You tube postings of maple

[highlandcattle]

Has anyone seen some of the really strange you tube postings of people making syrup? People have their hands in the sap,using all kinds of dirty old containers,dogs and cats drinking out of the sap and syrup,etc. Lots of misinformation because they "heard"from someone how they made syrup or saw postings from others not knowing what they were doing. Some are pretty funny,others not so. Using old t shirts to filter? Yuck,gag. Food product folks. I guess as long as you keep it for yourself doesn't matter. At least some people are trying to get back to connecting with where are food actually comes from. With this forum there is a wealth of information. The members here have been such a help and inspiration over the years.

[Cedar Eater]

I have seen some of the videos and participated in several of the Facebook groups geared to hobby producers. These groups need experienced hobby producers with patience to set the newbies straight and not kill their enthusiasm while doing it.

[maple flats]

You can get good information from U-tube videos, but you need to be savy enough to sort out the ones that are way off base. My guess is that less than 50% are good enough to learn from unless you want to learn the wrong way to do it.
That being said, I don't think any by bigger producers give much bad advice. You need to realize, everyone with a video camera, even if it's just their phone can be an expert on u-tube.
Years ago I heard 2 definitions of an expert, 1 is a has been, drip under pressure, the other is anyone more than 50 miles away from home. On u-tube you can be an expert unless your neighbor recognizes you.

[Gord]

Yes, youtube has some odd stuff on it. As above states, you just need to weed out the bad and take in the good. And experiment on your own, if you are making syrup for yourself.
Not sure what you mean when you say "Yuk,gag" in regards to using cloth as a filter, be it cheese cloth, T-shirt cloth or any other cloth. I've experimented with lots of different types of material for filtering syrup. I've found that filtering small amounts of syrup through some filter material leaves you with very little syrup. Other types don't filter enough. Again, experimentation works best. I probably do a little overkill on filtering the syrup. Seems I leave a lot in the filters. I also filter the sap itself before it gets boiled.

One of my favorites is a guy who built a rocket stove out of a 55 gallon drum. Looks like it would work great, but he lost me when he said he burned 3 feet of an oak 2 X 6 and got a quart and a pint of Grade A syrup from his 3-1/2 gallons of sap.

[mi-maple]

You tube videos in general are quite frightening. From the loads of misinformation to the (off topic) exquisite stupidity of man kind. Most should know by now not to be impressioned fully by a few you tube vids.