don't forget about Dirty Jobs!!!!

[red maples]

Dirty jobs, "the maple syrup maker" on tonight Tues. Dec 29 at 9pm est. on the discovery channel!!

[Stickey]

I wish I still had that channel, Mike Rowe is the man!

[Farmboy]

I will be watching it tonight. I have watched several episodes today because I was feeling under the weather today. I did manage to split a little bit of wood though.

[KenWP]

I have one english channel so don't feel bad. It's repeats for me tonight. Until I give up and do something more exciting.

[twobears1224]

mike rowe has to be the best tv host ever!! i,am on vacation and it,s cold outsde so i,ve been watching him pretty much all day!!

delbert

[red maples]

yes I like him. He does the deadliest catch too. Ax men starts soon on the history channel jan. 9th I think. NOt mike rowe though he would be good narating that too.

[farmall h]

Brad, what do you have for a current temp. I am at -4.

[red maples]

9 but the wind is terrible. your way up there.. My sister lives up there she is in waterville a bit west of you. she works at Stowe. I was up there visiting in the fall when the leaves were changing and there are a ton of maples up there...wow she hates when ever they give the temps because it is always burlington, and she says it usually about 10 + degrees colder in the winter by her.

[Stickey]

So who's sugarhouse did Mr. Rowe visit?? Hopefully a wood fired one from NH as that is where the best maple syrup on earth comes from ;) If he wanted to get dirty, he should have come by here, I'm still cleaning up :lol:

[farmall h]

That wind chill is a killer. Below zero is good ...tighten things up in the woods.

[red maples]

wagner's sugar camp in PA. I think someone mentioned it here and they knew them. they have a website.

[gator330]

Well that was interesting!!!!

[Haynes Forest Products]

Well I didnt know its a furnace. I learned a few new terms and I already forgot them dang that was a dirty job. That must have been one heck of a camp in its day with all the evap arches in the bldg. Man there was alot of galvanized equipment.

[zippy1wood]

I think they did a poor job on showing how sugaring is done,what was that white crap they poored into the maple syrup? I dont want anything like that in mine,also dont you think the guy might come unglued when the bricks start falling out,I really like the show, always whatch it but expected more I guess when you do it yourself you know?:cry:

[dnap63]

Saw the show, not overly impressed, It didn't seem as if the dirty jobs crew was either.

[Farmboy]

I just saw it. It was pretty good. It was only half the show though. It was a huge woodfired evaporator. They burned bundles of slab wood. His method of starting it shouldn't have been on tv though because he used old baling twine and old paint. It was wagners in PA. He had some buckets and some gravity tubing. No vacum shown if he has any. There wasn't an RO either unless they just didn't show it.

[ehausinfrats]

Seen alot of wasted sap due to poor pouring, The drilling of tap holes made me very nervous because he was ovaling the holes. Not the cleanest but very functional. I think they said they tapped 1000 trees. Kitchen setup was very nice.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Zippy its called filteraid and you have had it in alot of things you have consumed. Beer, Apple juice, Grape juice, Maple syrup :o

[lpakiz]

Sorry I don't share everyone's enthusiasim for Mike Rowe. If I had hired help as clumsy as he is, I would send him down the road. Makes a mess of everything he does...

[KenWP]

Zippy its called filteraid and you have had it in alot of things you have consumed. Beer, Apple juice, Grape juice, Maple syrup :o

Wine also. If I had of know how hard it was to filter syrup before I started this hobby I might have taken up something like bungy jumping.
I think I seen the show once or something like it where he was cooking in a really busy steak resturant with $50 buck steaks and he screwed up cooking about 10 of them and the guy booted him out the door and got his real cook in.

[DrTimPerkins]

I think they said they tapped 1000 trees. Kitchen setup was very nice.

Pretty sure they said 2,000 taps and about 500 gallons of syrup produced each year.

[220 maple]

Dirty Jobs,
They have vacuum with a old dairy pump, they also have a RO that too is a older model. My claim to fame is I made sugar cakes on the same candy machine as Mike Rowe. The sad part is I made a mess just like him until I got the hang of it. Also I can't wait to pick on Henry Brenneman about doing a drive by during the filming of the show. I need to go pick up more tubing sometime in the next couple of days. Last fall he sold 13 skid loads of tubing. 50 rolls to the skid, 500 feet per roll. Do the math on that!!!!! Not bad considering he is Amish and does not have electricity or telephone in his home or camp or warehouse. Henry's camp and home is no more than a mile from the Wagners Camp. Does everyone call buckets Keelers, thats what they are called in the Somerset County area? Just curious?

Mark 220 Maple

[3rdgen.maple]

Just watched it myself. They said 2000 trees not taps. Seen a few trees they had atleast 3 buckets on them. I really don't think that was paint in that paint can he started the fire with. There kitchen looks pretty nice. I am still pondering the termonology they used, camp syrup, keelers. Guy could not even climb a small hill. I gotta laugh at every episode that someone hands the guy a wrench to tighten or loosen a bolt though he always turns it the wrong way. He sure is very clumbsy.

[Gary R]

First time I've seen the show. I also was disappointed. Too bad they did not show the vacuum pump and RO. It would have shown how more complex it can get. They spent too much time waiting for sap to drip and syrup to boil. They could of shown more of the hard work that was done prior to being able to boil. Possible Mike Rowe does some of the clumsieness for entertainment on the TV?

[Rhino]

I to was dissapointed in the show. They made it seem so easy and more so on the boreing side like there is so much standing around. Always something to do.

[Dave Y]

I watched the show. I have mixed feelings . On one hand I like Mike Rowe, his bumbling is for entertainment value. That beening said I agree with most coments on here pro and con. They could have done a better job with explaining, but it wasnt about how syrup is made it, is about how you get dirty making syrup. And yes Somerset Co. Pa is the only place I have heard the terms sugar camp, keeler, and only south of me they call sap, water.
I am glad they chose Somerset Co. Pa just to show folks that Vermont is not the only place in the US maple syrup is made.

[PATheron]

220- Does Mr. Brennamin(probly not spelled right) run a lot of taps? He comes up here and buys syrup at my buddy Richards place. Ive seen some huge releasers and things like that come in for him. Always wondered what exactly he was doing down there. Theron

[3% Solution]

Hi guys,

Ok lets look on the positive side of things here;

1). It was only 20 minutes of a day long process (long day too).

2). Terminology is all about the area you are in, do you call them taps or spiles, do you call it a cooker or an evaporator.

3). Yeah Mike is clumsy, but I think he is honest about things.

4). I love to take folks out gathering that have never done it before, cause they are going to wear the sap before the gathering is done, because I have and as one other said on here, getting the candy forms filled isn't easy at first.

5). They portrayed boiling sap as a slow process, well it is, it's like watching water boil. Yes I am busy and my help is busy, but for the visitor, it's like watching water boil and boring after awhile.

6). I think we all loose a little sap here and there, especially when the tanks run over and who hasn't dumped a full bucket before.

Now with all this said, I hope I haven't offended anyone, because that wasn't my intention. I'm just looking at things in a different light.

Stay warm ........... 2* below here this morning.

Dave

[maplwrks]

I saw it as a typical sugarmaker that doesn't know what he is doing...He stated he's been there for 5 years, and like a lot of other sugarmakers, feels he needs to handle syrup 5 times before putting it in a container! That was some good looking mud in his finisher! What for the love of God was that on his drill??? Like it was said...an awful lot of galvanized equipment, must have come to VT during the lead scare of the late 80s to buy equipment!!! With all that being said, I was amused by the show!!

[KenWP]

How pray tell does a Amish person do a drive by unless is was a driven by as in a wagon. LOL you guys figure the terms used for things was weird you have to live around here then. They use pounds to measure syrup from a tree and a bucket is a chaudiere instead of a seau and a pot is a glass jar and it goes downhill from there.
I usually have a bootfull of sap a couple of times a week carrying it in a open top bucket but it dosn't help when I get hundreds of gallons and am in a hurry to cross deadfall and such to get it home. I would say the guy was to scared to let him near a RO or the realeaser as he might have wrecked that to.

[heus]

I guess I never realized how smug and sarcastic Mike Rowe is. Its entertainment though.

[C.Wilcox]

Anybody have a thought as to the age of the arch they were using? Looked like it had seem some serious use. I'm assuming the bricks that were sitting on top of the other bricks at the back of the ramp were there to create air turbulence?

In regards to the drill, I believe that was a section of PVC designed to keep a person from overdrilling the hole. I thought it actually looked like a decent idea. I did cringe when Mike drilled the hole all crooked though. Should have had him help make firewood for an hour or two or had him come back and scrub out the pans at the end of the season. That would have given him plenty of activity. :)

[PATheron]

He should come out to Pierce and Sons now and get the fast foreward version. He wouldnt be getting bored waiting for syrup to finish on my rig. I thought it was cool though too. Theron

[Buffalo Creek Sugar Camp]

There was a book published several years ago about maple sugaring in Somerset county. It talks all about the history of making syrup way back into the mid and late 1800's. There are a lot of old photos even of Wagners sugar camp. The book also talks about some of the terminology used such as keelers and spiles.
As far as Wagners Sugar camp goes, it was always a family run operation run by Sue that was on the show and her brother Dale who passed away several years ago. When he died, that Jerry went to work there and thats why he's only been there 5 years.

[zippy1wood]

filteraid,never heard of it but Im not a big time producer,But I drink lots of
beer and Im still ticking.Whats in it anyway? I will say also, the folks at the suger shack seem like real nice people and hard workers. I think mike rowe just tries to make show amusing,he is in way better shape than me but he
always seems week or tired compared to some older out of shape guys

[KenWP]

Filter aid is made of the left over bone and shells of tiney dead sea critters called diatoms which is why its proper name is diatomousous earth or something like that. It is used as a organic bug killer also as its so rough it casues the bugs to wear holes in there skins and die.
For filtering it seems to gather all the small particles into big ones so it dosn't plug up the filters so fast. We used to feed it to baby calves to stop scours also years ago. I haven't heard of anybody useing it in the last couple of years for that.

[red maples]

I just watched it and I wasn't really that impressed either. its really not that borring when your doing the work. hanging wire, stretching tubing, drilling holes and setting taps all day. loading the wood every 5 - 15 minutes. looked like it was pretty late in the season, no snow on the ground and looked like quite dark syrup and sap looked a bit cloudy. I think they said making syrup the old fashion way. but they didn't show the vac. or RO.

Man I get a little upset when I when I spill a drop of precious sap man he was spilling gallons!!!! those guys must of been biting their lip. oh well I guess its all about entertainment right!!! at least he got to brush the flues in the "furnace"

[maplecrest]

with three evaps sitting side by side, and using the one in the middle, that must have been the old r/o. i did not understand why they filtered it twice. i would finish on the rig and filter to the drum or draw into finisher then filter to the galv drum. who is watching the wood rig when in the finish room the charlott auto draw?my back got sore watching all the movement of syrup by bucket. all and all was great to see another maple operation

[Snow Hill Farm]

Like most of you I found it amusing but not really "dirty". The real nasty part is when you leave your evaporator full to let the bacteria work and clean it when it's 90 degrees in August and it has the consistency of snot, he should make another episode about that.....

[mountainvan]

What about cleaning tubing at the end of the season. That's the dirtiest job I have sugaring. And who still climbs into the evaporator to clean the flues? A long pole or cleanout doors by the stack. Riding on the back of a wagon to get sap, bad idea. I hope OSHA didn't see that show. Oh, and climbing hills, send him my way to climb some mountains! All in all I was not impressed by the operation or show.

[KenWP]

And of course they missed the absolutely worse job I bet. The work it takes to keep she who must be obeyed from walking out the door or burying you someplace after so many months of hearing about maple syrup and the equipment and the trees and the evaporator etc.

[zippy1wood]

I hear you there ken, my wifes sick of hearing about maple.
and the season isnt even here yet, although I was working on the
roof today.we cant drive anywere without me counting maples
as we drive along,or talking about maple. Im sure shes just going bla bla bla in her head.as I might when she speaks of some sale at coles:lol:

[vtmaplemaker]

I am some glad they are not tapping my bush, when you start in with the drill at a upward angle, and finish strait in, alls I can see is a vacuum leak!!!

[Haynes Forest Products]

I can understand the differant names for items from decade to decade I do get a kick out of it. Now as far as the filming and showing them sitting around thats fine because could you amagine them trying to keep up with anyone of us cooking, running, checking,testing, pouring, filtering, checking, dumping, filling, cleaning,eating, filling, swearing, picking up, and doing all that in 1/2 hrs time and having 5 camera men try and follow and stay out of the shot.............NAH

[Sugarmaker]

I watched the show and had more maple questions than answers. Even the wife said "whats that thing on the drill"? I had never seen any one or heard of anyone crawling in the front of the arch to clean the flues. But I guess it can be done? Yep thats dirty!

Chris

[TapME]

They made it look like all you did was wait for this and wait for that to happen. I wasn't impressed at all with how it was depicted by Mike Rowe( was trying to sell his show, not knowledge). Now the sugar maker, he made us all look like we are slow and lazy and I'm not like that. Just think of the millions of people that saw that show or are going to see that show in repeats and how those who do not understand about the process are going to think. I would think that the maple associations would be up in arms over this depiction of all us and the product(just my opinion).
The only good thing is it advertised maple products.

[farmall h]

I think Dirty Jobs is lacking material lately. He seems to get himself dirty on purpose. There is a reason why the brush is on a pole. Did you see him purposely smash the fire bricks out around the left side of the door? Surely the show pays for damages.
I didn't see any paint on him until he flung it about. Not impressed.

[Bucket Head]

Yesterday I was dissapointed that I missed the show. Today, after hearing the reveiws, I'm not dissapointed any more.

However, after hearing the reveiws, I am very sorry that the sugaring picture millions of people now have in their minds was put there by this guy. What a terrible diservice they have done to all of us.

Steve

[3rdgen.maple]

Steve I think from a sugarmakers perspective we could nitpick it all we wanted but to the average joe who does not know the process It seemed like it was okay. Heck they expalined they filter the bugs out of the sap and then it showed them filtering the syrup twice in a nice shiney filter press. Not to mention there kitchen was very clean and the equipment in there looked very good and they had on sanitary gloves as well. I think in the publics eye it would go over ok.

[maplwrks]

Did you notice the size of the filter press?? He only had a few plates in it. I think that was a 12" press, and was about 3' long. This place was definately set up for production, if they had the trees to support it!

[Haynes Forest Products]

I dont see any harm done. The average person out there doesnt have a clue about how Pure Maple syrup is made. The first thing most people ask me when they get a sample of my syrup is how much sugar I put in it. It goes to show how everyone has a differant way of doing things. Now me I would have had a metal cart with mag wheels for all the ash from the "FURNACE". I have been to farms where the snowmobiles are in a heated garage and the people are sitting in a cramped "Kitchen" smaller than a closet bottling syrup with there snowmobile suits on. OOPs "Snowmachine". I dont think that guy had a clue who Mike was. I think the kids set it up and old gramps was the dupe. Reminded me of the movie back to the future.

[Rhino]

I heard at the end of the show that they are running out of places to go that are actually "dirty jobs". Maybe the producers should think about changeing it to "a day in the life of............" They could of been alot more informative about the whole process. Haynes had it right about the list of things to do and what goes on. Many of you producers like us I bet "eat your lunch on the run".

[KenWP]

How could they run out of dirty jobs if they consider work being dirty. I am not a real believer of TV after my experience being put on a show called Market Place in the 80s that did a show on mobile home factorys and it turned out to be a farce when they showed up with cameras and had these complaints from two people who bought homes but never asked us for warrenty work. Our sales actually increased after the show because people figured we got caught so would improve.

[Bucket Head]

If you guys say there was no harm done, alright then. The reviews made it sound like the public got an "incorrect" take on syrup making.

I agree that most folks have no idea on how the process works. Hopefully they learned a little from the show.

I wish someone did a true documentary on sugaring. One that covered how the indians did it right up to todays reverse ossmosis process. Show the entire sap season- from putting up lines before the season starts to cleaning the equipment after the season. Then and only then will people see the process for what is really is.

Steve

[gator330]

I would have much rather seen it on "How It Is Made" Rather then on "Dirty Jobs." It is what it was, no harm done.

[Grade "A"]

I feel that Mike showed that making syrup is hard work and not everyone can do it. But on the other hand I am the asst. chief of my fire dept. and I still yell at the tv when "Backdraft" is playing. Not easy watching a show about something you do when they get it wrong.

[brookledge]

I have to agree that it would have been better if it was on how it is made vs dirty jobs. As I said before I don't consider making syrup a dirty job although it is a hard working job
keith

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

220- Does Mr. Brennamin(probly not spelled right) run a lot of taps? He comes up here and buys syrup at my buddy Richards place. Ive seen some huge releasers and things like that come in for him. Always wondered what exactly he was doing down there. Theron

Thereon,

Henry is my dealer and he bottles 1500 gallons a month for retail wholesale and makes quite a bit of syrup himself. He has a few thousand taps and I forgot to ask him how many when I saw him a couple of months ago. I know sometimes Amish get a bad name, but Henry is a great guy and a dealer for most companies and sells a ton of equipment as was already mentioned about the 650 rolls of tubing he sold last year.

Also, just done the road a few miles in Myersdale is Matlick Metal works ran by Elmer Beechy and he is cheaper than dirt for stainless stuff. I picked up a complete stainless stack including basestack for Larry Harris who is also a member on here for $ 208 for a 2x6 evaporator and he made a nice head tank for about the same price that was 75 gallons with custom lid and custom lid for hose built into the lid and he is Amish also and has made me quite a bit including hood for my evaporator and is a very honest Amish.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Steve I think from a sugarmakers perspective we could nitpick it all we wanted but to the average joe who does not know the process It seemed like it was okay. Heck they expalined they filter the bugs out of the sap and then it showed them filtering the syrup twice in a nice shiney filter press. Not to mention there kitchen was very clean and the equipment in there looked very good and they had on sanitary gloves as well. I think in the publics eye it would go over ok.


When it was all said and done, then that was the main thing. At least they weren't using oil cans like the pictures in VT.

[Smith's Maple]

Thereon,

Henry is my dealer and he bottles 1500 gallons a month for retail wholesale and makes quite a bit of syrup himself. He has a few thousand taps and I forgot to ask him how many when I saw him a couple of months ago. I know sometimes Amish get a bad name, but Henry is a great guy and a dealer for most companies and sells a ton of equipment as was already mentioned about the 650 rolls of tubing he sold last year.

Also, just done the road a few miles in Myersdale is Matlick Metal works ran by Elmer Beechy and he is cheaper than dirt for stainless stuff. I picked up a complete stainless stack including basestack for Larry Harris who is also a member on here for $ 208 for a 2x6 evaporator and he made a nice head tank for about the same price that was 75 gallons with custom lid and custom lid for hose built into the lid and he is Amish also and has made me quite a bit including hood for my evaporator and is a very honest Amish.


I have a slightly different view of Henry. I got shafted on the price of a new pan and R.O. I bought from him three seasons ago. After checking prices a few weeks after the purchase I paid $2,300 more than I could of paid staight from Leader. I am still waiting for the R.O. Soap for the machine. I had to have some express shiped here the day I taped. I have never been back since. Not to mention the three or four trips over there just catch him there to sell you something. I now deal with Bascom Maple farm, Maple Guys and Leader evaporator. I can drive up there and back for all of my equipment and still save money.

[Smith's Maple]

Out of all the camp's in the Maple belt they had to do the show there. There was no real numbers or explaination for what he was doing.

[maplwrks]

Sonofagun!!!! I knew we couldn't beat up this guy from PA with out mentioning the oil can from Vt.!!!! HEHEHEHE! 802 and I cured one guy from PA of handling his syrup 4 times before it hit the drum, maybe we could help Wagners! I wonder if they cut the handle off the flue brush intentionally? The only other guy I've ever seen crawl into a rig like that was Theron!! All kidding aside, It wouldn't have mattered where they did the show, we would have seen something we wouldn't do ourselves...

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Smith's,

Sorry you had problems with Henry. Guess I always know what the list price is, so I tell him and there is never been any problem and I have been dealing with him for 8 years.

First complaint I have heard on him. He is almost 4 hours from me. This year I bought 4 rolls of 1/2" 30p mainline in 400' rolls and I called him during early order and told him I wanted that price to get me 4. He said he already had a bunch in stock so when I went up in October, I told him what the early order price was and that was what I got just like always. If I tell him I want it in the early order period, then he gives me that price regardless of when I get it.

[maple flats]

I recorded Dirty Jobs and just watched it tonight. There didn't seem to be any concern for cleanliness (might be why it is called dirty jobs). Clean firebox and make a big cloud of dust to get in everything, eat the maple peanut candy off his glove with it still being over the main kettle, spill sap way too much, etc. If my operation looked like that I would be asamed to have a film crew or the general public see it. And just consider, Wagners likely contacted the show for the publicity. I think it was negative publicity that will backfire on them. By the way, the syrup in the "finish pan" looked like it had not been filtered at all and they showed it being filtered. My guess is they didn't mix enough filter aid or at least one of the papers broke. I like to see maple operations but this did the industry no favors.

[TapME]

Thanks maple flats for seeing it the way I did. How did he light the fire? With stuff the the EPA would be all over any company for in a heart beat. Was it just me or did everything he did look slow and humbug? And how about the teeth part, isn't that a great depiction of all of us. I can go on but I do realize that we all do things different but this was weird. All I can say if it was my company being portrayed I would put my best foot forward not my worst.

[jrthe3]

making real syrup was on how it made a few year back

[Farmboy]

The episode is on at 10:00. That is when the sugaring part starts. I'm watching it again and seeing if it's better or worse the second time. I'm guessing it will be worse.

Edit: Sorry it's not false info.

[220 maple]

Hey I'm Back.
As I said I was going to pick up more tubing, I showed up at Henry's about 7 pm on New Years Eve. Just like the weird Al Yankovic video living in a Amish Paradise. We had a party like 1899. Just Kidding!!!!!. Forgot to mention to Henry about doing a Buggy Drive By (KenWP). I visited with Henry And Rhoda for about an hour then got more supplies and headed home. However I noticed the lights was on at the Wagner Sugar Camp. I stopped to visit. Guess What. Sue and Jerry was filling orders that had just been recieved on her web site. She has requests for Hats and Tee Shirts also. So nitpick away fellow traders. The bottom line is and has always been the bottom Line. Everyone of us makes the "Best" syrup, just ask yourself who does it better?
As for how much syrup Henry makes I believe he makes over 1000 gallon a year. Yes he buys syrup every year. He told me one of the distributors that buys from him delivers to 32 states. This past year he bought 7 trailer loads of syrup. Do any of you traders have any idea how much it costs for tractor-trailer load of syrup. I should not repeat myself but the Bottom Line is the Bottom Line. My goal is to make more syrup so Henry does not have to go to Maine, up state Pa. and Ohio to buy syrup. I want to sell him a tractor Trailer load. Because that number is very large.

Mark 220 Maple

[3rdgen.maple]

Guys the show was on dirty jobs. Not how it was made. Dirty jobs shows the dirty side of people's business. The only dirty thing I seen was cleaning the flues and if that is all they can come up with compared to the hundreds of other shows, heck it is pretty darn clean compared to them. As far as what he used to start a fire it looked pretty much like a flamable liquid, gas, fuel oil,kerosene something along those lines. Heck how many people use oil fired arches, how many times have you guys put charcoal lighter fluid on your charcoal to get them lit? Give the guy a break. I am sure we all do something that we could nitpick the heck out of.

[maple flats]

My problem with how he cleaned the flues is that a huge cloud of ash was created with no effort to keep it out of the pans. They were wide open.

[Greg Morin]

Alot of pros and cons didnt portray the work involved very well but nice to see that the industry was on tv someone should getRatzenberger to do a show . I was amazed of all the Galv. stuff though. not like it was a backyarder

[Amber Gold]

I finally watched the show last night.

The number was 2,000...not sure if that's taps or trees.

The kitchen was very nice.

I too noticed there are 3 large evaporators, which seemed overkill for 2000 taps...maybe they used to be much larger? For that matter the entire operation (evaporators, kitchen, filter press) seemed overkill for 2000 trees.

I couldn't believe the size of the filter press and I too thought there was a lot of sludge in the bottom of the finishing pan for filtered syrup. I wonder if he ever produces light syrup w/ his current method.

There is a lot of galvi. being used...a lot. A lot of handling and spilling during collection (most of which is due to Mike Rowe...I wonder if he's really that clumsy/not careful or if it's just for TV?)

I too noticed that about the dust from cleaning the flues.

I cringed when I saw him tapping the trees. Did anybody notice he was using a brad point bit and not a maple bit?

I was glad to see maple hit the TV. I don't think it really applies to Dirty Jobs, unless it's the end of the season. If you go to anybody's operation there'll be stuff you'll disagree with.

[Dill]

If you go to anybody's operation there'll be stuff you'll disagree with.

Exactly I disagree with your extravagant use of metal roofing :lol:.
One odd thing with sugaring is very rarely do we get to see other operations during the season.

[Bucket Head]

First day back to work after the show aired, and I'm mentally exhausted. I was pummeled with questions all day long!

What was I asked the most? "What was the white stuff he put in the syrup?" Which was always followed with "You don't put that in yours do you?" ( I don't) Then came "What do you put in yours?" (Other than lots of hard work, nothing)

And then the big one, "So its not really "pure" maple syrup with that stuff added to it is it?" And sure enough, one of the health-food diet folks overheard this and asked, "If I'm buying organically grown maple syrup with that in it, its not really organic, right?"

Everyone, please, just leave me alone. Thank you.

Steve

[KenWP]

LOL actually filter aid is organic thats why its used for a organic bug killer in gardens. Really works well for slugs when you spread a line around the plants. That's unfortunate that they showed them using it with out a proper explanation of what it is and what it does.
I had to make sugar pies for our Xmas dinner at school and it came to me in time that I had to use crisco instead of lard for the pastry because I have Muslims in my class. My syrup is already kosher so it was okay. We had to ask everybody whatthey put in certain foods to find out what they could and could not eat at the meal.

[Haynes Forest Products]

The cool thing about all the sludge in the bottom of the finish pan is the amount of sludge in the finish pan:rolleyes: the sludge is filteraid and all the things you want to filter out. I use alot of filter aid SO WHAT it doesnt get past the filters. To those people that dont use filteraid what do you use in your press? I dont own a prefilter or a Orlan filter I burned the **** things and could'nt be happier:) So if I was selling a filter press that size for $100.00 would buy it:rolleyes:

[maplwrks]

Huh???????

[KenWP]

Huh???? twice

[Haynes Forest Products]

Well lets see we draw off as close to finished syrup as we can and we dump it in the finisher and we finish it. So far so good right. Then we dump in the filter aid as its boiling and we filter. Cool good so far. Then when the finish pan is empty of all the syrup Just what do you think is going to be left in the bottom of the finish pan???? A clean shinny bottom with no crud HA HA HA get a press and call Me 303 8105501

[maplwrks]

I don't have a finish rig--so ALL of my crud goes into the press, where ALL of the syrup is taken out of the crud!! When you graduate to finishing on the evaporator, call me!!!! HAHAHA!!!

[Haynes Forest Products]

Maplewrks so you dont use filteraid its out of the evap into the drums no filteraid. So tell me what im doing wrong. We cook all day and drawoff as we go and we get the syrup as close as possible and because we all take turns at the evap and pool the syrup in a finisher and when its full we bring to temp and make sure that its at density and we add the filteraid and we run thru the press into the bulk containers. I dont care what you call it if you draw off and put it in a container before you filter it its in your finisher. Whats your Phone number. Call it what you want we BLEND all the syrup during the day and it averages out if someone is drawing off a little light and the next person goes a little heavey it all works out in the end. I guess I like the method all the wine makers and brewerys use they blend it all. the product gets averaged out for consistancy.

[maplwrks]

Haynes--there are prodcers here in Vt. that don't use filter aid, their sugarsand is enough to do the job. I DO use filter aid, but I draw into a filter press tank that has a funnel bottom and all of the crud and DE goes into the press. I live in a state that has a grading system, and each and every batch is checked for density and color before sending it to a barrel or jug.

[maplecrest]

i have enjoyed you two bantering. haynes, when you reheat in a finisher you are making a darker product, heating it twice. use your finisher as a draw off tank hooked to your press add your filter aid as needed and finish on the rig. if make too much on first draw, start drawing a little light and it will balance out as you finish your draw.save a step and some time and money. some days i dont need much if any aid with the high sand. when you see sand in the bottom of the draw off tank, you do not need filter aid.maybe a new brass pump soon.

[farmall h]

Maplecrest, that's alot of taps. Yikes!!:o