Casbohm Maple and Honey 2020 and beyond......

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Originally Posted by Sugarmaker

Folks,
I had the opportunity to visit Jim (Father and Son) for their last boil of the season.
Jim was enjoying running his rig which he calls the "Mutt" since it has several manufactures components used to make a custom one of a kind rig. I boils real well and the Amber to Dark, end of season syrup was very good!
He plans to do some additional tuning with the burner but was running a steady 50ish gallons of raw sap per hour on the 2 x 8. Since this year was a system test for Jim just boiling raw sap he will be ready for 2021 season. More sap, fire up the R.O. and more syrup too.
Very organized and well thought out draw off station on the right side of the rig. Unique single side draw with the ability to easily change syrup draw off position in the front pan.
https://i.imgur.com/ENxnhmK.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/xGFSdmI.jpg?2

Auto draw monitors the temps, alnog with a watchfull eye from the sugarmaker:
https://i.imgur.com/Qmplm16.jpg

Density checks:
https://i.imgur.com/JSK7n4K.jpg

Today we will pick up another third of the roadside tubing, Hoping granddaughter Marly is going to help.

Customers are calling for syrup, So folks need this product while locked down at home during this pandemic.
Regards,
Chris

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Chris that arch at Jim's looks familiar

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Originally Posted by heus

Chris that arch at Jim's looks familiar

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Jason,
I thought you might recognize that.
That’s the first time we used the burner cover. Quiets things down a lot but the size takes up a lot of room.

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Originally Posted by Z/MAN

Chris, losing 6 out of 7 sucks. I only have 2 and so far they have both made it. I feel mighty lucky!

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We tend to be more hands off on beekeeping! But maybe we should have fed these 4 new colonies last summer? We do not typically treat for mites either. Its not a cheap date to buy nuc's each year either, about $200 each.
Sounds like your doing good with your bees!
Having some black tea with Kelly's honey right now!
Regards,
Chris

Folks,
Back to maple today. Maple Mustard and Maple BBQ sauces made this afternoon:
https://i.imgur.com/Fj6KXBx.jpg

Mustard on the right coming back up to 180 F after mustard added to the syrup. Checked PH, recorded the values, coded the bottles with batch codes.
https://i.imgur.com/0Q5Q0yt.jpg

Just a couple shots of the tubing back in the sugarhouse:
https://i.imgur.com/1C7yl0N.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/FSn9fvM.jpg

Regards,
Chris

Folks,
Random picture time. Some of the unsung heros in the sugarhouse that never get much attention.
Finished syrup canner on the left. Yes its a old propane grill modified to support a stainless 10 gallon pan. Its old faithfull. The key I found to making this work well is a piece of cheese cloth over the spout. Does two things. Acts as a final filter for the syrup and also makes a straight stream of syrup int the jugs.
https://i.imgur.com/oVA58rk.jpg

The Cotton candy machine has paid for its self, even with only several events per year. We use the 32 oz plastic tubs with lids for the product.
Raining like crazy here glad I am not out gathering sap!:)
That syrup setting there was pulled from the freezer storage a couple hours prior and will be canned up today. Some of the Golden Delicate "FIRE & ICE" syrup from early this year.

Regards,
Chris

Folks, I like the forum But there are several things that are agravating.
1. The time out time is way too short: I have written many posts, Probably too long or I get distracted and when I go to post I loose it all due to being automatically logged out!
2. The number of pictures per post limits folks like me that like to post a lot of them. Probably ahs something to do with size but if I want I can still post 8 pictures, just have to make two posts of 4 each!

Sorry for the rant!
Regards,
Chris

Oh yea ,Keep boiling!

Folks,
So I had lost this thread, as noted in my previous post/ rant! But as usual, I will bull my way through this by typing faster and limiting my pictures to the magic 4 numbers so this will be two posts.

Cutting fire wood for next year:

Picked up two bundles of slabs from Amish sawmill on the PA Ohio line. At $10 per bundle I will have about $2.00 per gallon of fuel costs in the finished syrup. Two bundles seemed about right for the first try at cutting slabs at the wood shed.
https://i.imgur.com/RFf9mbM.jpg

Here I have the trailer in position at the sugarhouse.
https://i.imgur.com/mltQhzW.jpg

Did some improvements to the buzz rig. Sharpened the blade, replaced the return spring for the table, added the new steel place to fill in the extension to the table. I cut by my self so the table extension is like having another helper.
https://i.imgur.com/1khNSin.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/MsB3EVm.jpg

The trick is to dump the pictures in and post. then go back and put in the comments!

Regards,
Chris

The rest of the story.

Quick rattle can red to cover the bare steel, The buzz rig is a 3 point I run off the Ford Jubilee. It is in position about 3 feet from the wood shed for the first row of slabs. I cut between 24 and 36 inches long.
https://i.imgur.com/f1ELmei.jpg

This set up worked pretty good and save handling them again as I just cut and piled them as I cut. A few more moves but the old man needs to get off the couch more anyway!
https://i.imgur.com/RqsKcZ6.jpg?1

I fugue one row, 8 x 10 x 2.5 yields about 40 gallons of syrup. Some nice wrist sized hard wood with mixed bigger pieces, should make a good fire and be nice and dry by next spring. The wood shed is open to the west, so it gets lots of wind from Ohio up here on the hill! Just need to get 4.5 more rows in place.

Thanks for checking in on me.
You may have noticed I have a tractor problem! Stories for another day!
Are these bigger pictures OK with you folks? I just hate the thumb nails! Hope I am not hogging room with these larger pictures. I try to get the size down to 800 x 450 pixels.

Regards,
Chris

Chris, I've run into the same issue, loosing longer posts that is, I finally started to copy the whole post before trying to post it, then if it fails to post, I log back in and then post it to the proper thread. I didn't have this issue until 6-8 months ago and before I got smart enough to copy the post before trying to post it I lost several.

Dave,
Yes I sometimes remember to copy the post too.
Regards,
Chris