Rookie maple syruper

[Brien]

I already posted this message in my regional forum, but I thought I would introduce myself here as well
Hello, new to the forum here. This is my first year at trying the maple syrup. My sugar bush is in northern ontario. I built a small A frame shanty out of 2x4s and vapor barrier this winter to keep my boil out of the elements. Im planning on tapping 60 trees (maybe more, lol). I have been packing the trail down all winter so it should be fairly easy to access the trees. and I bought a 2x3 evaporator from CDL with a homemade stove under it.
The property is not accessible by vehicle in the winter so I have been working on sledding everything in with my snowmobile. I still have to tow in the stove, but I welded flatbars on the bottom of the legs to act as skiis so I can pull it in. Then it will be another trip to bring in all the fire brick.
I've been scanning through the forums, and wow lots of information. I've come to the right place. I'll post some pics of my setup on the weekend once I get everything out there.
Cheers

[raptorfan85]

Welcome. Glad to have someone new joining the maple world! I started small and have grown a lot. It's part of the journey!

[Goatogether]

Good luck, Brien....I’m in rookie year as well, about 150 tapped, mostly on a small vac system that’s solar run. We have a small shack, a hobby RO (The RO Bucket’s RB45), a Lapierre Waterloo Small Lp evaporator and a homemade vacuum filter. It will be interesting!! Have fun getting everything set up! Ellen

[Hkb82]

Welcome to the oh so addictive world of syrup making. I started out like you outside with tarps and a 2x4 frame over the pans. After the first season I was hooked and built the sugar shack for the following season. Plan on climbing up to the 150 mark this year maybe even 200 if I can find the time to get em in. This will be my fifth season and although I got it pretty figured out now I’m always learning new things and playing around with something. Trader has provided me with an endless amount of knowledge and advise from so many of the fine folks from all parts and has to be the best place to chat or research about syrup production. Have fun with it and happy sapping

[Buffalo Plaid]

Welcome Brien. After reading about what you have to do to get equipment out to your shack, I won't complain about having to carry a couple of things down to mine.

[Brien]

Welcome Brien. After reading about what you have to do to get equipment out to your shack, I won't complain about having to carry a couple of things down to mine.
lol, I definitely have a bit of a challenge, but its something to do as well. I'm taking the family and we are going to make a day of it tomorrow, roast some hotdogs and marshmellows over a campfire.

[Goatogether]

Good luck, let us know how it goes! We’re still waiting for it to run here in NE VT. Looks like Wednesday maybe?

[Brien]

Well I was able to get most of the things out to my property. It was pretty cold saturday morning around-20C. I put my phone in my front pocket when I was snowmobiling and it froze. So no pictures. I also had to bring my evaporator pan back into town because I could not get the protective wrap off of the Stainless Steel, It kept ripping because of the cold. So I sledded it back and within a few hours in the house it peeled off easily. I also put a temporary cover over the stove so I could light it to bake the high heat paint on and to burn off anything on the inside.

[Goatogether]

I’m thinking this could be a great reality show....The things we do!

[Brien]

I think your right, lol. My wife thinks I'm crazy. She said the other day, "we don't even eat that much maple syrup". I told her it doesn't have to make sense, its a hobby!

[aamyotte]

I think your right, lol. My wife thinks I'm crazy. She said the other day, "we don't even eat that much maple syrup". I told her it doesn't have to make sense, its a hobby!
We don't eat that much here either. I want to make the taffy cones like what we buy at Mathews. Those don't last around here. I just have to find those little cones.
At least it give me an excuse to be outdoors.

[wmick]

I think your right, lol. My wife thinks I'm crazy. She said the other day, "we don't even eat that much maple syrup". I told her it doesn't have to make sense, its a hobby!

We were much the same.... Now we use maple syrup pretty much anywhere we might have used sugar and more... I think my wife uses a Litre a month just in her morning coffee.

[Someclown]

My wife thinks I'm crazy. She said the other day, "we don't even eat that much maple syrup".
Yet :lol:
Once you put all this time and effort you'll be putting maple syrup in everything. You'll be like Elf
Maple syrup in spaghetti(no), coffee, cooking and baking, you will want to try and make maple butter/cream, and it seems like you're enjoying it.
Is your setup close enough that you can walk to it when the snow melts, that's normally some of the best sap runs.
I tap trees at my nephews house in west nippissing, I have to head there tomorrow to do some tree cutting and land clearing (in the rain of course haha) I may tap while I'm there, the full sun trees will be running but the big bush trees probably not, I tap the big trees later.

[Brien]

Yet :lol:
Once you put all this time and effort you'll be putting maple syrup in everything. You'll be like Elf
Maple syrup in spaghetti(no), coffee, cooking and baking, you will want to try and make maple butter/cream, and it seems like you're enjoying it.
Is your setup close enough that you can walk to it when the snow melts, that's normally some of the best sap runs.
I tap trees at my nephews house in west nippissing, I have to head there tomorrow to do some tree cutting and land clearing (in the rain of course haha) I may tap while I'm there, the full sun trees will be running but the big bush trees probably not, I tap the big trees later.

Im really not sure how its going to go this spring. If the snow fully melts I might be able to drive my truck right to my property. But there is a good chance I might have to walk in 1 km. We'll c I guess.

[Brien]

Well we lost a bunch of snow in my area last week, warm weather and crazy windy. There"s still almost 2 feet of snow in the bush though, I ended up tapping 72 trees.
And here is a pic of my shelter. Its not much, but should keep me out of the weather. It was not the easiest thing to build during the winter. I had to shovel a couple feet of snow just to get to the ground. 22225

Not sure how to turn the pic?

[Galena]

We were much the same.... Now we use maple syrup pretty much anywhere we might have used sugar and more... I think my wife uses a Litre a month just in her morning coffee.

That's about in line with how much I go through in a month. And if you personally don't eat that much syrup, then just hotpack it and store it. Decant into smaller jars like 500mls, great gifts for housewarming, appreciation etc. I'm getting some pargeing done and buddy takes barter, so giving him a couple litres to defray the cost of the work.

[Pdiamond]

Simple, but very nice build. keeps the weather off you while you boil which is the whole purpose. I like it.

[Someclown]

Nice job Brien,
The snow sure did go fast, my yard is bare ground and my creek is flowing after that rain and warm week we just had, but the bush still has about a foot of hard pack snow. By the looks of the forecast this week the trees may start to thaw. I will be tapping in west nipissing on Thursday, hoping for another 45 taps 5/16 into 20 litre buckets.
Good luck

[OneLegJohn]

Keep track of the journey. I highly recommend a YouTube channel to chronicle your adventures.