New Guy Here

[Ken18621]

Greetings from Northeast Pa. I am as green as it gets when it comes to making syrup so here is a little background on me.......... I always tried to keep my nose clean and walk the straight and narrow, which was going fine until last summer when a family member talked me into making syrup. He told me to "just try putting a few taps in" ,and "all the cool kids are doing it" and " Hey, If you don't like it then you can just walk away from it". So in the fall the wife and I went to our other property and marked about 20 or 30 nice maples with ribbon .1300413005

I then went online and ordered me up a dozen taps, sap saks, hydrometer, filters and tapping bit. Well we got a bit of a warm spell a week ago and decided to tap one of the trees at my house to see if it was running yet. An hour later I had all 12 taps in and was more excited than a teenager getting their first kiss watching the sap collecting in the bags. In the few days that the sap ran before the freeze we collected about 22 gallons of sap and I decided to do my first boil. It started out with a single turkey fryer with a bad regulator and before it was over I was using three turkey fryers to boil and a fire pit to preheat the sap. when there was about 2 gallons of concentrate I took it into the house to finish off on the stove.

When it was all said and done , It took almost 12 hours to produce the 3 and a half pints of the best ( in my eyes) nectar that even God would be proud of.

I don't know how or when it happened , weather it was the buttery smell of the concentrated sap boiling or the sweet maple flavor of my first taste of finished product, but I believe that I am hooked.

Is there some sort of medicine , therapy, or weekly meetings that can help me break the urges? The wife is starting to look at me like I have three eyes when I started talking about evaporator pans, arches, reverse osmosis, ect.

Did I mention that I was instructed by my wife to " Keep it simple"? :lol:

Anyways, Thank you for inviting me into the group.

Ken

[optionguru]

We all recognize the symptoms. Welcome to the madness. Do you have any idea how much you would like to grow, or how many trees you may have to tap? These questions will greatly steer the decision making process about arch and pan sizes.

Welcome.

[billyinvt]

It's important to note that the addiction is progressive. It rarely stabilizes or goes into remission. You won't be halfway through your first boil an a brand new rig before the thought to up-size enters your mind. Never mind the endless possibilities for tinkering.

[stewardsdairy]

My little hobby is now up to about 2500 taps. You may want to seek therapy soon before it gets out of control.

[spud]

It's too late for therapy. There is nothing anyone can do to help. My little dream is now up to 9000 taps and there is no turning back. A little 2x4 evaporator would make a real nice Valentine gift for your wife. Tell her you are just trying to save the paint on the kitchen ceiling.:lol:

Spud

[WI Sugarpop]

FYI here is a thread from last season about how you act when you're addicted. It's funny but true.


http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?25463-You-know-you-re-a-maple-addict-when....

[Ken18621]

So I a guess that I'm not alone. Less that 3 hours into my first boil I started doing the math that a 2x2 pan would more than quadruple what a single pot on a turkey fryer would do. Then I got sticker shock when I looked up the prices of one. Perhaps I'll limp through this year with using the turkey fryers until I can find a used pan. My guess is that there are at least 100 + trees on our other property that are tap worthy.

I never had intentions of selling any, and still don't. But now it kind of eats at me when I look at the untapped trees and think of all the syrup that could have been.

[TerryEspo]

Yes, Ken,,,,,,,you got the bug,,,,life will never be the same, in a good way, welcome aboard.

Good luck with all you do.

Terry

[newmod]

Enjoy your new addiction!

[eustis22]

well, the general progression is turkey fryer --> steam pans on a cinder block arch --> flat pan on an oil tank stove --> 2X4 flue pan on a welded arch with pre heater and steam hood, AOF/AUF and float box.

yep..you're pretty much screwed now.

[maple75]

So I a guess that I'm not alone. Less that 3 hours into my first boil I started doing the math that a 2x2 pan would more than quadruple what a single pot on a turkey fryer would do. Then I got sticker shock when I looked up the prices of one. Perhaps I'll limp through this year with using the turkey fryers until I can find a used pan. My guess is that there are at least 100 + trees on our other property that are tap worthy.

I never had intentions of selling any, and still don't. But now it kind of eats at me when I look at the untapped trees and think of all the syrup that could have been.


I just got hooked last year, started with turkey fryer and moved to open fire then stole the wood furnace out of my garage to make an arch (all in the first day).
The most fun I have had was coming up with the most functional evaporator I could while spending as little as possible. A fun challenge!

Soon you will also start having dreams of the 6x18 Chinook Evap on page 58 of the 2016 CDL catalogue!!

Enjoy and don't forget your wife's wisdom...keep it simple!

[Super Sapper]

Soon instead of finding time to fit in making maple you will be looking at how to fit the rest of your life around making syrup.

[WI Sugarpop]

That happens all the time. Someone in our family will schedule something in March and I will say "Sorry but I probably won't be there. It's MAPLE season!!!!!!!!

[Ghs57]

I woke up in the middle of the night a few days ago thinking "what the hell are you doing, and why?". Then the panic set in that I won't have everything ready to go in time. I've been working on my shack and equipment non stop for for what seems like months. This has to be some kind of disorder or syndrome.

There is a bit of relief around May 1 when the thrill of the season has faded and life has returned to something more normal.

[Galena]

FYI here is a thread from last season about how you act when you're addicted. It's funny but true.


http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?25463-You-know-you-re-a-maple-addict-when....

Hey, I started that thread! And was just reading through it again to remind myself of the start of the craziness and chaos, just 2-3 weeks away now...

[Ken18621]

Well, With 3 small batches finished so far yielding 9 pints using turkey fryers I have already begun the process of upgrading. I was able to score a modified wood stove with the top cut out with a 2x3 ss pan with a draw off from craigs list yesterday. 13385 This disease is progressing faster than I expected. :lol:

[Galena]

LOL that is precisely what I plan to try, a friend has an old castiron woodstove and I want to try and make some smokey syrup so that should help :-)

[Jolly Acres Farm]

Greetings from Northeast Pa. I am as green as it gets when it comes to making syrup so here is a little background on me.......... I always tried to keep my nose clean and walk the straight and narrow, which was going fine until last summer when a family member talked me into making syrup. He told me to "just try putting a few taps in" ,and "all the cool kids are doing it" and " Hey, If you don't like it then you can just walk away from it". So in the fall the wife and I went to our other property and marked about 20 or 30 nice maples with ribbon .1300413005

I then went online and ordered me up a dozen taps, sap saks, hydrometer, filters and tapping bit. Well we got a bit of a warm spell a week ago and decided to tap one of the trees at my house to see if it was running yet. An hour later I had all 12 taps in and was more excited than a teenager getting their first kiss watching the sap collecting in the bags. In the few days that the sap ran before the freeze we collected about 22 gallons of sap and I decided to do my first boil. It started out with a single turkey fryer with a bad regulator and before it was over I was using three turkey fryers to boil and a fire pit to preheat the sap. when there was about 2 gallons of concentrate I took it into the house to finish off on the stove.

When it was all said and done , It took almost 12 hours to produce the 3 and a half pints of the best ( in my eyes) nectar that even God would be proud of.

I don't know how or when it happened , weather it was the buttery smell of the concentrated sap boiling or the sweet maple flavor of my first taste of finished product, but I believe that I am hooked.

Is there some sort of medicine , therapy, or weekly meetings that can help me break the urges? The wife is starting to look at me like I have three eyes when I started talking about evaporator pans, arches, reverse osmosis, ect.

Did I mention that I was instructed by my wife to " Keep it simple"? :lol:

Anyways, Thank you for inviting me into the group.

Ken

Ken, Welcome to the MAPLE ADDICTION! I was the same way last year, wife also said "keep it simple". You would think that after 20 years she would have known better. Well this year I have a sugar shack and evaporator. I think the only cure for "our addiction" is the sweat golden amber nectar that only Maples can provide. Good luck and have fun.

[Snappyssweets]

Hi my name is Bruce I am a Maple Addict.

It doesn't help me pick up women, It makes my hunting dog frustrated when I yell at it to sit at every tree. It interferes with my friends desires to do things, My kids dislike helping haul the buckets. Yet I am still more interested in making syrup and eating maple then I am pretty much anything else. Yup I am an Addict.

on the plus side, I am never without something sweet to nibble on and always ready if someone says French Toast, Blueberry pancakes or other item I can use maple on. Like Ice Cream, homemade BBQ sauce. Sausage, Bacon, come to think of it ah never mind. You all know this already too. :P

[annabanana]

My husband started 2 years ago when our daughter came back from a trip to Canada with a tap and a jar of maple syrup for him. Being a "McGiver" of sorts that is all it took for my husband to figure out how to do this himself! 3 trees to 14, From kitchen stove to boiling on fire pit, to turkey fryer, to oil tank stove, makeshift lean-to and three pans! He has gotten a gallon so far!(Smokey taste tho.... I am not a fan of that, we have got to figure how to preserve the maple taste) Its all he talks about, everywhere we go, every conversation we have has something to do with syrup!! At least the season doesn't last long, altho with this warm weather this year, it started earlier!

[Run Forest Run!]

Welcome Ken! Your first post was hysterical. Thanks for that, and enjoy your first of many sugaring seasons. :D

[saphound]

Welcome Ken,
I like that stove and pan you picked up..let us know how it works for you. Maybe I'll buy it off you next year when you upgrade again, ha.

[Cedar Eater]

Some of us respond a little differently. I like to cobble things together out of re-purposed junk, so I made a wood fired frankenboiler from an old washer and dryer. Then I saw an electric evaporator that another guy built and I built one of my own from an old kitchen sink and then another one from a buffet pan. I'm test boiling with the electrified buffet pan right now. My next major project is to build a firewood drying shed that will double as a sugar shack, but before that, I'm going to experiment with 3/16" tubing and natural vacuum. I was out walking my hardwoods today to plan tubing lines. But I'm retired and not interested in selling syrup. So I'm thinking of selling excess sap to hobby boilers who don't have trees.

[Galena]

I don't sell my syrup either, I give most of it away to friends/family/clients. And it's also useful thank-you gift...this past summer I had a flat tire in my driveway. I was able to do everything except get the lugnuts loose. Looked around for help and the neighbour's brother was visiting. Big strong guy, so I ran over, said hi, explained my dilemma, asked his wife permission to borrow him:lol: He came over and even he had some trouble getting the nuts loose, but he did that and put on the spare for me too. So when they continued on their journey back home to Alberta, they got a litre of syrup!! Usually though it's more like 250 or 500mls.::)

Oh and Cedar Eater, a couple years ago there was a sap buyer lurking around. I think he was looking for sap in the 100s of litres though.

[Cedar Eater]

Oh and Cedar Eater, a couple years ago there was a sap buyer lurking around. I think he was looking for sap in the 100s of litres though.

I figure people might be interested in boiling 40 litres down to about 1. I might max them out at 160 litres per season, but not all at once unless I have more excess than I have reservations for. This is just something to feed into the hobby market, like growing pickling cukes for people who want to make their own pickles. I'm trying to determine if there are laws regulating this kind of "produce" in Michigan.

[40to1]

The first step in recovery is recognizing that you have a problem.
But why would you want to return to your former non-sugarmaker self?

Embrace the madness!

[Z/MAN]

Ken you will love that little rig compared to the turkey fryer!

[Sugarmaker]

Ken,
Welcome! The folks here are mostly enablers when it comes to the problem of making maple. I might be one of the worst?
(note the name and the number of posts too:) ) Having been making syrup for about 55 years cant seem to shake it! I do wish you the best. Its a good time to get into the hobby easy to get quality products to make good syrup.
Regards,
Chris

[sluggish]

Yup that's how it happens. Initially my wife said she wanted to make her own syrup and I was against it, simply because I knew I would end up doing all the work as she almost never follows through on her projects, and I can't start something and not finish it. Well I was 100% correct as she never even once emptied a bucket and I ended up completely taking over. (Pretty sure she planned this as she knows how I am). Now here I am with nearly every tree on my property tapped, running lines, upgrading my stove and planning to build a shack, now that I have most of the materials collected. For me the best part is that initial moment when the steam takes on the delicious maple buttery smell. Takes me back to being a kid and visiting my uncles sugar shack. Now I can share those memories with my daughter, and even though it's a pile of work, I still find myself in the backyard spending hours on end watching steam and burning wood, 1/2 annoyed that my wife ever suggested the idea, and 1/2 thankful that she did. Hope you have a great season, and welcome.

[Mini_Maple_Men]

Hi, my names Lee and I'm a maple addict! The addiction started when my 10 year old asked if I remembered how to make syrup and if I did could we try it? That was three years a go. We now have almost every device for sugaring known to man, a son who is as big a junkie as I am ( just caught him looking at maple porn and drooling over a new RO) and a wife who claims she is a maple widow! Welcome to the addiction and make sure you give your wife the checkbook so you aren't broke come May..

[highlandcattle]

We bought this property about 20 years ago. Needed it for our livestock and didn't get around to sugaring for awhile. Have about a 15 acre sugarbush. Started with a friend and a few taps and some milk jugs,plastic buckets. The guys rigged an old evaporator together and took turns boiling because they worked different hours. Outside in horrible weather. They had both sugared growing up. Our friend decided he would rather watch. Or sleep or not do much. So...I was just as bad at instigating this entire matter. We went on tours,we found oh my,dealers with places chock full of all sorts of shiny neat stuff. I didn't know what anything was, but it looked real neat. We boiled on an old box stove with restaurant pans. Ugh. We bought a half pint. Cute, fun,too small. We have maples,lots of maples, more taps,buckets,hydrometers,scoops,thermometers, more buckets,containers...everyone loved the syrup, couldn't make enough. OK, back to addictive evil dealer "friend" more shiny stuff,don't look at prices just blindly grab stuff...dealers know weakness of addicts... A used 2'x4'. More taps,more buckets more stuff... Back to evil dealer to sell syrup and "socialize" at syrup buying day..yeah OK, got carried away listening to salesman showing us a beautiful 2'x8' with all sorts of neat things,so much stainless steel...the check I wrote kind of just happened...too many buckets,not enough time. Pipeline,vacuum. Releasers, filter presses,tanks. Extend the sap house. So now we're retired and pretty much have the hang of this and down sized to a Mason 2'x4', but Ron found more trees, so ....its better to admit you're an addict and not fight it, much healthier for all concerned. You'll be OK, but broke...

[Ken18621]

Thanks for the warm welcome (and laughs) everyone. It is nice to see the comrodary and information sharing that goes on here. To be honest, my new hobby surly would have been a big failure without the knowledge posted from the fine folks on these boards. So a humble thank you is in order.

With that said, today I finished my fourth boil ...In total I have 7 pints so far with about 40 hours boiling, $100 in propane, plus my start up cost......gave away half of it already... lol. But there is a special kind of pride that I feel when they tell me how great the syrup tasted, especially when my buddy told me " Your syrup tastes just like maple syrup". I replied "Well, that's what I was shooting for".:lol:

[Galena]

....But there is a special kind of pride that I feel when they tell me how great the syrup tasted, especially when my buddy told me " Your syrup tastes just like maple syrup". I replied "Well, that's what I was shooting for".:lol:

BWAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAA!!! You just made my evening :-) And yes we are a diverse and happy bunch of maple-addicted misfits here, for the glorious 2-3 months that this site and our taps run hot. Feel free to ask questions and of course, enjoy the madness!