Last weekend I thought was it, with the forecast of nothing below freezing. I planned on collecting my buckets on Monday, and lo and behold, there was sap! So my last boil was Monday night, March...
Type: Posts; User: therealtreehugger
Last weekend I thought was it, with the forecast of nothing below freezing. I planned on collecting my buckets on Monday, and lo and behold, there was sap! So my last boil was Monday night, March...
I tapped my tubing trees almost two weeks ago, on Monday. First boil was the following Monday, as that first week was cold enough to have a skim of ice on the sap keeping it cold enough. I boiled...
Ah. Makes sense. All other things being equal, the more your stack is vertical, the better. The more it is horizontal, not better. On one hand, every little bit helps. My rig has improved over...
One of my big improvements when I redid my roof, from disintegrating shingles to a metal roof, was to go straight up through the roof, instead of out the window with two 90 deg bends, like it was. ...
I tapped 40+ taps on tubing today. Will see how much I get tomorrow, to see if is enough to consider the tubing “rinsed”. Ran out of daylight on Sunday after cleaning stuff. I still have about two...
Time to tap??? I have the itch! For where I am, North Guilford, the next week looks like some good runs. I still have to clean out my sap collection tank, but that will be done today. I may tap...
One of the speakers said go with your normal tap date, minus a week. Tap holes are viable for up to eight weeks, maximum, so look in your records to your average date of your last run, and go back...
Who is going to the Maple Syrup Producers Association of Connecticut (MSPAC) meeting this sat? This will be my first year going, as I just joined this fall.
There have been a few days in the past weeks where I think I should have already tapped, but I’m holding off. I’m shooting for late January, although the CT maple meeting is next weekend, so I will...
I have looked at the Murphy cups for a while. A bit on the pricey side, when I consider that I only check the density at boiling, when I draw off and when I am bottling. From what I gather, the...
Your math is good for the area. (pi r^2 = l x w). Mine is straight up, 90 deg, too. The quicker you get the heat close to the underside of the pan, the better. As long as you leave enough room...
Hi Steve - welcome! Tapping up high on the tree is not necessary. As long as the tubing goes downhill, from the tap into the bucket, you are fine. About half my taps are 5 gal buckets w snug...
I believe the three tubing rules are 1 straight, 2 tight, and 3 downhill.
Having said that, down hill only really has to be about 3-4 degrees. (This is off the top of my head without looking it up)....
I have a Tupperware container up higher than the pan (15 gal ish) and tubing though a fitting on the bottom from that to my pan, with a valve to control the rate of flow.
I had called it about the same time, the first week in March. Season was a month long for me, almost to the day, which was only a week-ish shorter than “normal”. Only made 5 gallons, but...
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Here are some pics from my homemade oil tank evaporator. Under the door, we cut a vent for draft. The grate sits even with the bottom of the door, so all the air coming in...
I have thrown in the towel. I’m closer to the shore. A disappointing season. I have to remind myself it’s a hobby, and hope for better next year.
Two good days of runs. Problem is, I boiled the night before, emptied my sap collection tank, rinsed it out and drained it, and forgot to close the drain . . . Still had sap in the 5 gal buckets,...
I’ll confirm that.
The area of your stack (pi * r^2) should roughly equal the area below your pan (l * w). For me, the 8 inch stack area, about 50 square inches (don’t have my calculator with me...
CT Farm, I’m not far away, in North Guilford. I’m hoping to have a few runs this weekend, after that, we’ll see. So I’m holding out a little bit more.
And the ants . . . go marching three by...
I have a similar setup. Originally, the stack was similar to yours, up, 90deg bend, out a window of my barn, another 90 deg bend, then up another 8 ish feet. The bend severely hurts the draft, but...
The past few days have been so warm, I needed to fire up the evaporator just to boil off any microbes growing on Monday. Today was also way too warm, but there wasn’t enough sap in the pan to light...
A header tank is the way to go, in the future. But for this year, how much higher does it really need to be? Only a little bit above the height of your preheater. Say, on the top of one of your 55...
I am 80% tapped. I have a few more buckets to go in a neighbors yard across the street. This day job just takes up too much time! Last year this time, I wasn’t even considering tapping yet, now I...
Nooooo!!!! I hope you are wrong . . .:-| but we will see.
I tapped the trees I have on tubing only, that go to my main tank Sunday and yesterday (about 40 ish taps). I hope to get the bucketed...