Pulled my taps today

[bagpiper]

We had a frost last night, but the temps soared up to 72 F. this afternoon. I emptied my 47 buckets around 2:00 pm and had about 15 gallons, some of it milky. I dumped the sap and pulled the taps and rinsed the buckets and drop lines. This was my 1st year starting from scratch and we sure had a blast. We have only reds and only made 5 gal. but the syrup is wonderful and we had some great times with family and friends around the boiler. Sorry to see it end, but time to move on to turkey hunting, camp, fishing and then bird and deer hunting in the fall and finally the long wait for the next sugaring season! Thanks all for the great info. and education. Shooting for 10 gals. of syrup next year.

[Mitchman]

11690 That's a good first year bagpiper, we are still going for a little more, sister wants 1 1/2 gallons. Color is changing for sure. This will be our last week.

[bagpiper]

Great picture of your cooler vacuum Mitchman. One improvement I might make next year is a 20 - 25 tap gravity line with a Shurflow type pump/battery setup on the end. I'll be researching that over the ensuing months. What's inside the cooler?

[Mitchman]

O Ya, the vacuum pump, about the size of a softball, but not the shape. You can leave it out in colder temps without freezing up. The first night we left it out it went to 8 degree's, it froze. But it thawed out with the rising temps. Now we stick a drop light in and shut it up for the bad nights. No problems since that one. So it pulls it down and shoots it into the blue barrel for when your ready for it. It is a flojet pump. Hope this helps you for next year!!!

[BRL]

Mitchman it looks like you have an air line (blue line in the middle) going into the lunch box. Is it an air power diaphragm pump?? Do you have a model #?

[bagpiper]

Mitchman - what model flojet pump are you using. They have some pretty good deals on Amazon if I can get the right one?

[Mitchman]

Hi BRL, it is an air line, model # FP7040 Santo Flojet air diaphragm pump, 7gpm. I brought the main line all the way to the garage, well 20ft away, and the pancake compressor sits in the laundry room where there is power. Hope this helps !!