Boiling good.

[musicfreak46290]

Well, we have been boiling good now the past few days. These past 3-4 days have given us the best run. Made approx. 4 gallons of sap so far. Shooting for ten. Which on a half-pint and 60 taps, that's a decent goal. Hopefully everyone is fairing well this season and best of luck to those who aren't.

[MaplePancakeMan]

Yes this last week and the week before were great to me. I made 28 gallons in basically under 2 weeks off 200 taps

[musicfreak46290]

Thats a good thing. We're boiling now. Hoping to get a couple more gallon by the end of the night.

[MaplePancakeMan]

Same here i'm boiling as well, got the evaporator up at full steam. Her doors are glowing red and shes been on for 7 hrs with no rest. Trying to beat through the 350 gallons i started with. I had the GPH evaporation rate up to 40 for awhile using pallets but i ran out back down to 28 with somewhat dry hard wood (lots of rain a week ago) I have about 100 gallons left to go through.

[musicfreak46290]

We've been boiling for about 10 hours non-stop now. Have about 35 gallons to go now. Will probably finish tonight instead of waiting and firing up in the morning.

[MaplePancakeMan]

I know the feeling the other night on wednesday i had just got through 300 gallons when my brother called and said he stopped by and collected another 250 from the farm so i stayed up and finished that sap too 17 hrs straight of boiling. However, i didn't want waste two days so i just wasted one and made a marathon out of it. How many gallons did you start off with to process?

[musicfreak46290]

We had about 170 gallons. That was from 60 taps over 3 days. We didn't collect today. The weather wasn't that great here. No sun and hovered around 40 all day. Tomorrow looks like a better day.

[maplehound]

music freak, It sounds like you are haveing a season much like I am. I have made 97 gallons over the last 2 weeks and plan on finishing off some more tomorrow. I did haul in about 300 gallons of sap today that ran mostly through the day yeasterday. It was the first slightly cloudy sap I have hauled in, so I expect to make the first medium or dark syrup of the season.

[musicfreak46290]

We should be finishing up in a couple of hours. Only about 20 gallons of sap left. We've made about 4 gallons of syrup today. Compared to only 2 gallons made all season last year. Me and dad are definitely starting to get the hang of things.

[MaplePancakeMan]

best of the luck through the night-time boils. I shut my rig down a little while ago.

[newman_maple]

I have only 35 gallons left to boil and some of that will steam away overnight. I am wondering if I am done for the year. I have done great, but would like to have another weekend. The forecast shows no low temps here anytime soon. Maybe a 28-30 degree night Sunday night. I plan to take whatever is there and see, but I cannot see much more sap running for me. I will be asking advise if I am unsure about pulling taps next week. I am not sure how much I will end up with this weekend, but I should have at least 22 gallons from 68 taps. I think that is pretty good.

[musicfreak46290]

Trees didnt produce as well today. Only about 25 gallons. Later this week looks like it will be better for sappin.

[maplehound]

my trees ran good yeasterday and seemed to today as well. It should run all night tonight and will probably have alot to boil tomorrow. Need to save some for thursday though since I have a school group coming. I am now at 110gallons and just today I went from light to dark syrup. Not much medium this year.

[musicfreak46290]

its raining quite well here and theres no chance of sun coming out. i really wish it would because we'd like to get 10 gallons of syrup this year.

[maplekid]

well i brought in 35 gallon with about 20-30 gallon still in the woods.im up to the 5 gallon mark and have it sold already. will make a couple qts tomarrow and hopefully my jugs will come and i can jug it up. hope every one has a good season.

[maplehound]

I am now up to 112 gallons and still have about 650 gallons of sap to do. I will hold that till Thursday when I have a school group coming.

[musicfreak46290]

we got about 70 gallons of sap yesterday. will try to boil all of it tonight. today is the last day of school for the week so, i should be able to stay up most of the night and boil. best of luck

[newman_maple]

Been a gully-washer here. Had about 5 inches of rain since yesterday morning. I did bring in some sap, some of which is rainwater I am sure, but most was taken from buckets and bags that little rain could get in. I will boil it Friday and wait to see if we freeze over the weekend. I have 23 gallons finished so far which is well beyond my expectations so if I can do no more, I am OK with it!

Musicfreak, do you like the 1/2 pint pan? I was considering adding that pan to my setup for next year. I will extend my block arch and make it more efficient. I would prefer avoiding a second flat pan.

[musicfreak46290]

Sorry its been so long since ive been on. I've been busy.

We love our half-pint. It works well with 60 taps. It only had a bph rate of 6-7depending on the fire and all but it is just fine for what we collect.

[newman_maple]

How well does the pan work with the flow through design? It has to beat a flat pan. If I get set up well, I can live with a flat pan, but I would prefer something different.

[maple marc]

Hey you Buckeyes,

Looks like a great week ahead! Could run here in Champaign County at least three good days. I've made almost 14 gallons on my 2x4 and I think I will be able to make at least 4 more. That would be a personal season record for me.

Good luck to you.

Marc

[newman_maple]

I will have one last boil this week and will be left with a pan in need of a serious cleaning. I read the thread on pan cleaning, but there seems to be some difference of opinion. I would prefer a homemade solution, but will buy a cleaner made for this if necessary.

Any thoughts, opinions, or ideas will be appreciated!!!

[maplehound]

It does look like a good week however it will probably be our last and the runs will probably be smaller than we had the last 2 or 3 weeks. I now have 130 gallons made and hope to get around 150 by then end of the week. One way or another this will be my last week as I need to be cleaned up and ready for vocational evaluation and then sugery all being done in April.

[maplekid]

well im pulling my taps tuesday. i have made 7-8 gallons of dark syrup. its a little low i was expecting atleast 12 but i can live with it. im putting out all 100 next year as i will probably have an efficient evaporator.

[Jim Brown]

new man maple; We use the pan cleaner at the end of the season but during the season as of last weekend we clean with vinegar. We filled the rig half full of water and dumped in 10 gallons of vinegar and brought to a low simmer. Let it simmer for 3 hours and wiped off the scales and sugar sand with a brush. We triple rinsed and are back to running again. Will clean with milk stone remover(tractor supply $8 gallon) the end of the season. It is cheaper than the stuff the dealers sell($12-15 gallon) and they are both posphoric acid. Works good

Jim

[maplehound]

I am now at my 140 gallon mark. That matches what I made 2 years ago wich was my biggest year. I still have more coming in but will stop gathering Wed. The syrup I made today was grade C so I will wholesale everything I make from now on. I should reach 150 with no problem.

[newman_maple]

Thanks Jim for the pan cleaner information. I will be working on that when I can.

I collected about 80 gallons since Sunday and am boiling now. Much was running off color so I puled my taps. I am sure I will end up with very dark syrup, but that is OK. I will keep it for the family if I do not want to sell it.

Before this batch, I am just over 24 gallons with 68 taps. I am very happy with that. This is the ninth week I have boiled so I have been extremely lucky to say the least. I have noticed that some folks in the northern states are not looking at a good season. I will take into consideration next year that I cannot expect such a good return per tap every year. It will be cleanup time this weekend!

[maplehound]

I believe tomorrow will be my last boil. If not tomorrow then Thursday. I will be cleaning tubing on either thursday or Friday. I have now about 145 gallons made and should surpass 150 gallons with my next boil as I have 300 gallons in holding tanks and it won't freeze tonight so I should have more in the woods. The runs have been much smaller and the syrup is a C grade at this time although the flavor is still there.

[musicfreak46290]

Well. Today was the last day to collect. :( The trees are starting to bud and the sap is starting to become cloudy. We decided to pull taps today or tomorrow. Made about 6-7 gallons of syrup total. Best of luck with the last of everyones season.

Shayne

[maplehound]

went to the woodss this morning to find 100 gallons pumped to the wagon and a 300 gallon tank overflowing. After pumping it to the wagon we turned on the vacuume and had another 250 gallons in less than an hour flow in, that had been backed up in the lines. The rest of the day we only had another 50 gallons flow in that has a real bad smell to it. Tomorrow I will finish boiling the last of my sap and run water behind to finish up for the year. I expect to have around 165- 17 gallons finished for the year. MY BEST YEAR EVER. Today we cleaned the syrup pans before starting up and we were even able to get grade A Dark syrup. :) :)