Calling all 2nd year sugarers

[KV Sappers]

Good for you RFR. Your nectar of the Gods is beautiful. I'd kill for a 47:1 ratio. My reds gave me a 59:1 ratio this year. Happy sugaring to you. Have a great year.

[Dondjr79]

Enjoying my second year with my family! 10 trees on 5 gallon buckets. Just shy of 2 gallons. Should get another gallon Sunday. Assuming this week will be darker. The last two boils Pretty much out of wood. Collecting pallets now!!!

[Run Forest Run!]

After making two small batches I have just finished my 3rd batch. I got just over a gallon (3.875 Litres). That one batch was more than my ENTIRE year for 2012. I got 38:1 on that sap which put the sugar at around 2.25%.

I'm one happy camper! Things are just starting to get dripping around here.

[DonMcJr]

Holy Sap and Syrup Batman! 500 Gallons of sap and after I finish what's in the fridge tomorrow I should be around 7-8 gallons of Syrup! over 3 times as much as last year and I just had to buy another face cord of wood and already have 100+ gallons waiting for me to boil!

Love It!

[Troutman10]

Flooded with sap also. Should hopefully be able to surpass my goal for the season soon. Not sure how much more I can take with steam pans and the fuel oil tank. Upgrade???

[Run Forest Run!]

Way to go guys! It's certainly feast or famine when it comes to sap. Guess who just declined from Good Friday dinner tomorrow night ....... Easter dinner could be the next victim. Hey, if the family wants "free" syrup then they've got to cut me some slack. This is like playoffs for sugarers. And you don't mess with playoffs.

[MapleLady]

Wow - the sap is streaming in NY and Ontario! Glad to hear that you are getting flooded with the sweet stuff! My taps have been pretty much dry here in southern nh this week and the forecast looks like it might be over. I boiled down the last of my sap last night -- a mere 22 gallons-ish and will finish off on Saturday in my kitchen. My total syrup this year (not counting last night's boil) is 223 oz. of syrup, just about 3.5 gal. That's double what I had for my first year. So, a good year over all. Sad to see it come to an end......

[68bird]

A very good second year for me! Over 19 gallons of light, and medium syrup so far! My 19 year old son was boiling when I left for work this morning at 6:30! (priceless). Already bought a 2 x 6 drop flue to set up for next year. Happy Sappin'
Doug

[MapleLady]

I hear ya, Karen. My family has had to fend for themselves for dinner a couple of nights this week and my husband asked yesterday morning how much longer this was going to go on. Like you said, if they want syrup, they'll have to cut us some slack! I won't be doing the big Easter celebration at my house this year -- the first in at least 15 years. Thankfully my sister-in-law has offered to host -- and my brothers' families will be getting syrup in their Easter basket this year. (It has been nice to focus on sap/syrup this week and not organizing festivities!) Have a nice Easter!

Way to go guys! It's certainly feast or famine when it comes to sap. Guess who just declined from Good Friday dinner tomorrow night ....... Easter dinner could be the next victim. Hey, if the family wants "free" syrup then they've got to cut me some slack. This is like playoffs for sugarers. And you don't mess with playoffs.

[jnexus]

I guess I`m a little late posting on this thread, but I have been simply overwhelmed. Last year, my first year, I tapped about 50 trees, 80 percent being reds and the rest sugar. Nice and close to the house so the gathering on foot wasn`t too bad. Managed to get 24L of syrup, boiled down on a thrown together cider block arch with a 3`x 8` piece of 1/2" steel plate above the fire, sitting on the cider blocks and all the stainless steel stocks pots, turkey roasters and cake pans that we had in the house.
I thought I did fairly well, maybe I averaged about 20L of sap per tree ( sugars producing double the reds)
This year I built a 10'x2 1/2' brick arch to fit the pans from a conventional arch, 2 drop flue, 1 divided flat pan with a siphon into the syrup pan. Given the set up,
I figured that I would focus only on sugars and tapped 210, in no way close to the house....So much for 20L of sap per tree. With good sap flow, my 3G buckets are overflowing in a day and I'm hauling back 8-10 40 gallon barrels. Which is great...I guess, if I didn't have a job.
So I would say this year is a whole lot better.....and a whole lot more work.

Jason

2012 about 50 taps with 40 buckets and 10 on line
cider block arch and a whole lots of pots
24 L of syrup

2013 210 taps with 202 buckets and 8 on line
masonry arch 2 1/2 * 8 drop flue
So far 16L of extra light, 28L of light and a full evaporator