Cleaned Up

[backyardsugarer]

Pulled the taps wed. and cleaned up today. Very little sap wed. and what there was in the buckets was about a 50/50 ant to sap mixture. Finished up what was in the pans and then flooded them with water and vinegar. In about a month she should be nice and clean. Good luck to all of you hanging on for one more run.

Chris

[mapleman3]

feels nice when everyting is cleaned up eh? I'll know that feeling by .. um.. JUNE 8O too many soccer games Boy scouts and cub scouts.. ect things to do :?

[Dropflue]

Collected the last run on Thursday, with 60 gallons of sap. Sap at 1.9%. The sap was surprisingly fresh with no stale odors. The taps are now dry this morning. I’ll the drain the flue pan on Saturday, and boil it in the syrup pan. I should be able to draw off another 2-3 gallons. Made over 30 gallons of syrup this year. The romance of making syrup is over for this year, now the dark side: Cleaning, washing, scrubbing, more cleaning, washing, etc.

[backyardsugarer]

It sure does feel good. I made about 25 gallons of syrup (Half what I should make) Some of the big producers around here have only made 1/2 to 1/3 of what they normally do. I talked with one guy that made only 200 gallons off 1,600 taps. Usually he makes from 400-600 gallons. He said that he will barely pay the bills with this years crop. I feel bad for all the people that count on this for income :cry:

Chris

[mapleman3]

Really starting to wonder what sugaring will be like in 20 years.... will it be down to 2 weeks only?? maybe the tree huggers are actually right with the Glogal warming :?: 8O :oops:

[Fred Henderson]

I pulled my taps today also. Buckets and covers are all cleaned an put away for next year. The acid is in the syrup pan an in the morning I will drain, neturalize it and do a little more light cleaning and I'm done. 60 gals total, only 37 last year and 85 the year before that. Not a very good average for 300+ taps.

[Tube-tamer II]

Chris: You said you leave a vinegar solution in your pans for a couple of weeks. What does your solution consist of? Apple cider vinegar or clear vinegar? Do you add water and at what ratio? Do you neutralize it when done with baking soda or something else? You said the pans would be sparkling, so please let us all know. Thanks.

[backyardsugarer]

I put one bottle of vinegar in and fill the pans about to the top. In about 1 more week I will drain the pans and fill them with water and some baking soda and let it set of a day or 2 then drain it. After that I use pure water to flush it out a couple more times. The pans come nice and clean that way. Sure beats scrubbing everything down.

Chris

[Johnny Cuervo]

Pulled taps on Sunday. This year I made 16 Gallons from 58 taps, was a darker year. Part of the reason is that I boiled larger batches, boiling longer does make darker syrup. One boil ended in 3 gallons of B grade, the next day same sap + one day older made med grade just doing one gallon. I might put dividers in my pan for next year; I will post questions in the evaporator section. All suggestions are welcome.

Thanks