Gary. we've got about 2 inches so far. The weather report says we are supposed to have snow all week long and into the weekend.
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Gary. we've got about 2 inches so far. The weather report says we are supposed to have snow all week long and into the weekend.
Yep. Citric acid works to nuetralize it and can also be used for acid wash of RO. Granular citric acid is readily available amazon.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
Thanks, I just ordered both on Amazon.Quote:
Originally Posted by DRoseum
I've neutralized with vinegar. Don't run that thru the RO tho. I do washes at home in my garage. I use a 10 gallon stainless pot and I put it on a burner to help warm it up. My soap is chemically set to stop where I need it at 11 mph (I think) circulate that til it hits 113F and I leave it soak for as long as I can. Push water into the Ro til my tank is full, neutralize and dispose of the soap water. Then flush the rest in the same manner for 20 min. I've never used citric to neutralize but do have some now as I did my first soap\acid\soap wash. I like the dowel idea on the drill bit. Tubing on the drill bit gets all mashed up and goes deeper than you want it to. Haven't tried a drill stop.
Thanks. I am hoping the dowel works, but I did buy an inexpensive drill stop set on Amazon as back up. I might try both with a regular drill bit on a piece of wood, prior to tapping.Quote:
Originally Posted by needmoremaples
Last year was my first year tapping. Although it went well, the tapping auger was so aggressive, it was hard to stop at the right depth. My hope is the dowel or stopper will allow me to go quickly in and out, a nice smooth round hole.
Tapping bits are effortless and drive themselves in. Highly recommended over any other bit. Last for 1000's of tap holes.
ThanksQuote:
Originally Posted by needmoremaples
I do have tapping bits, they did cut effortlessly, sometimes they felt that they kept wanting to pull you deeper. As I got more experienced, I would brace myself a little better to stop that.
Not sure what tapping bits you bought, but you should not have to brace yourself? My 8 year little girl can easily tap our trees by herself. No dowel. No stop...roughly 2" deep. The fact that your bit is pulling itself in to the point that you need to brace yourself and make a stop for the bit to prevent this...??? Something doesn't sound right.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
A very cheap and effective bit stop is a piece of 5/16" tubing cut to the proper length and slipped over the drill bit, leaving 2" of bit exposed for tapping.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
The bits were purchased from CDL. Sometimes they did want to “pull” themselves in. That was my experience on some of the trees. There is no issue going into the tree, just stopping it at the right spot on occasion was an issue.Quote:
Originally Posted by bigschuss
With my stops, whether it be the dowel, or a drill stop, or 5/16 tubing, it will not be an issue this upcoming season. 111 days to go.
I envy you that you started maple syruping while your kids are still young and can participate.
Ah, I see. Yes, those stops should work fine.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
And yes...it won't be long now. Just got all of my evaporator firewood stacked last weekend. Felt god to get that done.
The radar shows you getting hit with Lake Effect Snow right now. We will get hit early this morning and really get hit on Saturday. It will give me an early opportunity to start practicing with my snow shoes which I will need to use in March.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdiamond
I never thought I would need snowshoes, got an extra set. I would say we currently have about 8 inches on the ground right now, give or take and they are calling for an additional 8 to 10 inches starting tomorrow around noon. Really early in the year for us to get a snowstorm like this. The Farmers Almanac was spot on for November. I am not looking forward to January and February, except it brings me closer to syrup season.
Wow.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdiamond
So far we have just had a dusting of snow. The streamers have been missing us, but I think we will get our share tomorrow.
As long as the Great Lakes are warm and not ice covered and you get the right wind, we will get lake effect snow. 109 days until the sap flows.
I am so fearful of going up the long steep hill in waist deep snow, I am actually going to be training so I have the stamina and strength to do it. As mentioned before, I hope to break a trail twice a month, so come tapping day it will not be overly difficult to make it up the hill.
Personally my experience with snow shoes in deep snow, when you are the one breaking the trail, is it is still a lot of work as well.
Good luck dealing with your snow and take your time. Two people in Buffalo died from heart attacks clearing their snow.
The attached photo shows some of the snow that has fallen, but also the maple tree that hangs onto some of it leaves right through winter. I have two collection barrels sitting in place, my other barrels are all in covered storage. You can see one of the clay coloured barrels on the left.
We had only received about 9 cms (3.5”) by 9 am, but we are now directly in line with a steamer and will have a lot more by the time this ends.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/015z...iEgXWpB29UbyEA
I have a tractor for clearing snow and luckily most of my wood's trails are from previously logged trails that just need to be kept open. Easy to get to my tree's to hang more lines.
Yeah, a tractor will not make it up my lines.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdiamond
https://share.icloud.com/photos/04e6...Iu-GcqhS_ve3CA
If I had won the two billion dollar powerball the other day, I definitely would have got a tractor.
108 days to go.
The biggest thing on my mind now in the maple world is anticipating my pan, pan cover, float box, base stack and base stack plate and 36” double wall 8” pipe, being made and ready for pickup. Hopefully sometime in December I will know a build date and hopefully I will get them before February 1.
We have 2.5 miles of logging / cross-country ski trails in our forest. The Craftsbury Outdoor Center maintains our trails. All of my taps are within 50' of a trail = excellent access.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdiamond
Our snow total for 16 thru 20th was 18 inches give or take 2 inches depending on where you measure. How about you Gary are you getting hit now with snow?
OrangeAgain, isn't it nice having those trails to work with.
We ended up with 11”, we were lucky. We might get a couple more tonight. Orchard Park (Buffalo) got 77”. There are a number of places in Ontario that got a whole lot more than we did.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdiamond
The one lucky thing I have with my collections areas, is one is 20 feet from the road, the other is 7 feet from my driveway and the third, I can pump directly from the collection barrel to my RO barrel.
Putting the taps in and then looking for any potential leaks will be the fun thing, but collection will be easy. If I wanted to part with about $500, I could have got a 100 gallon horizontal tank that would fit nicely in the bed of my Ranger, that would save a few trips back and forth from my far collection site. I did not want to part with $500 and will make a few 2 minute trips with my 35 gallon tank on my ATV.
I am pretty lucky in that respect. I picked up a SS tank 200 gallon, a little more if I squeeze, on a trailer with hard rubber tires. I can go anywhere, and they don't go flat or get squishy. I only paid $125.00 for that at an auction. It has been a big help. Now that I have the 400gallon milk tank, I think I should be all set for storage.
That was a good find and a great price on the 200 gallon SS tank.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdiamond
I will be having 150 taps on line, but I also will have a few taps with buckets right near my house for any grandkids or friends who visit, to check. I am not sure how many I will have yet. I did not get a lot of sap from them last year. I might tap them early so they could me an indicator for when the sap is starting to run. I will not really need the sap from them. I might also to use them to experiment with different diameter trees.
I walked around today to look at what I could put on pails, mostly to have something for Grandkids or friends to check while they are up.
It is somehow in my nature, to keep adding them. There are 6 that are very close and very easy to check. There are another 5 taps that I could run on a short line to another pail that is close by and easy to get to.
Then there are 4 more that are a short walk away. Then there are 7 more that I could put on a short line that would feed into a 16 gallon barrel, that would be close to the 4.
As mentioned on an earlier post, I would likely tap these a few days ahead of the real lines, to help determine when the sap starts to run. I also mentioned the pail taps under performed last year, but it was apparently a slow year, but I do not expect a lot of sap volumes whether it be 6 taps or 22 taps.
Gary - this is all normal, at least for all of us on this forum! None of us can resist tapping a viable maple. What's 22 more?? ;)
Are your trees all sugar maples and are you hanging actual buckets on the tree or using pails on the ground being fed by a spile connected to tubing.
All of my trees are Sugar Maples. I will be using pails on the ground fed by a spile with tubing. The exception being is I will connect a few trees with tubing. I will have 7 taps on tubing going into a 16 gallon barrel. 2 sets of 5 taps on tubing going into a 5 gallon pails, unless I can get a couple more 16 gallon barrels and clean them and have them feed into them. And five simple pails with drops.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdiamond
Dan “enabled” me, so I am going to run down to CDL tomorrow and pick up some more tubing. I also want to buy some defoamer and a new 11/64 drill bit as a spare. The weather the next few days will be above freezing, so a good time to run the three new lines. I guess I have to add the 17 on lines to my lines count and just show five on pails.
I have now research how to use defoamer on a divided pan. It was simple to do with steam pans.
Tonight was the first time I ever saw a commercial on TV for maple syrup. It was quite comical and directed you to this site.
https://maplefromcanada.ca/
And this Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/PureMaplefromCanada/
I could not find the commercial which I saw on You Tube, which would have made this post more relevant, but did come across this historical moment on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/tdikUhN4gSo
With the search function, I quickly found my answers about defoamer use on a divided pan. My pan will be two feet wide, so two drops where the sap enters the pan, each time I fire up. I may eventually experiment and try to add a little less, as that would be a lot more than I ever used with my five steam pans.
http://mapletrader.com/community/sho...er+divided+pan
I do have a cinder block evaporator and I do get a decent boil, and we will see in the spring how decent it is, with the new design and base stack on the new divided pan, but it will never be as hot as a professional evaporator, where the stove pipe glows red.
Last year I used defoamer that I bought from CDL and I am planning on buying it again tomorrow.
The cooking oil that we use at our place is avacado oil, I wonder how that would work?
Natural oils tend to not work as well as synthetic defoamers, resulting in higher amounts being added to accomplish the same amount of foam reduction. This can cause an oily sheen on top of syrup, as well as off-flavor and odd mouth-feel.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
Never heard of anyone trying avocado oil...typically you want to use an oil that has no inherent flavor (neutral), which is why safflower oil is commonly used as a defoamer.
All defoamers (natural and synthetic) will go rancid, so should be stored cold in a well-sealed container (to prevent oxidation) during the off-season and checked for odor and taste prior to use.
Thank you.Quote:
Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins
I did buy a synthetic defoamer today.
I threw out last year’s bottle a couple months ago after reading that they can go rancid. Thank you for the advice.
The gentleman who helped me at CDL, who knows my smaller cinderblock setup, suggested I start with one drop of defoamer each fire and adjust after that.
I did buy more line but they were out of the blue 500’ rolls, so I bought a green coloured 500’ roll. Most of that will go in an area with no other blue lines nearby and is out of sight of any neighbour’s that are up.
I also bought two dozen 500 ml Kent bottles and four dozen caps, as I had some bottles from last year returned to me. Most of my syrup will go into mason jars and I will be buying a bunch of them in the next couple of days. Potentially I might need to bottle about 170 L of syrup this year.
I will run my new lines tomorrow, I am watching the World Cup this afternoon.
I put up the wires for the three new short lines to connect to, and made 14 drops. The other 8 will be drops that fall directly into the pails.
The tubing went easily onto the fittings, in contrast to the last roll I purchased a couple months ago. Having always worked with the blue tubing, the green tubing certainly appeared different. All 14 drops were made from new tubing and new fittings. The other 8 direct drops will be from drops from last year that I had cleaned.
Once again never having done it, when it comes time to clean the nitre from the pan, I will drain all of the sap in the pan into pails and number the pails so that they get poured back into the pan in reverse order, poring them in at the drawoff end of the pan.
I will power wash the nitre off and take the occasion, to power wash the bottom of the pan at the same time.
I will have reversed the pan a couple/few times first to try to remove the nitre before power washing, but as I type this I think in both cases I have to empty the pan, why not power wash it all of the time?
I know you've never done it before....thought I'd chime in. I have a Mason 2x4 and boil about 600 gallons of sap each year. In the 12 years I've boiled with it, I've never had to reverse the flow...EVER. I've never had nitre build up. I think that you're going to find it absolutely unnecessary to drain and powerwash your 2x4 mid-season, let alone reverse the flow. It just won't be an issue. I think a lot of information you read online and in the producer's manual applies less to small time hobbyists and more the larger operations.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
Thank you! That is helpful!Quote:
Originally Posted by bigschuss
I like to use canola oil. It works real good for me.
I perhaps should have been watching the football games, but it was a very nice late November day here and I installed the three short lines with drops, with no issues. I decided not to tap two trees. I always give them a second look before installing the drops, and with the leaves off, I felt the trees were not healthy enough to tap. I did double tap two large trees, so I still ended up with 22 new taps.
Our snow is in the process of melting, when it comes back, where I had been thinking I would walk the lines twice a month to keep the path to the taps passable, I decided I will try and walk them twice or so a week. Not only will that help to keep,the paths even more passable, but will help me to stay in shape during the winter and will allow me to keep an eye open for any fallen branches on the lines.
Yes, sir its warmed up here also. most of all the snow we got is gone.
I mentioned in an earlier post about seeing a TV commercial about Maple Syrup. They are not super special, but it is so rare to see commercials on our favourite liquid. (I guess for some it is their favourite non alcoholic liquid) I videoed them off of the TV. A little funny.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/05cB...WVFyJnTuapHt0A
https://share.icloud.com/photos/00eN...bI3F70p3wimqeQ
Thanks for sharing, these are really cute. And in that vein, here's something that's not maple for breakfast. Just heard about it from a colleague from work and made it for Thanksgiving. It was a big hit: https://smittenkitchen.com/2007/11/n...ple-cream-pie/Quote:
Originally Posted by Swingpure
Gabe
We have a restaurant near us that specializes in pickerel (walleye) and people come a long ways to eat there. But they also have a Maple Cheesecake that is Orgasmic. It is to die for. If i was on death’s row and got to pick my last meal, this maple cheesecake would be part of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by berkshires
If you have a raised flue pan feeding into a finishing pan, do you need two float boxes, one for each pan?
I have sent my pan maker a few questions about getting a raised flue pan into a finishing pan versus the divided pan. The two three key questions, are cost difference, expected boil rate differences, and is it worth while to have a flue pan on a cinder block evaporator?
Today I finished restacking my firewood for the 2024 boiling season. I had it stacked in two 6’ tall rows and thought I did a good job, but found it on the ground a few days ago. When I restacked it, I put it into three, less tall rows. All those finely split logs took time to restack.
I have watched some other evaporator videos, mostly to look at the pans, but in almost case I noticed how full they stacked the firebox