Near Wilton, NH

[Target30]

just thought id drop in and say hi. most of the posts seemed geared toward bigger setups. I've seen a lot of "hobby" setups with 100+ taps. i guess im in the micro hobby category! 2nd year doing this. daughter asked last year, and after finding a few trees in february, we made our first ever maple syrup. did the stove/firepit and pan thing. wasnt bad, we were a little late, so only made about 3 qt's, but she had a blast. this year, i got a barrel evaporator. i know it isn't super efficient, but has to be better than the stove! so i tapped 10 trees over the weekend. got about 2.5 gallons of sap, which i guess isnt bad for what i have. have 12 trees total now, all within 100 yards of my house. i have 6 acres, never really looked out back for other trees before, but depending on how this year goes, i may have to expand! mid to high 40's daytime and freeing overnight for a few eeks it looks like. good luck to everyone!

[eustis22]

oh, you'll expand all right.

You may now Abandon All Hope.

[Scm]

..........

[sap retreiver]

I started watching my boss, then got myself 5 buckets and made my own barrel evaporator 10-15 years ago. Now I have a 2x8 and more work than I have at work. Wouldn't change a thing. Stupid maple bug

[Target30]

so i'm lost now huh....i still go out to the bucket right by my driveway and look throughout the day. 'look, an inch of sap!" my daughter checks in the morning before school. the next couple days should be good with the weather forecast. might get to fire up the barrel this weekend for the first time.

[UB29]

In Wilton. Second year newbie. Last year 3 buckets, made a little over 1 gal. syrup for the season. Built 55gal evap over winter with two buffet pans. Tapped 20 trees two days ago on 5 gal buckets.
Came home yesterday......50 gallons of sap in one day ...YEOWWW !
Could be in big trouble. Even with my AUH bath fan, probably lucky to boil off 3-4 gal/hr

[Target30]

hey! 50 gallons is great! after spoiling the first 3 gallons i got, i burned off about 12 last week and got about a quart of syrup. kids are ecstatic! im waiting until about 20 gallons to run again. i have 10 right now, and by tomorrow i should easily have the other 10. weather looks good for the upcoming 2 weeks. only made about a half gallon last year. hoping for about 3 gallons this year. that should be enough for the kids for a year...maybe...

[EBG18T]

UB29 - 50 gallon on 20 trees in 1 day is vacuum pull territory. Good work.


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[UB29]

Yep........ The 50 gal day was great, but just a tease with that 10 yr one day high temp. Ended the week with 74 gal sap. Weekend boil was great. Fine tuned the new 55 gal. evap to about 4-1/2 gal/hr. Ended up with 1-1/2 gal. of very dark, but very tasty syrup.
Hoping for the cold nights to return though............slow week this week. Only about 40 gal. sap thru Wednesday.