Two big thumbs up for the Murphy cup, it’s easy and quick to use and get perfect density consistently.
Type: Posts; User: tgormley358
Two big thumbs up for the Murphy cup, it’s easy and quick to use and get perfect density consistently.
Boiling isn’t necessary or a good idea l it’ll create more niter. Just heat it up to 190 and rebottle into your other containers. Most sugar makers with more than say 100-200 taps do this to avoid...
Yesterday was much improved, with almost all taps 1-1.5 gallon. And it continued running through the night, so another .5 gal/tap already this morning. We’ll see if that’s it for today or if it keeps...
How did you all fare yesterday on sap volume in Middlesex Cty? In Harvard I expected a lot more given the warm up after long freeze. I got around .5 gallon / tap overall and expected at least 1...
Well, we have a good week coming up after an easy pace yesterday and today I’m getting .5-.75 gallon / tap / day, and expect we’ll get some 1-2 gal/tap Monday Tuesday. But a week out is starting to...
Boiling in a 2x5 Lapierre with 5” raised flues in back. Always used raised flue so that’s not a change. If I were to guess, I’d guess others would say cleaning should be on the list of factors, maybe...
The best investment I’ve made in finishing equipment at the hobby level is a Murphy cup and hydrometer combo. It simplifies the temp and density matching into one step rather than two.
At farmers markets where sell some the different colors and grades attract people and engage people in learning about sugaring. I always enjoy explaining the early to later season impacts and suggest...
I’ve actually been making less Golden Del and more amber and dark, which I’ve attributed to RO’ing to only 4-6%, which others here have explained and now makes sense to me. I’d love to hear from Dr...
Anticipating likely questions, I can add that I’ve always Boiled in stainless steel, generally oil the same day as collecting in bottle in class or plastic, as soon as I have hot syrup. Actually, I...
Subject line intended as a question, I’m looking for answers and wisdom from those more experienced. Early days as a hobby sugar maker around 7 years ago with 10 taps, and even when I increased to 20...
Steve, agreed that’s where I’m leaning. But if a hassle having to shut down then restart, oh well. I might consider emptying all of it into buckets then reload it post freeze, but that would also be...
I decided to start tapping with 20 buckets for now, and add tubing for the other 100 taps during the freeze starting next Tuesday 2/13 and ends 2/20 or later per the current forecasts. I expect to...
Oh, and with downsizing I decided to go back to flat filtering, and as a result I have an almost new, 1-season old Smokey Lake stainless Steel filter press for sale, with hoses, clamps, papers, and...
I’m back after taking a year off in 2023. I completely finished cleanup in 2022 and couldn’t face it last year, but I’m all set now and no worse for the wear. I’ll eventually have 125 taps I...
Thanks Ken and others for your thoughts and ideas. The property on question has been sold to another buyer so our search continues, but I’m glad to be learning from what we found with maples in this...
Sorry having trouble with upload of pic. It just says Error file not uploaded.
I’m attaching a pic or two from this sugar bush, of a tree with the smaller leaves. Most or all of the trees look like this. I’m this pic there’s a tulip tree next to the sugar maple that provides a...
Although I haven’t looked at every tree of course, I believe the vast majority is Sugarmaple including the ones I saw with the small leaves. This is based on the Forrester’s report for the property...
I’m considering purchase of a VT property for retirement and will continue my sugaring hobby there, looking for a Min of 500 taps. I’ve found a place, but when I looked yestersay at some of the sugar...
After last season a 150 taps I started to think I might need to upgrade from flat filtering to a filter press. I read a lot here about it and found a number of others like me with under 300 taps...
I’m looking at 12-13 straight days above freezing starting tomorrow. If that forecast holds (and of course it might not), I think this will be a very short season. I’ve had 7 days so far with > .75...
Not certain but I think keeping animals out is also a goal
Hahaha, I lose around 5 lbs every season with all walking, lifting, during season. Probably at least one belt hole.
This turned into a bit of a saga, thanks for input and bearing it with me. The mice nesting was the problem, but that caused other problems. After cleaning out the nest last night, and yet I still...