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View Full Version : Second year report



MapleME
03-25-2009, 06:05 PM
I am in my second year and things are going well. The Mason 2x6 has been treating me real well. Even though its a flat pan last week I tried the drawing off technique vs what I have been doing which is just massive batch's all at once. Seemed to work well as I was putting 150 gallons through her. The draft has been working well too. This weekend I have added 2 new items which I hope will help. first is a 20 foot run of coiled copper tubing attached to the preheater. I just made some flat coils, maybe this will help a bit. Second will be a cheap little blower unit.

What I have been really happy with though is the investment of the filter canner/finisher. huge help to have it inside, in a controlled environment while I get it to that last degree or 2 using the hydrometer. A bonus is the flat filter rack is just SOOO much better than those cone filters which took so much time and I lost product.
I also have learned that filtering,just using the orlon filters in a few different spots along the way really helps too.

Hope you guys are having a good season in Maine too. Its really fun.

MapleME

abbott
03-30-2009, 09:52 AM
I'm also in my second year, but i dove right in. I'm working with a 2.5x8 evaporater and 450 taps. 380 on lines into barrels and 170 buckets. Collecting is a 4+ hour job!

I also invested in a finisher w/ filter rack. Very nice. Syrup comes out clear. I'm thinking hard about boosting production w/ a blower next year. No electricity, though...

Up to 100 gallons, far exceeded expectations... maybe more to come?