Introduce yourselves....

[driske]

I'm a 57 year old WASP who was called to the world of maple as a young child. My early efforts were thwarted by burnt pots and loosening wall paper, but things are going better in my adult sugarnmaking career.
Currently our operation encompasses 10,000 taps of our own on leased and owned property within a half mile of our home. Sap is purchased from an additional 6,000 taps set by neighbors .
Processing is done in a 24x36 shed. R.O.'s are Full Flo(Darveau) and LaPierre, feeding a 6x16 Grimm and finishing on a 3x8 Crossfire from Small Brothers.
We had fired with wood until 2003, then transitoned to oil for 3 years. When the price skyrocketed, I went back to wood. I like the lower noise level, and having a fireman to keep me company on the late night boils.
Maple is my life. I have been blessed with a wife and 2 daughter's who support and lend a hand in making this a viable pursuit.
The gratification of spending my days in a cathedral of Sugar Maple is worth millions in my opinion.

[TapME]

welcome to the trader form the cold state of Maine. it shows that you have the love for sugar as did our forefathers. Keep that little operation going and don't forget to have fun doing it. Lou

[gator330]

driske, welcome to the trader!

It sounds like one heck of a operation!!! How much syrup did you make last year? By the sounds of it you can draw more a minute then I make a year!!!! Great to have you here. You just made my list of things to see in Wisconsin.

[Brad W Wi]

Where around Athens? I travel from Marathon City to Abbotsdford when I go to my place in Winter. I know of on place along 29 on the north side of the road that makes and sells syrup. I'd sure like to see your set up if possible.

[Horst Harmony]

Hi all!
I just joined Maple Trader. We have been doing maple syrup for about 8 years in central Eastern NY. Started on a little propane stove and dumped 90 gallons of sap because it didn't work. But..we were hooked. We switched to a 34 inch square pan and have been increasing taps and syrup - 25 gallons last year using a pre-heater through the stack and a blower. It seems we have maxed this system out and we are now looking for a 2 x 6. We have a couple dozen trees on our property and a couple hundred that we have access to on a neighbor's. I have 5 sons, the oldest makes most of the syrup. The younger ones will be recruited! I also have 5 daughters, some of these also help. Thanks for all of the info on this site.

[twobears1224]

i,am new here. i,am a 42 years old single guy that has been invovlded in sugaring scence i was born. my dad and uncle had a 3150 tap sugar bush for years.it was 3100 on tubing the rest buckets.the arch was a small brothers 5x16 (i think) raised flue.
my uncle got to old i got busy and was on the road alot and dad couldn,t handle it by himself so it got shutdown.
we had a few really bad storms and most of the trees got killed.i was sugarless for awhile and even tho dad bought 180 acres with alot of maples on it he didn,t tap.
once,i got a new job with alot more home time i got to thinking about maple again.i suffered thur a few springs then just had to tap.i tapped around 30 taps and did the turkey fryer thing.i made three gallons the first spring.it seemed soooooooooo good to smell that sweetness again.i tapped like that for two more springs then dad finely got the bug again.
that summer he built a new sugarhouse on his land,he used what he could of the old equipment.i made a trip to bascoms in nh and filled his pickup truck chucked full of ss pans,a vacume pump,cream machine,ect,ect,ect on the way home i had a releaser as a co-pilot.i had the bed full,the back seat full,the passenger seat full and the floor board covered..i bearly fit in the truck..lol we set everything up and made just over 300 gallons last spring on just over 1300 tapps.
this sugar bush is my dads but i help out if things get to busy.i have a job now that gives me alot of free time and i,am thinking about setting up my own.i only have 12 taps on my land but i,am thinking about renting trees.we have millions around here untapped.i know i could tap whats left on my uncles and i have other friends with untapped trees just up the road theres a whole bush that goes untapped and i can use it for three gallons of syrup a year.i think theres around 500/700 taps on it.
i,ve looked the sight over and had found alot of great info.i like how you folks seem to be "do it yourselfers" and build alot of your own equipment.i do alot of that myself.this past summer i built a cement mixer,a winch to use on a farm tractor to pull logs and now i,am building a firewood processor.i helped dad rebuild his old arch too.the tin was all shot and we redid it using 1/8 inch steel plate.it was a old tank from a firetruck..worked great and made one heck of a arch. once it starts to run i,ll take a few pictures and post them.

delbert

[BarrelBoiler]

Hello I was introduced to this site last year by my son and have gleened many ideas from here. In the process of turning an oil tank into an arch/stovefor a 2x3 baffled pan. As for maple in the blood, parents, garndparents, etc. made syrup but just for personal use so it was when needed baatch process. we hadn't done any for a long time until my sister move to new hampshire, had some maples around and dad got to thinking and.... that little old bug raiswed its head again. enjoy the site questions will be coming

[BackwoodsBill]

Hello to all!
just joined couple of days ago thought i would say hay! got married a year ago feb. turns out my brother in law sugars he showed me some basics and here i,am striking out this year myself always wanted to do it hope the wife will join in as its me and Katie my border collie so far just built an evaporator made from 100gallon pig propane tank will test in the next day have 25 taps and 100 yr old trees plus neighbors 50 acre woodlot turkey fryer as a finnisher plenty of milk jugs a sweat powered sap hauler that needs to loose some winter fat just want to have a good time doin it the old way lotsa work but have lotsa time wish old Katie could tap trees she gets from tree to tree a heck of a lot faster than this old boy I,am a long ways from being new you know ha! ha! i used to farm before retiring but miss the romance of harvesting from the land this sure will give me a good fix of that so here goes wish me luck its all a big experiment this season!

[Jeff E]

Welcome you newbies, and oldbies!!!

I love hearing the passion is there in people for things like sugaring. There is hope in the world!!!

[mhmaple]

Hi All,

I sugared with my Dad at my school to raise money for class trips - many of the kids chipped in, but we were some of the most regular. Late nights and the smell of sap steam mixing with woodsmoke got me hooked. Hadn't sugared again until this year (I'm in my early 40's).

A couple years ago I bought a 57 acre parcel that's mostly wooded, with a decent stand of maples. This year I put in a mainline and a few laterals and built a cement block arch with 4 boiler pans.

I did a first run last week, and today my kids and I had a ball boiling, hauling sap and wood, and being outdoors together. That's really why I wanted to get back into it. It was a great day, and I'm looking forward to many more.

Best wishes to everyone - I think in today's world it's a real blessing to be able to slow down and do some sugaring.

-Mark

[Jerome]

I just did a search on this thread and found that I have never interduced myself.
My name is Jerome and I have been addicted to maple since 2000 I started with one tap and a mayonnaise bucket. I now have 20 taps and would like more.
I live in Elmvale Ontario Canada where our syrup festival is at the end of April.
I have 100 sugar maples planted and they will be my retirement project.

[Stickey]

My name is Nick. I was often called sticky Nicky as a child and now that I have decided to try to make maple syrup that name has re-surfaced with friends and family. I WILL NOT EAT the factory "maple syrup" got to be the real stuff, pure sap from the tree to the evaporator. I want my kids to know where food comes from and how to produce it on their own. I understand that I have lots of work and possibly some frustration ahead of me but I have a feeling I am going to enjoy it and maybe even put some sweet in the fridge. If nothing else, "boiling sodas" are healthier than couch sodas...Right?

[Clan Delaney]

It is a... um... scientific fact that consuming a boiling soda burns more calories than it contains. It has nothing to do with the fact that couch sodas often come with nachos.

[Treetapper]

Hi, Joined yesterday. Have been doing maple syrup since about 1972 off and on. More seriously since we moved back to the farm. I cash crop in the summer, no livestock, so I am itching to get out and do something more constructive by late winter. ( I also drive a semi for a compressed gas company part time.)

I have a 2.5 x 5 flat paned, home made wood burning evaporator in a small sugaring house. I do between 100 to 150 taps per season tubed into 5 gal. pails. I am adding a blower to the evaporator this year, time permitting.

Looks like a great forum with a great bunch of people. Look forward to learning more from everyone.:)

[Haynes Forest Products]

Well STICKEY my kids have been helping with maple syrup from day one and if you ask them where food comes from they will tell you.........FROM McDonalds and money comes from a machine. Welcome back to the party.............you must be French haveing the "E" in your name ....................never mind

[Stickey]

French Canadian maybe;) I hope you bring you're own syrup for those Mcpancakes!! Tell them Money grows on trees, you just have to learn how to harvest and process it. LOL

[Dave Y]

Welcome to all the new members, I wish you luck with your maple experince!

[Paddymountain]

Hi Everyone,First off, this web site is awesome for anyone wanting to sugar!!
As for my name Paddymountain, its the name of the mountain right behind
our house. My wife and I have been married for almost 32 years, adult son
and daughter, 3 grandkids. We are starting the third year of our maple addiction! Year one a passive interest maybe 3 trees tapped, second year
29 taps( gave one to the daughter to try) carried all sap by hand, cooked in
ss kettle, this year we were ready, 60 taps, small leanto type sugarshack,
homemade 275 gal oil drum evaporator. Also we use Bobby to haul sap, our
Bobcat 722 skidloader, wife drives, I gather. so far we have made 5 gal of syrup, and are getting ready for the next big run.

Dennis & Ginny Snook

[w9dwg]

I don't know where you fellow sappers find the time to post on here, I'm too busy. I sure enjoy the discussions.
Dave

[fireBill]

Hi All,

Great website! Looking forward to interacting with all of you. The sun is shining here in central NY and the sap is flowing. Should be a big weekend.

-Bill

[Smitty]

Hello everybody,
My name is Allan Smith, been sugar'in since 1993. I have a small brothers
lightning 2 x 6 wood fired evaporator. My grandfather got me and my twin
brother (smitty76) into maple syrup. Started with a 30 x 38 homemade
evaporartor i built when i was 15. My grandfather and dad made maple syrup
40 years ago, when my grandfather seen our little homemade rig, he
jumped in to help. When we had our first season under our belt, he loaned
the money and thats when we realized how deep the water was, and we
have been swimming in maple creek for 17 years now trying to get to the
otherside (just can't shake this maple bug). So now it is just me, my dad,
my brother, and some really good friends (and i am very thankful for).
Looks to be alot of experience and knowledge on here, i am very happy to
be able to have access to a wonderful group of people. I guess i could just
keep going here for ever, i look forward to conversing with all of you.

Thank You
Smitty

[Davydd]

Hello all,

I am very new to all this. I have an acre and a half of a mostly natural wooded lot but my sugar maples are just coming into size large enough to tap. When I started building my house 27 years ago I took some neighboring saplings and scattered them around my lot and now some are ready. The lot was mostly oak, linden, basswood, cottonwood and long gone elm. I decided at the end of last year's season after following what the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum (just south of me) was doing that I should try it this year. So I monitored them and they started tapping Friday. I did the same in my yard with three trees. Here is a "phototorial" of what I have observed so far that I posted in my Facebook albums.

http://tinyurl.com/7fd8f8

The Aboretum sells plastic sack kits, spiles and books. I bought my stuff there and have a 7.5 gallon home brewing kettle and propane burner already.

Later this month the Arboretum will have a pancake breakfast served with maple syrup of course and will be giving the public tours of their maple syruping operation. Any novices in the Twin Cities should check it out.

[VoterVale Farm]

I have started my own farming business and Im trying to be as diversified as possible. I grew up tappin trees with my dad until I was 14. Im now 39 and have purchased an old farmhouse and figured life was waaaay to short to work a 9-5 job and have someone else raise my kids (daycare). we are a very small syrup producer. We had some old buckets in the hay loft (50) and have been putting out 10-15 each year. This year we have put them all out and need more as we have access to over 200 acres. We are trying to make it a go in the farming business and are in it for the long term and are willing to be patient. Here is our website http://www.votervalefarm.com
We have an old homemade evaporator and I lug the sap out of the woods in 5 gallon buckets, I am essentially a camel. I am willing to work and learn about the syrup business and the process. Our farm is located in beautiful Avon, Maine population 500.
Darren Allen
VoterVale Farm

[RileySugarbush]

Davydd,

We too got started after a visit to the mn landscape arboretum, back in 1995 or so, and bought our first 12 sacks and holders from them. We are tapping this afternoon down in eden prairie and will be putting in about 120 this year. It looks like the next week is going to be perfect for a good sap run, and we need it after that last arctic blast. We are only a couple of miles down the road from you on Riley Lake if you want to stop by.

btw, I think I recall your name from the PowerDraw/PowerCadd discussion groups. Same guy?

[KenWP]

I will have to pack sap with pails if the snow melts to much to use a sled for a half mile from my best trees. I moved from out west to Quebec just because of the weather and the fact I could mke syrup and grow fruit trees.

[Davydd]

Davydd,

btw, I think I recall your name from the PowerDraw/PowerCadd discussion groups. Same guy?

Yep, same guy. :)

[slammer3364]

Hello my wife and I just came in we boiled all day made about two gal of syrup. This is our second year started last year on a homemade arc and a sspann which we use for a pre-heat this year. We are right next to the Allg. Nat. Forest in St. Marys Pa. Got about 1oo taps on milk jugs use a 4 wheeler and my Jinma tractor to haul sap. Our son and grand kids help when their around. We have mostly reds tapped on our two acres of woods. We enjoy making syrup,also raise beef,goats chickens,and turkeys.We built a 14x22 shack and got a 18x48 D@G hobby evap. made 6 gal of syrup so far.Good Luck to all Tony and Joyce Sorg

[DanE.]

Hey guys, just giving a quick intro. Its been 20 years since I made maple syrup. Finally bought a place with some land and young maple trees. All winter long I have been making an evaporator. 18" x 36", with a divided finishing pan upfront and a divided drop flue pan in the back (18x18). I'm getting a 6-10 gph boil rate, but i made my pans too short, 5" and have to keep the demper closed most of the time. I sure I will be able to get much better once I weld up some taller pans. I have 30 taps in all on tubes. I never got the future sugar house cleaned out in time, so the arch is sitting in front of the garage. I have struggles with a few thing this year, including taking a sap bath when I transfer the sap to the back of the tractor, Not all self priming pumps are created equal; and getting the syrup from the pan to the bottles, right now it is a clumsy mess at times. After this season there are a lot of changes for next year, hopefully I won't wait until the last minute. Dan...

[wally]

hello.

i've been afflicted with maple sugaring for over 30 years. started out with a concrete-block arch and 2x2 flat pan set up in my folk's driveway when i was 8. been slowly improving it ever since. the current iteration of the sugar house was built circa 1987, and the pans were purchased new in 1992. it's still located at my folk's place, in sutton nh.

the setup is a homemade arch with stainless Grimm 2x2 syrup pan and 2x4 raised flue sap pan, wood-fired natural draft. we've averaged about 18 gallons of syrup per year since we started. today, we only run about 240 taps, all on tubing, but in the early 90's, we probably had close to 350 taps, with 75 buckets. we've never sold our syrup, just use it ourselves and give it away as gifts. we usually make medium to dark amber.

the majority of our 'bush is on north aspects, so we get a later run. brix scale has been pretty consistent over 30 years at 2.1 to 2.0 to start the year. best start was actually 2008, with content of 2.6 to start.

we always enjoy hot dogs, in the syrup pan no less :o , since we don't sell any of the syrup. i've also cooked a few porkchops in the syrup pan, and potatoes in the sap pan.

we collect the sap in 45-55 gallon juice drums, and load it onto either my '48 dodge or dad's ranger.

looks like this year's syrup will be a dark variety.

enjoy the run,

wally

[Taggart78]

Hello everyone. New member here. What a great source of information this site is. This is my third year sugarin' . My brother in law and I started out with ten taps and a pan on top of an old woodstove in the driveway. The sugar house is now up(But not finished), we have thirty five taps and are boiling in a 24" x 16" flat pan on top of a 55 gallon drum arch I made. I just bought a used set of D&G pans with drop flues in the sap pan. I won't get to use them until next year after I build a bigger arch. I can't wait!

We are located in Bow, NH on about 3.5 acres with a variety of maples. Hopefully next year we will be tapping the trees next door as well.

Oh ya, we also have five laying hens for eggs and two dwarf goats that serve no purpose but my wife wanted them.

-Marc

[Tug Hill]

Hello everyone, I live on the NY's infamous Tug Hill Plateau, I'm a industrial Forester, with a small Logging Business on the side. I really get cabin fever this time of year, because it is the slowest season for either of my businesses.

Made syrup with a homemade evaporator 20 years ago when my children were still at home. I own 600 acres of timberland and I'm going to get set up proper for the 2010 season and my grandchildren are going to help. Plan on running about 200-300 taps to get started.

This is a great informative site and I appreaciate any and all advice.

Tug Hill
Wayne

[3rdgen.maple]

TUG HILL got your message last night sent one back but yes you are more than welcome to come visit. Just give me a shout and we can set up a time.
And of course welcome to the trader you will find the info on here more than helpfull.

[SacandagaSyrup]

Hi all,

1st year sugaring (helped Dad about 20 years ago).
My wife got me 10 taps/buckets for Christmas, got them up and decided I needed more. I now have about 50 on a combo of buckets and tubes. Using my Fathers homemade 2'x3' drop flue pan on an open wood fire, finish on the stove.

[foursapssyrup]

hello everyone,
another new guy(s) here! this is a great site, extremely useful. i have learned a lot about syruping over the past 13 years i have been boiling, and this site has been a great resource. I live in bellingham, ma on a 25 acre parcel my father owns. a lot of sugar maples! we ran 40 taps this year, boiled about 400+ gallons, and made a total of 11 gallons of finished syrup. 1.5 gal light, 7.5 gal med, 2 gal dark.
we boil on a home built brick boiler, with a 2x1 preheater on top of a 2x3 main, then a 2x1.5 finish boiler. it's not pretty (found out i am in no way shape or form a mason with this one) but it keeps up with our taps just fine.
the past few years i have been building a sugar shack over it, each year getting bigger and better. it keeps us dry (though humid) and warm. sadly, i take it down at the end of each season (put together with screws, basically a big puzzle).
so I/we are the four saps syrupers. Myself, my father, my brother, and my brother in law.

here are a few pictures of our operation. enjoy!!

http://s301.photobucket.com/albums/nn77/prfakaharry/sugar%20time/

[Sugarmaker]

Welcome folks to the trader. I see some are seasoned and some are trying this syrup thing for the first time or its been a while. Great site to chat and learn about maple.

Regards,
Chris

[elmcreekmaple]

Hello All - A quick Intro - First year doing this not counting with my Grandpa 25 years ago. My friend and his family have 40 acres surounded by County land in which they have hunted out of an old hunting shack for about 70 years. I have hunted up there for almost 20 years as a guest. So some of us "younger" guys decided to tap some of the very mature maples on the 40, assuming that we would just tap a few and use a 55gal drum with a larg pan or a turkey fryer. I usually get focused on something and go overboard with things of interest, and this time my friend with the land did as well. He made the evaporator, we borrowed the pan, and over of head we went. Two weekends in and plenty of screwups, beers, and sleepless nights and we got about 15 gallons of Syrup. Our sap registered as 3.4% sugar content - not sure if that is accurate. We will change some things but I think we are hooked

[nas]

hi everyone

I am located just west of Milton Ontario where I bought a small farm 21/2 years ago. The property has about 15 acres of maple bush with an existing but very old sugar shack. There are 2 evaporators in it, one 3x12 D&G with old lead soldered pans, and a 3x11ish homemade arch with homemade flat pans. The sugar shack also came with about 300 aluminum buckets and about 500 spiles with lids. The first winter on the farm (07) I did 15 taps and boiled on the wood stove in the house. Last year I modified the homemade arch to use just the two 3x2 finishing pans, so it is 3x4. I did 35 taps that year. This year I did 50 taps and finished over 10 gallons of syrup. I hope to buy new pans for next year and try some tubing. I just discovered this site and love it already. I've definitely been bitten by the bug.

Nick

[woodbit]

Hello and thanks for a great site. Live in cumberland Count PA (S. central) on 15 acres of Heaven. We are Homesteading it. Just made 10 gals. of syrup for first time on homemade equipment. Learned alot attending PA openhouse last weekend. Have a million questions but a lot of time for that. we tapped 85 trees. think i was late in tapping had a poor year compared to most i see on here. But what a good time we had doin it. looking and plannin for next year already. Need to make a pan and a better arch. will use a 275 gallon oil tank and have a lot stainless for pans. Need help with filtering and bottling. used a hygrometer and thermometer to do this years. great color and wonderful flavor. people were standing in line to but it from us. I think i'm hooked. were is the Maple anyomonous meetings in my area?

[Clan Delaney]

Welcome to all the new members!

If you just joined, you'll find that most of us are winding down our sugaring seasons, and there's lots of chatter in the State specific forums from members who've been posting updates on their individual operations, large and small. Soon, we'll be moving on to all kinds of talk about what we're doing to get ready for next season!

Got questions? Ask 'em! Got a story? Share it! And make sure you set aside time in your busy schedules for hanging out here, because it's really hard to walk away from!

[fernwood2009]

HI Everyone,

Just found this forum about a month ago, and find it very intersting. This was an expansion year for me, as in the past making syrup was more for fun, family and friends. Sold a couple gallons last year without really trying, so decided this might be a good way to have fun making a little extra money.

As a child I was always out in the woods during sap season, mostly gathering wood. Now I am back at my childhood home tapping some of the same trees that my grandfather and greatgrandfather did. Have been using some of their equipment as well.

I appreciate the info everyone has shared regarding prices, as I had no idea it varies so much. Like the variety of people posting here and helping each other out with good advice.

It looks like there will be another week of sap here, as I started running good last weekend.

Elizabeth

[bpmorris]

Hi everyone, I located this site about a week ago and been living here ever since. My name is Brian and I am married to a very supportive and patient woman named Brandie. I have 2 wonderful children Jason(4yrs.)and Rachel(4months). I have been sugaring since I was 15, I am now almost 37 so I have been making maple syrup on and off for over 20 years. I Have a 2x6 Lightning Evaporator, 12x24 Sugarhouse (in need of some repair). This Year (2009) I am trying to get everything in shape to go at it hard in 2010. I have been using buckets for years but would like to switch over to tubing to take advantage of my very hilly land but that might have to wait a few years to save up some extra cash. I also started a small orchard with pear, peaches, plums, nectarines and cherry trees. also I have a very large vegatable garden that I plan on selling to local farm markets. So I am hoping with all three ( maple syrup, fruit, vegatables) I will be able to fulfill my goal of being totaly self employed.


Brian & Brandie Morris
Whitmarsh Hollow Orchards
Candor, New York
2x6 lightning evaporator
12x24 sugarhouse
100 taps (buckets) all sugar maple
when I add Tubing (400 sugar Maple & 300+Red maple)

[StewieSugar]

Thought it's about time I introduced myself and thanked everyone for the help.

This is my first year, and it was motivated by Doug at TreeJerks in central Wisconsin when he gave me a 19" by 51" pan this summer. It is old and dented (like me), but it was very generous and great motivation to get me going.

From there, my friend Todd got his high school shop class to design and build me a custom arch to match the pan. They were first-year shop students, but they did an incredible job, particularly considering they've never seen an arch before.

I then found this web site, and I quickly learned the basics. Dale (mtcrumpit) was incredibly gracious in sending me taps, tees, and tubing as well as giving me some advice. (you should be seeing pictures in the mail shortly)

From there, I headed out to the sugar bush, which is 20 miles from my house, so I need to haul out supplies everytime I cook. I've got 48 acres of mixed hardwoods in southeast Minnesota - an area known as bluff country. With a river cutting through it, I've got a 120 vertical bluff and several steep slopes.

The larger maples are on the northeast slope of a bluff. The slope is better than 50% grade (45 degree angle), and worse at spots. It sounds like a great place for gravity tubing, but I cannot get to the trees during the winter. Even if I did, I still need to hand carry the sap up the hill.

So, I picked a few easy trees to start with. I ended up gathering 180 gallons of sap, making 6 gallons of syrup.

Throughout the process, I watched and sometimes posted to the MapleTrader forums. What a great site! I've participated in several forums like this on different topics, but this by far is the best in terms of content, friendliness, and ease of use. Clan, MapleGuys, and everyone else that supports this forum - you do an awesome job!

Overall, my family (13 year old triplets and wife) had a great time this year, and we are looking forward to next year. I already have plans for doubling the number of taps and making several modifications to my evaporator. A sugar shack is in my head, but that might have to wait until year three.

To all, THANKS!
Pat

[Alty78]

Hey there everyone. I am fairly new to sugaring only my second year enjoying the thrill of it. My family has a lot of experience over the years of making maple syrup but took a break from it for 17 years because of too many other things to do on the farm. I was able to convince my father that we should start up again. So after countless hours and many days we were able to get our old syrup shed sorta cleaned up and in running use. We got some balk tanks moved in for storage because the old tank was junk and got our evaporator all cleaned up and reassembled. To start out for our first season back in the spring of 2008 we had about 800 taps out in the woods with buckets. It was a fun experience because the snow was about the deepest that my father and his brothers could remember tapping in. It made for an interesting week until the snow started to decrease. But it was a pretty good year for us we got about 180 gallons of syrup and we were able to make our cobbled together system work. So this year we upped the ante a little and had about 900 taps. Luckily my spring break lined up with when we tapped. Was able to get a few friends to come along for the adventure and we had a good sized crew and we were able to get everything tapped in less than 5 hours so it was a good day. I really wish i could be home more to help with everything this year but i am a freshman away at college and my college is over two hours from home so not much opportunity to go back. but so far the season has went pretty well have at least 220 gallons as of last report i have heard from back home. That pretty much sums up my experience so far.
I stumbled across this sight last week and have pretty lived on here the past few days. So much information to learn since i would like to put vacuum on some of our taps for next year and sometime down the road get a RO system since i would like to tap more in the future. Plus this year there have been a few too many mini marathon cooking runs. Will have to wait and see what happens. Keep up all the great post and information!

Alty

[Sugarmaker]

Welcome all new comers to the trader.
Alty78,Stewie...,bp...
I was once a new to this site also and it has really helped me improve my syrup making operation. I look forward to chatting with the many friends and learn a lot about making syrup on here.

If I can help drop me a PM or jump in on a string of comments in a area that is of interest or where you can help us learn too.

Regards,
Chris

[hardermaple]

Hello to all. I guess I'm in the Minor League of sugaring. No taps or evap yet. Helping out Hard Maple make some syrup. Looking forward to cutting wood, and next season.

[Minnesota Acer]

Hello one and all. I'm rather excited about this website, because I just started making maple syrup this year and I have questions and have already found good information on this site. A little about myself, is that I live in Cottage Grove, Minnesota and work as a biller. I'm in my mid-thirties and about to enter into my late-thirties. I've been an outdoor enthusiast for quite some time. I've never been married and have no children. I found out about this website from member SilverLeaf who's a friend I met in college. It's been in recent years that I became interested in making maple syrup, but it was this year that I made the commitment to do something about it. I took a crash course from the DNR at Ft Snelling State Park and then proceeded to tap two silvers in my parents' backyard. I had two taps in each and came up with close to 15 gallons of sap. I do believe I could have had twice that much because the trees kept dripping sap after I pulled the taps, but I became nervous that I'd pulled too much sap from the trees. I'm beginning to discover that it would have been alright to keep the taps in, but at the time I felt it best to let the sap go back into the ground and let the tree pull it into its roots. So, anyway, it was a lot of fun and I look forward to next year.

[northernbirch]

Hi all - My husband Craig & I (Jenny) are newcomers to the world of syrup. We're in our second season of tapping birch and mastering the evaporation process. We both work in the forestry field and spend majority of our time outdoors. Our trusty 3-year old golden retriever loves to follow us on any adventure!

We currently have a 100 taps and a Dallaire 18"x5' evaporator.

[red maples]

As well as many here I am new to sugaring. I taped a few red and sugar maples around my house, in east kingston, nh. A built a concrete block rig in my back yard. And got about 2 gallons of really good syrup. So now I am hooked!!!! I swear its like a cult!!! It very addicting my wife is sick of hearing about it. Now I am looking for an evap!!! building a new shed so I made it double the size to put in a sugar house and I am going up to over 100 taps for 2010. Thanks to all who helped with questions already.

Brad

[wv Rookie]

Hi everyone from Bill and wife Debra of 38 yrs. We live in the wonderful state of WEST VIRGINIA and are about to jump into mapling. First of all I know very little about mapling and we need all the helpful info.we can get. I'm getting ready for retirement in a few years and look forward to doing what we want instead of punching a time clock. Plans are for this year to purchase evaporator and build SUGAR HOUSE and get ready for 2010. I know this may sound like dreaming to the pros but were are comitted to doing this and with GOD walking hand in hand with us we'll succeed. By the way we have two grand sons age 9 and 13 plus grand daughter of 6 Months. Also have Mountain Cur squirrel dog thats one of the family. Any help would be much appreciated in advane.

[Fred Henderson]

Hi everyone from Bill and wife Debra of 38 yrs. We live in the wonderful state of WEST VIRGINIA and are about to jump into mapling. First of all I know very little about mapling and we need all the helpful info.we can get. I'm getting ready for retirement in a few years and look forward to doing what we want instead of punching a time clock. Plans are for this year to purchase evaporator and build SUGAR HOUSE and get ready for 2010. I know this may sound like dreaming to the pros but were are comitted to doing this and with GOD walking hand in hand with us we'll succeed. By the way we have two grand sons age 9 and 13 plus grand daughter of 6 Months. Also have Mountain Cur squirrel dog thats one of the family. Any help would be much appreciated in advane.

Welcome Rookie. Tells us some more of your plans like how many taps you are planning, buckets or tubing things like this and we can be more helpful.

[tessiersfarm]

Good luck WV Rookie

We do it on a small scale on our family farm and my 2 recomendations are buy the North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual, and keep it on a scale that allows you to have fun. A couple of years ago we tapped too many trees for our little half pint sized evaporator and it was nothing short of a long miserable season. This year we upgraded to a 2x6 with the same number of taps and it was wonderful.

Most of all have fun and good luck.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Bill and Debra,

Welcome to the trader and where are you located in WV?? You are welcome to come down sometime and I could take some time and help you out. My sugarhouse is located @ Dawson, WV in Greenbrier county.

[wv Rookie]

Bill and Debra,

Welcome to the trader and where are you located in WV?? You are welcome to come down sometime and I could take some time and help you out. My sugarhouse is located @ Dawson, WV in Greenbrier county.

Hi Brandon! We're located on the Ohio River, about 40 miles north of Parkersburg. We're considering a 2x6 evaporator and a 16' x 20' building , using a roojack instead of a cupola. What are your thought on this? We'd like to start out doing a few things right!!! We have a 3000 Kubota 4x4 tractor and a 3010 Mule for hauling and would like to try the tubing method at some point. We have an abundance of maple just sitting there....waiting..... We want to get started on the building ASAP and will be checking into an evap. in the next few weeks. Any suggestions on good source of used equipment? Thanks

[aunt stellas gardens]

I wanted to say Hello and Thank you for this forum.
My husband and I are brand new maple enthusiasts. We decided to try our hand at making maple syrup and we got about 80 gallons of sap and boiled down a spectacular brew. Produced about 2 gallons of light amber sweet syrup. We had our brothers, sisters, cousins, friends and Grandma come out for the event. It took us 2 straight weekends, plus lots of preparation weekends of reading, washing out milk jugs, more reading, collecting firewood, building a sugar shack out of shipping pallets, (which was a bad idea),it was a lot of work but very worth it. We are hooked.
I have 1 of several questions that I need to post. We had extra sap this year and did not want to waste it and we did not want to dirty the pan for 10 gallons of sap, so we froze it.
My question is, How long can the sap stay frozen? I wanted to maybe try and boil it this summer and see how well it works and tastes. Please let us know if this has been done before and if it has, is it successful?
Thanks again, Nancy

[Clan Delaney]

... building a sugar shack out of shipping pallets, (which was a bad idea)...

Hey hey now! Junky lookin' pallet-shacks got me through two seasons. The only bad idea was not building a proper shack earlier!

Welcome to the Trader!

[KenWP]

I froze sap all season for big ice cubes to keep sap cool. You can also use the sap to make ice tea or coffee instead of boiling it to syrup. Boil it down to about 3 gallons of liquid and then its sweet enough to use as a base for tea of coffee.

[aunt stellas gardens]

You can also use the sap to make ice tea or coffee instead of boiling it to syrup. Boil it down to about 3 gallons of liquid and then its sweet enough to use as a base for tea of coffee.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Ken,
This quote triggers another question.
How long will the boiled down liquid last? I suppose it needs to be refrigerated or frozen? One of the things I read about constantly is the sap and/or syrup spoiling because of improper boiling. I think I used the Hydrometor during the finishing process at least 50 times. The books make it sound like if you don't get the perfect reading then your syrup may turn out spoiled and possibly get moldy during the bottling and storage stage. As a precaution to avoid spoilage we had frozen the remaining bottled syrup. Am I being too paranoid about producing a bad brew?

Clan, the pallet shack was great at the start, but when the homemade 55 gallon drum (on it's side, with a frame welded on) would not get hot enough we added and added firewood until the shack floor began to catch fire. We were prepared for fire because of all the reading preparation we did so the fire was put out right away. That is when the operation moved to a pit made out of 16 cinder blocks in the yard, beside the shack. The shack served as a gathering place to stay warm by the drum.
Luckily we captured much of it on film and can relive this memorable experience for many years to come.
Looking forward to next years memories!

[220 maple]

WV Rookie,

Welcome aboard, I like Brandon make syrup in West Virginia, my camp is in Grant County, I also have trees located in Pendleton County that I tap every Spring. You have already made a very good decision by joining this message board. I also agree that you should purchase a North American Maple Producers Manuel. If your planning on have hoods on your evaporator a roofjack will work, without hoods you will probably need a cupola. If your near I-68 that goes east from Morgantown, I suggest you go to Henry Breenman's in Salisbury, Pa. to get any supplies you need. He has about everything that you will need if not he can find it for you. I would guess that its about a 40 min drive from Morgantown to Henry's. Also since you have this message board you can private message me. I'm not on the computer all the time but I check this site everytime I log on so I will respond to all PM's you may have. Along with WV Mapler and myself there is some others from West Virginia on this site. Plus there is several that make syrup but are not on the message board. Do you know any other syrup makers in your area of West Virginia?
I believe there are Two ladies that have a Bed and Breakfast Inn in Tyler County that make a small amount each Spring. Their web site is called the TWO LYNNS Bed and Breakfast Inn. If I can be of any help let me know.

[3rdgen.maple]

Welcome aboard Aunt Stella.
Am I being too paranoid about producing a bad brew?
If you hot packed your syrup and got a good seal it will last a long time on the shelf. Put your opened jar that is in use in the fridge. I have never frozen syrup and have opened 3 year old jars with no ill effect. With that being said raw sap is a different story. 10 gallons of raw sap is not gonna get you very far if you boil it down. As Ken said make coffee with it. If it is spoiled you will know in a hurry. Rancid smell and cloudy looking. I would however not make any sun tea with it. Letting it sit in the sun would be a no no. Boil it if you go with the tea idea. Personally I would water my flowers with it and wait patiently till next year. Oh by the way you are in trouble now. If you can't fathem giving up on 10 gallons of sap you have been bitten by the maple bug, Pretty soon you are gonna be looking for more taps, more storage tanks and a big bad butt evaporator, then an ro, more taps, a new dedicated sugarhouse, more taps and the list goes on and on cause it never ends from this point forward. Welcome to the crazy world that keeps us up at night on the MapleTrader waiting for the trees to give us that sweet sap.

[aunt stellas gardens]

I love this bug, probably the only bug that I like. The maple bug fever has now progressed to giving me dillusional thoughts such as: A huge sugar shack that is converted to a green house for the summer. Then there is that thought "maybe we could sell it" Start a new business get the kids started on a new venture. Can you make a descent buck at this? Can I quit my job and boil sap for 2 months! Time to take an aspirin and try and bring the fever down.:)
This forum provides me with plenty of entertainment.
Thanks

[maplecrest]

nancy, the frozen sap should not be frozen in the middle. natures r/o. poke a hole in the middle, drain out the sap in the center and finish it into syrup on your gas grill or stove. you could make a pint or quart.

[Sugarmaker]

Nancy and Mike,
Sounds like you need to get a large supply of aspirin. I have been watching sap boil for close to 50 years and it is still a hoot to gather the first run sap light a fire and hear the evaporator roar.

Regards,
Chris

[Gary R]

Aunt Stellas,

Money? I don't think this is it. You would have to have thousands of taps. For the sure pleasure of a hobbie, this is it. You made it and it's great. Have fun.

[220 maple]

Money

My amish equipment dealer in Pennsylvania told me there is a lot of money in Maple. Then he laughed and left it at that. I agree there is a lot of Money in Maple. I got the joke finally. There is a lot of money in Maple, its tuff getting it out of Maple. I know producers that do real good, they make alot of syrup and have ways of moving it at a high retail price. The rest of us do it because we love it.

Mark 220 Maple

[3rdgen.maple]

Guys keep it down a little if the wife finds out Im not making any money Im in trouble.;)

[thesweetlife]

Hi everyone allow me to introduce myself. My name is Adam and I have two little girls and great wife that is supportive of most of my endeavors. She is not a big fan of my flock of meat birds especially at "harvest" time. I live on a 200+ acre farm in central NH with way too many sugar trees. I own my own part time bundled wood business and sell to some local campgrounds and stores. I am a full time police officer for a small city and can sometimes find time to have a thought or two with the shift work. I hope someday to make a retirement business with sugaring and have it become a family tradition. My father and I have been sugaring since I was in footy PJs and hope to have my kids out there to.
Adam

[Maple Restoration]

Welcome Adam I hope you find the site as informative as I have, theirs a bunch of great people here always willing to help with information.

[Clan Delaney]

You've found a great site, Adam! Welcome!

We're dipping our toes into a flock of our own. Starting with two. Eggs and meat, not pets. Oooo! Do you have a Whiz-Bang plucker to take care of all 200 of those freezer-stuffers?

Kids are great! They can carry all kids of things! :lol:

[darkmachine]

My name is Jake Eberly, I live in Wardensville, WV. It's just a little speck in the eastern panhandle of the state. Last year was my first year making maple syrup. My friends and I did it on my 200 acre family farm. All but one of my friends have gottan a real jobs, or are planning to get them. So it's just the two of us and our wives for the second year, we got addicted. Hopefully all goes well this season, we did 112 taps on buckets last season, and are planning on 400 with buckets and maybe a 100 on lines this year. Jumping in with both feet!

[buxtonboiler]

My name is Pete. I started sugaring when my oldest son asked if we could 3 years ago. Now, me and both my sons have been bitten by the "bug" and are totally infected. I really enjoy the quality time we get together, just talking away while our sap boils. We have slowly grown from 30 taps boiled in a turkey fryer ( 3 bottles of propane and 1 gallon of syrup) to now going for 100+ for 2010 with a real evaporator YIPEE!.

[Jeff E]

Welcome y'all!

They say H1N1 is contagious, but they have no idea about the Maple Bug and its incurable infection. If CDC every looks at this site, they may need to rethink all things viral.

[wolfram]

Good evening, everyone. I promised not to boil in the kitchen again so I need to prepare. Thanks in advance for the help. I sure hope that I can contribute something of value. Now, where is that search button....

[Gumlaw's sugar shack]

I'am Todd I live In mooers n.y. It's a small town In northern n.y. about 5 min. from the canadian border. I have sugared since about 14 yo. on and off. My wife and son started back up In 2008 in the garage on a wood stove 25 taps on buckets. Last year with help from some fellow sugarmakers we bought a oil fired 2x6 rig and about 150 buckets. I'm now in the middle of building a new 12x16 shack for this season. I also have leased 3 large bushes this past summer and picked up another 350 buckets. Yeah It's hard work but oh what friends will do for a gallon of syurp. P.S. Great site Great people.

[aunt stellas gardens]

Personally I would water my flowers with it and wait patiently till next year. Oh by the way you are in trouble now. If you can't fathem giving up on 10 gallons of sap you have been bitten by the maple bug, Pretty soon you are gonna be looking for more taps, more storage tanks and a big bad butt evaporator, then an ro, more taps, a new dedicated sugarhouse, more taps and the list goes on and on cause it never ends from this point forward. Welcome to the crazy world that keeps us up at night on the MapleTrader waiting for the trees to give us that sweet sap.[/QUOTE]
We did it! Over Labor Day Weekend we used a stainless chaffing dish and boiled down the frozen sap. I could not fathem the thought of watering my flowers with that addictive liquid. We got about 3/4 of a pint and had a good excuse to sit by a fire and perfect the homemade evaporator. It took about 5 hours start to finish. It's hunting season and I keep hinting that we need to tap the hunting grounds next year (167 acres). but, I'm not getting enough support for that huge project.

[Sugarmaker]

ASG,
Let me guess Eighty Four PA is where the first 84 Lumber store started?

Chris

[aunt stellas gardens]

Yes, home of the original yard. I believe history has it that this town was stop "84" on the railroad. But, don't take that as fact, I'm not totally sure.

[Indiana]

Well, I'm in Indiana. Near New Carlisle to be exact.

My first year sugaring was the spring of 2009. Yes, I'm hooked. I've always wanted to do it, and this year I decided to give it a shot. Using 2 Gordon's catering pans resting on concrete blocks I managed to boil down 1.5 gallons of syrup from 6 taps. There was a lot of scorching, and a lot of smoke in the eyes, but enjoyable none the less.

We hot packed the syrup into pint and 1/2 pint jars. Everyone we have taste or give the syrup to LOVES it.

I've been all over the site after stumbling on it by accident. Admin; Thank you for creating the site, and all the great information. I'm looking forward to the spring of 2010. (once I get a new pan and build some sort of decent arch.)

Mike

[The Birdman]

Another Indiana syrup addict second year. bought used leader 2x6 in september. It had been 30 years sence I last step foot in a sugar camp. When I thought about makeing syrup I could smell the sap boiling, just like I walked in to the shack. Funny how a mans memory works.
Pat

[Saw Filer]

Hello everyone. I have been sugaring for 7-8 years with my two boys, they are12 and 15 now. We have been reading this forum faithfully for four or five years. We want to thank the Administrators and all the wonderful people who post on this site for all the great ideas and info that you have available here.We started with five taps in the back yard just to show the boys how it's done.We have been using a Leader Half Pint for the last three years,in the driveway.Did 100+ taps last year with a neighbor helping us boil.We are trying to finish a 12x16 post and beam sugar house for the 2x6 that we bought in the spring. Hope it's ready by Feb. Again, thanks to everyone, we might have got this far without you but it surely would'nt have been as much fun.

george

[Fred Henderson]

Welcome George. We are glad to have you are your crew aboard.

[LarryP]

First time sugaring, just built a small hobby sugar house this summer and have to get the arch set up but we're gaining. Have about 30 acres of hard wood, not all sugar maples but, maples..This spring is going to be a learning experience for the does and don'ts..

[Sugarmaker]

LarryP,
Welcome! Enjoy, Lots of good folks here to help with questions.
Chris

[mapleack]

Welcome to Mapletrader!

[michelle32]

Welcome to the addiction. May there be BIG SAP in your future.
Keith & Michelle

[Round Mtn Mapler]

Finally a member...
Gonna tap 50 trees this season... Hopefully all maples!

[michelle32]

Mtn if your not sure about the trees now is the time to get out with your surveyors tape and mark them for spring. You may find you have more than you think and this will give you time to find the cash to expand. May have a lead on a used 2x6 that needs work. I'll let you now.
Keith

[TapME]

Finally a member...
Gonna tap 50 trees this season... Hopefully all maples!

welcome to the site. It's all about havin fun and making the sweet.
Next question, where in Maine are you.

[boondocker]

hey everybody i just wanted to introduce my self, i have been on this site for awile but just signed up today. i have been sugaring for four years and evey year it keeps getting bigger. started with 10 taps and a turkey cooker, and now 220 on gravity in a brand new post and beam 12x20 sugar house cookin on a 2x6 custom evaporator. { leader clone} and a custome built stainless steam hood. i got bit bad i guess but it just too much fun. my wife thinks im nuts but any reason to be outside hiking around with my dog is as good as any.......

[3rdgen.maple]

Welcome to all the new members. I cannot believe how many of us are out their. I am thinking this maplebug is turning into a pandemic.

[LarryP]

LarryP,
Welcome! Enjoy, Lots of good folks here to help with questions.
Chris

Thanks Chris, I'm sure I will have a lot of questions..The first Saturday in Nov. I'm going to a tubing seminar at a local sugar makers should be very helpful...
Larry

[Jim Brown]

wewlcome all new traders great info on this site

3rdgen; A pandemic!! I wonder if we can get a federal money for that?(LOL)


Jim

[Buffalo Creek Sugar Camp]

Hello everyone. I thought I would make my first post and introduce myself. I have been reading this forum for some time now and wanted to be a part of the action. There is so much great info and hopefully I will be able to share some of my thoughts and information too. Working on maple, having fun and hopeing for a great season that is getting closer everyday!

[KenWP]

Some of you guys have neat screen names. Haveing no imagination what you see is what you get. Nice to see new guys join that have the same problems I do.

[Round Mtn Mapler]

welcome to the site. It's all about havin fun and making the sweet.
Next question, where in Maine are you.

Cherryfield Maine

[Maplebrook]

We're from Nova Scotia and call ourselves Noble Family Maple Syrup. We started in 2001 with 22 taps, a coleman stove, 5 gallon canner and a steep learning curve. We've expanded every year to the present operation summarized below. Got the bug bad, now looking for acreage to go commercial for a retirement project. We enjoy sharing the maple experience with anyone who visits.
I've been following the forum since last season; always great discussions and I hope to share some of our experiences here too!

See you on the forum!

[flooder]

i hope this place isnt too full for another newbie

[brookledge]

Flooder
Never to full. Welcome aboard. This forum is very informative.
Keith

[hurryhill]

hi im nate im going on my 2nd season and have bought a evaporator then sold it and am now building a brick 2x6 arch . we are going to be building a sugar house(leanto type deal)and am hopefuly going to post some pics.if you guys are wandering how i started, it was at school we were reading a book called MIRICLES ON MAPLE HILL and thats whats started it.then i started buying equipment and got books like backyard sugaring and have been up and down the road collecting sap. but in later years i hope to have a bigger operation and to have a big sugar house but guess ill have to wait.

Nate,

Come see my museum. Sundays 2 - 5 pm I feature the book Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen that you read. I have referenced all the characters and places in the book. MMH was written here in Edinboro PA and is about a real sugarhouse in NW PA and sugarnmakers can learn the "art" of making maple syrup by reading MMH. How wonderful that you started making syrup as a result of reading this fine Newbery award book.

Janet M. Woods
Hurry Hill Maple Farm and Museum
11380 Fry Road
Edinboro Pa 16412
4x14 Leader Special for 800 taps
all wood/all lanterns/all buckets
2009 PA Farm Show Premier Exhibitor and Best of Show
Edinboro PA

[Sugar Maple]

Hello to all.

This is John retired moved to our tree farm in S.E. Ohio have a nice stand of sugar maple all mixed hard woods. About 30 yrs. ago living up north built a evaporator & flat pan out a of 55 gal drum 25 alum 7/16 taps gal jugs made for the table, 3yrs other demands came up the sugaring ended. Run into a 2x6 leader spring of 09 used got the bug again, in the process of building a sugarhouse 16x32 roof is on hope to get the evaporator boiling 2010 season right now rebuilding arch the old tin had served well replacing with ss steel. Need to get the chimney up in the sugarhouse maybe throw up a few tarps to block the wind and we might be ago. Just me and wife plus friends to help.
John
Help! plastic or aluminum spouts? 5/16 or 7/16? Looking for storage and gathering tanks. Do the sap sak work? Any help will be welcome.

[maplemat1]

hi name is matt work in off season as a excavation labor and operater .live with my wonderfull girlfriend dawn . started out helping amish neghbor gather sap when i was five yrs old . in high school shop class made a barrel evaporater with 25 taps . my dad has run a # of different bushs around the area . i now run alot bigger bush started about 6yrs ago set up a deal on shares to run a bush started with 850 taps and a 4x14 with preheater fuel oil. now on tubing and a 3x10 max with r.o. and about 3500 taps still setting everything up right now and learning all over again . have 2 beautiful kids age 14 and 9 withmy ex wife .the bush is run mostly by myself and a few great friends once and a will. have won the geauga county maple festival contest once for best syrup and took srcond twice for the namsctwo years in row

[Gary R]

Sugar Maple and Maplemat1,

Welcome to the trader. Lots of great people and information here. Studies have shown that 5/16 will produce just as well as 7/16. There is considerable less damage to the tree using 5/16. I am using aluminum spouts. I like them but if I buy more, I would probably buy stainless. Easier to clean and last forever. Happy New Year!

[farmall h]

Flooder..another VTer in the mix. Very informative site.

[Sugarmaker]

Welcome to all the new folks and families.
Some locals: like from Edinboro PA and SE Ohio and Middlefield OH.

Probably one of the hardest things is jumping in on a hot thread that five of six folks have a grip on. Don't be shy. Its like boiling sap, not for the weak of heart. There are so many ideas here that have helped me of the years.

Good friends and good folks.

Regards,
Chris Casbohm

[Candyman]

I'm new to posting, not sure how it works yet. I've been "playing the game" for 10 years now enjoying every minute of it, (I also have a very understanding wife). Started out with a 14" x 24" pan I had made set up on a propane gas two burner stove. Couple years later I bought a Leader 1/2 Pint. This summer I purchased a Maple Pro 20 x 66, I have hit the "Big Time" for me. Got it all set up in my 10'x12' Shack and I'm ready to go. I'm heading up to Verona NY this Sat. to the conference. Hoping to gain more insight. I'll be reading this thread as much as possible in the future. Good luck to all and hope you have a great season.

Bruce

[Sugarmaker]

Bruce,
Welcome! And enjoy the maple trader experience. You have made some good progress over the years and are hooked pretty good!
Hope you have room to add on to the shack!
I know, I have considered two additions, one on the front and one on the back of our existing 26 x 36 sugarhouse.:)
Chris

[umpwood1]

Hi All...I'm Woody from cental PA. When I was about 14 I would help an old farmer collect sap. It was a cool after school job. Over the past years I wanted to give it a shot. Well, this year I started thinking more about it.
I figured I'd get a couple buckets, tap some trees and boil some syrup.
THEN I FOUND THIS SITE ! Holy man..I had no idea there was so much machinery and stuff. Evaporators, raised flue pans, drop flue pans, stainless steel this and that, arch evaporators, filters, thermometers, hydrometers and on and on.
Well, now I amd in the wood every free moment hunting down sugar maples. I have about 250,000 trees marked and no evaporator or pan. :o :lol:
I do have several surgar maples marked..I had no idea there were so many close to the house.
Anyway..Thanks for having me and thanks in advance for any question you may answer.
And by the way, I'm sure I have used some of your maple syrup over the years.
Regards,
Umpwood1

[KenWP]

I made the same mistake. I figured you boiled sap down and made syrup. Easy right. Then I found out you boiled down 40 gallons plus and made syrup. Then I found out you did it very slowly in a SS pot. Then I found out you had to filter it slowly. Then I found out it's very addictive and even thou it's bad for your health and family life and pocket book you just keep on going and going and adding on and fixing and trying to make more and more until you get put in a nut house or join Maple Traders and find out your sort of normal like a whole bunch of nut cases. PS helps to find a few phone numbers and when you want to boil phone somebody quick so they can help carry buckets.

[unclebuck]

my name is tom and I started sugaring in 1996 with 5 taps and 5 1 gallon milk jugs with a turkey burner on the back deck.been through alot of changes over the years (trial by fire) litteraly one day I just finished filling up my homemade evaporator and went to shut the front door and a log was out a little to far and when i slamed the door shut it hit the log and the door broke it's weld.It's fun welding with flames nipping at your face.
today are sugar house is 24x16. I bought a 2x6 leader drop flue american pans with a wood saver blower.last year we added an uv light and built a air tight arch front. This year we just installed a stainless smoke stack and a leader steamaway. we test boiled with water last weekend and got 42 to45 gallons an hour then talk about hot water holy cow did not expect so much.
Can't wait to do it for real
Owner of uncle bucks sugar house in southern R.I.
Hope fully start tapping in 4 weeks
By the way just found this site and I've learned things here that were afriad to ask GREAT SITE and HAppy New Year may everyone make as much syrup as you need

Tom a.k.a. Uncle Buck

[farmall h]

Evening all, been posting comments since I signed on in December...better introduce myself. My name is Bob and have been sugaring with my folks since I was a teenager in 1978 give or take a few years. When the folks bought the dairy farm in 1970 there was a pile of rotten wood and buckets in the middle of the bush. To our surprise that was the original sugar house! My father and uncle "Rolaids" built a 24 x 24 or so shack and salvaged the arch frame, bought a Waterloo 3 x 10 I believe and started making syrup. My father grew up sugaring so I guess it was in his blood. We roughed it! No electricity..lanterns for light and had to carry sap from 600 buckets to a galvanized tub then pumped it to a tank in the sugarhse. I can remember many late nights boiling after chores.
1989 we sold the 3 x 10 to our neighbor up the road and he still uses it to this day in his "new" sugarhse. 1990 bought the new 4 x 12 waterloo at a liquidation auction and built a new sugar hse at the bottom of the hill. (pretty much in my back yard) Stopped sugaring in '96, went to logging instead. But before I parted with the skidder I thinned the bush of all softwood. (squirrels were the enemy) Of course I kept seeing $$ everytime I saw a veneer maple. Kaching! Got a real job in 2000 (health insurance ya know). Anyway started back to boiling in 2002 with all new lines and keep improving every year. I believe there is a potential of 3000 taps.
Its great to read everybodys input on the many topics presented. Didn't realize there was so much valuable info out there. :o

Respectfully,
Bob

[sugarstone]

Hi.
I'am 36 years old, married with a 4yr. and a 2yr. old. My wife and I are both Registered Professional Foresters. I am a consulting Forester operating a silviculture contracting company (since 1996-Tree Marking, Brushsaw, spraying, everything pre/post harvest except big tree plants) and she works for the gov.

Hobbies are lumberjack sports (mostly doing shows with Westcoast Lumberjack Shows here in Ontario and a few comps/year...how I met my wife as she was on the University team!), hunting deer/turkey, and tinkering with work around the farm.

I have about 12 years experience with tapping, repairs and 5 with tubing layout...1 big season experience with processing.

My wife and I bought the small hobby farm that I grew up on south of Trout Creek, Ontario. My parents severed 4 acres off the 70 and live "over the hill". Outta site but close enough for baby sitting...convenient during the sugar season!

Last fall we had the opportunity to purchase the neighbours 104 acres and the maple syrup equipment. We pounced on the sale and made 400 gallons last season. This was a record for the history of the operation.

We currently have 2350 taps, half on health spiles, half with 7/16's. Will be re-aligning the tubing in order to vac to one tank. Currently set up with a Lapierre Double-Mechanical Releaser,DeLaval pump, and one Lapierre Booster. Planning on possibly going electric.

New Shanty is built 200 ft. from the house (poored slab, gutters, 200amp service, 12ft. ceiling, steel roof, and partially heated with existing Heatmor wood furnace). Shanty is 2200 ft. from the existing pumphouse and about 60ft above it. We are a little nervous about how that will go.

Currently using a 16x5 converted to oil Waterloo arch. Production per hour last season was 200gal/hour, ratio was 3:1 if my math is right. I like the idea of using wood instead...dreaming of the Force 5. Evaporator is 3 years old (steam hood, pre-heater). I finish in a 5ft propane finisher morning after I boil, filter and then bottle if I have time. We have plans on getting an R.O, filter press and bottling unit to speed processing. Would like to put most syrup into drums and bottle most later. I want to make more time to walk lines during the run. Always something to fix.

Wanted to schedule a harvest of the bush but sawlog markets are poor and I think I can get a few more years out of the tubing. Even though everything is layed out wrong and I hate the 7/16 spiles. Bush will be tree marked by myself (13 years experience with that).

After working with other syrup makers in the area I knew I was eventually going to be making syrup myself. We are really enjoying it so far and love the "community atmosphere" that exists. Everyone wants to help the other guy and all operations big or small have great ideas..all doing it differently. REALLY looking forward to having my kids around to help too!

Looking forward to learning from the members on this site!

[DMahalko]

My name is Dale Mahalko and I live in Gilman, WI. I am not involved in making maple syrup but instead I am here because I am interested in the history of agricultural technology, specifically the washer / releaser device.

I have a hobby of documenting farming technology on Wikipedia, and if you look up various farm devices on Google, usually the first search result will include something with my pictures or videos. Just look up "silo" or "baler" or "milk pipeline" or "dairy step-saver" on Google.

-

There is generally just nothing on the Internet about the history of the Bender Step Saver and Washer / Releaser and that is something I am trying to correct. Just today I managed to figure out that the Bender manufacturing company still exists in Hayward, WI and gave them a call to find out more about them. (They don't make releaser parts anymore so they probably won't be able to help if you call.)

I am currently trying to find a farm somewhere that still has a releaser installed and/or in use so that I can take some pictures of the equipment and also make a video of its operation. But if I cannot find any such old milk system, perhaps a maple syrup operation might be willing to let me document their equipment?

-

The Wikipedia step-saver article has my drawings of what the Bender step-saver and washer-receiver looked like:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Step-Saver

I hope to expand this much further, perhaps with the help of the Bender Machine Works in Hayward, WI or any other people interested in the history of dairy technology.

- Dale Mahalko

[farmall h]

Welcome aboard Dale, my folks operate a small dairy farm (50 milkers) and we used the Bender relaese jar in our milkroom for 25+ then installed the pipeline milking system. We referred to it as a "milk transfer station" which included a dumping station. The dumping station consisted of s/s roundcart with an inner flat filter (replacable). The milk hose connected to it was at least 100ft long so one could unravel it to the furthest point in the barn to start milking. Once done milking the unit was washed by switching the vacuum/feed hoses from top to bottom and hot tap water w/milkroom cleaning solution was cycled for about 10 minutes then flushed with cold water. We still have the dumping station and I have been tinkering with the smaller of the two releaser jars to create a larger releaser w/o spending lots of money.

[lpakiz]

Dale,
There is a farmer near here who uses a Bender Releaser. He's about 10 miles South East of Thorp. If interested, I can get more info. Real nice guy...

[DMahalko]

I would be very interested to find someone close by who still uses the step-saver and/or releaser. Thorp, WI is only about 25 miles from where I live.

- Dale

[lpakiz]

He's about 4 miles east of Thorp on 29 to County Hwy "O", then south about 3-4 miles.

Phone is 715-267-6685
N12449 County Hwy "O"
His name is Mark. Be prepared to talk...

[LawnMowerMan]

Hello!

Well I am not a large producer like so many of you, in fact my 6 year old asked me where maple syrup came from and instead of telling her (well which I did as well) I am going to make an attempt at showing her.

So this will be my first year, I bought a few taps (used on ebay) a few buckets, saved some milk jugs and in a few weeks I will be off! Nothing fancy, just the basics, hope to make enough for my own use, as well as some gifting. One good thing is that time of year I am really not that busy, I do lawn care and snowplowing so really that is my "Off" season.

I live here in West Michigan (Near Spring lake, Grand Haven area)

Good to finally find this site instead of random internet searching, so much to read, I will be here quite a bit in the weeks and months to come.:)

[Fishgill]

I've been reading and researching on this site for a year now. Me and two of my friends started making syrup last year on a 55 gallon oil barrel with 30 taps. This summer we made an oil tank evaporator and had a 2 x 4 pan made for it. We are shooting for 100 taps. We took a ride to Bascoms this week and that didn't help any :lol:. This site has been very informative. Thanks for all the great info.:)

[MartinP]

Welcome aboard LawnMowerMan. You will find lots of useful information on this site.
Where do you live in Grand Haven/Spring Lake area? I am on the north side of the Lake.

[LawnMowerMan]

Welcome aboard LawnMowerMan. You will find lots of useful information on this site.
Where do you live in Grand Haven/Spring Lake area? I am on the north side of the Lake.

I am actually in Nunica, usually no one knows where it is so I just say Spring Lake/Grand Haven.

Most of the work I do is in Spring Lake/Grand Haven/and on up to About Sherman Ave.

Nice to see a neighbor here!:)

[wnybassman]

My name is Noel Good and I have an addiction. I guess you guys have probably heard that before. I live in Covington, New York in NE Wyoming County. I have been making backyard syrup for about 10 years now.

I started with a single stock pot on a small boxwood stove. That system lasted approximately one boil. LOL Went down to the lumber yard and bought some cement blocks and used those for a couple years, with a single galvanized washtub. I know I know, galvanized, I'm getting to that.

The next year my neighbor came over and asked me if I had a use for some GIANT fire bricks/blocks that he was using for a retaining wall. These blocks are approx. 16"x16"by10" and were used in a commercial kiln. "Heck yeah!!" I said. I made a fire pit into the side of the bank (not much level ground at my house) with a "firebox" size of 20" x 48". Over the next few years I added an additional galvanized tub, a warming pot, a smoke stack near the top of the rear of the firebox and I ramped up the dirt in the firebox to somewhat force the heat to the pans. I also had a 1/4 piece of plate steel cut for the top with plasma cut-outs a tad smaller than the pans. It ended up being a fairly tight system. The best year I had with the system was 6 gallons of syrup, and I actually pulled the taps because I had enough. More often I make 4 1/2 to 5 gallons.

Yes, I used galvanized washtubs. Didn't think anything of it, and most of the literature I read on syruping was obviously outdated saying it was OK. Not until I found this forum a couple week ago did I realize the potential dangers, especially with my 4 year old son that LOVES syrup. Today, I ordered a 2x4 pan from Paul at Stainless Steel Creations. He came with enough positive recommendations from this forum so justify the purchase. I had him make a couple modifications to the pan to suit my needs, still gonna be a batch pan for the most part. This is WAY more than I have spent on this hobby, so I am a bit nervous.

With this addiction, I am also a tournament bass fisherman (www.wnybass.com) and I am hopelessly addicted to ice fishing as well. My plate is generally pretty full. Did I say I had a four year old? LOL

Anyway, below is a few pictures of my past set-up and results and am looking forward to evolve even further over the years.


http://wnybass.com/miscphotos/syrup_pictures/outdoor1.jpg

http://wnybass.com/miscphotos/syrup_pictures/outdoor3.jpg

http://wnybass.com/miscphotos/syrup_pictures/inside.jpg

http://wnybass.com/miscphotos/syrup_pictures/finished.jpg

[LawnMowerMan]

Welcome aboard LawnMowerMan. You will find lots of useful information on this site.
Where do you live in Grand Haven/Spring Lake area? I am on the north side of the Lake.

Nice setup martin!

So do you find you can tap earlier being so close to the lake? or does the lake moderate the temps somewhat so you dont get the huge temperature fluctuations at night?

Most of the trees I found are away from my property with some being within 10 miles of the lake and the others farther away, I know the temperature in that distance can vary dramatically. I wish i had some in my yard but I only have 2 silvers and am a bit concerned about using them due to some ground contamination in the lot next to me. I did find plenty of sugars in 2 different locations that will give me WAY more than I could ever use so I should be set!

With the lack of snow this winter I am SO bored and looking foward to watching sap boil................:)

[madmantr]

Hi all,
I am totally new to this .I have been to quite a few sugarhouses and enjoyed the fruits of others labors and always thought it looked like something I would enjoy.I am out of work at the moment so I figure there is no time like the present. I have 12 taps on order and a copy of backyard sugarin. I've started to save gallon milk jugs and have a cast wood stove I thought might work, to see if this is something I would like to do as a hobby. I spent a few hours reading posts and there is so much information it's kind of mind boggling.At least here it's in one place.I live in Wilbraham ma.
Have a good one.!

[MartinP]

LawnMowerMan,
My bush is an hour and a half North of here. I have 2 friends that tap down here. 1 in SL other in Ravenna. It starts about 2-3 weeks earlier here. Should be running here by 3 week of Feb.

[northwoods_forestry]

...to get the new sugarhouse in order. We built it last fall with lots of help from friends and neighbors.

Started sugaring in the early 80's with my Dad and then later on my girl friend's family farm. Took a long (20+ year) hiatus to go to school and worked and travelled all over the country. Three years ago we bought 90 acres in southern Vermont and started tapping out the next spring and selling the sap. 100 taps the first year, 150 the next, and now shooting for 500 this year with our very own sugarhouse and next to nothing left in the savings account!

Great site, terrific discussions and I can't stay away from the classifieds!

Best Regards to All - Ian and Eveline

[THCPrecision]

I am Just getting back in sugaring after a few years off. Well More than a few. Probably since 95 when I went away to college and then started a bussiness and a family. Now with wife of 7 years and chidren 3 and 6 Now I want to share with them somthing I enjoyd growing up. Used to be an a huge scale with a 5x 16 now with my own a Grimm 2X4 and just under 100 taps all buckets should be fun. Got a post and beam sugar house with a wood shed 13X 10 up in late nov with some help from friends Using up odds and ends of lumber leftover from my sawmill Some sitcker sain showing but I am sure itll blend in in time . Its a blend of spruce and hemlock timbers and a pine boards and some cheep tin from the lumber yard. Mostly coversheets and scrtached pieces good enough for me just had to pick thru a big pile . all together in the sugar house I have under $375.00 invested not including time and 3 days with friends alsov the arch pans and about 140 buckets ran shy of 1500. Now its time to tidy up the pluming in the sugar house and get to having some fun. Look foirward to talking with and reading everyones posts
Ill try to get pics up but I can build or make just about anything but posting pics on the internet is still eluding me to this verry day.
Todd

[KenWP]

Don't feel bad I haven't figured out how to make the stupid computer recognize the stupid camera as another drive so I can load the pictures. Some day I will get them online.

[The Dude]

Hi there,

I thought I'd introduce myself before I start bombarding the forum with questions. I am just getting started with my first try at sugaring this year, and this forum has been an amazing source of hands-on information. I have been learning from it for a few weeks now. I look forward to becoming a part of the community here. Thanks for the great site!

Tom Frank
Bellefonte, PA

[Maplewalnut]

Welcome dude. Another PA guy!

[Z/MAN]

Yeh, lots of Pa people but few in our N.E. corner.

[frostbite]

Hello all,
Frostbite here from the northern lower peninsula of Michigan. Happened on the site looking for info on how to take my backyard hobby t the next level. Tons of great info. Thanks!!

[driske]

Good to connect with someone else in our region. (Even if they're from the land beneath the Bridge- hence "trolls").
I live across the lake in North Central WI. Hoping to retire to the UP in 10 years or so. Then I can do maple as a hobby again, and really enjoy it. Our immediate area has a strong production base and a lively component of young producer's.
2010 season will be our 30th year sugaring.

[Gary E]

Baby boomer age live and play in Quebec Canada with a very supportive wife. Kids are all out of the house but not independent, if you know what I mean.
Tapped my first maples last year with pails, and home made evaporator, outside. Addictive hobby!! Thanks for all the great info !:D


http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL1094/4132218/22649715/382217688.jpg
Just finishing my new cabane sucre for the season not toooo far away !

Cheers, Gary

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Really nice sugarhouse.

[Maplesedge]

Hi all. What a great place this is. I'm learning a lot, thanks!
I've been doing this on a very small scale for a couple of years now. We started with just one tree and a turkey fryer. But turkey fryers take a long time and a lot of propane. One night I nodded off at the end of a long long boil and woke to an inferno as the molten maple on one side and super gas flame on the other actually melted the aluminum pot bottom. :cry: Last year we found a big stainless sink at a used restaurant equipment supply house that had a welded up drain and put together a small arch for it from donated brick and cinder block. Should boil much faster. Really hooked now. Looking forward to many years of sugaring. If only we had more than one tree!

[KenWP]

Just how long does it take to get enough to boil. I could say there has to be other trees around but if your in town I could see that there isn't.

[Maplesedge]

How long? Well, we collect all week in 5 gallon collapsable water jugs. Then we boil on whichever weekend day is nicer. We seem to average about 1 1/2 gal./day of sap from each tap, so if we put out, say, six taps, thats about 60 gal. of sap a week, and that'll take us about 8 to 10 hours to turn into syrup.

We're always looking for a new tree.

If we make a gallon a week we'd be lucky since most of the trees aren't even sugar maples. Somtimes we'll do a seperate small boil just to experiment on different trees, like the time we did red maple syrup. Once we made birch syrup from Grandmas big old black birch. Learned it was fructose, not sucrose like maple, so had to finish on a double boiler to not scorch it.

[Ausable]

Howdy:

What a great site - We have been playing at making Maple Syrup for the past fifteen years and never advanced beyond the 2' x 2' open pan evaporator until this year. My Son the machinist and my Grandson the welder built us a 2' x 5' arch and evaporator and have completed our first test boil with water -- the most steam my little sugar shack ever witnessed - really looking forward to this season.
Always had more than enough sap before ----I think those days are over.
Thanks to this great site and all the information provided - my unanswered questions have been answered - problem is - the more you know - the more you want to know. thanks again,

Mike
Glennie, Michigan

[nace]

howdy y'all: my name is nace taylor from halfway, ky.. this is a terrific site. i had read a story in grit magazine about backyard maple syrup and as i was investigating further i found maple trader. we have 3 acres of wood's and i'm pretty sure we have about 20 maple trees. went to sam's club and procured 2 5gal bucket's free from the bakery ( i figured they were food grade because they had icing in them ) then on to lowe's to get 2 brass tubing connectors and 3/8 plastic tubing. 99% sure i found a 20" maple so i put both tap's in and ran into one bucket. tapped on feb 1 and by the 6th i had 5 gal of sap. fired up the turkey fryer and used the wife's large ss roasting pan. after 1 hour of boiling it smelled like cotton candy...i was expecting a maple smell and although my confidence level had dropped to 85% i kept boiling. 2 more hour's of boiling, it still smelled sweet but not quite what i expected....conifidence level 77.3% but no sense in stopping now. boiled down to about 1 gal. and then started smelling like maple ! took appx. 1/2 gal to the stove and a smaller pot to finish and wound up with 12oz of syrup !!! i'm hooked and next year i'll have an evaporator and tap'em all. thank's to every one for all the wisdom and tip's....nace

[elmcreekmaple]

what does "fire wood chopper" or "maple addict" etc, etc mean? is there somewhere that explains it or how you can change yours?

I assume is has to do with your participation level on the site

[LDF]

Had intentions of doing up to 30 taps this year (12 last year) with a homemade evaporator. Unfortunately procrastination is also a hobby of mine, not to mention that our family has increased by one since last year.

My wife and I own 10 acres with potential, and my father-in-law has some additional land with tappable trees. I realy enjoyed boiling last year but as someone commented, boiling in a turkey fryer is like watching paint dry. You can only watch paint dry for so long!!

Love this site, I have already gleaned a lot of useful information, looking forward to learning more and possibly contributing some also.

[farmall h]

Welcome aboard LDF. No operation is too small or too big on this site.:)

[Riley/MN]

Hello, My name is Riley, and I'm a maple-holic.

I grew up in central MN on a little walleye lake they call Mille Lacs. Lots of sugar camps in that area when I was a kid. Dad had a sheetmetal shop and made pans for several of the makers in the area. I had great uncles that made syrup, and grew up around it...

Went sailin for a few years in Uncle Sam's yacht club... Got married (1983) and had kids (5 of 'em) and wound up living in VT in the late 80's to the late 90's (around syrup maker's there too).

Moved back to MN (SE) in 97 and one of the kids was doing syrup in class at school. I drilled some holes in a few of the big soft maples in the yard of the farmhouse we were renting and sent about 15 gallons of sap into school.

I soon met up with a friend from church that grew up around Saranac Lake NY. He's been making syrup all of his adult life, so I started tapping more trees and boiling it down with him. We have hit just shy of 1200 gallons of sap the last several years...

I also like to dress up like a mountain man and shoot guns that you load from the front end, but that is a whole 'nuther obsession... Oh, and then there's Boy Scouts...


http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh83/RileyMN/Clark%20Sugar%20Camp/th_852220-R1-13-14_014.jpg (http://s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh83/RileyMN/Clark%20Sugar%20Camp/?action=view&current=852220-R1-13-14_014.jpg)

[turtlemaple]

Just wanted to let everyone know (or those of you who care) that we have a new Facebook Fan Page at: www.facebook.com/turtlelanemaplefarm (http://www.facebook.com/turtlelanemaplefarm)

We have also come into recent times with a twitter account at: www.twitter.com/turtlelanemaple (http://www.twitter.com/turtlelanemaple)

Hope everyone has a great season!

[Maplesedge]

what does "fire wood chopper" or "maple addict" etc, etc mean? is there somewhere that explains it or how you can change yours?

I assume is has to do with your participation level on the site

Goes by how many posts you write.

[CBOYER]

Hello to all,
really happy to found this site, lots of informations, pictures and a very friendly attitude from all mapletraders. small sugaring around here in Quebec is not standard, every one i talk have at least 5000 taps, so having infos from others small sugar house is good. Season at my place is just started 2wks ago, too cold (high elev. 1650fts), still having 2ft of snow in bush.
sorry for my english sometimes, i'm french speaking.:cool:

[sapbrush]

It Means You Keep Throwing Wood On The Fire Ha Ha Ha Im Doing It To . Yeh I Never New What It Ment Either, I Do Now Jim

[newtomaple]

Hello All
Have a good friend Gerry who has me addicted to sugar'in.. Started this year with 12 buckets now have 65 taps/buckets and will add much more next year.. Boiling as we speak.. Wish the season was longer but with all this warm weather our season is likely almost over! Truly do love this hobby!

[Dan Bolton]

Hello my name is Dan and I am from upstate new york! After many year's of helping my close uncle I have decided to go on my own! Me and my cousin's husband Marty are going to be building our new sugar house along with a evaporator! Making Maple Syrup is in my blood so to speak! It goes way back to my great grandfather Murry Benjamin! In the late 60's he was the biggest producer in the state of new york! We are not looking to be that big but maybe around 2000 tap's! Time will tell! We have alot of work to do!

[stagecoach maples]

we are in northern vt really excited for nxt year brand new vac system goin in
cant wait to start hangin new mainline and lats have to keep to the rule of 5 taps per lat thats my story and i am sticking to it no exceptions cant wait to se how much more sap we get by doing this got a feeling we will have some long boils as we have no ro we should have about 900 on vacuum any ideas on how much we will make? i think i would prefer a preheater and steam hood rather than an ro anyone agree? any ways lots of work to do stiil have to finish flagging lines this week! never enough time to get it all done no matter when u start!

[farmall h]

Welcome aboard all. Stagecoachmaples, 900 taps? Expect 180 gallons minimum. You folks in Irasburg tend to hold onto your snow a little longer than us down here in the ravine. Hope to here a lot of good posts. Are you currently set up for gravity or are you starting fresh? Nothing wrong with long boils as long as you have a big enough rig!:)

[KenWP]

Some body else from my end of the world . Gives me somebody to let me know when sap reach's this far north.

[GREG JOHNSON]

Hi, I'm 39 year old machinist. I've been married to my wife Peg for 7 years now. We have two wonderful girls Brittany(4) and Kaitlyn (2). I also have a stepson Chris.

I've been making maple syrup for 3 years now. Me and my partner Wade have a 2x6 wood fire evaporator. We tap somewhere between 100 to 200 trees. We're going to build a 16x24 sugar shack this year.


Thank to all for all wonderful ideals Ive read so far. Sometimes my head hurts from all the information.:lol: :lol:

[Sugarmaker]

Greg,
Welcome. New sugar house, hummm. Better make it a little bigger:)
Regards,
Chris

[warners point]

Well I think the itch is now turning into a rash. I started doing research on making maple syrup this winter and after touring a sugar bush here in MN, I spend all my free time on the web, searching out syrup sites. Our property has a pretty nice sugar bush on it that my family has been tapping on and off since 1910. I found the old sumac taps, all 1100 of them. They were making 200 gallons of syrup until the mid '40s. When I was growing up (mid '80s) we tapped a few trees, maybe 50, but have wonderful memories and want to continue the tradition and see where it leads me. I know it's going to be a lot of work, but I've found this site to be very informative and look forward to learning more. Thanks...

[lpakiz]

Warners Point,
Just where in MN is Mcgregor? I have a small tube and vacuum setup in central Wisconsin. You are welcome to take a look if you ever get thru this way. And I can tell you a lot of ways to make it better than mine...

[hill syrup]

I've been following the forum for several years now, and feel that it was about time to introduce myself. I have a very small setup, 50 buckets, 150 gallon holding tank and a home made pan and evaporator. The hobby has become a family affair, my three children and wife enjoy the end result immensely so they all like to take part. I will hopefully expand within the next few years, currently building a house so this takes precedence. Looking to continue to learn from all of you and the weath of knowledge provided by this site.

Hill Syrup

[Mountain Winds Farm]

I have been using ,reading, watching this site for awhile now and figured it was time to say hello.We started sugaring three years ago with 50 pails ,burning outside, made about 2 gallons.We are looking at over 1000 taps this coming season,on vacuum on a 4x12 drop flue evaporator.With any luck this season will be a whole lot better than last years weather. Randy

[Sugarmaker]

welcome hill and mountain wind,
If you have been following on the trader, there are a busy bunch of guys and families making syrup and gearing up for 2011 season, good luck and keep us posted on your progress.
Regards,
Chris

[Tithis]

Figured I should introduce myself. I'm a college student living in Holyoke in Western Massachusetts. I'm currently renting the top floor of a duplex and got permission from the landlord downstairs to tap the row of maples bordering our fence.

I going to have 8 taps at the house(7 trees) and one tap at my fathers house where I will be doing to actual evaporation. I may also do a neighbors tree, but that's still up in the air.

All of the trees are Norway maples and I've gotten very mixed information on their sugar and flow rate, so how much syrup I'll actually get is up in the air. Even by my lowest estimates I should get 3/4 of a gallon, which will be more then enough for me, with some left over to give the landlord as payment for using the trees.

[Bucket Head]

Be careful, this is how it starts...This year eight taps, 80 taps next year, 800 taps three years later, lol. Good luck this season!

Steve

[rsjensen]

I am new top this site. I have been tapping 200 trees for 12 years using a 2x6 evaporator with no enhancements. I am wanting to add a preheater, probably homemade, and an RO filter this year. Anyone know where I can get a used RO Filter?

Dick Jensen
Johnstown, OH

[highlandcattle]

We are a husband and wife team farmsteading on our 32 acres, half pasture, half sugarbush. We've raised purbred Scotch Highland cattle since 1995, retired them a couple of years ago as they got too old(like us) and are now concentrating on our maple syrup business. We just took delivery of a brand new 2'x8' CDL classic wood fired evaporator to replace our little 2'x4' Grimm Lightening. Going all stainless to be up to code for what is coming eventually!Going from about 285 taps on bucket to 300 and who knows on vacuum. Big step for us. Need pointers on setting up tubing. Pretty flat area, all going to bulk tank in woods. Then we'll pump into a 400 gallon plastic sap tank and bring it to the new enlarged sugar house out front here. We're open to ideas folks! Hope to hit 100 gallons!

[Sugarmaker]

Welcome rsjensen and highlandcattle to the Mapletrader lots of folks here to help you with almost everything except gathering and boiling:) We would probably do that too but we are too busy with our own syrup making projects.
Sounds like you are you are well on your way to make 100 gallons in 2011.
Dick, you can make your preheater. We built one for our 3 x 10. Expect 180-200 degree sap, and several gallons of hot condensate per hour.
Regards,
Chris

[ejmaple]

tithis, i tap a bunch of norway maples, they run just as hard and sweet as sugar maples, they seem end a little earlier like reds. good luck and always keep an eye out for a good stand of maples, most people realy like the idea of tapping their trees.

[Tithis]

Good to know, I've read similar things from other members so I'm hoping for the best.

I also just got permission from the neighbor across the street to tap her tree, bringing the total of trees I'll be tapping to ten :) Her tree is an actual sugar maple, quite large and very old. It could probably support a number of taps but because of how old it is I'm only going to use one.

[Devilbanjo]

Been lurking about the forum, collecting information and plans. I figure I ought to introduce myself. I have been just making enough for friends and family for the past two years but i hope to expand to about 500 sugar maple taps here in southwest Ohio in 2012... resulting in the apocalypse of course.

Karl

[Sugarmaker]

Devilbanjo,
Form 16 taps to 500 !
Yea you got it bad.

Welcome to the trader, where you can share your stories with others that have the same passion for making maple products to delight their families, friends and customers.
Regards,
Chris

[Thiems sugarshack]

I have been looking at this site for awhile now and decided to join. Started sugaring in 2006 when I was 13 had 8 taps.2007/8 helped friend up the road with there sugaring operation.2009 bought a barrel evaporator and had 30 taps made 6 gallons.2010 bought a complete setup including a leader 2 by 6 a leader canner and buckets and tanks had 140 taps all on buckets shootin for 200 taps in 2011 some on gravity pipe line. Wish everyone a good upcoming 2011 season

[Sugarmaker]

Thiems sugarshack,
Welcome to the trader. You have made great progress in your equipment in a short time. Keep it fun and interesting. Still lots to learn about maple and production.
Regards,
Chris

[Thiems sugarshack]

Thanks I was wondering how you post a question on here new at this Thanks

2011- shootin for 200-230 some on gravity lines firts year in the new sugar house
2010-140 taps on a leader 2 by 6 king jr 22 gallons made bad year all on buckets
2009-30 taps with a barrel evaporator 6 gallons made great year
2007/8- helped with friends sugaring operation (Got the syrup bug bad)
2006 -8 taps on a pan on the wood stove where it all began!

[Sugarmaker]

Thiems sugarshack,
I may not get this right but if you keep poking buttons you will get there. Go to the main menu Maple trader.com just under VBulletin logo, next pick a sub thread that your subject falls under say maple equipment.
Then you should see a blue button that says start a new thread. Click that and then type in the title of your thread which would be you question and the body of the text can then be included. And off you go!
Regards,
Chris

[thirsty07]

New guy here, watched my dad and gradfather sugar on the old farm for years. They did 250-400 (changed over the years) on tubing mostly with 30 or so on buckets i'd say.

Walked an unused 60 acre sugar bush on our property with my father and got hooked just being out there. Cant wait to get started, but we have a lot of work to do. Starting from scratch on this one, wish us luck.

[Sugarmaker]

Thirsty,
Welcome to the trader. Sounds like you have a lot of maple potential in your sugarbush. Keep us posted of your progress and lots of good folks here with tons of maple production experience.
Regards,
Chris

[Brian Ryther]

Thirsty07
Are you near Clayton Lamson?

[thirsty07]

Not that i know of. I havn't lived in the area for a long time. Moved away 15 years ago, so dont know too many people. Will be glad to go back though

[maple connection]

Hello Maple traders,
I am a Wisconsin maple syrup produducer with the bug!!!!! I helped a guy make maple syrup for the past 18 years. He has about 10,000 taps and he to taught me alot. My two son are 4 and 8 and they are loooking forward to making some syrup. I found a 2x6 grimm evaporator and hoping for around 400 taps. I also went all out and bought a R.O. with a 4" membrane to cut down on the cooking. I also have fun dealing in used maple syrup equipment.
Hoping to share the bug with everyone.:lol:
Kevin

[Thiems sugarshack]

Welcome to the trader.Would love to see some pics of the new to you evaporator.

[maple connection]

Once I get alittle more familiar with the site I will get some pictures of the evaporator. Trying to get the steel sides on the man-cave. 18" of snow is making it alittle difficult.

[elliskev2]

Hello everyone,
I have been looking over the posts and checking out some of your photos. I thought I should say hello.
I am Kevin Ellis my wife, Sue and I have been married 29yrs. and have 4 wonderful daughters. We have 33 acres and have put in about 25 taps last two years. We boiled down on a small steam table pan.
Well, this fall I bought a 2x3 pan and some tubing to run up the hillside to pick up some large maples. I think we will have around 60 taps this year. Working up a homemade arch to set the pan on.
Thanks,
Kevin and Sue Ellis:)

[3fires]

Hi, I'm Roosevelt, and yes, that is my first name, lol.

I live in SE Michigan, no kids of my own, divorced two years back, out of work and back to school full time in pursuit of a career in the IT field, computer programming.

Last March, after suffering through a bad bout of cabin fever, I decided to tap a few trees on a whim. I tapped a Box elder and a large Red maple, three taps total. In 5 days I had 10-12 gallons of sap which I stored in a cooler stuffed into a snowbank. I boiled it down in a large aluminum turkey pan on my dual burner Coleman stove and finished it in the kitchen. It took all day start to finish, but I ended up with 1 quart of light colored mild flavored syrup. It was real good and now I want to make more, much, much more.

This is something I've always wanted to do, but felt I never had the time. Now that i'm back to school full time I'm busier than I was when working 40-70 hours a week, but, I'm making time for the things I've always wanted to do.

I enjoy anything outdoors, and have an appreciation for things made by hand and things of old. I put my family and friends first above all else.

I was Googling maple stuff and found this site. I'm in the process of making a cinder block arch using 3 14x22 steam table pans. I hope you're all patient and can handle lots of newbie questions, lol.

I'm glad to finally be registered and able to post and see pics. This looks like a real friendly site with lots of good people. I hope to learn and share as much as possible. Thanks for letting me in.

[Sugarmaker]

3fires,
Let me welcome you to the trader.
Chris

[3fires]

Thanks for the welcome Sugarmaker Chris. :D

[Sugarmaker]

You will find on this forum a great bunch of guys and girls making syrup. They will be able to answer just about all your questions. They are tapping from a few up to thousands of taps. Its a good place to glean information so that you don't have to make all the mistakes that we did.
Enjoy the upcoming season.
Regards,
Chris

[morning mist]

live in holmes county ohio, i've been dabeling in maple syrup since i was a kid and now that i have my own crop of kids now i decided to educate them in the fun of maple syrup. we started with approx. 20 buckets '02ish moved on to tubing about 4 years ago, at a little bit every year tapping around 200 taps. cooking on a homemade 2.5 x 6.5 foot sectioned flat pan over a wood arch with forced air in a tarp shannie. kids love it :lol:

[cvmaple]

I want to say a big thanks for all the advice I gleaned from this forum to get up and running last year. I have made syrup with a cousin for about 25 years and learned a lot from that experience. Two years ago my older sister asked why we didn't make syrup on our farm??? Without a good answer the wheels were set in motion and we bought a D&G 18"x48'' evaporator, finishing pan and hydrometer. My aforementioned cousin provided some buckets, lids and filters. Now where are we going to do this? A quick look around revealed a 13'x15' former woodshed for an outdoor wood furnace that had changed locations. We scrounged up all our building materials (did I mention this was getting expensive?!!) and my brother-in-law supervised our building project. When winter finally arrived, I set to prepping the evaporator with archboard and firebrick. Nobody thought we would be ready but we made 33 litres on 52 taps in a less-than-perfect spring. So for this year we would like to do 80 taps and have as much fun as we did last year. Thanks again to Mapletrader and to my family for all the support. cvmaple

[holey_bucket]

Howdy, folks!

First off, I love this site. What a GREAT resource! Just in the time I waited for my registration to clear I learned SO much.

My name is Mark. I have been happily married to my favorite wife for 7.5 years. We have our first child on the way; a son, due in May! And horses. Good Lord, we have horses. My wife is a horse trainer and manages the boarding farm owned by her parents, usually between 25 - 30 horses. I'm a radio service technician, and certified electronics technician, Journeyman.

From the time I could walk through the woods I had the pleasure of working for our old neighbor farming and doing Maple Syrup. For years we had about 3,000 taps. About 3/5ths on buckets, and the rest gravity fed lines to ss bulk tanks. Last year my father in law decided to boil sap in a kettle on a Coleman stove from 8 taps. I didn't realize it could be done so simply! I took over after he was finished and boiled in 2009 on 3 turkey fryers. I am hooked. I am hoping to move up to 20 5gal pails in 2011. I have so many questions, and can't wait to get busy!

I am strongly considering building or buying a small arch, and running natural gas burners. I plan on doing lots MORE searching of threads, but if you happen to know someone who has had lots of struggles and success with Natural Gas, please send me a PM with their names so I can search their threads or send them a PM if I have questions! Thanks!

[Haynes Forest Products]

holey_bucket Why would you want to use NG when there is all that wood laying down in the woods up in Rockford area from the twister 5 years back?

[holey_bucket]

holey_bucket Why would you want to use NG when there is all that wood laying down in the woods up in Rockford area from the twister 5 years back?

I have plenty of wood very close to home, believe you me, but I heat my house with wood, and not ready to give up on heating with something else yet. Also, for the time being, I am boiling out of my garage. I have a rather large area at my disposal in my garage, and have been planning on running NG into the garage for my workshop anyway, so... why not use an arch with an unlimited supply of combustionable material?

[whalems]

Natural Gas will get expensive in a hurry. Unless you have your own NG well in the back yard:rolleyes:

[holey_bucket]

I started a new thread for this conversation here (http://www.mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?p=124746#post124746).

[Clarkfield Farms]

Hello - my real name is Tim, and this is my first post; sorry for what might seem an off-color screen name but all that it alludes to is the fact that I use the efforts of billions of little yeast cells to accomplish certain goals.:mrgreen:

Anyways, on a more serious note, I figure I've lurked long enough and it's time I stepped out and became a respectable member of the community. Well, at least introduce myself... we can begin with that. Respect will be earned, hopefully.

EDIT -- Just wondering why this forum starts with the end? IDK if I make sense, but normally page 1 starts with the first post, and the last post is found on the last page if y'know what I mean. It may well be that it's something supersimple and I'm ignorant, but --- what gives? Can I change a setting or something? I get confused.... ??????? Thanks in advance.
- Tim

[BryanEx]

Just wondering why this forum starts with the end?
Hi Tim and welcome to Maple Trader. You can adjust how the forums display in your user settings found here;

http://mapletrader.com/community/profile.php?do=editoptions

You will find the thread display settings about 2/3 of the way down.

- Bryan

[Clarkfield Farms]

DOH! Thank you....

[Paperman]

Hello all, Im a Robert a boiler from an area around Ludington MI. Right on the west shore of Lake Michigan. Been boiling sap for a few years and am looking for ways to improve the process. We have 150-200 taps out and cook on a fuel oil drum arch and an oddball SS pan I threw together. Working on a flue pan but 032 stainless in not the easiest stuff to fuse. Im a papermill powerhouse maintenance foreman for the last 11 years. Great wife and a awsome little guy at home. I build fireworks as a hobby as well as being an office of our state fireworks builders guild.

Great site and thank you to all the great ideas.
RK

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Hi my n name is Rusty. I started sugaring when I first moved to VT in 94. Brother-in law brother has a 5x16 oil fired. Shortly after my bro in law picked up a 3.5x10 had a few hundred taps out. I couldn't stand it so in 2000 I purchased a 2x6 from Bascoms and been adding to it since with a lot of experimenting along the way. Right now I have 125 taps out thinking about more for next year. Its said to evap 25 gal an hr, well I have it up to 36 (hard hack works wonders). Love every minute. With family issues had to take last 2 yrs off been in AZ (no maples to tap there). I'm back and itching. Would love to put up a IP camera run live on internet, and just might do it.

[CaseysSugarHouse]

Hey guys its me nate. got a new name. the business is goin in my name this month hope everyone is doing well

[Clarkfield Farms]

Howdy, Nate. I just registered recently. A sister and b-i-l and their kids used to live in Saranac Lake, on Post Street. I loved going up there. Long, winding ride, but what a beautiful one!

[GramaCindy]

Hello Everyone. I am new to this operation of making syrup. Grew up in NW Wisconsin, now relocated there. Have 50+ trees marked, hopefully all maples! Purchased taps, sacs, and sap sac holders, hydrometer and cup, now it's time to figure out just how to boil this stuff down. For the first year, I would like to keep my expensed a bit lower and try the barrel stove scenario, or a concrete block contraption. I have a few questions on each...
*With a barrel stove, once you cut the hole in the side of the barrel and set the pan or pans in, how do you lift them out when the sap is getting close? I plan on finishing the sap in a turkey fryer. We are planning on picking up the barrel stove kit from Vogelsang (sp) at Northern Tool. I also am planning on fire-bricking the bottom and using a grate.
*The concrete block evaporator looks interesting also, but with nothing being done as of yet, placing the blocks on frozen ground and then firing the whole thing up, I am concerned about the whole thing toppling over when the ground thaws, which it inevitably will.
I am not sure what to do for pans, but am leaning towards hotel buffet pans for this year.
Any advice or suggestions would be so very much appreciated by this greenhorn!
I have the book, "Backyard Sugaring" and have spent many hours online, but this decision has me stumped.

GC

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Welcome aboard it is going to be an adventure that will soon turn into an obsession. I'm going to comment on the turkey fryer, only boil on stainless and finish on stainless. I wouldn't use the aluminum pot of a turkey fryer. Use the base and go find a 5gal stainless pan like one a person would use for making beer:D Not that I do that also. That is actually how I started finishing my syrup now I have 2 burner propane finishing set up. http://www.leaderevaporator.com/p-4-gas-fired-filter-and-canning-unit-12-x-20.aspx
It took me 6 yr before I bought it used.

[Gary R]

Hello and welcome GramaCindy,

50 "hopefully" maples is a fairly large amount for starting on buffet pans. If you don't have the buffet pans, I'd look locally for a flat pan, maybe 2x3. Find a local dealer and ask around. I would stick with concrete blocks for this year. You can always re-level them if needed between boils. Good luck!

[GramaCindy]

Thanks for the quick reply Gary....I was wondering if the buffet pans would be adequate. Thanks for the info. I have a nice pan in mind, just wasn't sure if the initial investment would be a good idea on my first year......What if I don't like making syrup? I know what you're going to say....OBSESSION!

[GramaCindy]

Hello Flatlanders....I am a school food service worker and know all about only using stainless steal. That was not a question for me...only stainless for this gal! Do you have any thoughts on a barrel stove vs. a concrete block cooker?

[whalems]

Go with the flat pan. IF you find you don't like it they hold there value well and reselling will not be a problem. Have fun. Mike

[Browns Maple]

Hello everybody. I'm somewhat new to the site. I've been browsing it for a year now but finally took the plunge and got myself a screen name. First off I want to say that it's great how you guys help eachother out if someone needs guidance or even lending a hand. The sarcasm here and there is funny too. Never know what you'll see posted on here!
I first started out about 15 years ago (26 now) with my grandparents, just using a simple barrel evaporator. We did it for 2 seasons and for some reason or another stopped doing it up until last year when I was in between ice fishing, and well before spring cleanup, and thought, I need a hobby for this time of year. That's when I asked my father if he would be able to give me a hand with making an arch and pan. We started out with a 2x3 stainless flat pan. Worked great except it took forever to make a gallon. Cool little thing for just starting out with 25 taps.
This year my wife and I decided to go bigger since we enjoyed it so much and loved the outcome. Thanks god for her support and my family to make this possible! We've added a 2x6 blown Small Brothers raised flue and now going to have 200 buckets. Hopefully going to change some of them to lines next year but just have to wait and see.
This site is great and a lot of my questions have been covered as I read each topic. Just wanted to introduce myself and thank you for letting me be a part of the maple family.

[Indiana-Jones]

I have only taped one tree, it was about 45 years ago and I steamed up my mom's kitchen pretty good. I don't remember getting any syrup.

My wife and I have been living in the country for the last 15 years. She is a college instructor and I make a living in the two-way radio business. Three kids grown and gone. We are in our early fifties and looking forward to retirement or maybe a change of employment. (mini-farming) We have 100 acres, half woods, half pasture and we have fruit trees and a big garden. Just sold out of the beef biz. Now I guess we sell hay. Trying to put all of the pieces in place so that when we can take some time off, the orchard and such is grown and ready produce.

This year we plan to tap 10 to 15 trees and do the steam table pan boil in the wood shed. I have a friend that boils a bit and he is going to help me out. We will see how it goes. I bet that next summer I'll have all of the trees inventoried and shopping for a new pan.

Thanks one and all! This site is a wealth of knowledge.

Chris and Sue Doty

[whalems]

Indiana-jones welcome to the trader. You might as well beat the rush and order your new pans now!!:lol: or a whole new evaporator!!:o have fun and good luck, Mike

[Indiana-Jones]

I bet you are right about going a head and getting in line for a new outfit.

I see that you are in Michigan. We have taken our last 3 summer vacations up your way. Love going north. We pull an old pop up camper, dinging up the lake shore. Summer before last we ended up on Lake Superior. Beautiful!

Well next year we might buy a 3X6 pan and build a steel arch.

Later, off to Manards.

Chris

[Merklin Maples]

Sounds like everyone is anxious to start the season. I am an ready to get in the woods. Usually start tapping here in Northern Wi. on March 1st. Benn tapping for six seasons now. This year will be the 7th I think. Wife will correct me if I'm wrong. Started with 15 Taps and buckets (borrowed), Bought 25 the next year. Another 25 the next. That was so good a year, we decided to go whole hog and up our taps to 100 with bags last year. Had not so great a season. That is how it goes. Will see how it goes this year.:rolleyes:

[4th Maple Generation]

Hello All!
My name is Sherri, I am the 4th generation in the Grandpa Hank's Maple Syrup operation. I can not remember a spring we did not have taps out. My Great-Grandfather Hank started making maple syrup in the family woods and it slowly was passed down to my Dad as a hobby until 1993 when we started marketing it on a larger scale of about 1,500 taps. I helped him every year until I married and Iowa boy and found myself 900 miles away. But, the maple tradition dies hard so after three years of not being able to get home to help, I am just starting up a small, backyard operation tapping silver and red maples this year. And because of my line of work with the Conservation Board (for those for you that live in states without this, the best way to explain it is the county version of the D.N.R.)I get to hold a few how to clinics to hopefully inspire some more backyard syupers!
Happy Syrup season everyone!

[HAHA I 1]

Well, I can't remember if I ever replied to this thread, so I will do it again. I live in Southern Indiana and have been tapping for 3 years (in my 4th). I have 4 kids and am married. We use a homemade 2x5 evaporator with flat stainless pans. It works well, but we are thinking about upgrading to a 3x8 with a flue pan so we can tap the rest of our trees.

I also like cars, and have 4 different 66-67 Chevy IIs and a 77 Corvette.

[fishman]

Brand new to this site. Did syrup when I was a kid, thought it was great staying up all nite to tend the fire. Now that the kids (4) are grown and I don't have a sporting event 5 nights a week, I have time to get back into it. Started 4 years ago with 12 taps and am slowly working up. Did 25 two years ago but had to sit out last year on injured reserve (torn achilles).:lol: Hoping to do 40-45 on buckets this year. Just got a new 2 x 4 with a warmer pan delivered today. God it's beautiful:rolleyes: Collect with a snowmobile, jet sled and use a large salmon sized cooler for sap transport. Not sure if it's food grade though. We usually have around 1-2 feet of snow at the start of season. Going to start working on a new evaporator within a week or two. This site has been a real eye opener on new ideas and techniques.

[firetech]

Welcome Fishman from a Troll. We get thru Newberry at least once a year. The wife picks agates on the Big Lake. Welcome to the maple trader. There a great bunch of folks. Maybe someday we can say hi ah!!! Herb

[TommyBoyMartin]

I'm Tom Martin and the other half of the team is Bob Jones. Bob owns enough property in the area with plenty of maple trees. He toyed with sap and syrup last year. When he told me about it, it was like catalyst together.
We tapped about 15 trees. We'll tap a few more tomorrow.
I've spent much time at the site reading and searching. I am glad I settled here.
We are buying the little stuff slowly but surely. This year is a learning experience while we plan for next year. We have a place which will be our sugar shack. Within feet of the shack, the hill goes up and deep. Gravity will be our friend.
I am thinking of using my 1/2 barrel and a 1/4 barrel which both tops are cut out. I think I have exhausted reading about these topics where they were posted.
I would say if the weather cooperates, we should have 50 gallons sap this weekend. With the heat source as propane turkey fryer for primary and same for finishing, I wonder how long this is going to take us?

PM me instead of clogging up the intro page.

I am greatly enjoying the site. I have only one post since the question posed I didn't see answered elsewhere.
I'll study more than type. But I won't be bashful either.
Locally we have Clough Valley Maple. I met the Motz brothers and they are fantastic. I believe they will be a great sounding board for us as we proceed.
The puppies can't wait to see and run around the sugar bush. :)

[TommyBoyMartin]

I like the number 714 so I am going to take it. Go Steelers.
Don't ban me this early please.

[Northern Ont. Maple]

Welcome Fisherman,
Don't know if you know about this but there is a maple workshop in Rudyard today, Sat. Feb 5. It's at Mike Ross's place at 11866 W Thompson Rd. from 10:00 to 4:00. You'll get "hooked". :)

[fishman]

Thanks guys. I have been going to Ross's since I started. Had him put up a pole building for me a few years back. I did get there on Saturday, bought way too much stuff like usual. Going food grade now that I have discovered this site. Gotta get my evaporator built and I'll be all set. Only about 3-4 weeks till we get started here. I don't hold anything against trolls, most of our beer has to come across the bridge.:lol:

[len]

Made maple syrup back in the early 90's. Caught an inspiration to boil some sap 2010, and followed the season on the Maple Trader. It was a great experience- I had a renewed feeling of being connected to the land!
Made my own evaporator with 1@ 12 x 20 ss pan, and applied my own ideas for woodgas/ wood stove design into it. Made modifications, added air over, and my latest boil rate is 2.6 gal/hr on a 1.6 ft^2 surface area pan. I hope to add a preheater/ steam away unit to it to improve efficiency.
Having fun experimenting/ implementing ideas, and boiling some sap. I'm a micro scale "enthusiast" at this point, and that's OK for now.

Hope the season goes well this year!

[SugarShay]

Been browsing the site for a couple of weeks now and thought I'd post an intro in case I decide to reply to another thread. :lol:

I'm Shay and this will be my third year tapping. It all started when my realtor(when I bought this place) mentioned the drive was lined with maples. Yeah. So, you can tap them for maple syrup. REALLY?!? That perked my ears and our first spring here, we tapped for a homeschool project. :D

No, I'm not a native Mainiac, so tapping never occurred to me before. I am a RIer by birth, but the military had kept us in TX for 10yrs prior to separating and moving up here.

Anyway, the kids had a blast and this year we upgraded. The past two years, I boiled in a roasting pan on my kitchen stove, but we just bought a 2*3 Mason evaporator and built a small sugar shack to house it.

Hope to feel knowledgeable enough to contribute at some point, but for now, I'll just glean. :)

[Sugarmaker]

SugarShay,
Welcome to the trader. 99% of the time a great place to rest and relieve the maple stress.
Regards,
Chris

[jerseymaple]

Well after reading a bunch of post, I can see right off the bat I am out of my league. I am originally from NY NY but moved to the Jersey shore in the 1990's to have children and GOD has blessed me and my wife with 5 great ones. Last winter got bored one February day, duck season was closed,they tide was wrong for clamming so I decided to tap a maple tree in the backyard. Drilled a half inch hole 4 inches in and stuck a copper pipe in, drained it to a plastic 1 gallon orange juice container and man was I stunned to see this tree crank out a gallon of clear sap almost every hour. Ended up tapping another tree that would give about a half a gallon per day so I have no idea what the normal output is. I collected about 6 gallons of sap, boiled it down out side on a fireplace grill I have and came up with about 8oz of dark maple syrup. Even my wife was impressed that I made syrup. She grew up in the woods in Connecticut and is impressed that a city boy even knows maple syrup comes from a tree. I know and still know almost nuthing about making maple syrup other then I used to buy at the world trade center farmers market from some one who lived in Vermont and I love the taste. This year I am shooting for a half gallon, have learned I have 5 actual sugar maple trees in my yard as well as some regular maple trees. My neighbor is going to let me tap some of his trees so I may have a shot. Tapped two "test" trees today and came up with a gallon of sap. Supposed to get warm this week in Jersey so I am hoping the trees will produce. I know this is nuthing compared to what you guys are doing but for me, and a couple of my kids its fun. I do have a question, should you use the same holes in the trees that you used last year or make new ones? Take care, thanks

[whalems]

jerseymaple welcome to the trader. There are a lot of very helpfull folks on here. So ask away! and no tap in different wood try to stay 6 inches away from old hole and not directly above or below it. Hope this helps and have fun, Mike

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

holes to big, I use a 5/16 drill bit and spouts called "health spouts". No don't use same hole. go to opposite side of tree from last time it was tapped. If you do tap by an existing hole stay 6" either side and 2' above or below if you really have to. When tapping drill up at a very slight angle and don't wobble drill bit in tree set tap in tree snug enough to hold bucket but dont split tree driving tap in to hard.
Have fun

[ComputerSteve]

I finally found a place where people get together and share ideas, and help, concerning Maple Syrup.

My wife, son, and I are total noobs when it comes to making maple syrup. We didn't have a clue in 2010 when on a whim we setup a total of 10 taps on our property and at my mother's house. We gathered the sap using plastic sap sacks and storing in plastic buckets from the local bakery. As the sap flowed, we quickly searched the Internet for tips on what to do next. We boiled it all down on the kitchen stove in a roasting pan. Filtered it through coffee filters (WHAT A SLOW MESS!!) and finally into pint jars. We wound up with a total of 2.5 gallons of syrup, some given away as Christmas presents and the rest we used ourselves.

This year we're going to try again, but want to work smarter. However, thanks to the economy, there isn't much $$$ to play with. Since filtering was a nightmare last year, we ordered some Orlon cone filters with pre-filters inserts. I'm looking for good ideas for a better/easier/faster/CHEAP way of boiling it all down. Any help the community can provide will be very appreciated.

We live in a surburban area on an acre of land with several maple trees, and my mother's property has four good sized trees also. This severely limits our sap gathering ability, and is something that we could use some ideas on. Do people rent trees??

I know I will be digging through the posts for ideas that I can use. Hopefully I can provide assistance or ideas to others also.

[BryanEx]

Well after reading a bunch of post, I can see right off the bat I am out of my league.
Not at all! If you read many of the signature lines (the text added to the bottom of posts) you will notice just about everyone grew from very humble beginnings. You have already discovered the satisfaction and enjoyment of making your own maple syrup and now time will tell just how much you will need to make to keep everyone (including yourself) happy.

Welcome to Maple Trader!

- Bryan

[Sugarmaster]

To ComputerSteve
The best advise we could give you, and what we have used, is get the North American Maple Manual. It is a great book with history, stories, and ideas. Hope this helps you it did us and still does today.

[jerseymaple]

Thanks for the info on where to tap. Up to 3 gallons already. Last year i used an old wine cork to plug the hole, is this a good or bad idea? seemed to work just fine. Also how long does the sap run? a week? month? sorry for the beginners questions.

[Dill]

You don't need to put a cork in it. The tree will heal over the hole itself. Really we all put effect into delaying that and keeping the tap hole running as long as possible.

[Sawmill53]

Thanks to all who have posted thoughtful and informative posts to this site.
I've been reading and researching.

I grew up and live on a 1700s Vermont farm. We have an old sugar house and my folks did a little sugaring in my youth. Bit stock tapping, buckets carried with a yoke. The pan was sold and the arch rusted out years ago.

Now I am going to resurrect the sugar house and make some syrup. I've been hanging around sugar houses during boiling and helping run lines for friends, but there's a huge amount I don't know. So I am happy to have found this site.

I need to get equipment, get the sugarhouse up and running again, and learn lots, so I may be posting a query now and then.

Here's a couple of pics of some of the equipment we have hanging around. If you can't make out the letters on the spout, it states "Patent Nov.24.1868". I have quite a few buckets like the one pictured; do you think I need to upgrade my equipment? :)

I also have about 20 galvanized buckets I plan to hang this season, I probably won't run tubing until next year.

Thanks again to all who contribute here.

[Maple Ridge]

Sawmill53
I would think about geting some updated equipment. You can purchase used aluminum buckets rather cheep and new spiles are cheep also. I bet if you sell one of those wooden buckets, you could purchase alot of equipment. I have seen them go up to $20.00. If you ever decide to sell some, I would like to buy a couple just to hang in my sugarhouse for looks. Good luck and have fun.

[Birdland Sugarbush]

Hi there,

I'm looking forward to getting my first "real" evaporator this year. I've been boiling in roasting pans on a small woodstove for a few years.

Aside from the evaporator I have this shopping list:
More buckets
Taps
5 gal buckets for storing sap
Filter

Anything else you think I'll need?
Thanks - Chris

[leaky bucket]

hello fellow syrup lovers just like to say hello and how much i enjoy the maple talk and info
Thank You

Mike

[maplematt]

Hey Everyone. Just stopping by to say hello...this is my second year sugarinng. My parents and I are teaming up this year. We are just a small time operation, in SE WI. Just doing this for fun, but still looking for any advice or tips anyone has to offer. Looking forward to a great season. Good luck!

-Matt

[Tonka Grove]

Just introducing ourselves. My brother (Bill) and I (Ted) are taking sugaring a bit more serious this year. Growing up we made some box elder and maple syrup with our parents. It was a hit or miss thing as we were also busy dairy farming. We live in Maple Grove, MN just on the edge of the suburbs of Minneapolis.

In 2002, I was between jobs and living with my brother, we had time to tap and boil with a turkey fryer. It was a lot of fun and we started learning how to make better syrup. After that our sugaring was off again on again. We both got married, started families and just got too busy to be regulars. In 2009, I was a little more aggressive, still on the turkey fryer, but tried to make high quality syrup.

2011 we are tapping more trees and building a block arch to fit a 2x4 1/2 flat pan I bought in 2003. The goal is to work out the kinks this year and expand next year with more preparation.

We look forward to learning and visiting you as we learn.

Thanks,

Ted and Bill Radintz

[Riley/MN]

Welcome Bill and Ted - Enjoy your excellent adventure!

[james ferguson]

hi i am jim ferguson and i own ferguson builders we build custom high end homes in and around stratton vt i also do custom meat cutting and i also am in the procses of makeing some how to videos i have 6000 taps all but 200on vac we have a 600 gall perhr cdl ro and a 3x10 oil with pre heater and hoods volcano evaporator my wife bethany is grate i allso have 2 kids 2yr old ashleyann and 4yr old ryan

[Dan]

Hello everyone from a small time Yooper on 21 taps and 5 pan block arch. What a great site but find myself on my butt to much reading here :) Hurray up sap!
Dan

[Spile4Me]

Hello everyone. I am a housewife and mother from NH who decided she wanted to try making maple syrup, since we go through quite a lot of it. We only have 6 taps (lol) but we have had a lot of fun learning and making a batch last weekend. Glad to be here because I need to learn a lot more.

[Sweet Shady Lane]

Forth year tapping, I run 20 taps in about 14 trees, Started on March 11th and so far have boiled down 110 gallons of sap. Will pull the taps on Sat. the 19+th and then it's back to the real world of work. My one question is how many coil wrapes on the smoke stack do i use for my preheat line.

[Kev]

Forth year tapping, I run 20 taps in about 14 trees, Started on March 11th and so far have boiled down 110 gallons of sap. Will pull the taps on Sat. the 19+th and then it's back to the real world of work. My one question is how many coil wrapes on the smoke stack do i use for my preheat line.

15 was too many for me

[Thalos]

Hello....
Just stopping in to introduce myself......just getting started with "sugarin" this year....and this site has been unbelievably helpful...thank you....and I look forward to getting to know all of you in the years to come.....yes....I said years....its been about two weeks since my start and I can already admit..."I have been bitten by the sugarin bug"....I see myself putting in many many hours sitting behind this keyboard.....there is much to learn .....the internet can be a wonderful thing :)

[Four D Acre Farms]

hey, second year for sugaring on my own (with help from pa and friend that gat me started) bought a place in hawks Mi partly because of the maples on the property. made 9.5 gallons last year outside on homemade evaporator boiling 6 gph started season 2010 with 40 taps ended with 101, 2011 revamped the homemade arch and started with 160 taps now at 230 because of slow flow, now at 230 taps, about 180 on tubing (gravity) and the rest in buckets, the kids love to help gather and the boy loves to help boil but not so much with the gathering wood. the revamped rigs is boiling at a rate of about 12 gph (good thing pa is there to help boil while i am working thanks dad) ;) glad to be apart lots of good info thanks

[Kev]

I must say that although I have been at this as a hobby for a while now.
You people on here have expanded my knowledge base tremendously. although I know I still have a lot to learn!
Thanks to every one of you

[aeautodetailing]

Here in Northern Maine we're still waiting for the big runs! My family, wife and 6 young-uns, have 75 taps, up from 26 the last three years. We are still doing a lot of experimenting and loving every minute of it! We live amongst a large Amish community so there is a lot of sapping going on around us! Great info on this site! Thanks to all!!! Hope to be in full boil next week with temps hitting 40!!!

[MaineMapleLady]

Hey Everyone! First year for me and having a great time doing it :) Still getting the basics down. I have 5 taps and have gotten about 40 plus gallons of sap so far, which I think is pretty good. I have already tried my hand at making some maple candy and it came out great! Happy Sapping, Boiling, Candy Making, and more!

[crossfire7snopro]

hi, i'm greg browne i've been sugaring on and of for 5 years or so i just picked up 17 acrers and want to grow in to a bigger and better sugar maker this year getting a new arch this year for next i just did 7.5 gal of surup through the turkey friers and a drip system i have 4 girls 21,20,17,7 and just found out a boy on the way

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

welcome Mainelady and Crossfire to the trader.
How do you do it with all the Estrogen in the house Greg?:D

[crossfire7snopro]

i duck and cover spend as much time out in the shop and work ,i still wake up in a cold sweat thinking i be like the other male in the house my dog and get cliped :lol:

[Sarah Mae]

Hi, a friend told me about this site. I'm from NW PA, my Amish neighbor and I tapped 150 trees this year. We have a small 3x6 evaporator. I grew up making syrup but it has been 10 years since I've done it. So trying to get back into the swing if things!

[Ausable]

Hi Sarah -- Welcome to Maple Trader -- To a lot of us - a 3' x 6' and a 150 trees would be in the Big Leagues. This is a great site - with some good natured kidding and a lot of questions asked and answered... So once again welcome -- Mike

[Sugarmaker]

Sarah Mae,
Yes welcome to the trader, We are close by. Good luck with the restart into maple. lots of good advice on here!
Regards,
Chris