 pints??? Does that make sense? Thought I would have closer to a gallon. I think I need to get a hydrometer.

I basically just boil until I run out of sap, and then I drain off what is in the pan, bring it up to abou 217 on a turkey fryer and then finish it in the kitchen. I wonder if I'm boiling it too long...

Oh well, lots of fun. Looks like it might be a while before the next run. Supposed to get cold again. Time will tell.

Chris, what do you suppose the guy w/ the 44 cal was hunting? Grey squirrels :?: :wink:

Jake

[brookledge]

Jake
Most of the time syrup will be around 219 (7 degrees over the boiling point of water) so I don't think you over cooked it. The boiling point of water changes as the barometer changes. With 40 gallons of 1.4% sap it would make about 5 pints of syrup.
Keith

[Russell Lampron]

Beth I do what Brandon does, I empty the flue pan and fill it water then add the sap from the flue pan to front pan alittle at a time. This helps clean the flue pan at the same time. Did your sap hydrometer get bumped so that the paper inside moved to give you a false reading?

Russ

[Father & Son]

We have boiled seven times now and drawn off 16 gallons of light amber. Went out today and dumped the minimal amount in the buckets that was there from Sunday and Monday when it was sooooooo warm. Going to take the next week to clean the pans and tanks to get ready for the next run. Also going to try to get my blower hooked up. Tried just blowing it in the draft door Sunday and had that little old evaporator boiling harder than I had ever seen.
Hey Chris, What's everyone going to do for this weekend if it stays cold?
Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
We are going to have one of the best open house Tour and Tastes events ever. If you and Chase get a chance stop by. If I wasnt involved, I would go tour all the sugarhouses in Northwest PA tour. This is a great event! I just dont get to go! :? :( :lol: We have a blast visting with folks that stop by. We will have boy scouts on Sat. and girl scouts on Sunday.

Monday we gathered 200 gallons of cloudy sap that we will boil in slow motion Sat and Sunday. Should make some nice darkA or B Which I need some for mustard and nuts.

Jim, Sounds like that blower will do the trick. Dumping those buckets will be good for this next run. You should go right back to light. Next week looks great. Is Linesville known for their light syrup? You better take some of that to the guy you bought the rig from and show him you can make syrup with the best of them!

Brian SWM you out there????? How is that 3x 10 boiling?

Remember run her wide open. If our rig was a locomotive it would have a heck of a time staying on the track in the curves. Hey a steam whistle blast would be nice to wake the neighbors at each draw off!

Chris

[sweetwoodmaple]

Boiling ok, except My sugar content is not that good. My trees have good access to water, so I'm only at slightly less than 30 gallons of syrup with 1400 gallons of sap collected.

Did the same water trick with my pans, though it is a pain and waste of wood. Have to clean the fronts with some lemon juice and I'm ready to go again.

got that vac pump running now. Sap looked clear at lunch time when I was home.
:D
Brian

[sweetwoodmaple]

Decent run today, got about 250+ gallons of sap. Only slightly cloudy sap, but can't boil until tomorrow.

Figured I have only gather 26 gallons of syrup, 18 of which was very light amber. That puts my sugar content at 1.6-1.7%. Unfortunately, this is typical for my operation and trees.

With my marathon boil the other night, my grade only changed from light to medium despite 70 degree temps. I also dumped about 100 gallons of sap on Monday bacause I couldn't boil for 4 days due to a business trip and it was 70 degrees.

Good luck all.

[tappin&sappin]

I think yesterday was about the best run I have had this season. I had a lot of buckets half full, and the rest were about 1/3 full. Today may be more of the same. Looks like it is supposed to be sunny out all day. All of my trees are on the north edge of a hayfield, so they get sun almost all day.

I might not be able to boil until Sunday though, because I'm going to be helping Jan Woods on Saturday for Maple Weekend and then I have to go out of town Saturday night.

Brian, I think that is about all the sugar content I am getting from my sap too. Which I don't really understand, because I thought my trees were all sugar maples. :?:

[Dave Y]

Jake,
all maples have sugar content in the sap. Sugars a supposed to be higher than the others. However som time reds can be highe. it all depends on your soil. most of the sap i have been collecting this year is aroound 2.5 even with about 40% of them being reds. Have fun boiling!

[sweetwoodmaple]

...the other thing is accurate measurement of gallons of sap.

Sounds dumb, but it makes a difference.

[Sugarmaker]

Well first day of the maple Tour and Taste was a success. About 150 folks visited the sugarhouse and we tried something different. I boiled some light syrup to 232 and handed each visitor a small portion in a bowl with a spoon as they entered. This "Sugar Stir" went over very well. I used about 2 gallons of syrup but most folks had never stirred syrup to make into cream then candy. Sales were good and looking forward to a good turn out tomorrow. We have the evaporator plus about 40 gallons on sap to boil then we may have to finish with water?

Sugar content still holding at 2% but the grade went to B then back up to Dark.

Regards,
Chris

[Sugarmaker]

F&S,
How you guys doing? Still making that Linesville ultra light syrup? Looking forward to this next few runs to finish the season.
Chris

[Father & Son]

Hey Chris,
Sounds like the weekend went well for you :!: Haven't had much time the last week, good thing the temps were cold. Terri went to Connecticut for a week, her mom had to have surgery, so things have been a little hectic around here. We boiled on Sunday and we also had a few visitors to the sugar house. Our grade just went to medium with what we made Sunday. Three of the people that stopped in were from about a mile and a half away that are just starting out boiling in the driveway on homemade rigs. They were very interested in seeing our setup and it looks like the bug has bit them. I told them about this site and gave them one of the extra catalogs I had. Today I'm going to add that section to the stack, hook up the blower, and clean the tanks. Next few days look real good. I also need to find some 5 gallon containers to bulk package the next few days because I have different size syrup jugs all over the kitchen. Hope this cold weather gave you a chance to get caught up and rested.

Jim

[sweetwoodmaple]

Chris - good to talk with you the other evening. Sounds like you are about ready for the season to end. Can't imagine trying to empty that many buckets. :wink:

Boiled about 350 gallons today, another 50 in the woods tank since things just seem to keep running. Strange day today, had some visitors to the sugarhouse in the afternoon, and while they were here we had 1" of snow! Sap took forever to run as it was a little breezy and mid 30's temps.

Just passed 2500 gallons total. Syrup is back at light/medium again and sap is almost clear.

Looks like next week could be the end if we get 60's. I am hoping for another 1000 gallons of sap before quitting for the season.

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
That extra stack height wont hurt. How is the blower working? Hope your wife's mother is OK. Sounds like you are setting the standards in the Linesville are! Nice job!! Your sugarhouse is very nice. and you and chase can be proud to show any one. Glad to hear their are some new potential sugar makers in the area.

SWM,
Brian,
Cheryl and I have been doing most of the gathering and it give us some "quality" time together. This coming week looks great hope you reach you goal of syrup production for the year.

We just reached the 4,000 gallon mark for sap and are near 90 gallons of syrup. We have gone from Albion ultra light to grade "C" and back to ultra light. Cleaning out the evaporator several times and scrubbing the tanks helped along with the cold weather. Now I think that is a first, I have never seen that in all my years of making syrup. Usually its tough to get the grade back to light at the "end" of the season.

We gathered Thursday 100 gal. Friday 180 gal., Sat. 335 gal and will gather today in about a hour. Couple more good runs and we may be done.

Regards,
Chris

Chris

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Chris,

What is your sugar content running and what kind of gph are you getting on the evaporator??

[Father & Son]

Chris,
The blower is working good but I can't run it very hard because it blows ashes and sparks out between the doors. I have to find some way to seal it up better. Collected about 110 gallon on Friday and made about three gallons of very light medium (if there is such a description). Today collected about 290 gallons and boiled about 100 gallons of it. I'm off tomorrow and Tuesday. Sap back to crystal clear again and the sugar content is about 2.3%. Only boiling about 25-30 gph. Depends on if I'm paying attention and fireing every 8-10 minutes. Maybe time to look for something bigger :D
Jim

[sweetwoodmaple]

Looks like a "boil'em if you got em" week here in Western PA. If the weather people are even close to accurate, it is curtains for the season.

Just curious to see how much I can suck out of the trees before those buds swell.

I would like another 600 gallons of sap, we'll see...

Matt - how you doing? Done yet?

[Sugarmaker]

Brandon,
Sugar content is still over 2% Was 2.1% last night on 700 gallons of sap. We are running at 90-100 GPH. That's all I can get out of this rig. I left 200 gallons of night in the tank outside. And will start boiling that about 9:30 this morning. It is already 40 + degrees and will run like crazy today.
I assume you are all done? What were the WV results? I have been to busy to keep up with the Trader news!

Jim,
Your are correct this is some of the best sap (clear) that I have seen near the end of a season. Did you have the ash blowing out with the higher stack? Also maybe the blower is a little to strong? You could try dampering it back? I also get some wood ash flying around.
We made some of that very light medium also. It is though to grade it medium, but it will darken after canning.

Well, I have a bad cold and Cheryl and I boiled till midnight last night.
We will gather and pull the taps today. I expect a 600 gallon run today.
The syrup was lighter than fancy last night and we made 11 gallons in about 5 hours.
Our wood supply is almost gone and we are burning some of the wood for the house for next year. :(

Jake,
You out there? How is that half pint working? You should be up to your ears in sap?
There is a small evaporator for sale near me but it may not be much bigger than you have now It is a 2 x 4 Vermont style. English tin pan (one pan with partitions. if interested call Mr. Jack Duda 352-596-1722 (Florida)

Everyone have a great Day!
Chris

[tappin&sappin]

Hey guys. Yeah, I'm here. Haven't had a chance to check the trader lately. Glad to hear all is well and your making light syrup.

I have 40 gallons waiting to boil and I imagine today will bring at least that much more. Which means I'm either going to have a lot of late nights boiling this week, or I'm going to have to cart some sap to someone w/ a bigger rig. Will have to decide tonight when I see how much more I get.

Good luck guys!

Jake

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Chris,

That is a pretty good rate out of that rig in my opinion. Sure did a wonderful job restoring it. I always enjoy the pics on your website and looked at the new ones last night! :D

Looks like I am going to be somewhere around 75 gallons. I hope to take off 1/2 on Thurs and finish off everything. :)

[emericksmaple]

Brian,
We are going to finish up tom night. Till i gather everything in we will prob get only around 1000 gals. We are ready to quit though. We have had a good one in the southern end of the county.

[sweetwoodmaple]

Matt- I finished up tonight as well.

The sun and warmth started to turn the sap slightly yellow towards the end of today. Time to quit.

Finished up with 3200 gallons on 335 taps drilled on Feb 25th. Missed about 3 runs at the beginning of the season cause I wasn't ready to tap (setting up all that equipment). Figured I'd have about 4000 gallons if I tapped when I wanted to (mid Feb).

Anyone else in PA still collecting?

[Father & Son]

Chris,
I have the blower on a dimmer switch, so I can adjust it to where it works ok. It must be alot hotter because my stack changed color last night. It's not shiney anymore. Didn't get red but everything is alot hotter :!: I gathered 200 gallons yesterday and it was cloudy this morning. Was going to pull the taps today but everything was running so good and clear I hated to, so, if it is still running tomorrow I will collect and boil that. If it's not running I will pull the taps and boil the cloudy stuff and bulk pack some dark syrup for peanuts and stuff later on. Tomorrow will tell. Still making the light medium. My wood situation is ok because I had another cord+ dropped off Friday. Temperature is supposed to be in the 60's next couple of days, that should about shut the trees down for this year :( I'm off this weekend maybe I'll take a run up Saturday if we're all done.

Sweetwood Maple,
Hey Brian, how much more wood did your new rig burn compared to the 2 x 6 you replaced?

Jim

[sweetwoodmaple]

Jim - keep gathering, man. As long as you can. Just be careful of buddy sap. Try the boil test before dumping into the evaporator (smell the steam). It may still be medium or dark amber, but have a buddy flavor too.

From my rough calculations, my new rig is more efficient that my 2 x 6. Stack temps are slightly less, which probably means more heat being used up. Still have about 1-1/2 cords of firewood left.

Brian

[tappin&sappin]

I was going to ask you guys when to pull the taps :?: I have so much sap to boil, I'm not sure how I'm going to do it. Last night I boiled and went through about 25 gallons. Of course I collected and got 20 gal, so my supply didn't really change. Planning on boiling everynight I can and the weekend if I have to. I have to say, the half pint has been just about perfectly matched for 20 taps until these latest runs. Of course, I imagine it would be about the same scenario with 100 taps and a 2x6 :?

My sap still looks clear, so I figured it was okay to keep gathering it. Hate to pull the taps if it's still good.

As for the blower. I have a fan that I tried using, but it seems like it was just blowing the flames away from the pan, so I stopped using it.

Jake

[Sugarmaker]

Jim (F&S),
You welcome to come over any time. This weekend is the Asbury Wood Maple display we are going to try to go, but not sure what day. NWPA maple associaton is trying to support there efforts in promoting maple.

If you got the stack to change color then something is working better. I found 100 times more ashes when burning the chunck wood compared to the pallets. With the pallets I get almost no ashes in the fire box.

Jake, Asbury woods might take any extra sap that you have???? (814-835-5356) Their sap was looking a little cloudy when we stopped there yesterday. Any good run on the right sized evaporator usually means extended boiling time.

Brandon, seems you are running quite a bit later than I expected. Glad to see your still at it. Thanks for the comments on the web site. We took some new pictures and will try to get them on the site within the next week or so. If you are at the 75 gallon mark then it sounds like your season was good!

Im sure we could have gotten several more runs. It frosted last night and must be 50 now at noon.
Took me 8 hours to boil in and finish 400 gallons of sap last night. ( I had some bigger wood chunks, which burned slower, then finished the last 3 gallon while boiling water in the rest of the evaporator. (finished boiling at midnight). Made 10 gallons of nice medium, then dark on the last batch.

For the year we gathered 5300 gallons on 415 taps and made somewhere around 130 gallons. or about .30 gallons per tap. I am pleased with the season. We gathered 13 days with the biggest run of 826 gal and the lowest of 100 gal. Sap sugar content did not drop below 2%.

I saved 50 gallons of condensate that I am going to put in the evaporator to clean it. Has any one had success with this?

Glad its done, Now to start gathering wood for next year.

Regards,
Chris

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Chris,

Pretty amazing, I collected around 4100 gallons and am only going to be at aprox 75 gallons compared to your ratio. :?

[sweetwoodmaple]

Yes, Brandon, but imagine emptying 400 buckets to get that extra syrup vs. pipeline! :wink:

I didn't tap all the large crown maples in my back yard this year. The ones I did tap ran 2-2.6% sugar, which was much higher than the rest. I think Chris has access to these type of trees, which really make a difference. I don't own the land, so I can't thin at will to get the relief to the trees. :cry:

Hats off to Chris, but I'll take my lower ratio and pipeline/vacuum/sap ladders. All I had to do for my 900 gallon run is make sure the releaser and vacuum pump were working. My job will not allow for me to do buckets.

Jake - I see a larger evap in your future! :lol: just think of the extra taps!

[Father & Son]

Just a short note. Just walked in the door. Boiled off the last 200 gallons and made close to 6 gallons of syrup, still medium. Most of the taps are pulled a few still to do tomorrow, oh I mean today. I'm going to bed. I have to be up at 4:00 to be to work at 5:00. Yikes it late 8O
Jim

[tappin&sappin]

Jim, hope you make it through the day considering your sleep deprivation. Yeah Brian, I think a larger evaporator is in my future, along with more taps. I think I would like to go to a 2x6 and about 75-100 taps. We will see, might have to bribe the wife to get there though :wink:

I boiled the last 2 nights and went through about 50 gallons so far and made about 3/4 of a gallon. Which is the most I've ever made in one shot. I've got about 40 more gallons to go through and whatever I gather tonight (if it looks okay). I'm also going to pull all of my taps tonight (yep, all 20 of em) :!:

Talked to Jan Woods last night. She said she is at 271 gallons of syrup so far. And she may be able to boil one more time, probably on Friday.

Hey Chris, you mentioned you burn pallet wood. Where do you get that wood? Do they have any extra? I think that is what I would like to burn for next year. I might have to start making the rounds to the local pallet companies and saw mills to see what I can ge my hands on. 8)

[mapleman3]

Look around trucking companies.. warehouses, food stores, factorys, and other places.. they are always looking to get rid of pallets that are broken or used... If I wanted to go through the work I could heat my house with free pallets.. they just don't have a long burn time..

[sweetwoodmaple]

What I want to get my hands on is what I burnt this year (from the producer that I bought my equipment).

1 x 6 oak (#4 quality) Kiln dried. He bought a 4 x 4 x 8' tightly packed bundle for $40. Stuff burns like gasoline.

Any ideas anyone? I have to start asking around.

Weird, though. If I go this way, I would want to buy the wood as close to sugaring season as possible. Opposite of what people usually do with wood (get it early so it will dry).

[Jim Brown]

Well just got home from a business trip and my son has run the rig for four days .He made about 12 gallon of nice med and we have 200 gallon of clear sap for today. Froze last night here (29)should get another good run today The buds are just about open but the sap is not bitter and the sugar is holding at 2 percent . Will run till it stops! Making hay while the sun shines!!!!

[sweetwoodmaple]

Jim - Just be careful to monitor the sap as it runs today.

With so much sun, no frost in the ground and warm temps, the buddy sap will be here any day now.

Yes, the sap may be fairly clear, but when it get's a slight yellow or green tint, boil some up in a small pot and test before adding to the evaporator.

Glad to hear you are getting one more day of run!

[Sugarmaker]

Jim (F&S),
Get some sleep man. I feel like sleeping for a week. This bucket thing is really killing Cheryl, (I set home and play on the maple trader while she gathers) Just joking, but she definitely carries her share of the gathering work.
I am considering some 25 gallon barrels and gravity tubing between two trees any one doing something like this? This might cut down some of the lifting and sap moving with buckets? It would take up a lot of storage space for the barrels at the end of the season. have a concept but looking for ideas.

Wish I would have taken a picture of the truck on the last day of gathering we had 325 gallons of sap and 200 buckets in the bed. The old girl was kind of sacked out.
We really seemed to have to keep right on the buckets as you guys know. Sap setting in buckets on warm days is not good for the grade.
Several other sugarmakers in the area have pulled their taps 3-27 or 3-28.

Jim B. Sounds like you are still at it. Great! I thought there was a couple of good runs here also as it frosted one night.

Jake,
I believe your hooked. That bigger evaporator will look good under the Christmas tree the year. I will see Jan at Asbury this weekend. You going up? Jake I get most of my pallets at a building supply place near Erie. They don't have a lot and more and more folks are looking for free wood. As suggested check several locations and keep your eyes open. I was getting some at a beer and pop warehouse. Then they started recycling them and someone bought the rest for refurbishing. Also I would not recommend burning these in the house (we tried it and it was way too hot).

Brandon,
These road side maples really hold up well, but we travel about 30 miles each time we gather. Also I am going to drop some low producing trees and try to pick up some new ones. Kind of like the marines looking for a few good maples.

What is it with certain taps in certain trees that seem to consistently over flow the buckets and run 4 times as fast as a tap 1 foot away? Anyone know of a way to scope the tree for the best vain of sap flow? kind of lie witching a well.

Brian,
I agree that the tubing is the way to Go for labor savings!

All you guys help keep me, and each other, going through the season! Have a great Spring! Now to begin looking at the bees.

Regards,
CEC

[tappin&sappin]

Well, I pulled all of my taps last night and dumped what was in the buckets from yesterdays run, as it had a yellowish tint to it. Tonight I am going to finish boiling the sap that I have had stored in my chest freezer and then that will be the end for me also.

I wanted to ask you guys about your clean-up process... By that I mean, when and how do you clean your buckets/spiles/holding tanks etc?

I agree with Chris, this site and you guys are very helpful.

Time to get ready for spring gobbler :!: :D

[Father & Son]

Jake,
The buckets I let air dry then just stack and store. They will get washed with 20% bleach and water then rinsed next Jan or Feb before they get hung. The tanks will get rinsed and cleaned with bleach and water when I do the buckets. The spiles I will brush with bleach and water then boil for a few minutes air dry and they will be ready for next year.

Chris,
I've been getting 55 gallon plastic juice drums off a guy in Saegertown for $8 or $10 bucks apiece. I'm also looking into some 275 gallon cage tanks to set up for pumping stations. Brian Montgomery gave me a place to check on them in Sommerset. Could take the trailer down and bring a bunch home if there is more than just a couple wanted. Would make the trip alittle more cost effective. Got some sleep last night after I finished pulling taps and taking the tank out of my truck. I need to finish off what is is the syrup pan tonight before it sits too long. I think I'll do it on the turkey fryer.

Jim

[tappin&sappin]

Ok Jim, thanks. I will do the same thing with my equipment.

Someone at work told me the other day that you can get 55 gallon plastic juice drums from Welches in Northeast for 3 bucks a piece :!: :?:

I work at GE, so I'm not far from Northeast. I'll look into it and if it is true I can go over there sometime and get a bunch of them for you guys if your interested. As I would like to get some also.

[Father & Son]

Jake,
I'd be interested in more. Let me know if you'll need a trailer. Can't go wrong for that price :D .

Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Jake,
On the buckets I wash them now and stack apart, to let them air dry, then they are ready to go in the spring. I hate washing 400 + buckets! But that's what you need to do. Either clean them now or like Jim, just before you get ready in the spring. I still use the Clorox at a 20:1 ratio (twenty parts water 1 Clorox) I actually use less than that, and double rinse and sometimes can still smell some Clorox in the buckets the next year). All the tanks get scrubbed with mild Clorox solution and This year i am soaking the pans with Condensate water to see if that removes the scale. If not I will use acid next spring to clean them.
Chris

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

To me, its easier to clean them now when it's warm then when it's cold. If you clean then and turn them upside down for a couple of days, they will dry themselves and you're ready to tap when spring comes! :)

[Jim Brown]

Thanks for the tip Brian! the Fat lady finally sang today and we pulled tapps and finished the day with 5 gallons of 'B' and the finisher is cleaned and hung up. Only need to clean the rig. I heard about some one using CLR to clean the rig . any one have any info if so what is the procedure?
Thanks
Jim

[sweetwoodmaple]

Well, since I'm done tapping, I attended the PA maple festival today.

It just so happened that while standing at the parade, I spotted a local celebrity.

http://www.sweetwoodmaple.com/images/Mattparade2006.jpg

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Jim,

Vinegar works great as I just cleaned mine a couple of days ago. I used 4 gallon in my 2x8. Maybe a little overkill, but I heated it up and let it boil about 20 minutes and nearly everything boiled right off! :D

[tappin&sappin]

Guys, thanks for the ideas on cleaning the equipment. I took all my stuff to the power wash and hosed them out real good first. Now I'll try the 20:1 clorox solution on my buckets and storage containers.

Jim, I will try to get out to Northeast one of these days. Maybe this week? I'll load up as many as I can in the back of my truck. I'm sure I'll be able to get rid of them for 3 bucks a piece.

Jake

[Dave Y]

It sounds Like all of you fellas in the NW have called it a season. I am debating on wheter or not to collect this next run. Last week I collected close to 2000 gal of sap and made 53 gal of syrup. 15 light, 10gal med, 25gal dark and 8 gal B. total of 88 for the season.I boiled for 72hrs this past week. With27 hr boil on sat and sunday. I am going to retire the old grimm as I literaly boiled the guts out of it. I am working on getting an other rig for next year.

Chris, your 210 tank was a real blessing as it alowed for more sap to be colected at once and was easy to unload with my little 12v pump.

Brian, that canner I got off of you worked out very well also. it doubled as a finisher. I finished my syrup as it came off the evaporator. I would like to thank you all for you advise. Hope everyone has a good season selling the fruits of your labor. Take care

[Sugarmaker]

Dave, You had a great year! Now to marketing all this syrup!

Jake your note reminded me that I met a sugarmaker yesterday at the car wash cleaning his equipnment. Looked like a half pint pan and small preheater and a 50 callon leg tank. He was looking for some more buckets, and methods to clean pans, so when I get to talk to him again I will suggest the trader web site to him also.
Chris