Just threw in 25 taps or so, should be enough to get everything going this week. I had taken a couple seasons off but we are back. We use three homemade evaporators. Looking t snow tonight but the upcoming week looks good.
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Just threw in 25 taps or so, should be enough to get everything going this week. I had taken a couple seasons off but we are back. We use three homemade evaporators. Looking t snow tonight but the upcoming week looks good.
Here are some pictures of our first boil yesterday with our 3 maple mistress as I like to call them. Did about 40 gallons so far.
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40 Gallons finished syrup?
I'm in Sterling too. Hasn't been the best run so far...
Hi, Glad to hear of another Sterling maple enthusiast. The 40 gallon was the sap quantity not syrup. I agree it has been a lackluster start for the sap flow due to the weather. I think it should get better going forward based on temps.
Just had a great run next door to you in Princeton. I just a really good run, boiled 350 gallons of sap in 3 days from my 120 taps. They ran 3 days straight. Most on 3/16 gravity, 22 on pump. Hopefully things turn around for you this coming week, looks like a good one.
Dave
How is the new evaporator working Dave?Quote:
Originally Posted by Biz
Sounds like quite an operation, although I started over 40 years ago with several large gaps in between we still are old school as you can see from the pictures of the evaporators and we are still using 5 gallon buckets for sap collection on about 25 taps this year. Keep thinking about a shack. I will be boiling and bottling today as well - your bottle product looked great
Hey btflaw, I started sugaring over 40 years ago too, when I was like 11 years old, with a 15 year gap.
John - new evaporator is working great! The faster boil rate is taking some getting used to. Burned my a batch of syrup already and ruined about 3 gallons of near syrup. The pans are now officially broken in. :) Operator error on that one, need to be much more attentive to it than with the last two evaporators I have used. Then on Wednesday it was bubbling up good with a really hot fire, nearly ready to take off, went out to grab an armload of wood and next thing I knew it was waay overdone and nearly scorched the pan again. Scrambled to dump a pail of sap in. I think I hit the perfect storm of very hot fire, sap not quite running in fast enough to keep up with the level, and syrup in the finish pan bubbling up too much before I could add defoamer. Yikes, live and learn. I have raised the level up a little to help prevent this. Made about 5 gallons so far not including the grade "BBQ" batch. Looking to be another crazy week coming up.
Dave
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Just finished our first bottling for the season, the syrup is on the darker side but it has great taste and consistency. I wish there was better lighting to capture the true color as it was still hot. All and all not a bad week and it kept my 13 year old son busy as he is learning how to do it old school.
Apprehensive the season may be a short one.... not many days ahead under freezing...