New to tapping - southern Indiana

[HAHA I 1]

I just joined the site, but I have used it for about a week now, gathering information. I started tapping on Saturday with just 5 taps, but added 6 more on Sunday, and have another 15 to do this weekend. So far, I am only using one tap per tree and am getting 2-2.5 gallons per day per tap. The weather here has been very warm, not dropping below 50F for 3 days/nights. The sap finally stopped flowing last night. It is supposed to finally cool down to normal temperatures tonight (below freezing), so I hope to be gathering sap again tomorrow. My "evaporator" is a hodge-podge of stuff that a friend gave me, but it works. I use a 55 gal plastic drum for temporary storage of sap.

I have about 200-250 trees that I can tap, with about half of them being able to support more than one tap. I am just getting my toes wet this year and seeing if I enjoy it, but I am sure I will, and will likely expand and upgrade my evaporator next year. I will also likely build a sugar shack this summer if it turns out to be as fun as I expect. Luckily I have 4 kids that like to help.

[Gary R]

Congrats! Like you I'm new this year also. I'm boiling as I "speak". This site has been awesome for gleaning information. Many of the old threads in homemade equipment will give you great idea's. Good luck on your adventure.

Gary

[the old guy]

Hey Ha Ha

I Live Just West Of You About 50 Miles. My Oldest Son Live At Floyd Knobs So I Drive By Palmera Often. Hope You Like This Sugarin'. We Have Had A Great Year So Far. We Tap About 200+ Trees. We Have Been Tappin' Trees For About 10 Years Now. Man It's Great To Hear From Someone In Our Area.

The Old Guy

[HAHA I 1]

So are you in the Paoli area, then? Or Jasper maybe? I have tons of family in Floyds Knobs, so somewhere along the line I have probably crossed paths with your son. We live less than 5 minutes from the 4-way stop in Palmyra.

As far as tapping, we have had an absolute blast and will be expanding next year. We only put out 12 taps this year, with only one per tree, but have gotten about 4 gallons of syrup off of them. Most of our trees will take more than one tap. My evaporator is not very efficient, so it takes us a while to boil. We will be building a better evaporator this summer and will be building a sugar shed, too. I hope to increase to 100 taps next year.

What evaporator system do you use? I would sure be interested in seeing some others before I fab up the new one to get ideas.

I, too, am glad there is someone else here doing this! The sap sure ran yesterday!!

[the old guy]

Hey Ha Ha

We Live Pretty Close To Jasper. We Are About 10 Miles Southwest Of There. We Tried Some Crude Contraptions But Finally Shelled Out A Little Cash And Bought A D & G Used Evaporator. We Finish Our Syrup Over A Propane Fire But Do The Big Evaporation With The Evaporator. We Tapped A Little Over 200 Trees And This Year And Made Around 63 Gallons Of Syrup. I'll Probably Come Through Palmyra This Weekend--we Are Going On A Wine Tasting Trip To Huber Winery And Then Down To Turtle Run. I'll Watch For Your Place. My Son Lives Right Off 60 Where It Divides.

The Old Guy