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royalmaple,

Refractometers that go down a zero rating can be calibrated with distilled water as that should provide a zero reading on the scale. However if you have one that starts, at say 45...

Maybe it won't be as bad as you think! I have grandchildren living next door and they are turning out to be great helpers and are becoming very knowledgeable about the whole proces of sugaring. It...

I hear ya Greenthumb!
Already thinking 16x24. Never big enough I guess. I will try to keep you posted. I opened my mouth and now I am committed! 8O 8O

Dave

Hey Bob,
Nice lookin sugar house! You sure did great with that amount of money! I will email you some pictures once we get going on our sugar house this summer. Get me your email address via a...

Bob,
Yep, Brandon is right - can't view the pics. No, I am not a builder but a retired CPA (bean counter), who at 67 is just trying to follow a dream before it to late. Both my son and son-in-law...

Hi Bob,

The evaporator is made in Quebec. I bought mine from a private party who purchased it last fall but due to a change in plans never put it into operation. I paid $2,700 and a new one is...

I am using a flat pan which is approximately 24x48. The arch is cement blocks. The big difference between our wood usage is what we are burning. I am burning black locust which I have found to be...

Bob, that is a lot of wood! We went through a little better than 1 full chord (4'x4'x8') for 25 gal. Collected 60 gal. since noon yesterday and boiling that off today. Buds are starting to swell a...

Doocat

There is a test for invert sugar in the North American Maple Syrup manual from Ohio State University. It can be found online at:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/b856/index.html

Dave

I have had this happen on occasion when finishing off the syrup in a large pot up a the house on turkey frier gas burner. It only seems to happen when the pot gets a layer of sugar sand on the...

Same here in west Michigan. Had a great 3 weeks but now things are starting to go down hill. With the warm nights starting by next Tuesday, I will probably only boil two three more days.

Dave

I also have a rather crude setup - cement block arch with a flat pan. I purchased a 12 x 24 tarp at Lowes, attached one 12' end to my wood shed roof (you could use trees) and then using 2- 8' 2x4...

Toblerone, I am lucky to have a hydraulic wood spliter since I also heat the house with wood. During the winter I cut the fire wood and split it all into sizes that fit best in the house stove. ...

Fred, that is really doing good! My flat pan is 2x5 or so and I have a homemade forced air on it. On a good day I can get maybe 18 to 20 gal. per hour. Before I put the forced air draft on it I...

Some rouugh guidelines that I have been given are:
A flat pan (no flues in the sap pan), you can figure a boil of about 1 gal/hr per square foot of boiling surface.

If you have 4 inch flues...

I have a flat pan of approximately the same size and I am only able to boil between 5 and 6 gal/hr. A fellow I know has a Leader Half Pint which is 24" x 33" and he only boils about 6 gal/hr. You...

I am green as grass with this Maple thing! If I did not stop at this site at least four times a day, I would feel like a high school freshman cutting class. This site is my "institution of higher...