Introduce yourselves.... [Archive] - Page 5

minnisd

03-26-2015, 08:08 PM

Hi my name is Doug. I have tapped silver maples on my property for 13 years. Yes, I have boiled over lots of finishing pans. The first year I tapped 25 trees and carried about 200 gallons of sugar water a 1/4 mile from the sugar bush to the barn, as I did not have a sugar shack in the sugar bush; think my arms stretched 6 inches. Gave me allot of motivation to build one before the next season. The first evaporator was a cinder block firebox with 4 serving pans, steel roofing for a door and improvised flues. Now I have a 10' x 20' sugar shack in the sugar bush. I took a 150 gallon fuel barrel and cut it not quite in half, framed in the upper edges with angle iron to set 4 shallow serving pans from GFS, bought a barrel stove kit from TSC and installed the door in one end, did not use the flue fitting, just cut a hole approx the size of the flue pipe and just slide it in. I lined the interior of the fire box with 1” thick fire brick. We fill the 4 pans about 1/2 to 3/4 full, light a wood fire and we're boiling down about 7 gallons per hour. We accomplish the 'finishing' on a propane burner, checking with a thermometer for 219degF. Fairly low tech but syrup tastes great. We filter the raw sugar water through a milk strainer that dairy farms use. In that same filter we use synthetic material then wool filter for boiled down syrup. I use pint and quart canning jars for the finished product. We purchased some plastic jugs that said 'Michigan Maple Syrup' once, but after some jugs had mold in them when opening; we went back to canning jars with no problems since. We do have some sugar sands settling out in the jars but that does not seem to affect the product.

67HEAVEN

03-27-2015, 09:32 AM

My first year. Oh my God!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH9HlmVfdyg

http://i49.tinypic.com/30kg3fs.jpg

Sunny

04-01-2015, 11:05 AM

Greetings everyone!
I'm so glad I found this site, I have a feeling I will be spending a lot of time gleaning from everyone's wisdom and experience .
I just started tapping my trees last year, and hauled my sap in the back of my car to a friend who lives an hour away for sugaring. I tapped a few more trees this year, and did the same routine.
I would like to be able to make my own syrup at home, but I have zero skills! I mean zero! Im completely intimidated by reading all the posts where people have built, rigged, and repurposed all the necessary equipment.
I have about 20 trees, most of them are ancient and huge. I would love to be able to make my own syrup for ourselves, friends and family.
Any advice would be enormously appreciated!

Cedar Eater

04-01-2015, 11:28 AM

Hi and welcome, Sunny. You've come to the right place. If you can operate a propane burner outside, you have all the skills you need to make syrup. With a gas grill or turkey fryer and stainless steel pans, you can get started and build from there. Ask more specific questions on the It's all about Maple Syrup !! and Just Syrup (http://mapletrader.com/community/forumdisplay.php?68-It-s-all-about-Maple-Syrup-!!-and-Just-Syrup) forum and I'm sure many people will help.

Sunny

04-01-2015, 01:58 PM

Thanks for the advice and vote of confidence!
I WILL learn how to do this myself for 2016!

Sinzibuckwud

04-05-2015, 04:55 PM

Hello All
Matt from New Hampshire
Started boiling 18 seasons ago with my father, running my own setup with my son for 6 years now. We currently tap and bucket 35 trees and boil on a homemade evaporator to make enough for the table.
My son is the official taster of sap and syrup, He let's me know which tree's are running sweet and, if the hydrometer is wrong and the syrup is not perfect. I do the easy work and keep the fire hot :).Going to erect a simple shack this summer to finally get out of the wind something real low budget using reclaimed or free materials should be an interesting adventure.
Any questions feel free to ask.

Jlam-d

04-05-2015, 08:39 PM

Hello from Kingston, Ontario. Stumbled across this as I was looking for used evaporator. We have been at this for about 13 years now, took a 4 year break as I moved to the UK. We tap about 500 trees, all buckets. We measure our production by how much fun we have with friends and family...not by litres.
11570
11572
11571

1220'

04-07-2015, 05:57 PM

Hello,
Im from Vermont, first year producing syrup.
20 taps and 2 turkey fryers.
definitely expanding next season to a wood fired arch.
so far made about 1.5 gallons.

jrm

04-24-2015, 07:39 AM

Hi. This was my second year tappin. Found the site last year as a newbie. I received lots of great advise from browsing and in direct response to my posts, as well as great stories. I can't stop checking the site. Funny that I didn't find the Sugar Inn portion until now, after my taps are pulled.

doug jones

04-25-2015, 06:14 PM

Hello my name is doug jones. im from west Winfield ny ,been reading on this site since 2011, just figured out how to post on it the last couple days, not real computer savvy lol. I have around 1000 taps ,boil on a 2.5 by 8 alguier, not sure of the spelling , its the company thor bought out . had a 250 amish ro, sold it over the phone this morning off the classified section here. just wanted to introduce myself and say thank you, ive learned a great deal from all of you who post on here and hope to contribute some myself now that im getting this computer stuff figured out. Doug Jones

Ausable

09-08-2015, 07:39 PM

Hey! Welcome Doug. We are all - Always learning. ----Mike----

johnpma

09-09-2015, 10:45 AM

Hi All!! Just a hobby boiler for family and fun. Boil on a wood fired barrel unit. Have about 40 taps out 25 of them being a tubing line. Lots of fun and enjoy the syrup all year long Looking for info, and help to expand my operation

Thanks for having me.....

wokeupthisam

10-29-2015, 09:18 PM

Hi, we're Mike and Cheryl, just starting sugaring in our mid-50s when Cheryl pointed out a nice Grimm finishing pan at a yard sale. I thought it would make a good boiling pot - you know, spaghetti & such... asked the guy selling it and he explained what it was for. Bought it for $20 which we thought was a good yard sale deal, wasn't really thinking of mapling but then it just sat there, staring at us ; ) So we have about 30 12" maples in the yard, mostly sugars, and about 30 more 8" maples that might be ready by the time I retire lol. Tapped 4 trees in 2014, got 10 quarts of very light amber syrup boiling in the kitchen. Expanded to 10 trees in 2015 on buckets, one week we collected 65 gals of sap which maxed out our little weekend stovetop boiling op. Made a makeshift evap out of an old metal file cabinet to help out but still barely kept up. Bought a used Leader half-pint over the summer and put up an 8x14 sugar shed, just finished sealing the stack on it, over the next few weeks will be bricking the half-pint and then she'll be ready for next season - planning to tap 20 trees, I plan to give the less vigorous ones a year off. This site has been a godsend for a hobbyist like me and I learn more every time I log in. Prenons du bons sucre!

acafro

11-06-2015, 07:39 PM

Hi all, my name is Adam, from Maine. New to the maple syrup hobby this past spring. Made a hasty "evaporator" out of an old 55 gallon drum and a couple turkey pans, had 15 taps last year and made just over a gallon and a half of syrup! just got my new 2x4 continuous flow pan from smoky lake today! I'm going to build my own arch this winter. Can't wait to start putting together my new setup. And It seems I have acquired some more trees! Hopefully going to be a busy and successful spring!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

dogpatch

11-06-2015, 08:10 PM

Welcome to the trader. Lots of great information on this site.

USMCLtcol

01-12-2016, 04:28 PM

Hello everyone. I am Ben in Lynchburg, Va. Have a few trees in the yard and access to a few more, maybe 10 total. This is strictly a father - daughter project. Introduced her to maple syrup and she is now an addict. Nothing fancy just going to see if we can get some sap and make syrup. Thanks for all the great info on the site.

optionguru

01-12-2016, 04:38 PM

I started out as a cool project to show the kids on the kitchen stove. You'll be welding up an arch in no time. Welcome.

Lil' Tapper Joe

02-08-2016, 12:44 PM

Hi everyone ✋ my name Is Joe I live in Fulton NY and I am a maple addict! This is my second year making syrup and I am already planning for next year! I just want to thank everyone that makes this site possible! I have learned alot already!

TrapperX

02-15-2016, 12:23 PM

Hello all, I am Mike out of Lowell, MI.
I tapped 5 trees last year late in March but was able to make 6 quarts of dark syrup.
With the warm up in Dec I tapped 2 trees and made a pint of Golden syrup that was super sweet and butterscotch flavor.
I have been addicted to trapping for 30+ years and I can say I am already addicted to Maple syrup tapping ;)

Bog hobo

02-16-2016, 10:16 PM

Happy late winter all,

My name is John on a hill above the Delaware River in Bucks County, PA. Only my second year sugaring but I haven't stopped thinking about it since the end of last season.

2015 10 taps and sap sacks, 2.5 gallons finished 2 pan Block arch

WVa

02-17-2016, 11:18 AM

Hello all,
I'm Keith Shirley, I live near Mt Alto West Virginia, a retired union carpenter. I spend most of my time on small family farm, raising a few chickens for eggs, a couple pigs for pork, Two very spoiled Mountain Feist squirrel dogs, a pond full of fish, a garden for veggies, a small patch of field corn for the critters, a little sugar cane to make Sorghum, and a lot of grass to mow, mow, mow. In the fall along with the sorghum we make a little apple cider and a kettle or 2 of apple butter. And have a fall hay ride for friends and family.
I ride a Honda Valkyrie motorcycle and my wife and I try to take a couple 4-5 day bike trips a year, along with a few overnight rides. I Piddle at blacksmithing, Target shoot a little, hunt a little, fish some, weekly mow at the farm, at my home, at my Moms, and the local cemetery roughly 5 to 6 acres, and twice a year brush hog the parts of the farm that are cleared, roughly 15 acres. This past November I realized that I didn't have enough to do, so I bought a Norwood HD36 Sawmill.
Last year was my first year tapping trees, so I built a 12 x 16 Sugar Shack / Blacksmith shop with a 10 x 16 shed. Bought a 22"X32"X8" SS sink, some 3x3 angle, some 1/8" sheet metal from scrap yard along with fire brick and what not and built a wood stove to fit the pan.
I taped 50 trees using line into milk jugs and soon realized that they were not big enough to hold a day's sap. I, along with my son and other gray beard friends and neighbors manage to make 8 gallon of syrup during the season. We tried to cook off around 50 gallon of sap each cooking. We came close, but never did get 1 gallon in a day.
Last week for 2 days we tapped into 5 gallon buckets, before the weather turned to below freezing 24-7. We collected 75-80 gallon of sap, sat around watching sap boil, eating fresh sausage and bacon, pork BBQ and chili, telling lies, having a good time and still manage to cook off 7 quarts of syrup.
The weather has finally stated to change and we hope to start the process all over again soon. The snow is turning to slush and mud which will make gathering the sap a little messy. My sap line, if that is what you call it is about 3/4 mile. I use a Polaris ranger side by side, which holds 18 five gallon buckets, so one trip does it.
I give 80% of the syrup, cider, apple butter, and sorghum away. That's what it is all about, getting together having a good time, a little work, a lot of BS ing, enjoying the life we have.

littleTapper

02-17-2016, 11:46 AM

Welcome folks! I'm still a newbie, but love this place. Good people and lots of knowledge to glean. Enjoy!

Cedar Eater

02-17-2016, 11:53 AM

Welcome to all the noobs. Last year was my first year here and my first year sugaring. There are lots of friendly and helpful people here who know a lot of stuff. Enjoy.

Sarah_R

02-17-2016, 04:10 PM

Hi everyone! My name is Sarah, and my husband and I will be making our first syrup this spring :)
We have quite a number of trees on our rural property of 14 acres, so we're hoping to have some fun.
Already have some ideas on how we can do better next year!
Can't wait to chat with other hobbyists and see what everyone has to say.:D

KV Sappers

02-17-2016, 06:29 PM

Warm Welcome Sarah. Having fun is what tapping trees is all about. Enjoy yourselves.

mainebackswoodssyrup

02-20-2016, 08:00 AM

Hey all, new to the site but been a lurker for quite a while. Lots of good info on here. We have 400 taps in Peru all on gravity which we have been doing for 6 years or so and make between 20-30 gallons. We just got ourselves involved in a 5500 tap operation north of us that we hope to take over some day. We have about 300 man hours in since November fixing lines/taps/drops.....you name it on that operation. Should have both all tapped in this weekend. Can't wait, love sugar season. :cool:

pianoman

03-07-2016, 08:22 PM

Hello my name is Lynn Rushing. We own/operate Bizzell Bluff Farm. We have been tapping sugar maple trees for 3 years. This year we have over 100 taps. Our farm is in the western part of Kentucky. Our season is from the middle part of January to about the 2nd week in March. I like making the syrup. I sell all I make. 😁

DMF

03-08-2016, 08:13 AM

I guess I should have posted here before asking all my questions in other forums/threads here on the site!

Rich Julian. I live in Warren, Massachusetts with my wife and daughter. This is our first year sugaring. We have a small farm called Deer Meadow Farm on the south side-easterly end of Mark's Mountain. We own a little over 66 acres, 42 of it is wooded. We have a 3 acre area with mature sugar maples that we just started managing last year. Our plan is to thin out the competing trees and expand the sugar bush. We bought a 2 x 4 arch and pan set-up from Randy Worthen in Spofford, NH. We had our fist boil this past weekend (3/5-3/6) and made 7 1/2 pints of syrup. We are hooked...

ferratus

03-08-2016, 11:36 AM

Hello everyone my name is Matt, from the very northeast of Indiana and I am a addict ... lol.... at any rate it appears that I may have landed in the right place. Took the leap with my brother in law this year and tapped approx 15. Ended up with about 10 qts. I am loving this. Too bad i had to find it later in life, but hey better late than never. Hope to learn a lot of interesting things here.

SugaringRook

03-09-2016, 10:34 AM

Hello everyone, I'm a second year rookie that's all the way addicted. I have 10 acres with lots of silvers and a few sugars, family fun to usher in spring. This site is warm and filled with tons of information!!!!!!!!!!!

Camp cook

03-11-2016, 07:55 PM

Hello all! Getting back into it after many years. Hoping to show my young kids (2 and 5) about all the things I learned on the farm and in the woods. Looks like an awesome site to learn and share. Looking to buy a small hobby evaporator for next year that will handle 50 taps.

maple flats

03-12-2016, 07:43 AM

You might best just buy a 3x10, build a 24x36 sugarhouse, get an RO and a whole bunch of other equipment now, this is addictive and before you know it you will want to go from 50 taps to several thousand taps.
It is however fun to teach the kids, welcome aboard.

Camp cook

03-12-2016, 07:28 PM

I have a hunting cabin I am going make a sugar shack as well... It's going to be a year of prep. I all ready have 2 cord of oak cut and split. I just walked through the woods today counting the maples that i can tap. It is going to be fun and addicting

bprifle01

03-27-2016, 09:39 AM

Hello Mapletrader. My name is Bill, I'm in southeastern Wisconsin near Lake Michigan. This was my first year attempting this maple syrup making thing and I had lots of fun. I'm sure glad I found this forum before I started as I had lots of questions and found the answers I needed here. I built a cement block "arch" that needs to be tweaked for next year. I boil in two buffet table pans that I plumbed together with 1/2" ss fittings. It produces a visible gradient between them, but not enough that I can do draw offs of near finished syrup, so it's batch boils for me. I have (had) only four silvers and one red available to tap this year and the power company trimmed one and removed another the first week of March so next year I'll have to canvas the neighborhood for a few more trees to tap. I collected 75-80 gallons of sap this year before the silvers budded out and produced just under 6l of tasty golden syrup. It's not much, but at least I can share a little with family and friends.

OCHTO

03-27-2016, 10:08 AM

Hello Bill, I lived in Oostburg while in grade school. My Dad lives a few miles west now. He makes 10-20 gal. of syrup a year and his friend by Oostburg does more than that. Nice little town.

Fort Wisers

04-05-2016, 06:21 AM

Hi Everyone,

My wife, our two young daughters and I live up in North Grenville Canada.
We live on a bit of land (6 acres) and have a number of mature maple trees, we've talked about tapping them for years now.
Next year will be the year.
We plan on building a small sugarshack and evap unit.
This forum has already been a very valuable resource with much great information, everyone who contributes to the forum should be very proud!
Take care, hope to send pics soon!

Mvhomesteader

04-08-2016, 09:30 PM

Hello Mapletrader! My wife and I live in a 200 year old homestead in Mount Vernon, Maine, having moved here from the Bangor area in 2015. We are still newbies to the hobby, having tapped 35 red maples at out previous house and 8 sugars this year at our new place. Our property has a bunch of sugar maples, some near as old as the house, so next year we'll go at it in a bigger fashion. For the 8 tapped this year we did get 2.75 gallons of syrup on 7 boils using an old woodstove and hotel pan. Next years plan is for a concrete block arch with three pans, and more taps. We use milk jugs for buckets, 5/16 taps with a short piece of plastic tube, and store sap in 5 gallon buckets from a local supermarket. We both look forward to the information and knowledge that this forum can provide. Happy syruping to all!

Navy Chief

06-24-2016, 01:36 PM

Tom Carow, I live in Algoma, Wisconsin. I am a retired Navy Chief, but like most still work! We started maple this last winter (2016), ended up with 13 gallons of syrup. Lot's of learning all the way and looking forward to the future. Just started clearing for sugar shack, used two 55 gallon barrels this year. Hoping to build an arch this summer! We are addicted.....

Jeff E

06-24-2016, 04:39 PM

Welcome Chief!!! Now Chief Sapper :)

bprifle01

06-26-2016, 08:28 AM

Welcome aboard Chief! I am also in Eastern Wisconsin and 2016 was my first year too. I am very limited in the number of trees (6) that I can tap, but wound up with a gallon and a half of syrup for the year. There's lots of valuable information on this forum and many friendly folks willing to share. Ask questions and enjoy the addiction!

Bill

Maple Man 85

06-26-2016, 10:59 AM

Zucker Lager

06-26-2016, 11:55 PM

Anthony (aka Maple Man 85), Merrill, WI going big or going home taking the plunge... We've been tapping on the same property for 4 generations and my kids are excited to be the 5th. Taking the operation from 200 buckets and a flat pan to 4000 on line with RO and evaporator in the next year, stay tuned for progress pictures. :cool:

Wow Anthony that is a huge increase. I'm just a little north east of you in Sugar Camp WI. Will be making the plunge too I'm going to try to tap 20 reds this next year ha ha. Love the hobby but I have a lot of learning to do. Jay

Maple Man 85

06-27-2016, 11:11 AM

Wow Anthony that is a huge increase. I'm just a little north east of you in Sugar Camp WI. Will be making the plunge too I'm going to try to tap 20 reds this next year ha ha. Love the hobby but I have a lot of learning to do. Jay

With 4 generations of maple knowledge to draw from and finishing up my MBA in the next 2 months there should be no reason why I can't make this a very successful business. As we get up and going feel free to PM me and come on over. It's always nice to meet fellow sugar makers face to face! :)

mich12

08-25-2016, 03:28 PM

Hello,

My name is Alan. I recently started a Facebook group "Used milking equipment" with the idea of trying to help connect buyers and sellers. As a former dairy farmer I know there is equipment out there that could be put back into use if the connection could be made. Vacuum pumps, bulk tanks, and releasers fall into the maple as well as the milk circles. Part of my idea is a place to share items people run across that make them say "if only it was closer, or I didn't have enough already"- there is likely someone still in need and close enough that would be glad to see the ad, posting, or sale bill.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/548088505370876/

Benny8

08-29-2016, 10:59 AM

I am Aaron from NH. My wife and I just purchased 6.2 acres of land for our hunting Camp. The property has a number of sugar maples with a downhill run to where we want to put our Sugar Shack. We have been talking about sugaring for a couple years now on our current property(3 or 4 trees). We decided to jump in on the new property and tap some trees. We will be making a oil tank arch with a custom pan from a buddy. I am a Tool Maker who enjoys DIY projects and tinkering around. I make knives, furniture, and cabinets, and many things in between. Our daughter who just graduated high school has started her schooling in Cosmetology. The whole family enjoys spending quality time hunting. The Camp property looks like it will add to our family time.

Tapper9914

09-20-2016, 02:28 PM

Hello everyone one first day here!!! Im Steve from upstate NY. Been doing maple syrup for about 8 years. Got about 1000 taps

RyanMay

10-06-2016, 01:14 AM

Hey everybody my name is Ryan and I just joined up.I live in Vancouver.My wife and I are still a bit of novice in the area and need all the help that we can get.It is nice to meet you all and be a part of this community.

spelunk68

10-11-2016, 09:12 PM

Hi all,
Had all these trees here, have been wanting to do this for years so this coming season will be the first for me and the 3 neighbors involved. I am in Stroudsburg (North East PA) and have 5 acres here with access to about 5 more or so. As with most things, well if you are going to do it, well no sense starting with one pot on propane:) So we just finished building this, it is currently 4 6 inch deep heavy steam table pans but I built it with a 5 inch lip on either side so if we really get into it I can place an evaporator on the steam pan frame and still use it for maybe a pig or two during the summer. I have incremental venting on the front in 3 levels of 10 square inches each so we can open them all or just the lower, middle or bottom depending on where we want the cool are drawn in as well as dampers on the stacks so I am hoping we should be able to control the temperature pretty good and also maybe not blow through cords of wood when we get to the tapping season. Here it is with a rock veneer and around a 6 inch solid core up to the fire brick...
http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/ab244/spelunk68/BlakeandEvap.jpg

I have tagged some trees, about 30 mature maples, some big enough for 3 taps (maybe more, I am 6'6 and I am not even close to being able to reach around the trees to grab the flagging tape), 25 Black Walnut and 10 Shag bark hickory's and I am not even 3/4 through looking my 5 acres and excluding anything too small for one tap from those totals, I figure about 20 percent are other type tree's. I am going to finish before the leaves fall off, maybe tomorrow. I am switching to using an app instead of tagging, I am not associated in any way with this app but in case anyone else can benefit I will share it here. The name of the App is "Map Marker" and I found it in the Google play store. I lucked out and the satellite photos of my land were taken during the winter and you can zoom down to every tree trunk. The app lets you choose a marker color, name the marker and put notes in about the marker. Most importantly you can export the KML file and have a backup and use it in any google earth program. I am coloring the Sugar maples markers one color, Black walnut another, Hickory another, etc.. I am then naming the tree type as the name along with a sequential number. In the notes are number of taps, and as soon as I tap them I will be taking a sugar content reading and notating it in the notes each year so I can just take what will work out best for us if we have a good season.

Anyway, sorry about the wall of text but I do have one question that I can use guidance on. I am thinking of a refractometer that is ATC that covers at least the 0 to 15 range for the sap sugar content and another ATC for the 50 to 80 range for the final product, or maybe just a 0 to 85 like here (https://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-Refractometer-Automatic-Compensation-Resolution/dp/B007Z4IN58/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1476233758&sr=8-9&keywords=refractometer). I would rather do this than use a Hydrometer because of both having to deal with filling the tube up with the hot sap and also because of my clumsiness I know I would break or drop many of them. I also would probably temperature shock a few and blow them up. What is the consensus on using refractometers instead of hydrometers? I will probably have a sap hydrometer or two just to check my calibration on the refractometer. I was wondering what if any of the downfalls of going with this method for the final product over a Hydrometer. On top of all this, something like the Milwaukee in the refractometer link abobe seems immensely simpler than dealing with the manual readings and conversions, etc. if I use a Hydrometer.

Anyway sorry for the wall of text, any help for this noob is appreciated and I am sure I will see y'all in other forums.

EDIT: Forgot to say we are just doing this for a fun hobby to give the results to friends and family and get outside after a few months of cabin fever., nothing for sale planned here. Also I am going to build a simple aluminum roof that can be popped on in wet or snowy weather than will sit about 4 or 5 foot over the pans and hang over the sides by at least a foot, maybe build a shack around it some day of it works out and we stay with it instead of having a very oddly shaped bonfire pit :)

danielschauder

10-15-2016, 09:45 AM

Hello fellow maple enthusiast,

I am Dan from Sawyer County Wisconsin. Fairly new to MapleTrader and I have been enjoying reading all of the helpful information you all post. Been around producing maple syrup for many years. In the 2016 season my buddy and I decided to make it on our own with a 2x4 flat pan. Had 85 taps and boiled under the open sky. No water, no power, no convenience. We had a lot of fun but knew we needed to have a more comfortable setup. The summer of 2016 we have been building our new cook shack. We had to go small as the area we had to work with only allowed us 12x16. All of the amenities have been put in place, water, power and of course the roof. A new evaporator was in the cards for 2017. Just picked up the new 2x7 Silverplate from Smoky Lake along with a 16 gallons water jacketed bottler. The plan is to tap 300-400 in 2017 and have tons of fun with friends and family. I look forward to hearing all of the ideas and knowledge from all of you here on MapleTrader.

Michelino

12-27-2016, 05:50 PM

Hello everyone; My name is Mike and I'm located in the Northeast corner of Indiana. I have been doing a lot of lurking and a fair amount of reading on the subject of sugaring. My property has a few walnut trees and sugar maples and the surrounding acreage, which I have access to, is mostly sugar maple. I am attempting to start sugaring this season on a very small scale; very small! I'm thinking 10 to 15 taps for starters. I have already built a small wood stove (evaporator) to experiment. I built it out of a 55 gallon drum and set it up to batch boil in a 13 gallon kettle. I also have access to a small building that would make a nice sugar shack. My goal this season is to try and produce 1 or 2 gallons of Syrup. I have already test boiled my "evaporator" and I'm getting about 2 GPH out of it but not without some problems, hence, I joined the group for some guidance. If my micro sugaring adventure works out I have the capability to expand.1486714867

spud

12-27-2016, 07:23 PM

Silverxfox

01-04-2017, 04:57 PM

New guy here. My name is David and I work for the state. Years ago my family made syrup and I will be the new generation doing so. It's been a long time and I'm starting fresh with no experience or usable equipment! I'm here to learn and share any information a long the way.

LI Mapler

01-08-2017, 03:48 PM

Hello everybody. My name is Augie. This will be the third year I will tap a few trees in my yard here on the south shore of Long Island NY. My wife and I spend time raising 3 kids - 2 college age 1 in jr high school - gardening/canning/drying/raising chickens for eggs. Boiling sap is a new hobby for me to keep busy in winter and will tell you it is my new passion! The first year I collected roughly 85 gallons of sap with three buckets and produced a gallon and a half of syrup with a turkey frier and some sap was used to brew iced tea. Last year was a bust for me because I tapped so late or the season started so early, I missed a lot of sap due to my own inexperience. I collected about half as much sap last year as I did the first year. This season I am doubling my operation with six buckets ready to go and a shiny new Leader flat pan 16" x 34". When my son graduates high school in three years we are planning to move off of Long Island to get away from high cost of living here. Sugar bush has become a high priority for me when we shop properties. Went to the NY Maple Producers trade show yesterday in Verona NY. Had a nice chat with Jason Callan of Leader Evaporators. He gave me lots of startup info. He explained to me how a lot of the equipment works. He even offered to help me evaluate properties of interest when I start actually go looking at properties to buy in a couple of years! I've already learned a bunch reading in the forums. Looking forward to the upcoming season. Thanks and good luck to all.

spelunk68

01-23-2017, 01:03 PM

Augie,
Look into the Poconos, I moved here about 28 years ago from Freeport. Not a bad ride to visit relatives still out on the Island and if you go north of 80 a bit you can find some great properties for harvesting resources from the land like it sounds like you enjoy, maybe up the Delaware river towards the NY border. And even though I am south by interstate 80 my land is covered in sugar maples, they out number all of the other tree's 2 to 1, this was just a fluke but I am going to start taking advantage of it now :)

LI Mapler

01-29-2017, 07:11 AM

PA has always been on my radar but my wife beeing a bit of an environmentalist cant get past the fracking going on there. I know the woods are ideal for sugaring but my wife feels better more north. What is the feeling in your area on fracking? Thanks for the reply!

Nctryben

01-30-2017, 12:07 PM

Ben here in Minnesota. I'm kind of diving into this cold turkey. I helped a neighbor last year a bit and enjoyed it a lot. Just seems like a great thing to do. Being an old chimney/fireplace builder I am looking into building something fun to cook down sap. So off to reading the forum ideas... thanks.

grapestomper

01-30-2017, 01:32 PM

Tom from Upper Michigan.
Have been making syrup for 4 years. 3 years with a homemade setup that took for ever to boil sap down.
This year I decided to jump in and built a 12' x 20' shack and bought a sunrise 2x4 evaporator. I have it pretty much set to go for this year and all I need is the weather to come along. Specs. say it will do 20gallons per hour. I won't know how to act if that is true.
Hoping to get 15 gallons this year. Mainly for our own use and gifts. May let the kids sell a little if it goes well at the farmers market.

Bugman990

01-31-2017, 09:20 PM

Rob from Rhode Island. Newbie 3rd year. Glad I found this forum. Lots of great people and information. Thank you

MapleTechTools

02-02-2017, 08:50 AM

Hello, I am Nick from Dansville NY. I became hooked on sugaring as a teen at an uncles small scale sugar shack. it was a 2x6 wood fired evaporator with about 400 taps. Recently I started working for a guy that has a 7400 tap operation that uses a 3x12 oil fired evaporator. I starting building sap line pliers and I am starting to grow my product line to include more tools. I currently only build single hand pliers, Double hand Cut-in pliers and spout pullers.

potatopie17

02-02-2017, 10:28 AM

Hi everyone, my name is Benjamin Ive started collecting sweet water back about 5 years ago and been collecting ever since. I live in nw missouri and and I started with tapping the 4 maple trees at my house with about 10 taps. I now collect sap from a neighbors field plus ours and have about 27 taps. I collect in buckets and I boil on the stove using to big pots boiling around 1-2 gallon per hour.
Ive been reading on this this forum for the last 5 years and just wanted too post what Ive been doing
Benjamin

Worthy

02-02-2017, 03:49 PM

Hey all...

I'm a backyard/neighborhood hobbyist in central Ohio. I started sugaring in 2015 after noticing a sapsucker take a keen 'interest' in my large sugar in the winter of 2014. 2 buckets in year 1, 4 last year, and 6 in the neighborhood this year. I don't feel the need to scale up significantly...mostly I enjoy the time outdoors, learning the skill, and strengthening my neighborhood community by sharing the rewards. I did upgrade from a large pot to a steam pan for my outdoor propane stove this season, and I'd love to convert to wood-burning if/when the stove becomes impractical.

I've read a lot of archived threads from this forum the last few years, self-teaching and troubleshooting. Look forward to being around awhile.

mmgrue

02-07-2017, 02:04 PM

Hey all --

We live in Minneapolis, have been tapping our silver since 2009. The last couple of years we've been missing the season - either tapped too late, or the sap never really ran. So I thought I'd come by here to hang out with some experienced folks, work on my timing and skill. :)

We're working with an old pickle bucket, some spiles I carved from the sumac that grows along I-94, and a hand drill. We did extraordinarily well on 2-3 taps in 2009-2010, I'd say some 35-40 gallons of sap (it's a very large tree). But then we were hit by a tornado in 2011 which ripped up the crown, and the yield has never really recovered.

I look forward to learning. :)

~mmg

TOMWOLVES

02-09-2017, 10:29 PM

Hello all!, my name is Tom, northern Michigan Cadillac area, this will be the first year I tap my trees and attempt to make some home made syrup. I'm going to use 1 gallon water jugs, and use 20 of them. I was going to use a Turkey propane gas rig, but was told to be careful as the rubber hose could melt and cause a blow out! Soooooo!, that turned me off to that idea. I am making a evaporator from a 55 gal barrel and a stainless steel pan fired by wood. It still a work in progress but I hope to have it done by tapping season which is getting close. Any how thanks for having me here and hope to learn a lot. Guess I already did, I won't be blowing myself up with da turkey fryer... lol have a great season!

Trapper2

02-25-2017, 11:36 AM

Trapper, Lake Winnebago Wisconsin
I'm 62 years old. Started sugaring with my Dad in early 1960s until 1973 when he sold the farm. 1990 I bought a 40 that is predominately hardwoods in central Wisconsin for hunting. I've been dabbling with 5o taps on buckets most springs, cooked down about 7.5 gallons of syrup last year as my land is 80 miles from my house timing is a bit of a challenge. I have a 36" X 40" flat pan with a 40" X 12" preheat pan setting on top of it that dribbles in about 8 gallons an hour. It truly is a family/friend event as I had 13 people helping or getting in the way last Saturday on our first boil of the year. Picture is at the end of the boil with the preheater removed and the roller conveyor not in place yet to roll the pan off at 217.5.1571315714

DexterTapper

02-26-2017, 01:32 PM

Hello from southern Michigan.
I have been tapping my trees here for the past 4-5years using hand carved spiles and plastic jugs. I usually collect around 20 gallons of sap and start boiling using a Coleman stove in the garage, with finishing on the kitchen stove.
It is a very manual process with collecting done on foot as this is the muddy season and vehicles get stuck.
I tapped a new tree yesterday and when drilling saw no sap at all. With the recent warm weather, I expected it to be running.
That is what brought me here to see if others were tapping this early.
Hope to learn something new, and am glad this forum is available!
Mark

MaverickNJ

02-28-2017, 08:01 PM

Greetings from Northern NJ!
This is my first year tapping; I meant to start last year, but the season came and went without a single tap going in. This year I was ready with my taps and pails in hand and all the trees taped off just waiting for the appropriat weather to show up.
My sugar bush is actually located in Orange County, NY where my family has 20 acres of land. The 80-mile round trip is a small price to pay for the golden goodness that awaits at the bottom of every evaporating session. Because I am a newbie and don't have a lot of equipment, I conduct a boil every 10-15 gallons in my house. My wife loves the way the house smells!
Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself and say thanks to all the highly informed folks on here for sharing their sagely advice. I wouldn't have been able to appreciate fresh maple syrup without you!

longviewfarm

03-03-2017, 12:47 PM

My name is Jay, living in Charlestown, NH. For a long time I boiled 20-40 gallons of sap in a flat pan for my own use. This year I got married, and my father in law is a real sugaring addict. He bought a leader half-pint evaporator and I built us a sugar house. We have 50 buckets this year, and plan 100 next year, with a larger evaporator. I do most of my farm work with a pair of Percheron horses, and that includes bringing in the sap. Thanks for adding me to the forums, there is much to learn here.

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doctortom

03-03-2017, 03:46 PM

Hi All - Tom from Norwalk CT. Started 5 years ago with a big sugar maple in my back yard. Then recruited 8 other trees in my neighborhood (my neighbors think I am crazy for getting up at 430 on weekends). I boil mostly on the firepit with large pots, but just converted a file cabinet to an evaporator, which keeps a lot smoke out of the eyes! Sad that this year year is winding down already - I tapped in mid-january so have been boiling away on weekends, but was waiting to tap another 10 trees to double output and I don't think it will happen. Anyway - I appreciate all of your contributions to this forum.

Chris_In_Vermont

05-21-2017, 08:08 PM

Hey everyone, I'm Chris, from Vermont (ha, the username, get it) Anyways, I'm a graduate of Paul Smiths college with a Forest tech degree. I work for Glenn Goodrich at Goodrich's maple farm. I head up the woods crew there, installations, vacuum checking, maintenance, tapping, everything in the woods. Know plenty about repairing and running chainsaws, I enjoy canoe tripping, hiking, hunting and fishing. Just love being in the woods!

phil-t

05-22-2017, 07:24 AM

Hi Folks. From Northern NY. Joined the forum a few years back because a buddy has the maple bug and put me up to it. Great place for information and research.
This is the first year I tapped trees. I have 15 large sugar maples in my yard - ran 20 taps, 8 on 3/16 gravity tube and 12 on buckets. I didn't keep real close info on amounts, but did get 6 gal. of syrup. I did the first gallon on a propane fired candy cooker I have ($50 of propane later) and I was hauling my sap to my buddy's place. We measured the sugar content and I worked in his sugar house (tending the fire) and took my calculated syrup home. Not a bad deal,but I wanted my own setup after it was all done this year.
A few weeks ago a local fella advertised a shack (10X12) with a Leader half-pint evaporator (he is upsizing) and I bought it. Got it moved, all cleaned up and ready to go for next season. Did a test boil yesterday, with water, and got ~ 8 gal./hour evap rate using forced AUF. One way to make the warmer weather and the winter months pass slowly! :)
A few pics:

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djblech

05-22-2017, 09:17 PM

Hey all...
I live in Bruno MN which is about 30 miles south of Duluth. This is my 1st year with 36 taps and a 55 gal evaporator. Ended up with 5 1/2 gal of syrup and it was so much fun. I have already ordered a 2x4 XL from Mason and increased my taps to 80. I have 120 acres about 3.5 miles from home that has about 100 red maples. Building a shack this summer next to my cabin. I knew this would be a contagious hobby!!

Road's End

05-23-2017, 06:56 PM

Hello everyone,
Figured I'd throw out my intro post now. Just starting up with our first year on the new property making syrup. 320 taps on 3/16" gravity with plans to expand to 600 for next year. Boiled on a homemade 2x6 this year and moving up to a from scratch 2x8 evaporator and a small 2 post RO. Love the site, always something to learn from.

Other than that we raise pigs, chickens, (meat and layers) and sheep on the farm. The animals were probably more popular than the maple syrup during Maine Maple Sunday!

thomashansen871

07-19-2017, 09:57 PM

hello all, I am in Minnesota, south of the metro area, last year was the first year that i collected and cooked sap, and now i am addicted. i used a pan that my father in law had made years ago, it is not really designed well, but it worked. i use propane to cook it down, and even though it took forever, i.e. was a blast. i have since fabricated a new pan, need to make the stand for it, but i have a few months yet to go.

we have chickens, and horses on the property as well, a nice creek running through the property as well, nice little place to call home.

Cuse

10-11-2017, 07:43 PM

Hello from Middletown, Ohio
I'm a 37 year old special education teacher. My family recently built a house on 20 acres of mostly wooded land. This summer I started making ATV paths in my woods when I discovered all that I have a decent amount of sugar maple trees (probably close to 100 sugar maple or so trees I could tap). I started to do a little research, read a couple of books, looked at all the incredible information everyone has shared on this forum, and now I'm heading into my rookie year of hopefully making some maple syrup. I have a 5 year old and many students excited to eat maple syrup from our trees. I would like try to work with the cooking teacher at my school to see if they would be interested in learning about it (Maybe after year one or two.....). It would be a great learning experience. I'm unsure how many trees I should tap my first season. I have read about some do-it-yourself RO systems and I have a couple of 55 gallon barrels I can use for an evaporator. Probably going to use a combination of one gallon recycled milk jugs, 5 gallon buckets, and some traditional bucks for the experience and to show off to friends and family. I'm really excited about this experience and any help or guidance from the veterans is much appreciate in advance.

mainebackswoodssyrup

10-12-2017, 07:49 PM

Welcome, be prepared to come down with a case of maple fever in the spring. 100 taps is manageable on a homemade barrel set up as long as you can keep up with the buckets. I wouldn't worry about an RO at this point. First see how you like it and how much spare time you have. Thats a great idea to team up with a home ec teacher. Many recipes out there. Try making some maple sugar that you can use in several other items. Good luck

Cuse

10-14-2017, 10:20 PM

Thanks! Haha Yes, right after I get over buck fever! I stared my barrel this weekend. I'm hoping I'm going to be somewhat prepared. We'll see! Thanks for your reply!

maple flats

10-15-2017, 07:27 AM

What is the topography like on your land? If you have enough elevation changes from point A to point B you can use 3/16 tubing. To be of much help you need at least 15' of drop, to get best results you need 30+ feet. With 3/16 tubing you can get free vacuum by using gravity, it runs for free and never needs repair or fuel. Read up on some 3/16 studies to find out if you can make use of it.
By the way, welcome aboard, glad to have you here.

Cuse

10-26-2017, 12:50 PM

The topography of the land is perfect for a gravity tubing network. Most of the land it on a huge plateau that is about 100' above my flat land and has a ravine that runs right through the middle of it and funnels into my backyard. I have thought about, but unsure of how to run the lines and the clean up part of of it. I have put most of my research and prep into my evaporator and the process. I'm just hesitate to "go all in" on my rookie year. How hard is it to do? I have around 130-40 trees marked for tapping many that can have 2 to 3 taps. How cost effective is it rather than 5 gallon buckets and milk jugs? Is there every a problem with deer running into them or squirrels chewing into the lines? Thanks I'm glad I happy to be here and glad to have found this sight with so many people willing to help. I'm so excited for sap season and my wife thinks I'm crazy! lol Thanks for the comment!

tgormley358

10-31-2017, 08:26 PM

This is Tom in Harvard, MA (not the university). I've been on MT for a year or so and posted several times, but not in this Intro forum, so here i go. A few years ago a friend who's been sugaring 45 years came by and told me I have a few sugar maples and asked if i'd be interested in trying sugaring - he could loan me a small evaporator. Two years later i have a fun new hobby -- I don't like saying "i'm hooked" but it wouldn't be far from the truth if i did. My so-called "friend" Ron ramped up the addictive ingredients last year by loaning a new Lapierre 19x48. I made a makeshift sugar shed for it, added another neighbors' taps, and had a blast. Closest experience I've had to being in a manufacturing environment, as my career is in the services sector. So now i'm all in, especially as another neighbor agreed to let me tap his 35 trees with tubing, doubling my taps to 80-85, which will keep my new Lapierre Jr. 2x5 busy enough. My wife and I both work full time, and I don't want to be boiling all night during the work week, so I added a blower to increase evaporation and hoping to keep up with the flow in spring. I bought a 210 gallon pickup tank, but still need a few things. A head tank for the evaporator in my shed - maybe Ron's nice 110 gallon SS tank except it's pricey. I don't want to see another cone filter in my lifetime if i can help it, so I'm moving either to a small filter press (MapleJet) or a flat filtering bottler. But my next project up is a real sugar shed with a concrete floor. I'm planning only 9x11 -- but i think it'll fit everything i need including storage off season. I've learned alot from this forum and appreciate all the information and responses i've had. Have fun!

misterclassic

12-15-2017, 04:31 PM

Hello everyone! This is Jim in Nebraska, that's not a typo -Nebraska. My wife & I live on an acreage about 2 miles from a small town of 750 people in northeast Nebraska. It's not the end of the earth but I can see it from here. Anyway, on our 6.5 acre slice of real estate we have windbreaks on the west and north sides consisting of around 125 silver maples. I'm guessing the age of the trees to be around 85 years old. All of them are over 2 feet in diameter with some 3 feet and a couple that are 4 feet across. We've lived here for over 33 years and up until a few years ago I had no idea that they could be tapped for syrup. I have a friend who spent around 5 years in Wisconsin on business and when he returned he began tapping some silver maple trees around town and boiling the sap on a turkey fryer. He gave me a baby food jar of the syrup he'd made and after just one spoonful I was hooked! It was the nectar of the gods! I don't know how this syrup compares to what you folks produce but I love what we make here!

I put in around a dozen taps in the spring of 2015, 50 taps in 2016 and 185 taps this past spring. All the sap was evaporated on propane burners but we are only doing 4-5 GPH. This year we ended up pulling most of the bags and letting the sap run because we just couldn't keep up. It was heartbreaking to say the least to see that sap just running down the bark, but I wanted to see what the trees were capable of producing and some taps were doing over 2 gallons on good days. The sugar was running 2 1/2 -3% but dropped off to around 2% towards the end of the season. It has been quite a learning experience but I am hopelessly addicted!

I want to get a better evaporator setup but due to other commitments we will keep the propane setup for next spring and tap enough trees to get 8-10 gallons of syrup again. I'm looking to get a wood burning 2x6 drop flue setup for the spring of 2019. I think we have the potential for 250 taps and from what I've gleaned from you great folks a 2x6 would match what we would have for taps. Any comments and help from you would be greatly appreciated! I'm the rank amateur and you guys are the seasoned veterans so please be patient with my dumb questions, and there will be plenty! I've already learned quite a bit from the members here and learn more each time I log in. I'll try to post about our season next year so you have some idea what the climate is like here compared to what you have back east. It's been said that if you don't like the weather here, wait for a few minutes and it will change. And after spending my life here I can say that it is true!

Have a Merry Christmas and a Sappy New Year!

Jim in Nebraska

mainebackswoodssyrup

12-15-2017, 05:30 PM

Welcome Jim, that's awesome you're making syrup in Nebraska. It sounds like you have some really good trees. A 2x6 sounds perfect for your setup. Lots of experience in here so ask all the questions you want.

kingOFgEEEks

01-09-2018, 08:56 AM

Good morning all. I'm new here, so I'll start slow.

I'm Chris. I live in north-central PA on a 200 acre former dairy farm with my wife and 3 girls (3, 5, and 7). 2 years ago, I got the crazy idea to try making syrup, so I bought 10 5/16 taps off of Amazon, which collected in gallon milk jugs. I boiled over an open fire with 2 small steam trays, and made about 3 quarts. Last year, I had great sap runs, and the steam trays wouldn't keep up, so I found a deal on someone else's 30" x 6' homemade evaporator, but found that it wasn't even worth firing up with the production of my 10 taps.

This year, I will be tapping 40 trees, running 3/16 tubing to collect multiple trees at the same point, and I'm building a 9x12 sugar shack. It's under roof and almost ready to park the evaporator, which is good, since I'm running out of time! I don't sell syrup, so I definitely like to keep costs as low as possible. My current budget for the sugar shack is $20 for a box of screws. Everything else was scrounged from scrap piles and leftovers on the farm.

Hopefully this year, I'll be able to make enough syrup to be able to do some Christmas gifts, and make some maple sugar. I'm learning more every day, and enjoying every minute.

maple flats

01-09-2018, 10:38 AM

king, welcome aboard. It's great fun to get the kids involved, do as much as you can with them, they will grow up before you know it. It will seem like no time and you'll be paying for a wedding or 3. Maybe then you can get the new family involved too.
Warning, this is addictive, with no treatment programs available to kick the habit.

greenmtn91

01-14-2018, 10:32 PM

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum and to the maple syrup industry. I would like to see whether anyone here takes on part-time or full-time help in the spring during maple season. I am very interested in joining a maple syrup operation in New England.

I am hoping someone can provide me some guidance here, or point me to where I can look for work on this site. I would appreciate any help. Thanks!

maple flats

01-15-2018, 08:00 AM

greenmtn91

01-16-2018, 07:58 PM

Most take on help during the season, especially the bigger operations. It would help a lot more if you told us where you live, rather than just in the US. I might guess in the Green Mountains, but even that's too general, the community would be better. You will notice on here that most have their city and state in their location. Once we get your location we might be able to connect you with some producers looking to hire. Some even hire full time, year round.

I live in Iowa, but I would be more than willing to relocate to a region where syrup production is more prevalent. The reason I referenced Green Mountain in my screen name is because I would love to go back to Vermont again.

HondoLane

01-23-2018, 10:33 PM

Hello,

My name is Matt and I am new to the maple syrup scene. I am considering giving the art of maple sugaring a try! We just moved to NE Pennsylvania. A really good friend of mine is a novice at it and has got me hooked on the idea. Ive been studying along on this site and I hope that I can tap your knowledge and make this a fun adventure for our family.

Winslow

02-03-2018, 10:51 AM

Hello,
new to the forum as a member, but been reading posts for a while. Lots of very good information and appreciate the opportunity to learn more.
Ed
Winslow,Me.

Target30

02-09-2018, 10:15 AM

Hi All,

Second year at this. My daughters friend has a descent sized operation, so my daughter (9) wanted to try it at our house. did my best in mid february last year to find the maple trees, found about 8 and only tapped 1 oak! full disclosure, i found 3, had my daughters friends dad come out and point out the others...its not as easy as you would think with no leaves! anyhow, first batch completely on the stove, got about 3 qt's. finished last season on the fire pit and finishing on the stove. daughter had a blast(i did almost all of the work!). this year, i scoped out the trees in the fall, have about 10-12. bought a drum kit for this year, so it should be better than last, hoping for a lot more sap since i tapped late last year. i'll probably still finish it on the stove until i get better at it. figured i'd say hi.

lyford

02-09-2018, 10:19 AM

Welcome to site. Its a great hobby to share with the family, enjoy!

maple flats

02-09-2018, 01:18 PM

Welcome Target. That is great family fun. Back in the 70's and 80's we tapped between 6 and 9 taps, just for family use. We had just 1 large sugar maple in the yard, but we also had 3 large Box Elders (also known as Ash Leaf Maples). We put 3 taps in the large sugar maple (just over 3' diameter, and the rest were in the box elders. We then processed it all in the house. The only heat we had until 1984 (in our 1880's house) was a large woodstove in the living room. We kept 2 large pots steaming (but not usually boiling) on the woodstove and kept a window open for the steam to escape in both the living room and one in the kitchen. Then we finished it on the gas stove. We did that about 5 or 6 times from 1976-1990. My 4 kids loved doing it and always wanted to go collect the sap to add to the pots. I bought the woods my current sugarhouse is on in 1978, but just fro hunting. Then during winter break in 1984 when my oldest son was 17, he and 2 friends did about 25 taps on that woods, and camped out for the week of winter break (my son and one of his friends are Eagle Scouts). They boiled the sap on open fires and each of the 3 families got about 3 qts of golden nector (however somewhat smoky tasting).
Maple is great fun for the family, be sure to keep it fun for your daughter.

Target30

02-09-2018, 03:13 PM

thanks guys. the evaporator shows up tomorrow. i know it is a cheap barrel kit one, but still better than the electric stove! i already have the fire bricks ready for it and going to do the initial burn off tomorrow afternoon. im hoping to get at least a gallon this year, mostly for personal use, my kids go through more than that in a year! my goal is 2 gallons, but 1 would be an improvement. i have a bunch of wood to burn already. some split, some not. unfortunately my axe was left outside, and is now under the snow somewhere! haha!

JayTee

02-26-2018, 02:43 PM

Good Afternoon from Southeast Missouri!

(Duplicate!)

John

JayTee

02-26-2018, 08:41 PM

Greetings from Southeast Missouri!

Monday two weeks ago our local TV Station had a Public Service Segment from the MO Department of Conservation. They talked about tapping Maple Trees for syrup and the time was from Mid-February to Mid-March. Self, I thought to myself, that sounds interesting. Ordered a set of 10 plastic taps and 2' Drop Lines from Amazon, which came Thursday, 2/16.

Got eight up and connected to 1 gallon jugs that night. Worked a 12H Day Friday, came home that evening and emptied about a gallon and a half. Worked a 24H Saturday (below freezing at night and above freezing during the day), came home to several of the jugs full to bulging (I had tight connections and no air vents); another had so much pressure that air was hissing out around the drop tube. Got 14 gallons from that day. Warmed up into the 60's and 70's and my Maples have started budding out. Season's over! Reduced over my Coleman Stove outside; moved inside for final reduction. Got some 44 oz of syrup that has an excellent taste. Everybody wants to try it and thinks we should have a pancake breakfast! I feel like 'The Little Red hen'. :)

17847

Then moved over to Paper Birch; five trees tapped. First 6 gallons has been reduced to a couple of quarts that probably got over cooked; it's pretty dark. Yesterday, over a very low flame (Med-Low), I've reduced a second 5-1/2 gallons down to a couple of quarts of very light amber color over most of the day. Added another five gallons to that today which is reducing nicely and will add a final four gallons tomorrow. Decided to pull my taps today after all the reading that tells me that it won't be table syrup. May have some new smoking glaze though . . .

Tapped five Black Walnuts Saturday that have just barely started to drip - got about a quart and a half last night. Hoping to do better with them than I did my VERY short Maple Season.

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John

Benny8

03-02-2018, 05:20 AM

Hello everyone, My name is Aaron and my wife's name is Sarah. I have been posting on here a bit lately. Been a lurking member for a couple years. We purchased a 6.5 acre pc of land for our hunting camp almost 2 years ago. After purchasing, we select cut some hardwoods off our property and kept all our sugar maples. We had intentions of starting out last winter, but a work injury put a halt to that. I nearly lost my left index and middle fingers. I never got back to work until March and that was in a limited capacity. Built our hunting camp in 2 weeks last summer with my father. Then spent the rest of summer and fall enjoying the camp and dreaming of everything we would be doing in the future up there. Tapped our first trees up there February 24th, 2018. Grant it, it is only 4 taps, but we have begun. We are building a block arch this weekend and will be batch boiling on weekends. The future plans are to move up to the camp permanently, build a small Sugar Shack and gravity feed sap to the shack. Our land is perfect with a downhill run to the proposed shack site. Look forward to learning a lot this year and catching the Sugar bug.

Bushwhacked

03-06-2018, 11:10 AM

Greetings, I'm just trying to get a hold of someone here of the administratory ilk to help recover an older account I have on this site. I sent a message via the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page, but more than a week has passed and I haven't received any response. Is there someone I can send a PM to in order to resolve my issue? Thanks in advance.

Cedar Eater

03-06-2018, 11:18 AM

snowmountainfarm

03-27-2018, 09:15 PM

Hello Traders,

New member from Western Ma. We (wife Ciara and 7 yo son Liam) have an old dairy farm in the hills of Western Ma. The farm sits at 1200-1600' elevation so it can be kind of cool and sometimes windy. Last winter was our first season tapping and we put out 700 taps on 3/16". Maybe 70% on high gravity. We had a great season. This year we bumped it up to 820 taps and added a double Guzzler with a Smart Sap Sucker controller. We had hoped the Guzzler would help a bunch but we can't seem to stay ahead of the squirrel chews and push offs. We have had it as high as 23" at the end of 3000' of 1" mainline but typically it is only 15-18" and often less than 5 if I have not been out in the woods every day. We love spending time in the woods though and are thrilled to have the opportunity to do it. For the near future we will continue to sell sap to a neighbor but eventually we would like to boil some part of it ourselves.

We have learned almost everything we know about maple from the members on this site and we are very grateful for all the experience you all share.

Jack
Snow Mountain Farm
Buckland, Ma

Smokeshow

04-04-2018, 04:01 PM

Howdy all y'all,

Signing in from Halton Hills in southern Ontario. We are a family of 4 with a 6 acre wood lot that consists of 95% sugar maple. We just finished our second year of maple syrup production with 7 litres our first year and 16 litres of finished this year off of 30 taps and 900 litres of syrup collected. I've definitely got the bug and sharing with family and friends is almost as much fun as evaporating.

Thank you all for the wealth of information on this forum (I've been a creeper for about 16 months) and i look forward to contributing when i can.

My real name is Paulo but all my good friends call me Smokeshow.

Cheers,

ChasinSmoke

06-26-2018, 11:52 AM

Hi Folks,

Been reading and learning since mid season (our first). Figured it was time to start writing and asking more questions. I am a shop teacher at a public high school so I have this wonderful thing called Summer vacation (actually unpaid time off - but I am NOT complaining), that said, it's time to start building my new arch. We have 20 acres in central Wisconsin, all wooded. This past Spring we put out ten pails because I felt I needed another hobby ;-) and boiled sap on a last minute thrown together block arch made from the metal crate my bandsaw mill came in and some concrete blocks and sand. We BLEW through a bunch of old pine from when we cleared a small 2 acre portion of our land so we could build our house, long story shorter.. didn't take many 12+ hour days feeding wood to start researching a better way! That said, it was fun and very rewarding, our syrup is excellent (not bragging - just appreciating our labor;-) So, ya.. hi ~Jo

maple flats

06-26-2018, 02:23 PM

Welcome aboard. My first suggestion is to put Wisconsin for the location, It helps others better know how to answer some questions.
At this point, if you had a faster way to boil, how many taps might you consider? If thinking a small maple rig, there are lots of choices. A good way to start is to look for a small used rig where a producer has out grown it. Best prices are now and as the season gets closer the prices go up. I suggest a welded pan(s) or lead free soldered. Rigs made between1990 until the late 90's can have lead solder.. If by chance you get a lead soldered evaporator, do not clean the solder to a shine, leave a dull coating on it.
Even if you get an evaporator rated for 100-200 taps, you could build a reverse osmosis machine which would remove much of the water to reduce boiling time.
Again, welcome!

SpokaneMaple

01-19-2019, 12:29 AM

Hi All,

New hobbyist way out west here in Spokane, Washington! My parents visited Vermont last fall and I got inquisitive enough to read up on Maple tapping and thought I'd give it a whirl on the huge Norway Maple in my front yard. Just one tap for now, but our temperatures have been ranging 25-45 for the last 3 weeks straight. In the last 2 weeks the tree has produced about 12 gal of sap from the tap and I've produced about a two cups of syrup. I feel like I'm learning on the fly out here with zero locals to ask. Hence signing up for the forum. Any tips for running just a couple hobby taps would be much appreciated.

- Adam

ComoClyde

02-04-2019, 11:10 AM

Sweet greetings: I have been sugaring as a hobby since visiting Vermont in 2013. I have nine trees - two of which are taking a rest -- within walking distance to downtown Columbia, MO. I collected 10 gallons Sunday and boiled it in a homemade evaporator. It produced a bit under two quarts.
Strange weather year. It was =-6/7 F Wednesday, but jumped to 22/55 Friday and then 32/62 Sunday. The sap has stopped for now, but we should have a few days of freezing/thaw at the end of the week.
19332

Crik

02-04-2019, 12:12 PM

Hi, I am very new to sugaring. I got into this by way of my stepson. He spent several years in High School and College helping a good friend of his with his operation.
Recognizing how much it interested him, I asked him and his mother if they would want to try it for ourselves. So in February 2018 we put in 125 taps on our property, gathered 2,500 gallons of sap, and as a result WE GOT HOOKED!
Last year we didn't have a sugarhouse or any equipment for processing so we brought all of our sap to my stepson's High School friend. For 2019 we have a brand new sugarhouse, new 2x6 D&G Raised Flu Evaporator, new 400gph D&G RO and will have somewhere around 400 taps.
This has been so much fun for us as a family and we have just begun. Looking forward to many sugaring seasons to come!
P.S. This Forum has been so helpful!! Thank you!193351933619337

Jjuhl54

02-08-2019, 06:49 AM

hey the wife and I are newbies from southeast Missouri so far we have got 15 gallons of sap

Snowmad

02-18-2019, 11:55 PM

This is me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYh1REdVJOY&t=89s
Love 3/16, it works great for me!

UPventrure

03-13-2019, 07:06 PM

Louie

03-14-2019, 09:11 AM

Hi I'm a fellow sugar maker from the U.P. of Michigan. I've been tapping with a fellow member ( Plungerke) since 2013. I've often read a lot of content on here and finally figured I would make myself a profile here.
Is this your state of the art operation?
https://www.ironcountyreporter.com/outdoors/willis-family-maple-farm-hold-open-house

NHLonghorn

03-15-2019, 07:17 AM

Hello All! New to this world, first year boiling in my backyard here in N NH. Own 15 acres in God's country, with a few nice Maples on the property, so figured I'd tap 11 of them this year, using mostly food grade containers with lids/holes cut in, attached to my taps. Very high tech...LOL. Figured I'd give it a go to see which direction I want to take this in, as I'll be using a turkey fryer/propane to boil, since I already owned one, and stainless steel pots. Sap is running with temps in the 40's yesterday and 50's today, have collected maybe a couple gallons so far, stored in the fridge, with the goal of boiling maybe this weekend. I've watched a lot of youtube and stumbled upon this site as I've never been one who's interested in re-inventing the wheel. I have my fryer/pots set up for the shallower/fatter pot on the bottom over a campfire grate on the fryer with a smaller pot on top as a warmer for the rest as I boil. Fingers crossed, wish me luck. I am going to use the propane tank in warm water trick I gleaned from here, too. ;)

Always open to free advice, especially if it saves me money and time.

Jon
52 yr old retired OIF vet
Whitefield, NH
11 tap newbie
1 awesome wife, 2 dogs, 2 cats

Canadiansugar

03-15-2019, 10:21 AM

Hi All, 1st generation tree tapper here trying my hand at this whole maple thing on the family's 60 acres in Southern Ontario. I'll admit I've been lurking for a while but I'm excited to finally see the sap flowing - collected my first 20 gallons yesterday and expect to have about that much again for a decent boil on the weekend. Welded up a homemade 1x3' flat pan and built a makeshift block arch that I hope can keep up with the 20 or so taps I've got out at this point. Love the forum and hope to glean as much info off the wise old timers as I possibly can. Here's to a good season everybody!

Galena

03-15-2019, 06:13 PM

Hi, I'm Galena and a repeat offender here :-) Located in Eastern Ontario, been tapping the trees on my 1/2 acre property with some pretty decent yields...see the bottom of this post for figures. Finally built my own sugar shack out of wood pallets and salvaged sheet metal. Fuelled by any leftover wood from deadfall and bucked-up pallets in a cast-iron woodstove. Still using 4in deep ss hotel pans to boil in, paper coffee filters for filtering - the small size of my batches means that the whole prefilter/Orlon/felt cone filters just eat my syrup. Every spring it's craziness and frustration but I wouldn't feel complete if I didn't do it!

river runner

03-16-2019, 05:46 AM

I'm Ron and discovered that the 12 step process to this addiction is to go head over heals and just dive in farther! I live in St. Lawrence County, NY along the border of Canada. Last year I started with 20 trees, youtube for guidance and managed to make 6 gallons of syrup in my driveway. I was grabbed by this crazy addiction and built a 12x16 shack and invested in a Mason 2x4 XL. I have a handful of sugar maples and a swamp full of reds and silvers. For 2019 I am going to attempt 100 buckets with a full time job and see where it goes. Now I find myself checking accuweather, craigslist and this site at least 20 times a day.....I can't help myself

Jara

11-19-2019, 01:06 PM

Hey :)

Wanted to get into the hobby for a while now, and finally made the leap in 2019 - 2 gallons from 10 sugars over 20 days. I gave most of the syrup away, and in the process learned that many people’s grandfathers used to tap hundreds of maples in this area. I’d very much like to expand to 200+ taps this coming year, and in the process try to revive this great lost art on the prairies for future generations to enjoy. I've been studying the site a lot in preparation for March - a lot to learn!

Looking forward to chatting with the good people of MapleTrader!

Jtheisen

11-19-2019, 10:30 PM

I started with 100 taps on tubing in 2018 to sell sap. 2019 340 taps with 3/4 mainline and 12volt camper pumps. Also built a RO and a 1’x2’ pan and made 11.5 gal of syrup. Getting ready for 2020 season with a new addition of a 2x5 Lappierre. What an addiction!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

TimS

11-20-2019, 10:35 AM

Good day. Syrup rookie here.. one season removed. Tapped 18 trees this spring, boiled it down in a lobster pot using a propane burner on my back deck and finished the syrup in the kitchen. My buddy on the mountain had a similar rookie season. We both enjoyed it so we decided to pool our resources and expand into my back 40. We've been working on a little 16' x 8' shelter and bought an old wood stove with a flat top that should serve the purpose. We even have a gent building us a nice continuous flow evaporator so we can lose the lobster pot. We expect to have around 100 taps this spring. Lately we've been putting the finishing touches on the shack, "grooming" the trail so we know where we're going in the spring and cutting firewood. Great therapy... makes me wonder why I waited til 57 to get started. Looking forward to our 2nd season. #sweeteningthepan

maple flats

11-20-2019, 07:57 PM

Welcome TimS, glad you are here. We all started small, if we didn't join a family business. It grows on you, you will keep wanting to add more taps, it is a disease with no known cure.

Sugarmaker

11-20-2019, 08:38 PM

Like Dave has said.
Welcome to the new folks and "repeat offenders too! This watching water boil thing has some magic powers.
My read on this from when I was a kid was three things:
First you could stay up late!
Second, you could play with fire
third, you got to sample as much syrup as you wanted!
I was hooked 60 years ago!
Good luck with your maple syrup adventures! Keep boiling!
Regards,
Chris

Ultimatetreehugger

11-20-2019, 08:42 PM

Correction, there is one known cure. "Jump in with both feet and open wallets!" Welcome aboard!

maple flats

11-21-2019, 12:13 PM

That's not a cure, that's when you lose all control and can no longer control yourself. At any rate, It's great fun.

Galena

11-24-2019, 07:11 PM

4Walls

01-20-2020, 01:50 PM

Hello everyone and Thank you all for the amazing information on this site. I finally had time to sit down and make myself a profile on MT after years of lurking and getting ideas. My biggest motivator for joining the site is the ability to reach out and ask members directly about some of their crazy inventions and share some off mine too.

I am like most on here. Bought my dream property on the shores of a beautiful Northern Ontario lake that just happens to be filthy with sugar maples. Had to try it so bought myself 5 buckets and spigots and set my trap line. Boiled on the deck with a large turkey roaster and really enjoyed the whole process. But, my engineering mind knew I could do it better. That was 22 years ago. I've gone through every phase of my personal maple addiction journey and in 2016 bought a used, 80's vintage Dominion and Grimm 2x8 with 2007 welded pans. That was awesome but did it every chew through my wood!!!!

So last year we had a good year. 285 taps with 3/16 lines on natural sloped vacuum. Just shy of 300 litres (79 us gallons for my more southerly neighbours, (and yes thats how we spell "neighbour" up here)) of syrup in the bottles. Pump up the hill to the sugar shack, which is 40 feet from the house and 30 ft from the Garage. I have been considering an RO system to cut down on the wood consumption but held off for the last few years because of one major improvement to the rig. I converted my evaporator to run on pure, used vegetable oil. Thats right, used veggie oil. it has by far been the biggest and absolute most incredible cost saving, time saving and wood saving endeavour so far.

2017 was my last year of using pure wood. I was burning about a face cord a day and finishing between 6-8 gallons of syrup a day on a good day. It was hard work doing it mostly by myself. Kids help when they are not in school but it was stressful trying to keep up with the sap. It was full days of spitting my house heating wood down to 3-4 inch splits because thats how it burns the hottest. Loading the firebox every 7-10 minutes all day long. Stoke the right side, wait 7 minutes while splitting wood, stoke the left and repeat. There had to be a better way. I only had 150 taps that year.

So that year I started thinking. I had a 5 gallon jug of used veggie oil from various fish frys and doing a turkey. I started to research how to supplement my fire with the used veggie oil. Everything I tried failed. Drip into a stainless pan burner, dipping logs before stoking, mixing it with sawdust to make cakes. All failed.

My aha moment came in the depths of winter 2018 after returning from dropping off some scrap metal at the local recycling depot. They had one of the old, stainless steel fire extinguishers that had just been dropped off. It was about 3 gallons and designed to be pressurized with a standard valve stem and propel either water, foam or dry chemical. The guys at the depot gave it too me. Long story short, and after many many unsuccessful attempts to create a self sustaining and controllable flame, we finally got it.

In the simplest terms, the jug gets filled with filtered oil. I plumbed the trigger mechanism to add compressed air into the tank to propel the oil and split the air intake off to rejoin the pressurized oil just before the spray nozzle. We used a needle valve for both the oil and air to make the mixture controllable. We made the nozzle into what we call a double Venturi ejector which basically mixes the oil/air mixture into a fine mist. We installed it into a 3 ft long, 2” pipe and ignighted it with a blow torch. It took many tries to get it to work. Eventually the flame lit and the pipe got hot enough to remove the blow torch and get the oil mixture flame to be self sustaining. Many adjustments to get the right spot for the ejector and the right mixture of oil and air. But it worked. By god did it work. It was so loud it sounded like a fleet of jets taking off. The Heat was so intense that it melted the nickel out of the galvanized pipe and it looked like a shiny coral when it hardened in the snow. So now I had to find a way to get this to work in the evaporator.

With a bit of playing, engineering and cursing, I modified the evaporator and got it to work. I had to put a double layer of firebricks in the burn chamber. Once I get the fire lit with my normal wood and get the stove hot, I can initiate the oil mixture. I have to start slowly and let the heat build to keep it balanced.

In 2018 I upped my taps to 200. I burned 70% less wood and my evaporation rate was 40% faster than with just wood. I went from stoking the fire every 7 minutes with finely split wood to adding normal home heating wood every hour and a quarter. Most importantly, my supply of used oil was free. The fire burns hot, clean, no soot, no smoke and burns to completion. There is no unburned oil leaking out the bottom. The exhaust does not smell like French fries and there is no off odour or taste to the syrup. Best part is, its biodegradable. If I happen to spill some on the ground, the dog is more than happy to come by and clean it up for me. I dump all the bits that I filter out of the oil in the garden and the chickens love to eat that up. The best part of the whole deal is that I get the oil for free. There are lots of people that use veggie oil in their diesels in the summer but can’t use it in the winter because it gels way to easy. The restaurants are happy to give it to me because it piles up on them in the winter.

2019 I changed the config of the burn chamber again and added some sort of a glow plug. It really just a metal structure with firebricks for a kind of plate that stays hot like a glow plug. I also upgraded to a pair of Cornelius pop canisters that many people use for brewing beer. So now I go out and light the fire in the morning like normal. Once the chamber is hot I introduce the oil/air mixture and away it goes. I get about 2.5 hours of burn time per tank. I Keep the second tank full and ready and warm. The changeover is just a matter of closing the compressed air valve, depressurizing the tank, disconnecting the input and outlet couplers and swapping tanks. It takes less then a minute and away it goes again. The glow plate works so well that I have about a 15 minute window before It gets too cool to to to ignite the oil. Im at the point where once I light my wood fire in the morning, I don’t have to add another stick of wood all day. All of last year I burned less than a face cord of wood for the whole season and made almost 80 gallons of beautiful syrup. I got so confident with the system that I can walk away for an hour at time and putter in my garage while the automatic sap feed and the continuous burn keep things going.

All my neighbours are fascinated by this system. A couple of my local hobby producers have come by to see it work and get some Ideas. I have been told to submit the design to either the Dragon’s Den show here in Canada or the copy cat version down in the states called the shark tank. Not really interested in that because it is to specific to each rig and there is no way I could get it certified for CSA compliance. So I am happy to share the Idea and design with my maple syrup fanatics and give back to the community as a whole.

Ive got some pics and videos on how its built and how to run it. I will have to figure out this forum first and get my kids to help me get the videos uploaded to youtube. The only thing I ask is please don’t get the oil from my restaurants. I burned 750 litres of used veggie oil last year.

Once again, thank you to everyone here on Maple Trader for the free flow of information and the amazing ideas that have been shared.

Justin.

4Walls

01-21-2020, 07:41 AM

Hello everyone and Thank you all for the amazing information on this site. I finally had time to sit down and make myself a profile on MT after years of lurking and getting ideas. My biggest motivator for joining the site is the ability to reach out and ask members directly about some of their crazy inventions and share some off mine too.

I am like most on here. Bought my dream property on the shores of a beautiful Northern Ontario lake that just happens to be filthy with sugar maples. Had to try it so bought myself 5 buckets and spigots and set my trap line. Boiled on the deck with a large turkey roaster and really enjoyed the whole process. But, my engineering mind knew I could do it better. That was 22 years ago. I've gone through every phase of my personal maple addiction journey and in 2016 bought a used, 80's vintage Dominion and Grimm 2x8 with 2007 welded pans. That was awesome but did it every chew through my wood!!!!

So last year we had a good year. 285 taps with 3/16 lines on natural sloped vacuum. Just shy of 300 litres (79 us gallons for my more southerly neighbours, (and yes thats how we spell "neighbour" up here)) of syrup in the bottles. Pump up the hill to the sugar shack, which is 40 feet from the house and 30 ft from the Garage. I have been considering an RO system to cut down on the wood consumption but held off for the last few years because of one major improvement to the rig. I converted my evaporator to run on pure, used vegetable oil. Thats right, used veggie oil. it has by far been the biggest and absolute most incredible cost saving, time saving and wood saving endeavour so far.

2017 was my last year of using pure wood. I was burning about a face cord a day and finishing between 6-8 gallons of syrup a day on a good day. It was hard work doing it mostly by myself. Kids help when they are not in school but it was stressful trying to keep up with the sap. It was full days of spitting my house heating wood down to 3-4 inch splits because thats how it burns the hottest. Loading the firebox every 7-10 minutes all day long. Stoke the right side, wait 7 minutes while splitting wood, stoke the left and repeat. There had to be a better way. I only had 150 taps that year.

So that year I started thinking. I had a 5 gallon jug of used veggie oil from various fish frys and doing a turkey. I started to research how to supplement my fire with the used veggie oil. Everything I tried failed. Drip into a stainless pan burner, dipping logs before stoking, mixing it with sawdust to make cakes. All failed.

My aha moment came in the depths of winter 2018 after returning from dropping off some scrap metal at the local recycling depot. They had one of the old, stainless steel fire extinguishers that had just been dropped off. It was about 3 gallons and designed to be pressurized with a standard valve stem and propel either water, foam or dry chemical. The guys at the depot gave it too me. Long story short, and after many many unsuccessful attempts to create a self sustaining and controllable flame, we finally got it.

In the simplest terms, the jug gets filled with filtered oil. I plumbed the trigger mechanism to add compressed air into the tank to propel the oil and split the air intake off to rejoin the pressurized oil just before the spray nozzle. We used a needle valve for both the oil and air to make the mixture controllable. We made the nozzle into what we call a double Venturi ejector which basically mixes the oil/air mixture into a fine mist. We installed it into a 3 ft long, 2” pipe and ignighted it with a blow torch. It took many tries to get it to work. Eventually the flame lit and the pipe got hot enough to remove the blow torch and get the oil mixture flame to be self sustaining. Many adjustments to get the right spot for the ejector and the right mixture of oil and air. But it worked. By god did it work. It was so loud it sounded like a fleet of jets taking off. The Heat was so intense that it melted the nickel out of the galvanized pipe and it looked like a shiny coral when it hardened in the snow. So now I had to find a way to get this to work in the evaporator.

With a bit of playing, engineering and cursing, I modified the evaporator and got it to work. I had to put a double layer of firebricks in the burn chamber. Once I get the fire lit with my normal wood and get the stove hot, I can initiate the oil mixture. I have to start slowly and let the heat build to keep it balanced.

In 2018 I upped my taps to 200. I burned 70% less wood and my evaporation rate was 40% faster than with just wood. I went from stoking the fire every 7 minutes with finely split wood to adding normal home heating wood every hour and a quarter. Most importantly, my supply of used oil was free. The fire burns hot, clean, no soot, no smoke and burns to completion. There is no unburned oil leaking out the bottom. The exhaust does not smell like French fries and there is no off odour or taste to the syrup. Best part is, its biodegradable. If I happen to spill some on the ground, the dog is more than happy to come by and clean it up for me. I dump all the bits that I filter out of the oil in the garden and the chickens love to eat that up. The best part of the whole deal is that I get the oil for free. There are lots of people that use veggie oil in their diesels in the summer but can’t use it in the winter because it gels way to easy. The restaurants are happy to give it to me because it piles up on them in the winter.

2019 I changed the config of the burn chamber again and added some sort of a glow plug. It really just a metal structure with firebricks for a kind of plate that stays hot like a glow plug. I also upgraded to a pair of Cornelius pop canisters that many people use for brewing beer. So now I go out and light the fire in the morning like normal. Once the chamber is hot I introduce the oil/air mixture and away it goes. I get about 2.5 hours of burn time per tank. I Keep the second tank full and ready and warm. The changeover is just a matter of closing the compressed air valve, depressurizing the tank, disconnecting the input and outlet couplers and swapping tanks. It takes less then a minute and away it goes again. The glow plate works so well that I have about a 15 minute window before It gets too cool to to ignite the oil. Im at the point where once I light my wood fire in the morning, I don’t have to add another stick of wood all day. All of last year I burned less than a face cord of wood for the whole season and made almost 80 gallons of beautiful syrup. I got so confident with the system that I can walk away for an hour at time and putter in my garage while the automatic sap feed and the continuous burn keep things going.

All my neighbours are fascinated by this system. A couple of my local hobby producers have come by to see it work and get some Ideas. I have been told to submit the design to either the Dragon’s Den show here in Canada or the copy cat version down in the states called the Shark Tank. Not really interested in that because it is to specific to each rig and there is no way I could get it certified for CSA compliance. So I am happy to share the Idea and design with my maple syrup fanatics and give back to the community as a whole.

Ive got some pics and videos on how its built and how to run it. I will have to figure out this forum first and get my kids to help me get the videos uploaded to youtube. The only thing I ask is please don’t get the oil from my restaurants. I burned 750 litres of used veggie oil last year.

Once again, thank you to everyone here on Maple Trader for the free flow of information and the amazing ideas that have been shared.

Justin.

Trapper2

01-23-2020, 09:52 AM

My name is Larry, I've been tapping on or off (mostly on) other than the 70s for the past 50 years. As you can see in my signature I'm always increasing tap count with no reason why. My wife says I was born 200 years too late. I love gathering. I have 100 plus fruit trees, I purchased my 50 acres of Sugar woods with trapping money, I have gardens which are planted with 250 Asparagus and annually 50 tomato plants and 100 peppers and 500 onions along with all the other things in a garden. In the Summer time we do a lot of fishing and the Fall is for Whitetails in 3 states. My career path was a sheet metal supervisor or engineer for 25 years and then a twist of fate led me to a General Managers position in a 100-150 employee landscaping / garden center company. As of 1-1-2020 I'm now retired and really looking forward to this season as there will not be anymore 60 hour straight boils. Again, I want to thank all the contributors for asking the questions that I get to learn from as they are answered.

Trapper, Central Wisconsin

Bkprscott

01-23-2020, 01:54 PM

Greetings all from Cedar Hill, MO. located 30 miles west of St. Louis. I started tapping two years ago with a borrowed pan and an open fire. I tapped about 30 trees during those two years. Sitting this season out because I want to work on getting my own equipment so I dont look like a mooch and always borrowing someone else's! :lol: Looking to improve my methods and number of taps though in the coming years. All the taps I have had before had been on a friends property, and I am looking to expand and find more locations to tap. Thanks for offering up such a great site with a ton of helpful information! If you are bored, you might want to check out the Facebook group Missouri Maple Syrup that a fellow syrup maker and I started a couple years ago. Thanks!

maple flats

01-23-2020, 08:31 PM

Welcome bkprscott, How many taps are you thinking next year and how many in 5 yrs?
Dave

Dundee Ridge

02-06-2020, 08:35 AM

Hi All,

New forum memeber here in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We tapped 35 trees last year, all on 3/16 gravity, and boiled on friends' evaporators, one a frankin flat pan rig, and the other a 2x6 Smokey Lake raised flue with all the bells and whistles. I've been running new lines the last month and have 6 different runs, 150 total taps, and drop up to 350 vertical feet on each run. I estimate between 5000 and 6000 total feet of line. We've built our farm by peicing together abandoned non-farm land and making it work for us. One of the existing buildings was a 34'x27' building on a slab with frost walls and a truss roof, which we are convertng into our Sugar House and farm stand. We just got our new Smokey Lake 2x4 raised flue SSR evpaorator with an electric steam jacket filter/bottler to go with it. Looking at the forecast I won't be putting taps in for atleast another week, maybe more. It's fianlly starting to get cold. This should give us time to get a cupola on the roof, the building ready to be a sugar house and the evpaorator setup. It will be a bit of a mad dash since we both work full time and have a toddler. Been visting these forums for ahwile now to figure out my systems. I think the only ridle I haven't solved yet is what I want for a pump setup to 1. Get sap from collection tanks (IBC Totes and 50 galon barrels) into my 200 gallon truck tank and 2. To get sap from truck tank into the tank in the sugar house. In both instances it will only be about 20' tops. I'd like electric to go from truck to sugar house so I can control On-Off with a switch from inside. We'll see.

Good Luck on the season to all.

Keith

maple flats

02-06-2020, 08:57 AM

jrgagne99

02-06-2020, 09:01 AM

Welcome to the forum Keith. For what it's worth, I use a $80 ebay Chinese 2-stroke pump at both the woods tank and at the sugar house. My tanks, 10-ft hoses (2), and pump camlock connections are all "female-IN" and "male-OUT" so I have a lot of flexibility for daisy chaining stuff together. Nice to see someone from the north country on the forum-- I have roots in Milan. Good luck with your season.

Dundee Ridge

02-06-2020, 01:27 PM

Welcome to the Maple Trader.
For that size I suggest a Honda WX10 to load the truck tank and at least a 1" pump line, a 1.5" will load lots faster. For at the sugarhouse I suggest a 1" SS sprinkler booster pump like this one https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200311411_200311411
I have used one of these for about 9-10 seasons. Northern also offers their own product (likely made in China), a 1.5 HP similar unit, I have no experience with that pump and thus I don't suggest it.

Thanks for the input. I may go in that direction, I think my debate has more been because I'd prefer to only buy one pump. All my roadside tanks will very close to, and uphill of my truck, so I am wondering if an electrical pump off the truck's power would work, then I'd just use the same pump when I get to the sugar house. It's less about cost and more about having less stuff.
'

Northbound1

03-11-2020, 11:45 AM

New sugar maker here. Have spent hours and hours learning from this site. Live in east central Wisconsin but am tapping on my property in upper Michigan. Started out with 100 taps on 3/16 natural vac. 30 buckets. 3x4 flat pan on barrel arch. 12x20 sugar shack. I get lots of winter free time and tend to dive into things. Hopefully this works out, was addictive before I even drilled a tap hole. Already have eyed up a few potential tube sets for next year and I've only boiled once!

Corn Cribe

03-21-2020, 11:30 AM

Hi everyone, I'm new here, in my third year tapping. Just want to introduce myself and thank you all for sharing so much knowledge and information, it really helps us new producers.

I currently have 38 taps on buckets in the center of Minnesota. My sugar shack this year is an old corn crib. Its working pretty good so far, I have a concrete floor, a roof over head, and excellent ventilation.

Most of my taps are in silver maples in a farm yard. This year, for the first time I tapped a few reds and sugar maples in the forest, snow was way too deep last year. I'm only able to get to the farm on weekends, the yard trees started running good last week, woods trees have not given anything yet, bit I'm optimistic that i'll have a lot to boil tomorrow. I always seem to be behind everyone else in Minnesota, even those farther north.

Father & Son

03-21-2020, 01:01 PM

Welcome.
Being the late one in my area I know where you are coming from.
Keep it fun and enjoy. The maple bug has bitten you!

Jim

Sugarmaker

03-21-2020, 07:17 PM

Welcome to the new folks on the Trader forum! The maple thing can be addictive for sure. Lots of good info here too. Do a search on your topic of interest. Then jump in and start a new thread.
Regards,
Chris

torch

03-30-2020, 06:31 PM

New member from Muskoka here.

My son first tried his hand at making small batches a few years ago when he found some taps and rusted out buckets in the remains of an old collapsed sugar shack he found on his property. The buckets were useless, and so were most of the taps as it turns out, so he hung juice pitchers from the dollar store from new taps. The evaporation equipment (an old oil tank) in the sugar shack was equally useless so he just boiled the sap in a roasting pan over an open fire outside. A lot of effort for little syrup, but fun.

The next year he was up to 80 taps, so I rigged him up a home-made RO inspired by designs found on the internet. It used 4 150gpd membranes in series (since expanded to 8 membranes, 2 series of 4 in parallel). Last year I welded up a 2' x 2' stainless steel pan with a draw-off valve which he perched on a cinderblock rocket stove, but the weather went from sub-zero to hot overnight, so he didn't get much sap.

This year, we added 40 taps on my property. My bush slopes down to the driveway with about 15 or 20' of fall total, so we thought we'd try 3/16" lines. They dump into 5 gallon buckets which I haul over to his place. Of course, since we added more taps, we're having good sap-producing weather this year. Kind of an inverse Murphy's Law I guess. Time to upgrade the boiling stage so we can keep up!

https://picturehosting.verhey.org/Verhey_Pure_Maple_Syrup/sugar_shack.jpg

CTguy923

08-30-2020, 11:10 AM

good morning, great to be here...this upcoming season will be my 3rd first year was a couple cheap pans over an open fire pit, made just enough to get hooked, last year was a homemade barrel evaporator which was a huge upgrade, this year will be a new Mason 2x3 and a building in which to boil in !

I,m from Litchfield county CT and cant wait to learn all I can to make next season even better !

Sugarmaker

08-30-2020, 12:38 PM

Welcome!
Regards,
Chris

aamyotte

10-19-2020, 09:12 PM

Hello all,
I’m new here and going to try my hand at making syrup in the spring. As a little kid I used to help at my grandfathers sugar shack drilling the trees with a hand drill and steel spiles and steel buckets.
I am only tapping 12 trees this year since the trees on my property are still small and will use 5/16 taps with drop lines. I don’t know how much sap I will be collecting.
I picked up a 55 gallon drum to start building an evaporator and will try to have a local shop build me 2 pans, thinking of using a 2 pan setup I have been reading about.
I’ve started collecting food grade pails to collect the sap.
Still so much to learn here, a lot of terminology on the site.

maple flats

10-21-2020, 09:24 AM

Welcome aboard. You still have time to get out. This is very addictive. But, if you really want the enjoyment of making maple syrup we can help.
If the local shop has made a few pans, OK, if not I suggest you try some from the lower cost evaporator companies. Get them in 20 or 22 Ga, not heavier and if soldered it must be lead free solder. Welded is far better. To name a few options, try Bill Mason in Maine, Badgerland in Wis., Thor in Quebec, A&A in Pa to name a few. Likely there are more.
The finish is mainly for appearance, bright or polished costs more but is most common, dull is next. It just needs to be food grade SS. If you need more ideas, make a post in the evaporators section on the Maple Trader.
I strongly suggest you avoid the Ebay pans made in China.

aamyotte

10-21-2020, 11:37 AM

Thank you maple flats for the names of the companies, I will look into those specifically the canadian one to start. I guess if a local shop has not made pans before I could end up with something that will warp or leak.
I have been reading up on the Ebay post. I try as a general rule try to buy outside of China and support local if possible.

Pdiamond

10-21-2020, 10:08 PM

You may be able to hook up with a local producer in your area, they may be able to provide you with some local shops that do work. Its also a good way to learn some of the ways for making syrup.

bigbeef

01-19-2021, 10:57 AM

Hi all,

I am new to the forum and this is going to be my first year tapping maples and making maple syrup! I'm in Southwestern PA. I've wanted to do it off and on ever since I was a kid. I was walking around my family's farm earlier this fall, saw all the maple trees, and finally realized/remembered that I should be able to do it this year.

I believe I have most of my supplies ready. From my count & estimation I have about 200 trees I can tap on one main farm, about 50/50 sugars and reds all on sloping hillsides between 17 - 27% slope. I bought 3/16" tubing and am hoping for some serious gravity vacuum; the hillside after the last tree on each line is about 25% slope, open & empty cow pasture, with ~ 60ft of drop to where I will be collecting in a couple 55 gal barrels. I think I can split my lines into "top" & "bottom" sections (top & bot of the hillside) in the woods, then connect the laterals into mainline after 30-40 ft of drop. So my top section will tap (with 5/16" droplines) roughly half the hillside/maples, continue down to the wood line, have 30'+ drop, and hit the mainline. The bottom section tapping the lower half, continue down through the field about halfway for 30-40' drop, and connect to the mainline there.

I have more maples on that farm and the other farm too, but I think I'm going to be limited with tubing. My maple "budget" is getting pretty big...

I'll be (trying) to build a block arch for boiling on a 2'x5' badgerland flat pan. Concrete blocks , maybe some concrete board for extra air-tightness, then red brick, all mortared together if the weather is warm enough. I poured a concrete pad earlier and my dad is making me a 1/4" door with frame from scrap metal at his work's shop. I'm gonna try to insulate that with ceramic wool.

I also have 20-30ft of 3/4" copper tubing I found in an old shed on our property. I'm gonna clean it up, and put in 6 or 8" drop tubes into my pan to increase boiling.

Man.. the money I have into this already and I haven't even started lol. And there's still a lot of work to do and a couple more things I need. I don't think I'm going to have the budget for a small RO system this year; that'll be for next year and I'm planning on building a 400 gpd system.

Sorry if I went on a little long here... the maple addiction is real!

maple flats

01-19-2021, 12:02 PM

bigbeef, welcome aboard. Yes this is addictive. Your only chance is to get out before you get deeper into it, BUT we all heard that and didn't listen.
It sounds like you have pretty detailed plans. That 2x5 flat pan should get 10 maybe 12 gph on a rip roaring fire, adding some drop tubes will help even more. Just be sure the "old copper" doesn't have any lead solder in or on it. If it has old solder it maqy well contain lead. In that case, cut off any old solder joints and flush the inside well. If any solder got inside it's not likely to stick because the pipe in away from a joint would not have been hot enough. I like the idea of 5/16 drop into 3/16 lateral lines, just if you can have 10 or even better 20' of drop on the 3/16 before you go into a mainline. The 3/16 will give you the natural vacuum, the mainline (or even if you used 5/16) you get no vacuum.
One thing with 3/16, in year 1 it is great, but at the end of the season you must clean the lines (if you use calcium chloride it leaves nothing for squirrels to smell, sodium chloride leave a salt which squirrels love). To clean it, plug the bottom and fill the 3/16, let it set a minimum of 30 minutes then drain it. Be sure to fill every drop line. Then repeat in mid fall - late fall before things freeze. Flush with potable water and change all fittings. Little scales of sap residue can flake off and plug the small holes in the 3/16 tubing fittings.
Your plan sounds ambitious for sure. With the gravity you will get using 3/16 on clean lines you can get 1-2 gal a day on good flow days. You may want to figure 6-8 taps per hour boil time if you get 10-12 gph on that 2x5.
Don't be like I was my first year. I had a 2x3 flat pan, which evaporated 5-6 gph. I started with 2 taps if I recall, the sap ran 1 day and I said, "I can handle more", so I added taps. Each time thereafter I'd get it boiled ok and I added more taps. In the end, I had 70 taps if I recall, then the good sap flows started. I had too many taps to keep up with. Between my wife and myself we boiled 24 hrs for days on end, taking turns. That was also not with any vacuum, it was just 5/16 drops into 5 gal jugs. Your set up will likely boil slightly more than 2x per hr. what my little 2x3 did. Be careful not to take the fun out of it.

RC Maple

01-19-2021, 08:46 PM

"I believe I have most of my supplies ready. From my count & estimation I have about 200 trees I can tap on one main farm, about 50/50 sugars and reds all on sloping hillsides between 17 - 27% slope. I bought 3/16" tubing and am hoping for some serious gravity vacuum; the hillside after the last tree on each line is about 25% slope, open & empty cow pasture, with ~ 60ft of drop to where I will be collecting in a couple 55 gal barrels. I think I can split my lines into "top" & "bottom" sections (top & bot of the hillside) in the woods, then connect the laterals into mainline after 30-40 ft of drop. So my top section will tap (with 5/16" droplines) roughly half the hillside/maples, continue down to the wood line, have 30'+ drop, and hit the mainline. The bottom section tapping the lower half, continue down through the field about halfway for 30-40' drop, and connect to the mainline there."

What a great setup! Those of us that can see for miles because our topo maps don't need many lines would love to be greeted by our sap waiting for us at the bottom of the hill courtesy of gravity and free vacuum. Good luck to you.

"I had a 2x3 flat pan, which evaporated 5-6 gph. I started with 2 taps if I recall, the sap ran 1 day and I said, "I can handle more", so I added taps. Each time thereafter I'd get it boiled ok and I added more taps. In the end, I had 70 taps if I recall, then the good sap flows started. I had too many taps to keep up with."

I did the same thing except I didn't get to 70 taps until year two. About 2 days after hanging bucket number 70 the sap started flowing. It seemed more like work for a while until things settled down.:o Good memories.

Pdiamond

01-19-2021, 11:17 PM

Welcome aboard BigBeef. The addiction will only continue to grow. Think of it as a small seed you planted for your garden (you). By 2 months time its a full grown plant ( everything ) you continue buy. Just make sure you keep it fun. Who is going to do the tig welding for your drop tubes? How many are you planning on using and will they be in just one area or the whole pan? Make sure you have a way to drain the drop tubes.

bigbeef

01-20-2021, 08:01 AM

RC Maple,

Yeah pretty much my whole life I've be "jealous" of other areas that had flatter land, every time I had to trudge up and down hills lol. But now I'm really pumped about the slope we have

bigbeef

01-20-2021, 08:46 AM

Pdiamond,

I haven't looked for someone to tig weld. I was planning on drilling out the holes, punching out the lip with a knockout tool, and silver soldering on the drop tubes with flared ends. (45) 6" tubes in 6 rows of 7 & 8, and staggered to maximize the heat transfer and "block" any straight air paths to the stack. This is all just my preliminary thoughts though and something might change as I start this project lol. So I'll have a 24" area in the front of the pan over the firebox, then the tubes will take up 16" in the middle, leaving 20" in the back; maybe I'll expand with more tubes next year in the back area. Why I'm thinking putting the tubes in the middle now, instead of starting in the back and expanding forward... I'm gonna have just a vertical back wall to my firebox area, then the "ramp" starts and up to ~1/2" to the bottom of the tubes, then another vertical wall behind the tubes for the last 20" up to ~ 2" to the bottom of my pan. I think I'll get more hot air right up under my pan this way. It might not matter much? But with how long it takes to boil sap to syrup, I'm trying to be as efficient as I can reasonably be lol.

As for draining the pan.. I'm either gonna do the method of putting sheet metal over the fire and drain the pan through the draw-off valve, or remove 1-2 non-mortared top blocks, pull the pan off the side sitting on 1" angle irons and drain off the fire. I already have a large wooded structure next to the evaporator area (a composter bin/fire wood bin thing, whatever I want to use it for) that I can use to support everything. Drain the pan, and maybe tip it up some to empty the tubes more. If I don't get the last little bit then I'm fine with that going with the next batch of sap to boil.

21779

21780

therealtreehugger

01-20-2021, 04:39 PM

Interesting pan setup! Keep us in the loop as far as how you do! I was initially also thinking you may have too much sap when it starts to run alot, but looks like you are planning pretty well!
Good luck!
btw - the RO bucket/kit is well worth the money - and it's easy to set up and use! I know you said you were going to build one, but look into the RO bucket before you go too crazy.

Bbc.396

01-20-2021, 08:40 PM

Hi all from New Brunswick Canada. Been reading alot on this fourm since I made my first syrup last year (11 litres) built a barrel evaporator and planning on 30 taps with 3/16 tube this year. Very thankful for all the info on this fourm

Pdiamond

01-20-2021, 10:02 PM

Those are some awesome works of art for your set-up. Having done both I would find a way to drain the pan and at the same time start filling with fresh sap if you still have a fire going. Your other option is to boil all the sap and allow the fire to die down and out then drain the pan. You should be able to get fairly close to syrup in the pan without burning it, you just have to watch it constantly, while the fire dies. Always have an oh s**t bucket of sap or water on hand when you boil.

tapdat

01-23-2021, 11:46 PM

Hi, been lurking and learning here for the past couple years. Small backyard operation going on year 3. A few other neighbors started joining in and tapping too, so we do a weekly boil together since we haven't collected much < 40 gal. We built a concrete arch with 3 stream pans, and building another one this year because I've tapped more trees. I should be up to 35-40 taps all on buckets (very flat land), up from 15 last year, and 5 the year before. Picked up some 5/16 CV spiles to try on some trees to hopefully get a longer season over the lapierre ecolo ones we typically use. No slope really for natural vac, not sure how the CVs will do, all part of the fun. It's a slippery slope as you all already know, and figured I'd officially join the forum so I can ask advice for some future expansions if like to add (tubing/pump/RO) if I can't find an answer. Love having this site as a resource, and extremely thankful for all the knowledge and advice given by the contributors throughout the years.

maple flats

01-24-2021, 11:44 AM

Welcome tapdat. Many of us started rather small, then we grew too fast.

tapdat

01-24-2021, 12:36 PM

ir3333

01-24-2021, 01:29 PM

maple flats

01-24-2021, 05:12 PM

Haha, I'm sure, especially for you folks staring at acres and acres. My 35-40 taps are pretty much my max, I walked my woods and marked everything already haha. Land is at a premium in my area. That said, I'd still like to get every drop I can out and increase efficiency. So a pump/RO is something I'm eyeing if I can figure out the tubing with my weird layout. Trees are kind of on the outside of an L with my house in the middle, all flat. But that's for another year... Thanks for the welcome!
We don't all stare at acres and acres. My first 2 years I tapped on my land, then in yr 3 I had leased taps from others. When I had my highest number of taps at 1320, all were leased. I then spent time and $, bought a vacuum pump and started tapping my FLAT land again, using vacuum and sap ladders. Even the big guys lease some or maybe most or all of their taps.
To tap, look at designs for a sap ladder. Then using vacuum, run from the highest area, even if only 2-4' higher than the low area. Run your lines on a slope and add a sap ladder to lift the sap to a higher elevation, then slope downward again. 2% slope in good, 1% can be done. To get a sap ladder to work you need some sort of vacuum pump and not a little diaphragm pump. They don't move enough air volume to lift the sap up the ladder.
On my currant 400 tap system, I have 2 mainlines, each with 2 sap ladders ranging from 5' to 11 feet each. I now use a very old dairy pump, a BB4 piston pump, in the past, on those leases I used other old dairy pumps, one location had an Alamo 30 for about 650 taps, the other had an Alamo 75 with 700 taps at it's largest number. Pumps like the last 2 are only designed to give you 15" vacuum, to get more, you must increase the oil flow for lubricating the bearings.
With vacuum if done right you can get 1/2 gal of syrup per year in an average year, but to get that you must do everything right and have high vacuum. High vacuum for your size operation won't likely happen unless you luck out and find a piston dairy pump in working order. The piston pumps can deliver high vacuum if the rings and valves are good. A vane pump might get you 22-24" if you get the lube right, but then you need a releaser. When I had 2 alamos, one had a releaser but I ran the pump on a 6.5 HP Honda, all I could get out of that was 18", a bigger engine would have done better. On the other I got 19", because it was on a vacuum tank that could implode if I went over 20". This "hobby" can be as big or as small as you want it, just remember, keep it fun!

maple flats

01-24-2021, 05:39 PM

Name's Al, i'm retired and live in Ontario.This will be my 3rd year and will probably be around 50 taps on pails
but undecided.
Completely homebuilt 18 x 60 with a front syrup pan and rear drop flue sap pan.A great way to keep busy during March.
I have a lot to learn and lots of questions too...Just a hobby right now.
Welcome AL, I'm also retired twice, once at 51, again at 71. After retiring at 51 I got bored, then drove school bus for about 20 years. Finally my wife said"you don't need to work that much" and I finally retired for good. Now I just do maple, farm 4.5 acres blueberries and run a sawmill just for my own use only. What else do you do with your time Al?

Pdiamond

01-24-2021, 11:01 PM

Welcome ir3333 and tapdat, It's fun to be small. a whole lot less work. I would bet you'll see how much of an addiction this is and figure out ways to grow and improve each year.

ir3333

01-24-2021, 11:31 PM

Welcome AL, I'm also retired twice, once at 51, again at 71. After retiring at 51 I got bored, then drove school bus for about 20 years. Finally my wife said"you don't need to work that much" and I finally retired for good. Now I just do maple, farm 4.5 acres blueberries and run a sawmill just for my own use only. What else do you do with your time Al?

oh boy..you name it i've been in to it.Mostly a diyourselfer...but anything outdoors.Wish i was still young enough for extended canoe trips!Don't hunt anymore but like trout fishin" ...and bass!
Have an old 340 Dart i've restored and a modest shop where i built my current evaporator.I spend too much time on the internet!

ir3333

01-24-2021, 11:35 PM

Welcome ir3333 and tapdat, It's fun to be small. a whole lot less work. I would bet you'll see how much of an addiction this is and figure out ways to grow and improve each year.
You're right about that.Will be using my third home built evaporator this spring.Hoping this system
is another step forward....Love to try new things and learn!

SRM

01-28-2021, 04:25 AM

Good morning all: This is my first year trying to produce maple syrup. I don't have much of a set up, but neither did the Native Americans. I do have hundreds of sugar maple trees that I never knew existed, I just thought they were red maples because that's what the land owner said. I did practice tapping on one tree two days ago and got 1 gallon of sap for that day. It got cold this week so we will see what happens. It is going to to be in the 20's most of the upcoming week but will warm up to 36 or so in the afternoons. That is a 50% chance of happening due to the science of weather forecasting! Any good advice is welcome. I am going to run 10+ taps this year to see what happens.
Good luck to all this year.

tapdat

01-28-2021, 12:30 PM

Thanks for the knowledge drop maple flats, and the welcome Pdiamond! I didn't realize many tappers used leased land, i just assumed everyone was just naturally swimming in maples. was hoping to get away with a 4008 to avoid the releaser and keep costs down after reading about others in a similar boat. definitely been adding each year, but won't be adding the pump this season so i have time to plan that out and continue researching. i'm not sure i'll go with a sap ladder at first, until i see how it performs without it, but i appreciate the advice and suggestions. i usually learn things the hard way.

ir3333

01-28-2021, 09:03 PM

Welcome AL, I'm also retired twice, once at 51, again at 71. After retiring at 51 I got bored, then drove school bus for about 20 years. Finally my wife said"you don't need to work that much" and I finally retired for good. Now I just do maple, farm 4.5 acres blueberries and run a sawmill just for my own use only. What else do you do with your time Al?

just noticed you have a sawmill.I had 2 over the years, but none now.I loved sawing...peeling those 18 foot boards off was so rewarding.Mine were both portable but i set them up at my home. and sourced logs or sawed when customers dropped logs off. Very enjoyable!

Pdiamond

01-28-2021, 10:59 PM

SRM welcome to the addiction. Sounds like you have the makins of a syrup producer. Now we would like to know how you are planning to boil that precious liquid.

maple flats

01-29-2021, 02:23 PM

just noticed you have a sawmill.I had 2 over the years, but none now.I loved sawing...peeling those 18 foot boards off was so rewarding.Mine were both portable but i set them up at my home. and sourced logs or sawed when customers dropped logs off. Very enjoyable!
Yes I have a sawmill. I used to do a fair amount of custom sawing at the customers location. As I got older I stopped traveling with my mill. I still do a little for customers, but mostly for my own use and for my brother. I'm hoping to build a shop addition, 32' x 14 or 16' on the side of my 28' shop. It was planned for 2020 but when covid shut things down, I didn't have my 11 yr old grandson come to off bare the lumber. I can do up to 20', but rarely do much over 16'. The difference in length is for a walk way between the two. I have plenty of hemlock to drop and make into lumber, I'll only need to buy PT posts, roofing steel and some hardware and windows. If Covid persists this summer, I'll do it next year. My grandson will then be 13 and he's a real good worker (already stronger than I am), he sees what needs to be done and asks if he can do it. Not many kids like that now days.

SRM

01-30-2021, 05:06 AM

SRM welcome to the addiction. Sounds like you have the makins of a syrup producer. Now we would like to know how you are planning to boil that precious liquid.

Well, that is a good question. I have three options: The first is an old wood/coal burning stove made for homes. Like an Ashley. I can open the top and the stove is flat as can be, so I just sit a stainless steel tray on it and away I go. It worked for a large stainless steel canning pot in the trial run, so I bet the longer pan would work better. I will also have room for a warming pot to get set up. The second is home made all steel firewood stove that has an upper level that we always keep water kettles on in camp, that would be used for warming. It also has a large lower level that I can set a SS tray on. Extremely heavy...I can only move it with a dolly. The third is the turkey pot and propane tank for heat. The weather here has changed due to that snow coming from West so I don't think any boiling will be done this weekend or until about Wednesday, but with the weather forecasts it is always a 50/50 chance what they say will happen. I'm excited and only got one gallon of sap so far when I was trying out how to tap a tree. I'm hoping it will be a successful year.

Pdiamond

01-30-2021, 11:08 PM

The more fire you have on the bottom of the pan the faster and harder your boil will be. Keep this in mind a wood stove is made for heating and/or cooking food. now an evaporator is made to boil syrup.

edward

02-09-2021, 09:14 PM

Howdy! This will be my first year sugaring. I have been reading a lot, but the more I learn the more I know how much I don’t know.

This is my set up:
• 12 trees close to the house. My best guess is that they are a blend of Red, Norway, Sugar, and Silver Maples. I have pictures of the bark, branches, and buds here if anybody wants to make a guess:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/aup5plkow53qkqd/AAAFoWg-rcQe9M30-OfR4Wrfa?dl=0
• Several of the maples near the house have a diameter over 20 inches and I have six or eight more elsewhere on the property, so I figure I will have about 20-25 taps, 15-20 on buckets and 5-10 on gravity. I am hoping my taps will produce 50-100 gallons of sap per week which I will boil on the weekends.
• Sap will be stored in food-safe 5 gallon buckets inside an outdoor icebox cooled by ten 5-gallon buckets filled with ice
• Sap buckets are on 5/16th stainless steel taps, tubing is on a plastic Leader 5/16th Clear Check Valve Spout.
• Stainless steel taps are drilled with a 5/16th Brad Point “Professional Maple Tree Tapping Drill Bit". Plastic taps are drilled with a twist-point 19/64th Canadian Tapping Bit
• I have a 3-compartment Seedling Evaporator from Vermont Evaporator 17”x23” which will sit on an outdoor stone grill with no protection from the outside temps or wind. I have just over a half cord of pine, but I can get more on short notice.
• I have a 4 inch HVAC fan blowing into a section of stovepipe with holes drilled into it for AUF.
• Mounted above the evaporator I have a 10 gallon brewing pot as a preheater which will slowly trickle sap into the evaporator.
• I will extract the boiled sap at 215F and set aside for a final boil on a banjo burner until 219F. I will test with a Brix to ensure 67%-69%.
• I will filter when it comes from the bucket, when comes off the evaporator, and when it comes from the brewing pot.

My first big question: Any comments on my set up? What am I forgetting?

Second question: Does anybody have experience using a Brad-point bit as opposed to the more common twist bit?

Third question: I am located in West Townsend, Massachusetts. If there is anybody real close to me who can tell me when the sap starts running, I would be very grateful.

Ocelotsden

02-20-2021, 07:04 PM

Just wanted to say hello. I've actually been reading here for a couple of years and have gotten most of my information and instructions from this group. This will be my 3rd year making syrup. I'm just a small at home maker. The past two years I made between 1 and 1 1/2 gallons. It's just for our own use and I share several bottles with some family and friends.

The last two years I used a propane burner, but this year I'm going to attempt wood on a unique barrel stove combination evaporator/grill I made last month. I live in NY in the Hudson Valley and it's been really cold and snowy. There's currently still a foot and a half of snow on the ground. I plan to tap next week and see how it goes, but looking at the long range forecast, it may actually be the first week in March before I collect and boil. Last year I did my boiling right around this time, but it was much warmer.

Since I make a small amount, I usually collect all my sap over just one good week and boil it all at once, but for me that's plenty to get my 4-6 quarts of finished syrup. I tap Sugar maples, a couple of Norway maples and one huge old Silver maple. The one Silver maple is like 3 foot in diameter and pumps sap like crazy. On a good day with two taps on that tree I've gotten 7 gallons of sap from that one tree. Surprisingly good sugar content too!

Anyway, thanks for all the great info here that got me started over the past few!

Ray

Pdiamond

02-20-2021, 10:31 PM

Welcome and good luck this year. Sounds like you are using buckets, I don't know how cold its been there but here its been cold and may take several warm sunny days before the trees begin to wake up.

BartB

05-14-2021, 09:43 AM

Hi, new hobby sugar bush here. Tapped 35 trees in our first season. Made about 10 qts of syrup and a batch of thick butter(stirred to long). We made a barrel evaporator and had some fun in our sugar shanty. Starting to cut the wood for a 12x16 sugar shack for next year. Had a lot of fun with my family and friends. Plan for 60 to 70 taps next year. Max will be 80 taps as we bought a CDL classic 2x4 evaporator.
I have enjoyed the info we picked up from this site.
Cheers
Bart

jrgagne99

05-14-2021, 12:50 PM

Welcome to the fold Bart. Sounds like you have caught the virus, i mean bug. ;-)

Pdiamond

05-14-2021, 07:49 PM

Way to go Bart. When the bug bites it seems that you can't stop itching. Glad to have you onboard. Good luck in your future endeavors.

red4476

10-11-2021, 08:58 PM

Joined here last spring to browse everything. I dont have a single maple on my property but my mom has 4 which are about 10-15 inches in diameter. My aunt recently moved to a house in an old urban neighborhood and has two enormous maples which I plan to tap. Last year I was able to get about 30 ounces of syrup. I had no idea what I was doing and two trees really didn't produce anything. I'm hoping I just missed the run. Always looking for more trees in my area. Thinking of asking neighbors.

Sugar Shanty

01-14-2022, 09:28 AM

Morning all!
I've been reading this forum for 2 years and I have gotten some great information. I made syrup for the first time in 2020: 9 taps from 3 sugars, 1 red, and 1 Norway boiled down on a cinderblock arch. I bought a freezer, scrubbed dozens of used icing buckets, and froze 135 gallons of sap. The plan was to do a couple of boils when family was in town to help my wife with the kids (at that time they were 2 years old and 2 months old). COVID hit. What was supposed to be a social activity, I did by my lonesome - it was different but I still really enjoyed it.
Last year a new job stopped me from doing any tapping but this year we are planning on tapping 18 trees at the cottage and will be trying our hand at a gravity tubing system. Also on the to-do list is an oil tank evaporator and a coffee urn filter.
Please watch for all of my up-coming questions!

Zack

voluntucky tapper

02-08-2022, 03:33 AM

just thought i'd say hi, i'm in s.e. C.T. ,been sugarin for a little while and just joined in here ,, your gonna like the drop lines 3'long and 5 gallon bucket w/cover and 3/8 hole or two in lid .they vgive yoy more time when you cant ckeck every day ,, good luck ,,,have fun

TEC

02-28-2022, 08:50 PM

Good evening all. I’m a newbie to the MT forum. I made syrup as a kid and 45 years later, I’m at it again. I’ll be retired in 4 months so I felt that it was the right time to dive back into sugaring. This is the year that we get the bugs out. I have a Mason 2x3 and a 10x16 Amish shed turned sugar shack. My wife and I live on 5 acres with about 100 maples (mostly sugar maples). I currently have 75 taps with 40 of them on 3/16 tubing. We are located in southwestern New York. I look forward to participating in this forum.

Kevtmiller

12-06-2022, 09:05 PM

Hello, my name is Kevin and I’m a complete novice maple syrup producer. Just recently purchased a property in eastern Ontario just north of Gananoque and discovered an old derelict Lightning evaporator built by the Small Brothers in Dunham Quebec. It measures 3 feet by 10 feet as far as I can tell. I intend to rebuild it and bring it back to life.

Sorry, some of the attached pictures automatically rotated upside down and I don’t know how to fix them.

Pdiamond

12-07-2022, 09:05 PM

Swingpure

12-07-2022, 09:40 PM

Welcome Kevin.

That will be quite the project, but rewarding when you have it completed.

The trick to taking pictures that have the correct orientation when you post them, is how you hold your phone when you take the pictures. I alway hold the phone sideways, (landscape) with the bottom of the phone on the right side.

Kevtmiller

12-08-2022, 01:51 PM

Welcome, Kevin. WOW, what a great find, and what is even better, you have a very good and it appears to be in very good shape front for the arch. The rest will be just fun. I am glad you are going to be resurrecting an old battlewagon to live on and boil another day. Are you planning on using it or are you going to fix it up and sell it so that you can get something smaller to run for yourself?

I’m definitely not going to rebuild it to original spec which as you point out would be way too big for my needs. I was thinking of making it something like three feet by six feet or thereabouts.

Kevtmiller

12-08-2022, 01:53 PM

…The trick to taking pictures that have the correct orientation when you post them, is how you hold your phone when you take the pictures. I alway hold the phone sideways, (landscape) with the bottom of the phone on the right side.

Thanks for the tip!

Trends

12-16-2022, 06:06 PM

Hi All,
As the title mentions I'm a new member to the Trader Forum and am hoping that somehow I can be a small help to someone along the way as you all have been to me.
I've been reading and using your shared knowledge in an effort to learn and hopefully over time improve my sugaring experience (albeit Walnut syrup rather than Maple) over the next few seasons.

As I figure out the forum I'll certainly be posting pic's and related information on what I work with and such.

Cheers all.
Dave
Southern Ontario (Scotland)

Frankies Family Farm

11-10-2023, 08:32 AM

Hello all

Frankies Family Farm is excited to be part of this Maple community. 2024 will be our second season and are looking forward to more liquid gold! A family of 4, we believe in teaching our children all the wonderful outdoor adventures available. 2023, my 2-1/2 year old absolutely loved 'helping' us in tapping our first trees, cooking and enjoying the final product. The process was anything but efficient but hearing her say 'its really good' as she took her first sip was worth it all! Our season was started very late (3.4.2023-3.21.2023), tapping 3 trees and using a turkey fryer 30qt to boil. We made approximately .25 gallons total from 3 boils, with the final boil having almost no sugar crystals due to better filtering. BUT, we have been super busy preparing for the 2024 season:

-Identified/marked 20 SM, SilM & RM trees
-Cleared more straight efficient paths to the trees, less turning and less driving and less fuel used.
-Spreadsheet created noting location of trees and type. I will also use this spreadsheet to track rough sap estimates
-Been collecting taps and 5 gallon buckets
-Collection will be a 20gal tank on back of ATV and a 10gallon tank on front. Transferred to a 30gallon tank at the house.
-Sticking with Propane still this year, but plan to use a 3-bruner stove that will be hold 3 stockpots/pans (which are better??). Itll run on 1 tank and will allow the most efficiency out of my propane and once its 100% empty I can switch out for a new one.
-Finally been READING and researching so much this offseason. Lots of great information on here and youtubers!!!

Tentative tap date 2.5.2024 in NE Ohio

Thoughts and ways to improve are definitely welcomed!

220 maple

11-12-2023, 04:26 AM

Welcome Trends,
Always good to see another Walnut Syrup producer, the research that is being done on Walnut Syrup and Pectin is going to be eye opening, I helped a friend start up a 800 plus tap walnut operation, the value he gets per ounce literally paid for the complete set up in one season, maple will pay for the tubing system the first year usually, his walnut operation paid for the Evaportor and everything else, the pectin at 20 dollars a half pint is gravy on the home fries!
Good luck this coming season.
Mark220maple

C13A

12-15-2023, 09:37 AM

Hello all,

I'm trying to make maple syrup one source of income for the farm in Eastern Kentucky. Figured I'm hoping to be around this for a while so I should actually go ahead and introduce myself... I'm Eli of the Ewens Family Farm. We are originally from Eastern Washington but moved here about four years ago. We have 100 acres of almost entirely hills that were logged a while ago. No major logs for timber. Most of the maples are Reds with just a few Sugars. As far as the rest of the farm goes, we are starting to raise Kune Kune hogs, clearing for an heirloom apple orchard (90 trees on the farm so far), have a small sawmill, and will start mushrooms and a few Christmas trees in the spring. Everything is fairly early on, but I’m hoping I can build something for the kids or future grandkids to work with.

I ran 70 or so buckets my first year and made a couple gallons of syrup to sell. I started late and the weather only gave me a few runs before things started shutting down. Last year I put up 120 or so taps on 5/16 with high hopes for a jump in production. The winter was horribly warm and I probably could have made two gallons of syrup if I'd saved the short runs of sap. I kept thinking I had a long season left and that run barely fills my pan so I dumped a few short runs when it was about to get too warm. Found out everyone in the area had a bad year. Two iffy weather years doesn't feel great, but I know people do it successfully around here.

This year, I'm working on putting in 1" and 3/4" mainline and trying some 3/16 on a few sections. 3/16 makes me nervous but we have the slopes everyone gets excited about with it. I’ll run my current 120 taps and add sections off the mainlines as I make progress. I’d be content with 200 taps for the bulk of the season but am hoping for 300 to 400 taps this year. I’m just not sure I’ll get it done in time. We had some health issues earlier in the year so I'm late on everything. I have a dirt floor 11x10 sugar shack with a divided 2x4 pan on clay chinked cinder blocks. I have an RO Bucket that I didn't get to use last year. I've only cone filtered and have no interest in doing so for any decent amount of syrup. I'm not buying another filter this winter but will be hot-pouring and storing the syrup in stainless milk cans. I’ll figure out my options for filtering by next summer before the Farmers’ Markets open.

So I will be a small producer compared to many folks. I know this is a larger post, but I actually edited it down. I started it when I was tired after cleaning/sanitizing all day so I kind of droned on (more so…). Anyways… I hope everyone has a good Christmas. Thanks.

ETA: Doesn't look too big of a post now that it's posted. I wrote it out in word so it was looking huge...