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Thread: sugaring in iowa

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
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    Iowa
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    we boiled down another 50 gallons this morning. We then added that to the other 2 boilings and ended up with 10 quarts and 2 12oz jars. It is a very light amber not sure what the grade would be. We are getting rain today and the taps are dripping slowly. Good to hear other updates from around the state.

  2. #12
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    Feb 2010
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    iowa
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    Just got back from checking our taps and we got maybe six or seven gallons. 3 were kind of yellow, I hope its not getting close to the trees budding. I am hoping next week it will really run. I would like to try making some of those pvc sap sack holders. Keep me updated on the sap sack holders and the new evaporator. Bnb you've got a good start up there. I hope my sap lasts okay till next week, alot of it is full of ice from the cold weather up till now.

  3. #13
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    Oct 2012
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    Iowa
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    The weather just will not cooperate!! We are cold again today with 4-8 inches of more snow on the way. They are saying to be in the 40's again by Wednesday. Upmep our trees are not even fully thawed yet. I would think we are just getting started. We have had some yellow but think it is from the rain running in from the tree and staining the sap? Good luck Bill

  4. #14
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    Mar 2011
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    Winfield, Iowa
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    Boiled my first 50 gals. today! Took awhile for everything to get running smoothly so my hourly rate was a little off but everything is up and running now. I think this will be our weekend! Emptied buckets this morning and they're already running over now. My grandson will be here tomorrow night and my son has volunteered to pull the first overnight boiling shift (if necessary). I'm pretty excited! Ted

  5. #15
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    Oct 2012
    Location
    Iowa
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    We are starting to get some good runs here. We gathered 40 gallons last night and about 10% of the trees on the bottom of north facing hills have not started yet. We are looking at ideal conditions for the next 7 days at least. We will start boiling in the morning. Ted what are you using for an evaporator? Are you on the Iowa river basin? We fish up by Union occasionaly and there appears to be alot of nice silvers along there. Upmep any sap down your way? Good luck to all!! Bill

  6. #16
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    Feb 2010
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    iowa
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    Mine are finally starting to run also. I got maybe 17 gallons of sap yesterday. I started boiling last night. I overestimated my boil rate. I am probably lucky to get 5 gallons an hour boiled down. I made some of the sap sack holders also. I went to kum and go and offered to buy some ice bags and they just gave me 10. They seem to be working well. They have the drawstring on top to keep the rain and bugs out. How deep does everyone keep the sap in the boiling pan to get the best boil rate? Bnb glad to hear its running up there. Glad to hear how its going everywhere. I need to go check the evaporator so I better get going.

  7. #17
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    Mar 2012
    Location
    Iowa
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    Well I put out my last 17 taps for a grand total of 101. I'm trying 3 different sap sack holders. Two homemade and the regular one you can buy. I made some out of wood and some out of 4 in. pvc. The run was pretty light today so I hope we don't get any wind. That's one of my big concerns with sacks. Big wind and little sap!! Also just got my new pan and preheater in today from stainlessstealcreations out of Wisconsin. Now if I can get my new hotrod evap. done in the next couple of days I'll be in business! Going to pull sap tomorrow, buckets seem to have about a gallon average. Not heavy but a start. Hoping for 1200 gal. this year! Need to build back supply after last year. God speed!

  8. #18
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    Oct 2012
    Location
    Iowa
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    We boiled down 100 hundred gallons yesterday and has another 50 that we boiled today. We had our first use of the emergency sap bucket yesterdqay. We had it down to about 1/2 inch in the pan and was losing boil fast. We added wood and put to much in.We had a hard boil and it all foamed in about 30 seconds. Lucky we had a 5 gallon bucket of sap sitting for this type of problem. We added the sap and pulled it off the fire. We did end up finishing and botting 2-1/2 gallon. We are up to 5 gallon so far. Upmep we run the pan at 2 inches. We try to feed the fire every 10 minutes. We have the wood split to the size of your wrist. Iowa Sap what did you get for a pan? Are you running a divider pan? Would like to see 1 operate as our is a flat pan. We are to get cold again this week. Looks like Thursday for the next big runs.

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Winfield, Iowa
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    Well, we boiled off 75 gal. on Friday, 70 on Saturday and ended up with 2.5 gals of the finest syrup I've made so far. Wonderful stuff! We still have about 4 gals. of sweet in the pan. I'm not sure if I should finish it off or wait a bit to see if I can squeeze out one more good day of boiling. I think bnb is right and we won't get much sap till later in the week so I'll probably empty the pan and finish off the sweet tomorow or the next day. It looks like we've boiled off about 190 gals. so far. It sure was fun having my grandson with me this weekend. He's fourteen or fifteen. It was him and my son (35) who boiled outside yesterday. Before they got started I told them that since Hunter (grandson) had the most experiance he would be the lead man and Josh (my son) would be his assistant! Hunter absolutely beamed! I went out after they had been running awhile and there was Hunter saying "Uncle Josh you should probably fire the evap, skim the pan good and bring out some more firewood". It was kinda comical. He (Hunter) is on fire. He wants to set up his own evap. Even now there are differant drawings of how he will build it sitting on my desk. A good "clean" hobby. Anyway...bnb, I use a block evap with a 2x4 flat pan. And no we're not in the river basin. We're in Henry county. But you are right. There's a lot of nice looking trees down there. IowaSap, 1200? Really? Man! I'd like to see that! Upmep, The sap depth kinda depends on how dilligent you are! My evap is rather jee-whampus (AKA not level) so I try to keep 2 inches in the lowside. But I do tend to daydream about a REAL evaporater, long and heavy sap runs and other very important things. Best to all, Ted

  10. #20
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Winfield, Iowa
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    I was surprised this morning when I checked a couple of buckets in my yard. They were completely full and sap was running on the ground. I emptied all 60 and ended up with 75-80 gals. I thought the run was done for a few days.

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