Made my first maple syrup today!

[Spikeman]

So, I have an evaporator coming but don't have it yet. I have been fortunate to use a friends 1/2 pint evaporator - boiled down some sap last Friday. Didn't get it finished off there so i bought it home to finish off today. Started with my Turkey Frier then moved to the indoor stove. Must have checked it every minute but finally got it to 66brix and by the time i got off the stove it was about 67 brix - i used both a hydrometer and a refractometer to check it - boy, when you get close it all goes so fast!

Very happy with it, I'm thinking pancakes for breakfast tomorrow :)

btw: my evaporator is being made by a friend that has a welding school. It will be the same size 3 chanel pan as a 1/2 pint. It just got finished - I just have to go pick it up. Shame there's been no sap for about the past week here in NH.

Steve
A new guy here - learning a lot from you guys!

[ecolbeck]

Congratulations!! Have fun!

[ScottT]

Congratulations! Happy Boiling !

[Swingpure]

Congrats, always special to make and taste your first syrup!

[DairyVet]

Congrats! I usually can’t wait til breakfast to enjoy my first finished syrup of the year. Thankfully it goes very well with a couple fingers of bourbon.

[eustis22]

Congratultions and commiserations.....you are so screwed now.

[littleTapper]

Ha! Yes, now it spirals out of control. Looking forward to your future thread on your new RO.

Enjoy and congrats!!! :)

[MajorWoodchuck]

Congrats! I usually can’t wait til breakfast to enjoy my first finished syrup of the year. Thankfully it goes very well with a couple fingers of bourbon.

We usually have waffles in the sugar shack with boiling syrup that is almost done and we can't wait any longer.

At least you have good company as your whole world is focused on 6 weeks every spring.

[Spikeman]

Thanks everyone!
I think my first upgrade for next year will be to move away from buckets hanging on trees (or should i say buckets on the ground from falling off the trees). First instance will be larger buckets on the ground with tubing from the tree/spile.

Second upgrade will be a better sap storage method, a larger storage tank than the 5 gallon buckets I use right now.

I'm sure there will also be a third, forth and fifth upgrade, just have to work out what will improve my process.

Steve

[Gunner]

Did everything your doing when I started out- I fell down that same rabbit hole and there's no turning Back- I was warned too-

a year later I'm cutting up Oil tanks and buying welding equipment, More syrup equipment, and don't forget the pans got to love the price of the Pans, They must think Im an Oil Barron ,

Good Luck and Enjoy , When the Neighbors call you crazy- you always have a group here at the asylum to talk too-

[TheNamelessPoet]

Congrats!

I have the same tale that is way older than me lol.

I started with about 5-6 taps year 1 in a chafing dish, and 4 years in I have 60+ taps, a divided pan, a grumpy wife, an RO, probably 70 buckets, 2 tanks 35 + 65 gallons, and I'm sure lots of other stuff I am forgetting lol

WELCOME... to the addiction lol

Wait until you start getting into candy and granulated sugar or maple cream, or another awesome confection that needs nothing but tree blood!

[Buffalo Plaid]

I followed the same wayward path as everyone else here. No one understands why ALL of my time is booked this time of year and they keep scheduling other things to do. :^)

[Pdiamond]

Welcome Spikeman. I certainly hope you like the color of stainless steel, because I see it in your future many times over. Don't worry about the price, it's only money and you can make it back. At least that's what I said. Make sure no matter how much you grow or don't grow that you have lots of fun making syrup and include as many others as you can.

[Spikeman]

Sap was flowing a bit today, checked my buckets like a good soldier! Hahaha. (not that i have many at this point). We are due 8 to 14 inches of snow tonight and maybe another 5 during tomorrow. Gonna make life on the farm interesting for my wife and my commute to work (about 35 miles each way) not so fun, I'm sure.

Still, saw the drip....drip....drip this afternoon so that has me happy!
Spikeman

[Spikeman]

When the Neighbors call you crazy- you always have a group here at the asylum to talk too-

Hahaha! Good to know!

[Spikeman]

Another day of boiling!
11 of the tractor supply buckets full of sap. bring on my friends leader 1/2 pint evaporator. it is exciting, I got 4 of those i Oz jars full and 1/8 an 8 Oz Mason jar from my first batch a few weeks ago! this is fun!

steve

[Spikeman]

I meant 4 of the 8.8 Oz fancy jars and most of a 8 Oz Mason jar

[sublime68charger]

welcome and best of luck for you this year on syrup making!

[bigschuss]

Good job Steve. Glad you're having success.

[ebliese]

Spikeman-way to go! It is immensely satisfying to have bottles of liquid gold as a result of your hard work. Keep it up!

[Pdiamond]

Another one bites the dust, and becomes a new maple syrup addict. Congrats on your progress and keep enjoying the sugar making.

[Spikeman]

Thanks for all the replies and encouragement!

Have my own evaporator now (ooooh, fancy.....!), made by a friend who has a welding business. Looks like, and about the same size, as a Leader 1/2 pint. I had hoped to have a shed or a shack up by now but that looks like next year project. I do have a trailer for the evaporator so i can take it outside to use. I'll be tapping close to 20 trees this season, i have them all marked so unlike last year i wont have to guess which trees to tap.

For some i will stay with buckets and for others i will tap and have a 3/16 tube down and into a bucket - these trees are inside the tree line which at the edge, has some large boulders that i don't want to climb over in the snow and ice. Set a tap up high enough to get gravity flow down to a bucket set in the field the safe side of the rocks and boulders. This will make collection easier, i think.

I've also been clearing the ground at the access points to the trees as i don't want to be tripping over things that are covered in snow.

Couple of questions:

To get a good flow and down angle on the trees i tap and use tubing to a bucket that might be 6 feet in front of the tree is it ok to tap up at about 6 feet on the tree?
Should i use, and will it be ok, to use a 5/16 tap to 3/16 tubing - or should i use 5/16 tubing? Want to make sure 1) - the tubing will fit to the tap and 2) make sure the tubing is good for flow from the tap to the bucket.

I retired from work this past July so I am spending plenty time at the farm (horses and Sheep) so i will be able to check/collect for sap just about every day. Got plenty of wood on hand - old seasoned wood and as the electric company had the tree trimmer and tree removal company come down our road I asked the to leave me all the branches up to about 8 inches - which they did and even trimmed for me. So, for future years I think I have a good supply of wood - i'll cut and split this fall.

That's all for now - hope everyone is getting ahead of there planning and chores for the season - i think its coming on fast!

Any answers to my question above would be a big help!

Steve

[therealtreehugger]

Hi Steve - welcome! Tapping up high on the tree is not necessary. As long as the tubing goes downhill, from the tap into the bucket, you are fine. About half my taps are 5 gal buckets w snug fitting holes in the lids that the tubing goes through. Make sure the tubing does not go too far down in your bucket, as sometimes, the tree will literally suck the sap back out of your bucket and back into the tree. Not good for your sap collection, and not good for the tap in the tree to introduce bacteria (shortening the life of the viable tap hole).

If close access to a tree is an issue, then by all means have a longer piece of tubing. If not, then drill your taps at a height that is comfortable to drill at, (don’t bother getting a ladder, or crawling on the ground) without using too much excess tubing. As long as it goes downhill.

5/16 taps fit 5/16 tubing, which is what I use to go into my buckets. Works just fine.

Good luck! Keep us updated!

[Super Sapper]

I am a big proponent of using 3/16 tubing in the right situations. From the tap to a bucket or lateral line, I would use 5/16 as when the tree freezes it will pull back sap and will pull more from the 3/16 than the 5/16. If you can string together several taps on a single line with an elevation drop of at least 10 feet, the 3/16 tubing with 5/16 drops will give you more sap. Most of all have fun with it.

[30AcreWoods]

Steve, it sounds like you are all over it! Tons of good advice here, but in my opinion, the best is to keep having fun! We've all made mistakes...and that is the best way to learn. I have tons of gradient, so I use 3/16 tubing everywhere and pull over 27inMg. Many don't have the luxury, but don't sweat it. Using tubes - even short ones to your buckets on the ground will be helpful for you as your taps will stay open a bit longer than using open, metal spiles. Experiment with it all and learn what works best on your little slice of heaven. And let us know how it all goes!

[Spikeman]

Guys,
Thanks for all the great advice!

Here is where I am at:

bought about 25 5/16" CV taps and 100 foot of 5/16" tubing (plus a few other bits and bobs at Bascom Maple the other day). I also purchased some 3 way 5/16" connectors as I'm going to join drops from a couple of trees into one line into a bucket (see how this is creeping elegance? pretty soon I'm probably gonna have blue tubing all over the place - including some trees at my neighbors yard (permission has already been granted), but that will probably be next season - I think!)

Now, I'm not sure I have enough tubing, might need another roll, might as well get a 100 foot 'cause I think I'm gonna end up needing it and don't want to wait too close to the season and find they are all sold out!!.

I'm going to be using an evaporator that my wife had a friend make (he has a welding business and welding school) for me as a Christmas present. The pan is 3 foot by 2 foot - pretty much the size of a Leader 1/2 pint. The only thing is he made the main pan and warming pan out of heavy duty stainless steel - the pan is fairly heavy compared to pans I've looked at in stores. Going to do a test firing up and boil some time this week - I have a horse farm and we also run some sheep - so I'll take it out to the outdoor arena away from our buildings for the test run - don't want to burn down the 100 foot by 200 foot main barn building :). ( I have a tow cart for it - re-purposed manure spreader) which I will use this season - next year I hope to have a sugar shack where it can all be inside. Anyway, that should be some fun - want to see if I can get a good boil with the heavy duty pans that he made. Anyway, pan dimensions are 2 foot by 3 foot so i can always buy another pan if this one is too thick to give me a hearty boil!

Wish me luck with the test boil! If you don't hear from me again it all blew up and too me with it!!

Steve

[Spikeman]

Update:

Did the test run with the evaporator today and it went well, it did not blow up, it boiled the water i put in it very well, had a pretty good boil going.

Observations and learning lessons:

I need to cut/split my wood into lengths bout 14 to 15 inches and split them much more than the kind of thick pieces i have now. The thick wood takes a while to get going and might be good for a wood stove but not for an evaporator. I guess I need to go back and split the wood I have into thinner pieces.

The wagon I have the evaporator mounted on works great, for this season I will be able to use my tractor to bring it into my riding arena for storage and use it outside for boiling.

All in all a good day of learning and testing.

Steve

[30AcreWoods]

Great news! Somewhere along the way I was told to split wood so that is no larger than the diameter of my fist when clenched. Who knows what happens if you have a massive hand! But, I try and do that, and it seems to work really well for maintaining a good boil without huge temperature swings when loading (more surface area = better burn). Keep experimenting, having fun, and let us know how it goes.

[Pdiamond]

I start out with wrist size pieces of wood and once the pans get rolling, I will mix in some larger pieces. Mixing in the larger wood just saves using all the small stuff and keeps the fire burning longer, especially with the blower. I just don't like to have to open the firebox door every 5 minutes when I use the wrist size stuff.