Western NH

[Bill'sSugarShack]

Taped my 15 taps yesterday (3-3-08) in Newport NH.
kinda felt early but these trees are in a sunny area. They were running abit...will see.

Old timers used to say to tap on town meeting day....well i was a day early...lol

[3% Solution]

I guess your a new guy!
Welcome aboard.
This kind of a neat place. folks are always willing to help each other.
Why don't you go up above and introduce yourself.
Those are some fine trees you have there!!

Dave

[Bill'sSugarShack]

New to the forum perhaps, but not to back yard sugaring...been doing it for 30 yrs in different locations.

[Mac_Muz]

Hi I am pretty new here too. I am over inn Tamworth rather a bit east of you.

Like you I have just 15 taps out now, and the sap is very slow. I had out 2 test taps about 2 weeks now and placed the rest Sunday before last.

I had the idea some days might be warmer and then we got wacked with this current weather.

I have looked in my buckets but collected none.

I at finishing touches to a new barrel stove, and a new just made mild steel pan set up. For kicks I added 2 pan dividers to see what they might do.

My set up costs are just under 100 dollars.. I had to buy a trash can for storage, a bin to transport, the steel to make a pan of, 15 taps, and some paper filters, a 20 qt stainless pot for a pre heater, smoke pipe, misc bolts, and a candy thermometer.

Now I need some sap.

Around here these guys have hundreds to several thousand taps out, so trying to keep up with the Jone's, I made my barrel stove on skis, that can adjust 3" to level. My rig moves to the wood pile, rather than bring the wood to it. :-)

[Bill'sSugarShack]

Finished off 4 1/2 quarts so far...good run Sat. Best so far in 08.

[Mac_Muz]

I hope in two days i will have enough sap to fire off and boil. I might have 25 gallons of sap now. Only one tree is running well yet.

As soon as I have 45 gallons I think I can fire the pan. This seems to be about what you started with if my guess is correct.

[Bill'sSugarShack]

I hope in two days i will have enough sap to fire off and boil. I might have 25 gallons of sap now. Only one tree is running well yet.

As soon as I have 45 gallons I think I can fire the pan. This seems to be about what you started with if my guess is correct.

My 1st boil i had 20 gal of sap...was more just to test the new set up out.

from here on out i'll boil with 20 gal or more/less...fit it in amoungst other things going on...lol
Once good runs begin it'll only be about 2 hrs a day of boiling. Have it set up so i can get it going,load it with wood, then come in n get super cooking...go back out n load/check...come in n eat...go back out...lol

[Mac_Muz]

yeah I have to fit in other things too at time, like since I wasn't planning ahead to do this, Probably today I will have repaired the BobCat for the last little things it needs since it broke, and dig up the slab wood, maybe cut some stove length.

Between boiling and cuttting wood at the same time I should get a little work out.

My pan is close to yours and new to me. 21" x 33" and 3/4" long. I made an error measuring and might be better off if the pan had just been 33".

The question is How many gallon does it seem to take in your opinion to cover the bottom of the pan 1" deep?

How deep do you fill your pan

I had a rig like this one with a 24 x 24 inch pan, but it has been a long time and I seem to have CRS these days.


With that pan I think I dumped 3 gallons to coaver the bottom, adding more as it boiled.

I don't know how this stove/evap will work sonce I just built all this stuff at the time i thought I would be into sap hard.

So far one tree runs hard , but no others. I gathered yesterday, and that tree produced about 2.5 gallons of sap in 48 hours. With that gather, I think I have apx 20 gallons.

Today is looking up and I ghear tommow should be good, but then we get the gray's fot the next 2 days, so thar's no tellin'.

I don't want to lift the pan from a hot fire because i have no sap.

[lpakiz]

Hi Mac,
There is 231 cubic inches in a gallon, and your dimensions were 21 by 33. That works out to exactly 3 gallons per inch of depth.
Larry

[Bill'sSugarShack]

I normally run pan about 1 1/2 inches deep...just to give me a bit of working room if i run out to soon or something screws up

[Mac_Muz]

lpakiz, Thanks a bunch for that tid bit! At times it seems I am mathamaticly challanged.

It has been a tad busy 'round these heya' parts as of late.

I have as much sap as can safely fit in a supposed Rubbermaid 32 gallons trash can, brand new of course, washed, rinsed, and weathered some to make a feeble attempt at removing the mould release waxes. Lots of ice cakes in there too.

Since I hadn't been planning to make sugar this year things are out of order.

As it turns out the wood I had hoped for, seemingly so far as I can see it, is junk, all wet, and not 5 years dry under the 3 feet of snow. More like soggy and frozen in hard. So hard the bob cat just tries to climb a too steep angle for it, but the weight is supported.

It might work if I can bust the ice and spread it out, but later in my season.

I will gather again on Saturday, and get more wood right from the standing dead here, and see what happens.

I have no tools to tell me what the sugar content is, and haven't seen any mention fron those who may, to tell what kind of year this is in a general way.

If this is generally a high percent year that 32 gallons could make 1 gallon, but if it is more like a 40 gallon year I won't make 1 whole gallon maybe.

Some of my 15 taps are picking up from the dismal amounts I was getting.

What I don't want to do is get more sap than my body can deal with, which counts gathering, cutting wood and tending the fire. This is a one man deal, and was a spur of the moment one at that.

Depending on what happens this time around, will determine if I can afford more taps next year.

In the past I like to get about 1" of sap in the pan, to get things moving, then I add a little drip from a large pot, to so much as will stay at a hard boil.

This year I have a new method, which I am not sure will work. The plan is to allow gravity to force sap from a pot to run several wraps inside copper tubing UP HILL heating. So sap should be moving up hill by both gravity and heat rising to atleast the level in the pot.

The copper tubing perhaps being a flexible amount higher that the level in the pot, and as flexible as needed to swing the end of the tubbing right back into the pot as a means of control.

All hot sap then would gather in the pot when off, and cooler sap at the bottom would still flow down hill in the tubing where it will heat and climb.

When the pan demands more sap, the flow in the copper line can be altered to land in the pan..

I hope this works..

If not, I will be whining all about what I have done WRONG soon enough so no one else does my folly.

[Bill'sSugarShack]

Finished off anothe 2 1/2 quarts...9 1/2 total.

Know it's not alot compaired to some...but with as cold as it's been,and only 15 taps, i'll take what i can get.......

[Mac_Muz]

Bill, You are doing better than I am with my 15 taps. So far 4 qt's and 24/25 ounces. I boiled what I had Easter Sunday, and have no more sap so far. Maybe today, as last night it was only 27, which is a lot warmer that the single digits I had been getting, and it is nearing the 50 degree mark now.

I am considering redrilling and plugging the holes I made March 2nd.

I am not sure what I should base that idea on.

[Bill'sSugarShack]

3 Gallons finished...n more to come...................

[Mac_Muz]

I gathered apx 10 gallons today. 1 bucket was over filled and spilling, but that was the only one. The rest had about 4" depth.(joint compound like buckets)

Almost all my trees are in the town plow line, which I think is a cause for late flow.. No salt though, just iced banks I walk on to get to the trees. There is a diviser row of trees I could use, but they are harder to get at, better suited for plastic line, which I have never used yet.

[Bill'sSugarShack]

Will be busy boiling Tommorow..have about 50 gal of sap to cook down..........

[3% Solution]

Hi Bill,
Well that 50 gallons will keep you off the street and out of trouble for a while!!!
I made a cover to slide onto my pipe coming into my float box as you had suggested ............ I think you hit it right on thre money.
I can let the sap go in full pipe and it doesn't splatter all over.
Great, just great!!!!
Thanks for the help.
Let us know how you make out tomorrow!!

Dave

[Bill'sSugarShack]

Ended up boiling 5 1/2 hours Sat morning..
Finished off another 5 1/2 quarts..


Dave..(3%solution)
Glad my idea helped...
Was nice meeting you and your wife,and getting to see your set up. Alot fancier than mine....lol

[Bill'sSugarShack]

Looks like 08 season might be about over (looking at forcast).
Wasn't able to gather Sat, so will go check mid morning today...did boil some Sat...up to just under 6 1/2 gallons made (from 15 taps), be interesting on finale count.......

[3% Solution]

Bill,
Now that sounds pretty good to me.
You'll have enough for your family for the year.
You need to venture up the road to Cornish and meet NH Maplemaker.
Just continue on out Winter St., get onto Rte. 120 and about 1.5 miles beyond the town line his place is on the right "Hillside Sugarbush Farm".
We may get one more run tonight and then things don't look good!!
Stay safe!!

Dave

[Bill'sSugarShack]

Decided i'd had enough... pulled my taps yesterday...boiled it down as far as i could on the wood stove last night. Will finish it off on turkey frier tonight..

[Bill'sSugarShack]

well finished boiling..

Ended up 1/2 pint shy of 7 gallons for the season...not bad from 15 taps.


Decided i'd had enough... pulled my taps yesterday...boiled it down as far as i could on the wood stove last night. Will finish it off on turkey frier tonight..

[TapME]

Nice going. I hope I end up with those #'s.

[Mac_Muz]

My season appears over.. Different trees for next year... 15 taps 2 gallons..

I don't know what was wrong. My taps are still out, but only 2 trees are doing anything. I have about 20 gallons left to boil, so maybe it will add 2 qts.

I drilled with 1/64th under 7/16th's and refreshed these holes with the 7/16" bit and it looked good, but it wasn't. Well see you guys next year... mac