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Thanks everyone for your hydrometer/hydrotherm suggestions. Maybe some day I’ll go the Murphy Cup route but not yet. I took my last batch too far it seems, and made some very thick ‘robust’ syrup. I...

What does everyone use to test the brix of their finished syrup? Been using a hydrotherm for the past 5 years (thanks Big Eddy for the instructions), but there is always that bit of guess work while...

We’ll that’s it for me for the year, batch boiled the sweet today. This year was a tough slog. Tapped the early bush at the beginning of Feb and the late one at the beginning of March. Makes for a...

Thanks, that's what I was wondering. Would've been fine with a 1/2" but 1" was too much. Since all our other pans have been 24" exactly it came as a surprise!

Yeah that's exactly what we did. Basically welded a frame and hooked it to the sides of the arch since moving the arch or the welder isn't easy and caulked it with heat caulk to get us boiling. May...

So here’s what the rep now says “ Well they’re standard for the arches that the manufacturer makes to fit these pans. The arch is 24” outside width but the pans are slightly narrower.”
It’s a bit...

No I mean sorry you've joined the burnt pan club! :lol: I joined it in my 1st year.
You've been a great source of information on here for me! Glad you decided to boil this year after all.

Ahh that explains things. Thank you! Crossing my fingers and hoping my trees can hold on for a couple more days until next week's colder temperatures.

Galena, I'm sorry you've joined us, but...

What's the exact width of your 2' wide pan? My new D&G pans arrived last night (a month late). 2x6' raised flu sap pan and 2x2 syrup pan. Using them on an old 2x8 arch which I rebuilt and insulated...

So the same barrels that were reading 1.3 brix on Monday afternoon were 1.6 on Tues morning and yesterday’s sap is 1.7
Only reason I can think of is that my smaller trees that are dropping in sugar...

Well looks like I’m done. Brix dropped to 1.3, bad nitre. Just wasting firewood at this point. Weird thing is sap has no buddy taste, (or sugar taste either). Good, clear water! Usually sap goes...

Thanks Bricklayer. Appreciate the advice! Yes it’s a steam bottler on propane.
Did another batch and it came out clear. Not really sure what I changed, maybe I got the syrup into the pan faster or...

Finally got enough boiled to finish the first big batch. Bought a new to me 16x16 filler canner with a bain marie and the flat filter tray in the top. Hoped it’d make life easier than doing it...

Curious though - has anyone tapped yet and how’s it been ?[/QUOTE/

Tapped a couple lines Sat. Running so hard there was a steady stream of sap coming out by the time I got to the bottom of the...

Looking at the 10 day forecast is making me think I might tap some this weekend. Seems too early but I did a bit of an experiment last year where I tapped some of my lines when we had that thaw in...

I’ve also been wondering about Big_Eddy. His posts and advice were what got me through my first couple years. I hope he, and Bruce’s dad, are doing okay.

Likely pulling my early taps (early Feb) this weekend. They’ve pretty much dried up anyway. Will leave my late Feb taps for another week. Even if it’s only to boil sap to make some vinegar like...

Thanks for this. It sounds really good! Going to give it a try. How long do you leave it to ferment before adding the mother and then about how long does the secondary process take?

Yep finding the same. Can only get 14-15 L through the filters before they clog. So need a 2nd pan and more filters. And lots of vinegar!

Anybody else having problems with sand/nitre this year? Been a pain since day 1 this season. Don’t have a reversible pan or a 2nd syrup pan so need to shut down and clean about every 100 gal. Tried...

I have a line that’s running like stink and another that’s just dripping. Think it’s the way the slope faces, amount of sunlight etc. But the ones that are running have been really running! Been...

Going to tap 1/2 our trees this weekend to catch the early run we should have. Will wait to tap the rest until can get a better look at the forecast for the rest of the month.

Lots of people seem to want the dark, they think it’s ‘stronger’ or something, but I’m all about the Amber.

Thanks, I likely should. I never figured I needed to know, but that’s a good point about not boiling below 1%. Just a waste of time and wood.

Did my calculations over again today and it’s 36:1 not 44:1! Oops. That’s a bit better but still not in your league.
**** about the nitre. What a pain.